AN:, Once again, I want to stress that I am not an expert in many of the themes this chapter touches on. There may be any number of factual errors. Please forgive them, and I hope you won't let any of them detract from enjoying the story.
Z Plus One Year Two Hundred and Sixty Nine Days.
"Test confirms it Sir. SV-01 Positive. Kate's infected."
Connor had aged considerably in the time it took to get the results back. "What's the prognosis?"
"We still don't have a cure. Mortality rate is pretty high, and she's pregnant, so that makes it harder. She's healthy, strong willed if nothing else, and with your recent orders that medical care and treatment be given to pregnant woman as a priority, she's got a better chance than any of the other cases. We're keeping her isolated until we figure out how the hell she got it. Of all the people to contract it despite Quarantine, she's the least likely. Seems the entire base is focused on keeping her healthy. She hasn't gone near the infected."
"Then why is she sick?!"
"I don't know yet."
"Can I see her?"
"Yessir. But the same protocols apply as in Quarantine. We have her in post-op. It's the most sealed private room we can find. Now that the patrols and entrance guards have the knack of knocking down H/K's, we don't really need it that much until the offensives start."
"And the offensives don't start until we lick this damn virus."
John came into the Post Op room, and saw Kate, looking pale and tired on the cot.
Nevertheless, she smiled for him. "The things I do to get your attention."
"You always did have a flair for the dramatic." John said through his surgical mask.
"Don't you be worried about this." She told him seriously.
"Just like that huh?"
"My dad told me that warriors die when they stop fighting. I'm never going to stop fighting John." She took one of his gloved hands and put it over her stomach. "The baby started kicking."
John smiled. "Really?"
"This morning. It's a fighter too."
John smiled. "We gotta stop calling our baby 'it'."
"You were the one who wanted to be surprised." Kate grinned. "We're going to be okay."
"Okay. But in the meantime, you are not to leave this bed."
"Last time you said that was Crystal Peak." Kate teased. "Don't parent me John."
"Get used to it Kate." John told her. "Take advantage of it. Once we cure this thing and the baby is born we'll be lucky to have three days to ourselves a year between the baby and the war."
Kate smirked primly at him. "I'll wear you out in those three days."
John laughed, despite himself. But it faded fast. She was trying too hard to keep him from worrying.
Kate patted the side of her cot and he sat down next to her. "I was thinking about yesterday when I had the bacon. I had cravings for all the same things last time i was pregnant. My mom told me that when she was pregnant, she always wanted high iron foods. Burgers, Steak... her doctor told her that she was Iron Deficient. Her cravings were her body's way of supplying through diet what it needed. The human body is very smart John. When it needs to rest it tells us so. When it needs more protein we want eggs. When we need more fluids we get thirsty. During the winter we want big hot meals, like roast and hot chocolate. When it's summer we want light cool meals like salads and ice tea. Our bodies tell us these things John, when we're sick and when we're getting better. The people in the tunnels, they want to know how I feel about being pregnant when almost all the doctors and hospitals are gone. I told them that women were having babies long before hospitals. The body knows how to look after itself. My body warned me I was sick, and I know it wants to protect this baby as much as I do." She pushed his hand away. "So get back to work soldier."
"Yes Ma'am."
John came out of the Medbay and stripped off his mask and gloves. Bowman and Walters were waiting for him, looking about as serious as he had ever seen them. "Gentlemen?"
Walters spoke first. "Colonel, we have been able to identify the reason Quarantine failed."
"Good. What is it?"
"It never did." Bowman picked up the narrative. "Sir, I believe I know the reason why the second outbreak stopped with the CMO."
Connor twitched at mention of his wife being ill. "Tell me."
"SV-01 is airborne, but it didn't start that way." Bowman explained. "Your wife was somehow exposed to the waterborne variant. That's why it hasn't been transmitted from her."
Connor paled. "Hell. The water supply."
Bowman shook his head swiftly. "I've already checked. The water is fine. Nobody else has been infected through the drinking water either."
Connor glared. "Then how?!"
"Kate's been eating some meals of yours hasn't she sir?"
Connor nodded. "I gave her some of my food, now that she's eating for two."
"Yessir. Your meals don't always come from the same stock as the rest of the men sir." Bowman agreed. "That would explain it. I've already checked the kitchen supplies. They test negative. I tested one or two of the luxuries items set aside for the Officer's table. They tested negative. I went into the garbage and started checking that. It tested negative." Bowman explained. "But there was another food source, aside from all that."
Connor closed his eyes. "The bacon."
Walters piped up. "The closest thing we can figure is that the aerosol missile that infected the reservoir wasn't the only biological launch. There are plenty of other water sources out there and our salvage teams are going out non-stop. Looks like a pig got to one of them... latency lasts three months."
"The food animals were infected." Connor nodded, swiftly realizing. "The virus isn't just in our people, it's everywhere. Somebody goes out, brings back wild mushrooms, brings back animals, drinks their canteen dry, finds a water supply outside while on their salvage run..."
"And since the virus doesn't show up in any of the soldier's chemical tests that test if water is drinkable, they don't realize that they're refilling their canteens with the contaminated water." Bowman finished. "Half a dozen ways it can still get in. And that's just the ones I can think of."
"Why weren't those animals tested when they came in?"
"They were. The tests were negative. My guess is that the latency ended after the testing, so it didn't sow up, but before it was slaughtered. I checked all the meat again; the side of pork was the only positive test. The cows and sheep seem okay."
Connor sighed. "Eric, keep your scroungers informed about this stuff dammit! They're bringing worse than salvage back in with them."
"Yessir."
"Who else got contaminated food that day?"
"Near as we can figure, nobody. You and Kate were the first, you gave Kate the Bacon on your tray, and you two always take your meals at odd hours. You're on a different clock than the rest of us so you can talk to the day shifts and the night shifts."
"Then we will be hopeful that we got to it before it spread any further."
"Soldiers aren't meant to be optimistic." Walters pointed out.
"You aren't the first to say so." Connor agreed. "Bowman, I know you're doing everything you can, but the fact is that Skynet can infect the entire surface if it wants to. The only real way to protect our people from it is to have a cure."
"I'm working on it."
"Go." Connor dismissed him. "And keep checking all the foodstuffs and the animals that have been brought in. Including the K-9 units."
Bowman saluted and left the two of them alone.
Eric picked up the conversation. "Skynet won't have to worry about outbreaks, and its people don't have to sleep. The High IQ boys in the lab say that Skynet could have cultured over 200 tonnes..."
Connor shook his head. "Skynet could make a lot of aerosol payload, but won't use it. Skynet won't be wasteful."
Eric met his eyes. "Yes. Sir."
Connor glanced back at him. "Eric?"
Walters seemed to argue with himself briefly. "Permission to speak freely sir?"
"Always."
"When we arrived at the Alamo, I asked how you knew all this stuff. Sir, your battle tactics, your skills... you seem to know how Skynet thinks. Now maybe that's just being brilliant, but sir... you were a civilian. Some of the people we rescued out of that prison camp... they would follow you to the end of the world. They would certainly follow you underground, where poor air circulation and tight quarters would make the perfect target for a biological attack. And... A few people.... are wondering if that's what Skynet had in mind."
Connor looked at him sharply. "Eric!"
Walters put his hands up quickly. "Sir, I don't suspect... I mean... A lot of people want to know how you're doing this. Some of them are wondering if... if we can trust you. There's no way to look into your past any more. There's no way to verify anything anybody tells us, so for the most part we don't bother, but... you're different."
Connor looked his second in the eye. "And you Eric. Who do you trust?"
Silence.
"Sir, the first time I heard your name, I was told that you were giving instructions to men over the radio. The first time I heard your voice, I found out you were a civilian, alone in a fallout shelter with a General's daughter. The first time we met face to face I gave you a uniform and made you my boss. I have no reason to trust you except that I do."
Connor smiled. "Thank you Major. Is there going to be any trouble from whoever has been asking questions?"
"Understand sir, the men trust you. The men trust anyone they fight side by side with on the front lines. Most of the civilians trust you. They saw you in the prison camp. But the question that keeps coming up over and over is: How Does Connor Always Know?"
"And how is it being answered?" Connor asked.
"Most people just hear the words 'He's John Connor' and leave it at that. Anyone who asks me, I tell them that Skynet wouldn't bother putting a spy in charge. It takes too long, it organises us against them, it costs Skynet resources. It's wasteful. Skynet's far too efficient."
"Good man."
Eric glanced around to insure that they were alone, and leaned closer. "But I'm the one who gave you the uniform, so just for me, I want to know. How does a civilian get into Crystal Peak when WW3 breaks out? How does a civilian know all this post-nuclear survival stuff from memory? How do you alone know how to pull apart a Terminator? How do you know how Skynet thinks? Just for me, I want to know: Where did you come from?"
Connor could not begrudge the man his question. He almost answered it.
Z Plus Two Years Twenty Seven Days.
Bowman was working non-stop, trying to find a cure, and had found nothing.
Halloway was still on base, flatly refusing to risk taking the virus back with him, though he had no symptoms of his own.
Time marched on, heedless of the dramas unfolding. Kate was in her seventh month of pregnancy. The second anniversary of Judgment Day came and went, driving morale further down. Nobody observed it. Nobody liked to think about it. For once, the base simply stopped as the healthy got drunk and the sick did nothing.
While there were still there were no new cases reported, but as yet, nobody had been released from Quarantine. The infected did not move about much, sometimes talking to their adjacent beds, more often than not keeping to themselves, ever mindful of the soldiers just outside quarantine, rifles apparent, and safeties off.
As the virus progressed, each patient was able to tolerate less and less nourishment, and vitamin injections were spread thin due to the load of people. There were fewer people for scavenger teams, and little by little, those in Quarantine began to starve, unable to tolerate the food and drink that was freely available to the healthy.
Work on improving the tunnels dropped to a standstill, the workforce weakened by the drop in numbers, and the workload increasing for all able-bodied.
With the workers steadily getting sick, Connor was forced to lift restrictions on foot traffic, and the healthy took on roles in various posts around the base to make up the numbers for essential operations.
Connor did more than anyone. It improved morale to have The Colonel working with the kitchen staff and the motor pool, and the military operations each day.
After working a fifteen hour day, Connor went to Medbay, and didn't move until the next morning. Carla had appointed herself nurse over Kate exclusively, and sometimes wondered if she was taking care of Kate, or her husband. Seeing him, still in mask and gloves, curled up next to Kate's bed, having no problem with sleeping on concrete, Carla wondered how it was that Kate was able to handle him. At first, Kate had directed Connor to sleep or eat as needed, even from her cot, but as her pregnancy progressed, so did the virus, until she was barely able to focus her eyes on him.
Kate was getting worse.
John looked hollow-eyed at his wife, who lay still on the cot. The virus was draining her strength. She looked so weak, her pregnant belly painfully out of place on her frail body. There was no nourishment going in. Intravenous solution didn't work through her system with her kidneys shut down. She could keep very little food down. Kate had demanded vitamin supplements to keep her baby nourished. One injection after another, and Kate's thinning arms were covered in bruises from needle marks.
