Z Plus Nineteen Years Fifty Nine Days
It was the nineteenth year since Judgement Day, and The War To Retake The Ruined Earth was dragging on, punch for punch. Skynet's factories in the field had all been captured or destroyed, and the H/K's now came only from behind the lines of Skynet territory. The years before the Infiltrator's War had been spent gathering resources, and Skynet's reserves held out. Humanity did everything it could to hold them back, and against the H/K's they were capable, but Skynet had learned tricks of its own. Infiltrators would walk in, chew up defenses, kill the guards and the checkpoints, and H/K's would move in during the confusion. K-9 units were at all bases and fortified positions, but the T-1000's meant that familiar faces could become the Enemy at any moment, and no protection was absolute.
With the threat of 1000's as Infiltrators, no fortified Base could be set up for long before it became a threat to it's own personnel. Tech-Com changed tactics, constantly shifting in smaller groups, too small to be worth sending an H/K, too mobile to be found by an Infiltrator. Skynet changed tactics to counter, using it's H/K's for large attacks, defense and hit and run; using Terminators and infiltrators to Search and Destroy.
The Infiltrator Factories suddenly became the key to the whole war. It was the only successful weapon that Skynet could mass produce, and the only way Tech-Com could keep its army fed.
The T-1000s were on the battlefield, but were far more useful as Infiltrators. It took a lot of raw material and effort to program forty million tiny machine cells to work together, and for every T-1000 Skynet could make, it could produce several thousand 500's for the same time and material. Since a T-1000 as guard immediately pointed out to Humanity where a prime target was on the battlefield, they became a liability to the Open War. Gunships and attack helicopters were outfitted with high-heat Sabot Rounds, which could blaze through liquid metal, and take them apart. The mercury pieces would be quickly captured and sealed up, unable to rejoin with each other by the waiting Tech-Com. A move that required air support and people on hand, which was possible on an open battlefield, but not in a tunnel.
Tactics evolved on both sides, they weren't perfect, and casualties mounted, but the war stretched on.
In the Infiltrators' War of Attrition, the T-1000's were far more effective, but with Infiltrator tanks now churning out fresh meat supplies, the need for cold storage to keep food fresh wasn't needed as urgently, and the hardened bases that were worth infiltration each now had a Cold Store to freeze and destroy a T-1000, just as Connor taught them to.
With Kate Connor promoted to General, the civilian projects spread across all Tech-Com, and with that the world. The last holdouts of Humanity that did not relish joining the war joined as civilians, armed now with knowledge and support, as they came to work for the common good, bringing fresh food and living things to places thought long dead.
The Siege of Arecibo and the Mercury Infiltration was the most devastating day Skynet had endured across the entire war. Within a few days, Tech-Com had harvested thousands of disabled Machines, who in turn ran out with pneumatic speed and endurance to collect more. Brain Box and the Metal Marines worked tirelessly, printing new CPUs with new instructions. Thousands, then tens of thousands of Terminators were captured and reprogrammed.
Nobody could understand why Connor demanded two thirds of them come straight back to Crystal Peak in the days following the Great Feast, but The General had conjured food enough to feed the whole starving Base, and as the salvaged technology spread, enough to feed the world; they took him at his word it was a good idea.
One or two noticed that Tech-Com was the supply line for all Civilian projects; but they were not military, making John Connor leader of the human resistance, and Kate Connor the leader of the human civilians. This made them effectively the protectors are guides for all humanity; practically parents to the Children of the Dust. Those that could not fight for The General, turned to his wife for guidance, and she turned nobody away. Their work spread across two continents and Kate got another set of stars on her shoulders.
Skynet saw the effect of the Eden Project, and tried to slow it down, spreading itself still further. Kate was given authority to protect her teams, and another set of stars to go with it; and Eden was able to defend itself instead of evade.
With the new models of Infiltrators coming in, Connor's Bodyguards were no longer a theoretical team. They were known to the whole Base. In matters of protecting Connor, they were loyal to the point of lethal, and they had the authority to take anything they wanted if he was in danger. They wore their colors for all to see. A patch on their shoulder made them clear to everyone. Even among Connor's Own they were elite. A black patch with a white circle drawn over it. They were Nova Group.
The forces that had Connor's Name attached, his bodyguards, and his own Unit, were the swift fist of the Human Race.
There were rumors that Nova Group were spreading their influence, putting people in key locations, closer to The Union, and other fronts across the globe, being Connor's eyes and ears in the worldwide theater. But if they were, they were there in secret.
The Union continued independently of Tech-Com, with Skynet's defensive line between their territories, both Connor and Rojas trying to drive Skynet closer to the other.
Australia and New Zealand had been largely retaken, their distance from Skynet's System Core working to Tech-Com's advantage as Tech-Com's naval forces killed convoys and relays. Machines never worked as well in water as they did on land and sky.
The European continent and large sections of Asia had been all but swept clean by Skynet before Tech-Com had formed, and it was rumored that Skynet had abandoned those lands also, to try and reinforce the war effort.
There were rumors that The Eden Project had quietly slipped into these forgotten wastelands, using the distance and unimportance of the places to make things grow again, in preparation for the day when Skynet was gone.
In the time since Lupe's death, Kyle had been given three partners for the scouting/courier missions. They had all been killed in action. After the third, Kyle had gone to Connor and specifically requested not to be assigned a new one. The request was granted.
Secretly, the rest of his Unit had been relieved, and Kyle spent his nights sleeping against a wall with a photo of the late Sarah Connor to keep him company. There were whispers in the 321st that he spoke to her at night, but nothing came of it. Madness was not uncommon in the world, and an imaginary friend from back before was hardly the most unusual habit for a skilled soldier to have.
Another day, another battle. The 321st came rolling into Crystal Peak after another textbook battle. Casualties were light, and the salvage teams had been sent out into the field to collect CPU's and Power Cells from downed Terminators. It was a risky business to get them, as Skynet had started rigging their Terminators to detonate their Power Cores on command after a battle.
Kyle and Griffin climbed out of the lead Jeep as their Convoy rolled in. They signed in for every vehicle that survived and which ones were damaged. The faint sound of pneumatic metal marching was barely audible over the sounds of people and vehicles, but every soldier who had ever gone outside heard it instinctively. Captured Machines were still coming in from here and there, and Connor had ordered that they be stockpiled.
What he was saving them for, nobody knew, but the Scrubbed Machines came in through another way, went straight to the storage rooms and went still. They stayed that way. Some had been there since Arecibo, and they hadn't moved. The storerooms were full to bursting with Scrubbed Machines, and they kept coming in, some to Crystal Peak, the rest to other storage areas across the continent.
The Motor Pool, traditionally, was the busiest part of the Base on any given day. With limited vehicles, Missions were planned accordingly. One convoy was on standby at all possible times, and whenever a convoy came in, another Unit would take it out again soon after. The Motor Pool staff worked around the clock to keep them running and fueled. The wear of the world outside was showing on the vehicles. Pint jobs were a thing of the past after the first sandstorm. Every engine misfired, but still functioned, most of them were missing windows or seat-belts.
Kyle glanced upward. The Mission Clock was running again, which meant that they needed to get the 321st out of the way quickly, because the next team would be loading up to ship out.
Sure enough, Cotton was playing traffic cop, shepherding the 321st out of the way while a team from The Eden Project moved in, bringing their equipment and their supplies into Motor Pool, ready to ship out.
Robbie Connor was leading the team.
Kyle's face turned to stone, looking at them, getting ready to leave. "Griffin?"
His friend looked up from the engine he was tinkering with. "Yeah?"
"The Eden Project is for volunteers. Do me a favor and sign up for a week."
Griffin just stared at him. "Are you kidding me? I haven't seen a shower in two weeks. I haven't seen a cot in that long. I'm actually looking forward to the food in the Mess Hall, that's how hungry I am, and you want me to go out and play gardener for another week? Why?"
"Because I asked you to."
Griffin followed Kyle's gaze. "Oh. Worried about Robbie?"
Kyle didn't answer.
Griffin checked Reese out of the corner of his eye. Kyle had grown quiet since Lupe died. He barely spoke when it wasn't necessary any longer. Most everyone stayed quiet, at least when outside the Underground, but Kyle was getting scary. Griffin had seen him out on the field. They were all fierce, all hard. They had to be. Kyle had grown beyond feral, and into savage during battle.
Kyle and the rest of the 321st headed off, as Lisa came into the Motor Pool. Another Jeep pulled up not long after. A driver, two guards, and a soldier wearing Tech-Com grey, with the 'southern cross' star constellation sewn into the armband.
Lisa came up quickly before too many people noticed the newcomer. "Colonel Ross."
Ross smiled at her. "Hello Lisa, good to see you again."
"Welcome to Crystal Peak." She said brightly.
Ross smiled back. "Great to be here finally."
Robbie Connor looked up as Griffin's shadow fell over him. Griffin was an adult now, though everyone he fought alongside was lucky to break nineteen. "Griff?"
"Don't call me that." Griffin told him. "Director-"
"Don't call me that." Robbie shot back. The both chuckled.
"I'm off rotation for the next few weeks." Griffin got to the point. "I was wondering if I could join you out there."
Robbie shrugged. "Sure, the more the merrier. But I don't expect a lot of excitement."
"Me neither, but I've never done any of the Eden stuff before, and Connor says it's important."
Robbie beamed. "It is. It really is."
"Robbie!"
Robbie turned quickly. His mother was marching up toward him, towing one of the Tunnel Rats behind her forcibly. She looked quietly furious. "I have one more volunteer for you." She said in a voice that made it clear what she meant by 'volunteer'.
Robbie recognized Berk of course, but was surprised. As a general rule, the Tunnel Rats didn't volunteer for things. In ten years, only two of them had volunteered to fight. They hid, they lurked, they helped out when they got bored, but except for the migration to Crystal Peak, they never left the Underground.
Robbie didn't even blink. "Okay Berk, welcome to the team. Grab some gear, and find a spot in the truck."
Berk nodded and did so without looking at anyone. For a moment he almost turned to Kate, as if to say something, but he apparently lost his nerve and did as Robbie told him to.
Once Berk was in the truck and out of sight, Robbie turned to his mother for an explanation. "Mom?"
Kate waved it off. "I know, I know." She sighed. "Take him with you. Do what you do best."
"What's that?" Robbie asked.
Kate smiled. "Make things grow."
Crystal Peak had a few Meeting Rooms that were used for quick agreements and conferences that did not involve the War Room. Lisa had shown Ross into one of these rooms and Connor arrived soon after.
Ross stood as The General came in. "Colon-" He caught himself with a deprecating sigh. "General Connor. Sorry."
Connor actually laughed. "Please, it was refreshing to hear it. Last time we spoke, I was still US Army."
Ross nodded. "Gotta say, I was glad to get here at last. I've been hearing stories about this place since I was on Halloway's first Submarine trip."
Noah was following along behind her son, fussing over him the way any mother did over a twelve year old. "Now, you've got your survival gear."
"Yes Mom." Michael said, having heard it for two days now.
"I know, I know. I'll shut up. But you know what to do if you get ambushed right?"
"Yes Mom."
Noah nodded rapidly. "Okay, good. Now remember; it's okay to leave the others to die if there's trouble. In fact, consider it an order."
"Mo-om!"
Kate fell into step behind them. "When you say 'leave the others to die'; you're not referring to my son, I'm sure."
Noah jumped. "No General."
Kate kept pace with them. "Michael, is your mother going to be okay with you out there?" She asked seriously.
"Hard to tell, Ma'am." Michael said dutifully.
Noah looked embarrassed at the attention, but they made their way to the Motor Pool, where the latest Eden Project mission was getting underway.
"Last call for Death Valley!" Robbie shouted.
"That's me." Michael said, and his mother gave him another hug.
"Noah, put the soldier down." Kate said sternly, but unable to conjure any real anger.
Noah did so, still embarrassed, not really caring. She barely took her eyes off her son until the Convoy started to roll out. Kate leaned in privately next to Noah, recognizing the look on her face. "Erica." Kate said kindly. "One mom to another, they'll be fine."
Noah nodded, but her face didn't show agreement. "I know." She stretched her neck a moment. "Who the hell thought that Death Valley was a good name for anything?"
