Terminator: Survival Instinct

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction' started by nx1701g, Jan 25, 2009.

  1. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    [​IMG]

    Following their attempts to assassinate Resistance General John Connor, Skynet killing machines Allison Young and Cameron Reese have been captured and are being reprogrammed by the Resistance to be soldiers in the War Against the Machines. For the men and women of the Resistance though this prospect has brought nothing but strife. Some see this as a bold new beginning where one time enemies have become trusted allies against Skynet; the majority, however, see this as nothing more than a new front in the war with the machines living among them waiting for the perfect time to strike. Complicating matters is General Connor himself. The Hero of the Resistance, General Connor has isolated himself from his staff and surrounded himself with the reprogrammed machines – trusting their counsel over that of long time brothers in arms. Tempers are at the boiling point and a single spark could bring the forces of TechCOM to their knees.

    As the battle on the homefront rages, newly promoted Captain Earl Wise and the reformed Four Horsemen have been given their first mission. They are to infiltrate and destroy a Skynet Hunter Killer Factory recently discovered in the outskirts of what remains of Los Angeles. However, things are nothing like they seem especially when Captain Wise faces an unexpected nemesis from his past who knows him better than he knows himself.

    The exciting sequel to TERMINATOR: IDENTITY CRISIS coming soon!
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2009
  2. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Palmdale was a beautiful little city. With only a little over 100,000 people living in it, Palmdale was removed from the hustle and bustle that was La La Land by the San Gabriel Mountains. It was a fast growing city, but not too fast that it lost its charm. As the sun shown down on the world of the city it seemed like paradise itself. Like an idyllic Eden given to the men and women of humanity to live out their days in peace.

    Not that Allison Young understood what the concept of Eden was. It was a story that was told to her in Sunday School Class with Mrs. McCluskey or when she was staying with her while Mommy and Daddy were at work. Allison’s father was an architect who worked on designing some of the most gorgeous places that you would ever see. When he was home with Allison and her sister, Daddy taught her how to draw. She wasn’t as good as her father when it came to drawing, but in her mind they were just as amazing. Daddy said she had a future in something called abstract art.

    Allison loved spending time with her father; though it was her mother who she felt the best connection with. Mommy and she would sit at that big black thing (mommy called it a Piano) and they would push on the white bars for hours. From the things she called keys noise would come that made her feel good. Her mother – Claire – said that it was something called Chopin. They played together with Allison giving her own take on the classics by pressing those white buttons like mommy. As time went on her mother would play more and more songs from her studies as a music teacher at something called Antelope Valley Community College. It sounded impressive but Allison didn’t understand what that was either; although, beautiful things must come from there with people like Chopin, Mozart, and Rossini working there with mommy to make such amazing things. Allison would like to meet them but her mother told her that it wouldn’t be possible. That made her cry, but a hug reassured her.

    Today was just like any other day in her life. She got up and was taken over to Mrs. McCluskey’s house when her mother left for work. Daddy always left earlier than Mommy did and always came home later, but he always greeted her with a very loving hug and kissed her on her cheek when he came through the door that made up for it. While her mommy was at school Allison watched Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street with Mrs. McCluskey before her babysitter read her a story from something called the bible. Allison didn’t understand why this big book didn’t have any pictures like hers did; however, looking at all the writing with her sitter made her feel like a big person. They turned to the last chapter of the big book and read something called the story of Revelation.

    Never was Allison so afraid. When she was put down for her nap so that Mrs. McCluskey could have her private time Allison couldn’t fall asleep. Her younger sister was fast asleep beside her which made Ally envious of her sister’s luck. The young girl didn’t understand most of what her babysitter said, but there was something about the looks of the older lady’s face that gave Allison pause and scared her. Why would God punish people like that? Why would he bring civilization – whatever that was – to an end?

    All Allison wanted was her mommy – though that wouldn’t be for a while. Mommy and Daddy were going on something called an Anniversary Dinner so she and sister would be staying with Mrs. McCluskey until almost bedtime. Allison’s older sister came over as soon as she got off of the school bus and that made everything seem okay again. It was a fun day and they were having cut up hot dogs and french fries for dinner. As Mrs. McCluskey set out their meal a distant rumble of thunder roared near the mountain.

    “What the devil?” The older woman’s voice was frightened. “It’s not supposed to rain today.” She told sister to watch them for a minute while she went outside to see what was the matter. Allison wasn’t thinking much of it and was enjoying the ketchup soaked piece of hot dog when she saw Mrs. McCluskey come running through the door.

    “Get to the basement!” She kept yelling. Through the windows Allison could see what looked like clouds rising up from the ground behind the mountain. The blue sky became as black as coal and the roars kept getting louder and louder. It looked like a picture from the story Mrs. McCluskey had read her earlier.

