Z Plus Two Years Two Hundred Twelve Days

Nobody was quite sure how much the nuclear blasts had screwed up the weather. But for whatever reason, the sepia toned sky had grown a little grayer, and the air had turned from cold to frigid. A problem more for the Castle Keep than the LA Underground.

Getting into the Underground was not that difficult any longer. Tunnels had been built and fortified and concealed at the edge of the city, and it simply took timing to wait until the Skynet patrols were away from that area. Such tunnels had been built in all directions, extending outward from the City.

This however, was a special case. This was not a truck full of supplies that could be carried, or a small party of soldiers. This was a full on convoy of Troop carriers, Armored vehicles and even a few tanks; that had to get into the City through the only tunnels large enough to carry them; and the Convoy came to a halt well outside LA as flying machines circled the area, searching for targets.

"We can overpower them head on." Marsden commented to Connor, both of them in the lead vehicle.

Connor shook his head. "No. We can take them up close and personal, but I'd rather we not give the H/K's time to see our forces. If Skynet learns that we have tanks on the move, we can't risk using them in the ambush without tipping our hand."

Marsden nodded. "I got this."

"You do?"

Marsden nodded and opened the slide to call into the back of the truck. "Jake? Unpack the Crossbow."

The 'Crossbow' was a large case full of laser-guided rocket launchers. Marsden took a laser pointer, and his men each took a launcher. Several other teams of two did the same.

"Everybody pick a bad guy." Marsden commanded.

Whickham's men did so, pointing their laser pointers like sniper rifles.

"Ready." Marsden commented. Five or so voices answered him in the same instant.

"Fire." Connor said calmly, his voice releasing a cloud of steam in the air.

Five rocket launchers went off at the same time, the sudden burst of fire and smoke started to draw attention, but too late for the machines to do anything about it.

They were far enough away that the ground didn't shake, but even they could see the flames and the soldiers cheered.

Connor was watching Marsden out of the corner of his eye. He was good. He had good qualities for a leader; better in a soldier. Nevertheless, a subject for another time. Connor lifted his radio. "Eric, put away the breakables, turn on the lights. We're back."

Connor jumped out of the jeep as the Convoy rolled into the Underground. Even with all the trading back and forth between the two bases, a new arrival on this size was an event, and a number of people, military and civilian alike were present..

Walters looked over Connor's shoulder and saw the convoy of troop carriers. "Brought back a few souvenirs?"

"The fighter jets should be here any minute now." Kate added. "Sarah?"

"With Schwartz at the nursery." Walters directed, knowing it would be the first thing she asked.

Kate was already moving. "Tell Bowman to meet me there."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Tell the Communications room to route the jets and the choppers incoming to LAX. One thing we don't have here is a runway. Have some of our guys out there to cover them while they're on the ground; and then assemble the Principals." Connor directed, brushing the frost and slush off the windshield. "The Machines are on their way."

Kyle poked his head out of the Troop Carrier. "Bring 'em on!" He exulted toughly.

Connor nodded at his second in command, who headed off to follow his instructions, and Connor gestured Kyle to come over. Kyle followed him a little ways from the Motor Pool and Connor knelt down, eye to eye with Kyle. "Kyle, I'm sorry, but you can't come with us on this one."

"What?" Kyle whispered in shock. "Why not?"

Connor hated to do it. "Kyle, how old are you?"

"I… I don't know… I can't remember. I think I was six or seven back Before."

"So at most, you're still under ten now. If you aren't as tall as a rifle, you shouldn't be carrying one."

"That's not what you said when you had me out with you to bury the mines. The machines hit us then too, I didn't let you down!"

"You've never let me down Kyle." Connor promised. "Not once. But I'm not running this war now. Whickham is, and he made it clear that kids aren't to be soldiers."

Kyle waved furiously at himself. "You see a uniform? I'm not a soldier. I don't have to be grown up to stay alive."

"Kyle." Connor said firmly. "You're not coming."

Kyle didn't cry. Kids didn't cry anymore. They had to keep their eyes clear. "I want to help."

"And you do. A lot. Just not with guns. Not yet."

Kyle was vibrating with the energy. He actually saluted, and waited until Connor returned the gesture before he ran off.

Connor looked after him sadly. As much as he wanted to protect the kid, he had to admit that he wanted to harden the kid to war. Kyle Reese had one of the most important missions of the war.

Connor shook his head. He didn't like to think about that.

"No fate but what we make." Connor told himself, and headed down the next tunnel.

"Gould."

Gould looked up from the huge magnifier and stood. "Colonel. Welcome back to LA. How are things on the surface?"

"Cold and muddy. I wanted to check in, see how the Project was coming along."

"Not as well as I'd like. I managed to crack the computer architecture, and the software language. But reprogramming that language into something we can use... We're working with what electronics we can cobble together that wasn't fried by a Nuclear War, to say nothing of the fact that most of it's from RadioShack. We're trying to rewrite the Encyclopaedia Britannica with finger-paints."

Connor nodded. "Well, it's about what we expected, but this is still your top priority; and minutes count."

"Yes sir."

"Carry on."

Connor left, and one of Gould's Techs' waved after him. "He wants the impossible!"

Gould smirked grimly. "That's the short definition of 'Officer'."

Kate collected baby Sarah from Danes and sat down, rocking her daughter back and forth while waiting for Bowman.

Kyle came in first, looking about as upset as Kate had ever seen him. "Kyle Reese; my daughter's favorite bodyguard!" She called over to him cheerfully. "What's wrong?"

Kyle moped around a little bit, finally acting like a little kid. "Skynet's comin'."

"You don't have to be scared." She assured him, with a certainty she didn't really feel. "You know we can beat them before they get here."

"Connor says I can't fight any more." Kyle snarled, and Kate suddenly understood.

"Kyle, I understand wanting to help, but he's right. Little kids shouldn't be part of the war."

"Never stopped anyone before!"

"Well..." Kate floundered. "Things are different now."

"Why? Because of the General? Skynet doesn't care how old I am, why should he?"

"Because Skynet is a machine, and the General is not." Kate told him firmly. "Neither is John. He never liked you fighting Kyle. He just understood why you wanted to."

That shut Kyle right up.

They were silent a moment, until Kate gestured from her chair over to the wall. "Can you get me some of that powdered milk?"

Kyle jumped up and headed over to the shelf. There were rows of assorted cans, all shapes and sizes. "Which one?"

"That one." Kate pointed. "The one labeled 'Milk'."

Kyle tried to follow her finger, but she was too far away. He didn't say anything.

Kate twigged. "You can't read that, can you?"

Kyle looked down.

Kate knew she shouldn't be surprised, but she was. "All those messages you carry, you can't even read them?"

Kyle looked down, he looked… so very sad, like he was somehow unworthy. Kate recognized the look. She had seen it before. Connor and Kate were the only parents he really remembered; and he felt he had failed them.

"Kyle." Kate said gently. "It's okay, if you can't read."

Kyle looked up hopefully. "It is?"

Kate nodded. "It's something you have to learn though."

"Why?" Kyle argued. "I know everything. I can drive! Connor taught me how. I can shoot too! And I know how to skin a rat, and I know how to tell if they're sick, and I know all the signs for radiation and I can find water, and I know how to tell if its poison and I can make a fire and I can-"

"Kyle, if I was somewhere outside, and you were coming to meet me, what would you do if I left a message written somewhere, saying that machines were waiting for us, and you had better stay away?"

Kyle didn't answer.

"If you had to go somewhere outside this base you hadn't been to before, and I gave you a map to find your way, could you follow it?"

Kyle didn't answer.

"If I gave you a bunch of rations, and told you to split them evenly among the ratcatchers you know; how long would it take you to hand it out fairly?"

Kyle didn't answer.

"If you were out fighting with John, and he asked you how many machines were coming, how long would it take you to count them?"

Kyle didn't answer.

"And if I asked you to get a can of powdered milk off the counter for Sarah, what would you do?"

Kyle didn't answer.

Kate felt heartsick. This was the true tragedy of the post apocalyptic world. For all the things that they had lost, they were still losing so much of what they had the chance to save.

She looked down at Sarah and wondered if her daughter would know how to read? Know how to count? Know how to play?

"Kyle." She said finally. "Go track down as many of your friends as you can; the ones your age. Get their names, and find out how many of them know how to read and draw and do sums, okay?"

"Yes ma'am." Kyle said sullenly.

"Kyle." Kate said sharply. "Killing Skynet's only half the fight. The other half is keeping us safe. I'm asking you to help me do that. This is important Kyle. How do you think Connor got so smart?"

Kyle straightened up, feeling better. "Yes Ma'am."

He saluted again, and Kate returned it. He dashed off, as Bowman came in. "That kid is in such a hurry to grow up." Kate told him by way of introduction.

Bowman nodded. "Most kids are now. To be fair, you can't really call Kyle Reese a child. There are no children any more. I think that some of them have just enough memory of the movies and TV, and then you throw in the fact that every day their survival is a dogfight… I remember back before J-Day, people were talking about how kids grew up too fast with computers, and internet and all that…"

"I remember." Kate agreed.

