Chapter 327

Colonel Connor

Cameron gave the men directions to run them around. She wanted to buy some time to get Hanna and Sheila into position to join with her. Hanna was briefed and knew she would play Colonel Savannah Connor. Sheila would play Jesse Flores. This was a gamble she was willing to take the risk. These people could be part of the anti-Metal faction that knew Future Jesse. That meant they were a threat to John and all of them as 'Metal Lovers'. She was 'banished' from Future John's side because of people like these. She intended to settle the score and get some payback. People like this cost her dearly and hurt her deeply. She still felt the effects of that trauma as if it just occurred. Her left hand still glitched from time to time, she kept it out of view.

She grilled the leader on how long they'd been here and what they were doing. It turned out they'd only been in the past for a few weeks. She wasn't sure that she bought that. She wanted to know what their mission was. None of it added up or made sense.

Cameron didn't like the answers she received. She casually bushed the leader's neck and determined he was lying to her. She wondered what if anything was true. The anti-Metal group was deceitful by nature and definition.

She knew these people only dug their graves deeper and faster with each lie. She could set Sheila to 'work' on them. Since John knew about this operation it would be best to terminate them. He didn't approve of the 'enhanced interrogation' that would be preformed on them.

John and John Henry listened as Cameron questioned the man.

John Henry monitored the man's voice modulations.

"He's lying to Cameron." John Henry said. "Cameron will know this as well."

John knew it always angered Cameron when she was lied to.

The question remained as to who were the Grays and who was anti-Metal faction. These people could be both or neither. Maybe they actually infiltrated each other. Cameron told him that was often the case in the future. Each group put spies in the other's camp.

It was still an unknown as to what both of these groups were doing before their group encountered them. That always meant there were more of them somewhere. It was always more trouble waiting to happen. There was always another threat out there. This appeared to be several additional threats.

It seemed they still faced not only the threat from Skynet in multiple timelines but the anti-Metal faction as well. That was probably also from multiple timelines.

John hoped to get some better answers. He was a little concerned as to what Cameron might do. He was aware that Sheila was ready to join up with Cameron once Hanna arrived.

"Can we backtrack any of the people?" John asked. "Can we tell where they came from?"

There were several options open to John Henry. They were all techniques that were used before. He knew that John was concerned about what Cameron may do for answers.

"We should be able to get some data from their phones." John Henry said. "I will trace back the cell tower 'pings' if nothing else to give us the area most often used to start our search at."

John figured the Terminator was Skynet related in some way.

"The Metal is the biggest threat." John said.

John Henry knew where to start.

"I may be able to get some information from his chip or the Grays our drone took down at the ambush site." John Henry said. "That's if they weren't too badly damaged."

Cameron received word Hanna and Sheila were in place. They awaited her arrival with the convoy.

She told the leader to have his vehicles stop as her associates were now here. She greeted her two female Terminator friends. The sight of Sheila as 'Jesse' didn't seem to raise any recognition. She mentioned it was too bad that Sheila and Hanna couldn't come along.

Hanna and Sheila went on instant alert. Cameron just indicated to them that they were about to be Terminators for this mission. That meant they would most likely needed to terminate everyone.

John Henry monitored the feed. He sent information for the drone to target the lead vehicle. Sheila and Hanna each got into the two trailing vehicles.

"I don't like this at all." John said. "I think these people are stalking us. I don't want to get 'set up'."

John Henry couldn't pick up anything positive from the leader of this group.

"Yes. I agree. They don't seem to be Grays but are from the anti-Metal faction." John Henry said.

John decided to take a risk. He figured he would need to answer to Cameron later on about it.

"Send the two drones from the Details to come and assist. They are both fully armed." John said. "Put the Details on highest alert."

John Henry hoped he hadn't 'jumped the gun'.

"I already did that when Cameron said it was 'too bad Sheila and Hanna couldn't come'." John Henry said. "I knew you would request that. Cameron indicated that this was going to go hot."

John hoped that maybe he would draw a little less heat now since John Henry acted about thirty seconds before his request.

"That was good preemptive thinking." John said.

John checked the position of their other Terminators shadowing Cameron.

"We are behind them and Cameron's Metal is paralleling us." Bob came across the com. "We're ready to strike."

John was worried about what else was happening around Cameron's team.

"Does the drone detect any ambush being set up or additional vehicles?" John asked.

John Henry tracked the location where Cameron was currently at. There was nothing around her for several miles in any direction.

