Z Plus Nineteen Years Sixty Eight Days

Kate woke up and found John staring at her. She just looked back for a moment, before sitting upright against the headboard. She knew he liked to watch her sleep. The kids too. Usually after a bad day. She didn't mind. After so many years, she found she liked it, knowing she was still a source of comfort when the whole world fell down. She looked back at him, letting herself wake up and drink in the sight of the salt and pepper gray in his hair, and the tightening scar down the side of his face. "Everything okay?" She asked softly.

"We took LA." Connor said quietly. "But it was a hell of a dogfight."

"Thought it was a routine recapture."

"It was, but LA was where we taught Skynet the ambush trick. They seem to have developed a sense of irony at last. Casualties were... bad."

Kate felt a chill and sat forward, taking his hands in hers. "Kyle?"

"Well enough to be brought back here for Evac." Connor admitted softly. "Sounds like he got rolled pretty hard."

Kate swallowed and got up. "Oh no..."

"We took LA." Connor finished. "But the 321st is all but gone. Perry was able to complete the Mission. We managed to get the harbor together, the Enterprise docked. They're trying to patch it up as best they can. Halloway had this idea that maybe they could rotate some crew back and forth, give his Submariners a chance to see the sky, give the Carriers' crew a chance to stay hidden for a while."

"What do you think?" Kate asked, pulling her jacket on.

Connor helped her into it. Her arm was still weak enough that he felt okay about helping her get her bad arm through the sleeve. He put a gentle kiss on her bad shoulder as she pulled the jacket around her. "Think about what?"

Kate shrugged. "We use the oceans for transport. That's about it. Skynet could hide a floating army out there on the waves if it wanted. If our supply lines can go underwater, or if our international teams are self sufficient... then what do we need the oceans for at all?"

"Good question. General Cho tells me that they've got an assembly line going for Infiltrator tanks and tank water filters. If they can ship it out, we don't have to worry about supply lines at all, can pull everything we need out of the Atlantic, let them have it, let them rust."

"Generals Connor, Colonels Noah and Walters, please report to the War Room." The PA crackled.

Connor stood as Kate ran her fingers through her hair, trying to straighten it. "How long have you been here with me?" She asked quietly.

"Half an hour or so."

"I suppose it wouldn't be a good idea to ask if you slept."

"I would prefer you don't." Connor admitted, and they headed out, Kate still trying to untangle her hair a bit.

Walters came into the war room, and saw Connor had beaten him there, now standing exactly where he'd been the night before, now with Kate next to him. "Morning sir. Did you sleep?"

"I don't sleep." Connor said. "How about you and Noah?"

Walters answered automatically. "We did." He flushed and tripped over himself trying to back himself up. "I mean, I assume she did. I went to sleep first so..." He turned bright red. Soldiers gossiped about such things with each other, but not with The General.

At that moment, Noah came in. "Morning Sirs."

"Thank god." Walters said under his breath, relieved.

Noah spared Walters a look, and tried not to notice Kate smiling at her. "Reporting as ordered General."

Connor nodded as his team came together. "Tony tells me we've got a call on the secure line from Oldham, I figured you'd want to be in on it." He turned Sherrin, as did Kate; and Noah took the opportunity to smack Eric hard across the back of the head, giving him a mouthed an apology, trying to silently indicate that he was innocent.

All this took place in the time it Sherrin to flip a few switches. "Go ahead Oldham, we can hear you." Connor called.

"Yessir Chief." Oldham's voice came from the speakers. "Skynet has redeployed its H/K's. My scouts say that they're splitting up. Heading in different directions."

"Why?"

"We're not sure, but given the directions that they're traveling, it looks like they're planning hit and runs."

"On who? What have we got that a hit and run will hurt? A small strike and withdraw will hurt them a lot more than us." Walters said, when it dawned on him suddenly and he glanced at Kate before he could stop himself.

"Eden." Kate said darkly. "Tech-Com can handle it, but Eden doesn't have nearly as much firepower."

Oldham's voice seemed to confirm that. "The H/K's are heading for Colorado, Canada, Kansas… And the Salt Flat Valleys."

Noah, John and Kate shared a sharp look. One of Skynet's quick attacks were heading for their children.

"We can cut off most of those attacks." Oldham said. "I've already scrambled fighter jets to intercept… but there's a few we can't hit in time. The soil treatment in Kansas… and the orchard in the Death Valley Salt Flats."

It was the second time he'd hesitated to say it out loud. He knew why the Orchard was special. He knew who was there.

Eric took a breath. Of the top four command staff, he was the only one without a child in the firing line. He was going to have to be smart about this for a while. "Why would it hit the Eden Project?" He asked practically. "There's no military presence, no serious weapons, teams are small… Skynet's starving. Why spread itself so thin?"

"Maybe Skynet just wants to take out all the vegetation?" Noah suggested. "Suffocate us all by killing all the trees that survived?"

Connor shook his head. "No. The majority of plant life is all underwater in the oceans. If J-Day didn't wipe it out completely, nothing will. Skynet's a little more specific in its targets. I have no doubt it'll kill any forests and trees it finds, but we've got it spread thin enough that it won't bother hunting foliage."

"Then wh... Oh my god. Robbie." Kate blurted. "They know our son is out there. They're targeting Robbie."

Connor took that with disturbing calm. "No. Brain Box doesn't have anything from the recent captures about a change in the Priority target list, and Robbie's mission is recent enough that it means it's a coincidence. Also, that wouldn't explain the other targets. After Arecibo, Skynet still hasn't figured out why we haven't all starved to death. My guess is that's why Eden is a target. It's trying to kill everything we grow. That's why it went after the Jungles down south but not the Forests up north. It was looking for our food supply."

"That's why it wants Eden." Noah agreed. "Sir... I think we need to evacuate the Orchard."

"He's gonna hate this." Connor said softly. "Death Valley is his. More than Crystal Peak is ours, it's his."

"I know." Kate agreed. "But what's the alternative?"

Kate and Connor just looked at each other. "Tony, get him on the line."

Berk was learning quickly. He was spending every scrap of free time he could in the Orchard, just looking at the trees, looking at the birds.

Ginny came over to see him. Berk looked over at her, and suddenly realized the appeal. This place did something to him, just as it had to her. Ginny was walking barefoot through the grass, her dress swaying as she moved. She looked… softer, wilder, but not in a feral way like the Rats. She had an orange blossom in her hair; her skin didn't have the omnipresent weather-beaten look that living up above ground level gave everyone... She looked like a fresh beautiful living thing that had grown here, like the trees.

She came over to him and sat down beside him, not saying anything.

Robbie spoke first. "It's…" he put a hand to his chest. "It feels like something changed, but I don't know what. I… I've never felt this way before."

Ginny smiled. "I felt the same way back in the greenhouse. It felt like I was dying when I walked around the wastelands. Then Robbie found me, brought me here. The feeling doesn't go away."

Robbie was coming into the Valley with a load of branch graftings on his narrow shoulder, and had frozen when he saw them. He'd spent the last three minutes just watching them, unsettled for some reason. Ginny was smiling more at Berk than she had before.

"Robbie."

Robbie turned. It was Griffin. The young man was older than Robbie, but he looked borderline awed. "There's a call on the Radio. It's The Chief. He wants to talk to you."

Robbie jumped up and went to take the radio. "Sir? Brewster here."

"Robbie, you might want to get your people together and prepare to move out." Connor's voice called.

Robbie felt his heart rate tick up. "Why?"

"We're getting Intel that says Eden's secret is out. Skynet's sending a force to take out your plantation."

Robbie felt his stomach sink. "How big a force?"

"That's the good news. Skynet's spread pretty thin right now. They know you aren't a Combat Force. One flying H/K, twenty five Terminators aboard."

Robbie was silent a moment. "We can take them."

Dead silence.

"Uh, sorry Rob, interference on the line. It sounded like you said..."

"I did."

"Robbie... Eden can be set up in a lot of places. You can't be."

"Sir, they're trees. It's not a life and death mission... But they're ours. They're worth protecting."

"So much like you it's scary sometimes." Kate commented under her breath.

Connor lifted the radio. "The rest of your team... What do they think?"

"They're with me on this one, I'm sure of it." Robbie said.

Connor sighed. "Robbie, you are to defend your people, and the Eden Plantation. In that order Robbie."

"Yessir." The kid's voice was downright gleeful, and Kate gave her husband a look that would bend steel.

Connor disconnected and put the radio down. "Kate, before y-"

"Call him back and get him to evacuate." Kate said shortly, like she was asking him to pass the salt. The others glanced at each other, getting ready for the inevitable fight.

"Kate, The Eden Project isn't military." Connor said firmly.

"Ex-cuse me?" Kate responded. "That's what you're telling me? That his project isn't military, so it's up to him?"

"He is the Director of the Eden project. At least, for the division that he's with." Walters pointed out.

Kate gave him a look that would curdle fresh milk, and then went back to arguing with her husband. "John-"

"When he's out there on Eden business, its not my call." Connor was saying gently.

"Who the hell does make the call then?" Kate snarled, then suddenly blinked. "Oh. Right."

Robbie hadn't stepped away from the radio. "Five." He counted on his fingers. "Four. Three. Two. One."

The radio crackled on cue. "Robbie? You still there?" Kate called.

Robbie smirked. "Ma'am, I know what you're going to say, and we can handle it."

"This isn't a scout mission, soldier." Kate snapped.

"And that isn't an army coming for us, General; its one H/K." Robbie shot back. "We can do this." He lowered his voice a little. "It's about time you let me get into the war."

"We don't have anyone who can back you up!"

"We ain't asking for Backup. We've got people. The trucks we took to get here have weapons. We've poured a lot of what we've got left into this Project. It's going to work. And we aren't just going to turn and run while Skynet burns it down for no reason other than just to make something else burn."

"Robbie, I could make it an order."

"Yes Ma'am, you could. And if you did, I would have to obey. Please don't make it an order."

Connor reached out and put a hand over the microphone. "You call him back now, when it's something he's so invested in, and he'll never forgive you. And if he doesn't get into this, he'll never grow up."

"He dies, and he'll never grow up." Noah jumped in. "Eden can't take them."

"Are you saying that because that's what you think, or because Michael is out there with them?" Connor asked her cuttingly.

"John..." Kate began painfully.

"You were the one telling me that Robbie's greatest fear is that I'm coddling him." Connor pointed out.

"I want to protect your kids too Ma'am, but we never took it this long with Sarah, and if we keep going we're crippling him for life." Walters agreed. "We're crippling all of them for life."

That one caught Kate unawares. Robbie was feeling the pressure of being John Connor's only son.

Kate wanted to scream, and she knew John and Noah did too. But she knew he was right. The only way to teach a baby bird to fly was to throw them out of the nest and see if they survived.

Hating every bit of it, and wishing a few more curses on Skynet, Kate keyed the microphone again. "Robbie... Good Hunting."

Noah shut her eyes for a moment. Walters gave Kate a slow single nod. Connor was unreadable.

Berk was crouched over a sapling with Michael, they were both watching closely as Ginny sliced with her combat knife. The knife was too big for the job, but she was skilled with it. "This is called grafting." She explained. "It gets the fruit to yield a lot faster than letting it grow normally. Half the trees we have here in the orchard are for fruit, the other half is for the air."

