Terminator: Return of the Fallen

Part XV

The daughter of John Connor! This is amazing. Connor himself put me back together. I was his ultimate weapon, the indestructible soldier on the frontline of our war against the machines. I am now a part of the Connor legacy.

"Sarah, I just want you to know that I have the deepest respect for your father. John Connor is and always has been the greatest combat leader I have ever seen".

"Thank you, Lieutenant. If he were here, my father would be proud of you".

Ironically, John and Sarah choose that exact moment to walk in. There is an obvious resemblance between John and the younger Sarah Connor. You can tell that she is his daughter. I wonder how Sarah will react to being a grandmother? Things are going to get complicated. The elder Sarah Connor speaks first.

"Why is there a naked girl in our house?"

"Oh, you are going to love this. John and Sarah, I would like to introduce Sarah Connor of the Resistance". The poor girl looks more panicked than Allison. Seriously, I think she is going to cry.

"John...and...Sarah....are you...?"

"This is your family. I just love reunions, don't you Cameron?"

Young Sarah Connor runs out of the room with tears in her eyes. That is not the reaction I was looking for. Apparently, Catherine is not pleased either, because she is yelling at me.

"You idiot! Why did you do that?"

"What? What did I do?"

"Cameron, Sarah, and myself are from the same period. Where we are from, John Connor has already been killed in action and his children have never gotten over it". Shit! Connor bought the farm? I can't believe it.

"I...I didn't know that. Who's running the Resistance?"

"Connor's eldest, Kyle, is the new Supreme Commander. I wonder why he sent her here?"

"Kyle and Sarah. So, he named his kids after his parents. That is so touching, and I am being a jerk again, aren't I".

"Yes, you are." Cameron storms into the room. Time to get yelled at, again.

"That was incredibly insensitive of you, Lieutenant".

"I didn't know Connor was dead! Speaking of Connor, did you know that he built me?"

"No, but it makes sense. John was a genius".

"Why did she run to you, anyway?"

"Cameron was the one that told Connor's children about his...demise. She remained at his side until the very end".

"Wow, I never knew that you were so loyal to the Connor family".

"There is a lot you do not know about me, Lieutenant. I am going to check on Sarah, she was very shaken by today's events". That is understandable. God, I must seem like such an ass. The remaining Connors look so confused right now.

"She's your granddaughter".

"Excuse me?"

"The girl, she is the daughter of John Connor. He named her after you, Sarah Connor". Sarah Connor is starting to tear up. I have seen this woman tied up and beaten, but I have never seen her cry before.

"She's my granddaughter. I have a granddaughter".

"Ok. If you want to shoot me, you go right ahead. I think I deserve it this time". Sarah runs up and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "That was not the response I was expecting".

"I never thought that I would live to see my grandchildren. Hell, I never thought that I would have grandchildren. Bringing her here was......Thank you, Lieutenant".

"You're welcome, Grandma Connor". Sarah laughs and punches me in the arm. Then, Sarah and John go off to talk to the newest member of the Connor clan.

I do my best to stay out of the way and give them their privacy. After all, this is a family matter and I am not part of the family. Whatever they said to each other, it must have been good. That night, the two Sarah Connors and Allison were doing yoga together in the living room. John Henry motions towards a nearby wall, where Reese is sneaking around. I creep up behind him and slap him on the back.

"JESUS!"

"Care to join us, Reese?"

"Uh..No, Sarah. I was just....walking through". As he walks by, Reese flips me the bird and mouths the words: I am going to kill you. I smile and mouth the words: Bring it.

I can't believe they didn't hear me approaching. I have the same molecular density as an Abrams tank! Connor did a great job designing me. As the women do their yoga, I quietly slip into the room. Silently, I creep up behind Allison and give her foot a quick tickle.

"AHA! Don't do that!"

"Sorry , little sister. Having a good time, young Sarah?"

"Why don't you join us, Lieutenant?"

"Uh...I would love to. But Terminators are not as flexible as humans".

"Actually, my father built you to be more flexible than humans".

"Really? Your father was a talented man".

What the heck? It's not like yoga could hurt me. I take a place next to Allison and start to imitate her movements. It is truly amazing just how well Connor put me back together again. I have never been this flexible before. Then, I hear a man's voice laughing from the hallway. There is only one person in this house that laughs like that, Reese is back.

"Take a spot, Reese. There's plenty of room".

"Sorry, Charley, but I've still got my cohones".

"Yes you do. You still have your lonely, lonely cohones".

Both Sarah Connors are practically rolling on the floor laughing. Allison gives me a friendly kick. It is so much fun to mess with Reese and Sarah. It wasn't so much fun for Reese though, because he shot me in the head and then left. I think I am starting to get used to being shot. Of course, the younger Sarah has no idea why he reacted like that.

"What the hell? He just shot a fellow Resistance soldier?"

