Chapter 807

Stuck In Reverse

Cameron led Savannah quickly toward the building. They passed two HK Tracks that were being deactivated and one HK drone that was being deactivated. The double EMP blast seemed to have worked so far in that regard. None of the Skynet equipment seemed to be functional or even start to come back online.

Savannah was pleased to see all their Terminators functioning at one hundred percent. She was afraid her double EMP theory could have damaged all of them. CamNet assured her it would work. It looks like it did. The only machines that were inoperable appeared to be the Skynet machines.

Cameron and Savannah crossed over the railroad siding, past the big door that went into the building. They moved around to the side opposite of the spur track. That's where they decided they would make their entry.

Cameron moved up to a door on the side of the building, Savannah followed her. She kicked the door open with the bottom of her foot and it came off its hinges. It flew back and landed with a loud crash.

There was a burst of gunfire directed at the opening.

"It has to be Grays." Cameron said.

She didn't glance back at Savannah. She kept moving forward.

Cameron dashed inside. A flurry of gunfire followed her. She moved quicker than the gunman expected.

On her way in, Cameron spotted another man frantically working on an HK Track. There was another prone figure lying next to it. It was most likely a Terminator.

It was evident those two Skynet machines were offline and out of the fight, at least for now. It was unknown how long that would last.

Another burst of gunfire was directed in Cameron's direction. She'd already moved and fired a single round from her new position before moving again. The man working on the HK Track joined the Terminator lying on the floor. A small bleeding hole was in his forehead, the back of his skull was missing along with most of the contents.

Savannah raised her M4 and prepared to follow. Cameron was only inside for two seconds so far. Everything seemed to happen so fast. She saw another group of bullets strike where Cameron was at a second ago. She moved inside. The bullets returned to her area. She was behind a heavy metal bench. None of the rounds could reach her where she was at.

She heard the man curse. There was a metallic sound. Savannah popped up and fired half her magazine at where she'd seen the man as she'd entered. He was fumbling with a fresh magazine and tried to insert it upside down in his haste and panic. She saw at least five rounds strike him. He went down instantly.

Cameron was across from Savannah. She stood at the corner of two walls.

Savannah watched Cameron sweep the room with her M4 and motioned for her to join her. She cautiously moved to Cameron's position. She saw the HK Track and two figures lying next to it. She was unsure how many shots Cameron fired, she only saw one. It could have been more. The Gray fired off thirty rounds before she'd dropped him. He never did get the magazine inserted in the proper direction before he was killed.

"Are there any other Terminators?" Savannah asked quietly as she indicated the two figures on the ground next to the HK Track.

Cameron continued to scan the interior of the building for any other threats.

"I've only spotted one so far." Cameron whispered back. "The one with the blue shirt is Metal."

Savannah checked her Taser. It was ready to go.

Cameron moved through the building as she searched for more targets. There were none. Savannah covered their six as they moved toward the two incapacitated Skynet machines. It was unknown how long they would remain that way.

They made it around to where the three figures and the HK Track were at. It was obvious the two Grays were dead. The Terminator and the HK Track were both there intact and unmoving. There was nothing apparent that they were about to become active either.

Cameron approached the Terminator.

Savannah held her Taser in her hand. She moved her position to have a clean shot at him with her Taser as Cameron closed in on him.

So far neither machine gave any indication it was about to reboot and come back online. The double punch EMP strike seemed to have paid off as it was intended.

Cameron removed his chip and started on the HK Track. The initial goal was to take it out of service.

Savannah wondered about the time. It seemed past the time the reboot procedure should begin.

"Is it past the reboot time after the second EMP blast?" Savannah asked.

Cameron actually waited a few seconds past the time of when the second EMP blast should have occurred and the reboot procedure should have started.

"Yes." Cameron said. "I wanted to see if either one of them rebooted when they should have. Since you had your Taser out I waited a few seconds just to see what would happen. Nothing happened."

Savannah quickly changed her magazine in her M4 as Cameron worked.

Cameron felt confident enough to send her initial report to the Command Center.

"There are two Grays, one Terminator and one HK Track down inside the building." Cameron said.

John Henry was worried about what else could be inside the building, specifically the boxcars.

"What's inside the boxcars?" John Henry asked.

Cameron knew this was only the preliminary search. The entire building would need to be gone through in more detail to make sure there was no one else hiding. She was aware that Gray's weren't known for their bravery.

"We're still searching the building." Cameron said. "It will take some time."

