Don't really know how long this story is going to be. I know the chapters are shorter than "Steel and Bone" and that's on purpose. But hey, who knows, maybe this story will get some nice juicy chapters in it, length wise I mean. I do however know it'll span from 2016 to early/mid 2030s.

I would also like to apologise for the longer wait for this chapter, I've been having a rough time in my life, and I've been battling depression, I think I'm over it, but some days are really hard and finding the joy to write gets harder and harder. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.


Terminator

The Zeta Chronicles

Chapter 4

The Journey


It had been several hours since Bravo team left the Resistance base in the mountains by Fort Irwin, the clouded afternoon sky gave way to the darkening of twilight, everyone had been silent since they left and the only sound between them all being the T-500's hydraulics as it moved. The humans initially made subtle gestures towards the machine taking up their rear and grimaced showing their displeasure, though within the initial hour they had stopped when the consensus was universal; they didn't like the machine.

A simple resupply mission shouldn't have given Sergeant Jackson such levels of discomfort as this one should. She and Bravo had done these types of missions before, but they'd never done it with a machine. Part of her knew the scrubbed metal were fine, once reprogrammed the machines were like dogs, stupid but loyal. But a part of her couldn't get over the feeling of anxiousness at the thought of the machine malfunctioning, what if it reverted to Skynet programming? Gunned them down and made its way back to Skynet give them all sorts of information Skynet would love to know about Crystal Peak.

She glanced around at her team, her only remaining family.

Corporal Mathew Douglas, he was a younger man only a few years her junior around 18 or 19 years old, he was just shy of six-feet with unruly dark hair and brown eyes.

Walking beside him was private Catherine Luna, the eldest of the three Latinos of her squad at 16-years-old and around five-foot-seven. Luna had a good head on her shoulders, strong, smart, dependable. Her family had moved from Mexico while trying to escape the machines. They'd eventually been caught and put into a nearby death camp until the Resistance had broken them out, sadly her parents hadn't survived the camp.

Private James Murphy was a tall, six-one, reckless bald 19-year-old son of a bitch but he was a good shot, that's why he was their marksman, the problem was he knew he was a good shot. Cocky bastard. But she wouldn't have him any other way.

Murphy was talking to Michael Zander, what could she say about the little five-four 13-year-old blonde kid? He was alright. Followed orders. Poor kid was green as grass, only been on her team for a little over a month, but he'd gone through training so that meant he was dependable.

Then finally the Vasquez twins. Camila and Alejandro "Alex". Camila had a temper and a love for explosives and Alex was the paranoid cautious type, thankfully the pair seemed more manageable when put together as if parts of their personality rubbed off onto the other. They were only 14 years old both of them five-foot-six.

She'd do anything for this team, even if it meant giving her life. She just hoped it'd never come to that, especially on this mission.

"We're coming up to our Barstow base." Sergeant Jackson announced looking back to the rest of her squad, and the 986. "It's getting late, so we'll bunker down for the night and continue on foot in the morning."

The squad moved into the ruins of Barstow, early into the war Skynet's forces were light in the area, gathering people up and creating a death camp among the ruins, Connor's resistance saw the end of it rather quickly then used the resources at Marine Corps logistics base to fix what vehicles and equipment they could, a fair amount of the tools had been taken to the primary base but there was enough left over for the few resistance outposts in the city to use.

"Nearly there." The Luna said softly as they rounded a corner.

Then there before them was a machine, an older unit; a T-100. The T-100 was a post Judgement Day variant of the original pre-war T-1 battlefield robot developed by Cyber Research Systems, with a slightly redesign and additional armour plating covering its treads, still the machine had the same 7.62NATO rotary chainguns on either arm as the previous model.

The machine's upper body swivelled suddenly towards them upon detecting them and scanned them, its optics shifting to the machine at the back.

"Sergeant Jackson 0-4-9-1-6 of Resistance 0-0-1, requesting sanctuary for the night." She spoke loudly to the machine guard.

There was a brief pause before a human voice spoke up from behind the T-100. "Alright let them in."

The machines lower section rotated before the machine moved out of the way, revealing a door behind it. Sergeant Jackson moved closer and opened the door, coming face to face with more Resistance soldiers, "We've got transport metal with us, mind if it comes in?" She asked though her tone and expression showed her own distaste at the thought.

The soldiers exhaled with frustration but nodded. Jackson turned back to her squad and motioned them to come in then walked in before the T-500.

As they made their way through the first corridor they started going down a flight of stairs into a basement, where the rest of the base was located.

A soldier made his way towards them, other solider parted before him like the red sea.

"Alright," the soldier, a sergeant given the stitching on his sleeve, spoke up as he came to stop in front of Bravo team, "what's going on and what's with the robot?" he asked; his tone tough but not antagonising.