"He's upset because I keep busting his balls about your grandmother".

"What about my grandmother?"

"How do I put this gently? Your great uncle....wants....to...make whoopee with your grandmother".

"Where's my gun?" At this rate, Sarah and Reese will be out of ammunition long before they even see the enemy.

"You know, if you keep shooting me, you won't have anything left for the Terminators".

Sarah chuckles and goes back to her yoga. As we are all relaxing in the living room, John walks in and tells us that he has been intercepting a lot of communications traffic from a nearby storage facility. The future general wants someone to go and check it out. I volunteer, after all, I am indestructible. However, a certain young Connor wants to tag along. This is going to be difficult.

"Out of the question, young miss. I am going alone".

"COLONEL!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's Colonel Connor, Lieutenant. I will be leading this mission, and that is an order. You don't shoot, you don't smash, you don't even walk away without my permission. Got it?"

"Your father knew that men in the field need to be able to flow with the punches, Colonel. That is why he gave us leverage to act according to the circumstances".

"I'm not my father. We are going to do things by the book, and that means doing everything I say and nothing else. Grab your gear, Lieutenant". She's a regular army clown. I hate regular army clowns!

We drive to the site in complete silence. When we reach the storage facility, Colonel Connor instructs me to examine one section of units while she examines the other. The storage units are large enough to store cars in, or something the size of cars. For all we know, there could be an entire squadron of T-1s here. Splitting up is not a good idea. But I am a soldier, and I follow my orders even if they are idiotic and are most likely to get my superior officer killed.

As we make our way through the storage units, I can hear an extra set of footsteps approaching Sarah's position. I call her up on her cell-phone, and get yelled at for my troubles. This woman definitely has a stick up her backside.

"My orders were clear, Lieutenant. We do things by the book, which means strict radio silence until we have completed our mission. Now be quiet and .....UH!" Shit!

I pull out my M82 and rush to a good vantage point. Once I get a clear view of her position, I see a man in black standing over her holding a taser. He must have gotten the drop on her while she was busy yelling at me for trying to warn her. I point my M82 at the man and use the sniper scope to aim at his head.

"You! Away from the girl! Now!" The man turns around holding a 357 Magnum. "My gun's got a scope, yours doesn't. Who do you think will score a hit? Hands over your head before you lose it!"He does as instructed. "Step away from her. Now!"

As the man starts to walk away from the unconscious Colonel, a second man comes up behind me. He tries to take me out with taser, and I break his neck with the butt of my rifle. The first man panics and makes a run for Sarah. I shoot him in the head. I knew splitting up was a bad idea. We walked into an ambush! Then, I hear a noise that makes my blood boil. It is the sound of a jet engine starting. It can't be.....not here.

I walk over to the storage unit that is making the noise and smash open the padlock. Opening the unit reveals the bane of my existence. A completed Hunter Killer Aerial Assault Drone. It wakes up and looks at me. Those damned red eyes that I have seen a hundred times before are focused on me. The engines fire up as it prepares for take off. It has recognized me as a threat, but I have nothing to take it out with. If it escapes, God only knows how many people will be killed. These things are flying death machines, armed with anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-ship missiles. It must not escape; too many lives are at risk.

Then, I remember that I did not come here alone. At this range, those engines will burn Sarah to a crisp. Instinctively, I jump on top of her. Apparently, my body is designed to absorb heat as well as radiation. The Hunter Killer passes over me without inflicting any damage. Sarah is fine, but my flesh has been incinerated again. Worse, the killing machine has escaped. Damn it!

I call up John to tell him what has happened. When I reach him, he punches a bunch of buttons on his phone. The stupid recognition code! Unfortunately, I do not know the appropriate response.

"John, you never gave me the damn recognition code!"

"What's up, Lieutenant?"

"There was a Hunter Killer here. It got away!"

"Shit! How's Sarah?"

"Your daughter's fine. She's unconscious because she led us into an ambush and refused to listen to my warnings, but she's fine". Someone shoots me in the back of the head. "Now she's conscious".

"Oh, it's you! What happened?"

"What happened, Colonel, is that you got jumped. If you had let me accompany you, this would not have happened. But, you know best, because you're the damn Colonel".

"I will not be talked to this way, Lieutenant!"

"Shut up!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said shut up. You know, I have seen dozens of commanders like you. They all end up the same; they get killed and take their whole division down with them. Any decent veteran knows that you throw the book out the canopy as soon as you go into combat".

"What happened to your skin?"

"I'm glad you've noticed. The reason that I no longer have any flesh is that I was run over by a HUNTER KILLER! The reason you are unharmed is that I saved your ass! Now there is a flying death machine going who knows where to kill a lot of people. Great mission, Colonel!"

"I will have you court-martialled for that!"

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be alive to court martial anyone. Get up, Sir! We have an HK to hunt down and destroy". How the hell did an HK get here? Could things get any worse?