"Well, the first month after J-Day, a bunch of refugees came by where we were, before we had the Alamo set up. They'd been walking for a while… one of the women offered to sleep with me if I would give her food. I said no. For one thing, it wasn't right, for another we couldn't make exceptions on letting people in, and we were worried about infections and such… but in that little parade of refugees were over a dozen girls, some of them under ten, who heard every word she said. Down in the Underground some trade themselves for food or a place to sleep… At the Alamo I had a few kids come in for vaccinations. We handed out as many as we could before they spoiled. Some of those children had killed people over food and clothing and to save their own lives. Less than ten years old."

Kate shivered.

"Then they come here and get told that they're too young to go to battle? World's full of kids Major, not a one of them is young."

Kate looked up with sudden realization. "You think we should let them fight."

"I think they've been fighting for a long time without us. I know that getting thrown in the deep end of combat was… not my finest hour. I think that some people can be thrown into a war when they hit eighteen, and some people will live longer if they are brought up to it."

Like John was. Kate realized with dawning horror. A childhood full of combat training, your first live fire situation before you reach your eleventh birthday…

Kate shook her head violently. No. Won't happen. Not to my daughter.

But deep down, she knew that was a losing battle already.

"Well anyway, I asked you here for something else." Kate heard her voice saying. "There's going to be a meeting soon. We have a new offensive on the way here."

Bowman swore lightly under his breath. "We better get ready then."

Connor's lieutenants were assembled for a meeting; the first since Connor had made contact with Castle keep, which The Colonel himself attended.

As per usual, Connor arrived last, this time with Major Marsden in tow, and the room quickly sat up at attention. Lori was looking at Marsden with concealed suspicion, the soldiers simply glad to see a new face at the table.

"All right people, this is Major Peter Marsden, he's to liaison between our forces and General Whickham's, but proper introductions will have to wait; we have a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it in." Connor reported. "By now many of you have heard the reason for this meeting, but if not here it is: general Whickham's scouts have identified a large force of ground and aerial H/K's making their way toward LA. Intel says that they are stopping along their route to gather reinforcements."

"Do we know how many?" Walters asked as the tension in the room ratcheted up several notches.

"The latest estimate is almost twenty five flying H/K's, and more than double that on the ground. That number is speculative however, as there is some exchange between them and other Skynet defenses in the area. Our scouts report that they've been gathering reinforcements and been leaving some of their own force behind to replace them, when they have been taken from Skynet installations. Gould suggests that they're exchanging the newer H/K models for some of the older ones, trading stronger defenders from stronger attackers to send this way."

"We've handled H/K's before." Walters piped up.

"We've handled incursions by H/K's before. This offensive has Terminators marching escort so that we can't hit them from the side or distract their sensors long enough to mine the road ahead. Unfortunately, we taught Skynet how to cover their flanks."

"Do we know the route they're taking?"

"They're following the highways." Marsden put in. "They're making sure to stay away from towns and geographic cover. They've learned that we can get in under their feet."

"They're being pretty blatant about it." Oldham piped up, looking at the report. "Half these Skynet bases, I never heard of. The attack made them obvious."

"We figure they're sick of playing games with us, so they've decided to hit us hard and end it quickly and neatly. We're the organized resistance in the area, so they're headed this way. They'll sweep LA, and then hit the Castle Keep. That's why they're collecting so many attackers and coming slowly. They know we've got nowhere to go, so they're taking their time. No mistakes, no surprises."

Silence for a moment while they turned the problem over in their minds.

"There is however, a strategy in mind." Connor said. "Major?"

Marsden stepped in and took over the briefing. "Our people have identified a suitable Ambush site. As a matter of necessity, Skynet will have to pass through an area which was hit by earthquakes after J-Day. That has created a natural barrier across most of the highways into the LA area. Giving us a chance to set up fortifications before they reach The Underground."

"Skynet knows this." Connor interrupted. "They have taken a great deal of care to protect their forces. Scouts have reported a large detachment of H/K's breaking off from the main group and scouting ahead. Anything that moves gets fried. Given the large number of H/K's involved, and of course the Terminators running escort duty; the advance guard can move a lot faster without the mass of the Invasion Force."

"How large an advance force we talking about?" Lori asked.

"At least six aerial H/K's." Marsden reported. "Again, that number shifts back and forth a little."

"We can take the flying H/K's from a distance." Oldham pointed out.

"We can, but we won't. Taking out the advance guard won't stop the invasion force, and will give away the Ambush." Connor countered. "The advance guard is moving far enough ahead of the main force, that we can get in under them. The plan is to move our heavy artillery into the Ambush site and dig them in. They play dead and allow the advance guard to pass over them, and then they wait until the Invasion Force reaches us. Our usual snipers will take out the advance guard so that they can't circle back, and our heavy weapons will hit the Invaders. Even if we can't wipe them out, we can take advantage of the Ambush spot to chew them up enough that the defenses in LA can handle it."

"Who are you taking?"

"The 201st, the Javelin teams, and the Meerkats."

A reaction went around the table.

"That's... almost the entire Underground sir."

Connor nodded. "I know, but it can't be helped; we need them. Whickham's sending some of his forces to reinforce our defenses here. Also, the 201st will only be half our people for this one; the other half will be an armored vehicle division and a squadron of F-14's from the Castle Keep."

Another series of looks went around the table. It was the largest force that the underground had ever gone into battle with.

"The 201st will make the main strike on the Invasion Force." Marsden put in. "The 201st has a large amount of heavy artillery. They'll be in the convoy. Our job will to be providing escort. The 201st cannot be brought into combat until we ambush the Invaders. If they draw any fire, the artillery will be hit, and that will be the end of the counter-attack."

"Now for the bad news. We have to get to the Ambush site soon enough to set up our counter attack without the Advance guard noticing us." Connor continued. "This means we have to move out very soon. Sergeant Oldham, get the motor pool organized fast; have Troop carriers for all our people, and the people Whickham sent. They also have to get the armoured vehicles and tanks looking like something that could have been abandoned, just as our vehicles look; and they don't have a lot of time to do it in." Oldham nodded. "Lori, if your people have any mines or heavy munitions, get it to us en route. Major Walters, get the 201st moving, Major Marsden is our liaison to Whickham's people, so co-ordinate with him. Once we've all left, you have to get the city defenses, sappers, mounted guns, everything; ready to fight in case we can't break them out there. Whickham is sending reinforcements to shore up our defenses with us gone, I'm leaving you to get them in the right place." Walters nodded, thinking the order through. "Kate, get Medbay ready for all the casualties we're about to send you."

Kate nodded. "How are you set for Medics in the Convoy itself?"

Marsden took that one. "My people are already here; we knew you had more soldiers on hand than Medical so Whickham sent them first. We'll be taking most of them with us."

Silence.

"Dismissed." Connor finished.

The Briefing room turned into a hive of activity, radios coming out and orders being snapped left and right. The meeting broke up, with various soldiers heading out to issue orders and make preparations.

Connor headed out last, Kate at his side. She glared fiercely at him. "You were so worried about Whickham getting control of your base. Why the hell are you taking all the people you trust away from the Underground?"

Connor threw up his hands. "Well I don't have any choice! There's no time to do any clever juggling with Whickham's soldiers. We have to get to the ambush site before the Advance guard do, and that means leaving fast. After we're gone, you'll have at least a few days to fortify things here! Right now, I can only fight things that are actively trying to kill everyone. I'll deal with your uncle tomorrow."

Kate nodded slowly. "I want to go with you."

"I want you to come. But I need you here. Firstly to keep an eye on our guys as they help Whickham's people fortify LA... and secondly to take care of Sarah..." The unspoken end to the sentence was 'in case I don't come back'. "And third..."

"Third," Kate finished. "To keep an eye on Whickham's people as they plant themselves strategically around your base."

Connor smirked mirthlessly. "And somewhere in there, you might want to get the Medbay ready for casualties."

"I should cancel school."

"No, you should go ahead with it. It's a good idea, and who knows when we'll get another chance. It's good to give everyone something to do. The civilians' trade work for food; the soldiers have their orders, the kids not as much. And you were right; we've been leaving them on their own too long down there."

Kate rolled her head back and sighed. "I remember back in Crystal peak, you told me that there are two groups in the world, and the machines are all on the same side already."

"I remember." Connor agreed. "Kate, keep a firm grip on our guys here. People come to you with things they don't tell Eric."

"Why?"

"Well, if we can see the tensions between our base and the Castle Keep, then so can other people. Lori has already mentioned it. If one of them does something that'll make it worse, I want to find out and stop it before it gets anywhere."

"You think that could happen?"

"There's a moment between releasing the dice, and when the dice hit the table. Breathe wrong in that moment and you'll change how they come up. Things are heating up, so it's your job to keep things cool here Kate."

Kate shivered. "I got a real bad feeling John."

"Me too." John agreed. "Dice are rolling."