Sergeant Jackson made her way to the front, "As I said to your guards, I'm Sergeant Jackson from home base, Connor sent us on a mission to resupply Outpost-Four near Victorville, we were ordered to bring metal with us for extra firepower and for heavy lifting, we were hoping we could bunker down for the night."

"First sergeant Ramirez," the man introduced himself "and no problem, make yourselves at home though keep the machine with you, some of us here aren't too keen on metal."

"Who is?" Jackson asked with a humourless chuckle.

"I don't mind 'em to be honest," Ramirez replied with a shrug as he looked at the T-500, "they've got their uses."

Ramirez turned and walked, motioning Bravo team to follow. They began to talker amongst each other while the two sergeants chatted upfront, Unit-986 observed the social interaction, its autonomous mode was still initialised giving it the chance to observe and save data. To learn in some rudimentary way. The series 500 was not a stupid machine, its CPU had been the most advanced Skynet had devised, until the creation of the newer series 600. When initially sent out it was programmed to follow its objectives and them alone without straying from the task, though now it was set to autonomous mode giving it some independence though the 500 series CPU had only limited autonomous programming, it had the ability to learn in some respect, to save data and refer to it later.

If it were a more intelligent machine, it would likely wonder why General Connor had set it to autonomous mode when simply leaving it at default would've worked just as well, it would wonder beyond simple identification what the unknown CPU inside the "Bob" T-500 was. But it wasn't so it didn't, it recorded the events before it; the human social interaction was saved it to its CPU.

Ramirez led Bravo team to a few spare room which held a few bunk beds.

"The squad won't be back for a day or so from recon, so make yourselves at home, I'm gunna go call in to home base let them know you're here." He nodded to them and walked back the way they'd came.

"Alright everyone, crash for the night, that's an order." Jackson told the before looking to the elder Latino.

"Luna I want you to take the radio from Douglas tomorrow, got it?" she instructed.

"Yes ma'am, don't you worry about it." Luna replied.

Bravo team entered the door-less room and began to remove their weapons and gear, Unit-986 turned around in the hallway, ensuring not to damage its cargo and reversed into the doorway.

"What the hell is the metal doing?" Corporal Douglas asked, seeing their entry and exit point blocked by the machine, its cargo taking up all the room.

"Machine, what the hell are you doing?" Sergeant Jackson demanded.

"Ensure the survival of Bravo team." 986 replied.

"We're safe inside a Resistance base, don't block the door." Jackson ordered with frustration.

The machine immediately obeyed her commands, walking forward to unblock itself then side stepped to stand beside the door.

Jackson shook her head, removed the rest of her fatigues leaving her in a t-shirt, pants and her boots as she lay down on her bunk. She placed her sidearm; a Beretta 9mm, under her pillow with the hammer down before drifting off to sleep.

The following morning Bravo team awoke, ate their packed rations for breakfast and quickly redressed.

"I had a dream about before the war." Corporal Douglas sudden said as he pulled his tactical best over his body.

"What happened?" Luna asked.

"I was with my mom and dad again at our old house," a gentle smile formed from nostalgia graced his lips, his eyes looking to the floor but seeing the far past, "I wanted to be a cop like my dad was."

"Then judgement day?" Private Luna asked,

"Yeah, then judgement day." Douglas heaved a slow painful sigh then continued to get attach his gear. Luna watched him for a few seconds before continuing herself.

Dressed Bravo team exited the room finding the T-500 still stood where they'd left it.

"Alright, let's go," Sergeant Jackson instructed it, "same formation as yesterday, machine you're taking up the rear."

"Affirmative." 986 replied robotically.

ON there way out they were met by Ramirez, "You all heading out already?" he asked.

"Better get a move on, still hours from Outpost four, thanks for letting us stay." Jackson replied kindly.

"No worries, home-base knew you were campin' out here for the night, asked me to tell you Outpost four is still holding strong for the time being, supplies aren't critical but still much needed, so don't panic about rushing." Ramirez looked from Jackson to the rest of her squad, his eyes glancing to the T-500 at the back before resting on Jackson once more, "also just so you know, home-base informed us Skynet may be pushing back this way so stay alert and stay safe out there."

"We'll do our best." She replied before Bravo team continued on mission.

As they exited the base Jackson looked to her watch, it was still early in the day; a little after seven am. Outpost four was a few miles short of Victorville at a service station, it had taken a few months to construct the underground facility but Resistance had done it, much like the base they'd just left. The only problem was, Outpost four was another twenty-five to thirty miles from their current location, so keeping in mind the gear they're packing, the machine, their levels of fitness, it would take them approximately ten or so hours to reach Outpost four and while it wasn't too hot right now it sure as hell would soon.

"Let's move."


