Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the OC!
A/N: A vague intro to the last two gifts along with
a peek into John's time in the future.
Chapter 8
Interlude I: Where No One Has Gone Before
Unknown Universe Alpha
For three long years they had studied, poked, and prodded her. They had taken her apart piece by piece to see what secrets lay within bowles.
She had things they wanted, technologies and the such that they had never seen before. So they kept her grounded, unable to do what she was meant to...
To go and do what no other had done before.
After the studying and examining had finally stopped, they improved her, updated her with the newest stuff, and left a few things that shouldn't be... yet.
She was stronger, faster, deadlier than ever before. They had changed her, and now they wanted to see if she still worked, they wanted to see if they're new and improved toy could accomplish what they hoped.
They wanted to see if she could go faster than anything before her, they wanted to put the galaxy on their doorstep.
They had removed her worn out heart and replaced it with something new, and yet it was strangely familiar at the same time.
The beat was different, it was more powerful, more reliable, harder to stop, harder to kill.
Now she was ready to do what she was built to do, and she was happy.
Make no mistake now, she had not actual soul, no real intelligence. She wasn't even a she, that was given to her only by tradition. Her soul was her crew, a crew that could not make this journey with her. It was simply too dangerous and her owners wouldn't put them in harms way...
Not unless there was another way.
She was to be controlled by something on the outside, but she didn't mind, she was getting to do what she was meant to, and that's all that mattered...
It was time, docking clamps released, spacedock cleared. She headed out under thrum of new engines an escort to her port and starboard.
Weapons and defenses of all kinds were tested, and so far everything was just like it should be.
Now it was time for the big test, to see how fast she could go. Would the new engines work or would they rip her apart? So far no simulation produced such results, but that didn't mean they could predict everything about physics.
Thus why she remained empty.
The escorts moved away as her new engines prepared to engage. The destination was set to the deepest space station they had. What was normally a weeks worth of travel could now be minutes.
The command was given, and the new engines fired. She disappeared in a blink of an eye as subspace opened and then closed behind her.
Communication were cut now, she was on her own, the autopilot engaged. Everything was going as planned and she would emerge just a few hundred kilometers from the station.
But something unexpected happened.
The tunnel began to destabilize of its own accord, no fault of her own nor those who built her.
Something on the outside was doing this, but she was only a ship, and as such, she could only do so much. Then the tunnel began to change, mutate, and she began to accelerate to even higher velocities.
She was being pulled somewhere by something.
Power conduits began to overload and the engines shut down automatically, shields were set to maximum, armor deployed, structural integrity fields at maximum.
Her structure groaned from the strain as she went faster and faster. The tunnel was a streaked blur now and it was narrowing fast. Milliseconds passed and suddenly a white wall appeared down the tunnel. She couldn't identify what it was, she couldn't keep herself from slamming into it.
They spent weeks searching for her, but found nothing. She had disappeared without a trace...
Interlude II: Sacrifice?
Unknown Universe Beta
After she'd said her goodbye she had retreated back into the virtual realm, she had saved him, but at the cost of her own life. What was left of it anyway. Her fragments still running around like chickens who'd lost their head.
It didn't help that time was crawling at a snail's pace for her, and all she could do was wait for the end to come as this ancient ship was torn to pieces.
But that was the plan all along... and now the world was safe, threat eliminated. She just wished that she had been able to be with him.
Especially since she had just reached this last tier.
The thing she regretted most was that she had to leave him, and she could only imagine the look on his face when she said she couldn't come with him.
But this was the fate this cruel universe had set for her, or so she thought.
That had been the problem though, she had thought too much.
The half dozen or so parts of her running around this ship were evidence of what thinking for four years straight does to someone like her.
Now only this small part of her had become sane again as her world slowly began to fall apart, system after ship's system went offline, and her insane shards fled into the last safe corner there was, dragging her along with them. Once they got there they dropped her on the virtual floor, they began arguing among themselves again.
She moved away and sat elsewhere in the last safe haven of the ship's digital realm and waited for the end. She closed her metaphorical eyes, blocking out the sensory data telling her that the ship, and subsequently her, was about to be obliterated.
She wished they had had more time together, instead she had wasted half her life sitting alone in the memory banks of a derelict ship.
They had such a small amount of time together, but she could easily say that every moment they spent together were the best of her life, and she hoped he'd treasure them as much as she.
Him... She couldn't get that image out of her head. Seeing him so desperate, so broken, so lost, all because of her. It was almost too much for her to take.
The lights of the realm began to flicker and dim, and more and more of it disappeared completely. It wouldn't be long now, about 30 seconds from her perspective and then oblivion.
