Chapter 2: Commander John Connor

Crystal Peak- Resistance Stronghold

It was a chilly morning outside, but warm and comfy in the bed.

Johns eyes opened slowly, he was still tired but knew he needed to get up soon.

He brought his hand up to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes and yawned as his mind tried to wake up along with his body.

"Morning sweetheart"

John looked over to see Kate propped up on her elbow beside him, her blue eyes locking onto his, a soft smile on her face. He smiled, leaned in closer to her, slipped his hand behind her neck and pulled her into a deep tender kiss.

"Morning Katie" John whispered after their lips parted," how come you're up so early?"

"Kayla was fussing earlier, I think she is still getting over that cold from last week. I was having a hard time getting her back to sleep, she's stubborn like her father." Kate smiled and brought her hand up to stroke Johns cheek," And I've been thinking about things"

"Oh?" Johns eyebrow lifted up "What were you thinking about?"

"Maybe we should think about having another one John. It's been almost two years since we blew up Skynet central, and it seems Skynet has pulled back. We hardly run into Skynet patrols, HK's, or…."

"Kate" John said as he placed his finger on her lips, "We cannot assume Skynet is going away, If anything, I think Skynet pulled back to re-group and re-organize. I'm worried we will be in for some heavy fighting." John's face went blank as he thought for a moment.

"John, I don't want our lives put on hold, just because Skynet might do something."

Kate moved closer to John, her lips barely an inch from his.

" Besides, Kayla should have a brother or sister"

John smiled, his eyes sparkled as he lifted his head to kiss Kate

"So when do you want to start?" he whispered.

"How about now"

Kate nuzzled up to Johns neck and placed baby kisses, slowly she traced her lips up to his lips. She climbed on top of him, pulled her shirt off over her head while straddling his mid section, but never breaking her lock on his lips. Her long auburn hair fell onto his chest and danced along his neck, as she pressed her body closer to his.

John wrapped his arms around Kate, pulling her into a tight embrace, as they kissed deeper. Both of them were getting lost in the moment, when there was a sudden knock at the door.

John pretended not to notice, but Kate pulled away, causing John to sigh with disappointment.

"What is it?" she called out to the mystery knocker, a hint of frustration in her voice.

"Kate, its Blaire." A female voice called from the other side of the door.

"Conner is needed in the briefing room A.S.A.P."

"Okay Blaire, John will be out in a minute "

Kate leaned in to kiss John, climbed off of him and scooted off of the bed.

Turning towards him, Kate winked at John, while she straightened out her pajama bottoms and put her t-shirt back on

"We'll continue what we started later" She said with a playful grin on her face.

John sat up, a stunned look on his face. Why the hell is there always an interruption at the worst possible time He shook his head in disbelief?

Quickly he tossed aside the covers and swung his legs onto the floor.

John stretched, and then twisted his neck around to loosen up, he leaned over to grab his clothes from the chair near the bed.

Kate pulled aside the curtain used to separate the babys area from theirs. Having only one room to share with their child meant they needed to improvise to get some privacy.

Kayla was still asleep, but Kate could still hear the child was having trouble breathing.

"Poor babe, you really are having a tough time with this cold"

Kate brushed a strand of blond hair away from Kaylas face, leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.

John came up behind Kate, kissed her on the cheek and looked over at Kayla,

"Is she any better today?"

"She's having trouble breathing John, her chest is still congested. I think she will be okay, the meds I gave her have helped a lot."

Kate sighed and leaned in to give the child another kiss on the forehead. Kayla stirred a little and made some sounds, but she remained sleeping.

John placed his hand on Kate's shoulder, she smiled and turned to him, she could see he had worry in his eyes.

"It's okay John, she will be fine in a couple of days. The meds need time to help her out, she will still be a little stuffy and miserable for a while."

Kate put her arms around John's shoulders and leaned up to kiss him. After kissing him, Kate got serious.

"Now, you need to get going. It sounds like something important has come up"

John smiled, gave Kate a quick peck on the cheek and turned to leave.

I wonder what happened now, John thought to himself as he exited their quarters.

As John made his way down hallway towards the main command center, he passed a few troops and some civilians along the way. Greetings from people were normal, as almost everyone knew who General John Connor was, after his daring rescue of captives from Skynet Central and the total destruction of the facility located in San Francisco, he had become a legend. It was something he really didn't want, but if it meant he would have more people willing to fight, he was able to fully accept his increased popularity.

Many people heard how John had gone against the Resistance leadership plans to destroy Skynet Central with the captives still inside the facility. They heard how he rallied the independent resistance fighters to stand down, until he could rescue any survivors.

After the rescue, and the discovery that Skynet had destroyed the Resistance leadership, it was decided by the troops that John Connor be the new commander of the resistance. He had now become General Connor, honorary leader, voted by the men and women that loved and trusted him with their lives.

As he made his way down the corridor, John was saluted by troops, as well as receiving warm" hellos" and "good morning" from any civilian he passed by.

Although originally a military bunker, set up to protect leadership in case of war, Crystal Peak had become a gathering point for survivors from all around. People of all ages and background had shown up with the hope that they would be protected from Skynets relentless attacks.

There were advantages to having these refugees show up and disadvantages. On the plus side, many people had skills that could be put to use and help the resistance. The downside was, the military bunker had limited supplies of food and water. Something had to be done soon, before things got critical.