"Air?" Michael was confused by that one.

Terry explained. "Tree produces air. Every time you breathe out, a tree breathes in. But there are more people than trees right now. All the air they produce is what kept the rain, the clouds, the weather... Skynet burned it all. Eden isn't just feeding people, it's trying to put everything back. Some trees produce air better than others. Oak is the best. But Oak trees take ages to grow, and we need food too. After J-Day, a lot of the air burned up, and that's what made the ground bare, the oceans sick, and the weather bad. So we grow half fruit trees, half air trees. Connor says that if we make enough things grow, we can make the earth better too."

"I remember rain." Griffin said softly. "I remember blue sky. You really think that... that we can..."

"We can." Robbie said from behind them.

The others turned to see him coming in. He looked very serious. "But it will take such a long time to get there." He continued. "And until Skynet is gone and the weather is kind, we have to do it like this."

Ginny frowned at him. "Robbie, what's wrong?"

"Get everyone together." Robbie said. "Do it fast."

Ross was waiting in one of the meeting rooms, as he had been for some time. The door opened and Walters came in at a quick walk. "Sorry." He said by way of greeting. "The day suddenly stopped being routine a few minutes ago."

"Anything serious?"

"Skynet's sending offensives in all directions. One of them involved one of the Connor kids."

"Nono! Not one of the kids!" Ross blurted in sympathetic pain. "God, you should see General Murray when his daughter is in the crossfire. We can't get him to focus on a breakfast menu without him demanding swift and deadly attacks on everything that moves."

"How is Murray working out by the way?" Walters asked, getting back on topic. "Are you having Supply problems so far from Palace?"

"Not as many as you'd think. And supplies from here are really a formality of being part of Tech-Com. We've been self sufficient since J-Day. Actually, since before that, but J-Day made us live without the rest of the world a long time."

Walters grinned. "You say 'us' but you were helping me dig out The Alamo for the first year after J-Day."

Ross laughed. "I was, I know. But the roots run deep. Halloway and his guys were going stir crazy on that first run. A Submarine ain't exactly a cruise liner, y'know? Half of them were still kids. Barely out of swim training when J-Day hit, spent all their combat experience with us." He tossed back his drink. "Then we got there, and we spent the first few weeks basically reorganizing everything as a Tech-Com base instead of an Australian Naval Submarine Post. Halloway's guys were content to stay on the Sub instead of come out and help, let alone the first hit and runs. You never heard such a load of whiners."

Walters laughed. "Navy men."

"Navy men." Ross agreed. "You should have seen Halloway's Navy guys with the Aussie soldiers. They were all over each other about Baseball versus Cricket."

"Cricket? Really?"

"We take it seriously." Ross said protectively.

Walters held his hands up. "Hey, no judgements here."

"Ahh, it was all worth it to get home at last."

"What's the situation now?"

"Skynet still has the Cities, but we're like the rest of Tech-Com that way. We haven't needed a city for years. The Outback is as hard on gears and clockwork as it is on people. Water is the hard part. We adapted Skynet tech to filter water, practically 100%, but..."

Walters nodded in understanding. "The sun is not kind to water any more. They say it still rains in the jungles. Maybe... Maybe one day it'll rain properly across the world."

Ross nodded. "That's what the Eden Teams say. Skynet had control of the eastern coast in Australia, so we can't really restore any of the forests, but..." he shrugged. "Eden was very good for our guys. Our hierarchies have always been hard to define, at least until Tech-Com. Everybody just sort of did everything that was needed. No reason not to; only way to stay fed, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Then Connor went and put Kate in charge of Eden, so suddenly our hierarchy got split too."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we had sort of a local chapter of the Eden Project, but for whatever reason, it got folded into Tech-Com. All that Outback see. With Skynet owning the coastline and the city, we had to move inland, and that was arid desert even before J-Day, so greenhouses, water pumps... all that stuff was for us to protect. Soldiers did Eden. Civilians ran scout missions... we made it work. One for all, all for one. Then Connor declared the civilian projects, and suddenly the lines got hard to figure out."

Walters blinked. "Really? Doesn't seem that strange. Anyone in a uniform is Tech-Com, anyone who doesn't is a civilian."

"Yeah, but the problem is more that anyone in a Uniform works for General Connor. Anyone not in a uniform works for the other General Connor, because General Connor said so." Ross said lightly.

Walters felt the tone of the conversation shift. Ross was still being light and easy about it, but he'd just changed things dramatically. He was smiling, but his eyes were stone.

Walters kept smiling too, but he casually checked the room. Nobody else in the room, bottle, chair, radio... "Sounds like something the Union would say."

Ross nodded once. "It started with the Union, but there is a significant number of the population internationally that is getting uncomfortable."

"With what?"

"With the fact that General Connor named his wife as head of all Civilian populations on the planet. It effectively gives them joint ownership of the human race. After the Union split... some people are starting to wonder if they had the right idea."

Eric looked at his fiercely. "What?"

"Be calm. This isn't coming from Tech-Com. There's a ground swell of people who saw the Union break and realized it was possible to live without Connor, and they don't like the fact that a guy from the same country that built Skynet is now leading the human race."

"It comes back to that? Ross there are no countries. Not any more."

The Eden Team were gathered at the base of the Apple Tree. Robbie stood before them, laying it all out.

Griffin was the most experienced soldier there. "How many?"

"That's the good news." Robbie said. "We don't seem to be high on their priority list. One flying H/K. Just one."

"One aerial H/K, twenty five Terminators." Griffin looked around. Half the adult Eden Team had lost eyes, missing limbs… The majority of them were kids. "Are we bugging out?"

Robbie folded his arms. "No. At least, I'm not. Anyone who wants to go… Eden's not a Combat Unit. We're all here because we wanted to be. My dad told me once that there's nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer. Not even Skynet. Look around. The trees in this valley are all older than I am. The next valley over, there are the ones I planted myself. Every time I come back here, they're a little bigger. The Valley on the far side of that, are the ones that just started out… Skynet will burn it all, and we'll have to start all over again."

Numb silence.

Ginny was crying.

"I'm staying." Robbie said firmly. "We made this place. From the dirt up, we made it. I'm not giving it to them."

Griffin spoke up. "We're not a combat unit Robbie."

"We have weapons." Robbie offered.

"Two mounted jeep guns, five rifles. Against twenty five Terminators and an airborne H/K." Griffin said with cold calculation. "There are over eight valleys that lead back right to where we're set up, plus the concealed entrances closer to the Water Silo. Ten ways in, seven weapons, twenty five Invaders. Robbie… We can always plant more trees."

"No!" Ginny shouted. She stomped up next to Robbie and turned to glare back at the Eden Team, staring them all down. "You know me here! I grew up in a place like this! The farm was home for my family long before J-Day. Even that didn't make mom and dad move! I was born in a greenhouse long after the cold came! My parents worked day and night to keep the glass from shattering and the plants growing. Those plants fed us, they kept us warm. And when Skynet came, it all burned. Mom and dad burned, and I spent a year in the Underground looking at bare dead walls. Robbie found me. He brought me here, gave me back my home, and we made it safer and stronger than any greenhouse. I'm not running again!"

Griffin looked around subtly. She was apparently saying what they all felt, but he saw fear on every face. Fear was a powerful opponent to overcome.

Robbie was stunned, as was most everyone else, when Berk stood up and shuffled forward. "Um... nobody knows me here. I'm a Tunnel Rat. We survive by hiding. We all do that. We always have. Um... we see soldiers go off and fight and all, but we don't because our guys don't... and they're your... well, your guys, y'know? And what have you got without that? So... never saw a tree before. I never had... cream and strawberries. I never had apple juice. And... well, birds are... Look, it's like... you guys put all your work into them, so the dirt, the trees... they're like your guys too, right? You don't got that, what have you got?"

It was clearly the most words he'd ever said at one time before. Robbie knew how much a Tunnel Rat hated to be seen in public, let alone speak in front of twenty people.

"I'm staying." Robbie said finally. "Anyone who wants to leave... take as much of what's mobile as you can with you. I won't think any less of you for going. Whatever you decide, decide fast."

Ginny stood next to Robbie immediately. Berk shuffled over next to Ginny a moment later, and threaded his fingers through hers shyly. One by one, everybody stood up and joined them.

Until each and every one of them stood ready to fight back.

Walters was not doing as well with Ross. "Hey, when Connor suddenly decided that we all had to declare if we were Tech-Com or not; I was under a mile of water. Halloway makes a call and suddenly we're all trying to figure out where we're gonna get some Tech-Com grey to wear." Ross fired. "I was the one that had to sell it to the only continent of people south of the border! Australia was never US Army. Nobody but LA and San Jose was. They were screaming his name back here, but everywhere else in the world… nobody had ever heard of him."

Walters was furious. "He was there! Connor went to Australia years ago. If there was anyone who didn't want to be Tech-Com, why didn't they say something?"

"Because they were scared! Scared they would starve without him, and more scared that he was right!" Ross snapped. "Connor earned their trust. He earned their faith, and he taught us well, and we followed. But then what?"

Walters didn't follow. "But then what... what?"

"There are only two possibilities. Either we lose this war, and there is no then what, or Connor wins. And when he does, what next?" Ross reasoned. "Is Connor now Emperor of the world? Are we just going to continue on a war footing forever? Will all these vehicles and soldiers suddenly go into rebuilding? Are we still on the same side? Is our next step to declare war on the Union?"

Walters was silent a long time. "I... I have no answers to those questions."

"Why the hell not?"

Walters shrugged easily. "Mostly because I haven't asked them. Being at war with walking chrome skeletons tends to take up your time and attention."

"I have been sent here by people who have taken the time to play this out, and they don't like the picture they're seeing."

Walters went quiet. "Would it be so terrible? If Connor was in charge after the war?"

Ross glared. "Yes! Walters, you know what happens when the military takes charge of everything. And then to top it off, all the civilians across the world now work for Connor's wife! There's a real chance of those two never giving that power back again, and they had all the guns, all the equipment, all the transport, all the..."

"Whoa, back the hell up." Walters said suddenly, getting in his face. "What do you mean, 'they had'? 'They had', as in Past Tense?"

Ross kicked himself silently, but he didn't let it show on his face. "Yeah. There are... a few factions that are stockpiling."

Walters took a lethal step forward, and Ross put his hands up. "Relax! There isn't a challenge coming. But there are people that are worried, and they want me to... share these concerns. Think about it for a second Eric: What happens after the war?"

Javier was with Griffin and Robbie in Valley Three.

"I don't understand why there are only fruits growing on the left hand side of the Tree." Griffin said, looking up at the apple tree.

Robbie was carefully screwing a stopper on the end of a short pipe. "The apple blossoms need to be pollinated to grow into fruits. That's done by bees, but there isn't a hive for miles." He explained carefully. "So we pollinate them ourselves. It's the most tedious part of the process given that we have to do it by eye-dropper, but it's the only way." He finished what he was doing and got another pipe. "If we… I'd like to show you guys how we do it. After…"

"After." Griffin agreed. He bit his lip a moment, and slid an envelope out of his pocket. "Listen, would you take this?"

"What is it?" Javier asked.

"It's the letter."