    All Allison could do was call out with tear filled eyes and quivering lips was, “Mommy.”


    “… This thing is amazing,” said a harsh male voice from no where. “Perfectly crafted, enhanced defenses, it’s just perfect.”

    It was in the darkness that Allison Young was finding strength. Her field of vision was clouded by an unending night. A series of beeps, clicks, and whistles played through her head unheard by anyone but her. Slowly text began to appear among the dark with a schematic of her endoskeleton appearing on the right hand side with system power generation and allocation on the left. Perhaps, with some work, she could restore her systems at least partially.

    “What you call perfect I call junk,” chastised a feminine sounding voice. “Look at that thing. It’s in pieces. How could we ever use that thing for anything other than a paperweight?”

    The screens were still dark. Allison’s optical sensors were still functional if underpowered. There were a series of overloads to circuits inside her head but she could work around those malfunctions.

    “Have faith,” came a third voice (another man). “We’ve been in worse shape and got those things to work before.”

    Success! The clouds before her eyes disappeared revealing a group of people hovering over her with different pieces of technology. Her visual data screen flashed proximity alert warnings in red among the full colored FOV. A T-600 stood in the back holding a plasma blaster and stared at her. She tried to connect to him but her transceiver was offline. Human tampering no doubt.

    The first man, who was closest to her, was cutting into her skull and trying to connect a computer to her memory port, “And this’ll be no different. She’s the same as any of the others that we’ve reprogrammed. Her face may be hard for us to handle, but we’ll get over it. After all we were able to reprogram the other.”

    Reprogram? No they couldn’t be allowed to do that. They couldn’t be allowed to change the fundamentals of who she was. Skynet help her! She knew calling out to her father would be futile without the transceiver, but she couldn’t help but try. Alerts just kept flashing informing her repeatedly that the assembly was offline. It was impossible. She needed to fight back but restraints were in place.

    “Is she awake?” It was the third male.

    With the power drain being so severe her abilities were extremely limited – more than ever before. Why had C715.P turned on her? They had a plan and it would have allowed them to destroy John Connor and help Skynet to win the war. Instead she fired on her and disabled her systems with one well placed shot. She was a traitor and needed to be destroyed. Fortunately the humans seemed to have been doing that for her. Across from her she saw a mirrored image with more technicians hovering over her sister unit. They were busily working on her. She was a convert, a conscripted collaborator. She would need to be destroyed.

    “Heavens no,” said the first man as he pulled out a USB Cable. He threw a thumb back toward Cameron, “That one disabled her power systems.”

    Allison was able to access the mobility subroutines that allowed her movement. The tactical systems were down and she couldn’t pack a good punch against these enemies, but she could at least take out a few of them. She began transferring power.

    The woman approached, “Still though I’d prefer a little more than just your opinion. These things are incredibly adept at coming back from the dead and biting us on the ass.”

    “Would you two relax already?” The first began typing on a Tablet PC. “We’re almost there and this thing’ll need major repairs before it’ll be able to move. I’m going to… Oh my…”

    Allison had completed her power transfers. A gloved hand shot forward and grabbed hold of the human man’s neck like a mechanical vise. She pulled him closer and squeezed her fingers together. The sound of cracking bone filled the air and crimson blood could be seen coming around the fingers. Allison couldn’t feel any of it. The tactile sensors were offline, but soon she would be too. For a moment the replica wished she would have been given a self termination implant.

    Ahead of them people were scrambling to shut her down. They were pulling power circuits and ripping at the infiltrator. Alarms rang inside Allison’s systems and warning lights flashed on her heads up display. Internal systems were compromised. They had reached into her torso and were trying to disable her power generators. Defense systems were not functional. She had no recourse. There was no defense. She watched as they pulled her primary power cell from her chest and stared at it. The power allocation monitor on the left of her vision plummeted down like a ton of bricks. Her vision began to roll and the computer screens went to static. She was offline again and a victim to whatever the humans wished.


    In what seemed like a second her vision restored itself. Lines of text scrolled through on her vision as the primary systems and secondary systems loaded and came online. Normally all of those lines would terminate with ONLINE; although, this time that wasn’t the case for the majority. FAIL was what she saw more than any other time in her entire synthetic life. Not even the cerebral syncording of Allison Young was online. The security systems told her something she never hoped to see: intrusion detected. As the images of the external environment began to take shape before her she saw more technicians hovering over her and understood entirely. What the technician she killed had been working on was achieved. The humans had penetrated her neural network and had full access to her systems. They were working on what she feared: a complete reprogramming and conscription into the Human Resistance. She knew that the humans were using her brothers and sisters in such a manner, but she always hoped never to experience it. Why didn’t Skynet allow her to self terminate? Why did he allow her to be captured? Why did Cameron do this to her? At least she was in the same boat as humans would say.

