Chapter 2: Discovery

In orbit above Mars:

"HEY!! Where do you think you're going!?!? I'm not finished yet!!" A highly agitated female voice echoed through the Bebop.

"Looks like the kids are home." Jet sighed, looking up from his computer. Ed continued to be engrossed with whatever she was doing on her computer, ignoring the stomping sounds headed their way. The two of them had landed only seconds before and already they could hear them fighting.

"I'm trying to keep my eardrums from bursting!!" Came Spike's response. A few seconds later he walked into the lounge.

"That's the least you should worry about!!" Faye shouted as she came storming in.

"I could have sworn when you called you told me you got the bounty." Jet said, trying to stop the latest shouting match.

"We did." Spike answered as he plopped himself down on the couch. Faye stood behind him. "It's just that Faye is upset about one little problem she had…."

"I don't think me going to jail would be considered a little problem Spike!" Faye snapped.

"You're right. It would have been proof that god does exist." Spike replied nonchalantly. Faye's eye began to twitch and Jet stood up before this really got out of hand.

"Now wait a minute!" Raising his voice got their attention pretty quick. "Spike, according to you the bounty was caught with almost no trouble and that you actually managed to keep the damage to a minimum. Other then five hundred Woolongs all of the reward is there, and to show how impressed I am I'm not going to ask what kind of damage you caused. If everything went so well what the hell are you two fighting about?!?"

"Well there was this misunderstanding…" Spike started.

"MISUNDERSTANDING?!" Faye shouted.

"You'll get your turn Faye." Jet told her. "Once I hear both your stories I'll try to figure out how much of each is true." Faye turned slightly red but Spike maintained his cool demeanor.

"Anyway, we went with the plan you suggested Jet, and I would again like to state that I thought having her going it alone was a bad idea. On another note I'd like to mention that I was right."

"I take it things didn't go as smoothly as you implied." Jet stated. Spike shrugged.

"From what I heard this guy wasn't a complete idiot and figured out who Faye was before she could sedate him and he took off." Faye let out an irritated growl.

"So where does this misunderstanding come in?" Jet asked.

"That little creep shouted that I had a gun and the security guards came after me instead of him!!" Faye stated, still obviously angry.

"Actually it wasn't a bad idea." Spike stated. "It probably would have worked to if I hadn't been there to back her up." Faye turned bright red.

"Then this lunkhead says they can take me to jail for all he cares!!!" She shouted.

"Now that's not true." Spike replied. "I specifically said…."

"Look I personally don't care what you said, so long as you got the bounty without too much trouble." Jet interrupted. If he let this go on there was no telling how long it would last. "So did anyone recognize you?" He asked, hoping to change the subject. It worked.

"As a matter of fact no." Spike replied with a laugh. "They actually asked to see my license. Kind of glad to tell you the truth. I never liked it when people came up to me and saying that I looked familiar." In the weeks following the last battle with Skynet people had recognized Spike from the news reports. Of course he denied ever being on Earth or fighting killer robots. If there was one thing Spike did not want it was publicity. After a while people had stopped asking him about it and now nobody seemed to even recognize him, which suited Spike just fine. "So what about our friends on Earth? They make any headlines lately?"

"Yeah. A three sentence blurb between the weather and sports reports." Jet shook his head. "One of the biggest events in human history and now they're treating it like it was just a small time robbery."

"Looks like TV really does shrink people's attention spans to five seconds." Spike agreed. In truth there was a lot more to it then that. For starters everything, at least that's what the public believed, happened on Earth. Who cares if something happened on a planet nobody in their right mind would go to, no matter how exciting it was? On top of that Skynet had been completely destroyed, so why should anyone worry about it anymore? Mary Somers was still regarded as one of the best reporters in the solar system, but like Jet had said, her breakout story was now nothing but a time filler. And what about the heroes of this whole thing? They had effectively been banished to Earth to clean up what was left of Skynet's mess. True the 'rogue' Terminators, as they had been calling them, were dangerous and needed to be dealt with but to maroon people like that was cruel. Together they had saved the world and what did they get in return? For John and the others it was a virtual prison sentence and for the Bebop crew, no fame, no glory, and most importantly no reward. That sill burned everyone, they put their lives on the line and the only thing they got was a halfhearted thank you and ship repairs. Oh well, whatever happens, happens.

"Makes you wonder how John and his buddies are getting along these days." Faye said.

"According to John's uncle and mother everyone's fine and they have no idea when they'll be finished." Jet answered, almost smirking at the looks of surprise on the faces of Faye and Spike.