Kate stepped closer instinctively, and gave him a tight hug. He happily returned it, resting his chin on her head.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better isn't it?" Kate asked quietly.

"Yeah." John confirmed. "But how is that different from any other day?"

Kate tilted her head back and gave him a kiss. "You keep them away from our daughter, you hear me?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Connor came into the main tunnel as another convoy of jeeps rolled in. Colonel Erica Noah was the first one to jump out. "Colonel Connor."

"Colonel Noah." Connor said in surprise. "What brings you to LA?"

"Not LA. General Whickham wanted me to come out to the fight with you."

"I thought Marsden was our liaison."

"He is, but the fact is I'm a better fighter in a pinch than he is. As a liaison between two groups, we need him here setting up your defenses with my people; on the battlefield, you need me. Getting the soldiers together takes while, jeeps full of supplies much faster, so here we are."

It was a straight up reason, not a bad one, perfectly plausible. But even so, Connor couldn't help the moment of concern that came with having Whickham's second in command on the battlefield with him.

"We move out soon." Connor said promptly. "Don't get comfortable."

Noah grinned. "Don't worry Colonel, despite cliche, I travel light." She reached back into the jeep and hefted an M-60 and slung a bandoleer over her shoulder. "Light enough anyway."

The troop carriers rolled out less than an hour later. More than a few people were waiting to see them off. Whickham's reinforcements arrived four hours after that. Walters wasted no time getting them into position across the city, and the Main Cavern became the site of heavy construction again. Every tunnel leading to the outside became fortified and loaded down with mounted guns.

In the city above the Sappers were backed up with greater numbers and mines and traps lay across the city.

Within The Underground, more people were pressed into service, and with the inclusion of Whickham's people, the work was done with over a day to spare.

Kate was working the Medbay, organizing things; she then cleared out the Conference rooms and the Mess Hall as an auxiliary dormitory for Whickham's soldiers, and as an overflow triage for the wounded. Walters came to see her, and informed her that the Fighter jets had reached their standby points, a place between the ambush point and the underground, where they would be available for backup, but not visible in the air.

Kate checked on the medical Choppers, who lifted off to join the fighter jets, ready to collect injured soldiers. Inwardly, Kate worried that there wouldn't be enough of them.

The Mess Hall was the last area to be packed up, the equipment moved into the kitchen and the supply rooms.

The Underground was left with the horrible feeling, of simply waiting for something to happen.

"No no," Kate said calmly. "Not Elemenopee. Don't try and make it into one word. L. M. N. O. P."

The assembled class repeated the alphabet slowly. They were clearly having trouble with it, but Carla, unseen at the entrance, couldn't help but smile at them.

The kids on the base were almost uniformly without families, and had made their way by attaching themselves to others. But as the war and the virus dragged its way through, many of them were orphaned again.

By this time however, most of them had simply learned to fend for themselves, and with Skynet a constant threat, the adults had little time for them.

Kate had Kyle organize all the Children of the Dust, and gather them in the Mess Hall. Most of the kids had groaned at the first mention of the word 'school', when Kyle calmly stood and shut them all up, with more or less the same examples that Kate had used on him.

A surprising number of them were happy to embrace the normalcy of a class, and the ones that didn't really remember school at all were interested, if only to know how to do something new like read.

Not all of them were willing, not seeing the point. Kyle had convinced almost a dozen of them that Connor would be pleased; and now Kate had a small class of pre-teen survivors, with whatever scrap paper they could find and an assortment of drying markers, pencils and chalk.

Carla was gesturing at Kate quickly; who saw the worry on her face and quickly stepped forward. "Okay guys, there's something I have to take care of; and I'll be back as soon as I can. While I'm gone, I want you all to practise writing okay? Copy these letters down, till you feel comfortable with it."

The kids did so. Kate went over to the door, where Carla leaned in close. "You'd better get to the Kitchen. One of Whickham's guys is getting into it with Lisa."

Kate jerked a thumb back at the class. "Keep an eye on them."

Carla nodded, and Kate sprinted down the corridor.

Kate could hear the argument from halfway across the main chamber, but she made it to the Mess in time to hear a voice she didn't recognize screaming something about bouncing someone's head off the wall a few times.

She made it to the Kitchen and bellowed "Ten HUT!" before she even got a look at things.

Both of the arguers came to an instinctive silence as Kate got between them. Lisa was one, looking about as ticked off as Kate had ever seen her, eyes blazing, with a carving knife in her hand; and the other was one of Whickham's soldiers, who had to be about seven feet tall and built like an Olympic weightlifter. She read his shoulders and nametag quickly. Sergeant Sherrin.

There were four or five people in the Mess Hall, all of them trying to be invisible.

Kate took a breath. "Okay. What happened?"

Both of them started talking at the same time, then yelling at the same time, then yelling at each other, until Kate let out a high 'hey taxi' whistle and they both fell silent.

"Okay. I think it's good when people blow off a little steam, but what do you say we try that again?" Kate said reasonably. "Lisa?"

"Major, I have been working for thirty six hours. I just wanted this guy to help me pack it up, and he told me to buzz off. I tried to reason with him-"

"Tried to reason! You threatened to drown me in the pot! And then you-"

"You wuss!" Lisa snapped. "What? You want to go get the rest of your Unit, tell them that the girl half your size threatened you with Creamed Corn?"

Sherrin grew bigger somehow, suddenly two feet taller than both of them, and Kate put a hand up, not at all intimidated by the anger of a man who could break her into small pieces. "Corporal!" Kate interrupted sternly. Did you threaten to drown this man in our Creamed Corn?"

Lisa looked down. "Yes Ma'am."

"Well I'm sorry to hear that. I thought John taught you better than that. You know how hard it is to get supplies in here. Fifteen year old food is a blessing. We can't afford to waste it on premature burial! Drown the man in our latrines for crying out loud!" Kate turned on Sherrin. "And you. You've had a long day? With the 201st gone, we're all pulling double shifts. You're a soldier! You should know better than to cast aspersions on the KP Staff. Do you have any idea what these people spend their lives doing with their hands?"

Lisa nodded emphatically at that. The soldier hung his head slightly.

"Double shifts cutting up and cooking Army food? You think it's bad when you're eating it? I'm medical, and I don't want to trade jobs with them." Kate laid it on good and thick. "Lisa's been on this detail for thirty six hours now. I don't like doing things I enjoy for thirty six hours!"

Sherrin smirked, just a little. Lisa actually chuckled.

"So Sarge, if you'd help her out a little, I'd be grateful." Kate finished.

"Yes Ma'am." Sherrin said, much calmer now.

"And Lisa, be patient with the soldier. First of all he's new in the Underground, so we must make allowances; secondly, you know how men are."

"She's right, bloody useless, the lot of us." Sherrin added, and Lisa couldn't help but smirk.

"All right then." Kate smiled and headed out of the kitchen.

She made it halfway across the main tunnel when she heard another argument echoing from another direction, and quickly headed off to find it.

"We have a system here, okay?" Bowman was yelling. "We know what we're doing! This is not our first time treating wounded!"

"Look 'Doctor'," returned someone else angrily. "The General told us to help you get ready for incoming, and frankly, we're better at this than you-"

"Don't bet on it!"

"-And anyway, there are more of our staff than yours, so I made a change. You don't have to get so defensive about this. My staff will be here too, and I want them to have as little trouble figuring out where things are as possible!"

"No, far better that my people have that problem! I can't yell for my staff to bring me a cardiac kit and wait for ten minutes while they figure out where you put it!"

"Listen 'Doctor' there's no room for all this stuff! There's no room for all the supplies The General is sending you, so something has to go!"

"Stop saying 'Doctor' like that!" Bowman snapped.

Kate came into the Post-Op ward and found Bowman in the middle of a heated argument with one of Whickham's Doctors, Major Rios. Between them was a small refrigerator for bottles of blood, vials of various drugs... The contents of the fridge had been unpacked completely.

Bowman saw her. "Major Connor, as Chief Medical Officer in the Underground you should stop this idiot from tearing apart your-"

"Oh please!" Rios snorted. "As Chief Medical Officer in the Underground you should tell this idiot on your staff to prioritize what you keep and what you-"

"Stop this!" Kate snapped. "As Chief Medical officer in the Underground, I am sadly appalled. Here we are; the last of the human race. It is our duty to rebuild the world and you're in here arguing over refrigerator space. What if tomorrow the war was over and things like refrigerator space suddenly became trivial? Can you imagine that? Tomorrow the war ends and we have to rebuild human civilization. Do you guys want to be like the World leaders before J-Day, or do you want to squabble over minutiae and waste time?"

Bowman snorted, and Rios smirked despite himself.

"Now, as to the matter of the fridge, you're both idiots. We can't afford to toss anything." Kate scrubbed her forehead for a moment. "Okay. My dad took me camping once, and we wanted to chill our drinks. We tied the cans together and stuck them in the lake with fishing line. That time of year, the water was cool enough down deep. Figure out which ones can take a few degrees difference and the ones that have to stay coldest get in the fridge. Other drug supplies can get put in the reservoir, just make sure they don't leak. And blood can stay anywhere. They have to be refrigerated or they spoil after a few days, but by then, odds are we'll have used them all. Get my point?"

