So hey!
Umm … there is going to be some sex in here … but it wont be really graphic though might be a bit cringe worthy. So I'm just sayin.
Irish Party with Company C
Time must have flown by faster then Sarah thought, because it was almost dark when she and Lauren had run out of things to say.
She told her about her adventure from prison to the future and her capture by Steel and Lauren told her about her life since the diner. She had been married to Martin Bedell and was widowed for several years. Sydney was now twenty-two and a Staff Sergeant with the 2nd platoon, Company A, 132nd Tech-Com.
Sarah felt a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach as Lauren told her about Sarah being the person she looked up to in the hard times.
"So, you're waiting for a chopper, huh?" Lauren swallowed.
"Yeah …" Sarah coughed as she drank the quarter empty glass of "Wine" that she was poured. The tangy tasting liquid was so strong, she was sure that it was going to burn a hole in her throat.
"Sorry, but … there won't be any for several days. Command doesn't want to have too much "mechanical attention" in the area." Lauren made air quotes as she downed another glass. "They think it will spoil the element of surprise, they think they have." Lauren finished with a bitter scoff. Her face went cold for a moment and fear flashed across her eyes.
"You okay?" Sarah asked after a beat.
"Oh, yeah, I just worry dor Sydney, when she takes off for action. But this is different, you know. When she's out in the Junk yard I have faith in her abilities, but out here in the open … I just have this feeling like I might not see her again … now that Marty is dead, she's all I got." Lauren spoke with a grim face. Sarah nodded looking at the scratched table.
"Do I need to make an appointment to see the doctor?" a man with a gentleman like southern draw called from the entrance. Sarah turned around to see four people standing at the door, three of them where men, one was quite handsome the other sort of older with a white beard and the last one was heavy set with a goatee. There was one female in the group, she was about Ryan's age and was very beautiful with blue eyes and almost golden long curled hair.
"Hey there George!" Lauren laughed away the fear, standing up. The four approached her causally with smiles.
"It's nice to see you could join us, finally!" Lauren joked shaking the man's hand.
"Well you know him, he's not satisfied unless he makes an entrance." the more bulky man of the group padded the handsome man. He also had a southern draw.
"Good lord Eric you lost weight?" Lauren looked at the heavy man.
"That's not cool." The man frowned playfully as he shook her hand.
"Lefty …" Lauren nodded at the older man too which he bowed slightly. Lauren hugged the pretty blond.
"Alice … great to see you alive and well baby girl" Lauren said in a maternal tone as she stroked the young woman's hair before letting her go.
"Now I know that's not a slide on my abilities, Mrs. Bedell." The handsome man said coyly.
"You know damn well it is." She winked. The man touched his heart and walked further in the room. He caught a glimpse at Sarah and seemed to be struck with her.
"Hey … you going to introduce us?" the handsome man said looking at Sarah with a glimmer in his eye, making her blush slightly.
"Oh right, this is very good friend of mine, 2nd lieutenant Sarah Baum." Lauren motioned her hand in a grand gesture of mock respect. "Sarah, this is Major George McLennan, Commander Company C 132nd. We leave all are more … deeper philosophical questions on nature and the art of being a grade A sissy to him." Lauren took on a very mock serious nature frowning as she clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"They do … they do indeed." George took Sarah's hand and kissed it in a very aristocratic fashion. She lifted an eyebrow at the man's manners.
"George here is our very own Sir Robin." Lauren addressed Sarah. "His rank despite repeated dismal performances in combat is still the gossip of the Army, which is quite a thing to accomplish when you think of everything else that's going on these days." Lauren pushed George playfully.
"Hey, I'm in it to win it, Bedell. Look at Phillips and the Reese boys … they won metals and look where it got them." He pointed out with a laugh. Sarah felt a rush of anger as the small group snickered, though she was surprised to see that Alice didn't find it that funny either.
"Being a war hero isn't gentleman's work is it, George?" Lefty patted the man on the back.
"No, that it's not old friend …" he announced.
"You pussy." Lauren shook her head. To which they laughed again.
"Well Ms. Baum if you will permit me to introduce these guys here to you, they all command a platoon of mine." George bowed slightly. Sarah still had a stiff look on her face but she nodded.
"This is 1st Lieutenant Eric Glossin in charge of first platoon." George ushered the heavier man forward. He smiled and shook her hand firmly.
"Number two here is one of the oldest members of the resistance, Captain Roger "lefty" McGill. I'd watch my language around him, he's a Baptist Minister back home." He pointed to the white bearded older man who nodded and shook Sarah's hand in a grandfatherly way.
"And last and certainly least … is 2nd Lieutenant Alice Taylor. She just got her promotion through highly questionable methods." He smiled jokingly at the stunning young woman.
"Shut up …!" Alice smacked George on the arm before shaking Sarah's hand with a kind smile. "He's just jokin; I got it after my platoon got cut up in Griffith Park." The girl had a kind and gentle southern draw. Sarah gave the girl a reassuring smile.
"I didn't see you at the Officers Call?" Sarah said looking at them. Everyone frowned at George.
