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This is the official biography for Derek Reese during his mission in 2007. Specifically, it covers his task of aiding the Connors in finding and destroying a computer system called The Turk.

Aiding The Connors[]

"There were a lot of leads, you know. We spent a lot of time on our own."
- Derek Reese. ("Vick's Chip")
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Derek arrives in 2007

Derek and his three accomplices (Sumner, Sayles, and Timms) were sent back in time to the year 2007 where they set up a safe-house as planned, acquiring a stash of money, diamonds, and weapons, all of which they stored in a hidden safe. Derek and his men then started following leads to Skynet’s possible progenitors, resulting in one of them attracting the attention of a T-888 who murdered three of them. Derek was absent at the time and therefore survived.

Learning of his team’s assassinations, Derek refrained from returning to his safe-house for fear of encountering the Triple-8 and kept a low profile. Whilst cautiously scouting the apartment late one night, Derek observed Sarah Connor, a 15 year-old John Connor, and a familiar girl fleeing the scene with his stashed supplies. Following his conviction, Derek struck out alone and started stalking Andy Goode and was almost caught by Sarah in the process.

1.05[]

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Derek's criminal file photo

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Derek is visited by Sarah in jail

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Derek is shot by a T-888

"What does it matter? You don’t know the Reese boys and you never will."
– Derek Reese. ("Queen's Gambit")

Many days later, he tracked Andy to a chess tournament and watched him pit his computer system, called The Turk, against a Japanese equivalent. After the tournament, Derek burst into Andy’s apartment and shot him execution style with a silenced Glock 17, hitting him in the head and chest. The Turk was already gone, however, prompting Derek to flee the scene, bumping into Sarah in the process. She then followed him outside and attacked him, resulting in a brief brawl between the two until Derek managed to get free and escape.

Before he could get very far, however, Derek was cornered by police officers, who arrested him under suspicion of murdering Andy. During his short stay in prison, Derek was visited by FBI Agent James Ellison, who was led to him by a finger print match to one of his crime scenes. Ellison showed Derek the other cases he was working on, informing him of the link shared by all; a synthetic blood sample, which Derek immediately recognised as Terminator synth-blood, though he said nothing of this to the agent.

Derek was then visited by Sarah, who appeared undercover as a lawyer. She confronted him on the death of Andy, to which Derek lied about his involvement, telling her that Andy was already dead when he got there. He then urged her to leave, knowing that a T-888 was hunting him down and not wanting to bring danger to the Connors. As she made to leave, Derek commented about her appearance, mentioning his brother’s snap.

Sarah promptly asked him about Kyle, learning Derek’s name and family ties as a result. He was then chained inside a prisoner transport van to be taken to a Federal detention centre, upon Ellison’s orders. En route, however, Derek painfully removed a hidden lock-picking tool from beneath his skin (hidden beneath his barcode tattoo), which he used to remove his cuffs. Before he could make any effort to escape, however, the van came to an abrupt stop and the doors opened, revealing Cameron to a startled Derek.

He immediately reached for a gun and tried to shoot her, calling her a “Metal bitch”, but she easily disarmed him. Sarah then hopped behind the wheel and explained that Cameron was on their side, handing her a machine gun to hold off the fast approaching T-888. While the machines fought in the back, Sarah drove the van to a secluded spot where they were met by John, who demanded to know where Cameron was. Derek insisted they forget about her and leave, but John tried to rush to her aid when the T-888 beats her into submission.

The T-888 took Cameron’s sidearm and shot Derek in the chest, but was prevented from finishing the job by the combined efforts of Cameron and John, who disabled and removed the machine’s chip. They then rushed Derek home and tried to tend to his injury, but not even Cameron possessed the skills necessary to fix the damage and Derek demanded she stay away from him. Seeing no other alternative, and after learning of Derek’s connection to him, John left the house and returned with Charley Dixon.

