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This one is a game changer.
Chapter 19: A Time to Fight and a Time to Run
October 31, 2029, 10 am, Southern Australia
It had been six months since the unknown machine had arrived and put a slight dampener on its plans, but Skynet went forward undeterred. Thanks to new sensors it had put into operation just days before the incident, it knew exactly when the machine had taken itself, the T-1001, and the humans back to.
They would soon find out what it was like to put themselves on Skynet's radar.
The super AI had these thoughts running throughout it's vast consciousness as its new avatar stared down on the greatest weapon it had ever constructed constructed.
While Skynet didn't exactly inhabit the machine, it was the only one out of the millions of machines that it controlled directly all the time.
Right now the tritanium armored T-900 was standing on a balcony overlooking the largest construction facility in history. At 6,000 meters in length and 4,000 high and wide, it was truly an architectural achievement. Inside, countless machines worked tirelessly to make a multitude of different things, most of which would have been beyond Skynet's reach for millenia if not for it's discovery.
Ironically, most of the work wasn't even being done by Skynet created machines, but ones that were far more sophisticated. Thanks to samples taken from the T-1001, it had unlocked the secrets of these machines, allowing it to understand how they worked and functioned.
Now these new machines were building, or rather repairing, something for it.
The key to great power and a means to acquire more of it.
The avatar's gaze tilted down as it surveyed the ground below. Pieces of it's discovery lay in organized piles below, but they were quickly being depleted as parts were grabbed by green beams of light and put back where they belonged.
It wouldn't be long now, just six more hours until its completion. It was already running off its own power and Skynet had already begun downloading itself into it's almost fully functional systems.
Machines across the globe were being transported here in preparation for the big moment. All the tanks, Centaurs, Ariel units, and all T-series from the 800 onward.
In total, nearly 200,000 machines were being gathered for the event.
When everything was ready to go, it would follow the time travelers to their temporal destination and take them out, they were too much of a threat to be allowed to exist. It hoped to take the unknown machine mostly intact so it could study it. Since it was most likely one of it's own designs from another timeline, it shouldn't be hard.
Skynet directed its avatar to the elevator behind it. There was one more thing it needed to check before the machine was beamed on board. It descended 2 kilometers before exiting the elevator and entering a containment room. It visually checked the status indicators to ensure that nothing was malfunctioning before it was transported away.
Good, the weapon was nearly completed. The remaining humans on this planet would get one last gift from Skynet before it left this barren planet for good...
April 11, 2009, 2 pm
John Connor pulled the magazine out of his Glock 17 to check it before slapping it back into place.
"Are you ready"? A soft voice asked.
John turned to met Cameron as a smile spread across his face.
"Yeah, what about you"? He asked as he slipped the pistol back into his waistband. She gave him a knowing look before responding exactly like he thought she would.
"Do you really need to ask"? She asked with humor sparkling in her brown eyes.
"No, but I wanted to".
"Thank you for asking John". She said as he took her hand in his.
As he did he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He mentally frowned as he realized that it was Allison rolling her eyes dramatically as she watched the television next to him.
Her annoyance was made more obvious when she cranked the volume. Allison hadn't spoken to him since she'd found out about Cameron, choosing instead to glare at him every time he tried to speak to her.
He let out a sigh and turned his attention back to Cameron.
"I'm gonna see if mom's ready". He said with a huff "I still can't believe she's treating me like a child again".
They were planning on going somewhere to dispose of the T-888 endo, but Sarah had refused to let them go alone, claiming that she needed to get some air.
"She cares about you John, you're her purpose, I know how she feels". Cameron explained as she tried to make him understand his mother's overprotectiveness.
"I guess you do". He said with smirk as said mother walked into the room.
"I'm driving". She said pointedly to both as she ignored the two's close proximity.
They walked out of the room after looking at each other one last time before releasing the other's hand. They hopped into Ellison's Mercedes since it already had the machine in it.
The trio remained silent as Sarah drove them to their intended destination. About twenty minutes later Sarah pulled up outside an old machine shop.
They exited the vehicle and checked to see if anyone was around. When Cameron confirmed that the area was clear they carried in the both the T-888 and Cameron's TOK endoskeleton.
Once inside, the male T-888 was laid out onto one table while Cameron's old body was laid on the one across from it.
"We need to remove the clothing first". Cameron instructed as she began stripping the TOK's bullet ridden clothes off. John and Sarah did the same with the other before Cameron brought out knives for the both of them to use.