"Oh well, that would be entirely my fault, we got a bit of a late start so we may have missed it." George said politely.
"Would that have something to do with you not wanting to deal with Eiling?" Lauren sat back in her seat to which Alice and Eric did the same.
"You ma'am never miss a beat do you?" George laughed taking the seat next to her and across from Sarah.
"Then you realize that being second in command of the entire Regiment that you would eventually have to have a conversation with the CO of the Campaign?" Lauren talked to him as if she was addressing a young child.
"It slipped my mind, yes." He thinned his lips.
Suddenly Sarah was being dealt worn, almost faded playing cards. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything just took them as they fell.
After several moments Sarah realized that the game they where playing was poker. She silently reshuffled her hand as she listened in on the conversation quietly.
"How's your command anyway?" Lauren asked off handedly as she examined her cards.
"I don't think you'll find any amount of human beings on the planet that are most looking forward to a fight then company C." George said placing two cards on the table.
"I think the credit goes to Connor … I mean who else could have lead this army back from complete disaster during the Ashdown offensive to total victory." Eric said with a sigh tossing George two different cards.
Sarah perked up a tiny bit at the mention of John. This was just the conversation Sarah had been wanting, needing to hear.
"It does boggle the mind." Lauren replied half-heartedly. Lefty chuckled to himself for a moment.
"You remember what we use to call him and Cam when the unit was first put together?" he asked Lauren. A nostalgic smile broke over her face as she looked up from the cards.
"Sonny and Cher" she laughed shaking her head. There was a small murmur of amused laughter from everyone except Alice who looked a bit lost at the reference.
"Oh, what damn idiots we were back then, now when Connor passes by in the tunnels or in the hall, everyone goes quiet like Jesus Christ himself was passing by." Lefty laughed a sigh.
"Have any of you seen anything like that before?" Alice asked with an interested look. Everyone shook there heads for a moment as if searching in the deepest parts of there memory for any inkling.
"It's amazing what one man can do …" George tossed his hand on the table. "Fold" he sighed irritably.
"Speaking of which, I heard Ryan was back." Lefty causally commented, taking a card and slapping it on the table. Sarah noticed that Alice seemed to perk up at the name.
"Yep … he was at the officer's call. Eiling gave him Cameron's old unit." Lauren had a Cheshire grin on her face as she spoke.
"I heard he gave Eiling crap about the battle plan in front every officer in Companies A and B." Eric said with a fond laugh. Sarah wasn't sure if she should correct him or let Ryan take the credit for her lapse of control earlier that morning.
"Well from what I hear a one Lieutenant Baum was the one who did the mud throwing at the arrogant son of a bitch." Lauren winked at Sarah.
"Holy shit, you got to give us the details." George said scooting closer to the table, in fact everyone in the room seemed to forget about the card game and turn there attention to Sarah with excited grins.
"Well … there isn't much to tell. I told him that I thought his plan was flawed and then he tried to rope me into a taking 2nd Platoon and Ryan volunteered in my place, so Eiling called me Ryan's whore." Sarah shrugged the story off.
"Ryan volunteered in your place?" Alice asked with an almost dreamy school girl grin. Sarah nodded her head.
"He must really care about you to do that." Lauren smiled knowingly looking back at her cards.
Laurens comment struck something deep inside Sarah. She had been so preoccupied with her suspicions and disbelief that she seemed to miss the bigger picture. Ryan had not only saved her life more then once. But he had lied and protected her from others, even when it didn't make sense to do so in the interest of self preservation.
"Yeah, I guess he does." Sarah said with sad guilt.
"I see he's grown up though." Lefty said with a raised eyebrow.
"What makes you say that?" Alice asked trying to seem nonchalant, but Sarah wasn't fooled. This Alice girl seemed to have a very compelling interest in Ryan.
"Because, he didn't lay Eiling out for calling his woman a whore like he would have in the past." He responded watching Lauren and Eric shooting suspicious glances at each other from behind there cards.
***
2023
Kate pushed her silky hair out of her face as she made her way out of the party. She frowned as the shouting and music made her feel a bit afraid that the machines would hear the racket. However the birthday celebration for General John Connor has become almost a national holiday and a time to have some fun, so she put up with it, knowing that even the hardiest soldiers needed a break.
She was going through the narrow tunnel to John's office when she came across a lone Teenage boy leaning against the wall near the office door. He seemed to be a stranger, but somewhere in the back of Kate's mind she could place the face.
He had grown out almost long wavy raven hair and soft brown eyes. His clothing was different then usual tunnel rags. He had a Black T-shirt under an oriental looking wrap shirt and a navy blue sash tied around his waist with black fatigue pants and tall travel boots and a knee length brown leather jacket.
"Can I help you?" Kate asked gently. The teen looked up to her with an uninterested scowl.
"That's all right, sweetheart …" the Kid's voice was dripping with arrogance.
"That was rhetorical ..." Kate crossed her arms.
"Was it …?" He replied brushing off her comment.
"Are you a member of the unit?" She asked sternly.