"And how did you manage to talk to John's uncle?" Spike asked. "According to the news reports he retired to some fancy resort and took John's mom with him to get away from all the publicity they were getting." Of course only part of that was true. It didn't take a genius to tell that the Red Dragons had put him there so he wouldn't be telling anyone something they shouldn't hear.

"Now you know a good magician never reveals his secrets." Jet said.

"But magician's assistant Ed can tell!" Ed shouted. "Edward tells that it was Ed who found John person's long lost family!" She stated over dramatically. Spike and Faye looked to Jet for the English translation.

"Ed wanted to talk to John and Kyle so she was trying to contact them on Earth. What we didn't know was that they didn't have long-range communicators and no one was willing to be a relay, or even knew where they were. So instead of searching for John and Kyle she started searching for where John's uncle and mother had gone. It took her only ten minutes to find them, and John's mom was a bit surprised to see someone like Ed calling and asking about her son. Who knows what kind of conclusions she jumped to when out of the blue she answered the phone and there was some kid saying she had been searching for John." Spike and Faye smiled at what they thought was most likely the first thing Sara Connor had thought of, that she was grandmother and no one knew it. Something like that definitely would not reflect well on John's character.

"What? Ed didn't say anything bad. Ed was very polite." Ed protested. This time the three of them chuckled. {Big people are weird.} She decided and went back to just listening.

"Anyway, I took over the conversation before Sara could get any ideas and once I convinced her we were friends of John's and not stalkers she told me what she knew. John has been contacting them as often as he can but according to him they've gotten things down to a routine on Earth so there's nothing new to say."

"So what's he been saying about us?" Faye asked.

"Funny you should mention that." Jet replied. "When I explained exactly who Ed and I were she said that John's told them all about us."

"This should be good." Spike remarked.

"Actually, yeah it is." Jet replied. "She said that John hasn't spoken of anyone so highly except his dad and uncle." Again he couldn't help but be amused by the looks of surprise. "That's according to John. According to Sara you," He gestured to Spike. "reminded her of her friends from the streets, well meaning but a little rough around the edges." Spike shrugged in response. "She said I sounded like the type of cop James and Robert Connor hoped John would become. Becoming a bounty hunter probably wasn't something she would want John to do but she did understand the reasons I had for leaving the force. Ed, well… She didn't quite know what to think of Ed but decided that she did seem like everything that John said she was. Intelligent, friendly, cheerful, and downright insane."

"Ed thanks John person for saying nice things about Ed." Ed chirped.

"So what about me?" Faye asked. "Does she think I'm some horrible influence on her son? Or just something he would have hauled in on a normal day with ISSP?"

"None of the above." Jet answered, his grin widening. "You actually remind Sara of herself when she was younger." Spike immediately started laughing. He couldn't tell what was funnier, the actual statement or the way Faye's face looked right now. Even laughing as hard as he was he remained aware enough to jump off the couch when Faye threw a punch at the back of his head. Faye's own momentum made her fall forward, bouncing off the couch and onto the floor.

"You'll never win the mother of the year award acting like that." Spike scolded as Faye jumped to her feet.

"It never ends." Jet sighed as he watched the chaos unfold.

"Again and again and again some more!!" Ed chanted.

On Earth things were a bit less cheerful. Skynet's old hangout turned out to be the destroyed Terminator production facility, a fact that did not fit well with anybody. John had driven the van the way Al had told him to, taking the long way around to avoid detection by any Terminators already there. Pulling up next to the second van hidden in an outcrop of rocks a couple of miles away John saw the second team had already fanned out and Al was looking through a pair of binoculars at the activity.

"What's the situation Al?" John asked. Instead of answering Al handed him the binoculars. Putting them up to his eyes John looked and saw at least eight Terminators milling around, some of them armed.

"Been like this for a couple of hours now." Al explained. "First sighting was around three this afternoon by a mechanic looking for spare parts. He reported seeing three of them but by the time we got here there were almost a dozen. We didn't want to go in at half strength so we called you guys. In the two hours it took you to get here seven more have shown up, some in vehicles, brining the grand total to eighteen."

"So how come I only count eight?" John asked. "Are they sending out patrols?"

"We thought about that but we haven't had any other contact then what we've seen. We had to hijack a communications satellite but we finally found out what's going on. Those eight you see are on the outskirts of the facility, the rest of them are inside." John lowered the binoculars and shook his head.

"That's just great. Playing hide and seek with a bunch of Terminators underground." John muttered.

"I haven't even gotten to the worst part yet." Al said. John exhaled loudly. It always seemed to get worse. "We took a close look at the satellite footage and found something disturbing. They're not just wandering around aimlessly, they're looking for something." In John's mind that set off every alarm imaginable.