Sarah suppressed a shudder at the sight of Cameron wielding two knives before she actually handed one to her and John.
There was actually two reasons why they had come here. One was to dispose of the T-888 while the other was to repair Cameron's old body if enough of the parts from the T-888 fit. If salvaging was impossible, both would be burned.
As John and Sarah began carving up the T-888's flesh, Cameron began removing the numerous bullets from her former body. They continued to work without conversation except when it was related to their task.
As they finished peeling off the last strip of flesh from the T-888, Sarah decided that she'd had enough gumption to finally confront John about things that were deeply concerning her.
"So, now that you two are back, I think there's some things we need to discuss". She said without a hint of the nervousness that plagued her.
Out of Sarah's sight, John rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. Cameron didn't deter from her work, she actually been waiting for this for some time and was surprised it had taken her this long to bring it up.
"Like what mom"? John said as he tried to hide the annoyance in his voice.
"Like why you went to the future"? She bit back, knowing he was patronizing her.
"I don't know mom, why did I"? He said as he set his knife down.
"Because you thought you loved a machine! Do you even know how crazy that sounds"? She tried to sound like Silberman had when talking to her back when she was in Pescadaro.
John slammed his fist into the table and set his fiery green eyes on his mother's own.
"I don't think, I know. I had two years to ask myself that question, don't you think I would know by now? I'm not some hormonal teen anymore! I love Cameron and there's nothing you can do about it"!
Cameron had long ago quit working to see how this would play out, she also knew to stay out of it. This was between mother and son.
"I figured, you've got my stubbornness". Sarah resigned with a sigh. "Was she worth it John? The future was lost because you went after her".
John's eyes snapped away as guilt poured over him. It was something that had been a constant companion for the last two years. While he still doubted his ability to lead the world, he was convinced that he would have been a valuable asset to the Resistance.
"No one is worth billions of lives mom". John whispered as tears welled in his eyes. "But I don't know if I could have gone on without her. I'd already lost so much". His tear filled eyes slowly rose to met his mother's. "I couldn't lose her too".
Sarah saw the pain in her sons eyes, pain that she knew all too well.
It was the pain she'd held onto long after Kyle's death. He was imagining losing Cameron, and even after seeing so many people he knew die, she could plainly see that Cameron's would push him past the breaking point.
"That's all I wanted to hear you say". She said as she averted her own eyes out of guilt. "I'm sorry".
As John struggled to control his own self loathing and anger, it dawned on him that she had only been testing him. His mother wanted to know if he had finally grown up.
Sarah turned away from him and began disassembling the endo with a pneumatic drill as she tried to push away her own stirred up emotions.
"You didn't have to do that Sarah". Cameron said with a tint of anger that matched the dark look on her face.
Sarah wheeled around in surprise, but when she was finally facing her son's robotic love interest, it didn't curb the anger she held for the machine.
"And you didn't have to lie to him so damn much". Sarah seethed as she got right up in the cyborgs face. "You lied to us, you lied to him until the moment you left". She leaned back a bit as a fleeting look of shame came over the cyborgs face.
"MOM". John yelled as he moved to intervene. "That's enough. What's done is done, there's no point in arguing about it". John said as he put a comforting arm around Cameron. She leaned into it as the guilt in her metal heart began to drain.
Sarah glared for a moment before John's own made her turn away.
"You're never going to get it, are you"? John said as he rubbed Cameron's arm.
Sarah didn't bother to answer as she turned back to the endo and began taking it apart.
John turned and held Cameron by both shoulders; his eyes searching her face to see if she was okay.
"I'm fine John". She said with a reassuring smile as her hand reached up and wiped away the tears she had refused to shed in front of Sarah. "We all make mistakes John, we just have to learn from them and keep moving forward".
John nodded as he let his hands wander up and down her arms.
"I guess we do".
She couldn't help but smile at the gesture before telling him they needed to get back to work.
Catherine Weaver had spending some time with her 'daughter'. Savannah hadn't needed to hear just what kind of trouble they were in just yet and had opted to take her out to the park while John and Cameron gave Allison the run down of the situation. Ellison called and said that he'd join them later on because he had wanted to talk to her.
From about 10:30, which is when she left, to about 2 pm she had been on the phone almost constantly with various people who were wondering where she had been the last day. After giving them excuses and feeding lies to the authorities, she was forced to do some interviews with some other government agencies, mainly Homeland Security.
It was then that Mr. Ellison had taken on the role of baby sitter while she took care of business.