"You mean do I belong to that crack band of lean, mean, meat head machines? …No, I make my own way." The boy scoffed and answered her sarcastically.
"Then, I'm sorry, but this area is restricted." Kate used her best hardened soldier face.
"Is that a fact?" He replied with mock interest.
"Yes, it is" Kate glared.
"Well …it's not to me, babe." The kid winked and started to tap on the wall absent-mindedly.
"Why don't you tell me why that is?" Kate felt her temper rising.
"Well … I could." He smiled charmingly then went back to tapping and looking at nothing. There was a long anticipating silence from Kate, but she got no reply.
"Well…?" Kate began to tap her foot.
"Do you spit or swallow?" the kid asked out of the blue.
"What!?" Kate asked angrily
"Do you like it missionary or doggy style?" the kid pressed.
"What in the hell does that have to do with anything!!?" Kate was flushed at such blunt inappropriate questions.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we were asking questions that where none of each others business and it was my turn." The kid mocked sarcastically.
Kate clenched her teeth together angrily, at the Teenager's cockiness.
"Hey, Katherine is this punk bothering you?" an older man with a buzz cut and a clean uniform walked up flanked by a younger soldier.
"You know what's more of a riot then Surgeon ginger here … a soldier with a clean uniform, isn't that right, Fuzzy?" the young man stepped up to the buzz cut man in almost a baiting manner.
Kate didn't like the kid at all, but she knew her uncle Irving Eiling can sometimes get offended easily and when that happens he can get out of hand and the last thing she wanted was some no name kid to get pounded on her watch.
"Uncle Irving, just let him go, I can handle him." Kate sighed with a huff.
"She's right fuzzy; you don't want to wrinkle that uniform." The kid mocked.
Eiling snapped back and connected his fist with the teens face sending him to the soddened ground. There was a quiet moment of shock from Kate as Eiling breathed a smile. He turned to walk away when a voice called from the ground with a chuckle.
"Is that what passes as a punch in the Resistance theses days?" the kid got to his feet laughing at the older man. Eiling snapped back again, but this time the kid beat him and in a flash the kid sent two fast punches to the colonel's chest then he made a jumping kick to the senior officers face, the last of which made Eiling's jaw echo a sickening crack. He fell to the floor with a sliding thud. Kate hadn't seen that kind of martial arts since ironically her uncle took her to a karate movie before J-day.
The youth looked smug, but the victory was short lived as the other soldier leaped at him. In a well trained and smooth motion the kid snatched the soldier's wrists and fell on his back using his legs to propel the soldier over him and into the heavy iron door of John Connor's office.
Rolling backwards to his feet, the teen had very little time to recover as Eiling hit him in the face again, sending back peddling out of the tunnel and into the party.
Men and women moved out of the way as the youth landed flat on a metal table. Eiling rushed forward pinning his opponent and unleashed a barrage of shots to the face. As the ego bruised Colonel threw back his elbow for a forth slug the brown eyed young man blocked the shot and snapped his knee into Eiling's solar-plexus and drove a open palmed strike to the Colonels face, While stunned the teen used his legs to push the older man away.
Eiling stumbled backward before charging forward, the arrogant kid turned and in one smooth motion and lighting fast move the teen swept the legs out from under the enraged Colonel sending the back of his head hard to the concrete floor.
BANG!
A loud shot from a dented shotgun sounded over the commotion. Everyone turned to the sound and immediately stood in a fearful attention as a thirty-two year old male figure made his way through the crowd that parted in front of him.
He was tall and muscular and had a thread bare uniform. His brunette hair was spiked and a brutal facial scar dominated the right side of his otherwise brilliantly handsome face. He walked with a determined purpose and strength that made many fear his searching gaze.
His Emerald eyes stopped at the youth who was still on his knee. The young man's soft mocha eyes met the grown man's and immediately the man was transported to Red Valley, New Mexico where the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life told him her name with a loving smile.
"It's a little late in the day to be causing trouble isn't, Cowboy?" John Connor asked shouldering his mother's old shotgun. The teen stood up and wiped his mouth with his leather sleeve. From the view of a stranger there was no denying that the two where blood.
"Well, trouble usually finds me, so I thought I would meet it half way this time." Ryan Connor replied cockily. John frowned at his son.
"You alive, Irving?" He asked with authority.
"I'm …tolerable …" Eiling grunted back, covering the back of his head with both hands. John nodded and motioned Ryan to follow him.
Kate watched the two come closer to her. She could have kicked herself at not seeing the resemblance to John from the beginning. John placed his hand on her shoulder in passing, making her smile slightly knowing that when it came to things involving Cameron, Kate was basically a ghost and she learned long ago to leave him alone.
Ryan stopped in front of Kate for a moment.
"Hey thanks for the letter, it was touching." Ryan said giving her a tight smack on the rear and a playful wink before following John into his office. Kate rubbed he butt sorely and caught an apologetic look given to her by John as he closed the heavy metal door effortlessly.
"Well that explains a lot." Sarah couldn't help but chuckle at the story. The rest of the room was laughing obnoxiously.