"… recon squads have already been dispatched to locate a new base closer to the L.A. area, you have any information regarding Skynet?" General John Connor sat at his office desk, his personal radio turned on and tuned to a specific frequency, the signal was highly encrypted for security reasons, he and the man whom he was speaking to, usually had bi-monthly discussions and updates for the other unless something urgent came up or something went wrong. It kept them both in each other's loop and allowed them to discuss plans at length.

"Firstly; a sound plan General Connor, it will optimise the Resistance efficiency in the area. Regretfully however I have no new information on my brother other than what you already know, he is being … quiet, I fear he may know of attempts to garner information from him." John-Henry replied through the radio.

"If it did then you'd be in big trouble, you'd have HKs all over your ass in minutes." Connor replied.

"I suppose you are correct there," the advanced A.I. grew silent for a moment, "there has been something of interest going on in Palmdale."

Connor flinched. Palmdale was still a Skynet heavy location as was San Bernardino, he'd been trying for the last four years to totally remove the Skynet presence from the cities but with only minor success. Palmdale had the air force plant/airport which Skynet had acquired and constructed a reinforced base which was used to build, refuel and reload its HK Aerials. Said machines kept any major assault at bay and the base was heavily guarded, he could only imagine the influx of new T-600s guarding the base while the older T-500s were sent out deeper into the city. He worried about the two outpost that were stationed in the south end of the city.

"Can you give me any details?" Connor asked.

"A camp; built into the north section of the city joined with the aerial base."

It was Connor's turn to grow silent, he turned his focus to his wife whom looked at him with alert, possible even fearful eyes, one name went through their minds: Allison Young.

"Keep me posted on Palmdale, you learn anything new, you let me know, okay?" Connor spoke into the radio with great urgency.

"Of course, I'll let you go now, I hope next we speak we have more pleasant news." John-Henry replied before the radio broadcast static. Connor turned off the radio.

"We need to destroy the facility." Cameron spoke immediately.

"I know, but we don't have the manpower and we can't take on that many HKs at once." He argued regretfully as he leaned back in his chair and groaned deeply. "But I know we need to," he muttered to himself, "last time we were there the whole place was built like a damned fortress."

The two Generals were silent, both pondering on another problem that'd fallen onto their laps.

"We have to save her," Cameron muttered softly.

"The only thing I can really think of is contacting Ashdown, inform him of the camp, maybe he and I can come to some agreement. We may not see eye-to-eye on things but we both want to save civilians."

"He'd prefer to destroy Skynet," Cameron argued, she could understand John's idea though, Ashdown's resources and manpower was greater than theirs but she didn't trust Ashdown, he'd likely want something in return; John's surrender to him, the resistance and its resources under his command, he'd made demands before, he'd do so again, "you know he'd want something in return John, and you know what it would be."

John Connor exhaled, turning his head to look the large map of the area posted on the wall, "there must be something we can do." He muttered softly, then came a metallic rattling of the door, "who is it?"

"Bob." Came the machine's reply.

"Come in," John said immediately, the door opened and the T-500 stepped inside, "updates?"

"Recon teams from Los Angeles outposts have turned up a negative for a secured location, Skynet presence is increasing, series 500s are becoming more numerous on the battlefield, capture and reprogramming was unlikely without casualties." The veteran machine replied.

'We were lucky to get just a handful of those T-500s.' John thought to himself, the information they provided had been of some use, they all now knew the T-600 was completed and being deployed. A lightbulb lit in John's mind. T-500s were being sent out … T-500s with information, like the ones in Palmdale that knew the layout of the fortified base, and likely any security codes they'd might need.

"We need the capture Palmdale T-500s." he suddenly announced.

Cameron and Bob tilted their heads to the side.


Hours had passed by since Bravo team had left Barstow outpost and were still on the move towards Outpost-Four. With new of a possible Skynet attack Sergeant Jackson had Unit-986 take point. Behind it Jackson and Douglas were walking side-by-side, the young corporal turned to his sergeant.

"Why have the machine up front?" he asked warily, his eyes glancing at the back of the machine.

"Its bullet proof and has better eyesight than we do, besides Ramirez said Skynet is pushing up I'd rather it be at the front in case of a frontal attack." Jackson replied with little inflection in her voice, her decision was sound in her opinion.

"Do you trust it?" he asked

"As far as I can throw it." She replied.

"There is point-zero-three percent chance of you being capable," the machine spoke up from the front, "this chassis weighs in excess of four-hundred pounds, with your frail bone and muscle structure you lack the physical ability to lift this unit."

"Figure of speech." Jackson growled in return to the machine.

The machine logged the information for further analysis.