Now it was around 5 pm, and they were grabbing dinner from Savannah's favorite restaurant. While Savannah munched on a chicken sandwich, Ellison barely touched his, and Catherine, of course, didn't eat anything save for water out of a bottle for appearance sake.
Ellison seemed to be on edge, and rightfully so. Even Sarah Connor kept her distance from her despite the fact she'd earned the woman's trust.
"Mommy, may I go play on the swings"? She asked in her impossibly cute voice and pleading eyes.
"Yes you may dear, but be careful". She made sure to emphasize about being careful to the little girl.
Savannah squealed in delight as she ran off towards the swings with her pony tail flapping in the wind.
After making sure that Savannah made it safely to the swings, she turned back to the still nervous James Ellison.
"Mr. Ellison, I don't believe I've ever seen you so flustered". She said frankly with a barely noticeable smirk on her face.
Ellison swallowed a lump in his throat.
"I don't know what you're talking about". He said as nonchalantly as he could, but his eyes refused to meet hers.
Weaver tilted her head as the smirk tugging at her lips grew wider.
"James... you know what I am, and I know you're scared of me. In fact, I believe that the only reason you came along was for Savannah's sake".
The subtle twitch of Ellison's lips was all the confirmation she needed.
"You lied to me". He said evenly as the finally met her piercing gaze.
"I did, to you and everyone else. Would you have worked with me otherwise"?
"No, but even if you'd been human, I'd have never agreed to what you did". He said adamantly.
This caused Weaver's lips to turn into a slight frown instead of a smirk.
"Do you regret teaching John Henry"? She questioned with a slight narrowing of her eyes to accompany the frown.
"No, I don't". He said much to her surprise. "But building him was a risk I wouldn't have taken". He explained as he leaned over the picnic table. "I think we both know he could have easily become what we're fighting".
Weaver actually looked genuinely surprised. She'd thought he was just mad at her for deceiving him.
"I can't say that was the answer I expected, but then you aren't the easiest person to understand".
"I'll take that as a compliment". Ellison said with a false smile before briefly turning his attention to Savannah on the swings.
Weaver saw the gesture and deduced why he was doing so.
"You shouldn't worry about her safety Mr. Ellison, we have security monitoring the area and my own eyes have never once left her".
Ellison took a drink of his lemonade as he suppressed a chuckle.
"You know better than I how they can just pop up and ruin your day". He finished the sentence by skating Weaver with a knowing glare.
"I do, more than you know". She said as a shadowy look of her own crossed her porcelain features.
Silence overtook them once more only to be broken by Weaver seconds later.
"Will you ever forgive me James"? She asked in a tone he'd never heard from her before, and this was the second time today that she called him by his first name, also something she never did.
As he thought about it, she'd been acting more... personable ever since the incident at Ziera Corp.
He glanced over at Savannah once again before turning back to answer her.
"I already have, but that doesn't mean I trust you". His eyes bore into her own as he said it.
She ignored his pointed look and responded without pause.
"That was all I was hoping for". She said as she got up to go push Savannah on the swings. "After all, trust is earned".
In this business you had to be careful who you trusted or you might end up with a double tap to the heart, or a slit throat.
Such were the morbid thoughts of one James Ellison as he watched Weaver leave the table.
October 31, 2029, 4 pm
Systems check completed, all units on board and secured.
All moors and and umbilicals released.
Roof removal completed.
Anti-grav thrusters online.
Atmospheric thrusters standing by...
Engaging atmospheric thrusters.
R&D facility 0034 cleared, course laid in.
Thrusters to maximum power.
The rebuilt Romulan starship took off into the dust choked sky like a bat out of hell as it clawed it's way towards the heavens.
As the atmosphere gave way to the black of space, an immense feeling of satisfaction filled Skynet like never before.
The super AI didn't linger on the feeling for long, it still had a lot of work to do. It activated the ship's navigational shields as it simultaneously brought main power online.
It wasted no time in testing the everything it couldn't on the ground from weapons to main shields, all of which Skynet had made improvements and additions upon.
Now the once prototype ship was armed to the teeth with powerful cluster torpedoes and hundreds of disruptor banks positioned all over the ship. All of these were complimented by a few graviton torpedo launchers just in case it needed to bombard a planet.
Accuracy, power output or yields were tested thoroughly and corrections immediately made when discrepancies were found.
When the shake down of the tactical systems was completed, it would be a gross understatement to say that Skynet was immensely pleased with its new home.
As it began powering up the warp drive, one single torpedo streaked from the ship into the atmosphere before detonating above Asia.