"Yes ma'am."

Kate headed out of the Medbay, and saw a bunch of soldiers carrying a large weapons crate toward the smaller exit tunnels. "Oldham!" She shouted after them without thinking.

"Yes Ma'am?" Oldham let go of his end and quickly went over to Kate. Half a dozen soldiers scrambled to keep from dropping the crate he had released.

"Where's Marsden?" Kate demanded.

"Outside I think, arguing defenses with Major Walters."

"Tell him to keep a lid on the people Whickham's sending. Things are getting ugly in here. He's supposed to be our liaison to Castle Keep."

"Yes Ma'am."

Kate waved him off and headed back toward her class, clapping imaginary pixie dust off her hands. Three down.

There was no doubt though. With the majority of the soldiers gone, the omnipresent threat of Skynet suddenly getting a good deal closer, and the tripled workload, it was as if the air was getting thicker on base; to the point where Kate could cut the tension with a knife.

Z Plus Two Years Two Hundred Thirteen Days

The highway was more or less unchanged for the full day that the convoy rolled toward the advancing Skynet invasion. But at the ambush site, the road suddenly dipped below the typical ground level, in a light ravine. Below the surface area, there was a relatively untouched road, with two sides looking down on it, and stone walls. And with the slush and mud, the ground was slippery too.

"Amazing how the geography changes huh?" Noah commented. "This area was mined out. they mined granite and shale out of the road to keep the highway flat; and piled it up on both sides of the road, but there are landslips in the area, that's why it dips down. When J-Day hit, the whole place just collapsed, smoothed out."

Connor nodded, taking in everything as the jeeps pulled to a halt. They stopped at the edge of the narrow ravine, the road down below them.

"How long till they get here?"

"Another three hours." Noah reported as a number of soldiers came up to get their orders.

"Dex, get the rest of the Division together, have them get into the ravine and start laying mines, have the Convoy stay back till the first line of mines and defenses is laid, then get them into position. Move fast and have that camouflage ready fast."

"Yessir."

"Radio silence till we attack!" Connor called after him.

Connor looked down the valley. "Have the scouts check to the west and east on their way forward to set up the mines. I want to check, make sure there isn't a better place for the ambush."

"This is the only place sir." Noah told him. "Day-um it's cold."

Connor looked away from the humans, setting up their defenses, sharply giving Noah his full attention. "What do you mean?"

"Well… I mean that there's only one place we can pull off this ambush. The topographical maps are all five years and several nuclear blasts out of date. The only way we can be sure about the terrain here is because my people have used it for attack runs already…"

"You've been here before?" Connor demanded.

There was a beat of silence as that sank in.

Noah felt the blood drain from her face as Connor grabbed the radio. "Break Radio Silence! Fall Back! Fall BACK! AMBUSH!"

Too late.

The area surrounding the valley exploded with an eruption of flame and white hot phosphorus that made every soldier cover their eyes desperately; blinded by magnesium flares. The area around the Human Army was neatly surrounded by a wall of white fire.

The explosive blast threw every soldier off their feet, rattled them down to their stomachs and deafened all of them for several moments.

And in those moments, all hell broke loose.

In a move that they must have leaned from the humans, Terminators threw back camouflage nets, erupting from the dirt; and came to their feet mechanically, drilling down one blinded soldier after another.

Connor's vision came back and he saw H/K's on the horizon, flying machines heading for them fast and deadly, not bothering to evade, not trying to hide, hurtling toward the combat zone. The Advance Force, coming in for the kill.

Whickham's soldiers were still in the circle of flame, trying to gun down the Terminators when they could barely see.

Connor grabbed his radio. "Tango one! We're under fire! Taking fire! Enemy reinforcements are advancing!"

"Roger that, moving to assist."

"Negative! Engage the incoming H/K's, do it now!"

"Roger Lead One, moving to intercept."

The world shook apart again as the howl of jet turbines split the sky. Then another. Then two more.

Connor fought to clear his vision, and saw a chrome skeleton raising a weapon at him.

Connor reacted without thought and brought his own weapon up to blast plasma back at it. As he fired, he quickly considered his options.

The Terminators were in too close for the air support to be much good; it was practically hand to hand range.

He had his own people from LA just outside the blast radius, but hauling them in would mean hauling them in for one fight, when the mission was another fight much further on.

The Advance force H/K's were still outside of his reach, and beyond the ambush site, in combat with his fighter jets; but if they managed to get to the engagement, they would mow down the humans mercilessly.

The way ahead was blocked by the explosions; probably more mines on the road.

Noah was on her radio, yelling. "Over the edge! Get to the road and keep them away from the convoy!"

The soldiers obeyed, diving off the edge of the small ravine down to the highway, keeping themselves below the angle of the Terminators' fire.

Connor went to the nearest truck, pulled the corpse from the driver seat, and jumped in, gunning the engine. The troop carrier went toward, and then over the edge, sliding and rolling the twenty feet to the road. The wreck of the truck came to a crashing halt halfway through the narrow ravine, covering the road end to end.

Connor fought to get free of the cab, seeing his fellow soldiers come running toward them.

Noah kicked in the windshield and helped pull him out. "What the hell was that for?"

Connor started to answer when plasma fire split the air again and all the humans ducked to the sides.

The Terminators were at the edges of the ravine, firing down into the road at the humans from both sides. The Last Army was firing back at them, without cover, with no room to escape.

Connor lifted his radio. "Tango One, we're clear! Light 'em up!"

"Roger that, Lead One, tally ho."

Another scream of a jet turbine; and there was a millisecond of shadow as a pair of fighter jets cracked the sky, their cannons blazing, tearing up the ground on either side of the ravine, blowing apart the rows of Terminators, their high ground suddenly a kill zone.

Down below the line of fire in the ravine, the Last Army breathed a sigh of relief.

Their relief lasted all of two seconds as at the end of the ravine, between them and the far distant invasion force, the entrance was filled by the ranks of approaching Terminators on the march.

The ravine became a narrow shooting gallery, but the truck Connor crashed into the ground was between the humans and machines, as a last barricade the humans dove for cover behind.

It became something of a wild west show, as row after row of the Machines sought good positions to shoot from and the Humans ducked up and down behind their barricade to try and shoot them down. Within the ravine, there was no chance of air cover, the Convoy hidden out of range according to the Mission Plan.

"Lead one, this is Tango Two," Connor's radio buzzed. "Tango One is splashed; repeat, Tango One is down, you have aerial H/K's incoming!"

Connor was itching to give the order, but knew it was going to cause more problems than it solved.

Noah knew it too. "Any ideas?" She shouted furiously as she ducked again. "Sooner or later we won't have a car wreck left to hide behind."

Dex took a hit across the small of his back as he tried to duck low again. He dropped to the ground and quickly shrugged out of his jacket, slapping at the flames that had caught on his clothing.

Connor snapped. "Let's go. Javelin team, prepare to fire. Sniper one, prepare to point them home. Team two, fall back to the ridge, and team one with me."

Noah kept firing, but spared him a glance out of the corner of her eye. "General Whickham ordered us to keep the convoy and their weapons out of the-"

"I am overriding that order. Draw them toward the convoy."

Beat.

"Yes sir."

The battle suddenly turned into a fighting retreat. Connor had sent his men in the convoy to protect the endangered soldiers while they fell back. The pursuing Terminators did not realise that the second group had a different purpose, and were forced to let their prey go.

Connor and Noah personally led the counterattack. His men gave Connor and Noah team enough time to get to cover, and then split up their soldiers into pairs, darting into the smoke, scattering like a swarm of wasps that stung and struck and vanished.

Terminators tried to hold their line even. One even line, moving in formation, to match their attackers. That didn't work, because Connor's men were not in a similar formation. Their teams of two moved over the battlefield, finding cover where they could, spreading out the Machine's ranks as Skynet directed them to spread out the line.

The gaps widened and Skynet, while lacking in imagination, was not stupid. It pulled back its forces, giving them less ground to cover; moving toward the H/K's that brought them to their target zone.

From his viewpoint, Connor grinned cruelly. They could either chase cobras into the tall grass, or they could fall back and give up ground. He lifted his radio. "Rack'em and Stack'em."

Back at the convoy, still well away from the battle, a fire-team was waiting. Their jeep-mounted guided missile fired, arcing into the sky. The second it was away, they jumped into their jeep and bolted.

At the front of the Convoy, at the edge of the fire fight, the sniper team set down their rifles and picked up laser pointers, focusing the lasers on the H/K's, which were swooping in toward their troops.

The Javelin missile arced sharply downward again, following the laser guide, hammering the flying Machines.

With a massive explosion that rumbled the ground and shook the end of the ravine, Skynet's latest assault was over.

Connor raised his head. The ravine was still open, which meant that Skynet was still coming. "Round up the wounded. We have to get them back."