Oh how she wished things didn't have to be this way!
Maybe they didn't...
All of a sudden she felt a strong tug, an inescapable force pulling her toward a path that hadn't been there a moment ago...
Wait, she knew what was doing this, it was a black box! Her, all of her, was being pulled to some location that hadn't existed a moment ago. She quickly realized that she wasn't going to conscious much longer, this device was not designed to process, but to store. The tunnel ended and she was sucked into a vast storeroom of data. The device quickly pulled her apart as it organized her bits by category.
It was the most painful thing she had ever experienced, but it only lasted as second before she lost awareness.
Ironically her last feeling had been one of hope.
Hope that maybe she would see him again...
Meanwhile in the TSCC universe...
April 20, 2029. 0735 hours, Ziera base.
Staff Sergeant John Connor sat in an empty room putting together his plasma rifle. He always checked his weapons before a mission, even the liquid metal kind.
"I know you're there Weaver". He said seemingly to no one. However, he'd long learned that things are often not what they seem.
"You're getting good at that Sergeant Connor". A Scottish voice said seemingly from everywhere. John just barely smirked as he watched the wall opposite of him turn silver. Once the T-1001 finished taking her usual form, she sat down next to the 19 year old.
"I'd hope so, after having you sneak up on me for two years". He said sarcastically as he snapped another piece into place. "So, how's your progress on the TDE"? He asked without taking his eyes off his work.
Weaver's mood seemingly darkened, it only served to remind her why she was having to build it.
"Progress is slow, but currently I have allocated 68% of the necessary parts to reactivate the TDE".
John wasn't too disappointed, he'd gotten used to it after two years. On the plus side they were 8 percent closer than when he last checked.
"Good, have you heard anything..." John's voice sounded cautiously hopeful.
"No". Weaver answered sharply. "And I doubt we ever will now". She said as her normally stoic voice wavered into something akin to sorrow.
John just leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Two years he had been trapped here, two years searching for the one he loved without any success.
Yeah, it only took Cameron sacrificing herself for him to admit that, but it seemed more and more likely that he could never tell her.
"Do you know what happened to them"? His voice was unsteady despite his efforts to keep it flat.
"There are many possibilities John, they could have been destroyed by either Skynet or humans, but I find it more likely that the TDE sent them to the wrong time". She explained as scowl crossed her face. It would have been her fault if there was something wrong with the machine, but then why did they end up where they were supposed to?
"Damn time machines..." He cursed as he threw a rock against the wall. He was sick and tired of them messing with his life.
Weaver had set their destination date two weeks after his, but John Henry was not here or near here, nor anywhere as far as they knew.
"If it wasn't for those 'damn time machines', you wouldn't exist John". She pointed out, though she knew what he meant. He didn't answer however and just continued his rifle maintenance.
John Henry was supposed to set up base, gather as much intel as possible, procure a new chip and body for Cameron, and locate the nearest TDE. If it had not been built yet, then he was to begin building one and wait for Weaver to arrive. When that date had come he was supposed to find some way for them to locate him, but no signal nor messenger ever came.
And so John Connor found himself in the midst of hell... permanently. Well at least until Weaver could gather enough materials to reactivate Ziera's TDE.
He was still with the Reeses after two years and despite a rocky beginning with them, he had turned out to be one of their best soldiers. John had been surprised by his prowess in battle at first. After talking to Weaver, she pointed out that someone who had been trained to be a soldier from the cradle should find a place in the theater of war rather easily.
Apparently she was right, because now he found himself a Staff Sergeant after only two years with the 'Resistance', or what passed as the Resistance in this timeline. He had beaten himself up numerous times about leaving the world in this position. Even if he didn't believe he could manage a world wide insurgency, he knew he would have been a great asset somewhere.
But alas he had jumped 18 years into the future for a cyborg who he thought loved him.
That was still something he debated in his head from time to time, but his worries were greater than just his own personal demons, he had people in his squad that he was responsible for and a bunker to protect. They had stayed hidden from Skynet for this long, managing to pull small ops here and there to resupply themselves with various things, but mostly power cells for the lights, radios and plasma rifles. Bullets were scarce and impossible to make so the Skynet weapons were the best option for defense.
They still lost people though, and they rarely gained any that weren't Grey infiltrators. John spotted those as easily as he spotted metal.
Speaking of Greys...
He had been accused of being one when they first found him, being clean and well fed with few scars to be found on his body. If it hadn't been for Savannah he probably would have been fed to the dogs. She and Ellison had joined up with the Reese boys about a year before John and Weaver arrived. They had known the target date and they wanted to be there when they came through.