Cameron was sure there were more Grays there inside the structure with them. There didn't seem to be enough personnel here for the attack that they'd seemed to expect. That seemed troublesome in itself. It was possible that they'd launched the attack much sooner than the Gray's anticipated. It was also possible that something else was going on that they didn't know about yet.

There was a metallic 'clang' from where the boxcars were parked.

It sounded like a new threat was about to develop.

There was a 'clanking' sound from where the two boxcars were at inside the building. Cameron pulled the power supply from the HK Track and they moved back the way they'd come. She sent out a warning.

"We have an active HK Track." Cameron said.

That wasn't what was planned. Something must have gone wrong or was different.

Cameron thought that maybe this HK Track wasn't active at the time of the double EMP bursts. If it was still inside the boxcar, there was no need for it to be turned on. The question was as to what activated it now? Did it activate on its own or did someone just activate it?

She wasn't even sure if it was an HK Track.

Maybe it was something worse to dread.

That sounded very worrisome to John. An HK Track was a serious threat to face.

"That sounds like bad news." John said.

John Henry wasn't sure how that was the only active piece of Skynet equipment. He came to the same conclusion that Cameron had. It must not have been turned on before. That most likely meant someone turned it on. That someone was most likely a Gray. It was possible it could be a Terminator as well but that seemed very unlikely.

"Use caution." John Henry said. "I think you have at least one more Gray as well."

John wanted them to retreat. There were other team members out there with more firepower. They could better deal with an HK Track.

"You don't have a lot of firepower." John said. "Fallback and wait until more of the team arrives. There are a few LAW rockets out there."

Cameron hoped to contain the HK Track to the interior of the boxcar. She didn't want it to be able to move around the interior of the building or get outside.

"I want the threat neutralized now." Cameron said. "I don't want to wait."

John Henry wondered if they could see inside of the boxcars at all.

"Can you see anything else or hear it?" John Henry asked.

Cameron couldn't see anything but two open boxcar doors without anything in her line of sight visible.

"Not yet." Cameron said. "I'm going to need to get closer."

That sounded like a bad move to John. He thought they should wait for the LAW rockets to arrive.

"Are you sure there is only one HK Track?" John asked.

John Henry wondered why the HK Track wouldn't be out with the other one in the interior of the building. That didn't make any sense to him. He also wondered why it would have been turned on or turned off on its own once the attack commenced. That left him with one conclusion that it was something bigger and something to dread.

"You need to make sure it's not an HK Tread." John Henry said. "Do you have a visual on it yet?"

Cameron already pondered that same question. She was afraid that was exactly what it was.

"It's still inside the boxcar." Cameron said. "I haven't been able to look yet. I heard noise inside but nothing has happened."

John Henry was curious as to what type of boxcar that it was.

"Is it a double door or single door boxcar?" John Henry asked.

Cameron could see that the dock arrangement was already set up to remove the equipment out of the boxcars. It seemed like the extra firepower would come in handy before they went much further.

"It's a double door. Both doors are open. There is a loading dock with a ramp on it that goes into the boxcar. It can come out of the boxcar at any time." Cameron said. "I need a LAW rocket."

Hanna was done with her piece of HK equipment.

"I have one." Hanna said. "I'm coming now."

John was worried that it was an HK Tread. If it was active it was a serious threat to the entire team. It didn't matter if it was being controlled by someone or on autonomous control.

"Cameron, I think that you should fallback." John said. "We'll call in a drone strike. There's no need to risk it when we're this close to a win."

Cameron wanted to know exactly what they were going to have to face. Whatever she heard might not be the only one.

"Let me see what's inside first." Cameron said. "I need to know how serious the threat is."

Gail felt they were too far out to be able to assist the team in a timely manner. The EMP weapon was already used so they wouldn't be affected by it now.

"I want to move the Iroquois closer." Gail said.

Sheila didn't agree with that idea. She didn't want to endanger the helicopter.

"If that is an HK Tread and it gets out, we would be in danger." Sheila said. "The two drones will handle it."

Gail was obviously agitated.

"What about Savannah and Cameron?" Gail asked. "They're inside with it."

Sheila had extreme confidence in both of them. Hanna was on her way with a LAW rocket. If nothing else, they would be able to disable it inside of the building. It wouldn't be able to go far and all I could destroy was the building at that point, if they pulled out.

"They're both very resourceful." Sheila said. "We need to let it play out some first."

Gail was very worried about the peril Savannah was in right now. She hoped she didn't start to glitch. It bothered her a lot.