Javier took it, but didn't follow. "I don't understand."

"I do." Robbie said. "Soldiers going into battle give each other letters to take back to their families. Just in case."

Javier flushed. "You're giving it to me?"

"Yeah." Griffin said shortly. "Now, the rule is you don't read it, and you don't talk about it again until you have to deliver it. Okay?"

Javier got the point. "Okay."

Berk came in, carrying a load of thin pipes. "Here you go!"

Robbie took them, and started selecting pipes the right shape. "Griffin, while we're setting this up, we need more ammonia to make the nitro. Go see what you can scrounge?"

Griffin nodded and headed out. "We keep some in our trucks for cleaning. Should be able to figure something out."

The soldier headed out and Berk got to work making fuses. "Where'd you learn this stuff Evergreen?"

Robbie assumed the Tunnel Rat meant him. "From Kyle actually."

"Kyle Reese?"

"Yeah. He said my dad taught him."

Ginny blinked. "Connor didn't teach you?"

Robbie shrugged, not liking to dwell on what that might mean. "Right. Boom-Stick eleven is complete."

"You want to tell me what we plan to do with these?" Berk asked. "Terminators are too smart to just walk on a mine anymore."

"I know." Robbie said. "I was thinking, the valleys reach a long way, but they all come back to this underground where we store all our stuff and we keep all our growing things. So if we collapse some valleys, we force them to come up a path we choose."

Griffin nodded, seeing the tactic. "With the shutters over the top to protect the trees, the H/K can't get to us, and with the controls hidden up above, Skynet will have to walk in. With the Valleys collapsed and Valley One the only opening, they'll walk right up the length of the valley for us."

Griffin nodded, seeing the logic. "We set up the fortifications in there. But... Robbie, they can just overpower us. Twenty Five Terminators to six guns."

"Eight guns." Robbie corrected. "We're going to bring the mounted guns off the jeeps and bring them down here."

"Robbie, the mounted guns are the only thing we've got that can knock down the H/K."

"The H/K comes after the fight. If we can't handle the Terminators, then the H/K doesn't matter. It can't get to us with the shutters closed. If we lose the Valley, then what's the point?"

Griffin thought about that for a while. A veteran of many battles, he was not optimistic. He slipped over to the Director quietly, and spoke soft enough that nobody could overhear them. "Robbie... Our weapons are barely second generation, your fortifications are barely constructed, and our soldiers are not on the front lines already for a reason. We can't take them. Not twenty five."

Robbie bit his lip. "I was thinking... If we waited to collapse the Tunnels, then the Terminators would split up, and then we drop the walls on them."

Griffin bit his lip. "Yeah... that could work. Do we have enough explosives?"

"We will."

"Stockpiling?" Noah repeated in shock. "Are you serious?"

Walters nodded. "I checked. We've got missing vehicles and ammo in the Australasian theater. Not a lot, but enough for people who are planning to start out a new life for themselves. Things get misplaced in a war-zone all the time."

Noah nodded. "I know. Back Before, the JAG office investigated my unit once. A couple of soldiers were letting things 'fall off a truck', if you know what I mean."

"So, out there somewhere is a growing percentage of the population just waiting for the war to end."

Noah sighed. "Waiting for the war to end and then pulling a fast disappearing act is fine Eric, the problem is..."

"…what happens if they disappear before the war ends?" Walters finished.

"And what if they aren't content to strike out on their own?" Noah added. "What if they decide they want to stay where they are and end up taking over a Base or three?"

"Or worse."

"Making a break with the only support system left in humanity is not an easy move these days. If they can't get what the need by swiping it from us, it's not like they can go to the store and get it. The Union is the only other supplier they might find... and their help won't come cheap."

"And suddenly the Union has a foothold in our territory." Walters agreed. "This is not a small problem... and I made a few discreet inquiries. It's not a feeling limited to Australia. There has been a lot of unrest among the civilians in Asia once Connor put Kate in charge of all the non-military projects."

Noah nodded, calculating. "What does Connor think?"

"I haven't told him." Walters said. "I'd like us to be able to cover this by ourselves."

Noah glared. "You can't keep this a secret."

"Not secret just... I want to keep his plate as clear as possible today."

"You honestly think he's going to be any less busy any time soon? There's a reason we know about this Eric! Ross was sent here to tell us! Whoever's getting ready to break with Tech-Com, Ross works for them. Stuff is disappearing off bases. That's not like a pickpocket ring, or falling off a truck. Not any more. The civilians he's talking about are seeing how Connor reacts to the news that they don't want him in charge forever."

"Dammit Erica, the man's youngest kid is arming a bunch or half-starved Tunnel Rats and walking wounded to fight Skynet over a bunch of trees. I can't go to him and tell him he has to handle a small gang of-"

"Not so small Eric." Noah snapped. "To be a problem big enough to talk about; to be widespread enough that they can send a Colonel across the world to have words with Connor's second in command, there have to be some serious personnel behind this. And don't go playing the 'kid in trouble' card when my son is out there with them!"

Walters looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't think."

Noah nodded slowly, letting the emotion cool. "I know you don't want to lay this on him, not right now. Neither do I. But if we can't handle it fast..."

Walters pinched the bridge of his nose. "If the people Ross represents have made contact with others who feel like they do, or if they've made a deal with the Union..." He started counting on his fingers. "South America, North America, Australasia, Asia. Europe is gone, and Africa had no infrastructure for Skynet to invade after J-Day nuked their main cities. But that's still everywhere we fight. That's a slice out of everywhere Tech-Com operates. This is coming from our own backyard."

Noah grit her teeth. "You want this to stay away from Connor, you can't take Ross in. He's telling you because he wants something. What does he want?"

Walters thought for a moment. "Legitimacy. He wants someone from Tech-Com Command to say that they have a right to split from us, and to take what they have with them. They can parley that into something more than a mutiny."

"They wouldn't be stupid enough to do that while Skynet's still out there, would they?"

"They aren't against Tech-Com, I don't think. They just want to make sure they don't kowtow to the military for the rest of their lives."

"How about the rest of the war?"

"I know. But I'm the one that keeps the Theater prepped for his orders. If I can't tell him that Tech-Com is behind him and ready to go, then what's the point?" Walters said stubbornly. "I'll have to give them something... because if there are enough people who feel this way, a flat 'no' from us will be proof of their fears, and the only reason they need to break with us right now."

"And since we don't know how many of them there are, or where, or who... they could potentially be a real problem for us later." Noah agreed. "You'll have to give him something. I don't know what, but something. Just don't give away the store." She sighed hard. "Eric, at some point we have to tell The General."

Walters nodded. "I know. But what do we tell him? What have we got? We've got a potential problem hinted at by one of our own that we can probably buy off. We gotta keep the knucklehead stuff off his desk."

"And if Ross isn't happy with what you tell him and decides to tell his guys to walk out, what do they take with them? Enough that we notice? Enough that we have to cancel a few operations? Enough that we have to explain why the Kitchen is cleaned out?"

"I don't know Erica!" Walters snapped. "We'll figure this out, and we'll tell The General. But we won't know what to tell him until we know how many people are backing Ross."

"And you won't know that till you hear what he asks for." Noah finished, realizing the problem. "Hell. We've had it too easy. The Union broke with us and we thought that was the end of it. We got soft. Aside from the Union, Tech-Com and Eden together had the whole human race on one side for decades."

Walters nodded slowly. "Somehow... I think we're going to be past that by this time next week."

There were plenty of hand tools for working the earth. There was plenty of fuses and triggers, left over from when they had blasted out the main chamber. There were a few ladders, from working the trees.

In every Valley, the Eden Teams were digging spots in the walls for the explosives they had made, laying long fuses so that the walls could be collapsed at a moment's notice.

There were crates of equipment, but most of them were easily breakable or likely to burn. The Eden Teams had placed the barricade line at the middle of Valley One. The crates were lined up, and filled with dirt and rock. Another thing that Eden had in abundance.

Most of the adults were former soldiers, forced into retirement from the front lines, and they gave the younger ones that had chosen to stay a quick lesson in how to shoot, or in field medicine. Those that were leaving were quickly gathering anything they could. Seedlings, saplings, Paydirt, equipment...

Their last meal was as fresh, but a lot smaller. Most of them grabbed some fruit or some bread and ate as they worked. Robbie didn't eat, looking over the main Chamber like his father did with the maps in the War Room.

Griffin came up behind up, munching an apple down to the core, trying to work up the nerve. Griffin had been as overwhelmed by the feeling of life in this place as Berk had. But Berk was a Tunnel Rat, living in a tiny room with eight people his whole life. Griffin was a soldier. He lived on the move. He made one last attempt to change the Director's mind as the vehicles got ready to move out. "Robbie... you are killing people over some trees. You understand that? You are asking these people to get shot over something that they can just start again somewhere else."

Robbie took the apple core off him, and pulled a knife out of his boot. He pried the seeds out of the apple core. "You ate one apple; I have seven apple trees right here." Robbie said. "We can't afford to throw any of them away. Those trees make hundreds of apples; each one will have half a dozen seeds. And that's just this one kind of tree. That food we ate yesterday? We grew it. Those trees burn, and it takes years, YEARS, to get us back to where we were. Combat is fast. If you win, you know it fast. If you lose, you'll know it faster. This is an entirely different kind of war, and it is a very long game."

Griffin rolled his head back. "It just... takes such a long time."

"I know." Robbie said. "But... None of us are going to see this project through to the end. Every Eden Team Member knows that. Oak trees can take decades, centuries to grow. We know full well we're never going to know if we succeeded. We're never going to know if we're doing any of this right."

Griffin squeezed his eyes shut. "Director, I'm a soldier. When we go into a fight, we know what the prize is. This... feels like a waste."

Robbie nodded. "You see that plaque?"

Griffin knew the one he meant. It had been visible as they came in. They had all read it at some point, but Griffin looked up at it, over the entrance.

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.

"My dad gave me that plaque when I first came out here and set this place up." Robbie explained. "He said it was written Back Before, by a woman named Sara Teasdale. It was a poem she wrote that imagined the world if war wiped out all humanity."

"And growing things take over." Griffin nodded.

"But this time they won't. No soft rains, no birds or frogs. When it does rain, it comes like a super-storm, because the weather is wild, and the sky and sea are sick. This is the first war fought that threatened life itself. This war isn't just to save people; it's to save the Earth. Every living thing needs us now."

Griffin nodded, suddenly getting the point he was trying to make. "This war has a different outcome, so the rules on what's important are different too."

"That's right. Time was, wars were fought over gold and treasures…" Robbie waved out at the Valleys. "My dad... tells me stories about Back Before. It seems like paradise. And... I want to make it happen. These trees are just a step toward paradise. Those trees are how we go to war against the end of the world, in a way that has nothing to do with Skynet. We're... trying to save the world, and those trees are our weapons. We can't let Skynet have them. Maybe not ever, but definitely not this place."

Griffin thought about that for a long while. "Okay. Okay then." He said finally. "But Robbie... If we're trying to protect things from Skynet attack... You should know that a defense action usually causes casualties."

Robbie looked awkward. "Yeah. I know. But they're all here because they want to be."

"And for you." Griffin put in. "I can tell at least three of them are willing to fight only because they want to back you."