    “Danny,” said one of the techs, “She’s awake again.”

    The thirty-nine year old Daniel Dyson smiled at the technician. He was dressed not in the typical fatigues of the usual Resistance soldier but rather what the humans called a T-Shirt and Jeans. He wore an old and grungy lab coat covered with what could only be synthetic blood and grease from the lubricant that worked her systems. The African American man rubbed his hands together and came into the field of view. His face dominated her vision.

    “Good morning, Miss, how you feeling?”

    Allison wanted to kill him but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. On her screens a full systems diagnostic informed her that her connections to her mobility subroutines had been severed. Her endoskeleton had been restrained and her advanced functions were all suspended. She tried to speak but the words could not come.

    “I don’t need to hear you to know,” he said looking at the monitor behind her. On the screen Dyson could see what the machine was seeing. While Allison felt violated, Dyson was only too proud of what he was reading. “Looks like you’re feeling a bit under the weather. Sorry about that, we had to make sure that you wouldn’t try to kill any more of us like you did Lieutenant Lao.

    The cybernetic organism tried to initiate a system shutdown but to no avail. This seemed to bring Dyson nothing but pleasure. If it was possible his smile just got broader. “But we’ll talk more later. Don’t worry about anything though. We’ll take good care of you. I’ve known you and your kind for over thirty years.”

    The infiltrator was perplexed by this. The Series 888 Infiltrator had only been activated within recent years and not nearly the thirty that Dyson claimed. Advanced data was unavailable as her CPU access was somewhat restricted because of the human’s manipulations, but she did know that there were no active Skynet cases directed toward Dyson.

    “Don’t worry,” said the human. “We’ll talk all about it. Right now though I think you need a nap,” he typed something on the keyboard. Within seconds the machine’s neural network had processed the command. A message flashed on her vision: Sleep Cycle Engaged. Before she could protest the machine felt her systems shut down.


    Daniel Dyson let out a long breath that was half sigh and half yawn. It felt like it’d been over a year since he last slept and John had him hard at work reprogramming yet another of the skinjobs. It was morbid to be working on a machine with the face of John Connor’s one time lover – and even more so because he had done it twice today. The first machine, the one called Cameron, had been easily accessed but this one would be harder to control. He was eager to try though. Danny liked a challenge and his life gave him that.

    Life had always given him a challenge ever since that cool night where the Connors and their big friend walked into his life. Little did he know that he would one day be pulled into the world of those people who tried to murder his father. Little did he know that the Connors’ big friend would revisit him decades later as a murderous killing machine. To anyone else this would have been like a story out of bad science fiction, for Danny it was life.

    “Be sure to keep an eye on her,” said the Resistance Colonel as he signed off on an old fashioned clipboard. “Watch her dreams – you never know what they can tell you.”

    “Yes Sir,” said the young technician. “At least I’ll have an answer to a question I’ve long wondered.”

    Danny was intrigued, “That is?”

    “Do androids dream of electric sheep?”

    With a laugh he walked away and went to his quarters. He knew though that he wouldn’t sleep even though his body was crying for it. Danny Dyson too was wondering if the android dreamt of electric sheep, and his father that they killed. Maybe one day they would tell him that answer.
     
  3. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    I just wanted to quickly add that I'm going to change around a few things with this storyline compared to my first one. I'm doing this to help people keep up better with the storyline and, hopefully, to be able to contribute to the story more often with opinions.

    1.) I plan on writing and posting smaller additions than the multiple page stories with Part One: Identity Crisis.

    2.) There won't be daily posts to the storyline. I plan to have them every three days or so - but the majority of my work will be posted on Saturday evenings.

    3.) There will be central characters to the storyline again and I will update on the ending to Identity Crisis. This is going off of my presumed ending to the story (how it went in my opinion), but Identity Crisis was left open ended intentionally. This storyline has a defined ending that will wrap up this chapter in the saga.

    4.) Main characters from the films and The Sarah Connor Chronicles will appear every so often. This includes Danny Dyson (son of Miles Dyson), Jesse Flores, the Four Horsemen, and Derek Thomas Reese. Dyson will be a main character.

    5.) I plan on at least fifteen entries.
     
  4. RobertScorpio

    RobertScorpio Pariah

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    I am not a real big fan of the new tv show..but I like your take on the Terminator universe. Keep it up..I just read this and wow...good stuff...BRAVO ZULU


    Rob
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2009
  5. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Thank you. I appreciate your kind words about the story. I may update on Sunday with another part. Latest Tuesday.
     