"I hear that."
Connor came into the War Room. "Report."
Walters had it immediately. "Skynet pulled it's Units out of Illinois. I think they realized we don't care about the cities any more."
"Where are they headed?" Connor asked.
"South."
"Let them go. Union can handle it."
"We hope."
"If they can't, it's still a good day for us." Connor said shortly. "What about Halloway?"
"Enterprise is running. Halloway says he can break the pursuit, get them some cover, but they're going to need a place to put to port after."
Connor studied the map. "LA. It's about time we retook Los Angeles. It was our original Naval port, and it's been Skynet territory far too long."
Walters grinned hopefully. "We gonna retake The Alamo?"
"We're gonna retake The Alamo, then the LA Underground, then the original Castle Keep." Connor pointed to the three points on the map. "Skynet's trying to cover its whole territory since The Union split with us; it's been thinning itself out the whole time."
Walters grinned. "Hot Damn."
Connor checked the corner of his eye. "Been looking forward to this one Eric?"
"I said it when we ran; Alamo was the first Base I ever set up. Damn right I want it back."
"Send the 321st." Connor said, raising his voice slightly for Sherrin to hear at his console. "Perry's still here, right?"
"Yessir." Sherrin reported promptly.
"Get them ready to move out."
Sherrin was on the PA instantly. "Colonel Perry, report to the War room."
As the call went out, Connor gave a swift look over his shoulder and leaned in closer to Walters. "Eric, do me a favor and get Noah onto something important, something that will keep her busy. And after that... Stick close to her today. It's her son's first long range mission without a Unit full of soldiers backing him up."
"Yes sir." Eric said sympathetically.
Isobel Saint had been a grifter Back Before. You never forgot those instincts. Getting something for nothing was not an easy way to live, and Saint had done time for her trouble. She had made an escape from LA after one such job, and took cover in a large parking garage outside of the city. Then J-Day hit.
She had been hiding in the trunk of her own car while the Police searched the garage, when she felt the ground tremor. She didn't move. A quake that small was nothing in LA. But when she'd heard people screaming outside for far longer than they should have been, she emerged from her hiding place, and first saw the mushroom cloud on the horizon. At the time, she'd looked down at the suitcase full of money she'd conned out of a corrupt bank official, and burst out laughing. It was suddenly so worthless.
The police car was out the front, and the two police officers that had been hunting her were staring at it too. They had forgotten all about her in a hurry. All their cars were shut down, the EMP wiping out their electrical systems. Lori had rolled by a few minutes later in an older truck, one without a computer in its engine; and picked the three of them up.
Lori was sharp, and had figured out what Saint did for a living. She didn't care. Money was worthless now, so who needed to fear a con artist?
Saint had offered both police officers a job, helping her salvage. They'd helped Lori put together the Orphanage. Her instincts served her well, now for survival instead of profit. She used her talent for reading people to see who could be trusted, and who could be dangerous. She used her talents to hot-wire cars, rig alarms, steal huge amounts of supplies, think of places to find things and hide things, ways to improvise around limitations…
She suddenly wished she wasn't so good at it. If there had been anyone else that was better, Connor wouldn't have given her this assignment.
Her cargo scared the hell out of her. Her instincts were screaming all the way back to Crystal Peak, and with good reason. But as they went down the highway, her sixth sense made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It was the same feeling she got Back Before, whenever a cop was watching her.
Hawke was in the seat next to her, and noticed as she sped up. "Problem?"
Saint sighed. "I don't know. Just a feeling."
Hawke knew to trust her 'feelings'. Her instincts had kept her in the clear since Hawke himself had been sent to arrest her long ago. "Yeah? I wish I knew how you did that."
Saint shrugged. "A shadow in the distance, light glints on something, a sound I barely hear… It registers somehow, and I have to figure out what did it, or it bugs m-"
"THERE!" Hawke shouted.
She looked. A pair of Flying H/K's, on their right, heading in their direction.
"You think they're looking for us specifically?" Hawke demanded.
"I don't know." Saint said. "But I know we can't outrun them." She sent a look around. The three Jeeps she had left to her for this mission had been cruising on one of the last highways. Skynet had attacked the entire infrastructure during the early days of the war, since its vehicles had treads, and Humanity was still in trucks and jeeps, but as the war dragged on, Skynet made use of roads too, the more level ground making both sides faster.
"If they're after our cargo, we could just split up. Two H/K's can't chase three jeeps."
"And if they're not after our cargo, it's just 'divide and conquer'." Saint said. The Jeep had a radio to Tech-Com, but she had her own walkie-talkie. She pulled it out and spoke to the other two Jeeps with her. "Guys, look three o'clock, we're busted. Lock and load. Whatever happens, we have to get The Package through to Palace."
The flying H/K's were faster than any Jeep and Saint knew they were in trouble. It had seen them, and was flying in from the westward horizon to intercept. Each Jeep had a mounted Plasmagun, adapted from the H/K salvage. But it was unlikely that these weapons could handle flying attackers.
"Don't do anything stupid back there." Saint said as he climbed out the window behind the cab, and to the mounted gun in the back.
"You know me." Hawke said easily. It was as close to a goodbye he was going to offer.
"Yeah." Saint said softly as she revved the misfiring engine. The gunner position was the most exposed in any moving fight. "Yeah I do." She grabbed her radio. "Mayday. Any Tech-Com units, Mayday."
Meg was standing up her foxhole, eyes open and scanning. Other than the turning of her head, she was still, not drawing attention to anyone who might be watching. Her team was at rest, and she was the Spotter. It was her job to watch so that they could relax, or sleep. Rest was a weapon too, as every soldier knew. You ate when you could find food; you slept when you could find time.
It was her first deployment, and she had been sent with SAW Team Charlie. The Strike And Withdraw Teams were something new. Not exactly scouts, but not large enough for a full strike force. Five or six people, out for extended periods, always mobile, ready to make one strike and then get far away before a counter attack could come. Skynet had been splitting up its attacks to smaller groups, and Humanity spread out to compensate.
Meg was one of the few Tunnel Rats to sign on. She and her two best friends, Stacie and Stacey, (a similarity that they had bonded over, but that the other Rats found amusing) had all signed up. Meg was a little shorter and slower than they were, and so had failed the trails her first try. They went on to Trial by Battle, Meg had to wait a few more weeks. They were the only ones of the Rats to sign on, and others had told them they were nuts. But Meg felt she'd owed it to Keeper. Plus, her Trial by Battle was with Sarah's SAW Team, and 'Saint Sarah' was a Connor, through and through. There wasn't anyone in Tech-Com that didn't want to work for a Connor.
The radio crackled. "Mayday! Any Tech-Com Units! Mayday!"
"Sarah, if you don't mind my saying so, you're a filthy liar, and it'll make me very happy to prove it." Labine said simply.
"He's bluffing." Jackman told Sarah.
Sarah looked over her cards. "You think so?"
Labine was more than twice her age, and he looked perfectly relaxed. "Cost you a ration bar to find out."
Nipman shook his head. "You got a bar of soap, a pair of shoelaces and a bandanna in the pot already. Once you get in that deep, you might as well play it out."
Jackman grinned. "Sarah, listen to your second in command. I'm telling you that he's bluffing."
Sarah grinned at Labine. "How often is he wrong?"
"Not often." Labine conceded.
"And how often do I lose at Poker?"
"Also not often." Labine conceded.
"You sure you want to play this hand to the end?" Sarah challenged.
"Only takes once." Labine shot back.
"Hey Sarge, you there?" The radio crackled. It was their spotter. Everyone sat up straighter. If she was calling, it meant the game was over.
Sarah swore like the career soldier her seventeen years had raised her to be. "Every single time I draw a straight!"
"Fold." Labine said instantly, and the team laughed.
Tossing her cards away in disgust, Sarah reached across to her combat vest and pulled her radio. "Go ahead, this is Brewster."
"Sarge, we got a convoy on the way to Palace." Meg reported. "They say they have a priority Package, and Skynet on their butts."
Sarah traded a look with her men. "They have the right codes?"
"Yes Ma'am."
Sarah turned to her troops. "All right SAW Team Charlie. Let's move."
Jackman grabbed the corner of the tarp and folded it over quickly, packing the chips the cards and everything in between; stuffing it all into a knapsack and leaving it behind. They had to help the convoy, but they knew better than to leave their best observation post visible while they were away.
Within thirty seconds, the shelter had been collapsed, the supplies packed, the weapons gathered and everything not coming along was hidden away.
Saint was one escort Jeep down, and getting desperate. She knew that she couldn't go back for her wounded, and she couldn't let them stop her.
Hawke was behind her, basting away with the mounted gun, trying to keep the H/K's off them. Skynet had the advantage. Saint didn't dare change direction. Going off-road would be a death sentence at these speeds.
Above them, the aerial H/K's kept moving, staying ahead of their guns. They were nimble and maneuverable, and the gunners were bouncing around, barely able to keep a grip on their targets.
"SAW Team Charlie, where the hell are you?" Saint demanded into her radio, as liquid fire splashed again, shattering the window by her head, she didn't dare close her eyes and lose track of where she was driving, and she felt the glass slivers slice into her face and hands.
No answer.
"Hey boss!" Hawke screamed over the sounds of the road. "There's a rise up ahead! If we pull in against it, we can keep them off our backs!"
Saint nodded without answering. It was a good plan, and it would give their backup time to come save them.
Their enemy could tell that too.
One H/K apparently wasn't happy with chasing any more, and gunned its engines. The turbines spun up powerfully, and overtook the Jeep. Saint looked up through her cracked windshield and saw it loop over, ready to attack from directly above. She almost had time to swear. There was nowhere to go, game was over.
And then, from somewhere, a missile streaked in and nailed the H/K above them direct in a turbine, bringing it down hard and fast, out of control. Saint yelled and gunned the Jeep as hard as she could, jerking the wheel left, and then right, trying to evade falling debris as the whole death Machine came crashing down on her.
Hawke yelled as the Jeep he was riding on lurched and bucked from the evasion, and the heavy impact. He couldn't keep his grip on the gun and was bounced right off the back of the Jeep.
"HAWKE!" Saint shouted, but she couldn't stop. She vaguely heard another missile streaking in, and tried to get a look at where they were coming from. The second H/K had been able to evade this time, and went wide, looking for a new angle to attack from.
The attack from another direction gave Saint and her one surviving escort the change to get to the rise along the highway, and screech to a stop. Saint turned the Jeep so that the mounted gun was facing away from the earth wall, and scrambled out of the cab, having lost her gunner.
A moment later, she heard the sound of plasmafire, and then the sound of motorbikes. Four motorcycles came screaming into their view, and they pulled up swiftly, skidding to a halt. They dismounted, hefted their rifles and ducked in close to the wall with Saint. Sarah pulled her goggles up with a cheeky grin. "Isobel!"
"Sarah!" Saint blurted. "I didn't know you were out here."
"DOWN!" Somebody shouted, and everyone ducked as the H/K made a long slow pass over above them. The turbines kicked up a mess of dirt and gravel, but the machine couldn't get an angle to shoot.
As soon as it passed over, Sarah turned to her team. "Defend this point! She shouted, and turned back to Saint. "We took out the other H/K, but this one took out the Javelin. This one will land it's Terminators, dig us out."
Saint gestured at the Jeep gun she was holding. "We can handle that."
"Not with the H/K too." Sarah argued. "They'll just wait us out."
BOOOM!
"What the hell was that?" Meg shouted in shock.
"Ataque!" A Spanish voice shouted over the radios.
Sarah and Jackman traded the briefest of looks. "You heard the man SAW Team Charlie!" Sarah shouted. "Let's go hunting!"
Saint slipped back into the cab of the Jeep quickly and started the motor. Sarah took over the mounted gun and they started moving.
The second H/K was burning in a mess on the ground, with a dozen surviving Terminators around it, locked in combat with seven or eight humans, wearing dusty outfits in the style of Enrique's Bandits.
Saint gunned the motor and tore off toward the fight. The second Jeep and the motorcycles came too, and the mounted guns opened up fiercely, gunning down Skynet's survivors with swift vengeance.