"Eiling was so pissed … people wanted to give Rye an officer's commission right there …" Lauren was on the verge of tears.
It had been always strange for Sarah when she thought about Ryan, mostly because, in her time frame John was only sixteen a week ago and Cameron was still his glitchy protector. But these stories about bar brawls and nicknames given to fresh faced officers named Connor made her current situation very real … it was finally starting to dawn on her that she wasn't dreaming or crazy. Her baby had moved on with his life and had a grown baby himself. She was a grandmother of a very real person and however weird it was, Cameron was his mother.
"God … I miss the old days." Eric grunted a sigh as he drank from Laurens amber bottle.
"I do too." Lefty shook his head as the laughter died around the table and a sense of deep regret for friends and loved ones long lost started to sink the friendly and fun attitude that had once surrounded the table.
"Has anyone heard of a party going down tonight?" Alice asked trying to revive the friendly atmosphere.
"Yeah … 82nd is having some big Christmas party down at the barracks." Lauren all but waved it off.
"really, sounds fun …" Alice tried to remain reserved, But Sarah's experience as a college aged teenage girl taught her that inside Alice was probably busting at the seams with excitement.
"Yeah, a room full of Irish people with weapons and alcohol … sounds like a blast." Lauren responded with a scoff. "No offense, Sarah" Lauren quickly added winking at her.
"Oh, none taken." Sarah smiled at the comment.
"I wouldn't worry most of the boys will be down there too and there all from Georgia." Lefty tried to reassure Lauren in the hopes that she might join them.
"Right, because drunk country boys will really make things better." Lauren sighed.
"But, no offence?" George asked.
"No, I totally mean what I say." Lauren deadpanned.
"Why would there be a party in the first place?" Sarah asked being a bit confused as Kyle and Derek were a bit loose on the explanations of large Christmas parties. Everyone started to get up and make there way to the door.
"Meh, don't sweat it Baum, Eiling isn't stupid enough to push a major engagement with half a regiment. So you can relax and enjoy yourself for one night and leave the war for tomorrow." Lefty gave a pat of encouragement on Sarah's shoulder and walked out.
Sarah watched as Lauren walked out almost everyone except Alice who was still sitting next to her twirling her thumbs and looking a bit nervous. Sarah gave her an expecting look.
"Can … can I ask you a question …?" Alice stumbled nervously over her words.
"…sure" Sarah gave her a charming smile in order to settle the young woman's nerves.
"Are you and … are you and Ryan … a, you know … are you serious?" Alice seemed as nervous as she sounded with her sparkling blue eyes refusing to meet Sarah's emeralds. Sarah laughed after a moment, finally deciphering the girl's question. Sarah shook her head.
"No, we're not serious. Ryan and I are …" Sarah started still trying not to laugh at the absurdity.
"She and Ryan aren't serious … I'm sorry baby girl, but there mates for life." Lauren cut in with a serious tone; her speech was almost scrambled and urgent. Sarah frowned and was about to protest.
"Oh, I see …" Alice said her face was masked with a smile but the way her eyes seemed to engulf pain and sadness it made Sarah's heart hurt. She was about to speak up and tell her what Lauren said was untrue, but she never got the chance. Alice got up and gave Sarah a heartbroken nod.
"Congratulations, you got one hell of a man there." Alice looked like she was almost in tears when she left the building.
"What the hell!" Lauren almost yelled at Sarah.
'What the hell yourself, Why would you tell her that me and Ryan where engaged?" Sarah asked.
"Sarah … most people in the unit knows who Ryan is … he took Cameron's maiden name to protect himself from Skynet gunning for him every engagement. If word got out that you and Ryan where related … people will know you're a Connor and worst, that you where picked up during the operation. You think Eiling is bad? Wait until the entire 132nd thinks your some sort of infiltrator … or worst if Skynet knows that Sarah Connor is here it won't stop till it has you naked on a cold exam table pulling your skin off your body and using your brain for the next line of Terminator chips. So yes, you need to tell people that you and Ryan are engaged for his protection and yours." Lauren was chastising and irritated with Sarah's almost laps of judgment.
Sarah was silent as she thought about what Lauren had told her. Sadly it made sense and even though Sarah didn't like the idea of pretending to be in a relationship with someone from her family, she knew just like with Steel, it will keep her alive.
"Fine …" She huffed actually downing the last half of her glass of … whatever it was. Lauren sighed and drank the rest of the bottle.
"So… what do you say about us foxy ladies having a girls night out?"
Despite everything Sarah gave a chuckle at the always chipper Lauren.
***
The Barracks of the command post where generally row after row of undesignated bunk beds that could house at least two hundred on its worst days. When Sarah and Ryan first got to the garrison they where offered a bunk, but Ryan refused saying that he would rather sleep outside then in a place where he had to be pressed against Sarah so tightly that she could tell what his religion was.
However in light of the party the bunks had been moved to the walls, making a large open space where assortment of furniture such as tables and chairs where placed in a square around a make shift dance floor.