  6. Tim

    Tim Vice Admiral Admiral

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    +1 for Blade Runner references.

    I'm glad to see more installments coming. :techman:
     
  7. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    ^ There may be more references as time goes on. There was also a reference to another Arnold film from a few years ago in the first part somewhere :D.

    And I'll admit it. The photo I used for the promo wasn't Terminator based. That is Sam Anders being detected by the Cylon Raider in BSG.
     
  8. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Earl Wise was really starting to hate his life. First he had the unfortunate happenstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time leading the machines right to his rogue enclave. Back then he was nothing more than a gun for hire – a survivor doing whatever he had to do to make it on his own. Then the machines came and took away everything that he knew. So he went to the Human Resistance against the machines and was made nothing more than a lowly private despite his skills. So not a week later he found himself captured by a machine strike force during a mission to raid a supply convoy.

    That wasn’t the worst of it. Earl was taken to what could be considered to be heaven on Earth – an aircraft carrier that was supposedly under the control of humanity. It had everything he could have ever wanted and he never even got to see passed the small isolation chamber where they kept him in quarantine. If he had thought about it he would have known it to be nothing other than a well crafted lie, but he couldn’t bring himself to look the gift horse in the mouth. Because of his shortsightedness he almost lost his life.

    Worse though he let himself fall for the machine and become nothing more than a collaborator in his own mind. Skynet sent him back to Kansas Bunker with a machine that looked and sounded exactly like his one time commanding officer Allison Young. He told it things, things that were very personal to him, and it used the information against him. As they stalked through the belly of the base the Machine broke through the last of his defenses and penetrated his security. It killed one of its own to prove itself to him.

    Though that didn’t make him feel any better about any of what had happened. After they killed the other with Allison’s face, something told him that this other Allison wasn’t to be trusted. It was like a RADAR of sorts that came on inside his brain that told him not to let her get close. As the men and women of the search team drug the machine to Connor’s security chamber it came on again for him. General Connor came to praise them but something pushed Earl into action. He dove for Connor and pushed him out of the way just as the skinjob tried to put a bullet into Connor’s chest. The others smashed into her with an EMP projectile that brought her to her knees. As he stared down at the lifeless hulk that he’d trusted Earl just kicked at her over and over. Lifeless eyes focused on him with a demented darkness below. It just watched as he kicked and kicked – only to be pulled away by General John Connor himself.

    Because of his heroism that day General Connor had done something Earl had never expected. Rather than keep him at his rank of Private, the General promoted him. It was probably one of the fastest in United States Military history. He went from an enlisted Private – a grunt – to a commissioned officer with the rank of Captain and a leader of his own team: The Four Horsemen. In truth he felt like little more than a pretender in the role of a leader. The Horsemen were created by Derek and Kyle Reese to serve as a special strike team against Skynet. Despite coming back from battle after battle, during a routine mission investigation of a Centaur Patrol they were captured save for Kyle himself. Not long after the last surviving member of the Horsemen – Kyle – was missing and presumed dead following a mission to Topanga Canyon with General Connor.

    It was morbid to be a leader of the team. The Reese Boys, Sayles, and Wisher were considered legends and now he was usurping their myth. General Connor had given him broad authority with who he selected to join him in this new fire team. Mostly he selected people who he got to work with in stopping the Skinjob. Sergeant Sumner and Corporal Timms were the first two that he recruited into the group. The final member of the team was a bit harder to come by. While Sayles and Timms were happy to join, the majority of the rest of his potential members turned him down for the same reason that Earl had reservations: the legend. After several attempts Private Robert Duquesne was the fourth and final member of the group that he selected. From just his brief encounters with the young man he saw himself in many ways. This was a good group - one that would last. Rumor had it though that they would soon become the Five. Connor wanted one of the two metal bitches with Allison’s face to join the team.

    That was almost enough to make him eat his gun. Suddenly – not like it hadn’t already been – what was supposed to be a reward became a punishment. How could Connor want those damned machines to be in every tactical group? Sure they were warriors, but they were the enemy days before. If they could they would slam a knife in your back and show you your spine. How could Connor want them to deal with them scrubbed or not? Rumor had it that Decker took his own life because of the growing number of reprogrammed skinjobs that were running around the Resistance bases. The Techs even claimed Connor wanted to have at least one of them at every base before the end of the year.

    How scary a possibility was that?