With the battle over, Sarah swiveled the mounted gun to point at the Bandits. "No te muevas!" She shouted at them in Spanish.
The Bandits froze, hands in the air swiftly.
"Hablas inglés?" One of them shouted a question.
"Yes." Sarah responded. "Lieutenant Sarah Brewster, Tech-Com."
"Kurt Orlandez." The Bandit shouted back.
"Come forward slow." Sarah commanded.
Kurt came over, hands up. He didn't seem at all concerned by the huge mounted gun aimed at his head. He lifted the protective goggles, pulled down the bandanna covering his mouth. Sarah got a good look at him. Short messy black hair, skin that had seen a few dust storms, but not enough to do serious damage, good teeth…
Sarah didn't trust it. She didn't have a K-9 with her Unit.
Saint leaned out the shattered driver's side window. "You got it?"
"Yeah. I got it." Sarah said, and signaled her team, who lowered their rifles a little. "So Orlandaez. Talk."
"Well, first of all, you can call me Kurt." He pulled his bandanna down, shook out his hair. "We were with Enrique. Or at least, my family was. When the Bandits went with Connor, some of us stayed behind."
"I know this." Sarah said carefully.
"Well, the Union pretty much cleared out Skynet in our area, and then started making itself comfortable. There wasn't a whole lot we could do there, so we moved out. We've been making our way toward Crystal Peak, moving back and forth to do some hit-and-run, dodge a few patrols..." He checked her uniform. "So Brewster, you from Crystal Peak?"
Saint jumped in before Sarah had to answer. "Are we shooting them or not? I have to get moving."
Sarah made the call. "Weapons down."
Her team lowered their weapons, and Saint took that as permission to break the stalemate. She ran off up the highway on her own, heading back the way they came.
Sarah followed her, and Kurt followed Sarah. She called over her shoulder to her men. "Be friendly!"
Kurt heard that and called over his shoulder to his own team. "You guys too."
As they walked away from the rest of their people, toward the wreckage of the downed H/K, they spoke. Away from the standoff, their people, and all their guns, the two young people were able to relax a bit. "Sorry about before." Kurt said first. "But we've survived... most of us, have survived, because we're careful about who we trust."
Sarah nodded. "No offense Kurt, but Tech-Com's got a pretty good list of Infiltrator faces. New faces are..."
"A risk." They said together, in full agreement.
"We were on our way to Palace when we heard a Mayday." Kurt said. "Figured we should lend a hand. We're all in this together y'know?"
Saint had trudged up the road, looking worried. She walked all the way back to the wreckage of the first knocked down H/K, and went searching for something.
"What would you have done if you hadn't heard the Mayday?" Sarah asked Kurt.
Kurt shrugged. "Would have tried to get to Crystal Peak. Sooner or later we would have run into a Tech-Com Unit. With some luck, they wouldn't have shot us, and we could finally sit down for a while."
Saint turned to Sarah. "Brewster." She interrupted. "This is an interesting story and all, but I got to get the package to Palace fast."
"Is Skynet after it?" Sarah asked in worry. She didn't know what the package was, but if more H/K's were coming...
"I don't know."
"It might be coincidence." Kurt offered. "I mean, it's not like they need a reason to hunt people."
"Yeah. I know." Sarah said. "Isobel, what are you looking for?"
"Hawke came off the back of my Jeep near here." Saint explained.
"He could not possibly have survived." Sarah said gently. "Not at those speeds."
Nevertheless, they searched the wreckage and surrounding area for a while.
Saint saw a boot sticking out from under a torn chunk of the H/K wreckage, and grabbed it quickly. She hoisted it up and found Hawke underneath. "HERE!"
Kurt and Sarah ran over and wrestled the wreckage off the body, pulling Hawke away from the flames. Saint checked his pulse. "He... He has a heartbeat!"
Kurt gave Sarah a look. The teenage girl looked back evenly. Even if he did have a pulse, it didn't look good for him. "He won't make Crystal Peak." Sarah said.
Saint shook her head. "I have to get there. And... I seem to be without an escort."
"Well, you got a whole lot of escort now." Kurt said brightly.
"No." Sarah said swiftly. "We've got wounded to tend to, and they won't make it to Crystal Peak." She grabbed her radio. "Jackman, I'm taking one of those Jeeps to Checkpoint Niner, and we're taking the Bandits with us for protection. The rest of the team goes with Saint, escort them back to palace."
"Yes ma'am."
"Lt. Brewster, you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Jackman called back, protective of his Team Leader.
Sarah shook her head. "Not enough room in the Jeep. Saint needs transport too."
"Understood."
Kurt nodded, and lifted his own radio. "Bandits, we've got the clear to Checkpoint Niner, Tech-Com has the ball. Make sure there's nothing Skynet can use to get a direction on either team."
Saint crouched low next to Hawke's body, and lifted a chain from around his neck. On the chain was a security key. She put it around her neck, next to her dog-tags, and an identical Key. Sarah was the only one to see it, and she wisely didn't say anything about it. Instead, she spoke quietly. "Skynet will know we knocked down the H/K's here. You better move before it sends something to finish us off."
Saint nodded and got back in her Jeep. Her two surviving team members got in with her; and they took off fast without another word. The motorcycles with Sarah's Team gave chase.
Kurt and the bandits were wresting Hawke's motionless form onto the back to the Jeep.
"You drive." Sarah told Kurt shortly.
Kurt nodded, and gave one of his Bandits a look, and they spoke casually in Spanish, though too low for Sarah to hear, but the Bandits all snuck a look at her as Kurt graciously opened the door for her.
Sarah caught it. "What?"
Kurt gave another long easy smile. "You don't know us, so odds are you'll have your gun in your lap pointed at me for the entire ride to wherever we're going. I told my guys not to stress, because if you did pull the trigger, you'd never be able to get my surprised, though still very attractive corpse out of the drivers' seat before they got you."
Sarah rolled her eyes, but was glad to be working without someone who knew the score. "Yep. You're a Bandit all right. Too much like Enrique for your own good."
Kurt smiled. "Wow. Usually takes a full hour of my charming company to make a girl realize that."
Z Plus Nineteen Years Sixty Two Days
John watched his wife get dressed in the mornings whenever he could, just in case. Her arm had never healed right, and though the pain was something she was long used to, she still had limited movement with her left arm. Kate had kept the mementos of the Tunnel Rats, her regular uniform now enhanced with the odds and ends they had given her. The shoestring bracelet was wrapped around her upper left arm, the earring hoop on the chain with her dog-tags, one braid of her hair left long, around her usual haircut, threaded through Tish's straw... Combined with the silver now streaking her hair, she looked slightly hippie, in a disciplined Soldier kind of way.
Their routine never settled, not once in eighteen years, but as the years passed and john saw his face get older, and his scar stretch his skin rakishly across his face, the moments that resembled domesticity seemed more precious than ever.
He hugged her from behind and pressed his lips against her bad shoulder, as he did most mornings they were together. Kate was never sure if the kiss was meant as reassurance for him that she was okay... Or an apology to her, that she got injured by a Machine using her pain to strike at him.
"Hey." Kate said quietly, as John kissed her shoulder. "You know what today is?"
"What's that?" Connor asked her.
"It's our anniversary."
Connor froze his face instantly. "Really?"
Kate smiled. "Oh relax. I didn't get you anything either."
Connor relaxed.
"And I can't tell you how flattered I am by those beads of sweat on your forehead."
"I sweat in panic only for you." Connor teased back. "Wait. It's not our anniversary."
"Yes it is."
"We declared ourselves married the day before we left Crystal Peak the first time."
"But we didn't have the ceremony with Eric till seventeen years ago today." Kate shot back.
"That doesn't count."
"Yes it does."
"We were already married then."
"Who says?"
"We did."
"Is it possible to have two anniversaries?"
John smiled and was about to answer, when his radio buzzed. "Connor here."
"Lori says that she needs to speak with you."
"On my way."
Connor left the War Room and found Lori right there, standing directly outside the door, waiting for him.
Connor smirked. "Thanks for calling first."
Lori nodded. "I heard from Saint. She says she's got your package. But there's a chance Skynet knows."
Connor bit his lip a moment. "What are you basing that on?"
"They were chasing her and her team as we got closer to the Secure Territory. Sarah's squad and a few Bandits got them off her back, and they're currently on their way here."
Connor blinked. "Bandits? The only Bandits still unaccounted for are the ones that stayed south when Enrique joined us, came north when the Union split. We haven't heard much from them."
"You knew about them?"
"I knew about them, but at the time, they weren't soldiers. Enrique had a command structure, but not a rank. There are holdouts here and there, living on the move. Enrique told me we could trust them, but didn't need them. After he died and the Union moved in, I got word that they went mobile."
Saint nodded. "Well, according to Isobel, they're coming here. The war took it's toll. What's left of them are on their way in with Sarah. She made up some story about checking in at Checkpoint Niner, they went with her."
"Sarah's a smart girl." Connor said with a smile. "She's taking the Bandits she met out to the K-9's at the Checkpoint. If they don't set off the dogs, it's safe to bring them into Crystal Peak."
Lori nodded. "That's what I thought. Would you mind telling me what that package is? Saint won't tell me. The first time she's actually refused to tell me something, which is ever so slightly ominous."
"Nothing you need to worry about." Connor said, and sighed. That one wouldn't play with Lori. "Lori, I'm playing this one pretty close to the chest."
Lori smirked grimly. "Every time you play something close to your chest, I go looking for a nice deep foxhole to crawl into."
Checkpoint Niner was the crossroads for half the Tech-Com military. It was originally just a listening post, watching the highways where they crossed, but was now one of the most fortified forward areas in North America. A few days travel from Crystal Peak, it gave them a clear view of Skynet movement beyond their territory, and
The K-9's didn't make a peep, and Sarah's team relaxed unconsciously. Sarah had never forgotten the look on Lupe's face, even years later.
Kurt seemed unconcerned. "So. Do I pass?"
Sarah almost smirked. The Bandits had seen the K-9's in the area, and they probably knew the reason for coming here at that moment, but they didn't try to argue about it. "If you're a Machine, you must smell bad enough that the dogs don't know." She teased.
He smiled that long and easy smile again, and Sarah felt her stomach do a quick flip. She ignored it. Rations gave everyone indigestion.
Hawke did not survive his surgery.
Z Plus Nineteen Years Sixty Four Days
Crystal Peak was based in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, though its exact location was hidden. Highways made the trip across what was one the continental United States far more convenient than it was now. It took several days to reach anywhere by ground, and as the war dragged on, the roads got more damaged and the terrain more unpredictable, and the way more treacherous.
But to the south of those mountains, on the South Western edge of what used to be California, was Death Valley. A name that had come to be all too prophetic as the wastelands moved in.
But hidden at the base of the Mountains, in what had once been Death Valley National Park, The Eden Project had established a foothold, quiet and unnoticed. The Salt Flats had made the ground harsh and inhospitable to growing things, and the thin layer of salt had arid mud underneath, making it difficult to send tanks treads or pneumatic foot soldiers through, and both sides of the War avoided it.
But the shock-waves and the disruption to both weather and geology had taken it's toll, and the famed Death Valley Salt Flats had long since cracked wide open, first from the nuclear war, then from the extreme cold, then from time and erosion, until a network of valleys had formed, all of them at least twenty feet deep, and some of them very wide below the surface.
In these valleys, hidden safe below eye level, but still open to the sky, Robbie Connor had set up The Eden Project's most important outpost in North America.
Berk had pressed himself into his seat, hating the fact that he was out in the open. He hadn't stopped turning his head back and forth, searching the horizon for dangers that hadn't come.
When he got a look at the destination, he was not impressed. "That's it?"
Robbie smiled, relaxed and glad to have arrived. "That's it."
At the foothills of the mountains, where the Salt Flats began, was a burned out farmhouse, with a trashed, but still standing grain silo, and a barn that looked fit to fall down with one stiff breeze.
Getting to the ruined homestead once it was visible was difficult, given that the Salt flats had cracked wide open, and the whole area filled with deep chasms and valleys. Robbie in the lead Jeep was leading the convoy slowly, bit by bit, along the edge of the Flats.
Berk was watching everything with sharp, suspicious eyes, and noticed something. "Why do the valleys have runners for shutters along them?"