When Lauren and Sarah entered the building the party had already started with many people standing around talking or dancing. Off to the side they spotted the same musicians from earlier, but this time with several others on an accordion, horn pipe, and an Irish drum. They were playing jigs and reels with the occasional Christmas song.
Both women settled into the party taking a mug of something called Meer and a seat at a table.
Apparently according to Sarah's taste buds Meer was a thick almost chunky alcoholic drink that she actually didn't find half bad.
"So … what do you think of the party?" Lauren called over the loud jig being played.
"Interesting …" Sarah called back.
***
Eiling let out an animal like groan as he pounded in and out of a young woman that he had bent over on his desk in the command center.
He didn't know her name, but she had wanted to get in and see what made everything work, because of her ambition to become a commissioned officer.
She was beautiful and innocent looking, so he let her inside. But he didn't show her any of the equipment.
Irving Eiling was lucky that there was nobody there to see him. Cause too many, what he was doing was widely considered rape. But then again, Eiling didn't hear her complaining.
Plus the way her Brown eyes looked so blank so … innocent, in his mind she was begging for it. In his mind being a commander of an entire operation gave him the right to do anything he wanted, including young women like "Bambi" there.
After several more cruel thrusts into the girl he stiffened and he pulled on her curled brunet hair. Eventually he let her go and pulled up his pants.
He examined her like a piece of meat. She stayed bent over, her fatigue pants still around her ankles, her fatigue shirt ripped open. Eiling thought she looked so good that he could go for seconds. But he had a party to make an appearance at.
"Get dressed and get out. Oh, if you tell anyone this happened … I can do a whole lot worst." He growled in the woman's ear feeling her off one last time before leaving the empty building.
The young woman removed herself from the desk and mechanically with out waist effort redressed herself.
Her brown eyes were not in shock or in tears; she merely walked with a slight limp to the control panel.
She sat at one of the stations and flipped on a computer screen. With expert diligence she typed on a keyboard. After a moment her doe eyes found what they had been looking for. She placed a headset over her ears and flipped another switch.
"CP to Ghost Rider do you copy?" Cameron had imprinted Irving Eiling voice.
***
The night was pleasant, with just the right amount of breeze that made sitting crouched in the dark something more tolerable for the two companies of the 132nd.
They kept an eye on the impossibly rocky terrain of the opening of the valley in front of them with there night scopes, twitching nervously every so often spotting a legion of T-800's Endoskeletons standing at attention.
Ryan quietly made his way to where Barnes over looked there position with thermal field glasses.
"How many?" Barnes whispered not looking at the young Tech-Com officer next to him.
"Legion up front … but without good intel there isn't telling how many are hiding behind those rocks in there." Ryan reported quietly with a sigh.
"Suggestions?" Barnes asked turning his vision to the machines ahead.
"I say we order an air strike and artillery barrage before even attempting to move in." Ryan's response made Barnes smile broadly.
"Look at that … and here I thought you was adopted, but you is a Connor." Barnes laughed quietly punching Ryan on the arm with out taking his eyes away from the field. Ryan just shook his head rolling his eyes.
"CP to Ghost Rider do you copy?" Eiling's voice came over the portable radio set next to Barnes. Quickly he put the phone to his ear and pushed down the switch.
"CP this is Ghost Rider we hear you loud and clear." Barnes whispered.
"Ghost Rider, be advised, you are to begin your run on the target."
Barnes and Ryan tensed at the order.
"Come again CP, I didn't catch that?" Barnes almost stuttered.
"Ghost Rider you are being ordered to begin your attack."
"With all do respect …" Barnes began.
"That is all General … get it done. Over and out." Eiling cut Barnes off and the radio went silent.
Barnes sat in silence for a moment contemplating on what to do.
"Barnes … we can't …" Ryan gritted his teeth.
"Rye … I've just relieved Major Hayworth. I'm giving you Company A." Barnes ordered.
"Have you lost it?" Ryan gritted angrily.
"Rye …" Barnes tried to stop him.
"There entrenched all over the ground and they have heavy weapondiery in the rocks." Ryan pointed to the valley ahead. Barnes said nothing he just stared. "Any movement is going to bring hot light all over our position … we'll lose half the command before we even get in there. Then once we are in there, all they'll have to do is toss boulders at us." Barnes was still silent. "Dammit, Barnes, We need to at least wait for George and C to get here for support!" Ryan was passionate and frustrated. Barnes took a second before he spoke.
"Rye … you are the only one I trust to do this …" He was slow and consoling.
"Barnes …!" Ryan shook his head.
"Ryan Connor! For once in your Fucking life, do what you're told!" Barnes chastised angrily in a booming but silent voice. Ryan looked as if he might catch on fire. "Now, if you're through bitching, why don't you take A Company and prove yourself wrong." Barnes ended the conversation and walked away from him.
Ryan snatched up his Plasma rifle angrily and slung it behind him and pulled up his bandana over his nose. After several calming deep breaths, he touched his ear piece.
"Platoon Leaders, mount up" Ryan's tone was cold and calculating. After a moment whirring went down the line of soldiers, as they charged their rifles.
Turning his attention to the jagged cliffs behind him, he made several complicated hand signals before slamming his fist into his gloved hand.
