Relics

There was something different in the air.

That was the only way she could describe it. The corridors of Skynet's LA command centre were musty at the best of times. There was no need to employ a climate control system, and even if the wellbeing of living organisms was in Skynet's interest, power was at a premium. When you unleashed a nuclear holocaust on every major population centre on Earth, you tended to lose a number of power stations in the process. And when the power stations of your own design were being destroyed one after another by the Resistance, that didn't help your situation either. So Serena Burns, walking through the headquarters of one of Skynet's last bases, was left to reflect on the bitter irony of the situation. She was one of the last I-950s. She was almost completely organic. And the "Resistance" had managed to make its name a misnomer, because without a doubt, they were on the offensive. If anything, Skynet was the one resisting them.

And so she kept walking. Letting her loathing for her enemies simmer. Trying to hear her father's voice in her head, even knowing that Skynet had far more important priorities and could not be expected to direct specific attention to her. Trying to replace that strangest of emotions – fear. Fear of her own demise. Fear of the even more horrific possibility that Skynet could lose the war. And a feeling of unease as she wondered how much of that fear was her own. And how much of it was coming from Skynet itself.

Ridiculous.

She kept walking, not even glancing at a T-400 clunking by. Like her, a relic, brought out of storage as Skynet tried to consolidate its assets. She had protested to her father when it had issued the recall – an attack was coming, anyone could see that, and with the nature of her body, she'd be far more adept at continuing to spy on the Resistance than trying to meet them in a fair fight. But no, her father had insisted. It was, she reflected, almost as if it had given up, and was trying to make a last stand. T-800s were being produced in abundance, with few resources directed to more advanced Terminator models, or on research to make even deadlier weapons. Old units were being brought onto the field, pre-dating even the clankers she had seen earlier. And no more infiltrators were being sent into the Resistance's ranks. They were spotted and destroyed too easily. Part of her wondered if her father had pulled her back out of concern, knowing that she would die if she remained amongst the ranks of Connor's forces. But the other part quashed those thoughts very soon.

"Hello Serena."

Running into Serena Kogan didn't help either.

"Doctor Kogan," she murmured. She refused to call the woman "Serena." It was galling to think that one of the few individuals Skynet had imparted a name to actually shared the same as hers. Galling to understand just how much attention her father had given to the bitch, saving her from cancer, retrieving her from cryo-stasis, and subjecting her to the same cybernetic hybridization that had been gifted to the traitor Marcus Wright.

"Up a bit late aren't you? You still need to sleep you know."

Serena didn't even hide her scowl. The woman was a cyborg, yet embraced the human side of her all too readily. And there was something else. Well, two things if she counted that Serena Kogan was from the world before Judgement Day. The time when humanity, her enemy, was at its apex, creating the means of its destruction. But the other thing was the feeling that she'd been replaced. That father had found a new 'daughter.' A more intelligent, physically resilient 'daughter.' The sense that as an I-950 she was useless, and that another "Serena" had taken her place.

"I'm fine," Serena lied.

"You don't look fine."

"Yes, well, you know what the situation is. Connor and his forces are closing in. Father is-"

"Father?"

Serena cursed under her breath. Father. Skynet. It was an irrational line of thought, but one that she and her brothers and sisters (and even that wasn't biological true) had never quashed. Skynet had raised them. Nurtured them. Accelerated their growth and given them cybernetic implants to be its agents. To sow the seeds of the Resistance's destruction. Skynet, to her, was a father.

"Skynet," she said.

And most certainly not the father of Serena Kogan, researcher at Cyberdyne's genetics division, and the biggest bitch on the planet outside Connor's wife.

"You refer to Skynet as a father," Kogan smirked. "How very human."

Serena glanced at a passing T-800. It didn't even acknowledge her presence.

"I'm not human," Serena protested, even as Kogan began to walk the other way.

"Biology would suggest otherwise."

"I have-"

"Cybernetic implants, yes I know," Kogan said. "But that doesn't change your biology. A person doesn't become less human once they employ prosthetics for instance."

"But you-"

"Were, human," Kogan said. "Now almost completely machine. No student of biology would classify me as an actual organism."

Serena kept walking after her. Students of biology. Just the mention of a profession that only the old world allowed for got her blood boiling. Even as her implants tried to regulate her temperature, she couldn't help it.

"You can't keep secrets from me," Serena said.

"Oh?" Kogan asked. "What secrets?"

"I know you're up to something," Serena said. "I know that you and fa…Skynet, have a plan."

"Yes, we do," Kogan said, before chuckling. "You might say it's…fate."

Serena stopped. So did Kogan.

"Fate," the doctor mused. "Your…father. He knows a lot, actually. He's been fighting this war longer than either of us can even appreciate."

Serena remained silent. She didn't like Kogan at the best of times. But the way she talked about her creator, the way she could be…wistful, likes this. This was not the best of times, nor the worst of times. This was like the end times. A prophecy of mankind applied to its creations.

"Skynet trusts me," Serena protested weakly. "If something was planned, I'd know it."

"You just said that there had to be a plan."

"I…I…"

"And understand something, my girl," said Kogan, giving her that smile that she hated. "Skynet isn't your father. Your mother was Lisa Weinbaum, and only through the genetic code your body carries, since I don't know if harvested ova counts as motherhood. You were born on February 27th, 2021, immediately distinguishing yourself from practically every other creation of your 'father.' And your impressions of 'fatherhood' from Skynet comes from indoctrination from an early age, and the neural net processor inserted into the back of your skull. So any impressions of 'fatherhood' you have are ones either Skynet wants you to have, or more likely, a side-effect of being raised to detest your own species."

Silence filled the command centre. A silence broken only by the sound of Terminators. The hum of machines. And the slow, heavy breathing of I-950 unit Serena Burns. Broken as she tried to swing a punch at Kogan. Tried, and succeeded. And screamed as her fist collided with metal that was almost as resilient as the exoskeleton of a T-800.

"Look at the relics being paraded through this halls, Serena," Kogan said. "Think why Skynet is deploying them now. Think as to why you're here." She smirked. "It's because when you have nothing left to lose, you play all your cards. Even the jokers."

Serena said nothing. Again, she felt fear. Fear of a different kind. Fear that for all her swagger and posture, Serena Kogan, the hybrid, was correct. Fear so great that she couldn't even admit it. Not even to herself.

"Think about it my dear," said Kogan, as she began walking away. "You have all the time in the world."

A/N

This came up from two trains of thought. The first was the idea I've encountered that Serena Kogan (from Salvation) was named after Serena Burns (from T2: Infiltrator). The second stemmed from reading Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle Part 1, a comic book that I don't have too much to talk about in a positive sense, but did spark the idea for this regardless. The idea of one who willingly setting aside their humanity (Kogan) meeting someone who never had a choice (Burns).