Cameron was sure there were more Grays inside the building with them.

"Savannah, I'm not sure all the Grays are down." Cameron said.

Savannah scanned the room again for any sign of movement.

"Do you think that's a Gray inside of an HK Tread?" Savannah asked. "If it was shut down at the time of the EMP blasts, it would have been unaffected by them. It could be operating on its own too. It would have heard the gunfire when we took down the two Grays. That was probably what activated it if it's on autonomous control."

Cameron wasn't sure of the timing. It seemed off for any scenario. That was any scenario unless someone was inside of it.

"It may have been offline for the first blast but started to power up when the second blast occurred too. If that were the case, it would have only been affected with a single EMP blast and been able to reboot." Cameron said. "I need to see what it is."

All Cameron could determine so far was there was something with tracks inside the boxcar and it hadn't emerged yet.

Savannah continued to scan the room for any other signs of movement.

"It seems strange that it hasn't come out if it's activated." Savannah said. "It should come out to see what the threat was that activated it."

Cameron knew that was an accurate assessment. She also remembered the HK drone at the building Cammy's team took down. One of them was defective from poor construction and even poorer quality control. It remained stuck in the boxcar until it was physically carried away by Terminators. The Blackhawk took it away from there.

"I'm not sure why it's not coming out." Cameron said. "It may be damaged."

Cameron began to wonder if maybe this wasn't as big of a threat as they initially thought. That thought was soon negated in the next few seconds.

There was some more clanking and the entire boxcar shook. It was slow at first and then it became very violent. There was a lot of metal on metal noise every few seconds.

Savannah stopped scanning the room and looked over at the boxcar as it vibrated violently.

"What the Hell?" Savannah asked.

Cameron thought to shake the boxcar like that it must be something big. It was most likely an HK Tread. Maybe they would still get that break that she hoped for.

"It's stuck." Cameron said. "I think it's damaged. It seems confused."

Cameron approached along the side of the boxcar. She would be able to duck underneath it in an instant. That would give her some cover. Savannah moved with her and continued to cover their six.

Cameron quickly looked inside the boxcar at the corner of the door opening. She motioned for Savannah to move down to the second box car.

It was an HK Tread. It faced her and it was ready to roll out. Instead, it tried to move backwards. It clanked against the end of the boxcar and shook it violently again.

Cameron watched the metal on metal contact between the HK Tread's tracks and the steel end of the boxcar. A shower of sparks flew in all directions.

Savannah moved down and checked the other boxcar.

"It's clear." Savannah said. "This one is empty."

Cameron didn't think the HK Tread would be able to get out on its own.

"There is an HK Tread in this boxcar." Cameron said. "It's stuck. I think it's stuck in reverse."

Savannah wasn't so sure about that. She believed it was operator error more than anything. She spent a lot of time operating some of the HK Tread's that the Resistance acquired. She'd personally witnessed the same type of behavior before with different operators.

"It might be a Gray inside who doesn't know how to operate it." Savannah said. "I know when Vanna and Jesse both first tried to operate one; they both got stuck in reverse."

Cameron didn't know what was wrong. That sounded like one explanation.

"Maybe that's the case." Cameron said. "At some point he's going to figure it out. It's armed too."

Savannah hoped that they could capture it intact as they'd done all the other HK equipment at this location.

"Does anyone have a 'sticky shocker'?" Savannah asked.

No one did. This operation was unplanned for them. The majority of them left from the malt shop and went directly to the airport. Cammy's team lost most of their equipment when the van was destroyed.

Savannah knew there was more than one way to deactivate HK equipment.

"Let me see if I can use my Taser on it." Savannah said.

She moved up to the door of the boxcar. She looked over at Cameron.

"If I can get it offline, you can disable it." Savannah said.

Cameron was afraid at some point the autonomous control capability would kick in. Maybe the Gray trying to manually operate it currently overrode that function right now.

"I'm not sure how it's operating but unable to become autonomous." Cameron said. "We don't know for sure a Gray is inside."

Savannah went to climb in, Cameron stopped her.

Cameron was once again impressed with Savannah's bravery.

"I'll do it." Cameron said. "Let me have your Taser as well. I don't know how much juice I can pump into this thing. There may be a Terminator inside as well. They could both be damaged. They could both be operational."

Cameron knew if she was in close, the HK Tread's weapons were useless. Then again, in the confined space of the interior of the boxcar there would be a lot of shrapnel and ricochets.