It was the proof of how bad things were getting that she had taken herself off all duty rosters, even the inactive ones. She spent most of her time sleeping now, conserving what little energy she had. The periods of wakefulness were getting shorter and further apart. Kate had been out for almost two days, Connor at her side every second he could.
John was trying very hard not to panic. He knew she'd be okay. She had to be. The Terminator had told him so. His wife, his second in command, his children. All of it laid out for him by a cyborg prophet.
No no, Connor. A little voice said coldly in his mind. You've got bad Intel. That was the war The Terminator came from. How many of your future lieutenants did the T-X execute that day? She had a long hit-list, she got to so many of them. Was one of them some brilliant disease specialist? Which of your trusted allies would have found the cure for this virus? Did the T-X kill them before the bombs fell?
Nothing's the same any more. Connor thought sickly. Everything is so fragile now.
John knew what his wife would have said. You saved us in one timeline John, enough that Skynet had to keep sending assassins, over and over again. Maybe things have changed, but not enough.
Fine, John thought sourly. So the war is assured. But what about you Kate? You are not promised to me.
Kate would have slapped him upside the head, told him to stop feeling sorry for himself. She would have told him to push away these terrifying thoughts and focus on his job.
But she couldn't do any of that, because she was wheezing for air in her sleep, trying to keep herself and their baby alive.
John couldn't take these thoughts any longer and jumped up, leaving the Medbay.
He came out into the main tunnel, and immediately set upon by the crush of people, waiting for their leader to speak. Connor was well known to all, but while John was the head, Kate had been the heart of the Underground. While John had focused on the soldiers, Kate had focused on the civilians. Word of her pregnancy had galvanized them, word of her illness had gutted them.
What do you want from me!? He felt like screaming. I'm not the right hand of God, and I don't have a magic wand! Get away from me! I can't be bothered with you while she's in there!
But even in his growing panic, he knew enough to not speak these thoughts out loud.
The people waited, with hopeful staring eyes, knowing he was going to say something that would make it all better.
But for the first time, Connor had nothing to say.
The Colonel pushed his way past them, ignoring their calls for help, and their shouts of support for Kate.
Connor found the little boy in the Quarantine bay. Everyone not in a cot was wearing masks and gloves. Nobody was going to waste them, so for the most part, the same people that were there before hadn't left, the Quarantine bay their new posting until they could leave, one way or another.
Kyle Reese was curled up next to Forrest's cot. Forrest himself was deathly pale and had sweat pasting down his hair and clothes.
"Kyle?"
Kyle Reese, falling asleep in his chair, looked up at Connor. "I... I've been talking to him while he's awake..."
Connor nodded. "That's good."
"Sir, can I ask you about something?"
"Sure."
"He was talking about... I don't think he was really thinking straight, he was talking about how the dolphins are all dead. So the whales must be too. What was he talking about? The words sound familiar, but... Those are animals right?"
"How old were you before Judgment Day?"
"Four. I think. I don't remember real well... It was before."
Connor understood. The world had been divided neatly into 'before' and 'after' Judgment Day, and nobody liked to think about it. Very few people talked about their past any more.
Connor took stock of the little boy for a few moment, and spoke, clear and straightforward. "No. Nah, it's just an old fairy tale Kyle. There are no such things as dolphins. No such things as whales." They're probably extinct now. Am I really lying to him?
Kyle nodded, accepting the Colonel at his word. "He's getting sicker, huh?"
"Yeah. I guess so. Get some sleep." Connor nodded and saluted. Kyle returned the salute and lay back down on his own cot.
Connor left the Quarantine, when Dex came running up. "Colonel! It's Kate!"
Connor felt sick. It's never ending! They just keep coming, one disaster after another.
Nevertheless, he ran like hell.
"Kate's currently hooked up to the only working dialysis machine in the underground sir." Bowman promised. "But that buys her time only. Once the dialysis cleans out her kidneys, the fever starts building up fluid and salts again. The pregnancy is making it difficult to treat the symptoms. We need to make a decision." Bowman sighed and looked away from the microscope. "A pregnancy is hard on the body at the best of times. Kate made it to the seventh month, and frankly that's better than I would have thought. The baby might be viable, so we've got some leeway. I'm already setting up an infant ICU."
"Is it that bad?" Connor demanded. "You don't have an ICU for a baby unless... unless the mother can't survive to full term."
Bowman nodded. "Kate's earlier miscarriage changes the map a little. So does the virus." He hesitated. "Colonel, sit down."
Feeling a chill, John did so.
"There has been a marked reduction in the baby's heartbeat. Now, I've got Kate on oxygen. If we can up the amount of O2 that Kate gets into her system, then the baby can get more as well, and this might all be academic. But the virus is exhausting Kate's body, and the baby is demanding everything she's got left... Colonel, if the baby's heart-rate slows any further, we'll have to induce labor. Now that could be dangerous to the child, but we're late enough in the pregnancy that it might be the best option for Kate."
"For Kate." Connor clarified. "What about the baby?"
"Ideally, the fetus should stay right where it is until reaching full term. If oxygen fixes the heart rate problem, then I'll let it happen naturally. But John, this pregnancy is putting an enormous strain on her body. She doesn't have a lot of reserves left. Food is tight, the fresh drinking water supply is questionable, Kate was working far too hard..." He rubbed his eyes. "Colonel, this won't be popular, but Kate's chances would be far improved if the baby was born now."
Connor twitched. "Would the baby survive?"
Beat.
Connor glared. "I want a frank answer Doctor."
"Frankly, I don't know. But I do know that Kate's using up the last bit of life that the virus left her."
Connor felt sick. "Is there no way to save both?"
"It is entirely possible that both may yet survive. But Colonel... The odds are against it." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "It would be safer for her if we took the chance with the baby's life. It would be safer for the baby if we took the chance on her."
Connor didn't speak for such a very long time. "Kate would never forgive me for putting her life over the baby's."
"Doesn't mean it's the wrong choice."
Connor thought hard. What would mom say? Would she say that Kate was worth more to me and the war effort than a newborn baby? Or would she say that protecting your child over yourself is what mothers did?
What would Kate say?
"You have kids Doc?"
"No."
Connor nodded. "So many people have lost family, would fight tooth and nail to get it back. There's a whole other war being fought in Kate's body right now. and the thing that keeps coming back, is that every war has casualties."
"In medical school, we had a teacher who called Pregnancy the great parasite. It's a life form that it totally dependant on its host, and demands more and more until it gets strong enough to actually fight its way out. It was right then that I was grateful the Army was picking up the tab. So few pregnant soldiers." He gave a mirthless grin. "Of course, I hadn't met your wife then."
Connor chuckled bitterly. "You look tired Doc. When did you last sleep?"
"Sleep? I vaguely remember that. That's a fairy tale right?"
The two men chuckled bitterly again, and Connor rubbed his eyes. "If I have to choose between my baby and my wife..." Connor shook his head. "No. Kate's strong. And there's nothing she'll fight for harder than this. Give them time Doctor. She'll win this particular little war. They'll make it." he swore, when his radio buzzed. "Connor here."
"Lori's at checkpoint Alpha. She says she has something urgent to report."
Lori came down the corridor, Dex escorting her from the entrance, and took quick stock of Connor. "Where's Dyson?"
Daniel Dyson came up behind Connor. "I'm right here."
"You were supposed to check in every twenty four hours." Lori snarled.
"I got busy. I found something useful. Connor's guys figured out how to jam Skynet missiles at close range."
Lori nodded at that and shifted topics instantly. "Connor, Is there a cure?"
"Not yet." The Colonel said evenly.
"Danny, is that true?" Lori asked immediately.
"Yes Ma'am." Dyson swore.
Lori sighed. "My Orphanage is getting sicker. The healthy are starting to panic, and the sick are looking for someone to tear apart. John, if you had a cure, you'd tell me right? I can make it worth you're while."
"I find the cure, there'll be no charge." Connor promised.
"Dyson, do you believe that?" Lori asked without hesitation.
"Yes Ma'am, I do." Danny said clearly.
Lori sighed. "In that case, consider this my own show of good faith." She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a slip of paper. "My people figured out where the Bio-Weapon was cultured."
Connor reacted like he'd touched a live wire. "Thank you!" A dangerous glint came into his eyes. A deadly fire that vowed to consume something. "Dex." He almost growled. "Assemble the Principals. We're going hunting."
"Yes sir."
Saint was offering a few working watches to a group of civilians gathered outside Medbay, when a hand clamped down on her shoulder.
"Connor's wife is in there, and it's even money whether the pregnancy or the virus kills her first. I don't think he'd take kindly to you fleecing his personnel right now." Lori said dangerously. "Just giving you fair warning."
Saint nodded sagely. It was a poor grifter that didn't take note of the Law.
Halloway came over, with a cup in each hand, and offered one to Lori. "If you close your eyes and ignore the smell, you'd swear it was coffee."
Lori took it. "Surprised to see you back here Halloway."
"Came back two weeks ago. I think Connor was hoping to get me on board without you here. Then the outbreak got nasty... I live on submarines Lori. I'm NOT going back until I'm sure I'm clean. How about you?"
Lori sat down against the wall, and leaned into Halloway. "I'm hoping Connor's medical team can pull off a miracle."
"Bad news then?"
"My little town now has an 85 percent infection rate." Lori whispered. "I came to see if they had anything that could help, and found out that their CMO, Connor's wife, had it too."
Halloway sighed and pulled her tight against his side. "Lori... you could come with me. If... if the worst happens, there's always a home for you."
Lori caught the arm around her shoulders, and pulled his hand close for a gentle kiss.
Connor had come out of the Medbay. The ever present whispering that filled the public areas of the underground seemed to go quiet for a moment, till somebody divined that Kate was apparently still breathing, and the quiet talking resumed.
Connor took them all in, and quietly slipped over to Halloway and Lori. "Hey guys."
"How is she?"
"Worried about the baby." Connor said, looking old.
"What are the doctors telling you?" Lori asked quietly.
"Not much, unless I order them to, which scares me more than anything else Skynet can do." He looked at the two of them. "I don't deny my war would be easier with you, but my wife's in there, and she's not doing so good, and I have to leave her side now. I hate to do that. My home is with Kate and our baby." his voice turned to such steel that Halloway and Lori both shivered. "Skynet made my family sick. And could do it again. I won't have it. I won't allow it. Now I know where the virus was cultured, and I'm going out there to kill it, once and for all."
Silence.
"Godspeed Connor." Halloway whispered.
Connor nodded at both of them, stood up and headed off.
"Do you think he has a chance?" Lori whispered.
"I've been listening to what these people say about him... if half the stories are true, I think he'll be back." Halloway said quietly.
Kate woke up coughing furiously. Her breathing was getting thick and tough.
Relax! She ordered herself furiously. There is enough room. There is enough air. You will breathe Kate! You! Will! Breathe! For! The! Baby!