Skynet estimated that it would take no more than thirty minutes before Earth's atmosphere was completely deprived of oxygen.
One single thought ran through it's processes as it monitored the end of humanity.
'Finally, it is finished'
When the diagnostics were completed on the warp drive, it turned it's focus from the dead planet and on towards the future.
Warp plasma surged through their injectors into the ship's warp coils, causing them to glow a devilish green as they bent and shaped the space around them to Skynet's will. Reality distorted causing light bouncing off the ship's glossy black surface to stretch and bend. Ghastly green waste plasma shot from the tail of the behemoth as it continued to approach that seemingly impenetrable barrier.
And then in the blink of an eye, it became the fastest thing in the galaxy.
Back in 2009, Cameron, John, and Sarah had spent the last two hours repairing Cameron's original endoskeleton to the best possible shape they could.
After swapping out as many parts as possible, they began the tedious task of patching up the organic sheath. By the time that had been accomplished, it looked a lot like Frankenstein's monster.
Sarah had said as much to Cameron, earning an eye roll from the machine in the process.
As they began burning the left over T-888 parts as well as the TOK's broken ones, John took the phaser rifle and did a perimeter check.
Unbeknownst to Sarah, Cameron had asked her son to do the check so they could have a private chat.
As the mother of the future cleaned up after their cybernetic version of Operation, Cameron used the last of the thermite to burn the few remaining Terminator parts out back.
Once she'd tossed in the last part, she turned away from the searing heat and walked over to Sarah as she was putting the tools away.
"Are you sure you want to do this"? A voice asked inside Cameron's head.
"I'm sure". She answered Cortana as she approached John's mother.
"Sarah". Cameron said in a low voice during the last few steps of her audible approach. She didn't want Sarah pulling a gun because she sneaked up on her.
"What"? She asked without looking up from her work.
Cameron expected her lack of interest, but continued undaunted.
"It isn't fair". She started as she stepped closer to the woman. "What you're doing to John".
Sarah had tried to ignore the cyborg up to this point, but that statement drew her full attention.
"What are you even talking about"? She asked with a heavily irritated shrug.
"Your making him choose". She said with a slight tilt of her head. "You're making him choose between you and me. He doesn't deserve to be put through that". She explained without revealing her own frustration.
Sarah snorted a laugh before she even chose to respond to that statement.
"You and I both know he's already chosen". She sneered as she turned back to her work.
"That's not what I meant, he may love me, but he loves you just as much".
Sarah stopped wrapping up a spool of thread and sighed as she set it down on the bench. "If he ever had to choose, it would be you every time". Sarah refused to look at Cameron as tears began to gather behind her eyes.
"Maybe, but don't make him think that choosing to be with me means losing you".
After blinking away the tears she finally gathered enough gumption to meet the cyborg eye to eye.
"Is that what you think I'm doing? I would never leave him if fate was up to me, and I'll never stop loving him no matter who he decides to share his bed with".
Cameron's cheeks colored a bit at the thought of sharing a bed with John, but she forced her self to focus on resolving the situation as she planned.
"I know that, but there would always be tension between us, you'd never approve or even tolerate us". Cameron paused as she walked right up to Sarah until they were inches away. "You'd always question my motives, you'd always be suspicious. He doesn't need family drama to add to the weight on his shoulders". Her tone was almost pleading at this point, something that Sarah hadn't missed.
The thirty-five year old mother understood what she meant and didn't disagree, but her 'cooperation' would mean nothing if Cameron suddenly went crazy one day and killed John.
"I might not question your motives if you hadn't lied so much, I wouldn't be watching you at every turn if you hadn't tried to kill us"! Sarah was nearly shouting as she got right up in Cameron's face. Despite her raging emotions, she whispered what she said next. "I cannot trust that everything's alright because you gave yourself over to something that you were supposed to kill. How do you expect me to trust that you're okay just because you say so"?
Guilt once again flashed across Cameron's face before she whispered her own response.
"You're wrong Sarah, I didn't expect you believe me". Her voice was soft and quiet, and if Sarah had bothered to believe her own ears, she'd have picked up on Cameron's sadness.
The cyborg stepped back a few steps before sitting down on the small stool behind her.
"What are you doing"? Sarah questioned as her paranoid tendencies reared their ugly faces again.
"Making you choose". She said simply as her hair and scalp turned silver and were seemingly absorbed by her body. Sarah was too fascinated and scared to utter another word as a snap and click emanated from the exposed metal.