Robbie just smiled. "You'll find out." He pointed. "Back Before, when it still rained properly, this whole area was the basin, and the water fell or flowed into it. But there was nowhere for it to flow out, so it all sat here. Then the sun baked it all, till the water faded, leaving all the salt behind. The salt sunk deep, and then the Cold came, and the water cracked the salt crystals wide open." He pointed. "The valleys lead out, and smooth down, but they go back a long way. We do our work deep in the valleys, where they all lead back to a Main Chamber we dug out."
"Robbie!"
The youngest Connor was smiling before he turned around. "Ginny!"
The girl was Robbie's age, with long red hair, and running out of the tunnels with a big smile on her face. She ran to Robbie and wrapped him up in a big hug. "Welcome home!" She giggled. "Missed you!"
"Missed you too." Robbie said into her hair, letting the hug last a good long time. "You know most of us, but we've one or two new arrivals, let me introduce you. This is Griffin and Berk."
Ginny met them with great enthusiasm. "Oh hey! Great to meet you!"
The two young men looked at her with barely veiled disgust. Berk was a Tunnel Rat. Wasting energy and making noise was a sin, because it drew attention to you... and your hiding places. This girl was too energetic to live.
Griffin on the other hand, couldn't get past what she was wearing. The girl was wearing a flowing woven dress that brushed past her ankles, and it looked like she was wearing open sandals. Her arms were bare and she was wearing a flower in her braided hair, which grew right down her back. It was like she was unaware there was a war on.
Ginny was instantly aware of their disapproval, but didn't blink. She went through it with every new arrival. "Welcome to Eden." She told them warmly.
"Okay." Robbie said cheerily. "So, for you new guys, a quick tour. The Valleys all lead out to the Salt Flats, but they all come back to this area near the Silo. We set the silo up, and we hollowed out this whole area below the hills. This is where we do our prep work, and the valleys are where things grow."
They were led downstairs to the Valleys, and introduced to the regular Eden Team. Michael had worked with a lot of them in some capacity, and already knew their names. Griffin recognized all the signs of Tech-Com construction. The walls were bare, lights strung through on cables. There was a large chamber which branched off into the Valleys. People were working there over workshop tables, mostly gathered around the lights. They all smiled and waved at Robbie as he came in. Griffin recognized the reactions. Robbie had started this place. They liked working here more when he was around to help them. Like Enrique with the Bandits, or Connor with Crystal Peak.
Griffin was about to share these observations with Berk, when he noticed that the Tunnel Rat was looking up at the door they just came through. Over the entrance was a plaque of some kind, with writing on it.
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pool singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
Berk read it twice. It was not uncommon for most Combat Bases to have signs like that, as the first thing you saw when you came in, or the last thing to see when you left. it usually had the Unit colors, or some personal motto or battle slogan. But a poem was something... unusual. Everything here was unusual, like it was out of step with the rest of the world.
Robbie walked through the Main Chamber quickly, talking fast, giving instructions, making introductions. "Terry this is Griffin and Berk, they're new here. I got the soil samples you sent back to Palace, and you need more acidic soil to hold off the rot. Add some citrus peel to the dirt."
"Not the compost?" Terry seemed confused, nodding a greeting to the newcomers.
Robbie shook his head. "Not the compost. Earthworms can't handle citrus peel it's too acidic; let it decompose on its own." Robbie was already past him. "Javier, you're getting leaks on the water feed into Valley 2, either drop the pressure or plug those seals."
"Welcome back boss." Javier grinned good-naturedly, and nodded to Berk and Griffin. "Nice to meet you."
Robbie reached out a hand and grabbed his sleeve. "Javier." He interrupted. "My friends have been on the road a while."
Javier nodded. "Valley Five. We're setting up lunch."
Griffin grinned. "Ahh, good. Nothing like the stale Styrofoam meal bars for hungry travelers."
Robbie, Ginny, Michael and Javier just smiled at him.
They had been traveling for days, the Bandits for months, but all that faded as they saw Crystal Peak. Sarah was enjoying the role of the 'experienced soldier' for once, talking them through the process.
"After the entrance, the first thing is the K-9's." Sarah explained. "You've been checked, I know, but you're also new on the base, so we don't take any chances. After the K-9's, there's the sign in. You'll only have an hour to check in with Command, in case of Medical emergency, or mission to complete. Long enough to scrub up, get changed, and meet your fellow Bandits."
That was a very popular idea. For all the years they had been apart, the Bandits started out as a single group. It was a thrilling prospect to all see each other again, face to face.
The K-9's didn't flinch. The Sign-In went painlessly. "So, we get to wash-up and everything right? That means washrooms, showers… hot water?"
Sarah grinned. "Oh yes. Fourth level."
"You guys go on ahead." Kurt said quickly. "I'll catch up."
The Bandits smirked, but had the grace to hide it a little.
Kurt rejoined Sarah. "So... I have to check in within an hour, right?"
"Right." Sarah said, a little unsure of where he was going with this.
"So... that's long enough for a tour."
Sarah smiled. "What about your team?"
Kurt shrugged. "I think given a choice, they'd rather hit the showers and the chow line."
"But not you?" Sarah teased. She didn't know why she was smiling like this, but she was.
Kurt gave her that smile. "Well... I'm prepared to delay a few things, given who my Tour Guide is..."
The Valley they were served lunch in, had a large number '5' visible at the entrance. The valley was lined with large pots and raised beds, like the Eden Workshop back at Crystal Peak, and each of them filled with saplings. Dozens of the pots and beds, laid out in a row. If they were the ones that the Convoy had just brought in, or had been growing there for a long time was impossible to tell. They had lamps over them, powered by Terminator Batteries. There were workers, some of them hobbling along on walking sticks to water them, or tend to them with shears or fertilizer.
There were over a good twenty workers there, and all of them seemed to be moving toward Valley Five. Berk and Griffin were still waiting for someone to tell them what to do. The only ones that didn't have a job already, so they followed.
When they got there, Berk felt his eyes bug out. So did Griffin. It was... impossible.
The workbenches had been brought to the middle of one of the valleys, with benches on either side of it for the workers to sit. And the entire table was laden with food.
Those that remembered Back Before had memories of food that put the Mess Hall to shame. Even with Connor teaching them to grow meat, it took a while to conjure a full cut that was worth slicing up and serving. Infiltrators took a while to make a single skin layer. Making meat enough to eat was a slow process that gave them breathing room against starvation, but not excess. The majority of people still ate rations, preserved for transport and storage.
But this...
There were pancakes, stacked high. Fresh crusty bread, still steaming from whatever oven cooked it. Gallons of milk, plenty of butter and cheese. Cream so thick that nobody recognized it. Melons, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, olives, carrots, avocados. Strawberries in their hundreds, so red and juicy that it made the soldier's eyes hurt. Fresh fruit, both whole and sliced. Apples, oranges, pears, cherries. Potatoes, prepared in a dozen different ways. Peanuts and pineapples, fresh jam and honey in clay pots. Fruit juice was plentiful. For every fruit on the table, its juice was available too.
There was little meat. What meat there was had been sliced thin. Growing meat in the tanks was a tricky procedure, and needed care and time; and so was restricted to the large bases. But small bases never had a spread like this...
Griffin's eyes were wide as saucers. "Is... is it real?"
Robbie laughed, holding hands with Ginny. "Oh yes. It's very real. Tasty too. But don't waste the meat. Only thing we can't make ourselves. We've got livestock for fertilizer, and they give us milk, we got sugar cane for sweetness, we can grow most anything we can make room for; we've got clay to make pots, and there's an ocean of salt out on the flats waiting to be picked up."
"Eden is out of the way for a reason, so it's not like we can turn this stuff into rations and pass it out." Ginny used her free hand to pull Berk along. "Come on. Plenty for all. We can't let it go to waste."
Communal meals were the standard in most military bases, as the kitchens had to cook for everyone. Apparently this post had kept the tradition, and all gathered around the length of the table. They all sat and ate off standard meal trays, though they served themselves.
Berk and Griffin looked too scared to touch it, for fear that it would vanish like a mirage. But everyone was collecting their own food, so they quickly got over it.
Berk shoveled a spoonful of fruit salad into his mouth, and felt his jaw drop open as he moaned. The juice was running down his chin, and the others were laughing at him, but he didn't care. Griffin felt tears rolling down his face at the sheer feeling of fresh flavor exploding through his mouth.
Ginny smiled brilliantly at Berk, lathering a thick slice of bread with jam. "Try it with the cream."
Griffin and Berk were in a fog for the better part of an hour after the meal. It was just so… lavish, that they couldn't comprehend where it had come from, and why everyone was acting like it was standard fare.
They had been given quick jobs as soon as lunch ended. Griffin had been summoned to help with the cleanup, which he was used to. Berk had been taken by the hand over to Ginny's workstation, and she had shown him a seedling tray, filled with dirt. Ginny had been planting seeds, and Berk had copied her. It didn't seem difficult, but she still had to show him how far apart to space them, and how to mark the tray so that the plants didn't get confused…
As they finished up with that, the Eden team working the kitchens had apparently finished, and Robbie had gathered everyone who wasn't in the middle of something urgent, the newcomers included, and taken them all through the Main Chamber to a valley entrance at the far end. Robbie had a flashlight with him, because unlike the other Valleys they had seen so far, this one didn't have any platforms, hatches or stairs set up. It was just them clambering between the gaps in the rock.
The whole valley was clay and dirt; the whole place stunk of salt and mud. Robbie led the way and guided them down with his lights to the floor of the valley. "Terry" He called into his radio. "Give us the sky."
A metallic grinding noise came a moment later, and Berk ducked instinctively, before looking up. The roof of the valley, where it split apart, was covered over by metal shutters, which apparently could be opened and closed. The shutters up above seemed thick and sturdy, and the valley was deep enough for the walls of it to match the height of a three story building. The only room similar in size at Crystal Peak was the Main Hall.
"Okay folks, our mission is to set up this valley for the Eden Project." Robbie said. "Needless to say, it's going to take a lot of work."
Robbie led them through a newly cut tunnel, so new that it was still shaking loose dirt from the ceiling, and the path through it was bare uneven rocks.
Berk came into the valley and looked up. He could see sky now, the shutters opened a good distance behind them. Thinking back, he could remember seeing workstations on the surface, near to the silo, where all those shutter runners led.
Javier stuck his head in the entrance to the valley and shouted to be heard. "If you got a minute sir, Javier asked if he could get your help with the saplings."
"I'll be right there." Robbie promised. "Where are we up to in here?"
"We got the drains laid." Ginny reported, pointing to the middle of the valley were it ran deepest. "The rest... we needed help with."
"Okay." Robbie said. "A big job, but doable." He turned to everyone. "Okay folks, fall in."
The Eden Team all did so, gathering in front of him. Robbie pointed to the valley, and started explaining things. "Those of you who have been with us before know the routine. We've done this in seven valleys in these flats, this will be number eight. For those of you new to the team, looks like you got here just in time for the hardest part."
The experienced Eden Team members laughed at that one.
"First thing we have to do, is dig out a nice deep flat area to work. Most of that has been done already, at least enough for the drains. On top of that, we have to lay down a thick layer of gravel. There's a crusher in the barn, and that'll provide the gravel once we get some of this rock up to it. We'll be bringing the trucks up from the valley mouth. Everyone grab a shovel."
Berk looked, and could see daylight at the far end of the valley, where it shallowed out to the surface. Ginny was suddenly at his elbow, having changed into worn work clothes and strong boots. "It looks like nothing now." She smiled at him. "But don't worry. We've made every other Valley grow. A layer of gravel, layers of dust-dirt, mix in the Paydirt, and this place will be better than the tubs you grow food in at Crystal Peak."
Berk looked around the huge empty space, full of sticky salty mud… and doubted it.
So far, Sarah had shown him the Motor Pool, the storage rooms, the Growing Tanks, the Orchard, the Comm Room, the shooting range, the common rooms, the Mess Hall…. She told herself that she wasn't hiding him from the Command Staff, namely her parents, but she avoided anywhere that Nova Group or Connor's Own might be.