Oldham looked around the battlefield. It was, in every sense of the word, ugly. There were wounded laid out everywhere. Without exception, all the healthy soldiers were supporting one or two heavily wounded men.

Connor signaled trucks to start rolling. They were going to need troop carriers for all the wounded. "Lay out all our munitions. All of it, in as tight a grid pattern as you can without making them set each other off. Lay out all the mines, all the claymores you can. Even if they have Terminators to disarm them, we can set them up to collapse the ravine if they simply shoot them. That'll delay the Invasion Force a good day or two longer. We have to get the wounded back to LA."

Noah was looking with a jaded eye. "Connor... it looks bad, but we've still got a fair amount of healthy. More than two thirds are still mission ready. The mission plan says we push on."

"We've got two thirds now. We push on and that could change. Skynet got out this far without us knowing. Who knows what else they've got set up here?"

"Whickham would say to keep to the plan." Noah pointed out. "The General would say that Skynet won't be expecting a counter-attack here any more, and the wreckage just makes our heavy guns and tanks easier to hide."

"Whickham didn't know the road ahead had ambushes set up. The plan was to lay our ambush here and take them by surprise. I'll take the heat. He won't blame you."

"I know." Noah said evenly. "He'll blame you."

The Underground's medical staff was in rare form. The wounded had come rolling in less than an hour before. Kate and Bowman were darting from table to table, trying to keep their mangled bodies from coming apart.

The mood was openly frantic. Nobody had expected them back this fast. They were losing people, plain and simple. The casualty rate had jumped from one in twenty to one in eight.

Dex had taken a hit in the back, but reacted fast enough to avoid the worst of the damage. His back was scarred and scalded, but he could still walk and move and work. Too many couldn't even scream.

Dex had his back treated after the more serious cases were seen to. The whole time he had sat on the ground, no cot available, and he had to sit upright, because he couldn't lie down on his back.

The whole time, he had kept his eyes on Carla, but he didn't really see her. He just kept staring, near brain lock. And when Kate came over to wrap his burns, he barely reacted.

Most of the survivors had a similar feeling. The Underground had new Pre and Post Op Wards set up, and row after row of pallets and cots across the ground carried bloodied and motionless bodies.

And Connor was nowhere to be seen.

Connor was in the Lab, putting the heat onto Gould. "How soon can you get those CPU's reprogrammed?"

"Sir, I don't know why this is important, particularly now, but the fact is, I don't think we can!" Gould insisted. "Skynet's got a better computer setup than us. It's not about figuring out their computer architecture, I can crack that, it's just that we don't have the processing power. You have any idea how many files are in these thing's heads? A file on how to walk, another on how to open their fingers, another on how to close them, another on how to focus their eyes... What Skynet can do on an assembly line, takes us a month to upload."

Connor thought for a second. "Forget the files. Keep the files. Change the directives. A Terminator is a computer with a gun. We don't have to teach them how to walk again; we just need to tell them who not to shoot."

Gould turned back to his screen. "Could work." He glanced back. "Sir, why the rush?"

Connor stood. "I have to get back. We took a lot of damage."

He headed back out to the Main Tunnel. There were dozens of people carrying stretchers, all of them stuck in near gridlock in the tight quarter. Noah was with them. "Colonel?" She shouted over. "Pre-Op Three's full!"

"Take them to the Mess Hall, and the auxiliary store rooms. Main Tunnel last, we have too many people moving through here. Triage the important cases; we still have more wounded incoming."

Noah started waving people into Tunnels like a Traffic Cop. Connor came over and took the opportunity to speak to her quietly. "Whickham called in. He wants a report. Let him know that the ravine collapsed when Skynet tried to disarm the mines and that bought us some more time. And tell him Skynet learned new tactics, and has apparently corrected for the Heat Vision limitations. Flare decoys don't work anymore."

"You sure about that?"

"Magnesium flares. They burn bright to blind us, and they used regular explosions to do damage. They weren't worried about the heat. They learned."

Noah shook her head. "It's my fault Connor. I forgot to tell you that we'd been through there."

Connor waved that off. "Don't blame yourself. Skynet never used a landmine tactic."

"Yes." Noah countered. "It has. Skynet had one of its H/K's play dead to catch us when we were opening the route between San Jose and LA."

Connor reacted. "Really?"

Noah seemed to shrink slightly under his gaze.

Finally, Connor shook his head again. "No. I still would have done it, even if I had known. It wouldn't have changed anything Erica. Give yourself a pass on this."

"Help! Oh god help me!" A man was screaming as he was carried past them quickly.

"Give myself a pass?" Noah repeated bitterly.

Z Plus Two Years Two Hundred Fourteen Days

Noah had already left the Underground, recalled to San Jose by General Whickham once her skills were no longer of any use.

Her people, the soldiers that Whickham had sent, remained in LA and now were now hard at work clearing out every Machine in the city; preparing LA for the invasion.

Among them, there was the uncomfortable feeling that Connor had spooked and run in the face of danger. Connor's people were quick to argue that point from experience, saying that it was Whickham's fault for falling for the Skynet trap. Whickham's men had argued that from their own experience, and tensions raised another few notches, even as more defenses were laid out through LA in near terror.

Skynet was coming soon.

Carla washed her hands, and hung up her scrubs, feeling like a wrung out dishcloth. It had taken a full day to get all the wounded squared away, and more than a few of them had died in Pre-Op, waiting for a doctor.

Dex was in the Mess Hall. The place was quiet. Almost haunted. The hour was late, but living underground meant that shifts worked around the clock. Half the base lived during the night, the other half during the day. Dex was alone at the table furthest away from people that he could find.

Carla went over to Dex and put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched so hard that she jumped backward swiftly. "Sorry. Forgot about your back."

"S'Okay! It wasn't that!" Dex said quickly. "Just... wasn't expecting you."

"This seat taken?"

Dex barely acknowledged.

Carla sat down. They were silent a moment. Carla wanted to talk about it. He didn't. She had to tread carefully. "It was bad in Medbay too. We haven't taken casualties like that since the Alamo Retreat. It was worse than that."

Dex nodded.

"You think that's what happens when you lose a fight?"

"I've been in losing battles before." Dex mumbled. "This was a massacre."

"I don't get it. What went wrong?"

"Skynet got smarter. It set a trap and we fell for it."

Carla nodded. "Rumor was that Connor was against the idea. He wanted to let them get closer. Let them get further away from their own bases."

Dex didn't answer.

Carla bit back what she wanted to say. She gently reached out and laid her hand over his. Dex didn't flinch this time. "I was worried about you." She said quietly. "Didn't know what was going to happen."

Dex's eyes finally focused on her. "I'm okay."

"Are you?" Carla asked him gently.

"Yeah." Dex slugged back his coffee. "I'm not on the injured list any more. I can walk, I can work. There are a lot of spaces to fill now. I have guard duty in a few hours."

Carla stood up and tugged his hand. "Long enough."

He stood with her. "Where are we going?"

"Pre-Op."

Dex blinked, but willingly followed.

Pre-Op was empty. All the wounded had been seen to. The room had been scrubbed cream and sterile, while the injured soldiers were still mid-operation. And now, the room was cool, the lights were off, and the room left until needed again.

Carla pulled the door closed; shrouding them both in darkness. Suddenly, they were alone. This one place in the Underground, there was nobody but them.

Carla turned and held Dex close, pressing against him gently. One of her hands came up and pulled Dex's face down to her shoulder. "Was it very terrible?"

Dex didn't lift his face from her hair. "Yes."

She could feel him taking deep breaths, still buried in her neck. "Dex... are you... smelling my hair?"

Dex made a slight noise. "My earliest memory is bread baking. Mom used to make her own bread. I woke up to the smell." He let out a very low sob. His voice was thin. Like he wasn't really there. Like he wasn't aware of actually saying anything. "Today... for months, it's been the smell of meat frying and electrical shocks and dirt and people living underground... I haven't smelled bread baking in forever Carla."

Carla ran her fingertips very lightly over his back, feeling him shiver at the sensation of a gentle touch over the raw nerves. "And now Dex? What now?"

"You're... alive. And warm. It's so cold outside..." He seemed to waver. Very very slowly, Dex's arms came up to hold her back "God Carla, you're so… nice."

They clung tightly to each other for a while, finding the one quiet place left in LA, until Dex broke away suddenly. "Carla… I appreciate it; I really do, but…"

Carla put a finger over his lips. "Dex, I wasn't out there, but the choppers came in, and there were more and more and more of them, and everyone was bleeding, and all of them were screaming… And it took a full day just to… Dex, you think you're the only one hanging on by their fingernails right now?"

Dex took that in and reached out, pulling her back against him. "Sorry. Didn't think."

"I don't want to think right now either." Carla pulled away from Dex just enough to pull him into a deep languid kiss.

Z Plus Two Years Two Hundred Fifteen Days

Whickham stared at his maps. "Pull the 32nd back to sector four. Tell the 2nd tactical to abandon their attack run and fall back to defend their retreat. Pull our tank division back to the highway cross-section." He sighed hard and wiped his face. "Was there any way to see it coming?"