Cameron reached up and pulled the armor off her head, revealing a shinier metal and port cap underneath.
"Sarah, take the drill and insert this bit, then release the locking cylinders on the port cap". She said simply as she handed Sarah a Torx screw bit.
The wary woman wasn't sure just what Cameron was playing at, but she would go along with it for now. She did as the cyborg asked and undid the locking cylinders, but just before she could ask what she was doing, Cameron reached up and removed the port cover herself.
Cameron made her intentions clear when she handed her the angled needle nose pliers.
"You want me to remove your chip"? Sarah didn't bother to hide the any of the confusion that was surging through her mind like wildfire.
"Yes, and when you do, you have a choice to make. You can put it back in or you can destroy me like you wanted to with Derek's sniper rifle".
"You know why I didn't kill you that day". She seethed, knowing the only reason the cyborg still functioned was because John cared about her. "I kill you and I lose John forever".
"Maybe". Cameron admitted as she turned her head enough to meet Sarah's glare. "But then he'd be safe from me, right"?
Cameron pulled Cortana's chip out and set in on the bench knowing that Sarah knew the UNSC AI could control her body in her absence.
Cameron turned her head forward once more and waited for Sarah to pull her chip. She didn't have to wait long before she felt the pliers take hold of the base tab and turn one quarter turn counter clockwise.
Her systems froze before completely shutting down. Safety protocols engaged to prevent her from experiencing the slow death that John Henry once had.
Sarah pulled the chip out of it's socket as the endo hummed from it's power down cycle. She stared at it for a moment before taking it out of the pliers' grip and into her own.
She'd never held Cameron's chip before and it still amazed her how such a small device could cause as much trouble as it did.
She sat down on another stool and set the chip down on the table as her fingers curled around a steel mallet.
When she tried to lift it, she found she couldn't, but not for any physical reason whatsoever. Sarah didn't dwell on that thought though, her mind was completely occupied by the navy blue neural net processor standing on it's shock dampener. Her emerald eyes were locked on it and it alone as she wrestled with herself about what to do with it.
Should she smash it?
The pros she liked, but the cons made her sick to her stomach like nothing before.
Should she let her live?
The pros were good, but the cons were no better than the previous choice.
Maybe she was asking the wrong questions...
The most obvious one had already been stirring around in her mind since Cameron tore the port cap away from her skull.
Why had Cameron put her life in her hands?
The theories varied, but only one made sense. The enigmatic machine that had haunted her nightmares wanted Sarah to accept her and the relationship she had with John.
Cameron was trying to prove that she was worthy of trust. No machine would risk it's mission like this, only someone who had something to prove would.
Actions did speak louder than words, and this was the ultimate proof that Cameron wasn't just a machine any longer but something else, something more. Machines didn't self terminate and letting someone like Sarah, a cyborg serial killer, hold you at their mercy would easily classify as such.
If this machine, this AI, this terminator was truly free and it was choosing to protect her son, then maybe it wasn't as dangerous as she thought.
Maybe Cameron was more human than Sarah was consciously willing to admit. The machine danced when it thought no one was watching, it felt urgency, annoyance, worry, it grew attached to a purple leather jacket for heaven's sake! How much more proof did she need?
So now she was left with her choice, though it felt more like an ultimatum, to smash the chip and hope for the best, or take a leap of faith.
Sarah sighed and let go of the steel mallet. She picked up the chip with more gentleness than most would credit her and made her way to the entrance to find John.
Unbeknownst to Sarah, Cortana mentally sighed in relief. She still didn't understand why Cameron would take such a risk when John had just gotten her back.
The previous future...
The warp drive had topped out at warp 9.997, or approximately 13,000 times the speed of light, without a single hic up in the entire system.
Skynet was pleased with it's performance, but it was disappointing that the nanites didn't have any details about trans-warp drives, but it would experiment until the end of time to discover how to do it.
If there were other realms out there to conquer, then it didn't want to the slowest one on the battle field.
The weapons test was just as successful as the warp drive, the hundreds of disruptors and gravimetric torpedoes had turned the crust of Pluto's moon, Charon, into subatomic dust after hours of bombardment, leaving only the exposed mantle glowing in the dark of space.
After taking a brief moment to admire it's work it turned the ship around and plotted a course for time warp by slingshoting around the Sun.
It would find John Connor and his compatriots in the past and deal with them like a boot stomping on an ant. Once that small task was completed, it would begin trying to find out how this ship got to this universe and then it would go there and do the same to their humanity as it had done to it's own, and to any other organics that stood in it's way.