And after a while, her breathing slowed to normal, and Kate relaxed. Her vision was going dim. She reached over to the other side of the cot. He wasn't there. Of course he wasn't there. This was Medbay. Kate longed for their little room, where only they went and would hold each other tight against the wars.
"Just breathe Ma'am." Carla's voice said gently. "You've got a thousand people in this base standing with you right now. Including me. Just keep breathing. This isn't your baby, this is all of ours. So you do what we all do Kate. You just keep breathing."
Kate obeyed, feeling her heart swell. Her father had told her that the Commander of any base was the father figure for all his men. Kate had apparently been declared mother to the civilians as well.
The people on this base are demoralized and looking to me, and I'm trapped in this bed while my children are out there, fighting and working and crying.
Kate looked around, barely able to focus her eyes. She heard voices talking.
Bowman? When did he get here? Vision's fading... can't see... John?! John! I need you! Where are you!?
Kate fought for breath. "The... the baby." She wheezed.
"The baby's fine." Bowman assured her. "Save your strength Kate."
"Check again. Please. Check." Kate croaked. "That's an order!"
Bowman sighed and went over to the shelves, preparing to run the test.
Carla came over and held her hand. She kept holding it, and mopping Kate's brow, whispering encouragement over and over until Kate was finally asleep again.
"Lori gave us the co-ordinates." Walters reported. " The Chemical plant is something Skynet apparently captured and re-tasked for Bio-Weapons. It's out past Twenty-nine Palms. Our maps of the area are pre-Judgment Day, but in this case, that won't affect matters too much."
"How so?"
"There's little to no structures in the area. No roads except the main entrance road that leads to the main gate. There is no useful hills, no convenient gully we can sneak through. Just open plains for almost two hundred feet in every direction." Connor told them, seemingly unconcerned. "Gould? Weapons?"
"We are currently finishing the first working prototypes based on the Machine's new plasma rifles." Gould reported. "But sir, they've never been tested under field conditions... and we're having trouble stabilizing the power systems. Sci-Fi aside, this is an entirely new form of weapon."
"This mission is necessary." Connor said clearly. "However the weapons are experimental. Anyone who wants to carry the more conventional guns can do so."
"What will you do sir?"
Connor nodded. "I'm taking the new Plasma Rifle with me."
"What do we know about the Chemical Plant defenses?"
"Only what Lori's people have told us." Connor said. "The humanoid models patrolling day and night along the perimeter. Three large ground based H/K's and two of the large flying variety."
"Those three types seem to be the standard issue combat units for Skynet now. The T-1's from the original weapons program, and the smaller remote controlled flying H/K's haven't been seen, by us Lori or Halloway for a few months." Walters put in.
"I'd feel better if we had better recon." Oldham volunteered.
"The terrain makes it impossible to sneak up on them with any accuracy. The best we can get is a full klick from the facility."
Connor thought for a second. "How many snipers have we got?"
"Just over a dozen. Four that aren't currently in Quarantine."
"A good sniper can hit a target from over four miles away." Connor pointed out.
"The world best sniper still needs an angle that can work to make the shot." Walters pointed out.
"For their targets, they'll have one." Connor told him. "Get the scroungers together. I have a shopping list for them."
"Which base?" Oldham went to his maps.
"Not a base." Connor told him. "Toys R Us."
Bowman was over at the computer, and finally spoke once checked the blood smear. "Well now, that's odd."
Carla, still at Kate's bedside, looked sharply at him. "What is?"
Bowman looked up. "The baby is indeed fine."
Another hour passed, and the strike team was ready to move out. There was an eerie feeling of finality about it. For the first time, the exits were empty. The guards to the tran-tunnel entrances were hundreds of meters up the tunnel. The lit base, where the cars were organized, and the civilians working... were deserted. Everybody was avoiding each other, or in Quarantine.
The silence was oppressive.
"Okay, we'll need to prep these vehicles ourselves." Connor commanded. "The other jeeps and troop carriers that looked the part were destroyed months ago, and with so much of the Motor pool out of commission, we haven't replaced them yet."
His men nodded, but didn't understand.
"Dex, Lutz, go get some chains, wooden planks, whatever, and beat the hell out of these cars. Leave the tyres alone, but make it look like these vehicles have been out in the open. Oldham, get brown and red paint, we're going to paint some 'rust' onto these things. Urban camouflage people. Our usual support staff is in Quarantine, and the Mission Clock is running. We aren't delaying the mission for the prep work, so get moving!"
The strike team unslung their rifles and started grabbing the necessary implements. Lutz started by smashing out the windows, one by one.
"Hey! We could use that glass for something!"
"Skynet won't buy it if there isn't broken glass visible!"
"Make sure there's no glass inside the vehicle." Connor directed. "We can't spare the disinfectant for glass cuts."
"Yessir."
Connor's radio buzzed. "Connor here."
"Colonel, please come to the Medbay immediately." Bowman's voice came.
Connor was moving so fast that he didn't notice the horrified looks that followed him, every soldier knowing what must have happened.
Connor came in quickly, to the unusual sight of Bowman grinning down at the unconscious Kate. "Doctor."
"Colonel." Bowman said. "I have good news, and I have bad news. Which would you like first?"
"Start with the good news."
"The baby is not infected."
Beat.
"WHAT?" Connor exclaimed in disbelief.
"The bad news is that the problem the baby is having with the slowing heart rate is therefore being caused by Kate's body coming apart under the strain." Bowman said. "The better news, is that the baby's immune system had to adapt to the presence of the Virus, in-vitro. Its body was totally sustained from Kate's, but the virus was present in her. There are several natural immune systems that come into play in the womb of the mother... to protect the unborn from viral infections. The placental barrier, maternal antibodies and amniotic fluid all serve as a filtration system." Bowman explained. "Kate's antibodies are at war with the Virus and losing, but her infection was not systemic. It was ingested. The virus had to fight its way through her system, unlike all the others who had it transmitted through the air. The child's still healthy. Kate gave the unborn baby the Virus, but the body has safeguards specifically for that, so the child survived."
"The baby's okay?" Connor pressed.
"The baby is fine." Bowman promised him. "And what's more, the child has antibodies present that have survived the Virus."
Bowman went over to the table, and picked up a syringe with a clear liquid in it. "And fortunately, the baby's got just enough blood to safely provide one dose worth of white blood cells. Cordocentesis is a marvelous thing. We were able to get the blood the same way we tested for the virus."
Connor looked hard at Bowman, then at the syringe, daring to hope... "Doctor, are you telling me... Is this a cure?"
Bowman broke out in a huge smile. "Yessir."
Connor could hardly take it in. "And Kate?"
"I have her sedated right now. She needs to sleep for a while."
"How does this affect her pregnancy?"
"It doesn't. It'll take a while to synthesize enough of the cure to give her too. I know you'd rather give the one dose we have to her right now, but-"
"But she doesn't have a whole lot to spare, and we can't go demanding donations from her now."
"She's at the end of her rope, but if she can last till morning, and frankly, she's lasted this long, so I'm optimistic… we can cure the virus. After that, it's up to her."
"How long until you can start mass production?"
"The cure works; we can take more blood from the cured person and run it through a centrifuge to get more white blood cells to make more vaccine. I've already selected some of the infected for human trials."
"I thought that making vaccinations took complicated laboratory work."
"It does, but we can improvise. Blood types are incompatible; there are toxins, trace elements. All that stuff is in Red Blood cells. Anti-bodies are in White Blood Cells. We can just centrifuge away all the stuff we don't need, and separate out the stuff we can use."
"Which of the infected gets the first dose?"
"They don't. I'm giving the first dose to somebody healthy. They can spare more blood without getting put in greater danger." Bowman cleared his throat. "That's why I called you. I need CO's permission to begin human trials. Needless to say, I skipped a few steps. Animal testing, FDA approval, things like that."
"Permission for human trials is granted." Connor said immediately.
Carla jumped up. "Sir, I volunteer!"
Connor nodded gratefully at her. "Keep it quiet till we're sure it works." He said. "We don't announce there's a cure till we can get it to everybody."
"Yessir."
Connor's radio buzzed and he answered it. "Connor."
"Colonel, the strike team is assembled and the vehicles are prepared, we're ready to go. At your order."
Connor knew what Walters was really saying. If the worst had happened, he was willing to lead the strike in his Colonel's place. Connor started to say something, changed his mind, and started to speak again...
"Go." Carla told him. "I can donate blood and stay with her."
Connor started to go. Then came back. "Doc, we'll be bringing wounded back with us, win or lose. We won't have time to thank you properly, but there's a whole lot of people... Humanity's an endangered species Doctor, and you saved an awful lot of them."
Bowman smiled. "Thank you sir."
Connor headed out.
Bowman looked over. "Carla, we don't know for sure if this'll work. The reason I'd give it to you and not one of the infected would be to get a dozen or so shots to start with, as a control group."
"I understand."
"Also, it might actually make you sick. Some people get the flu after having a flu shot. It's possible the same could happen here." Bowman looked evenly at her. "You're a good nurse Carla, I'd hate to have you stuck in Quarantine when I need you here. Especially with Major Connor out of commission."
Carla smirked. "Was that a compliment?"
"I've been known to give them." Bowman said professionally.
Carla smiled. "Doc, there's a third possibility. It could be you've pulled it off. This could work just fine and I can supply you with enough white blood cells to heal a dozen people. It'll work." She said confidently. "I know it will."
Bowman smirked. "Was that a compliment?"
"I've been known to give them." Carla returned.
The two of them grinned at each other, despite themselves.
"I still can't believe you punched me." Bowman said at last.
Carla rolled up her sleeve. "Just stab me with a needle and call it even will ya."
The convoy rolled to a stop, almost a mile from the base. Three men jumped out of the Troop carriers, each carrying a rifle, with a huge scope on top, and a barrel so long that when held upright, each gun looked more like a spear.
Connor jumped out of his jeep and came to the snipers specifically, but raised his voice to be heard by everyone. "Everybody fall out."
After a second, the entire strike team jumped out of their vehicles and assembled before Connor.
"Sniper teams, set up here, and a half klick to the east and west respectively. We'll be in position. Do not fire, until your targets are stationary. We'll set 'em up, you knock 'em down."
The men took in the orders, waited calmly to be dismissed. Every eye instinctively stayed on Connor.
"This is usually the moment I say something inspirational." He said clearly, every soldier hearing him. "I tell you about duty, and honor, and how proud I am to fight with each of you, and how you've managed to band together against overwhelming odds and not only survive, but hit back. And you know what? Every single time I say something like that, I mean it. But today I just don't have it in me."
Hushed silence.
"We found a cure." Connor said finally.
Stunned silence.
"We're still testing it, but by the time we get back, they'll know for sure if it works. Back at the base, our people could be getting better right now. Our target is a Bio-Weapons lab. We found a cure, but Skynet could make something new, unless we kill it. But even so, that does not change the fact that we lost people. That does not forgive what Skynet has done. Who here would like to demonstrate to Skynet exactly how we feel on the subject?"
A blood thirsty cheer went up. It was not the first that the Last Army had given. It would not be the last.