"Negative." John Henry said. "The area looks clear. As soon as Cameron slows and the lead vehicle pulls ahead, it will be hit with a missile. Cameron has taken them into a kill zone. They are now in an area where there are no structures for several miles."

Cameron, Hanna and Sheila all monitored the conversations. Each was ready to strike. It would be over in seconds.

Cameron continued to grill the leader. She still didn't think he suspected her as a Terminator.

She heard the other two drones approach. She didn't like the fact they were pulled off of the Details but the threat seemed to be located here. The first drone gained attitude and started a wider search of the area. Sheila and Hanna were aware of this as well.

They all knew when the first vehicle was about to be 'lit up'. It was 'Game On'.

Cameron directed them to a remote area. She abruptly slowed and the lead vehicle pulled ahead. It disintegrated in a fireball three seconds later.

She reached over and grabbed the man next to her and squeezed his neck to choke him out. She possessed just the tools she would need to probe his mind at her facility.

Cameron looked in her rear view mirror and saw both Sheila and Hanna move into the driver's seats. Their threats were already neutralized. They confirmed 'two down' each over the com.

Cameron's Terminators pulled up in front of her and Bob pulled behind the two trailing vehicles.

Once they were clear of the area, Cameron turned the leader over to her Terminators. As John suspected they really were her program clones in male Terminator bodies.

Sheila and Hanna turned the four bodies over to Bob for disposal. The car that was targeted with the missile strike was shoved into a ravine. They would dump the other two cars they were driving in the gang infested part of town and leave the keys in them. This would direct attention away from them to any surviving members of this group. Cameron would take Sheila and Hanna back to the base herself.

Cameron directed the two fresh drones to backup Camille and Summer and the first two drones would return to the base for rearming.

Savannah set the trash can back on the floor. She wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand. She was unable to speak at first. She took Vanna in her arms and held her for the longest time.

Vanna finally stopped crying.

Savannah really didn't know what to say.

"I know my words can't express anything to comfort you, Vanna." Savannah said. "I'm no longer in as big of a hurry to 'grow up' so fast. I think you want to be alone now."

Savannah couldn't even imagine all those things being done to her starting from when she was a young girl. That's what it was in reality. All of those things happened to her. Vanna was her. She went and got Cam, Ally followed her in.

Cam could see that Vanna was stressed out and very upset. She laid Vanna out on her bed and lay next to her. She took her hand.

"I'm here now." Cam said. "I will never leave you…."

Vanna looked over and faintly smiled.

Savannah and Ally left.

Ally could see the spunk and spark was out on Savannah right now.

"Do you wish for me to carry you?" Ally asked. "You don't look so hot."

That sounded really nice to Savannah. She needed the comfort and contact of another person.

"Yes, please." Savannah said. "I'd like that right now."

Ally scooped Savannah up in a quick motion and brought her to her room and laid her on her bed as well. She headed for the door to wait outside.

Savannah wanted some companionship.

"Ally, please stay with me for awhile." Savannah said. "I don't want to be alone."

Ally lay down next to Savannah and took her hand as well….

Savannah now understood every extreme measure Cameron took to prevent Skynet from gaining control. A world with Skynet was a living Hell. No, it was worse than a living Hell. It was the Hell of Hell.

She would step up her part to help prevent Judgment Day and the Hell that followed it. She cried softly to herself until she fell asleep.

Vanna did the same….

Earlier:

Steve and Tom helped with the recovery of the HK drone and the disabled Terminator. They waited out of the area for now. They didn't want to be in the area if another HK drone showed up.

Camille and Summer kept track of Cameron's operation as she left the area. They hoped to see if there was any further development at the ambush site they were at.

There were four deceased humans at the ambush site. Two of them were terminated from a missile strike and two were terminated from the two separated drone gun attacks.

They'd been able to retrieve one useable phone from the four bodies. It would be turned over to John Henry to go through for any future leads.

They'd previously conducted a preliminary search with Steve and Tom for any bunker or tunnel entrance. None was found. Since there were no vehicles in the area it made them think there still could be a hidden entrance.

There hadn't been any reinforcements detected yet. The drone on station with them didn't detect anything else or any additional movement around them.

They collected the two bodies and the body parts from the two men hit with the missile. None of the weapons with or around the decedents were serviceable. They were all dumped in a depression in the dirt between some rocks. They used one small block of C-4 to blow a small rock slide down on top of the bodies and damaged weapons. This area was now 'sanitized' as to what happened here.

After the blast from the C-4 they thought they heard some type of grating rock sound.

The drone was overhead almost instantly. They knew John Henry was on top of it.