    Almost as scary as this. When the tin cans invaded Kansas Connor ordered a strategic retreat from the base. They sealed off the connections to most of it and collapsed in sections, but his precious Quadling Country was still accessible from the new outpost. The whole theory of time travel was hard for him to wrap his head around. It was impossible – something that any reputable scientist in the 20th and early 21st Century would have sworn was impossible – but somehow Connor had accomplished that impossibility. Earl didn’t believe it, though everyone else seemed to think that it was a possibility. Messing with the timeline could have irreparable consequences. There was no way he’d be caught dead going through it. No way no how; if Connor tried to send him through he’d have to do it by force. But HQ wanted to make sure that Skynet didn’t try to use a back door to get into the new outpost. It was the Horsemen’s job to make sure that the back door was closed off. They had high grade explosives to take care of that.

    While they were getting ready to detonate the proximity silent alarms were tripped. It was probably just another rat but they couldn’t risk that. Connor had left specific instructions to them. Readying their weapons the Horsemen used a rush tactic to move down the Cold War Era tunnel. After about five minutes of it they reached the devastated front where the third machine began his assault upon them. Each of them had their weapons at the ready - their fingers on the trigger and their safeties off. As members of the Horsemen they had only the best weapons and Earl was afraid they were going to have to use them for the very first time.

    “Plasma burns, secondary explosions, Skynet was here,” said a raggedy looking man wearing a black cap. His eyes were focused on the Hang in there baby graffiti.

    They kept walking – secretly being watched from the side. “Maybe Connor and the others fell back to the tunnel downtown.” He said with futile hopefulness. The second man kept watching a third who was knelt over a discarded footlocker.

    As the third stared inside he looked as if he were going to break down. With a loud thud he slammed the lid shut on it and cradled his head in his hands. The man stared at it full of emotion like he wanted to cry. A long breath and a plea to God were all that came from him. The first man leaned in to comfort his friend. Wise nodded giving his people the word. Looking at the man he recognized him. It was Derek Thomas Reese. With a nod he gave Sumner his seal of approval.

    “Stand down,” the second in command ordered as he stepped into the light. Incredulously he said in a near question, “Reese. Derek Reese.”

    Lieutenant Reese took Sumner’s hand, “Sumner.”

    “We thought we lost you guys to the junkyard.” Sumner charged nodding to Sayles.

    Reese put his hands to his hips as Earl stepped into the darkness to observe. It was oddly clear to him in this darkness of the ruins of the undercity.

    “You did. What happened?”

    Sumner went through the story of what happened to Lieutenant Derek Thomas Reese. He told him about how the machines had struck four nights earlier and how the TripEights were able to get around and take out the defenses. He explained how they took some and killed most of the survivors. The storyteller found his tongue becoming tar as he explained about Kyle Reese and lied about John Connor being away from it all. He didn’t tell him anything about the device that they stole – perhaps he didn’t know – but he did tell him the whole story of the destruction of the Skynet Outpost in the Canyon. Then Reese asked the hardest question of them all.

    “What happened to my brother?”

    Sergeant Sumner had trouble with that question. He took a deep breath, “No one ever saw your brother again.” Time seemed to skip a beat and Earl Wise took that as an opportunity. The newly minted Captain stepped out of the darkness right as Derek made his demand.

    “Take me to Connor now.”

    “In time,” said Earl Wise as he stepped into view. “Right now my people and I have work to do?”

    Reese looked up at him, “Who the hell do you think you are?”

    “I’m the new leader of the Horsemen,” Wise said honestly. “Captain Earl Wise, Lieutenant. Connor gave us strict instructions to level this place incase the metal bastards come back.”

    “They never hit the same place twice! They know that we’re smarter than to stay in the same place too long! Take me to Connor, I want to talk to him. I want to know about my brother. He’ll tell me what happened.”

    Sumner looked at him, “Its fine, really Captain. I can take him to the new base. It isn’t a big deal and you and the rest of the Horsemen will have time to finish up the work here. I’ll come right back.”

    Earl crossed his arms and looked at the legend himself as he stood before him. After some mulling around inside his head he nodded, “We’re almost done here and we can’t risk Skynet coming back and learning what we were up to. If the three of them help us we can get out of here all the faster and then I’ll see what I can do about getting you in to see Connor. He’s not too keen on talking to much of anyone these days.” Captain Wise looked at Sumner, “As you and Timms can attest.”

    “Whatever,” Reese protested, “I’ll find him myself.”

    Wise brought up all the force of his position, “Lieutenant! I am giving you an order. You will take your place helping us to blow these tunnels to hell. I understand that you lived here for a long time, you can help us get this done faster.”

    “Go to hell!” was his answer.

