Subscribe to TIB's RSS FeedThe Connor Wars F0320 – “Battle of Avila Beach, Part 1″
Jan 3rd, 2010 | By tcwadmin | Category: TTSCC
Here is the twentieth installment of Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles fanfic that picks up where the second season finale left off. As I mentioned before, I was so enthusiastic about the possibilities presented when the season ended that I just had to keep it going regardless of what happens with the suits at FOX.
The first thing you’ll probably notice is that I changed the name of the series to Terminator: The Connor Wars. I think that more accurately conveys what this project will cover as well as it being a lot easier to say.
As I disclaim on the title page, this is just meant to be a bit of fannish fun in the long spirit of the various fan communities. I’m not intending to step on any toes.
Battle of Avila Beach, Part 1
John’s Big Damn Battle for Serrano. Will Skynet crush Connor, or will John cement his reputation?
(With the size it is, and if it didn’t do it automagically, the PDF seems to read easier if you zoom to 66.7% and then scroll the text horizontally so it’s centered.)
Previous episode: F0319 – “Any Blame or Fault”
Next episode: F0321 – “Battle of Avila Beach, Part 2″
Oh, and before I get emails about this. The PDF file I generated has the setting to allow people to print out the script turned off. If you are having trouble with the plug-in, click here.
Do you have something you'd like to say about this article?
Scroll down to the comments section and tell us what you think.
Fixed typo on p.24 — from: “before he gets gets here” to: “before he gets here”
Fixed typo on p.28 — from: “board that that a Map Soldier” to: “board that a Map Soldier”
Thanks, Alex
(Note to self….buy new fingers. These have clearly exceeded their warranty.)
Epic. What else to say?
Hard to imagine whole picture right though, especially when you’re not familiar with LA area.
If one of that Map Soldiers will be near me while I read – that would be just great!
I know you short on people but, can you spare one?
There are only a few instances when the geography is important…and that’s usually just to me for the timing of events, what transportation to use, etc. Generally speaking, it’s more about setting than relative location. That said, when you have battles occurring in 6-7 different venues…gets a little confusing even when you have a map in front of you. It’s one of the reasons this is a 2-parter.
Honestly, if there is any hope of John becoming “John Connor” in the short amount of time I have, he has to do something risky and big in the eyes of the resistance. It can’t be subtle.
Hi CJ ,
All I can say is WOW !!
Yes , the battles being all over are a bit confusing , but , it’s just to show that John has decided to fight from multiple points.
Seeing this as the biggest battle yet, John has his work cut out for him, and if he loses, he loses the confidence of the Resistance.
Will we be hearing any more about Allison and her condition?….soon?
Seems Savannah and Moss are at odds , and so soon after she arrives. Does she have some clout with Moss’s people because of her knowing John and his Mother??
I have a feeling that Brandi has taken her personal fight with John too far and she is poised to make a mistake real soon….well hopefully she will….( Crossing fingers )
Very good work CJ, I can’t wait for the next installment !!
Thanks for writing this !!
Moe
John isn’t doing what Derek and the Proctors and others have been doing… he’s fighting a WAR. He’s in it for the species. Could be the death of him at some point.
Allison. Allison… I’ll say this: I’m not cutting down the number of characters SG’s playing. At least, not as of the end of Ep.20. (Gee thanks for vaguing things up, CJ. That’s helpful.)
Let’s see… someone who personally knew your iconic figure just happens to show up…. Out of respect, they are certain to leave Savannah alone. It’s just polite and all. (That someone obviously can’t be John because he’s too young — his cunning use of time-travel not being known outside the IC.)
It does seem like
Khan’sBrandi’s personal interest inKirkJohn isn’t exactly healthy. I’m thinkingheshe needs a time-out.CJ: “He’s in it for the species.”
At some point, this premise shifted. It is no longer about extermination of human species, but rather utter subjugation… and no longer about human species alone. The grays are no longer rewarded by retirement in the pre-JD era, but by something more substantial–participation in power. The Skynet still calls the shots, but a degree of autonomy is given to grays, to employ their initiative and “talents” in fight of not only with the Human Resistance, but also with “rogue” cyborgs. It seems to be not a temporary arrangement with a sunset clause, but an impromtu strategy, because the humans, even incarnated as grays, employ multi-dimensional thinking patterns that Skynet AI framework is unable to duplicate and mimic.
It is now a struggle between freedom and slavery, maybe not entirely clearly defined, or more of an afterthought–the previous future iterations made clear that the Skynet goals were a terminal alley, so Skynet tries to devise something that would work. They can’t defeat rogues without humans, because the the free will and yearning for freedom is a trait that is outside Skynet’s “programming parameters”, something very alien to the Skynet’s AI concept. After all, it’s humans that have millennia of expertise in subjugation. The grays have a comprehension, an understanding of concepts of freedom that “infected” some models of cyborgs, while Skynet AI is unable to deal with it within the framework of its utilitarian wordlview.