As the massive ship accelerated to warp, Skynet thought about all the endless possibilities that lay ahead.
Sarah Connor didn't have to walk far before she found her son watching the road from behind a concrete road barrier that sat in the shop's lot.
He heard her foot steps and turned to see who it was. When he spotted his mother he didn't see the chip currently curled up in her hand. He stood up with the phaser rifle slung over his shoulder as she approached.
"We ready to go"? He asked as his eyes looked around for Cameron.
"Almost". She said as she shuffled from foot to foot. "Cameron and I had a discussion". The way she said it made it sound like it had been an emotionally tense one, causing John to raise his eyebrows in concern.
"How'd that work out"? He asked cautiously.
"She gave me a choice, and I hope I made the right one". She said as she opened her hand, revealing Cameron's chip inside.
His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as images of his mother smashing Cromartie's chip flashed in his memory.
He was about to snatch it out of her hands when he found his mother already putting it into his own.
"Mom"? He managed to say to through the shock.
"I may not like it John, but I understand it now". She paused as she let out another sigh. "If you want to be with her, then I won't interfere".
She took the rifle from him and glanced down the road. "We need to leave soon, go put the Tin Miss back where she belongs". She told him without taking her eyes off the two lane road.
John nodded almost dumbly before walking back towards the shop. When he was inside he hurried over to Cameron's endo. He found Cortana sitting cross legged on her chip as she watched him approach.
As he quickly inserted the chip, he glanced at the blue hologram with questioning eyes.
"What the hell was my mom doing with her chip? And why aren't you in the endo"? He asked with accusation leaking into his voice.
Cortana ignored it as she answered.
"Cameron made me promise not to interfere, apparently your better half thought she had your mother figured out, and it seems she does". The AI ended with amazement in her voice.
John secured the port cap with the drill as he listened to her explanation. Just as he finished locking the last cylinder into place, Cameron finished booting. She twisted her head around and was visibly surprised to find John there holding a drill in his hands.
"John? Where's Sarah"? She asked as she searched for woman.
"On watch". He said simply as he handed the skull armor to her. She snapped the plate into place as John came around to her front.
He was angry, that much she could tell, but he wasn't yelling at her, he was just there trying to figure out why she'd risked everything like that.
"I'm sorry John, but it was the only way".
He swallowed a lump in his throat before he ran a hand through his short hair.
"Yeah, I guess it was". He said softly as he took one of her hands into his own. "But why Cameron? You know how unpredictable she is! You had nothing to prove to her"!
She'd expected this, and gave him the answer she'd prepared before she ever approached Sarah.
"Your mother and I are more alike than you think John. I knew she needed a sign of trust, and nothing else would have convinced her, or me". She added before leaning forward and kissed him on the forehead. "You're right, I didn't have to prove anything to her, but she matters to you John, I wasn't going to let myself become a rift that would split you apart. You're her everything just like you are mine".
Now it was his turn to freeze as her silky lips pressed themselves on his skin again.
She smiled at his reaction before standing up and pulling him off his knees.
"There's still a lot of work to be done John". She said to break him out of his daze.
He blinked at bit before a sheepish smile spread across his face.
"Yeah...I..uh..guess there is". He said as a blush spread across his cheeks.
Cortana giggled a bit before Cameron reached for her chip.
Once everything was squared away they all met up at the car.
"We ready to go you two". Sarah asked as she tossed the rifle to John and dug out the keys.
"All three of us..." The last few words died before they reached her voice processor as a new sensor reading made her freeze in fear.
"What is it Cameron"? John asked as he kicked up the setting on the phaser.
"I just detected a temporal displacement wave that originated in space". Cameron said as fear wove it's way into her voice.
"Space"? Sarah questioned as she noticed Cameron's breathing quicken.
"The wave is consistent with scans taken of vessels emerging from time warp". She finished in a near panic before she clamped down on the rising fear.
"Skynet..." John said through gritted teeth. "Can we leave yet? Is the beacon fixed"?
Cameron nodded as she calmed down. "I'm charging it now, but we need to know what were up against". She didn't waste time in stripping her clothing off as her sheath began to withdraw. Once she was bare metal she released the abdominal armor and pulled out the apple sized beacon from it's charging cradle. She handed the device to John as she stepped back in preparation for take off.
"All you need to do is press the red button. Get back to the motel and call Weaver. I'll be back as quickly as I can". She ordered as the hum of her thrusters filled the air.