SCANNING…
…SCANNING…
LOW AUDIO FREQUENCY DETECTED … SCANNING
…MULTIPLE AUDIO FREQUENCIES DETECTED …
SEARCHING … SEARCHING …
UNKNOWN OBJECTS APPROACHING …
ENHANCE VISUAL DETECTION …
ZOOM 2X …. 2.5X …
AUDIO FREQUENCIES SOURCE LOCATED …
MODEL: CRS AERIAL LIGHT RECON SCOUT DRONE MK 2
ARMAMENTS: TWIN 5.56NATO MACHINEGUNS
THREAT LEVEL: LOW-MODERATE …
… WARNING RESISTANCE PROGRAMMING NOT LOCATED…
ENGAGE COMBAT ROUTINE
MISSION DIRECTIVE: PROTECT BRAVO TEAM

"Warning! Skynet Aerial forces approaching at high speed!" Unit-986 spoke out mechanically gaining everyone's attention, Bravo team stopped in their tracks.

Jackson looked to Murphy. "Murphy give me visuals!"

James Murphy raised up his M16 and looked down the scope of his rifle. "Ah shit! We got mini-hunters, five of them!" he called out.

Jackson looked to her team. "Everyone down! Combat formation!"

Everyone quickly slung off their gear and dropped to the floor, all except for Unit-986 which remained in a standing position with its optics focussed on the approaching miniature aerial units.

Bravo rest the barrels of their weapons over the top of the rucksacks using them as support as they took aim at the lightweight aerial machines.

"Murphy you got the scope snipe when ready! Bravo you know the drill, I want short, controlled bursts!" Sergeant Jackson ordered

Mini-Hunters as the Resistance coined them were small lightweight recon machines, they were circular in design with a single small turbine at the centre of their chassis providing the machines their aerial capabilities and though initially defenceless these newer models had been upgraded with a pair of machineguns, one of either side of its frame. Combat was not their intended purpose and as such were relatively easy to destroy, however they moved very fast and were incredibly manoeuvrable. If the machines had caught sight of them, like it seemed they had, then it was only a matter of time before Skynet forces would bear down on them.

Suddenly the T-500 opened fire, its finger held back on the trigger of the FN-Minimi and unloaded its munitions at the aerial drones.

"HEY! HEY! HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Jackson yelled at the machine. After a second the machine stopped firing. "Wait till I give the order got it!?"

The machine didn't understand, it had to protect Bravo team, that were its orders, the Skynet units were a threat and had to be destroyed, but it would listen and obey orders.

"Wait until they're in the kill zone!" she snapped then focused back on the machines. "Murphy, fire when ready."

"Got it sarge." He grinned as he looked through his weapons scope once more. The mini-hunters had broken away from each other, getting into an attack formation due to the T-500s assault. He waited. Waited. Murphy double tapped his trigger sending two round at the first scout, the machine faltered in its flight but kept moving, moving to the side as to avoid attack but Murphy was a marksman for a reason. He adjusted his aim. "They're getting close." He announced then fired again, two shots, two strikes into the hunter's frame, the machine wavered once again then moved once more.

"Get ready Bravo," Jackson ordered tensely, her eyes only just flickered to the robot standing forward left of her. "Robot when I give the order fire in short bursts do not fire full-auto."

"Affirmative." The machine replied.

Murphy inhaled slowly and focussed on his aim once more, another double tap, the first recon drone was struck once more, its lightweight armour gave way as the two shots tore through vital components inside the machine, the machine spluttered with its turbine damaged, its speed faltering for just a second, long enough for the machine flying behind it to slam straight into it the two scout units fell from the air and crashed into the ground and skidded across the floor several metres.

"BRAVO OPEN FIRE!" Jackson ordered, and the arear was suddenly filled with the sound of weapon discharge.

As ordered Bravo and Unit-986 fired in short bursts of fire, preferring accuracy over volume of fire. The mini-hunters started making evasive manoeuvres to avoid the incoming fire this was the machines' greatest advantage. Soon enough the machines initiated their combat routines, their 5.56 weapons opening fire on the Resistance squad and reprogrammed unit. Bravo team ducked their heads behind their cover as bullets whizzed about their general area. Unit-986 still stood as the standard ball ammunition pinged and ricocheted off its chassis. The Terminator adjusted its aim and fired another quick burst destroying another of the aerial units as the last two flew past them.

"Bravo change positions!" Jackson ordered and the T-500 turned around slowly. "Robot move to the front provide cover!"

"Affirmative." The robot replied automatically and marched forward, watching as the aerial units spun their frames around and flew back towards Bravo as the team moved to the other side of their rucksacks, dropping back down to the ground and reassumed their positions.

Unit-986 fired immediately upon getting into position, as ordered short bursts erupted from its modified belt-fed weapon keeping the aerial machines on the defensive.

A few more accurate bursts came from behind the T-500 as Bravo fired once more. Jackson herself scored the killing blow against one more hunter before the collective fire of Bravo brought down the last.