Robbie took that one far easier than the soldier thought he would. "And how many Tech-Com soldiers go to war, just because The Great General Connor tells them to?"

Griffin couldn't help but smile at that one. "All of us."

Kyle's eyes opened slowly. His eyes hurt against the bright lights, and he winced. He felt around a little. He was in a bed, blanket was thin, and he was in a gown. Medbay?

Then memory caught up, and he tried to sit upright. Pain raced through his back and he froze. "…ahh!"

His vision was clearing, and he looked around. He was in the Post-Op Ward. Of Crystal Peak.

Kyle felt a spike of fear. If he'd been unconscious long enough to be shipped back to Palace, his injuries had to be pretty bad. He tested his limbs. They were all working. He tried to sit up again. His back was hurting. He could feel bandages pulling…

His uniform was folded on the chair next to him. He managed to reach one arm over to it, and started clawing for his pockets.

"Looking for this?"

Kyle looked the other way. General Connor was in the doorway, holding The Photo. Kyle settled back in relief. "Yessir."

Connor came over, looked at the picture of his mom for a while, and handed it back to him. They both sat silently for a while as Kyle gazed on the face of Sarah Connor the first.

"What are you thinking Kyle?" The General asked him quietly.

Kyle looked down. "You'll think it's stupid."

"Tell me anyway."

"She… Her face never changes. Guys around here get older, get scars, get killed… I talk to her, and she doesn't vanish. She doesn't die. Not like..." He shook that thought away, slid the photo under his pillow and gave The General his full attention. "She must have been really something."

Connor nodded. "She really was."

Kyle looked back at his uniform. "Did we win?"

"Mission accomplished." Connor told him. "LA, San Jose, the ports, and most of California is Human Territory again."

Kyle gave a feral smirk of victory. "Good. How long have I been here?"

"A while."

"My Unit will need me back."

Connor was silent a moment. "Kyle… the mission was accomplished, and Perry is currently securing the target zone, but… your Unit is gone. There were some survivors, but the fact is, LA was a dogfight. A bad one. You lost enough people that… Well, there isn't really much of a Unit left. The 321st is disbanded"

Kyle felt the world fall out from under him. Connor felt for the soldier. In their kind of life, the Unit was family.

"W… Who lived?" Kyle asked weakly.

"We're putting the casualty lists together, but so far, it looks like about twenty percent of the Unit survived." The General said with grim sympathy. "I'll get you a copy of the list when it's completed." He rubbed Kyle's shoulder. "Griffin is still with Eden."

Kyle sighed, closing his eyes a moment. "He's safe."

Connor didn't have the heart to tell him about the attack heading for Death Valley. "Kyle…" He said finally. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yessir."

"Why the hell haven't you been promoted yet?"

Kyle blinked. "Sir?"

"You've been on the front for over a decade. You should be a lieutenant by now, at least. What the hell are you doing?"

Kyle sighed hard. "Colonel Perry tried. He's offered me three commissions. I said no."

"Why?"

"You get promoted high enough… and they bench you. They put you in charge and you start giving orders. I'm not for that. I'm not you, sir."

Connor smirked with grim irony. "You're closer than you think."

Kyle shrugged. "Won't see no tears when I die sir. I'll be smashing Tin Men as long as I can."

Connor studied him. It was not an unusual viewpoint. More than a few soldiers had chosen that for themselves. They would fight until they couldn't any more. The War was not forgiving. "It's like that?"

"Yessir."

Connor nodded slowly. "Fine. I can't force a promotion on you anyway. You have to have your heart in command. But you've got too much experience, and since you're alive, too much skill to be a grunt. If you won't take a promotion, and you won't take command, how about a transfer?"

Kyle nodded. "I suppose I'll need one, if the 321st has to be disbanded. Any word on where Perry will go next?"

"He'll get a new Unit as soon as we can form one." Connor admitted. "He's the only reason we managed to achieve Mission Objective." Connor smirked. "But for you, I had something else in mind."

"Sir?"

"How'd you like to join the 57th Infantry?"

Kyle stared for a moment like he was missing something. "What… what do you mean?"

"Which part tripped you up?" Connor smiled.

Kyle felt like he was in a dream. "Connor's Own?"

Connor stood. "I'll have a uniform waiting for you as soon as Carla lets you out."

Kyle was still in shock as Connor marched out.

"Thank you sir…" Kyle whispered after him. He sat quietly a moment, till he was sure he was alone, and reached back, sliding the somewhat battered photograph out from under his pillow. "Sarah..." He said to her face softly. "I made it. I'm one of Connor's Own. I told you I would..."

He was getting dizzy quickly, his injuries costing him his energy, sending him back to sleep again.

Kate was watching. "That was nice of you."

"He deserves it." John said quietly. "He's deserved it for a long time. Walters and Noah are the same way. They deserve to be Generals right now, but they don't want the promotion. They want to stay in the field as long as they can."

"John… you keep them on the battlefield much longer and…"

"I know." John said thickly. "Time and age is not kind to combat soldiers."

"Walters has been in here twice for back pain already. Noah's knee is getting weaker... It takes a toll."

"I know. I'd feel better about it if..."

"If my reasons were pure?" John said, a slight edge to his voice. "I'm keeping him close to me in prep for his Mission. I won't deny it."

"I don't want to start this fight again." Kate said quietly. "There are sacrifices enough in this war, having to choose between him and you is one of them. But if you were not born, neither would Sarah and Robbie, to say nothing of the war." She rolled her shoulders painfully. "I just wish we could win clean."

"No such thing as a clean war." Connor said softly. "Kate... for what it's worth... Mom said they were happy for as long as it lasted. If his life since Lupe is any indication, it's more than he would have here."

Kate took that in. "Well... that doesn't sound so bad." Happy and in love for a day was more than a lot of people got in this war.

Carla came in. "General. Come to check on your latest White Knight?"

"How is he?"

"He's got some pretty serious burns, but they aren't going to restrict his mobility or harm the internal muscle any. At least, not once it heals. He's incredibly lucky."

"Luck is a damn good quality for a soldier to have." Connor said under his breath.

"Gonna leave a hell of a scar though." Carla quipped. "We're keeping him sedated until some of the burns heal a bit; so he'll be in and out."

Connor nodded. "You do good work Carla."

Carla gestured at Kate. "I learned from the best."

"I know you don't mean me." Kate demurred. "I was a veterinarian."

The three of them chuckled.

"By the way, while I've got you here." Carla said. "Where's Colonel Walters?"

Connor blinked. "Sorry?"

"Walters is supposed to be in to pick up some pain pills for his back, and I've been trying to talk to him or Noah about the MASH Units all day. But I can't seem to find them. Are they on a mission?"

Connor traded a look with his wife. "Not that I know of."

Kate smirked impishly. "Maybe they're busy. You told Eric to keep her occupied while her son was out there."

"Not for this long."

"Maybe they're planning a surprise party." Carla teased.

"I don't like surprises." Connor said, and lifted his radio quickly. "Colonel Walters, report."

A moment later the answer came. "Walters here."

"Eric, come see me in the Medbay please."

"On the way."

Kate was staring at Kyle again, and Carla slipped in next to her. "Has there been any word?"

Kate shook her head. "There wouldn't be yet. Skynet won't get there for another…" She checked her watch. "Any minute now."

Robbie gathered his people around him, and spoke to them quietly. "Every human left has a group of some kind." he pointed to himself, to Julio, to Berk, and to Griffin in turn. "We tell people our names, we tell them we're with Tech-Com, or with the Bandits, or with the Tunnel Rats, or the 321st, or whoever we are with. It's a fact. It's in our nature. The bandits, Tech-Com, the Union... we all have our colors. Eden never really had that. A few years ago, Ginny came up with this."

He held out little pendants, hanging on assorted chains, strings and shoelaces. Robbie handed them out, one to each new arrival to the Project.

Griffin looked at his. It was a leaf. It was small, and... coated in plastic?

"Did you make these?" Griffin asked.

"Not me myself, but yeah, we made them." Robbie said.

Berk was bending his lightly, testing it. "What's this made of?"

"Oh, it's real." Ginny promised them, pulling a similar pendant up for them to see. "I got the idea when I remembered how my mom made candles. She dipped the wick in the wax over and over till it was fully coated, and I did the same with these leaves in acrylic glue, because it dries strong and clear. Then you punch a small hole, and you thread the cord through, leave them hanging till they dry."

"We made them." Robbie summed up. "In Eden, we make everything grow. You make a tree grow from what a tree gives you. You guys put in the hard work. If you plant a tree, then you get counted as an Eden Project member. Tech-Com has its trials, we have ours." Robbie drew his dog tags out, and showed them the leaf-pendant hanging on them. "This is an oak leaf. An Oak Tree was the first sapling I ever planted. Ginny has an orange blossom. She planted the Orange trees in Valley 4. The leaf pendant you have now, you earned, because each leaf comes from the type of tree you each planted."

Griffin was touched, and he could see the others were too. Berk was standing straighter than he'd ever stood before.

Robbie smiled at them. "It's not a whole lot. But, when we leave this place, we'll be going back across the surface, with the wastelands, and the Hot-Zones, and the fallout. And when we get back to our bases, we'll be surrounded by concrete and stone. It's safer, and we know it, but it's not like this. So when you leave, take your colors with you. It's only here because of you guys." He held up his pendant. "Tech-Com sets up bases, we set up these. And if Skynet is coming, I want all of us wearing our colors when we face them."

The Eden Team cheered. The new ones, Griffin and Berk included put their new icons on, wearing them proudly.

Robbie took in a breath. "If my dad was here, he'd have something really good to say about this. As a matter of fact, I wish he was here, because I'd love to hear it."

A chuckle went around the group.

Robbie took a breath. "Well... most of us... all of us I think, were too young, or not born yet Back Before. We've all heard stories about how beautiful it was, and about how Skynet killed everything beautiful. Well... They did it to our parents, and I'm not gonna let them do it to us too."

"Me neither!" Ginny shouted, feral.

"ME NEITHER!" Berk Roared.

The roar went up. It took a lot to get people invested in anything that could burn these days. It took very little to get people passionate about killing Skynet's Machines. Robbie had given them one, and now offered them the other.

"Incoming!" All their radios shouted.

Robbie's face hardened. "Well. At least their timing was convenient."

They all ran to their posts. Berk hung behind a bit, and grabbed Micheal's arm. "Hey." He said quickly. "Can you take this?"

Michael took it. It was a piece of paper, rough and colored after being hand-recycled half a dozen times, as all notepaper was these days. It had Cory's name scrawled on it, and it was tied with electrical tape.

Berk seemed unsure. "It's my first battle…. I'm not rated. I was hoping… if this went bad…"

Michael put the letter away carefully. "I'll take care of it… Soldier."

Berk's chin lifted proudly, and they ran after the others, weapons ready, manning the barricades.

"Be careful with Walters. He's loyal to Connor, and if you push him too far, he'll bite you back."

Ross shook his head, though nobody on the other end of the radio could see it. "It's not an issue. Walters doesn't have any orders for this, and he still thinks we can't make trouble for him. Once I make it clear what we've got backing us, he'll give us more than he expects to just to keep it out of Connor's way."

As the elevator stopped, he quickly put the radio away.