"You know the plan. You know the enemy. The Mission Clock is Running. Good Hunting. Dismissed."
The snipers turned and headed to their places. The rest of the Strike team went jumping back into their vehicles.
The Chemical Plant had probably been used for civilian manufacturing before the war. Skynet had taken it over neatly.
Well outside the range of Skynet's eyes, Connor lay face-down in a shallow foxhole, and studied the Plant through the telescopic sight on his rifle. Walters and Oldham held position with him. The rest of the strike force was spread out at the same distance in a half-circle around the target.
Connor studied closer. The always present radio tower, which relayed Skynet's control to the Machines was somewhere inside the facility itself, it's base hidden from view. The huge chemical tanks had been retrofitted with chrome plating and steel machinery, the purpose of which Connor couldn't guess.
Next to the facility, was something that looked an awful lot like a long range missile platform, mounted on two pairs of immense tank treads. A mobile way to launch biological weapons, parked next to a chemical production plant.
Connor had to admire the position. Chemical plants were generally away from population centers. The terrain was open and flat. There was no cover to hide behind, the area patrolled by Terminators on the edge, and the huge H/K's, two airborne, two ground based, holding position close to the structure.
The power of the place was not the guns, it was the wall. There was a wall of desolation and empty wasteland for hundreds of meters around the target.
They're learning. Connor thought bleakly. Putting their targets where sneak attacks can't reach.
Connor checked his watch. The mission clock was running.
Walters had a scope on his own rifle. "That missile platform wasn't included in the intel Lori gave us."
Connor kept watching. "May not have been here. The ground H/K's are sticking close to it." he dropped the scope. "Oh hell."
"What?"
"They're fueling the missile platform. They're getting ready to launch another bio-weapon."
"How close are they to launching?" Oldham asked.
"Can't be sure, but I can see the humanoid Terminators fueling the missile." Connor told them. "Skynet won't take long to program a target." He sighed hard. "We have to move now."
Walters swore under his breath and checked his watch. "Sir, we can't attack now! Mission clock is still T-Minus twelve minutes! We can't alert the others without Skynet picking up transmissions!"
"We don't know where that new missile is going. We wait now, a thousand more people get infected... or worse, it could be headed for LA. Eric, this is all for naught if Skynet's developed something new."
"Sir, the plan-"
"First rule of military strategy Eric."
Walters nodded grimly, conceding the point, and said it with him. "Nothing ever goes according to plan."
"We strike early," Oldham put in. "We tip our hand to Skynet."
Connor shook his head. "That can work to our advantage too. Terminators have thermal vision above all."
Walters sighed and pulled out a large remote control. "It has to be us. We can't advise any of the other teams of the change in targets."
Connor nodded. "Go for it Eric. Aim between the two sets of treads. If you can break the thing's backbone, we won't have to hit it with anything else."
Eric nodded. "Sarge, keep me on target."
Oldham lifted his rifle scope to his eye again.
The first line of defense was the Terminators themselves. Walking tirelessly around the perimeter, day and night without pause or relief.
They were the first to notice something new on the field.
Their directives knew what to do with soldiers, refugees, humans, animals and machines.
But not small remote controlled cars.
Simple, off the shelf, remote controlled toy cars were coming over the dead grass with electric motors whirring. The Terminators took them in, but did not fire. There was nothing in their program to define them as an enemy.
Not even with the first of them began weaving back and forth, as though drunk or blind, toward the mobile missile launcher.
"Left a bit." Oldham directed. "Bit more."
Walters worked his remote control. Connor took out another pack of explosive and began duct-taping it to the second Remote controlled car.
"Straight ahead, now! Now!" Oldham hissed.
Walters worked the controls and the RC Car accelerated, speeding straight into the gap between the treads of the Mobile Missile Launcher.
Connor set down the second RC Car and worked the controls, speeding it toward their machine enemies.
The first car exploded, it's C4 cargo exploding dramatically, neatly breaking the Missile launcher straight across the middle, rupturing the machine; blasting him in half. The explosion caught fire, sending a fireball upward, smoke and debris suddenly everywhere. Even from hundreds of metres away, Connor felt his eardrums shudder as the ground shook under the force of explosives.
"Well, that should let our guys know the attack's been moved up." Walters grinned.
And he was right. More than a dozen Toy RC Cars sped in from all quarters. The original plan was to have all their bombs in place and detonate simultaneously. That had gone out the window with the first blast. Connor knew this was going to be a dogfight.
Skynet may have been sorely lacking in imagination, but its reflexes were every bit as machine-like as its soldiers. With the RC Cars suddenly classified as enemies, their explosive cargo suddenly became targets.
The Terminators were gunning down their tiny attackers with brutal accuracy, one after another. But every car hit exploded in powerful blast of fire and smoke.
The Terminators were drawing the lines of smoke and heat, unable to see past the attackers that they themselves had gunned down.
Connor saw this through his scope and grinned. "There's your cover." With the attack underway, he could break radio silence. "Team two: Go."
Walters smirked bitterly. "Remote Controlled toy cars loaded with C4. Your mom teach you that one too boss?"
Connor heard the jaded barbs but didn't answer.
The second team started moving forward, staying behind the fire and smoke, keeping low, firing steadily through the smoke.
The terminators started firing back through the smoke, seeking a target, their computer-like accuracy fading with the intense flames between their heat vision and their targets.
Skynet had control over every machine, seeing through every gun-camera, every set of eyes...
The Terminators were no longer reliable, as they could not see their enemy ahead. Skynet needed a new vantage point, and the sky belonged to it's H/K's.
The flying Machines rose higher and came to a hover, seeing past the smoke and fire, seeing past the decoys and remote controlled cars, taking in all the humans, crouched at the far outside of the battle.
Skynet calculated the variables. The Flying H/K's were much faster, and could get to it's targets faster. But that would divide the birds-eye view of the battlefield, and create blind-spots in its vision. The humans had shown ingenuity in striking at the unexpected points. The ground H/K's could reach the targets, who had nowhere to hide.
However, the humans were striking with remote controlled devices, which were packed with heavy explosive.
Skynet reset its radio transmitter to scan a broad spectrum of radio signals, and quickly found the frequency for the remote control devices, and traced it back to their own transmitters. Skynet quickly reset the transmitter to the new frequency and began transmitting at a much higher power.
Private Lutz was steering the RC car left and right around the Terminators, having picked one of the ground H/K's as his target, when the small toy car suddenly pulled a hard left and started driving back toward him.
Surprised, Lutz worked the controls again, trying to get control back.
The toy car came screaming towards him, undeterred.
"INCOMING!" Lutz yelled and tried to get out of the way.
The small car rammed into his heel like a bowling ball and the C4 was detonated, blowing Lutz's team apart.
"What the hell happened there?" Oldham demanded.
Connor raised his scope to look. The survivors of Lutz's team were quickly being dispatched by the oncoming Terminators.
"Oh hell." Connor glanced around, saw the RC cars starting to break off from chasing the Terminators. "All Units. Skynet transmitters have changed frequencies, they've got the RC Frequency! Toybombs are under Skynet control! They're tracing the radio controllers. You Have Incoming! Detonate now! Now!"
Dex looked up and saw his RC swinging around and tearing in toward him, it's C4 package still armed.
"Damn they learn fast." Dex snarled.
The ground rumbled harder and Dex looked up to see one of the huge Ground Based H/K's bearing down on him, gunning down his team.
Dex broke from the hiding place, and started running for the H/K itself.
The huge mounted guns swivelled down to point at him, just as Dex threw his whole body into an overhand throw that tossed the RC remote up at the H/K treads.
The RC, still homing in on the remote control signal, turned to follow it, charging straight into the back of the H/K, blowing it apart with the C4 cargo.
The blast blew Dex clean off his feet, knocking him into the ground, debris and shrapnel raining down around him.
"Colonel, that H/K broke rank to go after Dex's team." Oldham reported.
Connor stared out at the battlefield. The H/K's and terminators were turning left and right, moving away from each other, looking for the best positions to start shooting, even if it meant breaking ranks. "Oh, bad move HAL."
"Colonel?"
"Flare guns!"
"Colonel?! We can't just show them..."
"Do it now!"
Oldham and the rest of the teams lifted their flares. Magnesium guns that burned hot and bright for a long time. Half a dozen flares went up in every direction, and the Machines started tracking them.
"Knock em Down!" Connor roared.
Grenades, Plasma Guns, Explosive packs... Every soldier jumped up and started firing at once, no longer having to worry about cover, the Machines following the Decoys, every flare burning hotter than human flesh.
Connor grinned. "Skynet reset it's transmitter to take over our RC's. The Relay only ever used one frequency, so the H/K's are working automatic now."
"Big dumb heat seekers." Oldham grinned.
Connor lifted his radio. "Rack 'em and stack 'em."
Far away from the battle, laying face down in the dust, hidden under camouflage netting, with their huge guns ready, the Snipers each drew a bead on their targets, the turbines on the wings of each Flying H/K.
The Flying H/K's were stationary, keeping watch over the battlefield. It was a good thing they were still. The bullets had a long way to travel.
The Snipers started firing.
The impossibly high caliber bullets flew over a mile, the sheer force behind them shredding huge holes in the metal of the machines, taring up the turbines that kept them in the air.
Walters looked up as a jet engine on each Flying H/K suddenly seemed to disintegrate and the huge Flying machines started to spiral down to the ground...
...Toward them.
"Colonel!" Walters roared. "RUN!"
Connor looked up and they all started running for all they were worth, as the huge Machine slammed into the ground, the impact knocking all of them off their feet. Walters and Oldham threw themselves over their Commanding Officer as the debris and fire came falling down.
Connor looked back at the wreckage. It had smashed on their hiding place.
Oldham had a huge grin on his face. "Close one." He giggled stupidly.
Connor looked up. His men were mopping up the last of the defenders. "All right. We've got to get in there and make sure we burn all the virus before we blast this place to hell. We have to watch it burn. All soldiers who go in, will wear Bio-Hazard suits at all times. The battle may have broken open a test tube somewhere."
"Yessir."
The first priority was to tear out the Skynet Control Relay. Once that antenna had been removed, the base itself had been secured. Several Terminators were working the equipment. Their automatic program had set them to laboratory work, not to defend, and with Skynet's Command Relay gone, their program stayed on automatic. Those machines were quickly taken down.
The Virus Culture had been found in the laboratory, still growing in the incubation tanks. Each source of the Virus had been carefully collected and brought to the Chemical Plant's now defunct incinerators. Once used for neatly destroying any contaminated or unnecessary chemicals, the Machines had apparently no use for it, having no fear of chemical spills or occupational health hazards.
Connor's men had collected everything hazardous, taking their time while their sentries watched outside for Skynet reinforcements. The suits had made it slow work, but eventually, it had all been collected, put into the incinerator, doused in as much flammable liquid as they could find, and left to burn.
Nobody said much while the flames blazed brightly, each of them left to their own thoughts of that the disgusting thing had done to them and their people. But finally, the flames ran out of material and burned themselves out.
