Chapter 3: Hell March

A thunderous crack ripped the air around them just a the earth to their left exploded. The truck swerved viciously to avoid the impact. Behind them, hovering in the sky, was a Hunter Killer. The truck convoy was travelling at night, true to do so made it easier for the HKs to track them but it also gave them an advantage. As the truck rounded a street corner a man stood up, in his hand one of the recovered flares. He pulled back his arm, ignited the flare and threw it at the pursuing Hunter Killer. To the Hunter Killer, who was operating on thermal vision because of the lack of sunlight, the world became a bright white light. By the time it recovered enough to switch to visible light detection and turned it's floodlight on, it was faced with the impossible challenge of evading a building approaching very, very fast.

(Line Break)

So this was what was left of Russia, the motherland. The place he had grown up in, the place he had fought for, the place he had undergone the experiments that changed him into what he was today for. The final straw snapped upon seeing the once glorious hub of the empire in ruins like this. He turned to his left.

"Right, set up base in the heart of this city. Make sure it is heavily fortified as it will be our staging post. Have engineers repair surrounding buildings and scouts squads hunt for survivors. We probably going to need Medics in the squads as well."

He then turned back to the rest of the army, artificially enhancing his voice he began to speak.

"People, the time has come! For those of you from the Soviet Union, the Union rises again, starting with the motherland! For those of you from outside the Union, welcome to your new home! Let's get moving people, Nexus is still out there!"

As amazed survivors looked on an MCV deployed, people starting mining some of the more radioactive areas, power plants were built, soon where once lay a broken wreck stood one of the strongest military bases outside Skynet's control. Tanks armed with Quad-rocket salvoes rumbled past on patrol, accompanied by ones with dual anti-aircraft cannons pointed skywards. Other, lighter, faster tanks scouted around the area whilst behind them heavily armed APCs could be seen, on occasion, transforming into surrounding rubble. Towards the heart of the city massive towers crackling with electricity and huge cannons dominated the skyline. Whoever these newcomers were, they spelled hope.

(Line Break)

The Hunter Killer continued on its course, straight into the building. For all its efforts it had only been able to turn sideways and get one last shot off. But that had been enough, the ground underneath the truck exploded and sent the truck spiralling through the air. Before all systems were lost the Hunter Killer relayed its position and all relevant data back to Skynet central.

"Damn it!" The man who had thrown the flare yelled. "I knew this mission was a bad idea."

"Remain calm, the truck can still be recovered and the mission successful." A female voice calmly informed him.

"Okay, okay." The said between deep breaths, "That HK has probably transmitted its data files before the crash so expect Skynet to be en-route. People, for a perimeter whilst the truck is repaired."

"Um, sir?" Another, younger, male voice trembled, "I don't think that's going to do much."

"What do you me-... Oh, yes. I see. Well in that case, RETREAT! EVERYONE RETREAT TO A BUILDING, I DON'T CARE WHICH SO LONG AS IT'S FORTIFIABLE!"

Over the horizon was a full Skynet contingent. Several HKs, a harvester, transport ship, mototerminators, they stood no chance in the open. As it was they still probably had no chance in the building, but it was less of a no chance. And so they hid in the building the HK had crashed into.

Hunter Killer Alpha Sierra Sierra 101 scanned the area with its thermal sensors. It followed the residual heat signatures left by the previous HK and was lead to a truck. It scanned the truck, finding nothing of value, then blew it up with a burst of weapon fire. It rounded a corner, still scanning for infrared signatures, when it can across a burning hot source, it had located the crash sight. Detecting movement the HK intensified it's thermal scans but it was just a flame erupting into life. The HK flew on. Behind the white hot wreck that hid their heat signatures, the humans let out a breath they had been holding. But outside Skynet still searched.

(Line Break)

"Commander, we have arrived. What shall we do?"

"Set up base here. Once that's done send out search parties to L.A. And other previously major population areas."

"Sir, yes sir!"