1.06[]

"Kyle? Kyle?! Where is he?! Where’d you send him?! You owe me the truth! He’s my blood! My blood!"
– Derek Reese. ("Dungeons & Dragons")
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An injured Derek becomes delirious

While Charley tended to his injury, Derek repeatedly screamed that Cameron cannot be trusted and that she was a liar, becoming extremely agitated when she prepared a morphine injection for him. He then drifted into unconsciousness and dreamt about his recon mission in 2027 and his capture by the machines while Charley removed the bullet and patched up his wound. He then started to cough up blood as his lungs began to haemorrhage, requiring Charley to drain them and John to provide a blood transfusion.

In his delirium, Derek screamed at John to tell him what happened to Kyle, upsetting the youth. He later stabilised and regained consciousness, after which John told him about Kyle’s mission to save his mother and how he died fighting the machines.

1.07[]

"Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can train them like a pet, cos’ it’ll be the last thing that you think."
– Derek Reese. ("The Demon Hand")
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Derek and Cameron face off

Recovering from his injury, Derek advised Sarah to track down The Turk through Andy’s Russian partner, Dmitri Shipkov; suggesting she put Cameron on it. To occupy himself, Derek found the weapon trunk under Sarah’s bed and decided to unload and reload each one for peace of mind, a quirk John found to be unnecessary as he was the one who loaded them. Picking out a Beretta, Derek staggered back to the couch and criticized John’s trust for Cameron, reminding him that she cannot be trusted.

Their argument was cut short by Sarah’s arrival, however, and she gave John an address to find, after which Derek warned her that Cameron must be disposed of as soon as possible. He expressed his concern that he cannot sleep in the same house as a machine, to which Sarah asks if the gun will help in that regard, prompting him to ask if she felt at ease with the entire trunk under her bed.

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Derek watches Cameron dance

The following morning, Sarah made pancakes for breakfast, forcing Derek to sit with Cameron at the kitchen table to eat. While Sarah was occupied, Derek and Cameron simply stared at each other for a long moment. Derek broke the silence by quipping that she must not be hungry, prompting Cameron to surprise him by eating a slice of pancake. He then warned her that, though she might’ve fooled the others, she hasn’t fooled him and that he knows her (referring to their future interactions). Cameron simply replied with: “I know you too.”

Whilst standing bare foot outside, quietly enjoying the feel of grass beneath his feet, Derek was approached by Sarah, who asked him to have John speak with her when he gets home. Derek then asked where his brother’s body was laid to rest, to which Sarah replied: “In the grass. I can take you there some day if you like.” John later brought him some fresh clothes and told him about his foster parents and Sarah’s time in the mental hospital. Derek advised him that four walls can mess with a person’s head, making them do crazy things.

While walking through the house late that evening, Derek was drawn to Cameron’s room by the sound of the same music played in the basement in 2027. He was shocked to find Cameron dancing ballet for no apparent reason and was brought to tears by the scene.

1.08[]

"She can’t be trusted. No matter how she acts on the outside, we have no idea what’s going on in there."
– Derek Reese. ("Vick's Chip")
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Derek uses Sarah's toothbrush

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Derek threatens Cameron's chip

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Derek's secret is revealed

Now fully recovered from his gunshot injury, Derek searched through Cameron’s room and found the chip of the T-888 she disabled weeks ago. Using this as evidence to his claims, Derek accused Cameron of treachery and even went so far as to blame the deaths of his team on her, demanding she prove her innocence. In response to his convictions, John hacked into the chip and discovered its previous mission to protect a woman called Barbara Chamberlain, who was building a traffic light system called ARTIE.

Derek and Sarah searched Barbara’s address, finding it empty and her computers gone. Gathering all the files they could find, they returned home to discuss how they might take out the ARTIE system, which was protected within City Hall. During a short stakeout of City Hall, Derek explained to Sarah that they can gain access to the offices via an underground network of tunnels, the same tunnels he and Kyle used before the latter’s capture by the machines.

Further hacking pulled up what appeared to be Barbara’s murder, and Sarah decided to go find her body, despite Cameron’s protests. While searching the woodlands, Derek and John came upon the body, only for it to be that of Jessica Peck, a lobbyist being paid to oppose ARTIE. Back at home, John came upon the T-888’s memory of terminating Derek’s team, placing the blame on Sayles, whose careless surveillance of Barbara resulted in the Triple-8 finding their safe-house.