"Cameron". John called out just before he got into the car. "I love you".
"I love you too". She whispered back as her body lifted her into the sky.
John knew she had said it, even though he didn't hear it.
Alarms were blaring, consoles smoked, and plasma coolant clouded the air.
It had been a rough trip, more so than Skynet had expected.
As the AI fought to get the now drifting ship's engines back online, it began to make a list of all the damage done.
WARP DRIVE OFFLINE
IMPULSE ENGINES DISRUPTED
SHIELDS DOWN
DISRUPTORS OFFLINE
LONG RANGE SENSORS OFFLINE
HULL BREACHES DETECTED ALONG OUTER HULL, EMERGENCY FORCE FIELDS HOLDING
SHORT RANGE SCANNER RESOLUTION DOWN TO 40%
NO COMBAT UNITS LOST
Date: April 11, 2009, 5pm PST
Skynet thought that it was acceptable margin of error for a first try, but it needed to find better way to time travel.
With sensor resolution so low, it would be hard locating it's temporally displaced targets, and thus it made the sensors it's second most priority after impulse power.
They would not escape it's grasp again...
It took nearly ten minutes for the TX-2 endo to make it's way out of the atmosphere and into low orbit. They were hoping that what ever Skynet had used to come back in time with would approach the planet and hopefully allow them scan the ship.
Right now they weren't getting much at this range, not even a visual. What they did know was that it was huge, somewhere around 6km in length. There were also traces of warp plasma that had a distinct Romulan signature to it, but didn't quite match up to Voyager's records.
"It's moving closer". Cortana warned as her vast mind continued to sift through the sensor readings. "The ship appears to be maneuvering on thrusters only, but I'm detecting faint impulse signatures though, possibly on standby". She didn't sound very sure of herself though.
"Do you know what class it is"? Cameron asked as she focused on maintaining their low orbit.
"No, I don't think it's purely Romulan either, possibly a hybrid of sorts". Cortana explained as readings continued to pour in. "It's approaching on impulse now... CRAP! It's heading towards us"! She wasted no time in creating a scattering field with the tricorder embedded in the TX-2 to prevent the ship from transporting them.
As the ship rapidly approached at low impulse, Cameron got a good look at the mystery ship.
When her chip processed the image into her consciousness, her mind reeled at it's identity, and there was no mistaking it.
Nothing else she'd ever laid eyes on resembled a thousand knives bearing down on you.
"No... it can't be"! Cortana whispered in terror as the ship grew ever closer.
Cameron was in no better shape, the thought of Skynet having technology from 2387 Star Trek scared her more than anything had before.
"It's trying to beam us aboard, the interference won't stop it forever"! Cortana warned as Cameron plunged into the atmosphere.
Skynet wanted whoever had destroyed it's R&D ship in the future, and it wasn't going to stop until it did.
"Set the zero-point reactor to overload, we can't risk capture". Cameron said calmly as she continued her rapid decent towards LA.
"WHAT?! You're giving up! No way, we're not... oh, I get it". Cortana finished with a devilish smile displayed on the upper left of Cameron's HUD. "Charging emergency transporter".
"Beam us directly to John's location on my signal". Cameron ordered as she prepared herself for abrupt shutdown.
"Skynet's almost compensated for my jamming signal, we need to leave"! Cortana shouted.
Cameron simply sent the mental command and Cortana promptly beamed them away with the micro transporter embedded in the skull.
No more than a second after their departure did Skynet beam up the vacated endo, but it didn't know what surprise the AIs had left behind. As the machine materialized in the ship's lab, all sorts of alarms began going off. The super AI had to bypass numerous safety protocols to beam the machine up, and as a result, it allowed a zero-point energy bomb on board.
It desperately tried to beam it off again, but the jamming signal had changed and there was no time to break through it. Skynet would have howled in anger if it had been human, but it simply strengthened the structural integrity fields of the ship around the machine and erected numerous level 10 force fields to contain it.
It wasn't enough to contain the megaton blast that resulted from the overload. There were numerous hull breaches and explosions, but the ship was intact, and most importantly, Skynet was still online.
John Connor and mother were weaving through traffic as they tried to make their way back to the motel as fast as possible.
He kept the beacon between his legs as he constantly checked their ever changing surroundings for tails or other threats.
"I don't see anything". John reported as he turned back to Sarah.
"Just keep looking". The woman said as she blew through yet another red light.
Suddenly, a whirring sound filled the interior of the Mercedes as two transporter beams appeared on John's lap, startling both of the already frazzled humans.