Cameron hopped up inside the boxcar and quickly headed toward the HK Tread. She hoped no weapons would fire until she was in too close to be targeted. Right now she was a 'sitting duck', even if she was running.

John was aware of the danger Cameron and Savannah were in right now. He wanted some better control over what was happening there. He knew that there was someone who would look out for Savannah no matter what happened.

"I want Gail back in the manned drone." John said.

John Henry made that request earlier. It was ignored, now he relayed John's request. He knew CamNet would have heard it as well.

"I've informed CamNet." John Henry said.

John went over all of the facts so far. Something didn't add up. He remembered Savannah's earlier apprehension that something was off. He felt that way now too.

"If this was a set up for us, there should be more Gray ground troops involved." John said. "Not three or four people."

John Henry was also concerned that there's only been one Terminator discovered so far. Everything did seem a little on the light side for a full on attack.

"That would make sense." John Henry said. "I'm watching for reinforcements on the way or HK drones in the air. So far there's nothing showing."

John was sure there should be more people. Something was off there.

"This operation doesn't smell right." John said.

Savannah looked around as Cameron entered the boxcar. There was one downed Terminator and two dead Gray's. There was possibly another one inside of the HK Tread. She felt that there was a lot that didn't add up about it as well. Where was the opposition at? It was almost as if they were being drawn into this location. She felt that the Skynet forces wanted them to be there where they were at right now and not go anywhere. Savannah wanted some answers from the Command Center.

"John Henry, can you have a drone scan for people on the ground around here other than our group?" Savannah asked. "What's the ETA of more of our drones? There's something that's not right about this entire operation so far. I don't know what it is but I know that it's not right. I felt that from the start and I feel it again now."

John Henry could see that the two humans involved in the operation both seemed to 'feel' and think the same things about what was happening.

"John thought the same thing." John Henry said. "There should be more Grays or Terminators."

Savannah just couldn't put it together. She felt that there was still a missing component or something to that effect.

"If this was a 'set-up' for us, it is hard to believe it was all automated." Savannah said.

John Henry knew that Grays didn't play a big role in the future as far as combat went.

"In the future most are automated." John Henry said. "It seemed the Grays usually only carried out support roles and menial tasks."

Savannah knew that was true from personal experience. All of the heavy lifting was done by Terminators.

"I've been to a couple of those futures." Savannah said. "This isn't the future."

John Henry knew that was true.

"No, it's not." John Henry said.

Savannah wanted more support for their team on the ground. John Henry still hadn't answered her question.

"What is the ETA of more of our drones?" Savannah asked again.

John Henry checked on their progress. It wouldn't be that long.

"There are more on the way. Two will be there in seven minutes" John Henry said. "There will be two more in twelve minutes."

Savannah moved up and checked on Cameron, her M4 was at the ready. She was sure the real battle hadn't started or at least the main event hadn't yet occurred. It wasn't a good feeling at all. She wanted to take some precautions immediately.

"Get one or two on long range patrol for hostile HK drones." Savannah said. "Increase the search parameters to double whatever you're doing. Watch for HK drones hugging the ground."

John was worried even more by Savannah's concern. It was clear she expected additional action. He wondered if she had something concrete. Maybe she'd come across some information inside of the building.

"Do you have anything solid?" John asked. "I feel like you do but I have nothing to back up my feeling."

Savannah can only go by her intuition and her feelings as well. She was aware that wasn't much for the machines to go on.

"No." Savannah said. "I have the feeling this isn't over yet and the main event hasn't even started."

John poured over all the information that they had so far. None of it helped.

"I feel it too." John said.

Savannah continued to scan the interior of the building as she stood next to the boxcar with Cameron inside of it.

"I guess we're on the same page." Savannah said.

Cameron listened to the entire conversation between Savannah and John. It was exactly what she wanted them to do. She wanted them to work together and talk things out. She wasn't sure that anything was off herself but if Savannah and John both felt that it was, that meant something to her. She also wanted them to know she was pleased at their discussion and conclusion.

"It's the 'Natural Order'." Cameron said. "It's the future."

No One Likes A Nag

One likes to hear about their charm
Or their pure sweet beauty
Or be praised for their
Protracted persistent duty

When all one hears
Is about their faults
What does one think
Are going to be the results

We are who we are
That's how it is
It shouldn't matter
If it's hers or his

Brighten the shadow
Cast off the doubt
A smile goes much further
Than a sour frowning pout

One would much prefer
To listen to a wag
Let's face it
No one likes a nag

Nobody