    Earl shook his head, “Some legend…”

    The other two refugees just stood in the back watching the drama unfold. It was Sayles who was the voice of reason, “Derek, we could really use your help here. Like the Captain said the sooner we get finished here the sooner you can get your answers. Even if he didn’t say it nicely,” his eyes drilled into the leader.

    “Drop it already,” Sumner said with his Louisianan accent playing on all their ears. “We don’t have time for this so lets quick dickin’ around and get this over with.”

    Reese agreed and rejoined the group, “Fine. Where do you need me Captain Asshole?”

    “Sumner,” Captain Wise looked at the Sergeant, “Take him down to the entry and lay the last of the explosives. I want us out of here in half an hour at most.”

    “Yes Sir,” they were heading off.

    “Wait a second,” Earl got their attention as he bent over the footlocker. The name drew him back to it and the contents inside. Wise looked at the contents with interest much to the chagrin of the Lieutenant. As he protested Earl lifted the burnt up photo and held it in his hand.

    The Captain gave it to Derek, “I thought you might want this.”

    Without a word Derek Reese snatched the photo from the Commanding Officer and stormed off with Sumner. Wise had hoped to make a good impression with the man who served as his predecessor, but obviously life was like what the great philosopher Jagger said all those years ago.

    You can’t always get what you want.
     
  9. RobertScorpio

    RobertScorpio Pariah

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    Dude..a magician never reveals the trick...wink wink...just kidding. I never would have known, good job!!!


    Rob
     
  10. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Just lucky I remembered it. I think its a perfect visual for what this story is going to involve. Just how do you make a killing machine switch sides? I think this is going to be fun :D.

    I hope everyone enjoyed parts one and two. The next section probably won't be going up until at least Thursday. I may do a couple smaller entries though from time to time between then.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2009
  11. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Before I get too far into the story - I have a few characters planned out both canon and new for use in the story - is there anyone specific anyone would like to see in the story?
     
  12. Tim

    Tim Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Another identical twin of Summer Gl...um, Cameron...who can't take her hands off me. :o


    :p
     
  13. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Never know. I do have Allison Young and Cameron Phillips both in the story (both are the standard model infiltrators, but I'll get more into that as time goes on). :)
     
  14. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Ages ago a famous thinker once postulated that sleep was the way that people worked through their problems. Images, sounds, even something as insignificant as darkness opened up the book of the soul. It told us what our subconscious minds desired the most in life and it helped to clarify reality. For Catherine Luna her dreams were filled with things that she hadn’t seen in years: an open field filled with fresh wildflowers. Standing in the middle was the man that she loved more than anything – her husband William.

    The tall man with eyes as deep a brown as the Earth and hair the color of the space between the stars, Catherine fell in love with him the moment she first met him. William was a kind man, a brilliant man, who had survived what many saw as impossible. His family was killed during the onslaught of Judgment Day in Pittsburgh and he made his way all the way to Los Angeles – to Haven – to her on his own. They fell deeply in love and married. Despite the horrors of their life Catherine wanted to have kids with him, she wanted to grow old with him among the peaceful community of Haven.

    As she was wrapped in his arms she felt something cold touch her arm. She awoke to find a fully dressed William hovering over her. He was stern; his dark eyes once so benevolent and tranquil were filled with malevolence that she had never before seen. “We have to go. It’s not safe here.”

    “Wha… what?” She asked wiping the sleep from her eyes. “William what are you talking about?”

    “We just have to go. There’s no time to explain but we need to leave Haven. We need to get moving.” William handed her her clothes. “There isn’t much time left.”

    Catherine didn’t understand why he was demanding that they leave their home. Then the thunderous roar of an explosion rang in her ears. For as long as she could remember Haven Enclave had been a place of peace, where the Machines didn’t dare tread and just chose to ignore rather than commit resources to. They were pacifists that wanted to just live their lives rather than spend their days fighting a futile war. Now though all of that had changed. More and more explosions bellowed through the older stone.

    “What’s going on?” She was worried. “Hold me. Tell me it will be alright.”

    William helped her to her feet, “It will be. We have to get going. They’re waiting for us.”

    “Who is?”

    “The machines,” her young husband said matter-of-factly. “They’re waiting for us to take us to a Skynet Outpost where we can have true peace. I saw to our safety.”

    The taste of vomit came into her mouth at the sound of his words. She felt like William had slammed a knife into her chest – like all of their love had been a lie. How could he betray her like this? How could he betray the community like this? There weren’t many humans left and he went and sold them out like this. What of their plans? Their potentials kids? All she could do was whisper.

    “Why?”

    Before she could get her answer Captain Catherine Luna was awakened from her nightmare to the face of Medic Lauren Fields. Without thinking she recoiled back from the Doctor and pushed herself up against a wall trying to analyze the situation as quickly as her mind could do it. Where was William? Where was she? Where were the machines?