Above them the sound of more whirring and crunching of metal against rocks swept across the field.
The legion of machines buzzed to life at the commotion in front of them.
"Four and six, fire!" Ryan called into the headset.
A feeling of static electricity rushed down the rocks as the light artillery fired two massive bolts of light into the mass of machines scattering chrome high in the air.
"Two and five, fire!" Ryan once again ordered, with the same effect. Ryan flipped a dial on his headset. "Take'em!"
"FIRE!" a voice boomed and all at once hundreds of bolts crossed the field crashing into the ranks of Endoskeletons.
After half an hour of intense volleys of infantry fire, along with the artillery from above, the machines began to retreat into the valley.
Seeing the machines breaking at the mouth, Barnes ordered Company B forward. Suddenly a hundred Resistance Soldiers rushed across the no mans land toward the rocks.
"Platoon leaders keep them spread out and don't break ranks! Keep away from the center; we need to take the heights!" Ryan called over the roar of battle. After several beats of hesitation he gave the order. "Advance"
In one coordinated motion all of Company A moved forward across the field toward the heights above the valley.
Then all at once the sky was covered with light, as an unimaginable amount of bolts rained down on the advancing humans.
The hot bolts sliced soldiers in half and scissored limbs off like they where hot butter. A Company only got several yards before the casualties began to take there toll on them.
"Make for the rocks!" Ryan called sprinting and pointing to the large rocky slopes in front of them. The Company complied and ran as fast as there will to live could carry them to the large boulders and rock formations.
Once behind the landscape, the artillery began to pound the heights, smashing rocks and machine alike.
Ryan turned his attention to heights above as his Command traded fire with the entrenched machines above them. He was in the middle of formulating a plan to conquer the rocky hill above, when a cry of distress clamored through his headset.
"Alpha, come in over … Alpha!" a woman's voice was so scared that it sound like she was on the verge of tears.
"This is Alpha … what, what?!" Ryan asked on edge as he didn't have time for the woman to steel her nerves.
"Sir, this corporal Sanders … Our unit is trapped … in the valley … need help!" The voice faded into static. Ryan turned to where Company B should have been, but there was no one there.
"Son of bitch" Ryan breathed and flipped a switch on his ear piece. "Barnes come in over!" Ryan called.
An auburn haired young woman rushed to his side ducking from one rock to the next.
"Ryan, we're pinned down!" the woman called to him through the deafening plasma fire.
"Sydney, go tell Lt. Holder to radio the artillery and get them to switch munitions to Scatter Shot!" Ryan ordered flipping the dial again on his ear piece.
"God dammit, somebody answer the radio!" Ryan yelled into the microphone.
"Holder's dead!" Sydney yelled.
"Well, then, YOU get on the horn and get them to level this rock garden!" Ryan ordered. Sydney nodded and snatched a radio of the back of another soldier that was switching magazines on his rifle.
"Alpha … this Bravo over!" Barnes's voice came over the ear piece in a disordered voice.
"Barnes what the hell is going on?!" Ryan yelled
"They got us trapped … surrounded … need to be relived …" Barnes voice was pieced by interference from the rocks blocking the signal.
"Hold on … just hold on!" Ryan called as a plasma bolt barley missed him. He fired off several shots in the Terminators direction getting a head shot on one of them. "We'll get you out!" Ryan finished his sentence.
"Sid, get CP on the line!" Ryan called.
Suddenly three large plasma flashes fired into the air like fire crackers, illuminating the cloudless nocturnal sky. With an ark the bolts broke into fragmented pieces and impacted the slopes of the valley, causing twelve major explosions concussing the machines firing rate.
For a moment the battle seemed to stop as the entrenched killing machines tried to recover.
"Rye …!" Sidney handed him the phone.
"CP this Ghost Rider come in over!" Ryan called into the phone as the fire fight started again. "CP, come in!" Ryan yelled. There was no answer from the other line. Ryan traded a look with Sidney as they ate static. "CP, I not sure you are receiving, but we're under heavy attack and need reinforcements, over!" there was still no answer on the other end. "CP, Bravo Company is trapped and pined in the valley and need to be relived … we're taking heavily casualties!" Ryan's grip made the plastic phone groan in protest for a moment. After another moment he turned to Sydney with an emotionless face that would make his mother proud.
"Sid, drop your shit and wait for the next scatter spread, then run to the assembly area … once your there, hop in a vehicle and tell Eiling to get his ass in gear and get us some reinforcements!" Ryan ordered calmly. Sidney nodded and began striping her padding. Soon enough another volley of large bolts lit the night sky and crashed into the peaks above.
"Suppressing fire!" Ryan yelled over the once again silent battlefield. At once the dwindling numbers of the three platoons let lose a heavy onslaught of laser fire pinning the Endo's down. Ryan gave Sydney a helpful push to get her started as she ran in an evasive manner for the cliffs behind the 132nd.
***
Sarah was on her third Meer, when she decided that she liked the stuff.