He was watching everything carefully, taking it all in, and getting to know the layout, the people... But his eyes kept returning to her. Sarah was new at this. She understood attraction, and dating. Such things happened young in the Underground. Like all kids born to the Tunnels, she had taken her turn helping out in the school, the nursery, the Maternity ward... But even with an education, and even at the age of seventeen, (an age considered full adulthood now) she lacked experience. Being John Connor's daughter meant that she was quietly off limits to Tech-Com, and that she was destined to spend more time on rotation than most other soldiers.
As a result, she wasn't expecting this. She didn't know exactly why her heart sped up when they made eye contact, but she knew she liked it. In fact, she really liked it.
"So, what do you think?" She asked Kurt.
"I think it's fantastic, but..." Kurt hedged. "It's safe, it's comfortable, it's supplied, and there's a lot of energy here. I've lived places where kids stare into campfires and people can't work up the energy to kick away the rats unless they plan to eat them. This place is heaven. But I do wonder about one thing. All these people."
Sarah smiled. "You're new. Give them time. They're family, every single one of them."
Kurt waved that off. "Naw, it's not that I don't trust them, it's just... Well, they're everywhere. What do you do if you want some privacy?"
Sarah actually laughed at that. "You should know better."
"Out in the field, there's no such thing, sure. But that's to be expected when we're out there in a hot-zone, keeping an eye on each other, watching for Infiltrators. We're here. Indoors, with big thick walls. There's got to be something."
Sarah flushed. "Well... There are a few places when people want some alone time. There have to be. There are couples in the Base. My parents fell in love and got married here."
Kurt nodded, and looked at Sarah. Sarah looked back. A moment of eye contact later, Sarah stepped back, sudden realization all over her face. "OH! I... uh, um..."
Kurt stepped back a respectful distance. "Ah, forgive me. You've already got someone?"
Sarah blinked. "No..."
Kurt nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry, I guess I thought..."
"Nonono, it's not that…" Sarah flushed again. "It's just that I've never... well... ever."
Kurt's face changed as he realized. "Oh! Sarah, I wasn't suggesting..."
"I didn't say you were, I'm just saying that..."
Kurt reached out and covered her lips with one hand. "Sarah... Can we discuss this somewhere... without an audience?"
Sarah glanced around and noticed people peeking at them from all quarters, and felt her blood run cold. She didn't know how long it would take word to reach her father, but knowing him, he could probably see through the walls...
She caught Kurt's hand compulsively and tugged him down the corridor. "This way."
Berk started to wish that he hadn't eaten so much. Hard work was always made harder still by the weight of a full stomach. But he shook those thought off. This was only the second time he could remember having a full stomach, and if it was a burden, it was a burden he loved.
The whole Eden Base had a certain flow to it, and even the newcomers could tell. Seedlings were grown to a relative age or size in the Main Chamber. Once they got big enough for an individual pot or bed they were taken to Valley Five. When they got big enough to be planted somewhere permanently, it was either taken to Valley Two for transport preparation, or one of the other valleys to be planted permanently, depending on what it was.
"We're one of the most self-sufficient bases in Tech-Com." Robbie was saying. "But our mandate is to make enough plants to spread around to all corners of the globe."
"Can you do that?" Griffin seemed stunned.
"Making new plants is easy. Finding places to plant them long-term, that's hard."Robbie explained. "The things that are growing here aren't all staying. So we need to expand. Skynet is spreading itself thin, but it's spreading far. Eden isn't military, so anywhere we set up another tree farm has to be protected from the weather, and the Machines, and it's not happening fast enough. This is a pretty secure place, and we've got valleys to hide from the weather."
Griffin nodded in realization. "That's what the shutters are for."
"Right." Terry leaned on his shovel. "Lets the sunlight in when we need it, Keeps it off if it gets too harsh, lets the rain in if it ever comes back this way, and keeps some of the warmth in during the nights. But with Terminator batteries powering the sun-lamps and a private water feed... we can do pretty well."
"But that's also the problem." Robbie explained. "We have to make the valleys good for growing. We need good drainage out the shallow end of the valley; we need plenty of dirt, and a good hunk of topsoil. No way to do that but to shovel it all in. Remember, I told you guys all this back at Eden 101 in Crystal Peak. Use the crushers to make the rock into sand, and then use the compost to make the dirt into soil."
Griffin waved over his shoulder in curiosity. "I saw you had water pipes running through the other valleys with taps for watering the plants. Where does all the water come from?"
"Same place yours does. The ocean. We've got our own saltwater filter set up here."
"After the Infiltrator tanks got shipped around, most people do." Griffin nodded. "What I mean is, where do you store it? This place can't possibly have an underground tank that large if you use all your earth-movers on the valleys."
"The water gets stored in Silo. You saw it on the way in." Robbie explained.
"That thing?" Berk asked in confusion. "That thing was barely standing."
Robbie grinned. "Yeah, that's the impression we like to give. But it's completely watertight on the inside. What can I say? Appearances are deceiving."
Berk nodded sagely. There wasn't anyone left who hadn't figured that out after the Infiltrators made their move.
Connor came into the War Room. "Report."
Walters had the report as normal. "Checkpoint Niner reports no movement in range. Gould is out at Communication Point Baker, and he sent a message back. He asked me to pass along a message. Message reads 'Awaiting Instructions.' I would have given him an answer, but I don't know what he's doing out there."
This in itself was nothing unusual. Connor had three or four support networks with their own projects, soldiers, spies and directives. Sometimes Nova Group would move somewhere for some Secret Mission, or Connor's Own would hit an unusual Target before a regular Unit moved in to finish the job... Only Connor had all the pieces.
Connor looked up sharply. "He's ready?"
Walters shrugged. "I could tell you for sure if I knew what he was talking about."
Connor smirked. "Mm. Tell Gould… 'Now'."
"Yessir."
Noah came in at that point with Kate and saluted. "General." She reported. "The group of Bandits have checked in with Yolanda, and are awaiting assignment within Tech-Com."
Connor looked up sharply. "They're here already?"
"Apparently." Kate said lightly.
"I thought they were coming in with Sarah." Connor turned to Kate.
Noah blinked. "They got here over half an hour ago sir."
Connor glanced at Kate. "Sarah check in with you?"
"Nope. You?"
Connor lifted his radio. "Connor to Jackman."
"Jackman here."
"When did Sarah get in?"
Loud silence.
"Jackman?" Connor pressed seriously.
"She arrived with the Bandits a while ago. I think she's giving Kurt a tour."
Loud silence.
"Kurt?" Connor said the name carefully.
Jackman cursed under his breath, but the whole War Room could hear it. "The head of the Bandit team we met."
Loud silence.
"Can I speak with my daughter please?" Connor said with great calm. The War Room tensed. The only thing scarier than Connor when he was angry was Connor when he was dead calm.
And he'd even said 'please'.
"N-Not at the moment sir." Jackman choked out.
"Why not?" Connor asked politely.
"Um… she was showing around the head of the Bandits while we were getting the rest of his team processed and squared away, and she seems to have turned her radio off-"
Connor set down his own radio very carefully, cutting him off mid-sentence; took in a long slow breath…
…and then marched for the door with fire in his eyes.
Kate lunged for him, missed. "Waitwaitwaitwait-John!"
Too late. He was gone out of the War Room like an angry wind.
Kate scrambled over the War Room's Map Table and chased after him.
"Kate!" Noah hissed after them. "Channel four!"
Kate waved over her shoulder and kept running.
Walters turned slowly to Noah. "We better get a good spot."
"And some popcorn." Noah grinned and grabbed her radio "Everyone in the War Room, Channel four, check your local listings for tonight's entertainment!"
Connor made it to the door and yanked it open. Sarah and Kurt squawked as they fell out of the supply closet. They were still dressed, though Kurt had a few buttons undone. He saw the uniform, five stars on each shoulder and 'Connor' on the name-tag, and jumped up, swiftly at attention. "Sir." He managed to get his dignity together admirably, as though he hadn't just been caught red handed. "It's an honor to meet you General." He said, as though meeting him in the War Room.
Sarah flushed bright red and straightened her uniform. "Hi dad."
"DAD?" Kurt blurted, going buggy-eyed. His unshakable calm shattered in a microsecond.
Kate came running around the corner, running for all she was worth. "JohnJohnJohnJohn!" She skidded to a halt in front of them and checked Kurt over, like a field medic over a wounded soldier, searching for an injury. The relief was clear on her face when she didn't find one. "Oh, thank god, you're alive. So. Who are you?"
Kurt looked at Kate and saw more stars on her shoulders. "Ma'am. I'm... um... wait, it'll come to me." He was shaking, melting under The General's death-stare. "Kurt! I'm Kurt!"
"He can't remember his name, he's singled out our daughter, and he's new in the Base. He's probably an Infiltrator." Connor said darkly.
"He's not a Machine." Sarah insisted. "And would you two please stop because you are embarrassing me."
"You know that he's all human for a fact do you?" Connor growled. "I say we shoot him just once and make sure." The gun was out of his holster and pointed at the shaking teenager's stomach before Kurt could register the movement. He would have moved defensively, or tried to evade, but he was still stuck in brain-lock.
Sarah pushed the gun away. "DAD!" She turned to Kurt regretfully. "I'm sorry Kurt, I'm so sorry. They like to torture me. Don't be scared."
A fine sweat had broken out on Kurt's face. "I'm... not scared."
"How long has this been going on?" Kate asked kindly.
"J-Just today." Kurt swore immediately, never taking his eyes off The General's gun.
"Just today? And you're already in the supply closet?" The General growled.
"O-oh, oh no sir. We've known each other for a while now, but today was the first chance we had to..."
"To What?" The General pounced.
"Dad, be nice. Please?" Sarah put in carefully.
"You two have been together for this long and didn't tell your parents?" Kate glared. "What is this? Some illicit little fling?"
"No! No Ma'am! Of course not! I would never treat Sarah that way!"
The General seemed mollified by that. "So you're in love then?"
Sarah squeezed her eyes shut. "Da-ad!"
"Are you two at least being responsible?" Kate asked. "Sarah? I had this talk with you."
"Yes mom, we're being responsible."
The General glared. "Are you now?"
Kurt managed to get a little paler. "No sir! We... I mean, we don't have to be responsible because we aren't doing anything that would need... respect. I'm... respecting your daughter a lot a whole lot. I swear, tons of respect here. In fact, I didn't even know she was your daughter Sir. If I had known… I would never... never ever... not with your daughter General..."
"What do you mean not ever?" Sarah demanded, suddenly furious.
"You don't think my daughter is good enough for you?" The General asked dangerously. For a moment it was harder to tell who was glaring harder, him or Sarah.
Kurt's mouth opened and closed; he was trapped. "I... I..."
Kate softened. "Okay John, you've had some fun, now let him off the hook before he faints." Kate told her husband and turned to Kurt sweetly. "He's been practicing this little offensive since the day Sarah was born; don't be scared, he doesn't really mean it. And hey, welcome to the family."
"The... the family?" Kurt repeated numbly.
"Well, you don't really think you're going to dump The General's Daughter for someone else now do you?" Kate chuckled warmly. "You be sure and check in with Colonel Noah. She'll run you through the rules, and find you a more appropriate posting."
"Ma'am?" Kurt squeaked. "What... what do you mean?"
"Oh please, call me Kate. Even 'mom' if you want. And what I mean is, if you're a way in to anyone in the Connor family, Skynet will paint a great big bulls-eye on you. You don't think we'd make you do anything as suicidal as go outside ever again, do you?" Kate was so sweet and helpful. "I mean, we're not evil. One date with Sarah and you're a marked man for life. But don't worry, we'll look after you."
Sarah glared at her mother. "Mom." She gritted. "I thought we agreed that you'd be on my side."
"Did you really? When exactly was this agreement made?" Connor growled again, sending his wife a look.
Kate just smiled. "We'll leave you two alone now, post a few guards outside, just in case. Come John, let these kids be young and in love."
"No." Connor said seriously. But he let his wife lead him out of the room.
Sarah spun on Kurt. "Now, what the hell do you mean 'not ever with me'?" She snarled as the door swung shut.
The second the door closed, the two Generals traded a hi-five, grinning at each other.
