Chapter 1558

No Communication

John Henry was in communication with Bob's team. The target area seemed secure enough for them to enter with the trucks. They needed to collect the HK equipment. There'd only been one breakout attempt by any Grays and it was repulsed. They'd been able to make contact with Larry and Hank when the door was open. They said they'd take care of the Grays.

"I think they're good to go on the first and second building." Summer said. "There's good drone coverage. Everything is clear. Larry and Hank have the Grays under control."

John Henry wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

"I think they can move in with two trucks per building." John Henry said.

Summer, like Young Allison, was worried about any additional Skynet forces arriving. She kept track of what was on the ground and in the sky.

Bob and Jim were given the 'all clear' to approach with the big trucks. Al and Ed were a few minutes behind them.

They drove past the first building and went straight for the second building. They would load all of the HK drone and HK Track subassemblies first. There were some large military style trucks there if they needed them as well in both the first and second building. After the operation concluded they should have extra drivers available. They would take as much of what they could.

As they pulled up to the second building a drone did a low level scan. It also performed the same task a few minutes ago. Everything was clear.

Cam left the large roll up doors unlatched. They just needed to push up on them to open them.

Bob pulled up and stopped off to the side of the roll up door. He hopped out and opened the roll up door. He went inside. Jim backed up to the opening.

Jim got out and headed for the back of the truck. Bob already opened it and went over to start a forklift. They went to work.

Al and Ed arrived at the first building a few minutes later. A drone did the same low level scans for them. Everything was clear. They set up and went to work the same way that Jim and Bob had done.

Michael and Richard were in the hanger section of third building. They moved all the drone subassemblies together for faster loading. They also collected any serviceable weapons from the Grays that were there and were now terminated.

Bob and Al were able to report that they would fill all four of their trucks and two of the military style trucks to get everything.

Michael said they would need at least one of the military trucks if not two of them based on their size. Bob gave him the dimensions and it was determined they would need two of the military trucks.

Al moved two of the military trucks out of the first building as Ed and him continued to load.

Michael would remain where he was at and Richard would go and retrieve one.

Richard went out the back of the hanger. The large door was open.

Michael could hear a drone approach.

Young Allison wanted to make sure the 'back door' remained open for the teams inside the hill right now.

"Send 'Coltan Overcast' into the hanger to back up Michael while Richard is out." Young Allison said. "Wait. Have 'Coltan Overcast' take Richard to the first building to retrieve a military truck. That will save time. He won't be gone long that way."

Anna set it up.

'Cherry Bomb' increased the speed of its patrol back and forth as 'Coltan Overcast' left to pick up Richard and fly him to the first building.

CamNet sent out an alert. There was an unidentified HK drone that was just picked up at medium altitude. It was thirty miles out and closing fast.

One of their drones at fifty thousand feet moved to intercept it.

"Keep our drone at that altitude." Young Allison said. "Don't get suckered down."

Anna knew Young Allison didn't want to be caught flat footed like the enemy was at Midway when the dive bombers arrived. They simply pealed off in formation and made their bombing runs against the flattops, just like in practice. The enemy fighters were all down on the deck having just dealt with the torpedo bombers. The enemy pilots were all after an 'easy kill' and failed to protect their aircraft carriers. The dive bombers all scored.

"CamNet has more drones on the way. They're almost to the target area." Anna said. "There's one of our drones on an intercept course with the unknown HK drone."

Young Allison wanted to make sure they were covered.

"Have that drone go out on a wider patrol in the direction the HK drone was first picked up at." Young Allison said. "If there are more of them I bet they won't come from that direction but I want to make sure. I think more will arrive and it will be from a different direction and altitude. The HK drone is probably a scout. It could be a decoy as well."

Anna agreed with that assessment.

"I think you're right." Anna said. "The drone at fifty thousand feet will be over the incoming HK drone in a few minutes."

Young Allison wanted to try something.

"Have the drone at altitude take a 'gravity shot' at the HK drone." Young Allison said. "I want it damaged enough so it needs to return to base. The nature of the attack should remain a mystery to it. Hopefully it will be recalled with 'mechanical difficulties'."