The door opened, Ross came off the elevator and froze.

Two of the Nova Group were at attention in the hallway. One next to the Meeting Room door, the other at the hallway intersection.

He didn't move from the elevator. There was only one reason The Nova Group would be there.

Sure enough, the door opened and General Connor came into the hallway, clearly waiting for him. "Ross." He said easily. "I understand we have a situation."

"Yes. Thank you." Ross stammered. "I mean, that's yeah, Mr Connor. Mr General." He squeezed his eyes shut a moment, fighting stage fright, before trying again. "Yes, General Connor. We have a situation."

"Come inside, and let's talk about it." Connor said shortly.

Ross followed him into the briefing room, and found Kate, Noah, Walters and Gould all waiting for him.

Very much alone in the room, Ross steeled himself and sat down.

Connor's radio crackled as he did so. "War Room to General Connor."

Connor responded. "Go ahead."

"We received a coded transmission from Death Valley. They have engaged incoming Skynet forces."

Kate and Noah's eyes blazed. Eric seemed to shiver a little. The temperature in the room dropped dramatically. Ross was suddenly very aware of the sound of his own pulse.

"Ross." Connor said with quiet malevolence. "Before we begin discussing your problem, you should know that my youngest child is currently taking on H/K's with nothing but a few popguns and some gardening tools, and there's not a single thing I can do about it."

"Mine too." Noah added quietly

"And me." Kate growled.

"Me, not so much, but I agree that it's pretty bad moment to be you right now." Walters told Ross helpfully.

"So." Connor said, sitting at the head of the table. "Let's figure this out."

Ross was already sweating.

There were five or six weapons, to be shared between fifteen people, half of them kids, or wounded soldiers with permanent disabilities. The air filled with the low whine of an aerial H/K, with twenty five Terminators in it.

The odds were not good.

The low whine of the H/K grew louder as it did a slow pass overhead. The Eden Defenders waited.

They all jumped as the shutters overhead exploded with noise, like something was smashing into the metal shutters like a sledgehammer. But they held.

Robbie lifted his radio. "Spotters, click once."

His radio clicked several times. Once for the spotters in each valley.

The whine of jet turbines faded slightly as the H/K hovered its way toward the shallow end of the valleys. In the distance, they could see the shadow moving. It paused, about a few hundred feet away, at the point where three valleys all merged as they shallowed out to the surface.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Rows of Terminators dropped from the sky, unhurt by the drop, and they rose, quickly making their way up the valleys, hunting for targets.

Robbie felt his heart pounding, his mouth was dry… He didn't move. "Okay…" He said quietly into his radio. "You know what to do. Don't wait for me."

The Machines were marching up the valleys, splitting up to take every one of them.

In each valley, hidden away was a spotter. They saw the Terminators coming their way, and lit their fuses. The fuses ran along the walls of each valley, up to the charges they had made, which were drilled securely into the walls.

BOOM! The walls of the valleys came down. Most of them missed their target, exploding too early. With the valleys partially caved in, the Terminators were blocked, but not buried. They turned around, and went back out the way they came, regrouping.

The spotters came running back to the fortifications, breathing hard. "We missed!" One of them shouted ahead. "We blocked them, but we didn't get them."

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"I didn't!" The last one to arrive called as he jumped in next to his fellow troops. "Three Terminators down."

Griffin swore. "We could have taken twelve Terminators before a shot was fired." He glared at the younger Connor. "This is what I'm talking about; your people ain't combat veterans."

Robbie shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It makes no changes to our plans. We sealed off those valleys, they have to come right up this way. How many explosives we got left?"

"Three." Ginny said anxiously.

Griffin didn't let it show, but he didn't like their chances. Twenty two Terminators coming in, right down their throats.

Clang. Clang. Clang. The sounds of metal feet on stone echoed up the valley. The Eden Defenders quickly came to their posts. Griffin had one mounted gun, Terry had the other.

The clanging steps of the Terminator march faded, as they left concrete and reached grass. Their forms were visible, light glinting off their chrome skin. The glowing red eyes were the only things that were clearly seen.

Some of the Eden Defenders were firing already, tension making them shoot. At that range, there was no chance of hitting anything, even by accident.

Griffin held out a hand. "Wait! Wait for it!"

The firing stopped, and the Machines got closer, their stride never changing, never speeding up. They got close enough that their weapons were visible. The Terminators swung their weapons around, taking aim as they approached. The Eden Defenders took that as their cue and started firing again.

Griffin grit his teeth, but didn't bother to correct them. At that range, the plasmafire just glanced off their metal hides, barely enough to discolor their surface.

Then the Machines started firing, and the battle finally began in earnest. Terry opened up with the mounted gun, and managed to knock down three of them. The Terminators swung their weapons up fast, and nailed him in the face with ruthless Machine precision.

Robbie saw it out of the corner of his eye, and winced, still firing. Another two Terminators knocked down. On his left, another defender was hit, falling back and rolling on the ground as his clothes caught fire. One of the unarmed fighters snatched up his weapon and resumed firing for him.

Griffin was firing away as best he could, when he saw a Terminator swing to aim at him, and dove away from the gun, knowing he couldn't take it with him. Plasmafire chased him all the way behind the fortifications. Micheal Noah popped up enough to knock that particular Terminator down while it was distracted.

And through it all, the Machines just kept marching, marching. Their pace hadn't slowed, even for the fight. They were a wave of metal, marked and scarred but unstoppable.

One of the defenders lit an explosive, and raised enough to hurl it over the barricade. It came down close enough to shred three Terminators through the legs when it detonated, knocking them down.

Robbie kept a running tally. Eleven Terminators down; two explosives left. Someone over to the other side came up with one of them, fuse already lit, and was hit in the chest as he rose. The still lit stick of explosive dropped on the wrong side of the barricade, and Berk lunged for it, tossing it over beyond their walls as fast as he could. It exploded, deafening and confusing the defenders with a burst of flame and noise...

The flames of the blast, and the plasma from the crossfire caught the long branches of the orchard, and the valley was suddenly filled with smoke and firelight. They were close enough together that the fire spread to other trees...

Robbie saw the trees burning and felt his eyes bulge. The whole point of this was to protect them!

Those that didn't have weapons were struggling to get the fire under control and the wounded squared away. But with the battle raging, the enemy still marching ever closer, it was an exercise in futility.

Robbie had been in battles before. Every soldier had to be before they were rated as Tech-Com. But this... People he knew were screaming, rolling around on the ground, others trying to hold them still, the trees were burning, leaves falling to the ground like cinders, bathing the whole thing in a hellish glow as the gleaming steel skeletons got ever closer...

"Last explosive." Micheal told Griffin. "Make it count."

Griffin got ready to light the fuse and Robbie lunged. He grabbed the bomb straight out of the soldier's hand and started running away from the Machines.

"Robbie!" Griffin roared in disbelief, and snatched up his rifle, continuing the fight.

Robbie took the ladder up to surface level as fast as he could. He could hear the weapons-fire intensifying below him.

Once on the surface he dared a look out, the daylight burning his eyes after so long under cover.

Ignoring it, he kept running toward the shutters. He ran over the top of it, feeling the metal clang and shift slightly under his feet as he ran as fast as he could toward the water tower.

The moment he dreaded came almost immediately, and the low whine of the aerial H/K came closer. He made it to the water tower just in time, as the H/K started firing. Plasmafire smacked against the water tower, scoring the metal with thick scorches, but the curve of the silo protected him.

Robbie checked the silo wall. It had been camouflaged to look like it was old and beaten down, the watertight section hidden within. As a result, there were several places where he could make an explosive charge sit on its own.

He could hear the turbines of the H/K whine, as the H/K circled around the silo, searching for him. It almost drowned out the sounds of weapons-fire down below.

Gritting his teeth, Robbie put the charge to his lips, and bit through the fuse, making it somewhat shorter as he grabbed for his lighter. He jammed it into the superstructure and lit it, already running back across the closed metal shutters.

Get to the controls! He told himself.

He heard the H/K turbine and freaked out. He wasn't going to make it…

Ba-BOOOM!

The charge erupted, and blew the guts clean out of the silo, the weight of the water suddenly turned loose in an instant, propelled by explosives and water pressure. In the same instant, the Silo collapsed as half of it was blown apart. The collapsing structure gave him a few precious seconds, as the H/K drew sideways enough to be sure which way it was falling.

Robbie threw himself forward, trying not to be washed away by the wave as the water caught up with him instantly. The silo dropped, making the ground jump, and knocking him off his feet. But the push of the water had sent him in the right direction, and he made it to the Shutter Controls, ripping away the camouflage and working the lever from the ground.

With a heavy metal screech, the shutters began to open…

Robbie felt the water surrounding him change direction suddenly, and he was swiftly washed away.

The Eden Defenders knew the game was over as the Machines reached the tree-line, when a screech from above drew their attention upward, and a cascade of water came rushing down into the valley through the opening shutters. The weight of the water was barely being held up by the thick shutters, giving it the force of a waterfall.

The Terminators were caught by the sudden downpour, washed out of the valley, back the way they came, picked up by the force of the water. The damaged fortification, the workbenches, all of it was washed out.

But the trees held fast, held in place as their roots went deep into the ground. Those trees that were burning were put out by the wash of water instantly.

The Eden Team down below was stunned as the sealed sky suddenly opened with a massive drenching. The shutters opened further down, and they were more or less protected from the resultant wave, but every last one of them was instantly drenched. Micheal reached out and grabbed Berk before he could be washed down the valley.

The whine of the H/K was suddenly audible as the shutters opened.

Griffin had figured it out almost instantly, and went running back toward the mounted gun from the Jeep, swiveling it upward instantly to point at the sky. In trying to shoot Robbie, the H/K had swept in closer, now framed perfectly above the Valley.

Griffin fired everything he had up at the H/K, aiming for the turbines.

Whatever defenders still had rifles did the same, hoping that they were dong the right thing.

The turbine was shredded by the weapons-fire from the expected quarter, and the H/K gunned it's engines, trying to get clear. The left one was damaged, and didn't have the strength of the right one, and the H/K was limping, trying to circle around so that it could fire, before the turbine finally gave out and the H/K collapsed, flipping over completely, slamming into the top of the valley, hanging between the walls.

Griffin kept firing up at the downed craft, shredding it as best he could, till it was just a dead lump of metal. The other defenders were charging past his mounted gun, savagely finishing off the Terminators now stuck in the sudden mud.

Berk and Ginny were searching back and forth desperately. There was no sign of Robbie.

Griffin abandoned his gun and helped them look.

"Griffin!" Javier shouted, running up. "Where's Robbie?"

"I don't know." Griffin admitted. "He ran up to the surface…"

Berk looked over the field of battle. Wounded people gasping and shouting in pain, mangled machines… The mists were gone, replaced with smoke. Fire was still smouldering here and there, though water was still raining down from the valley walls and the edge of the shutters. The dead H/K was hanging across the top of the valley, looking set to collapse at any moment.

But the trees had survived. Scorched, soaked and somewhat stripped, they were still alive.

"Mission accomplished Evergreen." Berk whispered. "You did it." He saw Ginny crouching in the mud, ankle deep in water at the base of the apple tree trunk. He went over and joined her. The birds were dead. A tangle of soaked feathers at the base of the tree they lived in.