"All hostile terminated." The T-500 announced and scanned the area all around them.

"Anything else coming this way?" Jackson ordered as Bravo stayed with their weapons ready, Alejandro and Zander reloading their rifles.

The T-500 turned its head then its whole body around scanning their immediate area, turning a full circle before focussing on Sergeant Jackson. "Negative, area clear."

"Won't be for long sarge." Camila spoke up.

Sergeant Jackson rose to her feet and looked to her team. "Alright everyone up we need to move, double time. It's only a matter of time before Skynet reinforcements find us and when they do I'd rather be someplace with cover. Robot you take point, stay alert for any Skynet activity."

"Affirmative." Unit-986 marched to the front of the formation once more as Bravo team rapidly got to their feet, reloaded their weapons and redonned their gear and supplies and onwards they moved, jogging towards their objective their feet pounding against the sandy dusty roads, the rhythmic sound of the robot's hydraulics moving at a faster pace broke the quiet amongst them, drowning out the sound of their own feet pounding against the floor.


Several hours passed by and Sergeant Jackson had ordered for a break which the others had agreed with whole heartedly, they were halfway between the Barstow and Outpost four but there was only a few more hours of daylight left, it would likely be dark before they reached it. For now, Bravo team sat back by the roadside with the sun beaming down upon them where multiple ruined cars had been left behind, there was nothing in the cars that was of use as the Resistance had stripped them bear and left the unusable frames strategically placed as cover.

Unit-986 stood ever vigilant; the silent sentinel, its optics scanning the area before it then turned around to scan behind ensuring nothing was approaching them.

Jackson rubbed her forehead in a circular motion trying to alleviate the growing migraine she felt. She looked around silently to the rest of her team: Corporal Douglas was talking to Private Luna, they were pretty close friends. Alejandro was asleep on the floor, his twin sister Camila lying beside him, both using their gear to cover their faces. Privates Murphy and Zander were simply ignoring the rest of the group the latter lost in his thoughts, the former warily keeping his eye on the machine.

Jackson took another swig of water from her canteen before turning her own sights towards the T-500; it'd been useful earlier when alerting them to the Mini-Hunters' presence and subsequent destruction of the miniature aerial units, along with carrying all that gear and supplies for Outpost-Four, all of that spread out between the rest of them would have really slowed them down. So perhaps Sergeant Ramirez from Barstow was right, they had their uses, but the machine before her wasn't alive and it didn't have loyalty like Bravo team did, and yet Connor was always eager to have them around.

"Hey robot you see anything?" Jackson suddenly asked. She was still cautious over Skynet reinforcements.

The Machine didn't turn towards her as it replied. "Sensors detect small reptilian based lifeforms moving across the ground nine metres from our position and a motionless snake five metres from our position."

"Snake?" Alejandro said with alarm as he sat up his gear landing on his lap.

Jackson rolled her eyes, "I meant anything hostile, anything Skynet?" she explained ignoring Alejandro's distress.

"Negative." 986 replied; it saved the new information to its CPU, it would not make the mistake again.

"Right," the sergeant replied then looked to Alejandro, "don't get comfy we'll be moving soon."

"Ah fine." He groaned.

"Metal, when we get moving again you're taking point again." She ordered as she turned her attention back to the machine.

"Affirmative." Came the machine's reply.

"Nat," came Douglas' voice from behind Jackson, she noticed he used her first name; Nat or Natalie, the sergeant turned to look at him seeing his approach, "I'm not liking the situation, neither does Cat. No Skynet since those mini-hunters."

"I know," Jackson replied with a long a deep sigh, "it's why I can't rest like some of us." She glanced towards Alejandro. "We should've encountered something else by now."

"Hey robot," Douglas spoke up and looked to the robot, "you can see in the dark right?"

The T-500 stayed silent and continued to scan. Jackson huffed. "Answer his question."

"Affirmative." The machine replied immediately then said no more.

Douglas waited and glanced to Jackson.

"So can you see in the dark?" he asked again.

"Affirmative." The machine replied immediately.

Jackson just shook her head and looked back to Douglas. "Maybe you should try and get some rest before we continue on, knowing our luck our next company will be a H-K." she meant it as a bad joke, but the chances of that happening seemed to be rising.

"I'll try if I can, but I don't know." Douglas rubbed the back of his head scratching at his unkempt hair as if he had an itch.

Jackson patted the young Corporal on the shoulder reassuringly. "Go take five, you need it."

As Corporal Douglas moved to sit beside Luna once more a dreaded sound caught their ears, an unending low baritone roar that came from above.

"AERIAL!" Jackson yelled out in alarm. "GET TO COVER!"