"You know … I always thought she was really pretty!" Sarah confessed to Lauren who was humming to the loud reel. "I mean … I get it, why he chose her over me!" Sarah shook her head.
"Who's that?!" Lauren shouted.
"That Jesse whore! I mean … maybe I was never that nice to him and he was Kyle's brother … but I could have changed … I could learn to wear a Bikini or prance around in my underwear, or what ever she did for him?" Sarah admitted determinedly. she felt the buzz of chemicals running through her system, slowing her brain and reflexes, making her mind wonder to subject that she pushed to the side over the years come to the fore front.
"I can tell you with out hesitation that you are by far the prettiest gir… woman I have ever met. You are Derek's loss!" Lauren raised her second mug to the proclamation. Sarah took her mug and clinked it against Lauren's and drank a large part of it.
She shut her eyes and swayed to the sound of the Irish folk music that she remembered from childhood. Her father an Irish-American and her mother an English woman from Yorkshire, Sarah had grown up with such music around her home growing up and every time she heard it she wanted to dance, like she use to before her father left, before her mother was killed, before … everything. She usually repressed the urges, but with the Meer working through her brain she wasn't sure if she could rein it in this time.
"Are you ladies having fun!?" George asked coming up to the two women with a confident swagger.
She wasn't sure if it was the Meer but Sarah couldn't take her eyes off his dimples.
"Tons … you find a dumb broad that believes your horseshit lines yet?" Lauren asked uninterested at the man.
"Well, I don't think I need to, when the prize is right in front of me." He gave that gleam in his eye to Sarah that made her usual Bullshit meter melt due to Alcoholic interference.
"I'd watch yourself Georgie, her and Ryan are together." Lauren reminded him as well as Sarah. She glared at Lauren for trying to cock block her from having a good time with a lie.
"I don't think the Boy Wonder will mind if his future bride has one dance with a good friend." George bowed with an aristocratic grace. Sarah was melting like June ice cream.
"No, I don't think he would." Sarah replied slightly slurred. Lauren rolled her eyes to the ceiling as she watched the two go to the dance floor.
Holding each other close the two began to dance in a hopping manner, gliding through the dance floor along with the other couples.
As Sarah moved and weaved with the music, she felt a great weight off her shoulders and heart. The happy mood of the party finally caught up with her. The words lefty had departed with echoed through her head.
She began to smile and laugh just a little bit when the world began to get blissfully fuzzy. She was relishing the loose feeling that she felt twirling with beat of the jig. When the song ended both halted. The immediate stop made her world spin and she began to wobble, using the handsome man as a support. She looked up into his eyes and without even seeing it coming she received a wet and passionate kiss to her lips.
She closed her eyes accepting the kiss and was about to kiss back when a horrible feeling in her gut told her that something was wrong. She opened her eyes and backed away not knowing what was wrong, but whatever was going on, it was sobering her up quickly.
"I'm … I'm sorry" She croaked. Her stomach was doing nasty summersaults and her brain was telling her that something was becoming deeply wrong.
She apologized again and walked quickly off the dance floor. Lauren watched her with a strange, almost worried look as she speed by the table. When she reached the door she began to jog outside.
It was anything but the quiet night she and Lauren and left before going inside. A large booming and rumbling drew her attention to the jagged hills several miles from the Garrison.
It was like the most spectacular and terrifying light show Sarah had ever seen in her life. With the intense glow came a large rumbling that sounded like a fireworks show in the middle of a thunder storm.
From the direction of the hills a pickup truck with some sort of weapon mounted on its bed rolled up nearly clipping Sarah. The driver was a Young woman with auburn hair and she left the motor running as she exited the vehicle and rushed toward Sarah.
"Eiling … Where the hell is the senior command?!!" the woman yelled at her with desperate need. Sarah didn't answer merely pointed to the party inside not sure what was going on.
The girl pushed past Sarah and sprinted like a track star into the Barracks.
She frowned for a moment, trying to piece together what was going on.
After a minute there was announcement from a loud voice.
"Senior Command to the control bunker, everyone else General Quarter …!"
There was a panicked but orderly exiting of the Barracks, as everyone turned there attention to the glowing rumbling.
Sarah decided that Senior Command or not she needed to know what was going on.
In a matter of minutes she was at the control bunker and slipped into the control room where men and women where at stations scrambling and typing furiously.
Over an intercom Sarah heard jumbles of voices calling out for help. The distorted sounds made her blood run cold, with the realization that there where hundreds of people dying only a several miles away.
A rough bump almost made her trip forward as the broad and older body of General Eiling brushed her aside and he walked into the middle of the chaos of the Command Center.
"Get me who ever is in charge there!" Eiling yelled over the reports being told to him. A statue esque blond woman handed him a telephone like devise connected to a large radio set.
"This is CP to Ghost Rider …" Eiling said with authority.
"CP this is Ghost Rider. Where the hell have you been?!" The familiar voice of Ryan made Sarah's stomach clench.
"Shut up, and explain to me why you're engaged?" Eiling demanded.
"We moved under your orders!" Ryan argued. Eiling's face went red in anger.
"Ghost Rider, I gave no such order …" Eiling said furiously.