"Are you able to detect anything?" Camille asked.

John Henry used his server to communicate with them. He didn't want to alarm John needlessly.

"There's no movement around you." John Henry said. "I don't even detect any animals."

They waited in silence.

They heard the noise again.

They spoke in low decibel tones that only another Terminator could hear.

"There it is again." Camille said.

Summer looked in the direction the noise came from. They'd both been very focused when it occurred.

"I make the noise at sixty two feet to our left and twelve feet up on the side of the small hill in the rocks." Summer said.

Camille wanted to flank that position.

"I'll go around the backside of the hill and approach the location from the rear." Camille said. "It should take me six minutes and seventeen seconds."

Camille took off to the right. Summer moved across the front of where the sound came from to be on the left side of it. She moved behind a rock and carefully took the spot under observation.

There was still no movement spotted by the drone.

Five minutes and forty seven seconds later Camille came over the top of the small hill and made her way towards the suspected area. Summer moved out of her place of concealment to join her.

They both arrive at the location on time. It was exactly six minutes and seventeen seconds from the time that Camille gave.

They looked over the rocks in the area. They remained silent as they checked.

Camille pointed to the ground. There was a partial footprint in the build up of some silt.

Someone was up here at some point.

There was no apparent opening anywhere where they were at.

Camille reached down to move a rock when something shot out at her hand. She reacted instantly. She moved her hand away and a snake's head just missed her arm. It's mouth was open and it's fangs were prominent.

"It's a reptile." Camille said.

Summer picked up a rock.

"Maybe we should terminate it." Summer said. "I don't like how they look. I will smash its head."

Camille went to move away when another snake lunged at her. She grabbed it behind its head and looked at it. The tongue stuck out at her in the air. The fangs were coated with venom.

"It tried to terminate me." Camille said. "It has no eyelids. I don't like how it looks either."

She close her hand and the snake body withered around wildly for a few seconds. Its eyes bulged out of its crushed body. She dropped it on the rocks. The lifeless body slid off of a rock and disappeared.

There was a 'crunch' noise. Camille looked over at Summer. She'd used the rock to smash the head on the first snake when she moved the rocks with her foot to make it reappear.

"They're vipers." Summer said. "That's how they terminate their prey."

"They were vipers." Camille said. "Now they're dead. They are just bones and meat."

"Maybe a coyote will find them later on." Summer said. "The rotting humans should attract them at some point. The coyotes won't be able to get to them to eat under all of the rocks."

"The terminated snakes will have to do." Camille said.

John Henry reported it was still clear around them.

"It still troubles me that we don't know how these people arrived." Summer said.

Camille figured it was moot at this point.

"Well, we know they won't be leaving." Camille said.

Summer looked over at the makeshift grave site.

"They picked the wrong day to be a Gray." Summer said.

The Metal girls took one more look around the area.

"I think we're done here." Camille said.

They heard Cameron's operation progress.

The drone that was over them was replaced with two fresh ones with their full armament.

"We have plenty of firepower available now." Summer said.

Camille didn't think it would be needed.

"Maybe we can find some more snakes." Camille said.

They rechecked the area one last time. There was no hidden opening that they could find. It was time to leave. They headed for the Blackhawk rendezvous point.

Camille and Summer arrived at the reconnoiter site and boarded the helicopter. The recovered HK drone was secured underneath it and the damaged Terminator was inside on the floor. The copter lifted off and headed for the drop off point for the HK drone and Terminator.

Camille and Summer were let off where they'd been picked up and recovered their vehicle.

The two drones made a quick sweep of the area and one at each of the Detail locations. Everything looked all clear, so they returned to the base.

The operation appeared to be over.

Cameron returned Sheila back to the base. She then headed for Palmdale to let Hanna off.

She wanted to personally check on Claire and her 'three' daughters.

Cameron grilled Hanna about how events were going and the state of affairs between Allison and Holly.

She wanted an update on Allison's condition. She also wanted to see and interact with Young Allison and Summer.

If You Want To Be Good At Anything

Love is like work
To be successful at either
One must stick with it
Never taking a breather

When you lose sight of the goal
It becomes easy to wander
What was once near and achievable
Soon evaporates into fading yonder

Commitment and perseverance
Is needed from all involved
Lacking that nothing can be resolved
Whatever was is soon dissolved

Before one decides to push
Flushing the other away
Maybe stop, think and listen
What it is they're trying to say

We must focus our will
All of our concentration bring
You have to practice every day
If you want to be good at anything

Nobody