Berk looked up at the tree, looking for the nest in heartbreak… and he spotted something else instead. "ROBBIE!"

Ginny looked up sharply, and sprang off the ground, scurrying her way up the tree like she was on springs. She made her way with experience up to the higher branches, and found Robbie tangled in the tree. What had happened was obvious. He had been swept down with the wave and gotten caught.

Berk spun. "Griffin! Get some help! It's Robbie!"

Ginny clambered up next to him and touched his face gently. "Robbie?" She called to him gently, scared to speak too loudly. "Hey boss? Robbie? Can you hear me?" She slid her hand down to check his pulse. "He's alive! Berk! HE'S ALIVE!"

"Sir, a war footing when the war is over… is a damn scary notion. Right now, you have absolute control over who finds out what information. You have the final say on everything, from who gets to go into a particular room, and who has to stay out, and who is entitled to have some specific resource, and who has to stay in the dark. You have millions of people ready to run into the fire at your word, or kill on your order. If you wanted to, you could deny me access to the Mess Hall, the radio, the shower block. Hell you could put my photo on the list of Infiltrators and have a million people ready to shoot me on sight if you wanted."

"Ross, that's the nature of Chain of Command." Noah argued. "It always has been."

"Yes it has." Connor's calm voice cut through everything like a knife, though he didn't so much as raise his voice. "But what concerns Ross is the notion that when the war ends, I may not give that power up. Until J-Day, civilian governments had control of the military; at least in this country. Governments and nations that lived permanently under the control of their military… were usually dictatorships."

Ross nodded emphatically. "There's a war for the survival of every man woman and child, and we have faith in you, and your ability to win it sir. But the one thing that scares us is… you answer to nobody. There is no balance to you. And now that the civilians are all under your wife's authority… there's nothing to keep people who aren't under your command safe from you if you ever…" Ross caught himself. "I and others… are preparing for that day. Just in case. We like you. We trust you. But if things continue as they are, there is potential for a very bad situation to form. If not you, then the next guy to have your job fifty years from now, or the one after him, or the one after him."

"Helping yourself to our stuff and our weapons 'just in case' is not a solution." Kate put in.

"If you have a better one, speak now." Ross shot back.

Silence.

"No." Connor said firmly. "We can't spare those resources. We can't split our hierarchies, and we can't lose whatever people we've got. We're on a Total War footing, and we can't risk letting too much go."

Ross gulped. "General, I..."

"But I'll go one better." Connor said. "Once the war is over... I'll resign."

Beat. Everyone stared at him in shock.

Connor nodded. "I'll resign, and I'll turn over all the civilian projects, all non-military resources, and anyone who wants to leave Tech-Com is free to do so, no questions asked."

"Turn them over?" Ross repeated. "To whom?"

"You tell me."

"Sir?"

"If your people are a real deal, then you must have some ideas on how you plan to pick your leaders once you're free of me."

"Well…" Ross was expecting the argument to last a good bit longer before they started talking about solutions. "We'll have to appoint people first off, and after that… we have been kicking around the notion of starting up elections again. There hasn't been one in twenty years…"

"All right, I will give over authority over the military to whoever gets elected, on the condition that other civilian populations; or people who leave Tech-Com; get the right to have a say in the matter also." Connor said evenly. "You're right about the military having too much power over civilians. In a time of war; a war incidentally, that will bring about our extinction as a species if we lose, it's unavoidable. Even necessary. But after the war, it becomes a problem. So go ahead and prepare a civilian government. Just as long as it's understood, that Tech-Com resources are off limits to you, right up until the moment Skynet is dead. The day that happens, I will resign, and hand it all over to whomever you, and everyone else in the world elect."

Ross just blinked, still trying to catch up with this sudden turn. "You'll just... resign?"

"I'll put it in writing if you like. When Skynet is confirmed dead, I will turn over authority of all Tech-Com forces to the control of whoever is elected to be in charge. You're not wrong. Military shouldn't have full authority over an entire population forever."

Ross felt his jaw hanging open. "And... until then?"

"Until then, do whatever you can, as much as you can, for as many people as you can." The Great John Connor's voice turned to ice. "But if you deprive my people of even one thing, I will come down on you like a lightning bolt. That sound like a deal?"

Ross sighed. "I... I don't speak for everyone."

Connor wasn't buying that. "Ross, you're too smart to go off the reservation without a plan. If you're here, it's because whomever you represent is ready to make their presence known. They sent you. If you can't deal, what are you doing admitting things like this to my command staff?"

Ross weighed that, and nodded. "Okay. I can sell them on that, but only because they know Skynet's not down and out yet."

Connor nodded. "Be patient Ross. I'm waiting for this war to be over too." He actually smiled. "Tell your new team that I eagerly look forward to my retirement."

Ross laughed, feeling immeasurably relieved. "I will. Thank you sir."

The meeting broke up, and Ross left the room first.

The second he was gone, Noah lifted her radio. "Will somebody find out what the hell is going on in Death Valley before I start killing people?"

Kate grabbed her radio too. "We'll be starting with the most expendable ranks we can find and working our way toward the War Room, so move fast."

Robbie woke up and groaned.

Griffin was immediately right there. "Thank god you're alive! Your family has been calling all afternoon."

"What happened?" Robbie groaned.

"You did it." Griffin smiled at him. "I don't know how you did it, but you did it. You're the talk of Tech-Com."

Robbie sat up. Slowly. "What-ow-happened to the others? Where's Ginny?"

"She's fine. Ginny is okay. " Griffin told him with a small frown. "Just… be strong, okay?"

"Why, what's wrong?" Robbie demanded.

"Nothing she's just… helping Berk clean up. She's been with him since we decided you weren't going to die today."

"She has?"

"Joined at the hip."

Robbie took it on the chin and fought to stand up. "Yeah… Well, I guess I saw that coming." He headed for the door. "Let me know when Palace calls back."

Robbie came into the Valleys, smelt the smoke, and saw his team already cleaning it up, collecting the debris, dividing what was trashed from what was salvageable. The Machines had already been cleaned out, and the entire Eden Project was already at work clearing the valleys. As soon as Robbie was in view, he was met with a round of applause.

Griffin was smiling at him. "So. This is what being a hero is like. How does it feel?"

"ROBBIE!"

Robbie turned and found Ginny coming at him like a homing missile, wrapping him up in a big hug.

Robbie rocked on his heels and hugged her back. "Griffin, I gotta say… It doesn't suck."

Kurt knocked on the Dormitory door. One of the Bandits opened the door, looked him over, and welcomed him in. No words were exchanged, none were needed. He just waved Kurt toward the back of the room.

Kurt made his way through the bandits. They had set their Dorm up to reflect their identity within Tech-Com. It was practically another bunker within the shelter. Kurt felt right at home.

Yolanda looked him over. "So. You're new to Crystal Peak, what do you think?"

Kurt answered honestly. "I think it's beautiful."

"That's the word."

Kurt bit his lip. "Yolanda, I was wondering if you could help me with something. I'm in a bit of a mess."

"Man, I'll say you are."

Kurt sagged. "You heard?"

"Everyone's heard. If you listen carefully, you can hear Skynet sniggering about it. The General's Daughter Kurt? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't know she was The General's Daughter!" Kurt insisted. "Her nametag read 'Brewster'! I was with her a long time out there! She never so much as hinted!"

"Yeah, she wouldn't." Yolanda quipped. "That's because she's not an idiot."

"How the hell was I supposed to know?"

Yolanda was laughing at him.

"It's not funny!"

"It's extremely funny!" Yolanda corrected. "But not for you. So. Let's talk."

"What do I do now?"

"Well, you got two choices." Yolanda said. "One, you can stay with her because she's worth it. You will be promoted several rungs on Skynet's target list. You will be under the watchful gaze of all Tech-Com, and The General will notice you. And not in the good way. Option two, you can bow out and pretend you never met her."

"You really think the General's going to give me grief for more than-"

"EVERYONE is gonna give you grief!" Yolanda shouted, suddenly loud and furious. "That family is beloved in this town. You're a Bandit that got caught in the kip with Saint Sarah, the firstborn of the Children of the Dust, who cured the Skynet plague and saved humanity in her first day among the world. That kid was nominated for sainthood the day before she was born! The whole world will be all over you. You gotta go through that, plus Skynet, and come out smiling if you want to be with her. Your call."

Robbie came out to the Orchard, rubbed his scarred arm. "Berk?"

Berk was kneeling before the wall of the valley, with a burnt stick in one hand, and some of the fruit peelings in the other. He had ground them up to make a colorful paste, and was scratching a charcoal marking into the wall, adding some of the paste for color when he could. The picture was being drawn on the stone wall of the valley, showing the battle to save the trees.

Robbie felt his jaw drop as he recognized the style. "It's you? You're the one who draws those murals on the walls back home?"

Berk grinned with the fury of a victorious soldier. "You like it?"

Robbie grinned. "I love it."

Berk waved for Robbie to follow him, and the two kids slipped off to the edge of the valley, where the walls closed in.

Berk pointed to a new picture on the wall. It was a cave wall drawing of Robbie. He was standing in the Orchard, with things growing all around him, and an Apple in his hand.

Berk stared at his feet; so shy couldn't meet Robbie's gaze. "The Rats have names for everyone. We call General Kate 'The Keeper', because she wanted to keep us. We call your father 'The General', because that's what he is to everyone. Your sister is 'The Healer', because the Rats were sick before you were born, and Sarah healed us all without knowing our names. And you we call 'The Evergreen'. You make things grow."

Robbie was speechless. He was not unaware of the devotion that seemed to follow around his family, but he had never been put in the middle of it like this.

Berk finally looked at him. "A month ago, I survived by diving into a deep hole and not coming out. All the Rats survive that way. This week I was willing to get into a gunfight with a bunch of Terminators to protect trees." He put a hand to his chest. "It... it feels like you made me grow. Like I'm bigger somehow."

Robbie smiled softly. He was quite possibly the only one of the Underground that smiled so much. "You did it too Berk. I didn't force you."

"I know." Berk said with a chuckle. "I think that's the biggest shock of the whole thing."

"Lori?"

Lori looked up from her tray in the Mess Hall and saw Ross standing over her. "Can you come take a walk with me for a minute?"

Intrigued, she did so. "Well… Army food isn't that hard to lure me away from."

Ross smiled. "I wanted to sound you out about something. I know you're loyal to Connor, and I know that you've had several opportunities to prove it, but have you ever wondered what would happen after the War?"

"Several times." Lori said easily, as though it was a perfectly logical question to bring up. "But to be honest, I'm more worried about the continuation of the species than who gets to be grand high King, or whatever. One thing at a time, y'know?"

"Sure." Ross said. "But who says we have time to do one thing at a time?"

Over at the other end of the Mess Hall, and the command table, John and Kate were watching as Lori waved a signal at them without looking, heading out of the Mess Hall. "Told you they'd go for Lori." John said quietly.

"Is that why Saint is on the inside about the Bomb, but Lori isn't?"

"I had Saint take on that Mission before Ross even arrived… But it's why Lori is never going to be told about the Package. At least until we find out who the other Civilian Leaders will be. And we agreed never to speak of that without everyone in the know present."