"It doesn't matter anymore … Bravo Company is trapped in the valley and we have lost several squads in rescue attempts. We need Charlie Company to come to aid in freeing them!!" Ryan voice was calm but there was a hint of agitation at the General's attempt at a petty argument.
Eiling pressed the phone against his chin in thought. Everyone had there eyes trained on the General as a smug smile formed on his lips. Something inside Sarah froze in fear for her Grandchild's life at the almost evil look in the man's eye.
"Ghost Rider, how many machines are in vicinity?" Eiling asked
"The position crawls …!" Ryan responded with the racket muffling his voice.
"Sir … I'll go get the boys geared up." She saw George addressing Eiling.
"Belay that, Major." Eiling ordered him still looking smug. "Ghost Rider, be advised, you are to hold your position till further instructed." Eiling said with a stiff command.
"Negative … we are going in after Bravo. I'm not going to stay back and wait for a committee." The tone he used stirred something in Sarah that made her proud to know he came from her blood.
"Understood Captain." Eiling nodded and gave the phone back to the statue esque blond. "Get me home plate." He barked. After several moments the blond handed the phone back to him.
"Home Plate this San Angelo firebase … I have a Red situation at coordinates …" Eiling leaned over to look at a computer screen and repeated them. "I need a complete dump off of everything you got on that position."
All the oxygen seemed to be sucked out of the room as he issued the orders. Sarah didn't know what he had just done, but it was bad enough that she spotted a woman at a computer station with both hands over her mouth.
"Sir … Those aren't reprogrammed metal … there soldiers, flesh and blood!" Captain Smyth said with disgust.
"Duly noted." Eiling said shortly.
"San A we read your request, but you need to clarify it, sir." A male voice echoed over the intercom.
"I want you to bomb the holy fuck out of the coordinates I just gave you." He yelled.
"Copy that …air raid is ETA 7 minutes." The voice responded after a pause.
"Wait a minute!" Sarah said out loud as it all came rushing to her in a flash. Eiling was planning on napalming the entire valley with his men in it … with Ryan in it. "There are soldiers in that valley!' Sarah yelled.
"Your bed mate's screw up has handed us a golden opportunity here. If we can take out the entirety of Skynet's vanguard, then we can end this war quicker then thought possible." Eiling explained with an almost excited voice as if he was planning on winning a metal for such a deed.
"They're your men, your responsibility." Sarah said in shock.
"What is a soldier's life if not to be sacrificed for the greater good?" Eiling snarled before motioning his head to Sarah.
She felt large hands snatch her shoulders and arms and began to drag her out of the bunker.
"Wait … wait a minute!" Sarah struggled to free herself, but it was useless as she felt more and more people trying to restrain her.
"They're your soldiers … they're human!!" Sarah yelled as the room began to get disappear in the distance.
Once outside Sarah felt fists begin to pound themselves against her face and body. She fell to the ground and felt the air in her lungs escape her as a foot embedded it's self into her abdomen. She gasped for air before the shadows seemed to disappear and left her alone to groan into the dried turf.
Sarah turned over and looked over at the glowing battle field helplessly.
"Run …run!" Sarah begged hoping the swirling breeze would carry her gasped pleas to the person she was calling to. The firecracker sounds intensified as if something major was happening over there.
"God … please, run." Sarah felt her strength return. She pulled herself to her knees.
The sound of loud streaking Jet engines could be heard in the distance. Sarah desperately got to her feet.
"Run … get out." Sarah said quietly walking toward the cliffs.
As the streaking got closer and closer, Sarah felt a panic build in her gut causing her to begin to run as fast as she could toward the glowing and crackling cliffs.
A heated rush of wind passed above her and the drag of deafening sound behind it. Shadowed fighter planes passed over her head and toward the glowing skyline.
"RUN … RYAN RUN!!" her screams were drowned in the roar of the jet engines.
Sarah slid to her knees when the first seismic blast hit the ground. Fire balls illuminated the night sky as plane after plane dropped the payloads on the position shaking the ground violently.
The bombing ended after several minutes and everything went deathly silent. The wind swirled carrying with it an artificial heat from the bombing strafes.
Sarah bowed her head into the grass defeated, covering her head with her hands.
Her tears were the first water the parched grass has had in many years.
You know I would love to be like Josh Friedman and let my work stand for itself, but … I don't think I can do that this time … ;)
Authors Notes
Alice is the product of Taylor Swift being looped to many times on the radio.
Alright so … Ryan was an arrogant jerk as a teenager.
Despite what you may think there isn't a gag or any crack shipping here. The whole Ryan and Sarah engagement thing was purely last second. See I was going to leave it as Alice knowing they're being related, but then it occurred to me that everyone is going to see Sarah as fishy for claiming to be a Connor. Then I was going to change it to there best friends, but then I shot myself in the foot last chapter. So in the end engagement answered all there problems.
Finally, the rape thing … look, I was just trying to show how much of a bastard Eiling was and to what lengths an infiltrator will let someone do to them to get the mission done.
Oh well hope you enjoyed.