"Ok this is how we're going to do things. Callahan, Smith, you two stay with your van and guard it but don't shoot unless absolutely necessary. If something goes wrong you two will have to get on the horn and get help down here. The rest of us will take my van and rush the facility. We're armored well enough to withstand anything short of a missile hit so we should be able to get in with relatively little damage. We'll use the firing slits to take out any above ground resistance then go inside the facility and finish off whatever's down there." The ISSP brass had proven they weren't total idiots and provided John's team with vehicles that they were able to both track and fight from. There were a total of six slits, three on the right side of the van, two on the left and one at the back. It made the confined space of the vehicle even more so but it still allowed them to fight.

"All right you heard him. Mount up and get ready to roll out!" Al shouted.

"The dogs to." John added. "We'll need them to search the inside once we get there." With the plan set the rest of the squad piled into the second van and took up their positions. Al would be driving and John would be riding shotgun, firing out the window. To keep the Terminators from finding the second van Al carefully drove so that their approach would be from the opposite direction. Once in position Al floored the gas pedal and John started shooting at the Terminators on the surface. He dropped a couple of them before they returned fire with their weapons. Ducking back inside to avoid getting his head shot off John calmly watched as the bullets impacted and ricochet off the windshield.

"Get ready back there!" Al shouted and, in what most would call a stupid move, drove so that the van now had Terminators on all sides of it. A split second later the area was lit up with flashes of light as John's squad opened fire. Within seconds all the Terminators were down and not moving.

"Are we clear?!" John shouted.

"They're coming up out of the ground!!" Roberts shouted and began firing again. He was on the left side of the van with Kyle arming the other firing slit, away from the door.

"Roberts, Kyle, keep us covered! The rest of you out and secure the area!!" John shouted. The main and passenger side door opened and the others got out. Circling around the van the other squad members added their firepower to the fight and the Terminators stopped coming up.

"How many was that?" Al asked.

"I counted about thirteen." John said.

"I saw twelve." Kyle put in. The others gave similar numbers.

"Good. If Al was right in his total count that should leave about six in the factory. Specs, Max, you two keep an eye out up here. The rest of us are going in. We go in teams of three. Kyle, myself and Al will take Mauler and search one half of the complex. Roberts, Maxwell and Henderson will take Killer and search the other half. Keep in radio contact and if things get too heavy fall back. Let's move." With the two chosen teams John led them up to the point where they had seen the Terminators come put of the ground.

"Whoa." Kyle said, summing up what everyone was thinking. They had thought that this would be a regular entrance but found that it was a giant hole caused by the laser strike during the battle. There was a walkway leading down into the actual complex, most likely put there by the Terminators to allow easy access. Two things about this place stood out. One, it was huge. John guessed you could probably fit the Bebop in here with ease, even though it was partially collapsed. Two, it was really dark. Terminators didn't need light to see so they had no reason to reactivate the lights. Normally that would give them an advantage but with the dogs John's group were able to track them even in the dark. Turning on their flashlights they split up.

"So what do you think they were looking for?" Al asked has they began searching. "Nothing down here looks like it would be salvageable."

"Who knows." John responded. "Maybe they were programmed to come back here if they didn't get any new orders." Before the conversation could go any farther Mauler began to growl. Training taking over they three humans threw themselves to the ground just before bullets started whizzing in their direction. Aiming at the muzzle flashes they returned fire and dropped the Terminator that had opened fire. "That's one down." John reported into his radio. In the distance he heard Killer barking and more gunfire, both conventional and plasma.

"Damn that was close!!" He heard Roberts shout. "There were three of them down this branch. Looks like they had an ambush waiting for us, almost like they were protecting something."

"If they were protecting something it couldn't be good." Kyle remarked. John nodded in agreement.

"Roberts, you and the others try and find whatever they were after. We'll take care of the remaining Terminators. If they follow basic logic they sent equal numbers to each section so that means there are two more down here with us."

"Yes sir." Roberts replied and motioned for Maxwell and Henderson to follow him. Keeping Killer on a leash they followed the corridor until they reached a large sealed door. For some reason the damage from the laser strike wasn't as bad in this area and the door was relatively untouched.

"So do we go in?" Maxwell asked.

"The captain said to look for whatever those tin cans might be searching for and this could be it. Take up positions." He ordered the other two, who took up positions to cover him. "Down." He ordered Killer who obeyed and lied down. He then took off a panel near the door and yanked out several wires. After cutting the wires he began crossing them and a few attempts later the door slid open. Things immediately began to go wrong as Killer not only started growling but also jumped to his feet and ran inside the room, disobeying Roberts' orders.