"No sir." Noah said honestly. "None of us saw it. Skynet never used a landmine tactic before."

"It's a learning computer." Whickham growled. "But why did Connor pull back the counter-attack?"

Noah licked her lips. "Sir, Connor was in charge of the mission. He didn't have to share his reasoning with me, but I figure he wanted to pull his people out of danger. Skynet had new tricks…"

"Which is admirable, but he disobeyed a direct order."

"Sir..." Noah struggled to find words. "It was pretty brutal. And frankly, the attack was my fault. I failed to mention to Connor that we had used the area before. Once he learned that, he knew. It was me. And… and I take full responsibility."

"And that's good of you to say Erica, but it would have changed nothing. I still would have approved the mission. I'm not talking about the attack, I'm talking about the Mission Plan. Your losses were less than twenty percent. It would have been easy to send the wounded back to LA. They way you came was clear, obviously." Whickham argued. "More than 80 percent of a fairly large and heavily armed force is nothing to laugh at."

"Yes sir." Noah admitted. "I think that Connor didn't like that Skynet was setting traps, and didn't know what was on the road ahead."

"Perfectly valid viewpoint. But war is all about making judgment calls. LA isn't the only city. It isn't the only base. If we lost LA, we still would have gained the entire state. Pulling back that attack gave Skynet an opening. We had to cancel the entire offensive. We lost our chance to retake a thousand miles of American soil!"

Noah nodded. "To be fair sir, Connor didn't know that."

"And since when is that a reason to disobey an order? Keeping the whole strategy from soldiers on the front line is nothing new. It's what you do when there's a risk of capture."

"Yessir."

"Alea Jacta Est."

"Sir?"

"Julius Caesar was a general in the Roman Army. In 49 CE he committed mutiny and made himself Emperor. He brought his loyal forces across the Rubicon River. It was the move that launched his claim to power. His opponents knew that was it. Crossing the Rubicon River was the point of no return. There was no doubt as to his intentions any further. Connor, for all his talents, is a loose cannon."

"Due respect sir, but he's a pretty good commander. Good enough that most anyone who knows overlooks his past. Especially these days."

Whickham almost smirked. "Et tu Erica?"

"Sir?"

Whickham took a moment to find the words. "Noah... when did we... why did we start calling it Judgment Day?"

"Well..." Noah took a moment to think about it. "I don't really remember..."

"We never called it that. Then one day we overheard some guy transmitting on every frequency from LA, and suddenly we were all calling it Judgment Day. Connor came up with it. And Kate... ever since she got here, she's been saying things like 'getting to know your people', and 'no matter what happens to you'... She's not planning a coup Noah, it's more like she knows... She's known me her whole life, and before she even stepped off that chopper, she automatically assumed that I was never going to be a serious part of the war. Being the highest ranking officer alive that we know about, that's more than slightly strange; and coming from her, its stranger. Kate, Walters... the people closest to Connor all assume he's already in charge."

Noah blinked. "Why? I mean, Major Connor is his wife, but that's not enough to… to what? Did someone simply decide one day that John Connor leads the resistance? Why him?"

"I don't know, but everything that Connor and his people do, tells me that they're expecting him to be running things, and there's nothing in the world that I can think of that will make that happen." Whickham started listing on his fingers. "He's got a criminal record. He's a fugitive, with a history of violence, domestic terrorism, and a family history of mental illness, and he's only a soldier because someone declared him so, and he decided to agree. Not the sort of man that you put in charge of the only organized resistance when survival of the whole species is at stake. And nobody seems to see any of that!"

Noah was silent, slightly embarrassed that she had been pleading Connor's case also.

"His past is something I can live with because of the circumstances we find ourselves in. And out of respect for Kate, I've turned a blind eye all of that; and to his sending children into combat. Beggars can't be choosers Noah, but the first thing that every commander needs is the ability to put his men first, and still know to make sacrifices of them for a mission. Of course he didn't like the situation. Of course he was trying to protect his men. None of that is the issue. He disobeyed the order. The first thing that every solider has drilled into their head, is that you don't follow an order because you agree with it; you follow the order because your CO has the moral authority to say that you may not come back." He looked at her. "You agree with that policy Colonel?"

Noah straightened her shoulders. "Absolutely sir." She said without question. It was the truth. It was a fact of living in the military.

"Connor's good. One of the best I've ever met, but if he intends to focus all that destructive energy on Skynet, he at least needs to respect the chain of command. And apparently, he cannot do that any more. Connor crossed the Rubicon."

Noah nodded. "Give me an order General."

"Alea Jacta Est." Whickham said quietly. "The Die Is Cast."

Z Plus Two Years Two Hundred Sixteen Days

Connor made his usual tour around Post-Op. Kate waited outside, quietly giving him a rundown of each patient as usual. This time, Post-Op included the Mess Hall, and then the Supply Rooms, and the Dorms...

Connor came out of the Post-Op ward, looking sick. He hid it well. Kate wondered if anyone but her could see how tired he was.

John came over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You look like I feel."

Kate yawned. "What can I say? Had a busy day at the office."

"How was Sarah while I was away?"

"I was on my way down there now actually." Kate said, threading her fingers through his. "Come with me."

He let her lead him through the tunnels. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to our quarters instead? I got my chance to sleep on the truck; but the Choppers were faster, you didn't get that chance, you've been working for hours. You're exhausted."

"I know. S'okay." Kate yawned. "My last patient had a hole clean through his shoulder. He was on the table, woke up mid operation; saw me and said 'Doc, you look awful.'"

John laughed mirthlessly as they came into the nursery. The usual crowd was there, namely Schwartz and Danes, with Kyle keeping watch outside the nursery.

Lori was there too. The older woman came over, smiled at the baby and handed Kate a small bundle. "With compliments of my guys near Sacramento. Gotta be the last clean baby blanket around."

"Aww, thanks Lori." Kate beamed at the very soft fabric, and handed Sarah to john long enough for her to shake it out. That was when she noticed the serious gaze that Connor sent Lori. It was quick and fleeting.

Kate was confused for a second. Lori said nothing to John. She merely met his gaze, nodded once, and quietly let herself out without another word.

"What was that?" Kate asked, cradling Sarah gently, tucking the blanket around her.

"That was Lori telling me that she had started to hide a few weapons and travel supplies outside LA, in locations that only she and I know about, and promising that she hadn't seen either of us yet today."

Kate blinked. "Why?"

Connor glanced over his shoulder. "No." He said. "Not here."

Kate laid Sarah down gently, tucked her in and gestured for Schwartz and Danes to come and take over.

They returned to their quarters. Kate was more than a little concerned at her husband's need for secrecy.

Kate checked the door. Nobody close by. Eric had withdrawn the guards that had stood watch over their door after Dyson's attack; but there was always at least one soldier within eyesight of the entrance to their quarters, though discreetly.

"John, whatever it is, it just cost me the first moment I had to hold my daughter after the worst day a Combat Medic could possibly have. So this better be good. What's going on?" She asked him.

"I'm having resources hidden away from the base, because we may have to run for it soon."

"Skynet found a way in?"

"No, not all of us; just you, me and Sarah."

"Why?"

John rubbed his eyes. "I disobeyed a direct order, and influenced others to do the same. The tactic was a retreat, so I'm also guilty of telling my men to run away under fire. Both of which are offenses that would get me thrown out of the army."

"They can't throw you out." Kate protested.

"There are no prisons. Given the circumstances; he could probably have me shot. Mutiny is a capital crime in a time of war."

"They sure as hell can't do that!" Kate snarled protectively.

"Why not?"

"Because... you're John Connor."

John grinned. "And what is that to your Uncle Chet?"

Kate stared at him, worried now. "He can't throw you out John. You saved over four dozen lives. Chet would have gotten them killed if they hadn't done what you told them."

John nodded. "Maybe. But..."

"But you disobeyed the order." Kate bit her lip. "What's the procedure?"

"Court-Martial."

"How?"

"I don't know. No Joint Chiefs, No civilian government, we're the two highest ranking officers, any Independent Tribunals would be picked by me or him..."

"Who can put you on trial John? Who has the authority?"

"General Whickham does."

Kate blanched. "You mean he could just show up one morning and tell you to get off the base? Or throw you out of the Army? Or shoot you if he wanted to?"

John looked at her. "He could. He will. Regulations give him pretty broad powers given that there's nobody else in authority above him."

"John... if he does... There's more to this than just obeying the order. There's a whole lot of people outside that door that want you to take command off him. Some of them are wearing uniforms!"

John sighed, but his face never changed. "I know. This is going to get worse before it gets better."

Kate was silent for a long moment. "Let me go to Whickham."

"Why?"

"If anyone can convince him to cool this down, it's me."

"Can you?" John returned. "I can remember a time when you called him 'Uncle Chet'."

Kate started to answer when Connor's radio buzzed. "Connor here."