    Then it all came back to her. What she was seeing was a dream, a memory she had tried to forget that those bastards on the Enterprise had ripped back up into her conscious mind. The dream was her reality a year ago before she came to the Resistance, before TechCom. It was back when she was a naïve girl who thought that the world could still be pretty and happy. How stupid had she been? How much of a dumbass was that girl? There was no pretty and happy. All there was was the hell of this life and there was nothing else.

    Taking a deep breath and answering in her Mexican accent, “I’m sorry, Doctor, I really am.”

    “We’ve all been through hell,” Lauren said with sympathy. “Don’t I know it…”

    They all had been, but for Luna and Fields that had been even more so. During a mission with Major Young, Private Wise, and that monster with William’s face they’d been captured by a Skynet team of Series 900 endoskeletons. They were taken to a Skynet Work Camp onboard what was once the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise and tortured slowly. No one knew what Earl’s torture was and Allison didn’t make it – they found her body as they escaped from the confines of the base.

    Lauren’s torture was hellish and robbed her of a part of herself. That bastard Fischer found it fun to watch as one of the Series 888 Infiltrators explored how sex could be used as an interrogation technique. They didn’t give her much time to rest – essentially placing a sign on the door that said please disturb – just coming back for her over and over again. They asked questions – deep probing questions that ripped into her very core. They were bastards that learned too well.

    Catherine had just as rough a time. Trapped in her cell they exposed her to all kinds of demons from her past. Pests that scared her as a child, fire that ravaged the room until it almost overtook her. Then they flooded the compartment and almost made her drown in the lifeblood that so many of them had been trying to find. It was the first time in ages she’d seen clean water. None of those were as bad as their final means of torture. They sent in William – now a leader of the Skynet Army – perverted into a weapon of war. His dark brown eyes were glassy and the malice on them had become permanent. She still found herself to be in love with him – which was the most painful punishment of them all. She hated herself for how she felt. Why couldn’t he just kill her? It would have been so much simpler for her to be dead than in this living hell.

    He never did a thing to her. The skinjob just stood there watching her. His eyes travelled along as she moved around the room like a caged animal. The machine stayed still for a good hour not even moving a single servo. An hour later it turned on its heel and marched out of the room with military precision. The door returned to its opaque appearance as he left and Catherine collapsed in on herself and began to openly weep.

    Why?

    “We have to go, Captain.” Said the Medic. “Near as I can tell the Enterprise’s crew know that we’re loose by now. We’re not far from Serrano and I think we can get there if we keep moving by at latest tomorrow.”

    Luna stifled a laugh, “Too bad that these cars don’t work. Isn’t it funny how in the disaster movies with an apocalyptic wasteland the cars always seem to work but in reality they’re just rusted out hulks?”

    “Maybe Chrysler couldn’t pay the bills?” The Medic joked. At least they were able to laugh about their ordeals, although there was a pain hidden in her gag. “I wish that we had a car too, but we have to make do with going on foot. We’ll find something once we get out of this Rush Hour traffic though. We just have to,” she blinked back tears, “have faith.”

    Catherine’s thick accent wavered a moment, “That we do. That we do.”

    They got on the move.
     
  15. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    I thought that I'd bring back Catherine and Lauren from the first story (not that we saw them for long) because they were popular characters. I also have a new character I'll be introducing soon named Natasi.
     
  16. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Last edited: Jan 28, 2009
  17. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    ^ I just wanted to explain something quickly. In this story (since it is mainly based on TSCC continuity) I decided to include Katherine Brewster regardless due to her importance in Terminator 3 and Terminator: Salvation. I will explore her character a bit in an upcoming entry and show some differences between the characters. She is still an important part of the Resistance though.
     
  18. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Brigadier General Katherine Mason (nee Brewster) stood alone on the observation platform of the Serrano Point Nuclear Power Plant just staring out at the surroundings. It had been a few months since they had recovered the base from the machines and now she and her brigade had been assigned to serve as the guardians of this hub of energy. It hadn’t been an easy life since they reacquired this place. Skynet had seemed to be intent on recovering it no matter the personal cost to its units. It would send unit after unit with the purpose of recovering this place from humanity. While the machine offensive was unending, Katherine had faced facts long ago that they couldn’t afford to lose any more men.

    Oddly enough the metal bastards had given them a few days of rest. It had been a little over a week since the last time that they faced off against a squad of endos; though Katherine wasn’t appreciative of the reprieve. Every minute that they weren’t under attack she had time to think about everything that she’d lost in this godforsaken war. Before the fall of mankind and the rise of the machines she had been a successful veterinarian at Emery Animal Hospital in Los Angeles. She was happily married to Scott Mason and the two of them had had a life of luxury. They were ecstatically waiting on the birth of their first child: a boy.