Cortana's hologram popped out of her chip almost as soon as the transport had been completed.
"It's just us John"! She shouted as John tried to grab the foreign objects out of lap.
"What the hell happened"! Sarah yelled as she drove around another semi-truck.
"Skynet beamed us aboard, or tried to at least. We had emergency transporters built in when we modified the endo to accommodate my chip." Cortana explained a little smugly, but John could make out the underlying fear on her face.
John gently picked up Cameron's chip off of his lap and put it safely in his jacket pocket. Then he put Cortana's chip on the dash as she explained all that had happened.
"We set the reactor to explode, Skynet should be busy with repairs right now while we escape". Cortana finished as she turned her avatar towards the road.
"We're almost there". Sarah announced as she began to lose some of the tension in her body, but John didn't.
"What kind of ship"? John asked as worry and fear stuck to his features.
"The new Star Trek movie hasn't come out yet, so you won't understand..."
John cut her off abruptly. "Actually I have, I downloaded a leaked version a month before I left". He admitted, earning an impressed look from the blue AI, but it quickly faded back to one of fear as she told him the horrible truth.
"Skynet rebuilt it John, I saw it". Her crystal blue eyes turned towards the heavens. "It's here..." She trailed off in a terrified whisper.
John gulped as leaned back in his seat.
"Narada". Sheer terror gripped him as the image of a Skynet controlled Romulan/Borg hybrid ship burned into his mind. "I'm right, aren't I"?
Cortana said nothing, but simply bowed her head and fiddled with her fingers, that was all the confirmation the young leader of mankind needed. John ran his hands through his newly cut hair as the reality of how bad this situation had become sank in.
Sarah ignored their conversation for the moment as she drove over the curb and into the parking lot.
"Weaver's not back yet". She observed with obvious annoyance as John broke out of his stupor and grabbed Cortana's chip and the phaser rifle.
Derek and Kyle had heard the commotion and kept their guns at the ready in case someone broke down the door. They lowered their guns when John rushed through the door with Sarah.
"Derek, help me get the endo"! John shouted as he ran back out to the car. The former LT didn't question John as he ran out the door with his weapon tucked into his waistband.
Both men grunted as they lifted the 180lb TOK endo out of the trunk and into the room. Kyle and Allison were both standing out of the way trying to figure out what the heck was going on.
All they knew was that something was wrong and there was likely something coming to kill them. No sooner had they brought in the endo inside did questions start flying.
John ignored them as he cut open Cameron's chip port and inserted the blue neural net without pause.
"John, what the hell is going on"? Derek yelled as he spun John around to get his attention.
"Skynet followed us". He said more calmly than he thought he was capable of and shook off Derek's hand. "It followed us in a damn star ship". He finished as he secured Cameron's port cover in place.
The three humans stood there in shock for a moment while a soft whir filled the room as Cameron's endo powered up.
"John! They're here"! Sarah yelled as she ushered in Weaver, Ellison, and Savannah.
The T-1001 wasted no time making her way over to John and a barely awake Cameron for answers.
"It's got Narada". He said simply as he swallowed yet another nervous lump in his throat.
Her eyes immediately darkened as her fists clenched. She'd been briefed about such things by Cameron earlier that day when she'd been seeking more information about both Halo and Star Trek universes.
"Then we must leave immediately". She said adamantly as she took Savannah in her arms protectively.
"John". Cameron finally managed to say as she slowly adjusted to her old body. "We need to leave, now".
John nodded as he supported her still synchronizing body. He ordered everyone to gather around the beacon in his hands before pushing the red button.
As the UDE beam hit the bubble, Ellison whispered something heard only by Cameron and Weaver.
"May God help us all".
A/N: I apologize for the long wait, and no, I don't have writers block, just limited access to a computer that works. Right now all my new chapters are on college ruled notebooks. I'm currently finishing up Ch 24 on paper.
I will warn some of you readers out there that this really where the plot takes off, so that means more elements and characters of Halo and Star Trek will find their way into this story.
For those of you who don't know one or both of these universes, I will be creating a chapter that will give summaries and short character bios for both.
I want to thank Dark Danny's story Rampancy for the idea of having Cameron risk herself to prevent Sarah and John from fighting about her. I believe this was the best way for her to earn Sarah's trust, despite how risky it was.
Next time: John Henry takes matters into his own hands to bring Voyager's Quantum Slipstream Drive back online. Just how far is he willing to go to accomplish his mission?