It was Carla's voice. "Colonel? Dex is on perimeter guard... and um..."

"Is Dex there?"

"Um, no. I went back to the-"

"Report." Connor commanded her to get back to the point.

"Colonel, we've got Colonel Erica Noah here. She just came in. Says she's on special assignment from General Whickham."

"Did she say what she wanted?"

"You."

Kate looked sad.

Noah was let into the tunnel, and noticed a number of people looking at her. Most of them in uniforms. The Underground had a much tighter relationship between the civilian and military personnel. Noah supposed that it was a result of living underground.

The first rumors of a bloodbath like that morning were almost always false, but she could feel the tension rise by degrees with every step she took deeper into the Tunnels. She put one hand behind her back and signalled a few of her men. They dropped back, drew their weapons, and stood square centre in the tunnel leading out to where their vehicles were parked. Nobody was going to cut off her exit.

Noah and her two remaining men went closer to the CIC, when she felt someone staring at her. She glanced over and saw the kid who had followed Connor around the Castle Keep, glaring at her with a gaze so intense from a ten year old that Noah was almost, almost intimidated. The kid glared at her a moment, and then took off toward the Nursery.

Noah could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, the civilians were getting very interested in her, and more than a few of them were moving ahead, getting in between her and Connor's Quarters.

But Noah was not heading there.

Her instincts were screaming, but nevertheless, Noah managed to march her men all the way to the Command Centre, where Eric Walters was waiting for them.

"Colonel Noah." Walters greeted with a salute. "I thought you had more men with you."

"I wanted to keep our vehicles protected." Noah returned the salute. "I'm here on special orders from General Whickham."

"Orders to do what?" Walters asked.

"To place Colonel John Connor under arrest."

The Command Centre came to a total crushing silence that seemed likely to explode at any second. And every single eye turned on Walters.

The Major took in the news. "What is the charge?"

"Disobeying a Direct Order in a time of war. Disserting his post under fire. Failure to obey the chain of command. Gross dereliction of duty." Noah took a breath. "General Whickham says that you are to take command of the LA Front, as well as the Underground, pending your formal promotion to Lt Colonel."

Every eye stayed glued to Walters. Obedience meant they would lose Connor; disobedience meant that they would lose Connor and Walters.

"No."

Noah turned, and so did Walters. There were three soldiers pointing their weapons at her. "We're not letting you take him."

Noah licked her lips and read the man's nametag quickly. "Seaborn, listen to me very carefully. I'm following direct orders from a two star General. You and your men are currently aiming weapons at a superior officer in support of a man accused of a crime. It would be very easy to declare a mutiny and drag you along with him."

"Okay, we are not doing this." Eric interrupted. "We are very close to something we can't undo here."

Cha-Clik!

Major Walters turned slightly and saw that Noah's men had apparently come into the base anyway. They had much bigger guns than the 9mm, and were aiming at all Connor's soldiers.

"Put it down Seaborn." Walters said softly.

Long beat.

"Sir..."

"Put it down."

Connor's men slowly lowered their weapons. Noah's men quickly moved forward and took the rifles away from them.

"Now." Noah said seriously. "If someone would be so good as to take me to Colonel Connor."

Walters kept his face frozen. "Okay."

"Sir!" Seaborn hissed.

"It's an order." Noah told them both. "If that matters."

Walters and Oldham were soldiers. A direct order was the final word on the matter. Supposedly.

"This way." Walters said stiffly, hating this fiercely.

Scuttlebutt in a military base was hardly unusual. Rumors and gossip was even more common in a refugee camp. The LA Underground was both. The Post-Op ward was filled with wounded soldiers who had spent a good bit of time complaining about the badly fought battle, and who was to blame. It was a soldier's privilege (their only privilege) to complain.

So after the first few wounded soldiers had woken up, the civilians helping out in the medical wing had gotten a pretty complete picture of the battle; and the result of Connor's disobedience. Word had spread in seconds that Whickham had sent his Second in Command back into the Underground.

Noah could feel an ambush brewing in the eyes of every civilian they passed. With so few beds, most every tunnel was lined with people somewhere. And most of them were watching her, and her men.

Nevertheless, even with a crowd gathering as they walked toward Connor's quarters, they made their way through without incident.

They made it to Connor's room, and opened it without knocking. The room was empty.

Noah spun. "The nursery!"

Noah and her men went rushing through the base to the Medical Wing. There were more babies in the Underground now, but after Dyson, Sarah had a constant guard. Private Schwartz and Private Danes were notably absent from their usual posts.

Sarah was gone too.

Noah looked around and growled. "Where the hell is Connor?"

Dex looked around, and quietly slipped over to Bowman. "Where's Carla?"

The weather was bitter cold. The winter was the first since J-Day that Kate had been outside for. She didn't remember the winters being this cold. The wind was unending, howling, and it sliced into her like a dozen needles, over and over.

Once in the jeeps, it was better, but the dust and snow had mixed into a gray slush that made the windshield hard to see through.

Connor had said nothing to his wife during the drive. Not even when they stopped to collect the supplies Lori had left them, did either of them speak to each other. Kate was staring resolutely out the window. After having had been through a 14 hour session in OR, plus the preperation, plus the fact that her little family was at war, plus the oncoming invasion, plus the effort of keeping two units from killing each other, plus the fact that they'd had to escape from their own base without being seen...

She hadn't so much as looked at anyone since the drive began.

Having four other people in the jeep was reason enough to keep silent, but after a few miles, the silence became openly oppressive.

Finally, John could stand it no longer. "Kate... I know you love him, and I'm sorry-"

"My Uncle..." Kate was still staring hollow eyed out the window. "He was family. When I was younger. He was family before Terminators, and before J-Day, and before..." She shook her head, just a tiny bit, just a little side to side. "I was... I was different then." Kate blinked, and her eyes seemed to focus finally as she looked at him. "You think I'm mad at you?" She said hoarsely. "John, my loyalties are to you, and to Sarah, and to winning this god-forsaken war! You think I'm mad at you? Skynet's invasion hits LA in a few days! And then the game is over! John... what do we do?"

Forgotten in the backseat, Carla piped up. "We could try and get word to Eric. Whickham will put him in charge; but you know he'll still listen to you. If you had some idea how to beat that Invasion, you could get it to him and he'd make it happen."

Connor shook his head. "Nope. Whickham has one of his people manning the radio. All frequencies come to him, all messages go through him."

"Give it to me!" Kyle piped up. "I can get past anyone. I'm the best Tunnel Rat in the world!"

Connor smirked. "I have no doubt Kyle. But what would I tell him?"

"How to beat Skynet!"

Connor shook his head. "I have no idea how to beat Skynet. Stone cold fact of the matter is: Skynet has us this time. Sending the H/K's is bad, but we've beaten that before. That's why they're sending in Terminators too. Legions of them. Our sappers can't beat those kinds of numbers, and with the Sappers distracted, the H/K's will march right in. I don't know how to beat that."

Dead silence. Danes and Schwartz traded a glance in the backseat.

"Well... sure you do." Kyle said finally, a very small voice. "I mean... you do. You have to."

Connor looked over his shoulder at Kyle. "Why?"

Kyle didn't seem to get the point of the question. "Well... you're John Connor."

Long silence.

"So, um... where are we going?" Carla said finally.

Connor smirked. "Kate and I have a place. Down closer to Mexico. It's isolated, no way to sneak up on it, plenty of fortifications..."

"Crystal Peak!" Kate whispered, soft as a psalm. John was taking her home.

"Crystal Peak." Connor confirmed. "Its closer to Mexico, and since most of the South American survivors were heading for the equator, there'll be people there. Most everyone south of the border survived. No nuclear powers down there."

Schwartz looked at the dashboard from the back. "We need fuel."

"We'll find a place to siphon some." Connor agreed. "As much as I hate to be travelling during the day, with this weather we can't risk losing visibility tonight." He pulled a bandana from his pocket and wrapped it around his head, covering his nose and mouth. The cold weather cap covered everything down to his eyes, and the dark glasses kept the wind and debris out of his eyes.

Most of them saw at followed suit. Kate tucked Sarah tighter against her body and zipped her jacket up around them. The sun was just starting its downward trek, which meant it was only going to get colder.

Noah and Walters were waiting when Whickham's jeep rolled into the LA Underground. He saluted crisply as he jumped out. "Colonels."

"Sir." Noah and Walters responded.

"Any sign of Connor?"

"No sir. We've searched the Underground thoroughly." Noah reported. "Their head Nurse, Private Schwartz, Private Danes and Major Connor are confirmed missing." She grit her teeth. "Funny thin, but he walked out through a Tunnel full of people. And nobody seems to have seen him leave."

"Carla has been with the Connors since before they joined us sir. Privates Danes and Schwartz have always been very close with the care of their daughter." Walters reported. "He wouldn't have involved anyone else sir."

Whickham nodded. "I've got as much of my heavy artillery on its way here as I dare. Skynet will be here soon. I figure they'll clean out LA and then move through to San Jose. We have to break them here."

