This is the official biography page for Derek Reese during his war service in the post-apocalyptic future. Specifically, it covers his struggle against the machines and his devoted protection of his younger brother, Kyle Reese.
The War Against The Machines[]
- "How do you tell an 8 year-old machines have taken over the world?"
- – Derek Reese. ("What He Beheld")
Derek is tortured by Fischer
Surviving in Griffith Park, Derek looked after his brother, who had a hard time understanding that the world was being taken over by machines. Starved for food, Derek managed to capture and kill a large deer; however, Kyle became so upset over the animal’s death that Derek agreed to bury it and go hungry, just to stop Kyle from crying. They eventually relocated to the tunnels beneath City Hall where Kyle was later captured by machines and taken to Century Work Camp in 2015.
Derek joined the Resistance and became a skilled and formidable soldier, likely from the desire to one day save his brother from captivity. He was later reunited with an adult Kyle in 2021 after the mass breakout from Century Work Camp, in which Kyle was credited with rescuing John Connor and Martin Bedell. Either before the big breakout or afterward, Derek's bunker was hit by a Skynet attack and he was taken prisoner and delivered to a Gray called Charles Fischer. Fischer used Derek as a test subject to teach T-888s how to interact with humans, injecting him with drugs and starving him over long periods. Derek somehow escaped this imprisonment, though he never told anyone how (this occurred in an alternate timeline and is unknown to the Derek in the past).
Derek and Martin Bedell
As a Lieutenant, Derek was assigned to defend a bunker from attack during a Skynet assault on a Resistance hold-point, during which John’s bunker ("Kansas") was hit by a machine raiding party. Kyle, a Corporal at the time, urged Derek to help save those whom were captured and en route to Century, but Derek insisted on following John’s orders to watch the road.
His command is overridden by Martin Bedell, however, who had Kyle gather a team of young fighters for a diversionary rescue mission. Derek remained with Martin in the bunker while Kyle led the youths into battle, resulting in the accidental premature explosion of a dozen E.F.P.s before the Ogre tank reached the target zone. Derek, seeing the failure from afar, prepared to take the last remaining EFP and place it on the tank in order to save Kyle and the prisoners from "Kansas" bunker; an otherwise suicidal move.
Martin insisted on undertaking the task, however, and succeeded in blowing the tank to pieces, allowing Derek the opportunity to save Kyle and 43 prisoners, including John Connor. Martin was killed in the explosion. In 2027, Derek and Kyle were assigned recon duties in the wastelands, tasked with tracking a Centaur patrol. During this mission, they were ambushed by HKs and Terminators, resulting in Derek and his team’s capture. Kyle escaped, however, and Derek’s team was taken to a remote building, where they were branded with barcodes and chained to the floor under the guard of a T-600.
- "We go where we’re told. We do what we’re told."
- – Derek Reese. ("Dungeons & Dragons")
Derek is ambushed by HKs
Derek is led to the basement
One-by-one, the soldiers were led down to a room in the basement from which Derek could hear classical ballet music being played (Chopin’s Nocturne). When asked as to what occurs in that room, the soldiers remained tight-lipped and visibly traumatised; suggesting torture of some kind was involved. After his return from the basement, a traumatised soldier calling himself Billy Wisher confessed to Derek that his real name was in fact Andrew Goode, and that he was partly responsible for the creation of Skynet.
Shocked by this revelation, Derek was unchained by the T-600 and escorted into the basement where he was tortured by a machine for the location of Connor's bunker. After giving them the bunker's address, a semi-conscious Derek was carried out of the basement by the T-600 and placed back amongst the other prisoners. The following morning, Derek and the others awoke to find their guard gone and a hatchet placed within reach.
When one of the soldiers commented on this development, asking if it was all just a game, Derek simply replied "It’s always a game" and cut their chains. He and three other survivors, including Andy, fled across the wasteland in broad daylight, eventually returning to their bunker only to find it sacked by the machines. Investigating inside, Derek came upon Kyle’s locker and found a burnt snap of Sarah Connor, which his brother usually kept with him at all times.
Before he could figure out what might’ve happened to Kyle, however, Derek and his team were found by Sumner and his search party. Sumner informed Derek of a high-priority mission that took place during his absence, of which Kyle was a major participant, but was unable to elaborate on his brother’s fate. Frustrated, Derek demanded that Sumner take him to John Connor ASAP and was escorted to Depot 2, where he tried to convince Major Perry to grant him an audience with John.
- "What? What did we do? What happened up there? What happened to my brother?"