Once the flames died and cooled to embers, Connor gave the order. Find anything that would burn. Find anything that would explode. Find anything destructive. Start looking for the best places to put it all. Destroy it all. Bring the whole facility down.
Two hour later, with the Chemical Lab erupting into explosive flame, collapsing into fire behind them, the soldiers made their way down the lonely highway, back to their base.
Halfway back, Dex answered a call from the base. Connor was dozing in the back of the Troop Carrier, when Dex slid open the panel to the driver seat and called back. "Colonel? Radio for you."
Connor shook himself awake and took the radio. "Convoy One, Connor here."
"Co- ... It's Carla he..." There was a voice, but it was barely audible over the sounds of the road, and a tiny screaming voice drowning it out. "Ka-... ha... Do you read...."
"Carla? Is that you?!" Connor dug a finger in his ear. "Carla, I can barely hear you. We're on our way back... is something wrong with Kate?! Over."
Carla was yelling, but barely audible over the background noise. "No ...ere's someth... Doctor Bowm ...as to report to you urgently. It's confidential."
"Then why isn't Bowman on the line?! Over!" Connor shouted into his radio.
"...with yo... wife at the moment sir." Carla shouted over the tiny screaming voice that came through with her.
"Carla, We're in an open aired jeep, on the move, and I can barely hear you over the sound of that baby screaming." Connor shouted into the radio.
Beat.
Dex, still on his cot, grinned. So did a few other men.
"Oh My GOD!" Connor suddenly yelled, realizing what he'd just said.
The convoy arrived back in LA, and the Perimeter teams came out of hiding again, to knock a hole in Skynet's patrols. The convoy rolled into the tunnels, and Connor was out of the lead jeep before it even stopped moving.
Most of the soldiers were grinning. Word had spread through the base faster than any virus ever could.
Connor sprinted for the Medbay, where Carla met him. "Before you go in there, chill out."
"Move." Connor told her, not slowing down.
Carla did nothing of the kind. "The baby's fine, so is Kate, and they're asleep."
"Move." Connor commanded, trying to get around her.
Carla shifted left, then right, then left again, successfully staying between The Colonel and the door. "Ah-ah-ah! They're both asleep, so settle down. I mean it John; I'll pop you with my tranquilizer gun if I have to."
Connor forced himself to be calm. "Fine. Take me to her."
"Bowman wanted to talk to you first."
"Fine, take me to him, will you just start moving?!"
Carla gave a Cheshire smile and led Connor into the Medbay. Her smile dropped suddenly when Connor's wounded started to catch up with him. Carla paled at the sight of the first stretcher. "Ohmigod! DEX!"
Bowman came out of the Medbay with his trainees. "Carla you should be lying down. Lohan! Get plasma together!" Bowman saw Connor and paused. "Sir I know you want to know about-"
"Do your job!" Connor commanded and yanked off his jacket. "I've got field training too, our casualties are fairly light, but you'll need as many hands as you can."
Bowman went to a stretcher and started carrying it in. "How'd it go out there?"
"We did it. Mission accomplished. Kate?"
"Sedated for now. The baby too."
"Is that safe?"
"The baby's underweight, and premature, I've got it in the oxygen tent, with IV vitamin supplements. It's safe enough."
Carla was ignoring all of them. "Dex! Answer me!"
Dex lifted a hand. "I'm okay. Don't worry."
Carla started working on his wounds feverishly. "You're going to be okay."
"Carla, get back to Post-Op. You've donated blood, get back to your cot and sit down!" Bowman barked. He continued in a low voice to Connor. "Dex is the worst of it if everyone else is standing up."
Connor smirked grimly. "Because most of the people who were hurt, got killed outright."
Carla was holding Dex's hand. She let go long enough to hold up two fingers. "How many fingers do you see?" She asked him.
Dex looked. "Two."
Carla was weaving back and forth on her feet. "Good. Because I can see four." She slurred a little.
Connor rushed over, just fast enough to help lower Carla gently to the ground as her legs gave out.
***
Dex was the worst of the wounded. Surgery was done quickly, and Dex recovering in Post-Op, with Carla fussing endlessly. Connor had taken the opportunity of a break to get Bowman's report.
"There was no way to avoid it Colonel, the cure was working, but the baby was still running out of steam. The heart rate was dropping to a dangerous level and oxygen alone wasn't fixing it; we had to induce."
"And now?"
"We've got the baby swaddled up in blankets, and have her in an oxygen tent now. She's recovering nicely. We've got Kate hooked up to six different IV's, pumping her full of as much saline solution and diet supplements as we can get into her. She'll look like a heroin junkie for a while, but now that her kidneys can handle it again, we can keep her alive medically till she gets some strength back. Urinary output returning to normal, kidney function is resuming as normal, blood pressure rising."
Connor sat like his legs had at last given out. "They're going to be okay."
Bowman nodded. "They're going to be okay."
"Both of them."
"Both of them." Bowman promised.
Connor took in one shuddering breath after another. For just a second, it showed on his face. It showed in his posture. Just for a moment, all the hard decisions, all the lives in the balance, all the fear and desperation for the entire human race was visible on his face.
Bowman didn't flinch. He was a Doctor. He'd had to see people who had lost loved ones before. He'd had to give terrible news to high ranking men. The Colonel was, just for a moment, an ordinary man.
"Would you like me to take you in to see your daughter?" Bowman asked finally.
Connor suddenly looked up sharply. "It's a girl?"
Bowman nodded. "She's in Kate's room. I have them both sedated for now. Would you like to go in and see them?"
"Yes. No. Yes. Wait." Connor fought to gather himself. And then the moment passed, and he raised his face, cool, calm, deadly and brilliant. "No. Kate needs to rest at last. I want Kate to meet the baby first. I want her to... I have time. Tell me about the rest of my people."
Bowman nodded grimly. "We lost some. The cure is working, but the fact is that Kate was lucky. Kidney function was reduced heavily, but on some of them, it stopped entirely. Kidneys shut down long enough, they don't start up again right. Impurities build up in the blood, waste builds up in the body, and you can't handle food or drink... Some of those people were dead long ago, and still haven't stopped moving yet. But the virus moves slowly. It's a reliable killer, not a fast one. We got to most of them in time. If we have found this cure one week later, it wouldn't have helped any of them."
"We dodged a bullet." Connor said quietly. "Most of us."
"Most of us." Bowman agreed softly.
Z Plus Two Years Thirty Two Days.
Kyle had been quietly put at the top of the list to receive the cure. being young, he didn't need as many IV fluids as the adults did before getting his strength back, and had quickly been let out of Quarantine once it was established that the cure was successful. His first mission, direct from Connor, was to spread the cure to other population centers. After his first such action, Lori insisted on coming back with him, so he led Lori into the base through the Motor Pool, and the older woman had taken the opportunity to teach him a few things.
"You change the timing, and the engine runs at much higher revs. Too high, and the engine can burn out, too low, and it'll stall. Keep the revs high, it'll accelerate faster."
Kyle nodded, taking in everything.
"Now, the Manual transmission gives you more control over how fast you can speed it up, an automatic is easier because there's less steps. So if you've got a gunner, take the Manual, if you've gotta drive with one hand a shoot with the other, take the Automatic. Got that?"
"How do I tell which is which?" Kyle asked her.
"This third pedal down here, it's called a clutch, means a Manual." Lori told him.
"When your feet can reach the pedals, I'll teach you how to drive."
Lori and Kyle both turned, and saw Connor come in. Kyle quickly jumped out of the car and saluted.
"You guys made good time getting here." Connor said, returning the salute. "Kyle, I need to talk to Lori alone for a while."
"Yessir."
"Dismissed."
Kyle scampered off, leaving Lori and Connor alone.
"So Connor, care to join a lady in the backseat, this time of night?" Lori drawled, and Connor smirked, opening the car door and taking a seat.
Lori handed Connor a cigar. "My last one. I understand congratulations are in order."
Connor grinned. "Born six pounds even."
"How's the Mommy?"
"Still unconscious. I told the doc to keep them both unconscious till Kate's strong enough to go nuts about being a mom. She's weak as a kitten after the virus, but the cure is working its magic."
"On my people too." Lori agreed. "That's actually why I'm here."
"Oh yes?"
Lori sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Johnny boy, I always told my people to keep their heads down. My little setup is self-sustainable, but only if we keep to ourselves. We've done that, and we survived. Then my people started getting sick. Skynet doesn't care if we fight or not."
"No."
"When that little tyke who can't stop saluting you gave me the syringe, I was camping outside my base. I went straight to my people at the Orphanage. Alex, the guy I left in charge... wouldn't let me in the door when he found out I wasn't infected. I left the syringe for him, and he took it inside after I left, and I came here. I got the call from him a few minutes ago. It's working."
John nodded. "I'm glad."
"So what's the catch?"
"No catch. No price. Humanity is an endangered species now Lori. You don't quibble over price when you're trying to save your whole species."
Lori thought long about that. Finally, she seemed to decide something, and let loose a stream of the foulest profanities that Connor had heard since his mom had caught him with one of Enrique's tequila bottles.
"I like the sound of that." Connor grinned.
Lori knuckled his shoulder. "I told you, if you could prove you were a force to be reckoned with, I'd risk my people, and share my resources." She sighed. "If you had treated my people that way, we'd all be dead by now." She turned to look at Connor. "Us against them right?"
"Us against them." Connor agreed. "What about Halloway?"
Lori grinned. "I'll have Captain Nemo eating out of my hand within an hour. He may not like it though, so once I finish with him, you might have to smooth things over with him so that he won't feel cornered."
"I will."
"I'm saying he's a whiner when he gets rooked into something, so you'll have to make him feel loved."
"He'll feel all kinds of love." Connor promised, when his radio buzzed. "Connor here."
"Kate's awake!" Carla called.
Connor was out of the car faster than Lori could process his movement. She followed at a more leisurely pace, when the tunnel out through the Motor Pool suddenly echoed with a few voices.
Lori waited, and Halloway came in, Oldham and his security team following. With the majority of the base population still recovering, Oldham had volunteered for sentry duty.
"Hey Lori." Halloway greeted.
Lori grinned. "Hello Sailor."
"It's One AM, don't you ever slow down?"
"Slow down and you die."
Oldham rolled his eyes at the latest episode in what the base had come to know as 'The Lori and Halloway Show'. "Where's The Colonel?"
"His wife just woke up, he's with her." Lori told him.
Oldham grinned.
John came into the Medbay at a quick run, and found his wife was not in bed. She was instead leaning heavily on the wall with both hands, bent over the small crib, which held the baby. A day of safely being able to receive all manner of IV nourishment had made a marked difference, as had the sheer determination to stand next to her baby, but her every limb was shaking violently.
John came over and scooped his gaunt wife into his arms, so that she would not have to stand on her own.
Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled like she'd never stop. "She's beautiful."
"Like her mother." John teased. "Looks like I better start rehearsing my 'So you're dating my teenage daughter' speech."