"Dumb dog!" Maxwell whispered. Roberts was about to call Killer back when they heard him 'yipe' loudly followed by a wet sounding thunk.

"Cover me!" Roberts said and rushed into the room, plasma rifle ready. Maxwell and Henderson started to follow him in when they heard a gurgling scream followed by another wet thunk, this one louder.

"Roberts?" Henderson asked.

In another part of the complex John, Kyle and Al had found and destroyed the last two Terminators and started back towards the entrance. They had left their radios on to listen in on what the second team was doing. The situation got bad right away and they quickened their pace to assist the other team. Henderson and Maxwell had just entered the room and the next thing they heard was plasma rifle fire followed by intelligible yelling. That yelling was quickly cut off and they could hear the sounds of two more bodies dropping. Now running John and his team got to within sight of the entrance just in time to see someone else approaching from the opposite direction. Between the darkness of the complex and the little sunlight that filtered down from the surface they were unable to see the face. What they could see was someone of average height and build and looked like he was wearing an ISSP uniform. However Mauler was growling at whoever it was and was lunging at them, almost yanking the leash out of Al's hands. Whoever it was didn't say anything, he just raised what looked like a handgun and pointed it at them. Again they dove to the ground to avoid the incoming fire, Al even managed to drag Mauler down in time. The person used the distraction to run up the ramp and to the surface.

"Roberts? What the hell are you doing!?!?" Specs' voice said over the radio. They heard more pistol and plasma rifle fire. "ARRGG!!" Specs yelled. The next thing John's team heard was the sound of the van starting up and roaring out of the area. John and his team ran up the surface and were greeted with the twin sights of the van rushing away at full speed and Specs sitting on the ground being treated by Max.

"Captain, what the hell is going on?" Specs asked when he caught sight of John.

"I was just about to ask you the same question." John replied.

"Damndest thing." Specs answered. "Roberts just comes up and starts towards the van, not saying anything. Then when I tried to stop him, he starts shooting at me. Got me in my good leg to. I didn't want to use my gun but he left me no choice."

"Well at least you didn't kill him." John replied. "Now we have a chance to track him down and get some answers. I take it you got him in the arm? He'll only be able to get so far until…"

"Sir, I didn't shoot him in the arm." Specs interrupted. "I shot him in the chest, three times. There was no way I could have missed, not at this range. This is going to sound crazy but I saw the bolts pass right through him, and he barely even flinched." John looked back into the complex. What had happened down there? Only one way to find out.

"Callahan, Smith! Get over he right now, we've got a situation. Also try and contact the second van, something very weird is going on and I want to know what." He shut off his radio and turned to Specs and Max. "You two going to be all right up here?"

"He'll be fine." Max answered. "There's no serious damage and the bleeding is under control."

"Good. Callahan and Smith should be here in a few minutes so you'll be able to hold the fort. The rest of you follow me." John then led the others back down the ramp and into the complex. Carefully making there way down the corridor Roberts' team had taken they soon came to the door the other team had entered. Mauler began whining but gave no signs of danger so they cautiously entered the room. They immediately saw what Mauler was whining at. No more then ten feet from the door they saw Maxwell, dead. The position of the body told them he had been running for the door and the cause of death seemed to be a large stab wound in the back. That was strange, but what was stranger was that when they turned him over he had an exit wound caused by the same weapon. Whatever type of blade had been used it was a big one, and had a lot of force behind it to go straight through a human body. Looking around they found Killer and Henderson, killed in a similar fashion.

"John. You might want to have a look at this." Al told him. John walked over to where Kyle was and looked where he was pointing his flashlight. There on the floor, stabbed through the chest, was the body of Patrick Roberts.

"That's impossible." Kyle stated. "Specs said it was Roberts who shot him and stole the van. If Roberts is here then who…?"

"I think the word you want to use is what." Al said and pointed his flashlight at something else near Robert's body. It looked like some kind of mold, only this one was large enough to fit a man inside it. It also had a humanoid shape to it. "You two know more then I do. Have any idea what it could have been?" Kyle and John shook their heads.

"No idea." John answered. We need someone who's an expert on this."

"Your bounty hunting friends?" Al asked.

"We don't know where they are." Kyle answered. "And it would take too long to find them. That leaves only one option." John nodded in acknowledgment and got on the radio.

"Has contact been made with the second van yet?" John asked.

"No sir." Smith answered. "All communications and tracking of the vehicle have been disabled. We can't even tell where it is."

"Damn!!" John growled. "Are there any ships in the area?"