Anna nodded. They should be able to track the HK drone back to its origin.

"We can see where it goes or if it lands we can see who comes to fetch it." Anna said.

"That's what I want." Young Allison said.

CamNet already had a force of additional drones on the way and they were scattered in three groups over thirty miles of sky. Two drones broke off from each group to increase that to fifty mile patrol around the target area.

Hanna and Ally were in the right branch off of the main passageway. They'd activated two HK Tracks after they put the Resistance transponder code into them and then thought better of it.

HK Tracks seemed to be communicating with each other right now. They were worried it may become a problem.

"Let's deactivate them before they go 'Postal' on us and everyone else." Ally said.

Hanna knew that was a myth. The Post Office shootings were no worse than any other workplace shootings based on proportion. There were thousands of Post Office facilities.

"I think so." Hanna said. "I don't trust them."

They each moved in back of one of the HK Tracks and went to turn them off.

Both of the HK tracks spun their treads and took off rapidly. They headed out towards the main passageway.

Ally and Hanna looked at each other and ran after them. They hoped they wouldn't turn around and shoot at them. They issued a warning to anyone who could still hear them.

Cam and Samantha were down the left branch. They arrived at a metal door. They just cleared the living quarters. The area was clear and no Grays were present. It looked like everyone left in a hurry.

They'd received the code that Gail sent out earlier about the metal door she'd opened. They put in the code and the door opened. They changed the code to what Gail changed the other one to.

"Do you think these doors are all connected to a central computer?" Samantha asked.

Cam wondered about that herself.

"You mean connected to some version of Skynet." Cam said.

It seemed plausible to Samantha.

"It seemed to know what happened outside and where to direct the Grays earlier." Samantha said.

Cam knew that was true.

"So far we haven't spotted any surveillance cameras in here." Cam said. "Everything is supposed to be jammed."

Samantha wondered how deep though. They were underground now and into the hillside.

"We can't get a signal out from where we are now." Samantha said. "Maybe we can't jam the signal either in this deep."

Cam looked around further.

"No, maybe we can't." Cam said.

They continued through the passageway which was now more like a tunnel. They hoped to link up with Young Jesse and her team soon.

They wanted the backpack nuke where they knew they could deploy it if it was needed.

Cammy continued straight ahead after she dumped the two bodies of the Grays. She wanted to find 'Robby The Robot' and the 'Metal Bitch' that were down in 'The Hole'.

She spotted what looked like a hoist. She'd encountered those before with Skynet, at least Cameron had.

"Cammy, there are two HK Tracks headed towards the main opening where you're at or near that just left where we were at." Hanna said.

There was the sound of an HK Track somewhere behind her.

"What's the story on the HK Track?" Cammy asked.

"We started to reprogram them and they took off on their own." Ally said. "We don't have any 'sticky shockers'."

"Do you mean there's more than one?" Cammy asked.

"Yes." Hanna said. "There are two of them."

"Where are they now?" Cammy asked.

"They were still headed the way you went." Ally said.

"Beautiful." Cammy said.

Sheila led the group along through the tunnel.

"I think we're close to the buildings now." Sheila said.

Without communications and any way to track themselves, it was all speculation based on dead reckoning.

"We'll know soon enough." Young Jesse said.

Camille moved up closer to Sheila. They were on opposite sides of the tunnel.

There was the sound of a metal door opening ahead of them.

Camille indicated that Young Jesse stop.

The entire team stopped and listened.

Camille dropped back to Young Jesse.

"There's someone ahead of us." Camille whispered. "We all heard a metal door open."

Young Jesse listened but she couldn't hear anything.

Sheila decided to move the team forward. They started out slow and continued that way.

There was soon a pause again.

"Stay behind me." Camille whispered to Young Jesse.

Sheila motioned for the team to hold as she moved forward alone. She couldn't see anyone. That was probably because there was another series of ninety degree bends ahead. She advanced with her Taser and silenced M9 in front of her.

She stopped short of the turn. She got down low on her knees and then laid flat. She moved one eye around the side of the wall.