Kate laughed and felt tears on her smiling face. The first tears since Crystal Peak. "She's so tiny. We made her John. Look what we did."
John tightened his grip around her. "We did good. We did real good." He laughed for the first time since... ever. "Kate, I would have given anything to be here with you."
"I know. John, we're working parents. We always will be." Her earnest eyes seemed huge in her angular, half-starved face. "None of the books are gonna help us. We're making up the rules as we go."
The baby opened her eyes and started crying loudly.
Kate let out another sob. "Oh, listen to that! Those are healthy lungs! She's alive! Nobody thought we would do it. She's alive John. She made it."
John buried his face in his wife's hair. "So will you." He promised himself under his breath.
Kate reached out two stick-thin arms for her child. They were trembling. "I want to hold her." Kate whispered. "But I know I'll drop her."
John quickly carried his wife back to her bed, set her down, and went back, collecting the baby. His hands were trembling a bit too as he reached down for the infant. He'd set up C4 detonators in the back of a moving Winnebago, and with this five pound infant, his hands shook. Precious cargo John. He told himself. Precious cargo.
Kate scooped her frail arms around the baby, and leaned back into her husband, reclining against his chest. John sat behind her on the cot, and wrapped his arms around them both, holding his arms under hers; giving her body his strength, holding them both tightly against him. Kate was so... happy. He hadn't seen her like that before. They had found each other on Judgement Day. He'd seen her smile. He'd made her chuckle. He'd seen her being passionate, being comfortable, being drunk, being proud, being brave... he'd never seen her joyful. It was like a miracle. "She's real. We didn't lose her. She's really real. First war with a happy ending. First victory without losses. Something finally went right."
Kate leaned back her head under his chin, exhausted and overjoyed beyond all measure. "Love you husband."
"Love you wife." John whispered back, rocking his wife and baby until they both fell asleep in his arms.
Kate was sleeping more soundly than ever. For the first time in months, John sat beside her cot, able to touch her without surgical gloves, protecting her from the nightmares, knowing that his own had not come true.
John wanted to sleep, but couldn't miss a moment. He kept repeating it to himself over and over. His wife was going to be okay. Going to be okay. She was going to survive, and so was their daughter. John couldn't believe how lucky they were. Usually, the luck of those who loved him was terrible. Usually, the bullet meant for him hit somebody else, but not this time. Just this once, they lived. They all survived, all the people he loved were going to make it.
John felt immeasurably lighter. His mother said once that all heroes had the devil's luck. It was the only way to survive. It really was just luck that the baby had time to adjust before the Virus made its way through her mothers' entire body.
John blinked.
And it was lucky that nobody else had contracted the disease from Kate. And it was lucky that Kate had eaten the contaminated food and not him.. And it was lucky that Bowman had identified the contaminated food before anybody else could eat it.
John stood up, kicking himself for not seeing it sooner. His mother would be ashamed.
And it was lucky that it was only the one serving of food was bad. And it was lucky that in a tight knit group of starving people, nobody else had eaten a slice of the pork kept in the kitchens. not even the kitchen staff cooking it had swiped a bite. And it was lucky that out of all the animals the scroungers had found alive, only that one animal had contracted the virus.
Too much luck.
Connor jumped up and hurried to the door. "Soldier."
The nearest soldier jumped to attention. "Sir?"
"Guard this door. nobody gets in. not even the nursing staff."
"Yessir."
Connor came into the barracks quickly, and made his way to the back of the room, shaking Walters awake. "Eric, wake up!"
With a groan, Eric sat up. "Sir?"
"What if that pig wasn't contaminated accidentally?"
Beat. Eric rubbed his eyes hard. "What?"
Connor started again. "The infection was traced to one of the animals we brought in. The assumption was that it got sick out there and came in afterward. But Kate's been eating half meals from other trays. Mine. I've given Kate a lot of my meals, but I still need to eat. If Kate was infected by the food she ate, then why didn't she give it to me? Not Airborne, I can see that, but shared meals nad drinks can still transmit a waterborne virus. So why aren't i sick?"
Eric woke up in a hurry. "Well... then unless... unless the meat was deliberately contaminated after Kate got sick..."
Connor nodded. "That's what I'm thinking."
Eric jumped out of his bunk and grabbed his jacket. "I'll get Bowman."
Connor nodded. "Oldham too."
Kate woke up. She couldn't place why. No nightmare. She wasn't having trouble breathing, at least not compared to what she'd slept through already. The IV tubes in her arms were pulling a little, but not enough to wake her...
Then she felt it. Hairs were standing up on the back of her neck. Instinct had woken her. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
"You think the Pork was deliberately infected? After Kate had already eaten some of it?" Bowman asked. "And the rest of the meat from the animal contaminated afterward to cover the murder attempt."
"It would make it a neat story. Unless the bacon was never the source of Kate's illness." Connor said.
"Kate was sharing her food with Connor, so he should have contracted the virus from the same food." Walters growled. "This was a deliberate attempt on his life."
"It also explains why the virus was waterborne. It came from our own samples. The virus that's spreading through our population was the airborne variant."
"Who had access to the medical supplies, and the kitchens?" Oldham asked.
Connor had the folder. "I've got the roster here, but it's useless. With the virus knocking our people down, everybody was covering, doing three or four jobs. Including the civilians."
Bowman was looking around the kitchen. "Major, I understand you're protective of the Colonel, but I think you're wrong."
"I'm not." Walters said with certainty.
Connor looked up from the food storage. "Why do you think that Bowman?"
"Colonel, if someone had poisoned your food, then why haven't there been any other attempts on your life?"
Oldham blinked. "Maybe whoever tried it lost their nerve when Kate got sick instead."
Connor paled. "Oh god. And maybe they didn't try again because they already got their target. What if the infected food was never what she shared with me and Kate got sick from her own tray?"
"Kate was eating the regular rations. if the regular food was infected, dozens of people would have got it."
Connor nodded. Checkmate. "Unless one tray was contaminated deliberately. Her tray."
Walters blinked. "Who would want to hurt Kate?"
Connor's eyes blazed at Walters. "Get Lori! Right now!"
Kate looked around, peering into the dark, and saw someone else was in the room, standing over at the crib near her daughter. "John?" She croaked out.
"He's not here." Said the figure. "I thought he'd never leave but he finally turned in for the night."
Not John. Kate felt a cold spike go through her. Someone was in her room. "Who's there?!"
"Shh. You'll wake the baby." The figure moved over to the light switch, and the bare light bulb flared on. Daniel Dyson looked over his shoulder at her. "She looks like you."
"Daniel?"
Daniel wasn't listening, somewhere else in his head. "Connor looks like his mom too you know. I only met her once."
Kate reacted, struggling to sit up. The guard Connor had left on Kate's door was crumpled in the corner, not moving. "Y-you did?"
Daniel nodded, in no particular hurry. "Just once, when i was five years old. She came to kill my father. Punishment for making a program called Skynet."
Kate paled and coughed a little from the shock, finally placing the name. "Dyson! Miles Dyson!"
"Told you did he?" Daniel had an unpleasant grin on his face. "Good. I was afraid I was going to have to. It's nice that he confides in you. He confided in my parents once too, laid out the history of things to come. 1997 came and went and nothing happened. Mom would have thought we were safe, if she hadn't killed my brother and herself. But I never believed it. I guess Connor didn't either." He came over and sat down next to Kate, who was struggling desperately to sit upright, the weakness in her body giving everything a horrifying slowness. "I thought a lot about that night, especially since J-Day. It took a lot of work to follow where Skynet went after your husband blew my father to hell. Mom tried to talk to General Brewster so many times, but his staff brushed her off... then the bombs came. Lori gave me a home, gave me food... and I called in a lot of markers to get posted as her radio operator. She left strict orders never to transmit, never to draw attention. But I spent hours listening to Connor, calling out from Crystal Peak." he suddenly came back to reality and glared at her. "When I heard the name 'Brewster', I knew what i had to do."
Kate could barely move, but lowered one hand, on the side of the gurney away from Daniel, reaching for her boots under the bed. "My father didn't know what he was turning loose any more than yours did Daniel. I don't blame you for hating me-"
"I don't hate you Katie. I think you're a good person. And more than that," Daniel shuddered. "So much more than that, I understand." He leaned over her intensely. "I may just be the only person in the world that does. I understand you far far more than your husband ever could, because we're the same you and I. My father gave it life. Your father turned it loose."
Kate kept feeling along her clothes, looking for the knife that she kept sheathed in her boot, just like her husband had taught her. "Daniel, I loved my father. Nothing will change that. The machines killed him. Nothing will change that. My father wasn't the enemy, he was a victim. The enemy is Skynet. Punishing the two of us won't balance the scales. Nothing will."
He leaned closer, and put a gentle, forgiving kiss on her forehead. "I know what you mean, Katherine Brewster. But we cannot be given this choice ourselves. There's too much to answer for. Our father's names will go down in history with Genghis Khan, Adolph Hitler… you and I, are joint heirs, to the end of the world. We are the only surviving children of men who ended everything." Daniel sat down on the edge of her bed, madness in his eyes. "We can't be allowed to live Kate. There's too much blood on us."
Kate made her move, swinging up the knife. Kate was so weak she could barely swing the blade, and Daniel had the strength of madness on his side. Dyson caught her arm and dragged her out of bed, the IV poles clattering down with her, the needles in her arms wrenched and Kate cried out. Dyson brought a hand up to clamp over her mouth, hauling her half upright, one arm wrapped around her neck, the grenade pressed against her cheek as she clawed up for his eyes. He wrestled her to a choke-hold as she fought with everything she had. The baby woke up and started shrieking.
"DYSON!" Lori roared.
Daniel spun and saw Lori, Halloway, Connor, Oldham and Walters at the door, weapons drawn. Dyson yanked the rail-thin Kate up against his body.
Dyson's eyes went straight to Connor. The Colonel had his gun drawn and eyes blazing as he glared at the man using his wife for a shield.
Lori held out a hand to him. "Give me the grenade Daniel."
Dyson didn't answer.
"Danny, it's me. it's Lori. You know me. Don't do this. There's a baby in this room. The first one to survive. Don't do this. Give me the grenade."
Dyson only had eyes for Connor. "You know what it's like. To love someone unconditionally, and hate them so much for the things they did. Ultimately, wishing they had done worse to get you ready."
Connor almost nodded. "Yes. I do." he whispered.
Daniel had tears in his eyes. "Connor... I just can't stop thinking... she was right." Danny sucked in an emotional breath. "To hell with it." With sudden mania he shrieked. "TO HELL WITH ALL OF IT!"
Dyson flicked his thumb to pull the pin-
-Connor pulled the trigger on his gun, Kate felt the bullet actually go through her hair, and suddenly the grip around her released, she smacked into the concrete floor, feeling the impact through every bone in her body...
Dyson jerked from the hammer-blows and fell away from Kate, half a dozen more shots from everyone else rang out in the same heartbeat.
Dyson fell to the ground, the pin still in the grenade, which rolled from his hand uselessly.