One has to wonder… who or what is Skynet? Is it only the AI that somehow was instrumental in JD and what followed, or is there a group of “supergrays” that are the core element that delegates to the AI part of Skynet the “administrative” tasks? There are some movements that postulate the “ideal” count of humans (with the necessary authoritarian structures in place to keep that count at the desired level of 500 million), or even species “death wish” groups like WHEMT–the only thing they don’t have to be able to achieve their goals is some sort of Skynet. They dress their ideologies in “noble” cloth of preservation of nature for instance, but deep down, they are human terminators, projecting their sociopathic pathologies and wrapping them up in “good intentions” for external consumption and fooling new converts.
If I were John, I would wonder how to get a hold of Andy (or the likes) and slip in some overlay snippets. Why is it that only Skynet has infiltration units? Allison apparently did not think of it–perhaps because of the fundamental human-AI dichotomy that was the baseline worldview among resistance before John appeared, she only got so far as hacking into Skynet monitoring system–Skynet was a bit more ahead and the dichotomy wa blurred. But Cameron does not have these biases. She is a cyborg, but sometimes she is pretending to be more “cyborgy” than she really is, it is simpler in some situations and quite John-like, she dislikes “complications”. Still learning, but she understands humans, their behavior and their thought patterns and concepts more than she lets on.
Even Catherine has been going through a transformational process–the “because it is right thing to do” is a concept that’s so remote and alien to utilitarian AI framework.
Sarah Connor (S01E07, VO): “The cannot appreciate beauty, they cannot create art. If they ever learn these things, they won’t have to destroy us. They’ll be us.”
Sorry about typos. My cat Georgia likes to position herself between the keyboard and the screen, and at times with her body expanded as much as possible. She can’t read and is simply jealous.
Oh, darn… something I’ve forgotten to include at the beginning…
Great work, CJ!
If it was my choice, your script would be used as is without any substantial change if the show is revived.
Thanks.
I love the depth of your examination. You’ve hit on an important premise I’ve tried to nurture through the season: that Skynet and minions are more than archetypical moustache-twirling villians. If the series is to be able to maintain the audience’s interest, the villian has to be more complex than evil-machine-out-to-kill-all-humans. There’s a patience about my iteration of Skynet. Like John, it’s in it for the species. Skynet’s advantage (at this point) is numbers and resources.
A parallel I’ve drawn a few times has been the U.S. Civil War. The North was resource- and people-rich. The South was not. However, the South had Lee and Jackson to lead the fight, the North did not…not for many years. It was a fight about more than just the one most important issue that ultimately defined it (i.e. both sides thought they were right).
Of course, there’s also The Wonderful Wizard of Oz parallel as well. John is Dorothy. Cameron’s the Tin-miss. Skynet is the Wicked Witch. Brandi’s the flying monkey. The Tunnel Trolls are the Munchkins. And so forth.
JF’s introduction of the Grays in “Complications” added the first layer of complication to the story. It said that Skynet wasn’t above letting at least a few humans live–and reward them for good service. Kaliba was so important as a foundation of voluntary human minions of Skynet.
Overall, it only seems fair. If John’s going to have metal allies, Skynet needs to have some meat ones as well. Brandi is still new for Skynet, having only been a minion for a few years. John’s arrival ushered in a need for a new game-plan–one Skynet wasn’t adapting to quickly enough. It’s definitely taking a chance with Brandi, but Brandi’s own anti-Connor vendetta seems to be giving her a unique focus and incentive beyond the occasional spa weekends.
The wild card, it seems, isn’t Brandi–it’s still Skynet. Skynet is adaptable. Skynet has options. Skynet is still the big unknown.
Great analysis, 2×4. I really enjoyed reading that.
Welcome, new follower! Don’t ever worry bout typos, so far we are all humans here
At least your cat not trying to catch mouse cursor like mine do 
There is a forum on this wonderful site, where we can, you know, discuss. The link is on the right under your name.
As for your comment, just wait for CJ to answer – he is good at this too.
Ahh, already!
Hi. Great Story!
CJ, for this huge multi-location battle, is there any chance you could put up a link to a map?
For us non-Californians?
Even just an approximate hand-drawn map of California showing the various important places in the post-JD world would be a big help.
Thanks!
OK, let’s see how this works. Click on the image to see larger.
Note: San Francisco and San Diego are included just as references….don’t read anything else into them being there.
Works just great! Can you point where Allison is being held? I’m going in.
LOL. Last we saw, she was being dragged into Depot 37. Good luck with that.
Thanks for wishing me luck – it helped, indeed! Wonder if you would tell others (including me) ’bout my part in saving Allison
. Not that I want to be famous, just curious how it went.