Kate nodded and moved on. "How'd you know they'd pick Lori?"

"It was the only one they could go for and have any hope of credibility. Lori never wanted to join the military. She never wanted it for her Orphanage either back in the day. She'd jump at the chance to have a civilian leader again, but she's pragmatic enough not to push it. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if she tried the same thing Ross is doing now, once the war ended."

"Think they'll wait until then?"

"No." Connor said plainly. "But I think we've got time to prepare now."

"John, why are you doing this?" Kate asked finally. "You have to know that the Council will make trouble one day. Why are you doing this?"

Connor was silent a moment. "Kate, it's in our nature to destroy ourselves. The Machines know this too. It was fear of each other that made us build Skynet in the first place. The world got swept clean, and the first thing we did was start another war to take it back. Maybe... Maybe we can..."

"End this war with genuine Peace?"

"I don't believe in genuine Peace. There's always another war to fight, another battle to win. But maybe... Kate, maybe we can stop the cycle for a good long time. And I know that the world can't be led by the military forever. That never works."

"You do pretty well."

"I do well enough because there's a war on. Once Skynet is gone, what happens then? I'm worried about the next ten guys to come after me." He shook his head firmly. "It doesn't matter. When the war ends, maybe they'll play it straight up, and maybe they'll try a coup. Either way, that's for later. They won't try anything now until the war is over."

Lori came back into the Mess Hall and sat down across the table from them. "Well, you were right. He asked me to go for it." Lori said.

"And?"

Lori rolled her head side to side. "I told him yes. I told him I agreed with him about you two, I told him I was worried for what would happen when the war ended, and I told him I'd like to help out if I could. I told him all the things you told me to say. Now, would you mind telling me why? They don't have anything to back up their promises with. They don't have anything but a theoretical chance to maybe have some power if the war ever ends, and we happen to survive that long. In the meantime, I'm benched from Tech-Com, and not at all involved with anything of any use to anyone. If you wanted me gone Connor, you could have just fired me."

Connor smirked, but it didn't touch his eyes. "Lori, think about this for a second. They know how powerless they are until the War is over. So why are they being official now?"

Lori thought it over. "Because... Because they may not be as powerless as they seem."

"I need you to be in the middle of it Lori, because when the War is over, I don't want humans killing humans like nothing happened." Connor said. "If we can make this legitimate when the War ends, we might, we just might be able to have some peace before the next war breaks out. But it will come to that eventually, and I need someone on the inside."

Lori nodded slowly. "Yessir."

Ross made sure he was alone, and pulled out his satellite phone. "Are you there Governor Rojas?"

"Here."

"You've heard the news?"

"I have. What's the latest?"

"I took a quick straw poll. Connor's one condition was that we open the voting to his own civilians too. For the most part, nobody that doesn't already agree with us will likely care. Smart money says they'll go for people they know and trust. Looks like Lori is going to be on the Council, I've been given a chance to represent the Australasian continent... We haven't heard from Asia, and with Europe all but gone... Looks like the Council, once it's formed at least, will shake out to two or three reps from each combat theater."

He could almost hear Rojas thinking. "This changes exactly nothing. Lori is for Connor. She'll do whatever he says."

"Connor made a deal, and my people are in favor of it." Ross steeled himself.

"What deal?"

"We lay off until the war ends... and as soon as it does, he resigns."

Rojas laughed. "Of course he will. How can he lead the new civilian government if he's still a soldier?"

Ross blinked. That was a thought that simply never occurred to him. "You think so? I mean… until the war ends, a civilian government is a joke, because the military will follow Connor."

"I know. That's fine. Look, once the war ends, we can handle it. For now, we can let Him beat Skynet, and once the war ends... we'll have to take appropriate action to make sure we don't spend the rest of our lives at the Mighty Connors' beck and call."

Ross nodded, though Rojas couldn't see it. "That's exactly what the people I represent want too."

"Then this seems like the start of a very useful friendship."

"They found him hanging in one of the trees?" Walters repeated.

"He just throws the plan out the window and saves the day off the top of his head." Noah told him. "Michael called in, gave me the whole story."

Walters let out a low whistle. "See, you can't teach someone that sort of thing. That's just pure whatever."

Noah agreed. "That's the X Factor. Even if three or four of them figured out that trick... I know that more than a few soldiers would just stick to the plan and die trying anyway, rather than just snatch the bomb and start running. You ever serve with either of them?"

"The Connor kids? I was with Sarah for the Alamo recapture. Smart, daring, methodical, lethal. Like her father. Handles personality conflicts by smoothing them over rather than shutting them down, like her mom."

Noah nodded. "I was with Robbie for his first mission to the Flats. He was... what? Seven years old at the time? He knew his stuff. Compassionate, protective, practical. Like his mom. If there was anyone who didn't see his father in him, that's done after this week. They are naturals, all of them. They make 'em strong in that family, don't they?"

Walters nodded. "They really do." He didn't speak for a moment. "So... your son gets back in a few days..."

Noah almost smiled. "Yeah."

"What happens then?"

Noah tensed for a second. "I guess... we'll figure it out."

"Last call for Crystal Peak!" Robbie shouted. "We move out in ten minutes!"

The Eden Team began to hurry. The schedule was tightly controlled because Skynet had forces all over the map. If you were told to be at a specific place by a specific time, it was because Tech-Com had drawn them off long enough for you to get through a specific stretch of road. Nobody wanted to mess with that timetable.

Robbie went to collect the last of his bags, when he noticed Ginny waving him over, and Berk was smiling at him. Tunnel Rats didn't smile. "Sir. There's something I need to tell you."

"You're a Tunnel Rat Berk, not a soldier. You don't have to 'sir' me."

"I think after the last few days I do." Berk responded.

"Fair enough, what do you need?"

Berk bit his lip. "It…"

Ginny rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Good grief, do I have to do it for you?"

"When you go back to Crystal Peak..." Berk rushed out, sending her a glare. "I won't be going with you."

Robbie blinked. "Yeah?"

Berk looked down. He didn't talk about emotion. None of the Rats did. Except with Kate. Berk sent a quick look at the picture of her, and drew in a deep breath. "It's... it's very nice here. It's... I don't know, it's better somehow. There's something in…"

"Beautiful." Robbie said quietly. "The word you're looking for is 'beautiful'."

Berk nodded quickly. "Yeah. It's beautiful here. I want to stay. Skynet might come back... and even if it doesn't..."

Robbie nodded slowly. "Give me your hand."

Berk did so. Robbie pulled the little packet from his pocket, and tipped the apple seeds into Berk's palm.

"I have planted ten apple trees here since I started. You have ten more. Keep them safe. Make them grow."

Berk nodded, taking that very seriously. A member of the Connor family had granted his only wish and given him a personal mission. "I will Sir."

Robbie glanced at Ginny. "You'll teach him?"

Ginny smiled. "Everything you taught me."

Berk blurted out something that he didn't stop to think about. "I gave Michael another letter… tried to explain to the others why I'm not coming back. But tell Keeper... tell General Kate. Tell her... Thank you."

Robbie grinned softly. "I will." He and turned to Griffin. "Let's move out."

Z Plus Nineteen Years Sixty Nine Days

Kate looked at herself in the mirror. "How do you think I'd look with a crew cut?" She asked.

Connor put down his toothbrush. "Are you serious?"

"I keep waking up with my hair all in knots." Kate complained, fingering the one long braid. "I don't know how Carla and Erica do it."

Connor said nothing, but knew the difference. Carla and Erica could reach behind their head with both hands. Kate's bad arm had range enough to let her work, even let her operate, but combing her hair was difficult. "I can help with that."

Kate looked at him, smiling a little. "You'd comb my hair for me?"

John shrugged. "Why not?"

"Probably easier to just cut it shorter."

John hugged her from behind. "I like your hair longer. Looks good."

Kate smiled at him in the mirror, and rolled her head back to give him a kiss, when her radio buzzed. "Mmmph!" She complained into his lips. "Damn radio never lets you finish a thought, does it?" She answered. "Connor here."

"They're back!" Carla called.

Kate came running into the Motor pool Entrance, and went straight to Robbie. "You're Home! You're Home! My victorious soldier home from the war!"

Robbie was only too happy to hug her back.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kate could see Noah and Michael doing the same, the Eden Team finding their families or their friends. She pulled back enough to give Robbie a confused look. "Berk?"

Robbie smiled, and handed her the leaf pendant. "He found what you wanted him to find." He looked around, anxious. "Where's dad?"

Kate smiled sadly. "He's in our room. He says to come find him when you're ready..."

Robbie looked around awkwardly. "I think... Ginny likes Berk."

Kate's face fell. "Oh, sweetie."

Robbie nodded thickly. "I better go check in with The General."

Kate let him go, giving him some time alone with his father.

Noah was delighted. "Mmm. Welcome home."

Michael hugged his mother back. "Great to be back." He looked over his mothers shoulder and saw Cory looking around awkwardly. "Wait. I have to deliver this."

Noah saw him pull the letter out of his pocket, and froze. There was no soldier alive that didn't recognize this little tradition, and she stepped back. "Okay."

Cory nearly bolted when Michael came over, but he took the letter without a word. "Berk's fine." Michael said plainly. "But he's… He's staying there."

"What?" Cory shouted in disbelief. It was the first time a Tunnel Rat had volunteered to stay away without signing on with Tech-Com. "Why?"

"He had his reasons. Michael said gently. "He wanted you to take the letter down to the Rats and let them know."

Cory looked at the letter again, and took off without a word.

Walters came into the motor pool, looking around. "Where is she?"

"Apparently hiding from us." Noah said. "Well, she'll have to ship out sooner or later. She can't escape."

"Don't underestimate her. She's a Connor." Walters looked around. "Where's Micheal?"

"Delivering a letter." Noah said shortly.

Walters reacted. It was a line that soldiers couldn't uncross. "You okay?"

"He's... grown up." Noah sighed. "My boy is a soldier."

Connor opened the door as Robbie knocked. "Welcome home."

Robbie gave his father a hug. "Good to be back."

Connor took the silver flask out and poured a shot for his son. "Back Before, you'd be too young. But if you can fight an army of Terminators, you can have a drink afterward."

Robbie nodded, and took the shot, sipping it slowly, gritting against the burn of the moonshine.

"So." Connor said. "I'm told that I should be very proud of you."

Robbie looked up, a little unsure. "Are you?"

Connor smiled warmly. "Son, I was proud of you long before this."

Robbie was relieved. He believed him.

"How do you think it went?" Connor asked.

Robbie was silent a long time. "We kept them out. Destroyed them all, saved what we needed to save..."

"But?" Connor led him to it, knowing the answer.

"Dad." Robbie said. He sounded younger, smaller. Like he was trying not to cry. "I lost two guys."

Connor sighed heavily and sat down. "Those are the fortunes of war."

"We could have just... We could have run. Mom wanted us to. You wanted us to. Dad, it was my call to stay and fight." He squeezed his eyes shut. "And... I wonder if... if I wasn't John Connor's son, then maybe they wouldn't have been so quick to agree, and maybe I wouldn't have thought it was worth..."

"Robbie, listen to me." Connor said seriously. "If it wasn't worth it, I never would have let you stay."