Connor dashed forward, stepped over Dyson to get to Kate, Carla jumped over him too, to get the baby, who was still screaming.
Somehow Dyson was still alive, and he reached up with one hand to grip Connor's pant leg pathetically. "J-John... she...."
Connor stared down at him, cradling his wife in his arms as Dyson died at their feet.
Bowman and Carla came over to Kate and started checking her vitals once Connor set her back down in the bed.
Eric Walters was glaring at Connor with something close to hatred. Connor could feel the glare of his second in command burning into his back.
The baby was still shrieking.
Lori rubbed her eyes, looking ashamed of herself for the first time. "I put Dyson here. I put him on the radio, I brought him to your base, I let him be your character reference for every damn decision I made about you and your army... Connor, I'm sorry. Dyson was one of mine. I take full responsibility."
Kate was waving them all off. "I'm fine dammit! Carla, give me the baby and go help the guard or something!" He voice was hoarse but she didn't cough or weaken. "Shoo! That's an order!"
Carla couldn't help the smirk. "Welcome back boss."
Eric was still glaring at Connor. "Bowman, go see to that guard. Elsewhere."
Kate saw Eric's look and quickly divined the situation. "Carla, take the baby with you, try and calm her down. Eric, John and I need to talk about some things."
"I would think so." Carla agreed, picking the shrieking infant out of her cot. "Shh, it's okay sweetie, no more bogeyman."
Eric looked to Oldham. "Sargent, stand guard outside. Nobody gets into this room."
"Yessir."
The room cleared, and Eric whirled on the Connors. "Okay, no more games. I want to know what the hell's going on! Who the hell are you two!?"
Silence.
"John, we have to tell him." Kate said quietly. "We owe Eric that. The others too."
"You guys don't owe me anything." The older woman said fiercely. "If anything, I owe you, given that one of my people just tried to kill you."
"Something that you knew was coming." Eric put in. "When we asked ourselves, who would want to hurt Kate, you had an answer already. I want to know how. I want to know why. Tell me."
John didn't answer for a long long time. "Okay." he told his wife. "We tell them."
Kate reached for him. "Help me sit up."
John pulled his wife upright. Her look to him was clear. Let me do the talking.
Connor knew his wife was up to something, and left her to it.
"How much, do you two remember, about Judgement Day? Just before the bombs fell?"
Lori sighed. "Not a whole lot. The bombs going off did tend to take up most of my thinking on the subject."
"Do you remember the computer virus?"
Halloway clicked his fingers. "Yes! I remember because communications were down on my sub, and I couldn't figure out why. One of our men had a sat-phone, and he couldn't get a signal either."
"The computer virus wasn't some kid in a garage somewhere. It was Skynet." Kate said, coughing lightly. "Skynet was an AI designed by the military, to run a new generation of weapons. Things like robotic soldiers or Automated Hunter/Killer drones." Kate sucked in a breath. "The Special Weapons program was headed by General Robert Brewster. My father."
Walters knew this already. Lori did not. He heard her suck in a stunned breath.
Halloway too. "And… and Dyson?"
"The Skynet program was taken over by the military after the civilian software company Cyberdyne went bust. Miles Dyson, Daniel's father, was head developer. His father created the Skynet AI. My father activated it. An hour or two later, the bombs went off." Kate smiled weakly at her audience. "My dad's the bad guy."
Stunned silence.
"I was taking my fiancée, a man named Scott to meet my father where he worked; when Skynet suddenly turned Frankenstein's Monster on them. My dad knew that Skynet was wired into everything, so he sent me and Scott to a Fallout Shelter. It was set aside for dignitaries, military personnel… He told me he would meet me there with Top Brass and convince them to let us in. Except Skynet was a digital enemy. Communications went down before the warning could get out."
"I remember." Lori piped up. "There was no warning, no TV, no civil defence alerts…just… a brilliant flash."
"Skynet had control of all the H/K prototypes too, so suddenly the laboratory was a warzone, and nobody could get to Skynet's shutdown until after it grew to powerful to switch off." Kate coughed again. "Scott and my dad were dead before we made it out. So I was alone with all dads' files, including the entry codes to Crystal peak. The roads were a nightmare, I was racing time, and so when the car totalled, and I found John had a working motorcycle, I talked him into taking me to Crystal Peak."
"Nobody else got the warning. Kate and I were alone." John put in.
"All right, I can see Dyson trying to kill you, I can see how you survived J-Day, and I can see how you got into Crystal Peak." Walters turned his glare on John. "That explains your wife, but not you."
Lori nodded. "You do seem to have some magic to you Connor. You're a little too ready for everything."
John looked at Eric. "I told you. My mom taught me."
Eric shook his head. "Yeah, except I don't believe that."
Long silence.
John spoke finally. "My mom… was unbalanced. She was convinced that the end of the world was coming. She wasn't the only one who stressed about Nuclear War back in the early 80's, but she was the only one who took her son back and forth between Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, teaching a five year old boy how to field-strip an M-16 or load up a mini-gun or how to recognise radiation sickness. She went so far that when we were in the states, the government took me off her. They put me in foster care when I was eight years old and she was committed." He Shrugged. "I knew the battlefield, Kate knew the enemy, we had nothing to do for a year but wait for the radiation to fade and get ready. Here we are."
As three suspicious survival experts turned the story over in their minds, John and Kate looked at each other. The story was based in enough fact to be plausible, and a Nuclear War did have a way of covering over details…
Despite the tension in the room, John's overwhelming feeling was relief. Kate was okay. The story had been unplanned, and they had somehow managed to put it together on the spot. He and his wife, in sync again, together against the storm.
Lori and Halloway were looking at him in disbelief. "This is the army you want us to join? A ragtag bunch of half-starved nobodies who's only hope is the son of a nutcase and the daughter of the man who gave us Skynet in the first place?!"
Eric finally looked up. "Yep. A week ago, they were the only two people in the world who were ready for this war. You know what changed that in the last two hours? Nothing. I've got no reason to trust them expect that I do."
Kate sent John a look. Your Alliance is crumbing. Get them back on board right now!
John nodded imperceptibly. The Colonel sighed, and sat down across from them. "Everyone on the base, everybody on Halloway's Subs, everybody back at Lori's little orphanage... they all have a story about what home used to mean. I don't. I never lived anywhere for long. Turned out that saved my life. When the cities burned, I wasn't in any of them." He said, gentle and nostalgic. "Everyone here has a place like that. But not any more. Neither will my daughter. This will be the only home we know. And even this is not promised to us completely. But home is where your heart is, so my home is here. And when we move again, my home will be there. All our homes burned. My home is with the people I've fought side by side with. My home is with the people I protect. Every man and woman here is my family."
Lori didn't answer. Her eyes were shining softly.
Connor smiled at them. "You guys know what that feels like huh?"
Halloway smirked. "Yeah, I told myself that once or twice."
"Me too." Murmured Lori.
"I am the son of a Section Eight Survivalist. Kate is daughter to the man who opened Pandora's Box. And against all logic we've managed to rope the survivors of Armageddon into something greater than we are. But you can understand why we don't talk about it. Daniel would only be the first."
Silence.
"So. Now you know." John said quietly.
The unspoken question hung in the air. What will you do?
Lori and Halloway glanced at each other. "We need to think about this for a while."
Connor nodded, and everyone cleared out. Carla stuck her head in, the baby held in her arms protectively, and Connor waved her back out again. Carla retreated, leaving them alone.
Connor turned to Kate. "Are you okay?"
Kate stared at nothing listlessly. "What will Lori and Halloway do?"
"Depends. If they decide not to join, they won't be back. Every reason they had for signing on this morning is still valid tonight. The little revelation of how the story started changes everything, but changes nothing."
"When will we know?"
"If they're still here in a week, we'll know."
Silence.
"The worst part is, Dyson was right." Kate whispered. "My father was the reason Skynet took over. We both saw it. He hit the button personally. My father opened Pandora's Box, and... and me insisting on us going there and saving him was the reason we wound up in Crystal Peak." Kate said dully, exhausted. "If we had gone south like the Terminator said, he'd probably still be with us, and you never would have talked to Eric. All your life you wanted to not be in charge John. If it wasn't for me and my father, you would have had your wish."
"Maybe so. And maybe it would have turned out like this anyway. My mom told me that fate is like a river. You can divert it one way or another, but it always finds its way to the sea." He smirked. "One thing about meeting time traveling robots, it sort of keeps you from thinking about the what-ifs."
"Guess so." She said, with no particular emotion in her voice at all. "How can you even stand to be around me?"
"Must love you, I guess."
"Guess so." She agreed, and willingly met him in a deep needful kiss.
Lori waved off the soldiers that had escorted them around, and put her arm in Holloway's. "So, let's have us a chat."
Halloway sighed. "Yeah. What do you think?"
Lori took a breath. "I'm still going to sign up. My food resources, my stockpiles, my family... I'm still going to share it with Connor's Army."
Halloway broke away from her sharply, spun around and took her by both shoulders, leaning intensely toward her. "WHY? After all that..."
"I keep thinking about what Eric said. About how he has no reason to trust them, except that he does." She sighed. "I left Dyson here because I trusted him. I nearly got that entire family killed."
"You can't let that guilt you into-"
"I know. But Connor's trying to protect his family, just like we are. And when he found the cure, he sent it to me. My family's alive because of that. He wants to protect all of us, the way we only protect her own. I know, it doesn't look good for the war as far as victory goes." She lifted her eyes to look hard at him. "But some battles have to be fought, win or lose. Someone I once knew told me that when I told him not to join the Navy."
Heavy silence. Halloway pulled her into a tight hug.
"What kind of odds would you have given you and me?" She whispered. "Back... before?"
"Better than any other odds I'd lay these days."
"I knew you were still alive Nick, I knew it. And it wasn't just because I knew you were on a sub when it all went to hell. I could feel it."
"The first month after J-Day, I had to spend most of my time with men who had lost all their loves, all their families. They all knew about you. I had your picture with me every minute. They all said I was in the same boat too, but I knew I'd find you again eventually."
Long silence. Lori heard Connor's voice in her mind. But home is where your heart is, so my home is here.
"Why didn't you stay?" Lori said softly. "After all of it, when we found each other again, before Connor took over LA... why didn't you stay with me at the Orphanage?"
"Same reason you wouldn't come with me when I went back to my Subs. I had built my world with what I had left. That included the people. I've worked with all of them long and hard Lori. I know them all like... like I used to know you."
Lori chuckled. "Me too. My family's my crew. Just like you. Just like Connor." She rubbed her face.
Halloway sighed. "I miss you."
Lori leaned against him tighter. "I miss you."
Halloway sighed and started cursing like the sailor he was. Then he sighed again. "Well, I guess I'm still in too then huh?"
Z Plus Two Years Thirty Nine Days.
Another week passed, and the base had returned to normal. The cure had made it's way to everyone on the base, and to The Orphanage, and the Submarines. Having been released from enforced lethargy, and fully aware of how lucky they were to be alive, the recovered ill returned to work with an almost desperate fervor. Those that had managed to escape the illness for the duration gladly gave up their triple shifts and sleep at last. Connor had visited each of them personally, telling them what a good job they had done, and making it clear that the effort was appreciated.