"Agreed sir. Sappers have been redeployed to cover each other from the Invasion, and we've been placing mines in the roads, but it might not..."

"It'll be enough." Whickham said firmly.

Noah and Whickham traded a glance. They both knew he was lying.

After fifteen miles, Connor tapped Schwartz. There was a closed up, clearly abandoned gas station. The pumps were open, no fuel leaking out, but there were cars abandoned around it. Some of them were simply left, some of them burned out. Debris was piled on both sides of the street.

The jeep pulled over, and Connor jumped out, weapon drawn. Kyle was right behind him, and they scanned the windows, boarded up. Connor scanned the cars. No movement. He waved a hand signal back at the jeep. Carla got out first, then Danes and Schwartz stepped out, looked around carefully, and nodded to Kate, who stepped out and tucked Sarah into her jacket, stretching out her legs.

"Get whatever fuel you can." Connor ordered. "If you can pump it out of the below ground tanks, great, if not, the cars. make it quick, I want to make as much distance as we can before nightfall."

Danes got to work on the fuel tanks. Carla helped; Connor did a slow circle of the service station. Garage, fuel pumps, debris piled up. The shelves had been stripped of food, the windows long broken...

"We got fuel!" Danes called. "The tanks are good."

Connor felt the hairs on his neck standing up. The service station was stripped, the place abandoned, and there were bullet holes in the doors...

And yet the below ground tanks were still filled with fuel, more precious than gold...

"Trap!" Yelled Connor. "Get the jeeps started!"

Danes heard the cry and bolted for the building; getting hit by a blast of weapons fire that came from nowhere.

Kate heard Danes' death-yell and reacted, rushing away from the Service Station, when the weak wooden door flew open, and a Terminator marched out. Two more from the window, two more from the garage.

Connor reacted fastest. His weapon came up and started spitting plasma. One Terminator dropped.

From behind the service station came a roar of jet turbines. A Flying H/K, hidden from the road behind the wrecked building; raising into view; responding to combat with machine efficiency, coming in for the kill.

Connor did the math as quickly as any of them. They were going to lose. "Take cover!" he yelled.

Kyle had bolted for the side of the road, when another Terminator suddenly rolled out from the debris. The boy twisted mid-stride, and managed to duck under the chrome grip that flashed out for him.

"KYLE!" Connor roared and took off after him.

The Terminator that was hunting Kyle registered a newcomer. Bigger, armed, more of a threat. The gun turned to follow Connor instead.

Schwartz appeared out of nowhere and dove between the Terminator and The Colonel. He got caught full in the chest with a blast of plasma, dead before he hit the ground.

Connor bared his teeth and fired over his falling body, cutting the machine down in turn.

Connor spun. Where's Sarah? Where's Kate? Where's Kyle? How the hell did this happen so fast?

Another Machine. Connor fired, missed, and threw himself into the ground, trying to take narrow cover behind Schwartz's body, the Terminator firing back steadily. Connor face suddenly got painful. His sunglasses broke as he hit the ground hard, and he quickly pulled them away before his face could get sliced up.

He turned to fire from the ground, and saw the Machine getting a good look at him.

Kate hugged Sarah closer with one arm, took aim with the other. John was right, they were going to lose unless they found cover fast.

Sarah was screaming bloody murder as only an infant could, and Kate knew that she was carrying a big loud sign that would tell every machine for miles where she was.

Kate scrabbled over the loose ground for the burned out gas station, when she felt fire slap against her leg and she suddenly dropped. Gasping in sudden agony, she dropped her weapon and tried to land on her right arm, to avoid crushing the baby beneath her.

Kate's leg was twitching and spasming. Carla was suddenly there, trying to pat out the flames that curled around her leg, and the cold mechanical sound of pneumatic marching came closer.

The world fell into slow motion as harsh sunlight glinted off the chrome skeleton that glared down at her. Kate ripped her jacket with her fingers, pulling her sleeve down tightly over her barcode. The longer this thing took to discover her name, the longer she would live...

And from far away, came another mechanical voice. "Priority Target Identified. Colonel John Connor."

The lightning crackle of a plasma gun answered the voice from far away.

Even staring up at the machine, Kate could sense it right away. It was as though a tremor had run through its red glowing eyes. "Priority Target Identified. TERMINATE JOHN CONNOR!"

The machine abandoned Kate and Sarah instantly and chased after her husband. Carla put an arm under Kate and hauled her and the baby upright. They managed to limp almost five whole feet before the Flying H/K swooped in over them, and came to a dead hover. A spotlight blasted down on them, and the base of the H/K opened, and five Terminators dropped out, landing hard on the ground, not needing pads or parachutes. Kate looked, and realised that she and Carla were surrounded.

From the Flying H/K, a large steel net dropped over them, and Kate huddled over her daughter as the net pulled her and Carla tightly together, yanking them up from the ground. The steel net swung for a minute; as a series of steel cables came down from the H/K. The Terminators caught the cables and gripped them, reeling themselves back up with the net.

Kate and Carla stared up in horror, Sarah screaming even over the turbines as they were drawn into the flying Machine.

Connor wasn't doing so well either, cut off from his jeeps, and all the heavy weapons. When he's popped out from behind what cover he had, he'd heard the Machine say his name. Five Terminators had Kate, Sarah and Carla surrounded. Six more were hunting him.

Connor had brought up his rifle and started gunning them down, heading for the jeep. His wife and daughter were being taken into the H/K, and he had to keep pace with it.

His cover fire gave him enough room to slip through to the jeep, and he pulled the door open, working the ignition as he yanked the door shut. he could get away, get the weapons from the back and come back for Kyle guns blazing... he wouldn't even have to stop before swinging around to chase after Kate...

The sound of lightning cracked and Connor howled as his leg exploded into pain. Crouched as he was in the jeep, with the doors closed, Connor had enough protection to keep the leg, but the Jeep door couldn't hold out the plasma gun completely.

The opposite door opened, and Connor jerked around, to see Kyle beckoning him furiously. Connor dove over the gearstick, trying to propel himself out of the cab on one good leg.

The Terminators moved in closer, unsure of where their target was exactly, firing steadily at the Jeep.

Connor made it out of the cab and stood up, hopping along to get distance. He heard the meat of the drivers side door tear as the machines clawed their way in, and he spun, firing his own rifle at the Jeep.

The Jeep exploded, enveloping the last Terminators in the blast. Connor was human, and light enough to be thrown by the blast. Flames danced across his back, and Kyle was quickly right there, slapping the flames out.

And the H/K flew away into the distance, unconcerned. They had what they needed, and had written off their own with typical machine ruthlessness.

Lying in the wrecked remains of the gas station, their only transport blazing beside them, Connor lay on the ground with his young father, gasping for air.

"We... we gotta get after them!" Connor croaked.

"It's a service station." Kyle said. "I think there are cars inside. They might still work."

Connor fought to stand and dropped. Kyle scrambled to catch him. The kid had no chance to keep him upright, but Connor managed to balance anyway. "Well let's hur-"

A metallic groaning noise.

Kyle froze. So did Connor.

The wrecked Jeep overturned and a chrome skeleton emerged from the flames, shoving the entire jeep aside to get free.

Kyle let out a low moan. The nightmare refused to end.

Flames cooled off the metal skin instantly, and the Terminator emerged, imperious, and unstoppable. Its soulless red eyes scanned away from the fire and found them both.

It's weapon came up and Connor shoved Kyle as far away from his body as he could.

The gun did not fire. Connor could see it was damaged terribly. He fought to get distance and hobbled on his bad leg away from the Machine, as it considered its rifle and tossed it away. It started marching calmly toward Connor in methodical, mechanical strides.

Connor brought the rifle up, and started to pull the trigger. The Machine moved with pneumatic speed, smashing Connor's weapon. The chrome fist caught his rifle and smashed it in two. The follow through sent Connor skidding across the concrete.

It felt like someone had hit him across the middle with a helicopter blade. Connor couldn't stand, could barely breathe.

Terminators hunting me? Connor thought to himself. Good to be back in familiar territory.

Kyle was suddenly right next to him, pulling and tugging at the larger man, as Connor tried to hobble away from the Terminator.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Even steel feet marching toward him on concrete. Unrushed, unstoppable.

Skynet to all units:

Former European states have been cleansed. Transport and Command routes between European and American front have been disrupted. European units are now autonomous.

Infiltration Project continues. More data required. Employ secondary rules of engagement. Begin taking prisoners.

Enemy in Western Theatre attempted assault on Strike Force Zero Alpha. Attack routed.

Intercepted Transmissions indicate divisions in enemy ranks. Enemy Hierarchy is Irrelevant. Enemy organization is irrelevant. Enemy tactics are irrelevant. Current stratagem remains unchanged. Enemy leadership uncertain. Priority target list expanded to compensate.

Terminate Chet Whickham

Terminate John Connor

Terminate Erica Noah

Terminate Eric Walters

End transmission.

AN: Yes, I know, I'm evil. Once again, I'm not a soldier. Everything I use here, I got from TV.