"Dad…"

"All those things you said to me? All the things you said to Griffin, about why and how you needed to defend that place... They were real. They were worth it. They mattered. The orchards there are now a defensible location, in a decent area for soldiers in need as a forward Medical and resupply point. That orchard will produce food. If you had to start again, the food production would take literally years to get to where it was. You took out a Skynet force and that's no small thing with resources so tight on both sides of the war. This is how the game is played."

Robbie sniffed. "Was... Was there anything I could have done differently? Done better? Could I have won the fight... and saved them?"

Connor was plainly sympathetic. "Son... I still ask myself that about the fights that we won long before you were born."

Robbie sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I keep going over it."

"I go over the old battles too. Sometimes I find solutions. When I do, I remind myself that I had three seconds to think about it in battle, and a lifetime to second-guess myself. Robbie, take some advice, from your father and your Commanding Officer. Don't do that to yourself. You went to war, and the other guy lost. That's the job."

"That's all there is to it, huh?"

"We're soldiers." Connor summed up. "It's what we do. Complete the mission, protect our own, come back alive."

"In that order?" Robbie guessed.

"In that order." Connor said simply. "And you did that. You did that very well. You worked the battlefield, you worked the problem, and you improvised a way to victory when the plan failed to work. You did good... Lieutenant."

Robbie looked up sharply. "Promotion?"

"You're already Director of the Eden Project; and you can clearly handle command. Imagine what you could do if you had some trained, well armed soldiers with you instead of gardening tools and seven year old rifles."

Robbie took a breath. "Thank you sir."

Connor put the insignia on his shoulders and saluted. His son returned it promptly.

Robbie same out of the Presidential Suite, and started to head for the Motor Pool.

"Hey Lieutenant."

Robbie turned and saw his sister. "Sarah!" He said in relief. He hadn't seen his only sister for a long time. She had been a soldier longer than him, and the eldest. The feeling that she was protecting him their whole lives was hard to shake.

She gave him a hug. "I heard you did okay out there without me." Sarah said affectionately.

"Oh, believe me. I would have preferred it if you were there."

"Well, while you were out doing all the hard work, I was back here trying to fend off mom and dad's cruel and unusual form of… love." Sarah started to explain.

Robbie laughed. "I heard all about it!"

"When?"

"At the front door sis, you're the talk of the Base!"

Sarah groaned. "Oh god."

"Where is the soon-to-be-dead lover-boy? I wanna meet him before Dad does something unnatural to him with a reprogrammed Machine."

"You and me both." Sarah said ruefully. "I've been trying to find him since Dad... walked in on us. And then Mom walked in on us."

Robbie laughed. "Sucks to be you!"

Sarah sighed hard. "I liked this one Robbie. I got the good feeling. It wasn't like it was with the other guy."

Robbie went silent. The 'Other Guy' was rarely spoken of. Sarah had met a soldier in the Mess Hall a few years before, who was more interested in the bragging rights that came with having slept with The General's Daughter. Sarah had realized this pretty quickly and with Robbie's help, had quietly gotten him moved away from Crystal Peak to another post... where he had died in combat soon after. To their knowledge, their parents had never found out. And so Sarah Connor the second, a smart attractive girl, had not been close with anyone at the age of seventeen, when most girls her age in the Underground were already having children.

Robbie felt for her. "I'm sorry sis."

"What do I do?" Sarah asked finally.

"Well... I suggest you do what I didn't do." Robbie said. "Get an answer. If it's no, then... Well, we're the Connor family. This sort of thing is a fact of our lives."

Sarah nodded. "Mom told me about Ginny. I'm sorry for you too."

Robbie shook his head. "I feel bad about it but... it's not like we ever made it to a supply closet."

Sarah flushed.

Robbie smiled. "I'll help you." He said. "If he's new in the Base, then he probably got assigned to a Unit."

Sarah nodded, thinking it through. "I was told to prepare. A few Ops coming up. Anything involving more than one Unit, and he'll probably be with it them. Newcomers get Trial-By-Battle pretty quick..."

Robbie looked sad. "Sherrin called in on our way back here. He wanted me to tell Griffin about the 321st."

Sarah nodded, looking hopeful. "So... Kurt will probably be with us on the Op."

Robbie almost smiled. "If we can figure that out, so can others."

Sherrin looked up and saw Sarah and Robbie sitting at his table. "Hi Tony." The two of them chorused brightly.

Sherrin tensed. "Oh god, what do you two want?"

"Would you listen to that?" Robbie said to Sarah.

"It's almost like he's not happy to see us." Sarah agreed.

"I'm always happy to see you guys, but when I see both of you together, and smiling... it's not a good thing."

"Cynical." Robbie observed.

"Suspicious." Sarah agreed. "Mistrustful of his fellow soldiers."

"Terribly sad." Robbie concluded.

"Absolutely tragic." Sarah added.

"What do you want?" Sherrin returned to his meal.

Sarah smiled. "Kurt Orlandez. Heard of him?"

Sherrin burst out laughing.

Robbie smirked at his sister. "That's a 'yes'."

"Let's just say I don't know him as well as your sister does." Tony told Robbie.

"Next Unit going out is Perry's. Have Kurt assigned there for Trial By Battle." Sarah directed Sherrin.

"And why should I do this?" Tony fired back.

"Because we're not leaving you alone until you do." Robbie said easily.

"Be cunning." Sarah suggested. "Be persuasive."

"Use force." Robbie added.

"I'll take care of it." Sherrin promised.

Kyle woke up, with The Photo clutched in his hand. He rolled his head to the left.

Griffin was staring at him like he was looking at a ghost.

Kyle winced, and fought to sit up. "Hey."

Griffin helped him upright. "Kyle... I got back and they told me that the 321st was... What happened?"

Kyle stared down at Sarah's face, staring back at him from the photo. What would she say? "We won the battle." Kyle said harshly. "We completed our mission."

Deep in the Underground, there was a collection of tunnels that nobody else knew. It was smelly, dusty, but it was sealed off and safe, assuming you knew the ways in. The rats emerged from time to time to find food, and had become experts in rigging power sources for their own light and heat. They could tap the pipes for fresh water and their own small wash-room, and they kept to themselves as much as possible. The older ones among them spread out through the ducts and the maintenance tunnels to avoid letting anyone find their 'nest', where they gathered together their cots and their chairs, and told each other stories.

Sometimes, just sometimes, late and night, when everything was shut down, and the night shift went quietly, Tech-Com could put their ears to the air vents and hear the echoes of the songs they sang to each other, forgotten music of a world long crumbled to dust, taught back and forth by the children of the Last Generation.

The older ones, ho knew the soldiers and leaders, would come out to work, earn their keep, and learn the latest news, for more stories to tell the youngest of the Tunnel Rats, who had never been to the Upper levels before, protected by their parents from the Infiltrators.

Cory came into their safe little Nest, and showed them the letter. It was passed around as Cory told them that one of their eldest would not be coming home. The letter was addressed to all of them, and they all gathered around to see what it contained.

Cory opened the letter, and from between the pages, out fell something unheard of in their world. Something that none of them had ever seen before.

A handful of orange blossoms.

Z Plus Nineteen Years Seventy Two Days

Kurt was moving toward the motor pool. His unit was on the way there too, preparing for another Mission. Sarah slipped in next to him. "Hey stranger."

Kurt smiled at her, and looked over his shoulder quickly. "Hi."

Sarah sighed as he looked over the other shoulder. "They aren't here." Sarah said. "They've had their fun tormenting you."

Noah pointed. "There's Sarah. And look who she's with."

Walters smirked like a hungry shark. "Is that him?"

"I do believe it is."

"Ooh, a bonus."

"Why didn't you tell me who you were?" Kurt asked quietly.

Sarah looked down. "Since I was rated as a grunt, there have been extra rules for me. Rule number one was that I had to hide my name. That's for Skynet but... I wanted you to like me."

"I do like you."

Sarah snorted. "You've been avoiding me like I've got the plague ever since you found out my name."

"You got that right. I want at least half a mile of wasteland between your lips and any member of the Nova Group when we're together." Kurt said shortly.

Sarah laughed at that. "Well, where we're going..."

"Sit with me on the ride there." Kurt said suddenly.

Sarah smiled in open relief. "I will."

"Sarah?"

The younger Connor turned and saw Walters and Noah, and they weren't smiling. "Something wrong?"

"We need to have a word with your friend here." Noah said kindly.

"Lieutenant Brewster!" Perry bellowed from down the hall. "Are you planning on joining us?"

Sarah smiled winningly at Kurt. "That's me. Be brave. I'll be back."

She sprinted off to speak to her CO, as Noah and Walters closed ranks around Kurt neatly.

"He called her 'Brewster'." Walters pointed out. "That's for you too, y'know. If you so much as say her name out there, you've marked her, her Unit, and yourself for death."

"And that's not all." Noah pointed out. "We like that kid. She's worth it. At least she is if you can handle it. That's why we're here. To prepare you for what's ahead."

Walters nodded. "The Rules. We're here to teach you The Rules."

"We feel it's best you learn them quickly, after what happened to the last boyfriend." Noah said gently.

"The last boyfriend...?" Kurt repeated, seeing the hazing for what it was, and trying to laugh about it.

Noah nodded soberly. "What was his name Eric? I think it was Tim..."

Walters looked sad. "Ah yes, poor Tim. Nice kid. He broke the rules."

"There was no Tim!" Sarah shouted at them from down the hall, but she had a big smile on her face.

"That's right. We're all agreed on that point." Noah conceded quickly. Half a dozen soldiers who were pretending not to follow the whole thing smirked to themselves.

Kurt grinned, and rolled with it. It was to be expected, and he knew he could take it.

At the back of the Motor Pool, near the doors to the Base, Kate and John were watching. "She's smiling." Kate observed.

"Could be she's just feeling nauseous." Connor offered.

"Nope. She's smiling. He makes her laugh. That's real. And I think they finish each others sentences."

"Like Eric and Erica do. Remember when we used to finish each others sentences?" Connor teased.

Kate giggled for the first time in years. "Sarah's got a boyfriend, Robbie's a department head, both of them are tearing Skynet apart for a living..." She fingered the latest addition to her unique uniform. A patch in the shape and color of Berk's leaf, sewn into her Uniform, over her heart. "God John, when did they grow up?"

"I don't know." John admitted. "But when we find the Time Machine, maybe we should find a way to keep them at five years old forever."

Kate laughed. "I think I may have screwed up."

"How?"

"Ginny. One of the permanent Eden Team out at the Flats." Kate sighed. "I knew Robbie liked her, and I knew he was going out there to see her. I sent Berk along for something unrelated. Apparently Ginny liked meeting Berk."

Connor chuckled. "Oops."

"I know." Kate said softly. "I feel like I broke them up."

"They're young." John advised her. "It's not like you split them up at the altar or anything, they've never even been on a date yet as far as I know. Though if Sarah is any indication, we'll be the last to find out."

Kate chuckled. "As it should be. If they're still hiding things from their parents, and taking stupid risks, and doing stupid things to make us proud, then they're normal teenagers."

"And if they're normal, it means we're not bad parents." John agreed.

They both chuckled warmly.

"Love you husband."

"Love you wife."

AN: Thank you one and all for reading.