This was another reason why so many car husks were left here, the Resistance members clambered inside the inoperable vehicles slinging their gear and supplies out of sight. Unit-986 stood tall scanning the area for the hostile aerial unit. Its orders to protect Bravo team still standing.

"ROBOT! GET OUT OF SIGHT! HIDE! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Jackson yelled at the machine in anger.

The robot turned its head towards the sergeant but didn't move.

"Get in one of the cars and don't move! Hurry!" She added her eyes still looking towards the sky.

The T-500 turned and marched towards one of the unused cars and attempted to climb inside only for the gear on its back to stop it from doing so as the bulk of it pressed against the doorframe.

"Shit!" Douglas saw the robot continue to attempt to climb into the vehicle all the while attempting to undamaged its cargo. The young man ran out to the robot. "You got to get rid of the gear!" he cried out as the roar of the Aerial's engines grew louder.

The T-500 stopped moving as the Corporal unbuckled the strap around the T-500 finally removing the heavy supplies from it.

"Hurry get in!" He yelled at it. The T-500 climbed into the car following Sergeant Jackson's previous order. "Take the gear!" The T-500 looked from Douglas to the gear then back to Douglas, it didn't move.

"Grab the gear and pull it inside the car!" Sergeant Jackson yelled out. "Douglas get back to your spot!"

The T-500 acted immediately upon command, grabbing its assigned gear and pulled the large amount of supplies into the car, all the while Douglas ran back to the car he'd been using to hide and dived inside.

Not a minute passed by when the Aerial unit came into sight. Jackson saw the T-500 poke its weapon out of the shattered window of the car and aim at the large Hunter-Killer.

"Hold your fire!" She growled at the machine loud enough to hopefully get the machine to hear yet hoping she were quiet enough for the Aerial not to detect them. None of the soldiers knew if the Aerial units could even hear anything over the sound of their own engines or if they were design to hear at all. Regardless no soldier dared to test out any theory.

The Aerial engines grew louder and louder as it came down towards the ground, that was when they noticed it hadn't been just one aerial unit. There was an additional transport unit alongside the Hunter-Killer. The Transport unit lowered down to the ground far off from Bravo team, the container activating its landing gear as the machine came to a stop its engines lowering their power as the container doors opened and released its cargo. Those members of Bravo who had binoculars took them out and spied from their cover, watching as twenty series 500 Terminators exited the container and began to march to Barstow. Once the last machine exited the container the Transport's engine increased in power and took off once more into the skies, flying back towards Skynet territory. The Hunter-Killer stayed in the region acting as a guardian as another transport unit came flying down from the skies just a little ahead of the marching T-500s.

"Son of a bitch, there's so many of them." Jackson gasped as she watched on through her binoculars.

"Skynet's pushing back." Luna commented from behind her.

After a minute the Transport and the Hunter-Killer left. Bravo waited until they could no longer hear the roar of the engines.

"Alright! Area clear everyone out!" Jackson shouted out to her team. Even then however each member was slow and cautious to come out of hiding, herself included. Unit-986 stepped out from the car and pulled its gear out with it.

Sergeant Jackson turned her head and focussed on the robot, anger flooded her being and she stormed towards it. "You!" She roared; the machine looked at her. "You stupid fucking useless pile of scrap metal!" The machine didn't reply, nor did it retaliate when she stood before it and shoved it backwards. "We could've been spotted and killed because of you! Don't let that happen again!" She shook her head in dismay knowing the futility of her actions. "I'm yelling at a fucking robot." She groaned to herself, then looked to everyone else. "Come on, let's get going double time we need to reach Outpost-Four and have them warn Barstow! Douglas help the robot get its gear back on then robot you're on point."

As Bravo team started to assemble and put their gear back on Corporal Douglas walked up to the machine while slinging his gear back on. "You've got to learn how things work for the Resistance or you're no use to anybody." He said as the T-500 pulled the gear out of the destroyed car and pulled the strap around its arms, Douglas took hold of the latches and clipped them back into place securing the supplies to the machine. "Let's go."

The T-500 was silent, information was saved to its CPU it wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

The hours dragged by slowly, the sun had already set over the horizon and a chilling wind was blowing across California. Bravo team were jogging across the sandy roads fighting against the cold that nearly chilled them down to their bones while Unit-986, its hydraulics growling louder with its increased movement speed, scanned the area before and around them for hostile or unknown units.

After what seemed like forever Sergeant Jackson finally spoke up.

"There that's our target, Outpost-Four." She called out between pants for breath.

Outpost-Four was once a gas stop and convenience store; though now the gas had long run out, when the Resistance got a hold of it they enlarged the basement using the former location of the station's fuel tanks for additional room and continued digging out further turning the whole thing into a small base, there was between five and ten soldiers at the outpost at all times, supplied with food and munitions for themselves and any resistance soldiers on missions that were passing by.