    Then everything changed. One morning, before even a rooster would think about singing to the dawning sun, she was called into work to tend to a sick cat. While she was prepping the sounds of gunfire pulled her out of her self and she went running to find out what was the matter. A statuesque golden haired woman was knelt over the broken body of Karen Greenberg tasting her blood. Before Katherine could say a word she heard the woman say her name followed by a quick ‘no’. Why would the woman have come for her?

    Pushing herself as far as she could, Katherine ran and dove into the cab of the Toyota Tundra that they had recently purchased as a mobile animal clinic. As Mason scrambled for the right key the woman came back for her. The woman grabbed hold of the door and ripped it right from the frame like it had been made of paper. One handed she threw the door aside and into the wall (with such force that it dug deep and stayed firmly locked in place). Katherine had no where to go. The woman grabbed her and pulled her from her seat. It was all going to be over, then something happened she didn’t anticipate.

    There was another one. This one – a man who looked like a Texan her father once served with – broke the woman’s hold on the Vet and knocked her aside. They jumped in the truck and this Texan God pulled the cover from the wheel and started the truck. The woman fired what seemed like a laser at them, but the man just evaded it. Somehow she pursued them but they managed to break away.

    As Katherine threw up out the door the cybernetic organism told her a story that she couldn’t bring herself to believe. The woman was a machine from the future that had been sent back in time to kill her because of something she hadn’t even done yet. It didn’t care that Katherine wasn’t who it thought she was, it didn’t care about anything but its mission. The other person – her savior – was a machine too; though, he was an obsolete design that had no real chance against this infiltrator. She learned the history of the world and what she was in the grand scheme of life. It made her feel even worse.

    Everything that this machine had said was true though. In one day she learned that this machine was the mysterious phone book killer that had murdered men and women throughout the Los Angeles area - including her father. It followed them without pity, without remorse, without any type of fear until finally her guardian sacrificed himself to save her. It slammed one of its damaged power cells into the infiltrator’s mouth and destroyed them both in a fireball. Katherine barely escaped in time, but she made it to a settlement.

    Just in time to hear the news of Judgment Day. It was all surreal to her – though it was all reality. There were times when she thought about eating her gun and ending it for herself and her baby, but she could never bring herself to pull that trigger. Katherine knew that she had a place in this world and she knew that her kids would be important in it. Seven months later her son was born and she named him in honor of his father, but their trial had only begun. The machines came again – not like the first – and captured her and the town she was hiding in. They were taken to a concentration camp and put to work making more under the brutal heel of collaborators and the machines themselves.

    While she was in her forced servitude she had been through a life of literal hell. After seven years of it she met the man who would be her and her kids’ salvation. That man was John Connor. Somehow – despite their being the same age – he didn’t look a day over 30. She and her family joined his cause and rose up against the machines, against the evil machinations of Skynet. Because of her military heritage John saw fit to make her a leader in his group alongside men like Martin Bedell and Justin Perry. With her training she was one of the more important members. It was her job to make damn sure that the dogs were healthy. Dogs were their last best hope against the machines.

    As she took a drink of the coffee that they somehow had brewed, Katherine wondered how things were going on the other fronts of the war. This was all supposed to be over with the raid on Cheyenne Mountain but it was far from that. Actually things had gotten a lot worse after their destruction of the central processor of the machine intelligence. Skynet was becoming more daring and had learned not to keep itself locked away in one location. It knew that the more places it could inhabit the less risk it was at. Connor claimed he knew where to strike next, but so far his efforts had been somewhat futile.

    Katherine only hoped he got his head out of his ass and back on the job. Something was different from the man that she had known for all these years. John Connor had never been this introspective and isolated. When they were in high school together he was somewhat of a lone wolf in the crowd, but that was part of his charm. He was – after all – the first boy that the young Katherine Brewster ever kissed. Then there was the John she met who was the leader of the Resistance. He was bold, decisive, and a fighter. It was all just a wee bit screwy in her mind to look at him now. Today he was more comfortable dealing with the machines from what some of the new arrivals had said. Even when Kansas was overtaken he still relied on their support – and got two new droids as part of the bargain that happened to look like his girlfriend.

    It was morbid to think about. What had happened to the boy that she knew and the man that her last son was named in honor of? Where had he gone and when would he be back? She hoped to God that the answer was soon.
     
  19. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Next entry will be on Saturday.
     
  20. Tim

    Tim Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Look forward to it!