"Admit it." Kate taunted. "You're having fun."
"Let's give them a few minutes and go back in there. I can go get my sniper rifle." John suggested cheerfully.
Kurt's suddenly shrill voice came from inside the Closet, loud enough to be heard. "No! Don't touch me! At all!"
Both Generals giggled a little as the door opened, and Sarah stuck her head out. "I hate you both!" She snapped at them, and withdrew.
Kate keyed her radio as the closet door slammed shut again. "How about you? You get all that?"
Listening to the whole thing over the radio; Walters, and Noah, and pretty much everyone in the War Room were falling over each other laughing. Walters reached out and collected the microphone. "I hope your daughter knows how to resuscitate a patient Kate."
Noah leaned in to speak too. "When does that little conversation come out in paperback?"
The Mighty Connors grinned at each other. "Well, that was diverting." Kate said with a smirk. "But would you mind telling me what that 'Package' Saint brought was all about?"
Kate, Noah, Walters and Connor made their way downstairs, to one of the Supply rooms.
Saint was sitting on the floor against the wall. She looked exhausted.
"Isobel? You okay?" Connor asked.
Saint rolled her head back to look up at him, and was slow to stand. "Sorry sir. Haven't slept a wink since we got this thing. My people have checked into Medbay, just in case."
"Are they all right?" Kate asked in concern.
"I think so, but we lost-"
"Not here." Connor cut them off. Saint nodded, keyed in her passcode, and they all went into the Storage room.
Unlike any of the other storerooms, this one was bare. No stores, no supplies, not even bare shelves. The emptiness of it made their voices and footsteps echo off the concrete walls. The atmosphere in the room, and the obvious fear on Saint's face just made the whole thing too oppressive, and they spoke in whispers. "I thought this room was destroyed." Walters said quietly.
Connor reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small electronic device. He pushed the button on it, and everyone winced as something seemed to go through their ears inaudibly. "Officially, it is." He noticed them looking at the device in his hand. "Micro-Jammer. An upgraded version of our regular Jammers. The range is only as far as one room. Just in case anyone left their radio's switched on accidentally, or someone got a listening device in here somehow."
At the back of the room, away from the wall, was 'The Package'. It was out of its wooden crate. It was a reinforced case the length of a cot. It looked a little battered around the corners, but it had two different electronic and mechanical locks on it.
Saint turned to Connor. "We were able to find the keys okay, but the passcode was... elsewhere."
"Leave that to me." Connor said easily, and pulled out a battered handheld computer. A few seconds with his Swiss army knife had gotten the cover off, and he quickly rigged a connection between the crate and his Handheld. The others watched, impressed as he worked it with practiced ease.
"Where'd you get that?" Kate asked.
"My mom gave me something similar to this when I was eight years old. It was her way of training me in counter-electronics. Told me if I wanted an allowance, I'd have to earn it. I was getting my walking around money from ATM's until I was ten years old." The Handheld beeped. "Easy money." Connor muttered under his breath.
Saint looked at Connor questioningly, and he nodded. Saint stepped forward and pulled a pair of security keys from around her neck. Connor took one. They both put their keys in, and turned the locks simultaneously. Connor checked his small screen and keyed in about twelve digits to the keypad. The case opened with a vacuum hiss.
Saint pulled the lid open, and everyone who didn't know already took two steps back.
There in the case was a Nuclear Warhead.
Radiation warnings all over it, shaped like a snub nosed cone, it looked harmless. But these were people still trying to retake the ruined results of the Bomb. The radiation symbol had been spray painted over road signs and shattered walls across the world, warnings left by people who almost uniformly died of radiation sickness soon after, their lives taken by the invisible bogeyman they died warning strangers about.
That symbol had become the icon of a vengeful and terrifying Death God, roaming their lands with the wind.
Connor let them get a good look at it, and then closed the box again.
Numb horrified silence.
Saint spoke first. "There's a missile base, well away from here. Nobody was going to put a target within five hundred miles of a Presidential Fallout shelter. Took us a month just to get to the silo without being seen, and we didn't even know if there were any missiles left after Skynet launched. There were five missiles left. Looks like the silo crews were trying to stop the launch... The missiles had twenty warheads or more each; none of them have been maintained since J-Day. The facility was lead-lined, so the surrounding area is okay, but I lost seven guys to radiation poisoning before we got a warhead out. Three more before we got back." She sent Kate a respectful look. "If it wasn't for Sarah, none of us would have made it back. I sent a call out to my guys to get it the rest of the way here. The two of them that answered, heard that I lost my team to radiation sickness, and checked into Medbay, just in case the wind had shifted. They didn't know where my people had gotten sick, the ones that lived, except for me, don't know where this came from."
Nobody else had said anything yet.
Connor turned to face them. "I know what you're all thinking. Outside the five of us, and the two guys in Medbay asking for iodine pills, there's nobody in the world who knows this box is here, and other than us, nobody knows what it is. This room was classified as too damaged to use, or to store anything, since the T-1000 attacked. Nobody, not even Brain Box, knows when the door opens, or what the code is. There are two keys needed to open the case, I have one, Saint has the other. This warhead has a detonator. I'm giving it to Eric. The detonator needs a hand-print, which will be Kate's, and a seven digit password, which will be Noah's, once I show her how to change it. You all are to use whatever methods you wish to make sure that if you get killed over the course of this war, then the weapon is still usable. I leave that to you, but nobody else knows what it's for. The five of us are the only ones who know."
They looked at each other carefully. They felt better about Connor's safeguards, knowing that it could only be used if all five of them agreed. There was a new feeling in this room now, like a secret society had been formed. The Five Keepers of The Bomb.
"General." Noah spoke first. "Why the hell is this thing here? You went to a lot of trouble to put it at our disposal, you must have a reason."
"I do." Connor nodded. "The reason, quite simply, is because it's going to come to that."
They just looked at him, waiting.
Connor nodded. "After several days work, and collaboration between Gould, half his team, and Brain Box, we've got some new Intel. Meet me tonight, Presidential Suite; I'll share it with you. Till then, I don't want anybody knowing this thing exists. You don't mention it, not even to each other, unless all five of us are present, and in private. At best, it's going to have to sit here for a good few years, and Skynet could win the war if it got control of this room for half a second. Clear?"
"Yes sir." Chorused everyone, even Kate.
Berk was not settling in well. Griffin was taking it in stride. A soldier never knew where he'd be living and what he'd be doing in ten minutes time, but Berk was a Tunnel Rat. He'd never poked his head any further than the Main Hall in years. Going from that to unfamiliar people in bare walls made of rock and earth instead of concrete was jarring. A Tunnel Rat was exceptionally good at surviving, hiding and living… but the Rats of Crystal Peak had never experienced anything really new.
As such, he tried to keep his back to the wall the whole time, which was not really possible, given that he was working at workstations alongside Robbie.
Griffin was a soldier, kept in shape, and was good at doing new things when ordered. He picked it up fairly quickly, and could carry the load of any two of the Eden Team. Three, if they were part of the 'One Boot Brigade'.
But finally, Robbie decided he couldn't help himself.
"Berk, can I ask you something?" Robbie suggested lightly. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Berk looked down awkwardly. "Keeper told me to come."
"Keeper?"
"Your mom. She said... she asked me, well… ordered me actually, to stick close to you and look for something here."
"What for?"
"She didn't say."
"She seemed pretty upset about... Something."
Berk sighed. "She's upset that the Tunnel Rats still won't... We were talking about Meg and Stacey, and how other than them, none of the Tunnel Rats will sign on to Tech-Com, and then we got on to Skynet, and how it goes after big bases. Somehow... we got around to what would happen if Skynet got Crystal Peak."
"Never happen." Robbie said instantly.
"I know. But I went and told her about something the Rats said a long time ago. We agreed that... That if Tech-Com ever bailed out of Crystal Peak, the Rats would stay behind. We moved once, and there are some more of us now... If Tech-Com can't find us in the Tunnels, Skynet wont."
Robbie winced sympathetically. "Wrong thing to say to my mom."
Berk rubbed the back of his neck. "She said she wouldn't let us stay behind and, and I... I told her to worry about somebody other than us because she wasn't our mother, and we aren't her kids."
Robbie smirked. "Yes you are."
"Yeah we are." Berk said ruefully. "I was mad."
"She knows that." Robbie said carefully. "But… Why this? Why'd she send you here with me of all places?"
"I don't know. I think... I think she was talking about how there's a great big world, and the Tunnels are so small… especially since the Rats of Crystal Peak are having kids of their own now." Berk shrugged. "We know the world's out there. None of the Rats care. We got our place, and its safe enough. Something you can't say about this place."
"If we only went where it was safe, we'd never go anywhere."
"So what's wrong with that?" Berk groused. "We don't miss it. What's there to miss?"
Robbie suddenly realized what his mother wanted him to do with Berk. He jerked his head to the left, down the passage. "Come with me." He said, and then shouted over to the others. "Griffin, come with us!"
Griffin fell into step and followed him. "Where are we going?"
"Valley One." Ginny said with reverence, coming with them.
Robbie led them out of the Tunnels, into the light, and Berk rubbed his eyes. He had been brought to one of the Valleys, the largest one, and the first one set up. From beneath, it was deeper and wider than he first thought. It was a lot deeper than the other ones, which were only five or six feet deep. This one was deep enough that it almost felt like an extension of the Underground.
In the middle of the valley... was a grove of full grown trees. They were many times taller than Griffin was, and he stared at them, transfixed. He hadn't seen a tree since Judgement Day.
"We put them in this valley because it's deep. Every night we can bring the covers over, keep out the cold. One day they'll be strong enough to survive the winters on their own, and then we just let them grow. Down here, they're safe from the wind, but their branches can see the sky, get the sunlight." Robbie explained. "Take off your boots."
Griffin reacted. Soldiers did everything with their boots on. You never knew when you might need to move. Berk reacted too. A Tunnel Rat owned nothing but his own clothes, and shoes were far from optional.
Robbie smiled at him. "It's all right."
Ginny was smiling at them. "Do it guys, you'll love this."
Berk hesitated, and bent down to unlace his boots.
"Socks too." Robbie directed, doing the same. "Then follow me."
They went down the gantry way, from the exit to the tunnels, and down a staircase that led to the floor of the valley where the trees were planted.
Berk was gingerly going down the stairs in bare feet, and paused at the bottom step. The ground was covered in greenery. "What's that?"
Robbie didn't hesitate, and stepped off the stairs. "It's grass."
Berk reacted. "I've heard of that. It was in one of the stories General Kate read to us."
Caw!
Berk reacted. "What's that?"
Robbie laughed. "It's a bird."
"What's a bird?" Berk demanded.
"It's an animal that lives in trees. We found a nest hidden in the remains of an old building. The bird had starved, but some of the eggs had survived." Ginny explained.
"When I first came out here, my father gave them to me." Robbie added. "Told me to keep them hidden. We brought them here with the trees, kept the eggs warm till they hatched. Those birds live here now. If you look close, you can find a nest in the tallest trees."
"Eggs. Like the battery hens?" Berk guessed. They were the only things he knew of that laid eggs.
"Yeah. But these birds aren't for food. I mean, you can, but if you got chickens, you don't need to. These birds fly."
Griffin didn't say anything for a while. His mouth was hanging open. "Birds fly. I remember that! I remember seeing that Back Before! God, I haven't thought about that in years."
Robbie just smiled at him.
Berk, like all the Tunnel Rats, was like a wild animal. Tough, skittish, cautious. He had to be drawn out carefully. He'd flinched at the sounds of the birds too. It was the first birdcall he'd ever heard. Ginny smiled, and stepped off the stairs, holding out a hand to him. Berk took it and stepped off the staircase. The grass was cool and green and it tickled his feet. He didn't smile. He was in brainlock. He'd never seen a tree, or a bird, or grass. Not that he could remember.
Ginny watched his face, delighted. She drew him slowly toward the trees, pleased to see him bunching his toes in the grass.
The trees were tall and green and leafy. There were a few birds, flitting between the branches, small and colorful. Griffin turned his head back and forth, trying to follow them. Insects chirped, breezes blew. It was the first garden either of them, Tunnel Rat or soldier, had ever seen.
