[Where am I?] This was the first question that came to John Connor's head when he woke up.
He was lying in a cold and metallic floor. The whole place was illuminated by just a simple and dim blue light in the ceiling. He was able to hear the sound of an engine and some beeping noise.
John shook his head trying to recover from his dizziness. He felt something in his forehead. He reached it with his hand and soon he touched something sticky. He looked at his hand and it completely drenched in red liquid. From the smell and texture, he was certain that it was blood, his blood.
Half of his face was drenched in blood, as his clothes also had some splash of the red liquid, and was completely covered in dust.
He tried to get up, but his body wasn't responding. So, while he waited for the numbness to go away, he tried to remember how he ended up in this place.
Soon memories crushed hard in his brain together with a splitting headache that made John cry in pain.
He remembered...
Red tentacles bursting from the ground, without forewarning, destroying everything that it touched, shattering buildings, flipping the escaping shuttles.
The Grand Protector, Leda Portia, stayed behind to protect the fresh graduates from being torn by the tentacles. She gave John the Matter Manipulator, the symbol of the Protectors, and a key to a spaceship to every single one of the graduates.
He could still remember the words she spoke, "The Terrene Protectorate must survive. Now, go leave this planet. You are the future of this Organization, doesn't matter which race you are, as long as you survive the Terrene Protectorate will survive", She turned around and charged toward the closest tentacle to save some civilians.
John ran and ran until he found the ship Leda gave him. He started the ship and tried to flee the planet.
As his spaceship was leaving Earth, he watched in horror as a great red tentacle thrusted itself in the Terrene Protectorate's Headquarters and split it in half.
A few moments in the past, it was an organization that brought peace to the Universe and its races, but now is nothing more than just a symbol of a gone organization.
John's spaceship was about to leave the atmosphere and the FTL Drive was already charging when a tentacle hit his ship. The damage was enough to shut down most of the engines of the ship, but the FTL Drive warped the ship away from Earth milliseconds after the attack.
When the tentacle hit the ship, some debris of the cockpit came toward the already injuried John's head and knocked him unconscious.
Felling the headache and numbness fade, John tried once again to get up.
With much difficulty, he was able to stand properly, but his legs were still weak and trembling with just the weight of his body.
He looked around and realized he was in the cockpit of the spaceship. He focused his eyesight on the console. He pressed the button "Spaceship Status".
-----###------###-------###------###------###----
Engines --- Offline
FTL Drive --- Offline
Thrusters --- Online
Life Support System --- Online
Oxygen Recycle --- Offline
Emergency Light System --- Online
Teleport Device --- Offline
Artificial Gravity Generator --- Online
S.A.I.L --- Offline
Power Generator --- Offline
Solar Power Generator --- Offline
(...)
Oxygen Level --- 79%
Fuel Tank --- 0%
Power Level --- 45%
(...)
-----###------###-------###------###------###----
John tightened his fist. The situation of the ship was grim. That hit from the tentacle disabled almost 80% of the ship.
Looking at the reports that kept appearing in the screen John's became uglier and uglier.
He helplessly sighted and sat down in his comfortable captain chair in the cockpit. He closed his eyes and started to formulate his plans for the future. He hasn't lost hope yet.
His eyes flared open as a determined light shone in his obsidian black iris. He must survive, the Terrene Protectorate must survive.
The last words of Grand Protector Leda kept ringing in his ears. He couldn't give up, he must survive, not for him, not for humans, but for the entire universe.
With the towering force known as Terrene Protectorate Organization out of the way, numerous criminal organizations, and conflicts will rise and bring chaos to the once stable universe.
John resolutely stood up and walked toward the Ship-based Artificial Intelligence Lattice console, or S.A.I.L for short, and turned it on.
Once he saw that the console was undamaged, John was overjoyed. With S.A.I.L's help he had hope, hope to turn this grim situation around and survive.
His eyes focused on the letters and codes that kept popping out in the screen. When he saw the word "Online" in the screen, he smiled and said with his hoarse voice, "Now... Let's get started"
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The destruction of Earth and the Terrene Protectorate was a presage of years of chaos that were about to come. With the organization that kept the peace between the races gone, wars and conflicts were bound to happen.
However, it is in times of desperation and hopelessness that some people will stand up, fight against the odds and arise from the chaos as the symbol of hope, they are the ones who would be known as heroes.
With this, a hero would rise. A hero that would be know throughout the entire universe in the future, his name was John Connor.