- – Derek Reese. ("Dungeons & Dragons")
John shows Derek the TDE device
Perry refused, however, stating that John "doesn’t talk to anybody" anymore. Further annoyed, Derek decided to seek Connor out himself, only to be confronted by a machine under the guise of a petite young woman. Immediately recognising her as a Terminator infiltrator, Derek tried to shoot her, but was restrained by Perry, who promptly explained John’s new reprogramming tactics. This model, known only as Cameron, was captured and reprogrammed some time during Derek’s capture.
Whilst sleeping in his bunk, Derek awoke to the sound of gunfire and screaming as a faulty Terminator started to run amok within the bunker, gunning down everyone in sight. Derek confronted the machine, luring it into his room where he unloaded his sidearm into the Terminator’s chest, with little effect. Facing death, Derek screamed at the machine to kill him but was saved by Cameron, who swiftly obliterated the Terminator and informed Derek of the reversion phenomenon.
Derek and his team overlook the ruins
Some time later, Derek was once again approached by Cameron, who told him that John wanted to see him immediately. She led him to a Time Displacement chamber, where Derek marvelled at the TDE inside until John arrived shortly after. Connor explained all about the TDE and promised Derek that he would one day be sent back in time to set up a safe-house and hunt down Skynet’s genesis. John still did not explain Kyle’s disappearance, however.
Derek then handpicked three soldiers to accompany him on this mission, choosing Sumner, Sayles, and Timms. Whilst filling them in on the mission details, Derek chanced a look with Andy and shared a courteous nod with him, secretly planning to assassinate Andy’s younger self in the past. His team picked and ready for the mission, Derek was then inexplicably transferred to the Serrano Point Nuclear Power Plant under the command of Perry.
- "I think I was waiting for you."
- – Derek Reese. ("Alpine Fields")
Derek and Jesse in quarantine
When Skynet launched a virus upon Eagle Rock bunker, Perry planned to send a reprogrammed machine to rescue the lone survivor; a girl who might be immune to the disease. Derek opposed this decision, however, and demanded that he go instead. Armed with a gas mask and a plasma rifle, Derek entered the bunker, finding several dead bodies scattered all over the place; including a family and a pregnant mother.
Overwhelmed, Derek fled the bunker and drew his pistol, considering taking his own life to end his suffering. Before he could act, however, Derek was confronted by fellow Resistance scout Jesse Flores. She explained that her shore party picked up a distress signal and that she was assigned to check it out. Derek allowed her to tag along and gave Jesse a gas mask as they both re-entered the bunker, eventually finding the lone survivor locked in the radio room.
The girl, called Sydney Fields, informed them that they were already infected with the virus, prompting Derek to risk travelling by daylight to get back to Serrano Point before the virus took hold. Upon reaching the facility, Derek and Jesse were placed in quarantine while Sydney provided her blood for the cure, which was then administered to them both by her older sister, Lauren Fields. During this, Jesse inquired as to what Derek was doing with his gun when they first met; prompting him to lie that he was waiting for her to arrive. He later unknowingly fathered a child with Jesse, after which she left to complete a supply run aboard her submarine (and subsequently lost her child).
- "We can save Kyle. We can save everyone. Fix all the mistakes."
- – Derek Reese. ("Dungeons & Dragons")
Some time afterward, Derek was once again approached by John and finally given his time travel assignment. He and his three accomplices 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.
Observations[]
- Despite being an expert marksman, Derek is apparently not very accurate when firing a phased plasma rifle at overhead HKs, missing several times despite them being in a prone position.
- Derek recognises Cameron on sight as an infiltrator, which strongly suggests he has seen her before, possibly in the basement where he was tortured. It is unknown if the machine he saw was actually Cameron or a Terminator of the same model, although it is unlikely that there would be more than one of her kind. This suggests that he met her prior to her reprogramming.
- When cornered by a rogue Terminator, Derek urges it to kill him, displaying suicidal desires over Kyle's disappearance. This is seen again during his mission to Eagle Rock Bunker where he almost shoots himself after seeing a dead family huddled together.
- Derek's distrust of machines is such that he was willing to risk his health to save a virus-immune girl from a gassed bunker, for fear that a machine might revert and kill the girl on sight. He is equally irked when Jesse informs him that she has a reprogrammed T-888 captaining a submarine. However, it should be noted, that it is possible Derek only took the mission as a means to kill himself; going back to his suicidal tendencies following Kyle being listed as missing.
- Derek's capture and interrogation by Charles Fisher occurred in an alternate timeline to the one he knows, though Jessie is aware of it, having come back from that period.
- Although most people believe blood was taken from Derek during the torture session (when he shouted out 'my blood!') this doesn't seem logical since there is no reason why blood would be needed from him (it doesn't seem like a very painful torture) so it may be possible that he was just calling out for Kyle, since afterwards when Derek is injured and becomes delusional he also refers to Kyle as 'My blood'.