"Thank god." Douglas exclaimed with delight as the approached the gas station.

With their target insight the human members of Bravo team pushed the last of their reserve strength running towards the outpost, Unit-986 having to increase its speed once more to stay at point.

"You see any trouble?" Jackson asked the machine.

The T-500 scanned the area as best as its optic sensors would allow, heightened its audio receptors intake then replied with a dull monotone. "Negative."

"Fantastic," Jackson heaved stopping finally as they approached the front door. "Hey! This is sergeant Jackson of Bravo team here on the resupply mission!" She yelled. "We got us a scrubbed metal!"

After few moments of silence there came a reply.

"Thank god you guys are here!" The door to the gas station swung open as a resistance soldier stepped out to greet them, whether he was wary of the T-500 or not wasn't immediately evident. "Corporal Anderson," the soldier introduced himself and saluted, "it's good seeing you all, some of us thought the worst."

"Don't worry we've got your ammo and food, you mind if we come inside, we got urgent news?" Jackson informed the man gravely.

Anderson nodded and led them inside, the lights were kept off in the store in case of a surprise Skynet attack, Anderson led them towards the door that led to the basement and the rest of the base.

"I'm on lookout, the others will see to you when you're down there." He told them, "and don't worry about the metal, Connor let us know ahead of time."

"Thanks." Was Jackson's only reply before she led Bravo team down the steps, the wooden steps groaning under their combined weight more so with 986.

Once down there another soldier, a tall dark skinned woman, stepped up to them.

"Sergeant Miller," the woman introduced herself, sticking her hand out and shaking Jackson's, "damn glad to see you guys at last."

"Sorry for the wait, Connor is being stingy with vehicles and fuel." Jackson replied, a small smirk of jest on her lips.

Miller nodded, "Well we do what the brass tells us I guess, you guys ready to offload?" she asked a small grin forming at the corner of her mouth.

"Definitely, this shit is heavy." Alejandro Vasquez said from the back of the group.

Jackson just rolled her eyes, cursing wordlessly.

"Alright, lets get those supplies and let you guys get some food and shut eye." Miller offered then led the team further into the jury-rigged base.

"First we got some news." Jackson's tone of voice already had Miller's attention. "A little while ago we saw two Transports drop off around forty T-500, they're all heading towards Barstow, if you could get them the message quickly we'd appreciate it."

Miller was quiet for a moment then nodded. "Thanks, we'll let them know."

Unloading the food, and the ammo took an hour or so. The consumables weren't the highest of quality; soup, dried meat, bottles of water and some fruit that could be scavenged. It wasn't gourmet but it would keep them fed and alive for a few weeks, two months at most if rationed properly.

Bravo team ate their share of rations then headed to bed, minus Unit-986 whom stood guard by them where they found a space on the floor to sleep.


Corporal Yates was finally released from medical and placed with others from his squad under armed guard.

"Can you fuckin' believe this?" Sergeant Langstrom growled as he paced back and forth in the cell.

"General Ashdown hasn't really given these guys much reason to trust us." Corporal Yates replied from his seated place on the floor.

"Ashdown works for the Us government, these guys follow a conman. It's an act of treason." Langstrom shot back.

"There. Is. No! Government." Yates replied slowly. "We haven't had any word from the President in years, we've heard nothing from anyone in any political party."

Langstrom stared at Yates for a moment then turned away and continued pacing.

Suddenly the guards saluted as a tall dark-skinned man came into view of the soldiers, Captain Perry.

"About time someone got here, are we going now?" Langstrom yelled.

"In a moment, I'd like to talk with your man Yates." Perry replied, his gaze moving from the angered sergeant to the calm Corporal.

Langstrom turned his gaze down to Yates and glared at him. "The hell you think you're doing Yates?"

"That is none of your business." Perry quickly replied regaining the sergeant's attention.

"Yates is one of MY men, it IS my god damn business." Langstrom stormed up to the bars and glared at Perry. To the man's credit Perry didn't even flinch, Connor could be much scarier, both of them could be.

"Move away from the bars," Perry began in a calm tone of voice, "I'm going to talk to your man Yates, then you and your team can go home."

Langstrom just glared at Perry.

"Move." Perry ordered calmly.

"You ratting out Ashdown, Yates? Is that it?" Langstrom snarled without moving away from the bars, nor taking his eyes off Perry.

"No, I know as much as you do about what Ashdown does. It's over our pay grade, not that we get paid anymore." Yates shot back from his position.

"Move from the door." Perry ordered, his cool beginning to slip.

Langstrom snorted and moved away, he looked at some of his squad then looked ahead once more.

Two armed guards moved up beside Perry as the man unlocked the cell.

"Yates come here." Perry ordered.