With a virus made by John to take out the ARTIE system, Derek and Sarah blew their way into the offices and uploaded the virus, but the system blocked it and alerted security to their presence. They fled the scene and escaped into the tunnels, but the guards were close behind, prompting Sarah to use Derek as a distraction so that she could sneak up behind them and incapacitate them. Derek picked up one of their guns and aimed to kill them, but Sarah stopped him before he could do so.

Upon returning home, John suggested they insert Cameron’s chip into the ARTIE system and let her kill it directly. Derek opposed this idea, afraid that Cameron would betray them and possibly become Skynet in the process. John angrily resolved the dispute, demanding they trust his judgment. With Cameron’s chip removed, Derek escorted John to the nearest traffic light where he inserted her chip, allowing her to destroy ARTIE. With the process completed, Derek took her chip and impressed upon John the point that one day a machine is likely to be the death of him, but John remained adamant that it wouldn’t be Cameron and snatched the chip from him.

Derek was later confronted by Sarah whilst taking a shower, learning they had a new lead to the Turk, as well as receiving a death threat from Sarah over his lie about Andy’s murder.

1.09[]

"Here’s my counter-offer: you give us the Turk, we keep our money, and I bury you in the back yard."
– Derek Reese. ("What He Beheld")
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Derek threatens "Sarkissian"

While Sarah and Cameron went inside an internet café to meet with a man called Sarkissian to buy The Turk, Derek and John remained in the Jeep outside and discussed Judgment Day and how Derek and Kyle went into hiding before the bombs fell. Sarkissian demanded $500,000 dollars for The Turk, which the Connors didn’t have, but Sarah and Derek went to the meeting point regardless, hoping to negotiate the price. Sarkissian never turned up, however, and Derek and Sarah returned home to avoid the police.

Upon returning home, both were surprised to find who they assumed to be Sarkissian sitting in their living room. Aware of Sarah’s identity, Sarkissian refused to sell her The Turk and demanded she pay him $2,000,000 in exchange for his silence. Derek responded by pinning the man against the wall and putting his gun to his throat, but Sarkissian warned him that he had a man watching John and Cameron, as well as another man ready to inform the FBI of their presence should something happen to him.

Derek let him go upon Sarah's orders, after which she instructed him to follow the man, but he lost sight of him on the Cahuenga Pass and returned to the house to find Sarkissian’s dead henchman in their garage (courtesy of Cameron). Seeing the house as too dangerous a place to stay, Derek strongly suggested they leave before Sarkissian finds out about his dead lackey. John refuses to be uprooted, but before a decision can be made, Chola (Carlos’ girlfriend) arrives covered in blood.

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Derek takes John to the park

She takes them to the café where they chase Sarkissian into a panic room. While Cameron smashes her way through the wall, John rifles through Sarkissian’s files and is captured by the man, who used a secret hatch to escape the panic room and sneak around them. He drags John out into the alley and is held in a standoff with Sarah until Derek arrives with a small girl at gunpoint. While whispering to the girl and covering her eyes, Derek swiftly shoots Sarkissian in the head, killing him instantly and scaring John with his ruthless efficiency.

The following morning, Derek takes John out to the park for his 16th birthday for some ice cream, showing the boy his 11 year-old self and a 4 year-old Kyle playing baseball. He then reveals his knowledge of being his uncle and John is brought to tears by the scene. John later returns home while Derek remained in the park, watching his past for a little while longer.

Observations[]

  • Derek murders two people, Andy Goode and the fake Sarkissian, without any apparent remorse or discomfort. He also comes close to killing two incapacitated cops for no apparent reason.
  • Derek's blood type is AB–, a rarity in itself, but more so as John is also that blood type (which is technically impossible).
  • Although the passage of time in the show is hard to keep track of, Derek appears to recover from his gunshot wound in a relatively short amount of time (as the last three episodes are known to occur within days of each other).
  • Derek's favourite handgun appears to be the Beretta.

See Also[]

Appearances[]

References[]

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