Ginny led him toward the tallest tree, and climbed it without hesitation. She sat on a branch, and gestured for Berk to follow her.
Tunnel Rats could climb as well as they could duck, and he did so. He had never climbed a tree before. The branches felt strong under him.
The sounds of something fluttering came back, and Berk jumped as a bird flew past them. He still hadn't said anything since seeing grass.
A moment later, Robbie Connor appeared in front of him, hanging upside down off a higher branch. "It'll be back. This tree is its home." He smiled. "So, what do you think?"
"Smells nice." Berk said finally.
Ginny and Robbie smirked at each other. "Well." Ginny said. "It's a start."
Most of the Command level had their own room since the Units had to be kept together in case of sudden operations. Anyone ranked major or higher had a chance at a personal room. Not everyone took one, preferring to have their Unity close in case of an Infiltrator, or just for company. Soldiers that had families or kids thus took up most of the Officers quarters.
Eric knocked at Noah's door.
"It better be important!" Noah's voice yelled back.
Eric steeled himself and let himself in.
Noah's private quarters were like most of the others. Bed against the wall, desk next to it, smaller bed over at the other side of the larger than normal room for her kid. A kitchenette and small bathroom off the main room, closet space and foot lockers at the end of the beds.
Noah was in the middle of the room, with a punching bag set up. From the look of things, she'd been thrashing the punching bag for a long time. "Eric. Come to check up on me?
"Something like that." Walters didn't bother to deny it. "Was excepting to find a few dead NCO's in here."
"I keep them in the punching bag." Noah quipped. "Wanna spar for a while?"
"Easy... easy..."
Berk was frozen, trying not to move an inch. Ginny had put a small bit of bread crust on his fingertip, and told him to wait.
Berk had never seen a bird before, and now one was inching forward, looking at him, and the food on his fingertips. Birthdays were hard to track, but he knew he had been born just before, or just after the world changed, and the Wasteland and the Tunnels was all he ever knew. He had never seen an animal higher on the food chain than a rat or a cockroach before in his life. The only things that flew were H/K's and fighter jets.
The bird was cautious, but had clearly been fed by humans before, many times, and it knew what would happen. It inched forward, pecked the scrap of crust off his fingers, and bounced back quickly, before it swallowed, and whistled its gratitude musically.
Berk was stunned. The only animals he knew were tame; living their whole lives inside like the Tunnel Rats did. He'd never seen an animal that survived on the outside. Any animals that lived were in hiding themselves. One that would come forward, eat from his hand, and whistle music at him was... magical.
Robbie was nearby, watching Berk's face, seeing a transformation happen. He reached out a hand slowly, and touched Ginny's shoulder. She felt the signal and went silent, leaving Berk along with his thoughts for a moment.
The Tunnel Rat felt something inside him shift, like a spring wound too tight had been eased. He sat still for a moment. Cool green grass crunched under his bare hands and feet. He could hear water dripping, but it wasn't like a broken pipe in the Underground; it was a natural, gentle sound of Dewdrops falling. He could hear birds singing in the trees, and rolled his head back to look. Up above, through the green leafy branches, were the stars, cool and bright from down below in the valleys. The valley kept gentle warmth among the trees, bathing the whole orchard in ethereal mist. The air smelled clean and fresh and alive. Berk had spent so long in wastelands, he didn't know what fresh clean air smelled like, but he knew he would never be satisfied with the omnipresent burnt air of the wastelands or the motionless indoor air of the Tunnels ever again.
His vision was blurring. Berk raised his hand to his face. Tears. Berk hadn't cried since... ever.
He rubbed his face, clearing his eyes, and saw Griffin going through the same thing.
Ginny was smiling radiantly at them. Robbie was giving him the same look, like a proud parent.
A half hour of sparring behind them, Noah collapsed into her couch. "So. You're supposed to be keeping an eye on me and my mental health. You bring anything to drink?"
"You don't have your own supply?" Walters asked, still breathing hard.
"I have a kid." Noah said, as though that explained everything. "Will you sit down already? You were enjoying the tight sleeper holds a little too much to blush from sitting on the couch with me."
Walters laughed at that and sat down. The couch gave them a clear view of Micheal's bed on the far side of the room.
Erica gestured at it sadly. "Look."
"What's wrong?"
"He left Mr Chimp behind."
"What?"
"The toy. It's this stuffed monkey that I scrounged back in San Jose. He's kept the thing with him ever since he was five months old. Two bases and half the war… and he left it behind now."
"Erica…" Eric said gently. "Maybe he doesn't need it any more."
Erica sagged, saddened by that.
Walters smiled at her. "I never know how you and Kate, and for that matter anyone else in this base dares it." He said.
"Dares what?" Erica asked him absently.
"Having a family." Eric said kindly. "When Connor ordered it, I saw the appeal. Free bed, regular meals, protected for nine months, planet of people willing to take care of the kid afterward... I was in awe of the woman who..."
"Who didn't pass off the time bomb of responsibility to anyone else who would take it?" Noah quipped. She chuckled bitterly. "Eric... there are maybe three people in the world I could admit this too. You're one of them. I... I'm terrified."
Eric was smiling softly.
"What?" She demanded, a little unnerved at the look.
"Nothing, nothing at all." Eric said lightly. "I just... We first met out on the road between San Jose and Los Angeles in the dark. Half my guys were a week out of training when J-Day hit, and there was you, shaking off an H/K ambush like it was a bad cup of coffee."
"Oh like hell." Noah snarked. "An H/K attack takes a few minutes to resolve itself; a bad cup of coffee can mess you up all day."
"See? That's what I'm talking about." Walters said. "You can go from frosty to supermom so fast..."
They were silent a moment, just sitting there.
"When I..." Erica seemed to debate something a moment, and then tarted talking. "I never intended to be a mother. I couldn't see me as a parent either, but then I got injured. Arm was messed up. I was benched for a while, it was the first time I had three consecutive weeks ahead without a fire-fight... it was the dead of winter, he was nice and warm, and I had been thinking about it for a while... I don't think there's any woman left in the world who doesn't. If we didn't want kids back before, then we all at least consider it now. I figured the same thing you did. Plenty of people to look after my kid, and I could go back to the fight."
Eric looked over at her. "What changed?"
She smiled warmly, looking ten years younger. "Michael was born. God, he was so small and beautiful. I changed my mind the second I saw him; I was never going to let anyone else take care of him. Not ever. If I had to choose, I would have ditched the uniform right then." Erica seemed to glow a little, lost in warm happy memories. Her gaze settled on Eric for a moment, and she slid over, so that she sat next to him. "You mind?"
Eric put an arm around her. "Nope."
Erica took a long, slow breath as she got comfortable. "Mmm. Ask me what you want to ask me."
Eric shook his head. "It's not important."
"But it's a fair question."
"What happened to Micheal's father?"
It wasn't the question she meant, but it was close enough and Erica sighed. "He died. The day we lost Castle Keep. Lost a lot of good people that day."
Eric nodded, reliving his own experience. "Yeah we did."
Long silence.
"Eric?" She said finally. "You ever think..." She didn't finish the sentence.
Eric tensed, just a tiny bit. "We had this conversation."
"You came to my room after a gawd-awful dogfight, and I turned you down. Once. Many years ago. That doesn't count as 'having the conversation'."
He suddenly smiled teasingly. "Of course, I'd like to think you only turned me down because you had a schoolgirl crush on Connor."
"A 'schoolgirl crush'?" Erica repeated.
"Well what would you call it?" Eric shot back.
Erica sighed. "I never told you this but... during the food riots, when you were out of action... I actually made a move."
Eric turned his head to look at her, curled up in his arm. "You didn't!"
"I knew what the answer would be. It was a lapse." She seemed thoroughly embarrassed by it. "He let me down easy, we never spoke of it. I got my answer. I moved on. But that was years ago... And I guess I'm wondering..." She spit it out finally. "Why haven't you ever tried again?"
Eric was silent a long time, letting himself think about the answer. "Well... I've served on enough battlefields to know that... You see people you live with get blown into messes; your nerves get so raw you just need a tranquillizer... But you and me were practically the same from the day we met. We aren't the big time Heroes, we're the ones they count on. Second in commands, willing to follow our guys into hell. Then you came on board, and we became his top two... I didn't know how to compete with The General in your mind… And after that..."
She pulled away enough to turn and face him. "Eric, when I asked why you hadn't tried again? That was a hint, just so you know."
Eric froze for two seconds, and then quickly leaned in and gave her a kiss. It lasted for a good long time.
The PA crackled swiftly. "Colonels Noah and Walters, report to General Connor."
They broke the kiss unhurriedly, pulling back just enough to breathe slowly.
"Mmm." Erica drawled finally. "Well that was worth the whole day."
Eric chuckled. "Certainly clarifies a few things."
Erica nodded and stood, stretching languidly like a big cat. "Yeah." They gave each other a hungry look, before taking a deep breath, and letting it out slowly. "The PA said to report to Connor, not to the War Room. Whatever secret he's been sitting on, it's time now. So… we should probably…"
Eric stood, gathered himself. "Erica... My shift ends at 2200. If you aren't doing anything…"
Noah stood, straightened her uniform, and led the way out. "I'll be there."
The General wasn't in the War Room, but they already knew that. When they got to the Presidential Suite, they had to knock, because the door was locked. Kate unlocked it and let them in. Saint and Connor were there already.
Connor waved them in, and they came to sit down. Kate locked the door behind them, pulled the micro-jammer out of her pocket and switched it on.
Connor placed a photograph on the table. It was a high altitude shot, with a few circles drawn over it in Ink. The five of them looked at it for a long moment. They had all seen surveillance photographs at one time or another and they didn't need help to interpret.
Walters let out a low whistle. The picture showed a nest of Machines so big and bristling with entrenched weapons it gave the experienced soldiers a chill, even from a photograph. Thousands of Machines, maybe hundreds of thousands. Factories were placed close in a flawless geometric pattern, ensuring that new Machines could come rolling out by the hundreds into the area in an instant.
Strong defensive walls, hundreds of turrets, layers ten perimeters deep. The gates in the walls were huge, practically half the walls. Hundreds of flying H/K's patrolling, buildings of all descriptions and sizes laid out in uniform position. Even in a small picture, even from above, it was a terrifying sight.
"Where is this?" Walters asked.
"North. Dead Center in the continent. It's surrounded by hot-zones, but it's relatively clear itself." Connor said. "We never went there because we never had use for it, and getting there is a nightmare with all the Skynet patrols."
Noah shook her head. "I thought Skynet was feeling the pinch. Where the hell did all these Machines come from?"
"They were always there." Connor said. "It's not a new formation. Skynet has a set number of defenders for that complex, everything else is on offense."
"Where did we get this photo?" Kate asked in disbelief.
Connor took a breath. "At J-Day, Skynet got control of all the satellites still in the sky, and re-tasked one of them to be in geosynchronous orbit over the facility in this photo. That satellite is how it sends its commands to its forces across the continent. Gould and his team got to work, feeding the last two years worth of Skynet ciphers into Brain Box and about five hundred scrubbed Machines working their calculators all at once, and they figured out the rotating cryptography pattern. Gould uploaded this new information into a satellite dish we had well outside our Secure Zones, and tried to hack the Skynet satellite. We managed to get into Skynet's system for four fifths of a millisecond before Skynet figured it out and ended our satellite relay." He tapped the photo. "Just long enough to get this shot, of the place it has been parked over for decades."
"You know that they'll redeploy all those lines before we can get within eighty miles of the place." Noah said.
"I do." Connor confirmed. "I don't care."
"And you know you'll never get into its system ever again." Walters put in. "It'll change that code pattern key every five seconds from now on."
"I know." Connor confirmed. "I don't care about that either. I got what I needed. What we needed."
They saw the light-bulb go off over Walters' head. "That's it isn't it?"
Noah blinked and looked at the photo again. "What? What!"
"That." Connor said seriously. "Is the Holy Grail. That's Skynet."
Noah felt her jaw drop. "That's the System Core?"
"Heart of the Beast. Top Target. The End of The Campaign." Connor confirmed.
"Are you sure?"