Kate had been put on heavy IV nutrition, and it took John, and Carla, and Bowman, and eventually Lori to bully her into sitting still and letting herself recover.
News of the birth had spread, almost as fast as news of the Murder attempt. Everyone knew Kate Connor was pregnant, and then that she was sick, but to learn that the mother and baby had survived was proof of a genuine miracle.
The Connor's now had a small group of bodyguards, but they were mostly for show. The guards spent most of their time making sure that the Medbay was not swamped with people wanting to visit the firstborn child of the war.
The official story had been that Daniel Dyson was unbalanced, and had lost his whole family to the machines. Seeking a target for his pain, he had chosen the first child born to the Underground, as he had lost children of his own.
Daniel Dyson had no children, but nobody had known that, nor had any way to find out.
Nevertheless, the fate of the baby had the entire base holding it's breath for some time. The soldiers because their Commander was now a father, and the civilians because they all knew Kate. With Connor's Order that pregnant women be given priority in medical care and food and water rationing, there had as yet been no pregnancies reported, mostly because none had been successful.
Until now.
Life on the base was slowly returning to it's normal routine of training, scavenging, and adapting the tunnels... when word had got out that the baby had been the source of the cure.
***
Z Plus Two Years Forty Two Days.
The Colonel arrived at the weekly briefing, and came to the head of the table. There were two conspicuously empty seats.
Bowman spoke first. "Kate sends her apologies Sir. In my medical opinion it would be best for her to stay with the baby till tomorrow at least."
"Anything serious?" Walters asked. Eric had felt sick to his stomach that he'd missed the signs of an attempt on Kate's life, and had reacted by quickly killing all thoughts of dissension and mistrust toward The Colonel. His questions about their trustworthiness were long gone.
"Nothing serious Major, but Kate's never going to stay off her feet for another two days unless I told her it was for the baby's benefit."
The Colonel allowed a smirk. "Thank you Doctor. Now, where are...?"
At that moment, Lori and Halloway came rushing in, and filled the two empty seats. "Sorry we're late." Halloway said. "We were... caught up."
"Ready for duty Colonel." Lori added.
Connor stood. "Lori's scouts out past San Clemente have located the H/K factory that supplies the reinforcements for Skynet's LA patrols. Every time we knock down one of their perimeter teams, this factory churns out replacements. It's also between us and Camp Pendleton. We have to kill it, or we'll never have the run of LA."
"If it's an H/K factory, we can't give them any warning or they'll start churning out extra guards." Oldham said.
"Halloway's submarines will take our strike team south along the coast, out of sight. Gould, can you convert our jammers to work on sound waves rather than radio waves?"
"I can work up a white noise generator that can overpower radio receivers, but they'd have to be directional or else they'd deafen our people."
"Get them working and give them to Halloway. If Skynet finds the Submarines, we'll need them to jam any missiles or torpedos that get sent his way. Once our strike teams get far enough south, they'll surface, deploy their Strike Teams, and fall back to deeper water, going silent till our men have destroyed the target."
"What kind of protections does the factory have?" Oldham asked.
"Nothing we haven't punched before." Walters told him. "Skynet's got it's army spread thin hunting for us. We're under their feet now."
"Bowman, you'll have your medical teams on the submarines waiting for returning casualties."
"Yessir."
"Lori, when our people hit landfall, send some of your people to blow up the roads between here and the Factory. Skynet will conclude we are cutting off Skynet reinforcements from LA, and send its airborne forces after them, and away from the factory to compensate. Have your people fall back to LA. Skynet doesn't know we're working together yet, so let's take advantage of that."
"Sir."
"Eric, you'll be leading the Strike team. Once it's gone, salvage the weapons, and mine the area. Skynet sends anybody back to the factory, it's another victory."
"Yessir."
"Mission clock is running. Good hunting. Dismissed."
***
Z Plus Two Years Forty Three Days.
There was dead silence in the Underground when Kate was released from Medbay.
John had insisted on giving her a wheelchair, and Kate had agreed, only so that she could spend the trip staring at her baby daughter's bright green eyes.
Connor had personally pushed the wheelchair from the Medbay to their own private Dormitory.
Kate, still getting her strength back, had barely looked up, when she suddenly became aware that there was next to no noise.
Kate looked up, and felt her eyes widen.
The tunnels were still full of people, but every eye was silent on her. On her, her husband, and their child. Connor signalled them all to be quiet for the baby's sake, and they all obeyed.
As Connor wheeled them past, various people crossed themselves, some prayed quietly, some blew kisses, or saluted. Most simply looked. Almost every face still had the visible signs of the receding virus. The cure was working quickly.
And everybody knew that the baby was the reason they found a cure to the Machine's virus.
Kate felt destiny heavy on her shoulders. Their daughter had been the first child born in the underground. The only one to survive to full term. And in its first day among the living, she had saved all their lives.
When they got to the Dorms, John pushed her down the hall to their own private room, and found offerings waiting. Mostly tinned food or clothing, some bottles of water, and a lot of messages written on paper and neatly stacked. Someone had constructed a crib out of a tent frame and a hammock…
Kate shivered at the sudden attention that surrounded her family, and kept her chin up under the watchful stares of demoralized and terrified people who had been saved from extinction again and again by the three of them.
John rolled her into their private room, and set up the crib.
"John…" Kate whispered hollowly. "Is… is this what it feels like for you all the time?"
"Pretty much. Hopeful eyes are everywhere now."
"I don't like it. I don't like the… the cult that seems to seems to have developed around my family John."
"Kate, see it from their point of view. We knew it was coming. Me my whole life, you for a year in Crystal Peak. We prepared our minds to lose it all. They didn't. Suddenly there are people in charge. They can fool machines. They can fight back. They can lead. They can win. They can succeed in having a child where all others fail, and that's not even mentioning the Cure." John held her face in his hands. "This is how they look at us now Kate, because we're the only ones that are who we are."
Kate nodded. "When we were at the prison camp, I remembered looking at you, and thinking that you were the one man who had clean clothes, and weren't rail thin, and you weren't broken and afraid... In my head, I knew you were clean because it had been less than a week since you were in a nice clean Fallout shelter, and you weren't starved because you had plenty of food, and you weren't broken because you were already planning out an attack… but that day… god John, you were so… not like them."
"And I know that we're the first to successfully have a child because you were spared a years worth of radiation, and you've kept yourself healthy and fed where others couldn't, and we've been trying where all others have not." John said logically. "I know our daughter gave us the cure because she faced the Virus in-vitro and had plenty of protections from it. Carla could have gotten pregnant and provided the cure the same way. But the people outside that door, all they can see is that the Mighty Connors have saved humanity again."
Kate shivered, holding the baby protectively. "It scares me that they're going to look at her that way. Is this the way your mom treated you?"
"Pretty much and for a while there, I hated her for it."
"What else did I miss while I was out?"
"The others are officially onboard."
"Really?"
"Having a cure convinced Lori that we were stronger together than divided, and having to save you from Dyson sealed the deal. She convinced Halloway. Kate, thanks to the cure, we've got a navy, we've got reinforcements, we've got maps, and communications, and supply lines. Eric's on a sub right now leading a strike team outside of LA. We're finally going offensive."
Kate looked down at her baby. "Son of a gun. We've got an army."
"We do indeed."
"Ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"How did you figure it out, about Daniel?"
"He had the opportunity. He was a techie. Worked with the medical and storage, and mess staff. he had the chance to get to the virus samples, and your tray."
"So did two dozen other people."
John sighed. "I talked to him. After he arrived. His life got screwed over six different ways since the night he met me and my mom. Put him on a bad path. He had a lot of rage looking for a target. I can relate. I hated mom so much when I was told she was insane. When I found out she was right all along, I couldn't be mad at her any more. Daniel had the same problem. He couldn't blame me or mom once he found out we were right. He needed a target, and his father was the logical choice. But his father was dead. So he blamed your father. But your father was dead. So he turned on you."
"You figured it out because of that?"
"Infiltrators aren't just Terminators. Everybody knows to watch out for the enemy. We're the only ones who know to watch out for our friends."
Kate curled her fingers and lightly stroked her daughter's cheek. "Think she'll hate us for bringing her into this?"
"She won't know any different."
"Not this world. This family. Our daughter is a day old and already being nominated for sainthood out there."
John finished with the crib, came over, and sat down on the cot next to his wife, putting an arm around her as she rocked the baby. "I don't know. But you know what? Right now, I don't care."
Kate allowed herself a small smile. "Me neither. Oh god John, our baby was born on a battlefield; and she is so beautiful."
***
Kyle Reese came into the Dormitory, and quickly walked up to Connor's tent flap.
The Connor Family's bodyguards blocked him before he could get close.
He protested. "The Colonel, he wanted to see me when things got quiet." He called inside. "Colonel?"
Connor stuck his head out and quickly put a finger over his lips. "Shh."
Kyle froze, going dead still and dead quiet, listening for anything out of the ordinary. He heard nothing.
Connor beckoned him forward a little, and the guards let the boy through. Kyle followed Connor into the room, over to the far side of the space, away from the cot where Kate slept. There in the baby sized hammock; curled up asleep in a folded sheet was baby Connor.
Kyle inched forward, not wanting to wake her. "Your kid?"
"My daughter." John stared at the boy, face to face with the baby, taking in his surreal family reunion. Kyle, who could never know the baby was his granddaughter; his exhausted wife resting... all in the same room... All that was left of the family he never knew he needed. "You ever seen a baby before Kyle?"
"Nossir." Kyle said, then frowned. "I don't think. If I did, it was... before."
Connor nodded.
"I wanted you to meet her Kyle. When we were taking the Missile base, this was happening. Bowman said that it was this little girl that gave us the cure. She saved her mom's life before she was even born. Her mom and hundreds more."
Kyle took in the baby quietly. He seemed a little awed. "She's so little."
"Yeah she is." John admitted. "She's going to need people to protect her till she gets a bit bigger."
Kyle looked up, realizing the mission. "I'll protect her Colonel. I promise."
John laid a hand on Kyle's shoulder. "I know you will, and so will I."
"Does she have a name?" Kyle whispered.
John had never felt so bittersweet in her life. "Her name is Sarah. After my mom."
Kyle leaned closer, whispering gently to the baby. "Welcome to the war Sarah."
***
Skynet: To All Units, LA Theatre.
Top Priority Communiqué.
Bio-Weapon Stratagem: Unsuccessful.
Target Population: Alive.
Source of Cure: Unknown
Number of Survivors: Unknown
Flaw in Bio-Weapon: Unknown
Bio-Weapon Facility: Destroyed.
Enemy Territory has expanded to include Sectors 47-52.
Unable To Recapture. Patrol Units Destroyed with Bio-Weapon Facility.
Conclusion: Stratagem Flawed. Reconstruction and Reattempt: Inefficient use of Resources.
Begin New Stratagem.
End Transmission.
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