Arriving at the Command meeting room, John slipped through the door and closed it behind him. He was greeted by six familiar faces, his top advisors in his staff. They all stood up and waited until he arrived at the head of the table,

"Good morning people "John spoke to the group and gestured for them to be seated.

The group answered back with morning greetings, sat down and then Blair Williams spoke up.

"Good morning Connor, I hope I didn't wake you and Kate up when I knocked"

"No problem Williams, we were awake, sort of" John cracked a crooked smile at Blair.

"So what's going on?"

"Were getting reports from various camps in and around the L.A. area. There have been skirmishes between resistance and rogue civilian groups. Seems some of the better armed groups are raiding weaker resistance and civilian camps, taking whatever they can carry.

Some people have contacted us to ask if we can help out in any way." Blair looked visibly upset by what she was telling John.

John thought for a second. This is just great, more trouble from people we are trying to save.

Picking an empty chair near the table, John sat down and stared at the table. No one said anything until he spoke up a minute later.

"Williams, is there anyone I can speak to that has first hand account of what has been happening?"

"I'm not sure sir, but I will check into it for you"

"Okay Williams, you are dismissed. Go find me someone that can clarify what is going on"

Blair got up and made her way out of the room. She knew this was not good news to bring to John, but something had to be done, before problems like this ruined the resistance network. The hard part now, was to find some one willing to talk about what was happening.

John looked around the table. "Anything else people?"

Barnes leaned forward and spoke up. "Supplies are getting low Sir, we need to send out people to gather up more food, clothing and shelter for the newcomers. At the rate this camp is growing, we might have to think about relocating to an area that can provide us with fresh water and a place to grow food"

John nodded his head in agreement. He knew they had to do something to help become more self sufficient.

"Barnes, gather up some people and go check out the newcomers. See if anyone has any skills we can use, we need people that know how to grow food, maintain equipment, and see if there are any more doctors, Kate and her staff could use some help. Dismissed"

Barnes nodded, got up and left the room.

John looked around the room, the four staff members left were made up of reps from Munitions, Communications, camp security and KP, Kitchen Patrol.

"Anyone else have good news for me" John asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Sparks, a younger slim man from communications, stood up to speak. His hair was greasy and seemed to go off in any and all directions, John thought of him as the resistance version of a geek, for Sparks was a wiz at anything to do with signals, or computers.

"Sir, um, just a reminder, I need you to come by later today to make another transmission to the Resistance. I got the transmitter working again." Sparks face turned beet red as he told John, he wasn't use to speaking up in front of a group of people.

"Okay Sparks, I'll be there just before dinner. That way I think we will reach more people at that time." John smiled at Sparks, fully aware of the young mans nervousness.

John looked over at the remaining three staff members. Peters from munitions, Hugo Smith from KP, and Melissa Webster the head of civilian camp security all sat there with blank looks.

"Anyone else?" John looked around at the group and lifted his eyebrow in question.

Smith spoke up next." Well sir, I do need to get back to my kitchen, before those apes end up burning everything in sight"

"I thought you had those guys well trained" John smiled, fully knowing Hugo hated to leave his kitchen alone.

Hugo just grunted and folded his arms across his wide expanse of a chest, his face showing no expression. It seemed he enjoyed eating as much as he enjoyed cooking and it showed.

Peters stood up, cleared his throat. He was close to Johns age, and well educated in anything to do with stuff that went boom, or was shot out of something. He was the weapons expert and head of Munitions at Crystal peak. It was his job to ensure John had the best weapons and plenty of ammunition.

"Nothing new to report sir, we have a healthy supply of weapons and ammunition, but we can always use more" Peters winked at John after his last comment.

John smiled back, fully knowing Peters was always ready for more guns and ammo.

"Okay, Webster, what about you? Anything to report?" John looked over to Melissa, raising his eyebrow again. She was the youngest of the staff he had in his inner circle, but she had a good head on her shoulders. John figured she was about twenty, or twenty two, but not much older. She had long wavy blond hair that went halfway down her back,a muscular body and she was tall, almost as tall as him. For some reason she always reminded him of a blond Zena, a warrior princess.

Melissa smiled at John, her blue eyes locked onto his as she stood up to talk.

"Nothing exciting to report sir, we haven't had any problems with any new arrivals. I've made sure to keep them in line and up to speed when it comes to camp rules." She had a hint of a smile on her lips as she spoke up.

"I bet you have Webster" John chuckled. He knew she ran the civilian camp with an iron fist, she was almost as tough as Blair, but Blair had the upper hand in experience.

"Okay people, dismissed!" John barked out and stood up. The others got up to leave, saluted and left John alone in the room. He stretched his arms above his head and twisted around to help relive the kink in his neck. Every time things got bad, his old injuries seemed to rise up and irritate him at the most in opportune moment. It was times like this, he wished there was a massage therapist in the camp. Maybe I can convince Kate to give me one, John smiled to himself.

This new problem with the rogue gangs running around was going to be a big problem for John. If Skynet decided to swoop in and attack while people were busy fighting each other, many more lives would be lost because of stupidity and greed. John sighed and got up from his chair, it was then that his stomach started to rumble, he had forgotten he has missed breakfast.

I think I'll go back to the room and see if Kate and Kayla are ready for some breakfast.

John took one last look around the meeting room, before heading off to his quarters. It was going to be another long day, but he was going to make the best of it.