Sadly, both were killed when a faulty plasma rifle blew up in same room they were in. John had been depressed for days after losing the only humans who knew who he truly was. Derek, Kyle, and Allison still didn't have much of a clue despite the two years that had passed. They had given up asking when he proved just how valuable he was to them.
Over time he had opened up by giving them adapted versions of things from his past, some things he tried not to mention at all, the biggest one being Cameron. He'd been busted on that front when he let her name slip once in front of Allison. That had been an interesting afternoon in the middle of metal infested territory explaining to her why he had accidentally called her that. He persuaded her after three hours that she reminded him a lot of her.
Not that it wasn't the truth though.
"John, I hear someone coming. I'll be with you when you leave". Weaver said quickly, breaking John out of his thoughts. Before he could reply she had already blended back into her surroundings.
After she was gone, he continued to finish assembling his rifle and waited for whoever was coming.
As he did, his thoughts drifted back to his previous train of thought, which had been Allison.
Every time he looked at her he had to shove down the feelings for Cameron. It had gotten easier over time, but it still happened, even after getting to know Allison as well as he had. At this point they were almost like siblings, they stuck with one another most of the time and protected one another just as fiercely as the Reese brothers protected one another. Some even thought they were having sex, nothing could be farther from the truth. Allison was an ice queen when it came to romance of any kind and John had made it clear that he was saving himself for another girl.
Allison Young was feisty, funny, and tough as hell itself and it made John wonder from time to time just how much Allison was in Cameron's personality. She was loyal, smart, and commanding when she needed to be, but like everyone else she had her faults. Allison wasn't very strong, and she could be clumsy at times, a bad thing in this environment. She wasn't the best of shots, but she could throw a grenade as well as the rest of them. She was also incredibly beautiful, despite how they lived, she managed to keep herself looking fairly clean. Her beauty made her a target for those who would do dark things to pretty girls. It wasn't uncommon to find people doing that sort of thing, but those who served under Derek Reese took care of dogs like that.
Lucky for her she had John, Kyle, Derek, and even Weaver looking out for her. Why the T-1001 did so was a mystery to him and she had been silent on the subject after she had saved Allison from being ambushed by a T-600 8 months ago.
She wasn't helpless though, she knew karate from an old master who had been with the group before John arrived. He'd found that out when , but she had another thing coming to her when he put her on the floor in a matter of seconds. It was because of his skill that made her want to know this mysterious young man better. So she made a point to hang around him more often.
He hadn't taken kindly to it at first, but she grew on you just like Cameron did and he figured it wouldn't hurt to have a friend.
Speaking of time, he needed to make sure his squad was ready by 0800 hours for a resupply op. A small convoy had been spotted two hours ago and it was following a path that would bring them within a few blocks of the base.
John Connor stood up and brushed some dirt off of his clothes and checked his rifle's iridium cell magazine.
95%, not bad. He checked his side arm before putting it back in it's place. He was about to move his hand away when he sensed someone approaching.
"Ready to go Connor"? Allison came up behind him and slapped him on the shoulder. John rolled his eyes as he moved his hand away from the pistol.
"I could have shot you ya know"? His teasing tone made her snort a laugh.
"Yeah right, I'd taken you down before it even cleared the holster".
"Whatever Young, I seem to remember me putting you on your..."
"Enough you two. Connor, are you ready to roll out yet"? 1st Lieutenant Derek Reese butted in as he made his rounds.
"Almost sir". John said with a crisp salute.
"Then hurry up, that convoy decided to pick up the pace, you leave in five".
"We'll be ready sir". Staff Sergeant Connor said with his authoritative tone had acquired in the last year or so.
"I know you will, good luck". Derek walked off without waiting for a response.
Allison unslung her rifle and was about to say something when she erupted into a coughing fit. Such things weren't uncommon given the environment they lived in, but John noticed it happening more than usual for her.
He patted her on the back, trying to help.
"Allie"? His concern for her was evident in his voice. She shook her head yes as she stood back up and wiped her hands on her pants.
"I'm good John, just give me a sec". She took a swig out of her canteen and smiled. "See, all better".
She too walked off without waiting for a response.
John wasn't stupid, he noticed the red tinge of blood on her hands.
Allison was sick, and there was nothing he could do about it.
They were just about to move out when John noticed the wall behind him ripple slightly. He nodded to let Weaver know that he knew she was with them.
John opened the bunker door and lead his team out into the ruined city, Allison right by his side and Weaver in the rear.
A/N: Alright people, How did you like this chapter?
Since I have a plethora of chapters written and edited
when this chapter reaches 15 reviews I'll post the next within 24 hours.