There were two men there. They were back close to the next bend. There might be others behind them. They paused with their weapons ready. It was possible they'd peered around the bend earlier and spotted them moving. That seemed doubtful but they clearly weren't going anywhere right now for some reason. They were an impediment to their forward progress.

Camille could tell there was a problem. She moved Hank and Larry in front of Gail and Young Jesse.

"I'm going up to where Sheila is at." Camille whispered. "Something's wrong. It must be contact."

"Be careful, love." Young Jesse whispered.

Gail reached back and gave Young Jesse's hand a squeeze.

"Remember, she's 'Cameron'." Gail whispered.

Claire moved her arm and bumped into something. She opened her eyes and looked up. The room was dimly lit. She felt someone in bed next to her. This didn't seem like the nursery. She was surprised to see John in her bed. John was asleep.

She quickly realized it was John's room and she was in his bed. She lifted the sheet and looked down, she was naked and so was he.

Claire thought about getting up to check on Summer. She didn't think it was necessary. She would rather stay here until John woke up. She wanted to be with him again.

If she moved in with him like Cameron suggested, this is what she could have every night and wake up to every morning. She wanted to see what would happen in the morning when he woke up. She wanted him to 'take' her.

She thought about what a good time she'd shared with him previously and how he made her feel. She relived those moments now. She didn't realize it at first but she'd begun to touch herself as she thought of it all again. Now she worked it a little harder as she remembered it all. She 'finished' in just a few minutes. She stayed with it and finished again and again. She wanted him more than ever and she was really ready right now. She knew she was more than ready.

Richard went outside the hanger and 'Coltan Overcast' came down low to the ground but didn't set down. He hopped up on top of it and it hurried him to the first building. It was a short but fast ride.

He hopped off when it was a few feet off of the ground.

'Coltan Overcast' took back off into the night sky.

Al met him. There were two trucks ready to go.

"Take one of the trucks." Al said. "I'll follow you with the other one. 'Coltan Overcast' can bring me back."

Richard could hear Ed inside the building with a forklift.

They each got into a military style truck. Al had left both of them running. They drove past the second building and could see Jim and Bob hard at work there.

Michael could hear the two trucks approach. He moved off to the side anyway. They both pulled into the hanger area near the equipment they needed to load. He approached the trucks.

Al tossed him the keys and went back outside.

'Coltan Overcast' was there waiting for Al. He hopped on and it took him away. He was soon back at work with Ed.

Richard and Michael went to work

"This will take longer without the forklift." Michael said.

They'd used it to block the blast door open earlier.

"We need to make sure the girls get out." Richard said.

Young Allison wanted the HK drone that approached the team damaged but not destroyed.

CamNet conducted a high altitude gravity shot and scored. The HK drone took a number of hits and started to smoke. It still continued on its path towards where the team was currently at.

"It only appears to have slowed." Anna said. "It did a complete search in all directions for a target before it continued along."

Young Allison didn't want it any closer to the team.

"Hit it again." Young Allison said.

CamNet took another limited shot. The 'metal hail' hit the HK drone again, this time it dropped off to one side and started to spiral down.

"It's damaged even more now." Anna said.

The HK drone was able to stabilize itself somewhat but was still at a thirty degree angle. It resumed its original course towards the team. It was at a much lower altitude now.

Young Allison decided to bring it down.

"Hit…." Young Allison started.

Just as she began to speak the drone dropped to a forty five degree angle and turned around. It was clear it was severely damage at this point.

The drone at altitude followed it. One of the drones CamNet sent in the second group of their drones climbed up to take its previous position.

"I think there are going to be more HK drones." Young Allison said.

Anna was sure there would be once that one was inspected.

"If Grays or a Terminator gets a look at that one we hit, I'm sure there will be." Anna said. "They will see what the damage actually is."

Young Allison knew they would see what the damage was caused by. It would be clear it was hit by projectiles and not a mechanical issue.

"I intend for whoever retrieves it to get the same thing." Young Allison said.

Ally and Hanna hurried off after the HK Tracks.