"The layout of Skynet's forces is geared to protect this area. There are three large facilities in that zone, but I'm positive it's this one." Connor pointed at the photo. "If I wasn't sure before, then I am now. Take a look."
Noah did, and finally it hit her. "The short range weapons."
"Everything we've got is well away from there, so why is it surrounded by short range fast-interceptor guns?"
"Because that's where it's worried about losing the building. It's the only one geared to protect more than attack."
"Ladies and Gent, that's the System Core. We Zero that Base, and we can call it a good day's work." Connor said with grim understatement.
Kate however, spelled it out. "We Zero that Base... We've won the War."
Connor nodded. "It's going to be a long hard fight to get in there, much less win, but the first task..."
"...Is to make sure Skynet can't escape." Kate finished.
"That's the problem with our enemy. It's software. It uploaded itself once. If it does so again, we have to know where it goes." Connor smirked evilly. "Gould has gone over it, and he says that given how big and powerful a software AI like Skynet is, and how thin it's relays and forces are spread now, there's a specific set of hardware requirements it will need. The most important of which, will be a powerful receiver."
Beat.
"Arecibo." Walters said finally. Noah and Kate looked at him, frankly admiring for figuring it out so fast.
Connor just nodded. "Arecibo Observatory. Whatever Skynet was doing out there, it left the facility intact, and our siege didn't affect it that badly. Skynet retook the area after the split with the Union. We didn't think much of it at the time, because it was a good tactical position against Rojas and the Union territory, but..."
"Are we going to go after the Observatory?"
"No." Connor said. "We can't spare the forces, and the Union has the whole area. Besides, it doesn't matter."
"Why not?"
"There's nowhere at Arecibo for Skynet to go. It has a satellite dish that can receive a program like Skynet, but it doesn't have a hard drive or system core big enough, any kind of defenses; any kind of power supply..."
"Nowhere for it to run then?"
"Looks that way." Connor confirmed, tapping the photo. "We take this facility, and the rest is just mopping up. Skynet's offense is spread thin, its supply lines are all but cut off. Eden and Infiltrator Tanks can grow food for us anywhere, Skynet can only make Machines if it finds, transports, and refines heavy metals, and we're starving it out."
"I've got a War Room full of people tracking troop movements that say otherwise." Walters pointed out.
"Think about it for a second Eric. Every time the number of H/K teams increases, the number of H/K's in each team changes to thin them out a little. Every time one team retreats, another set move out in another direction. Every Time the Union takes a piece of land, Skynet launches an attack on a piece of land the same size. Their territory isn't expanding, it's just mobile. The actual numbers on Skynet's offensive wing hasn't grown. May have shrunk a little. The longer this war goes, the less their numbers grow."
"You have those numbers committed to memory?" Noah quipped.
"My husband is just a little freakish that way." Kate said with affection.
"It's going to take a long time, but now we have a final objective." Connor summed up. "If we charge the System Core, we'll spook Skynet and it'll build up Arecibo, make it a viable way out. We can't fight through Skynet and The Union to stop them; so we can't give it enough time to build another massive stronghold for Skynet's brain somewhere. Right now, its only escape route is cut off, and it doesn't care because there's no reason for it to escape. We have to bleed off its defenders, and have it trapped, before it realizes what our target is."
Walters let out a breath. "Tall order boss."
"Hence the package downstairs." Connor finished. "A way to shorten that particular siege dramatically."
Noah glanced across at Connor. "The Package downstairs is a tactical device. A battlefield nuke. Getting it in there won't be easy."
Connor smirked. "We have time."
Berk hadn't said anything for an hour, staring up at the trees. Robbie and Ginny were with him. Nobody had much to say just yet.
Terry was pulling a trolley the full length of the Valley. The trolley was full of gravel. He had half the Eden Team following him. "Where do you want it Robbie?"
Robbie pointed back over his shoulder. "Valley Eight for now. We'll have to sweep it in as we lay the pipe."
Terry nodded and headed off. The brief distraction was enough to shake Berk out of his thoughts. "So…" He asked Robbie. "Is this what all the other Valleys are like?"
Robbie shook his head. "Not like this. Valley One is the finished product. You give us enough time, and they'll all look like that. But the point of Eden is to make as many places as possible like that. We start the trees off here, get them used to stuff like the cold and the wind, and then send most of them across the world. Give us enough time and work, Valley Eight will be just like it."
Berk blinked. It seemed an impossible picture. Valley Eight, where he had spent a day digging out salt and mud, would be just like this paradise in Valley One. "It… It will?"
"It will." Robbie said. "The trees you're looking at? My dad planted them, in big pots, in Crystal Peak, the first month after J-Day. We brought them here when I was a kid. Berk… Valley Eight will be like it at some point. You said the Tunnel Rats had kids of their own now, down in the tunnels of the Underground that nobody else has ever found… If you wanted, when those kids grow up, you can bring them to Valley Eight, and it'll be just like what you see now… thanks to you, and Michael, and Griffin, and Ginny and me, and a dozen others."
Berk sat down like his legs had been knocked out of him. His fingers bunched the grass automatically. The notion that a place could be made into a… wonderland like this was hard enough to fathom. They thought that he had helped…
"I have to go sort things out in Valley Eight." Robbie said finally. "Take your time."
Berk barely noticed him leaving.
Ginny came over and sat down next to him a few minutes later. She plucked the flower from her hair, and held it under Berk's nose without a word. He took a deep breath of it. He'd never smelled a flower before. "It's an orange blossom." She murmured. "You ate an orange yesterday, remember? These flowers, they grow on the trees, and they grow into the orange fruits. Sometimes a blossom falls without that happening. This is one of them."
Berk took another deep breath of it, and carefully threaded it back into her hair. She tilted her head and let him.
"What are you thinking?" She asked him softly.
Berk was almost shaking. "We were kids, scurrying around ruins, eating rotten food out of dead people's garbage." Berk croaked. "Connor gave us a safe place, and food, and warmth… and we buried ourselves so deep… We've got kids of our own now… None of those kids… none of their parents, have ever seen a flower, or grass, or a tree, or a bird, or a strawberry, or the sky… oh god… Gin, we lived our whole lives and had kids of our own and we never even saw a damn thing… oh GOD!" He choked out.
Ginny held him tightly as he finally broke down.
Michael and Robbie were in the hatch leading to Valley One, watching them. As Berk broke down sobbing on Ginny's shoulder, they traded a look. The two of them had been running back and forth from Eden to the Underground more than any of the others, and knew exactly what the Rat was going through. They were almost smiling. It was not unlike a religious experience, this bare survivor walking through paradise after a lifetime of wastelands and bomb shelters…
"This is what Keeper wanted." Michael whispered. "She doesn't want the Rats, and now their kids, to stay buried their whole lives."
"All of us live underground Mike." Robbie whispered, not taking his eyes of Ginny. "It's the only way we survive. Up to a point, even our trees have to live underground. If it came to that, we could seal it up and live self sufficient in Crystal Peak. But we don't belong there. Not forever."
"I can't imagine that."
The two of them turned and found Griffin watching with them. He spoke in hushed tones. "I can't imagine living in a place like this."
"When the war is over..." Robbie said, soft like a prayer.
It had been a while since Kyle was in LA. It hadn't improved. In fact the debris had built up further, the buildings crumbled a fair bit more.
And Skynet still powering over the ruins. They went through what used to be the streets of LA, patrolling the coastline. LA was the only place you could leave the ocean and have Tunnels waiting.
Running through wreckage in the dark was never any fun. Doing so while Skynet was shooting at you made it worse.
Kyle swore under his breath as his ankle twisted slightly. Fighting at night was always a balanced risk. Terminators and H/K's could see better in the dark, but humans could move into position better. A Terminator was a close range fighter. H/K's could be taken out from a distance. You strike, you evade, you vanish, and you do it all over again.
But attempting to retake the rubble of LA had turned from a simple 'Rack-and-Stack' to a pitched battle. Skynet had left its forces in the wreck of the LA underground, apparently since they'd evacuated it. The Machines left behind in the Tunnels were obsolete, but the first team in there had expected sabotage or landmines, not functional Terminators, and Tech-Com had been ambushed.
Perry set up the counter-attack quickly, pairing his people up and sending them through the dark. Most of the sneak tunnels used for the Sappers long ago were still there, even if some of the buildings and sniper points weren't. The pairs spread through the city, taking apart the H/K's. The flyers were uncommon. There weren't a lot of them left in LA, with the war demanding them go elsewhere.
Kyle and his partner, a Tunnel Rat named Stacey, were moving fast. It was her first time out since Trial By Battle, but if there was one thing a Rat knew how to do, it was move through walls without anyone noticing.
Kyle heard the sounds of large heavy Machines and paused, spinning around and stopping her. "Now. You know the rules?"
Stacey nodded. "Yessir. Stay to the side, stay out of the searchlights, throw the charges, and get back fast."
"Stay low, stay quiet." Kyle finished. He'd lost too many partners, and wanted to do this alone, but Perry had made it an order. He peeked around the corner. "There's an H/K's coming. There's a ride waiting for us back that way." Kyle pointed. "Don't wait for me, just run."
Stacey nodded, eyes wide, mouth open. Kyle could barely look at her. She was green as spoiled rations.
The rumble of tank treads got closer. Kyle put his back to the wall, pulled the shaped charge out of his pack, and armed it.
The spotlight passed over the wall they hid behind, and Kyle moved. Stay flat, throw as you rise up, duck as it flies. He counted the rhythm in his head. He'd done it before, many many times.
The shaped charge came in from the side. Skynet had eyes on the sides of these H/K's, but without the spotlights...
The charge came down perfectly, directly in the path of the H/K's treads. It rolled over the charge without noticing it.
Kyle was already down, ducking low behind the wall, as the great Hunting Machine came closer.
Stacey looked manic, the rush of combat washing away everything else, as she armed her charge. The H/K was coming up the wrecked street, spotlights playing over the road, looking for mines or soldiers, or trip wires.
Stacey rose, eyes scanning, as the spotlights washed in their direction...
Kyle almost moved fast enough to stop her.
The light shone on the former Tunnel Rat, and she tossed because she was too far along to stop, ducking back down in panic.
Too late.
The spotlight caught her, and the cannon swiveled with machine speed and accuracy. Stacey was caught Mid-Duck, the blast from the H/K blowing her little body into messy pieces.
Kyle shut his eyes for a brief second. It was all the time a soldier's memorial took.
Kyle explosive charge was enough to do the job though, and a great explosion roared up from underneath the H/K, gutting it with flame and destruction.
A high-pitched whine came from the air, though still distant, and Kyle took off, running for all he was worth into the darkness, taking cover in the street from behind the wrecked vehicles.
The Jeep was waiting for him. The Motor Pool was good at making their vehicles look like they had been there since J-Day, though as time wore on, it was getting easier and easier to believe they were long abandoned.
The Tech-Com soldier in the driver's seat saw Kyle coming alone and quickly shimmied out the back of the cab. If Stacey had lived, she would have taken the gunner's post on the back. Kyle took the hood of the vehicle at a leap, and slid feet first into the drivers' seat, through where the windshield would be.
The whine of the Turbine got louder, and the Gunner slapped the top of the cab. He was secured. Kyle gunned the badly misfiring motor, and they started moving. The roads were nonexistent, the terrain rough enough that every bump sent Kyle flying into the roof of the truck, his head snapping back and forth as they came down.
Sure enough, the flying H/K closed in on them, noticing one of it's own destroyed. His gunner started shooting, being bounced around enough that he could barely grip the mounted gun, let alone aim it.
Plasmafire went back and forth between them furiously, the car able to take a few hits, the flying Machine able to evade.
It couldn't last, finally Kyle hit something in the dark that he couldn't see coming, the Jeep lurched, and Skynet hit them with a full burst of plasmafire. Kyle heard his gunner scream for a moment before the blast sent them both rolling, the Jeep skidding on its side into the debris.
Kyle smelt smoke and burned meat, and struggled to get free as spotlights played over him. The Jeep was burning, the flames getting closer as Kyle wrestled with mangled steel, trying madly to force the wreck to release him before he cooked.
Kyle howled as the fire reached him, the heat and the smoke and the injury finally resting him into blissful unconsciousness.
AN: Read and Review!