(Line Break)

The Mototerminator was scouting when it heard the noise. The noise of treads on ground. It veered of to investigate. Rounding the corner it was able to determine the vehicle in front of him as a tank before everything went black. The last images were transmitted along with coordinates.

The survivors watched from their hiding places as a hunting spot changed course and headed towards Moscow.

Scouts reported back from across the country of Skynet's incoming attack on Moscow. At Resistance Command, their was as a flurry of activity. Skynet had not diverted so many units to one area since it wiped out the last military base it knew of. Quickly scouts were dispatched to Moscow to record what was going on.

In the Moscow base, a large shape appeared on the radars; Instantly the base went on red alert, ready for war.

(Line Break)

The building around them began to rumble; after being hit by a HK it was a miracle it was standing and now with all the movement outside? Well it was likely to collapse anyway, the rumble was just a warning. And so it was that the survivors of the LA Resistance scout party found themselves running across the open street to try and get to another building. Unfortunately luck wasn't on their side as another HK chose that moment to round the corner. In an instant the HK's floodlight was on them, quickly followed by its turret. On the ground, the commander closed his eyes and prayed, whilst awaiting the Hunter Killer to finish him. It was not until there was a massive explosion, rapidly followed by another, that he opened his eyes. The Hunter Killer was no more than a smouldering wreck on the ground infront of him but for once, that was not the source of his amazement. Surrounding the crash sight stood six tanks in gleaming blue and silver armed with several rocket batteries. As he watched a hatch opened and a man dressed in silvery-blue armour emerged. The man quickly walked up to him.

"Are you okay? Any of you hurt or missing?" The man quickly asked.

"We're all here and in good enough shape." The commander responded, quickly followed by, "Who are you?" and "Can you give us a lift out of here?"

The man was quick with his answer, "We can explain who we are later, for now just hang tight until transport arrives."

He then proceeded to talk into a radio, presumably to summon reinforcements.

What happened next made the Commander's jaw drop, no easy task considering he lived through a nuclear holocaust only to fight robots. But as the big, coach sized vehicle materialized out of thin air before him he could not help himself.

"If you could all get on the transport," The man announced, "then we shall be on our way to the base."

(Line Break)

The Resistance scouts were in position. They were under strict instructions; Record any conflicts and remain unknown. Right now they were setting up for their first order, filming the battle about to unfold infront of them. A Skynet hunting party had just come across one of the scout tanks for their unknown enemy. The tank had been destroyed but more could be heard en-route. Just then the Harvester exploded as twelve rockets found their marks on its surface. Panning the camera towards the source, three tanks could be seen quickly retreating, obviously to reload. However, one of the tanks exploded, caught out in the open as Skynet's troops open fired. The hunting party began to advance when a hail of shells began pummelling their ranks. One of the Hunter Killers had its wing clipped and it spiralled into an uncontrolled crash, further wiping out their troops. As Skynet was stalled by the cover fire, a weird tank, with a hub crackling with electricity converged towards them. As the tank reached Skynet's forces it let off a power pulse of electromagnetic radiation, wiping out any surviving ground units. In the air, the Hunter Killers quickly relayed everything back to Skynet flagged at a priority equal only to John Connor's being found, this enemy was a serious threat. Just as the HKs open fired on the tank below, devastating it, a massive airship appeared over a building across the street. Without warning, the blimps equally oversized quad-machine gun open fired, tearing the Hunter Killers to less than shreds.

Back at Resistance Headquarters there was a stunned silence. Not only was there another military force out there defying the machines, they had firepower and technology equal or even exceeding them.

(Line Break)

Inside the Moscow Base everyone was less than excited. Not only was there another homicidal machine force out there but there were lots of them, heading this way.

"Prepare the defences." Volkov commanded, "This war's just begun."

Author's Notes

So how do you like it so far? Please review. Also, I will answer most questions asked if they are related to the story, but not in a major way. Additionally, I am looking for someone who can actually write battle scenes for help. Oh, and also, first war fic! :)