"They seem to be headed somewhere." Ally said.

Hanna was sure it was towards Cammy.

"Cammy is the one who needs to worry." Hanna said.

They made sure Cammy knew what was coming her way.

Cammy was worried.

"Where are they now?" Cammy asked.

"They were still headed the way you went." Ally said.

"Beautiful." Cammy said.

Cammy was headed towards where 'The Hole' was at and the hoist above it. She took cover behind some crates. The first ones she went behind were empty. That wasn't going to cut it. She moved to another set of crates that were full of something.

The HK Tracks clanked over to 'The Hole' and stopped. They faced each other again before they turned and pointed back the direction they'd come from. They appeared to guard it from someone that would approach from the outside. She was parallel next to them and could get behind them at this point. They probably were hard wired to protect whatever version of Skynet that was down in 'The Hole'.

Cammy checked her gear and she only carried one sticky shocker with her. She could take one of them down from the side probably without the other one understanding what happened to it. She could take down the other one with her Taser. That was always risky since the barbs needed to jam in a joint. She'd need to be right on top of it. She'd like to disable them without any shooting. She didn't want to alert whoever was in 'The Hole' to their close proximity.

Cam and Samantha passed through the metal door and secured it behind them with the new code. They were concerned as to what the version of Skynet there could actually detect. They didn't know if their movements were being tracked.

They were in a tunnel now. It was only lit with dim red lights every so often. It was enough to see by to move around for humans and not much else.

"I think there's a junction up ahead." Samantha whispered.

They slowed as they approached.

Cam held up her hand to stop Samantha.

"Fallback…." Cam whispered.

They both quickly backpedaled. They moved back fifty feet and lay on the ground against each side in the darkness between the high mounted red lights. They both brought their M4 up. The threat didn't sound mechanical. Cam quietly chambered a buckshot round in her M203 mounted below her M4. She removed the 'sticky shocker' round from it. It was the type of 'shocker' that could be fired at a greater distance.

Right now they didn't have any communication with anyone. They didn't know Cammy could use the 'sticky shocker' round.

They watched a group of four men exit from the branch. They didn't know where that branch came from.

"Let's get out of here." The first Gray said.

"We need to clear the tunnel first." The second Gray said.

Cam and Samantha could see two Grays turn in their direction. They sighted their weapons on them.

"Hey, stupid, that's the wrong way." The third Gray said. "That goes to the sleeping quarters and main complex area."

"Don't call me stupid." The fourth Gray said. "I've never been in these tunnels before. I thought they were just escape routes."

"Everyone relax." The second Gray said. "We don't know what's been compromised and what hasn't yet."

"It's probably that 'Metal Bitch' we heard about." The first Gray said.

"We have our own 'Metal Bitch' to deal with." The second Gray said.

"Don't forget 'Robby The Robot'." The fourth Gray said.

"That clown is a real 'Bucket Head'." The second Gray said.

The patrol turned away from them and headed in the opposite direction.

"They're headed towards Young Jesse's team." Samantha whispered.

Cam knew that was a possibility. They didn't know where anything went for sure.

"Let's follow them." Cam whispered. "We still don't know where they came from either."

Samantha thought maybe they should split up.

"One of us can go to where they came from." Samantha whispered. "There must have been something there. More could end up in back of us."

Cam paused as they neared the junction. She removed the buckshot round from her M203 and placed the 'sticky shocker' round back in. From what the Grays indicated there were at least two hostile Terminators. They didn't know where they were at.

"I'll go." Cam whispered. "We can meet back here in twelve minutes. If one of us isn't here, that means we ran into a problem."

Samantha didn't know how far their coms would work in the system of tunnels. The right angle bends cut down on their transmission and reception ability.

"How will the others know where to look?" Samantha whispered.

Cam figured that would be easy.

"They can follow the gunfire sounds." Cam whispered.

Cam turned up the branch that led deeper into the hill and disappeared from sight around a bend in a short while.

Samantha went in pursuit of the four Grays.

She debated at what point to act. The more the men talked the more information she was able to gather. They talked a lot and they weren't very quiet either.