"Affirmative sir. There's a supply ship on route to one of the settlements nearby."

"I guess that'll have to do." John replied. "Tell them that this is a police emergency and that we need to commandeer his vehicle."

"He says he can't sir."

"Then tell him that he'll be paid double what he is now just to give us a ride somewhere." Al and Kyle gave John strange looks but John shrugged in response.

"He'll be here in five minutes." Came Smith's reply.

"I kind of figured that." John said and got off the radio. "Kyle and I are going to try to find out what's going on. Al, you're in charge until I get back. Try to find the van if possible but get some backup first. If you can't get any the best thing to do would just to stay here and wait."

"Sir, the supply ship is preparing to land." Smith told them.

"We'll be right there." John answered. "Kyle, give your plasma rifle to Al, we can't risk civilians or the Dragons recovering them. We won't be able to take them through any checkpoints without them being recognized anyway." As John was saying this a thought crossed his mind. Did whoever or whatever that was think the same thing? It seemed to be the only reason he would leave three intact plasma rifles that were his for the taking.

"Supply ship has landed." Smith reported.

"Let's go." John said and headed for the surface, Kyle following.

Doohan's scrap yard: One hour later.

"You listen to me old man! Those parts you sold me were pieces of junk. They failed after a week!! Since they were your parts that means you've gotta replace em!!"

"I told you that they were parts that couldn't put up with the type of punishment you would give them. You treat things like they have no limits they're bound to fail! You pushed them too hard and they failed, it's your own fault." Doohan replied as calmly as he could. He had been arguing with this young punk for the past fifteen minutes and his patience was running out. This hotshot had bought the parts from him a week ago, that was true. Just from the way he had flown in and flown out Doohan could tell that this punk had no respect for his ship, something that made a quick breakdown inevitable.

"I don't care what you think old man. You're gonna replace them and you're gonna replace them now or else!" The punk shouted. Doohan wasn't intimidated by the punk's threats. He had dealt with customers like this before and had no doubt he could knock the guy's block off if it came to that but looking behind the punk in question Doohan got a better idea.

"Sorry but you're going to have to consult our complaints department." Doohan replied.

"Nice try old man. I know there's someone behind me, I heard them. If you think you can scare me off with some dumb muscle you've got another thing coming. I've knocked out guys bigger and stronger then I am before." The punk turned around and actually had to look up at the person behind him. The guy was a giant but nothing the punk hadn't fought in barroom brawls. What made this one different that he was actually carrying what looked like a car engine on each shoulder. On each shoulder!! What really scared the punk was that the guy looked like he was doing it with no effort.

"Is there a problem?" The guy asked in a monotone voice.

Uh.. n,n, no problem." The punk stammered. "Just clarifying the few things with your boss."

"Is you business concluded?" The big guy asked. It might not have been a threat but it sure sounded like one.

"Y,yeah. I was just leaving." The punk said and almost tripped over himself running back to his ship. Doohan chuckled at the punk's less then graceful exit.

"Thanks for the help Arnold, he was beginning to get on my nerves."

"No problemo." Arnold replied. In the two months that Arnold had been working here he had proven to be a great help with the business. He had also picked up more human mannerisms from Doohan and Miles but he still acted robotic. Neither of them really cared, Arnold had turned out to be the best thing for this business. He knew practically everything about machines and repairs thanks to his data files and with no need for sleep he could complete a job when Doohan and Miles were too tired to finish. That wasn't to say they let Arnold do all the work, they still did a majority of it, but they turned to Arnold to optimize the work they did and get just that much more out of an engine and the like.

"Take those engines to Miles. He's been looking for new parts for the truck and they should give him what he needs."

"Right." Arnold replied. After taking a few steps towards the workshop he stopped and cocked his ear to one side. "Another craft is approaching." He stated. A few seconds later Doohan could hear it as well.

"I can take care if this. I'll call if you're needed." Doohan told him. Arnold nodded and went into the workshop. A few minutes later a ship that reminded Doohan of a flying dump truck set down but didn't stop its engines. Two people got out of the cab of the vehicle and one of them waved at the pilot, who took off speed away. Both of them were wearing ISSP uniforms and Doohan was able to recognize them. He wondered what John Connor and Kyle Reese would be doing in his neck of the woods, brought by a garbage truck no less.

"You think telling him to send the bill to ISSP was a good idea?" Kyle asked.

"They can afford it." John replied. "After everything we've done it's the least they could do. Hey Doohan!" He shouted in greeting.

"Nice to see you and Kyle again John. So what brings you two here?" Doohan asked, knowing that this wasn't a social visit.

"Something very strange has happened and we need information." John answered