The man stood up from his position, ignoring the glare he was receiving from Langstrom and walked to the cell door, it opened allowing Yates out before shutting quickly and was locked once more.

"You're a damned traitor Yates!" Langstrom yelled as Perry and Yates walked off.

The pair walked out of the room and into the corridor where Perry stopped.

"Your sergeant is a piece of work." Perry commented dryly.

"He's just an asshole," Yates replied then sighed, "did you think about…?"

"Yes I did," Perry interrupted, "I spoke with Connor about it, any of your men who want to stay, can, but you'll be under watch as I said you would be, we don't trust you … yet."

Yates rubbed his nose but nodded in compliance. "Sure, that's fair, that's fine." He heaved a slow sigh of relief, "two more of the guys want to stay here, they're grateful for what your people did to help us."

"Alright, the rest of your team will be sent home under guard, Connor has already sent word to Ashdown to pick them up in L.A. the rest of you will start your training tomorrow." Perry informed them.

"Training?" Yates asked, confusion evident in his voice, "we're already trained."

"You're trained to US army standards, not the Resistance's." Perry replied simply, "go get the other two." Perry ordered as a squad of resistance soldiers marched down the hallway towards them.


Sergeant Jackson was awoken with a shake, her eyes shot open her hand going for her sidearm.

"Hold it sergeant." It was sergeant Miller, shaking the woman awake.

"Wha, what's wrong?" Jackson asked with a grimace.

"Just got orders in. I want you and your team to meet me in ten minutes." She ordered then walked away from the group.

Sergeant Jackson groaned, rubbing her weary eyes then looked up seeing 986 staring down at her, the sight unnerved her, staring straight into those glowing red orbs of death, she shook the feeling away and started waking the rest of her team.

Minutes later Bravo team and 986 rendezvoused with Sergeant Miller in a makeshift communications room. "Sorry for the delay." Jackson began and snapped a salute.

Miller returned the salute, "No problem," she replied then turned towards the map on the wall, "Connor called us a couple of minutes back, asking if your team were still here, confirming you were I was given the pleasure of informing you of a slight change of plans."

Some of Bravo team began to whisper between one another, the twins uttering their displeasure, Private Luna seemed curious as she spoke to the Corporal.

"What's Connor got planned?"

"He wants to capture a few Palmdale T-500s." Miller replied.

"Anyone else notice there's a lot more 500 series around now?" One of Miller's soldiers, a blonde-haired man, asked.

Miller gave the man a withering look for interrupting her.

"Regardless of the fact he wants your team to rendezvous with Palmdale outpost and try and secure a T-500, more if possible, his own words." Miller continued, "Since you guys have a scrubbed 500 of your own, he's willing to bet it'll make the job easier."

"We'll head to Victorville base to resupply with any food or water they got spare, could you let them know we're on our way?" Jackson informed Miller.

"No problem be careful out there." The outpost sergeant replied.

"Oh one other thing, you get any word from Barstow?" Jackson asked as the thought suddenly came to her.

"We let them know, they send their thanks for the heads up. The robots are in Barstow now, scouting but Barstow can't act since the bots are staying together." Miller explained.

"Too many to deal with at once without heavy back-up." Private Luna cursed.

"Or big explosives." Camila added.

"Don't worry they'll think of something, Connor's given them the green light to do as they please." Miller replied with a nod. "Alright dismissed."

Within half an hour Bravo team were on the move again towards Victorville Unit-986 taking point once more. Corporal Douglas turned towards his sergeant.

"Are you sure we're equipped to go to Palmdale, it's still mostly Skynet territory." He asked.

"We don't have much of a choice, also I'm kinda hoping Victorville may have something to give us a hand in terms of explosives, if not well we still got the metal." She said thumbing towards the T-500.

"Hey Sarge." Alejandro Vasquez called out from the back of the group, "why do we got to go, eh? There's gotta be other teams out there who can do it."

"Firstly; because Private the General told us to; secondly; we got a scrubbed metal and thirdly don't question your orders again, you got me?" Jackson barked in response.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, jeez." Alejandro raised his hands and lowered his head in submission, effectively chastised.

"Sergeant, permission to speak." Private Luna spoke up and looked to Jackson. The woman looked at her curiously and nodded. "I don't like the fact that Skynet's pushing back and with so many machines at once, do you think it's planning something big?"

"Don't know, but that's why I'm keeping the metal at front." Jackson replied, her eyes scanning the horizon hoping to see some tell-tale gleam of metal, she looked back to the T-500, "Machine do you see anything?" she asked, then paused, "and I mean any Skynet related activity."

"Negative." 986 replied automatically.

"Do you know why Skynet is sending out so many machines?" Jackson asked.

"Information unknown." 986 replied.

Jackson cursed under her breath. It was a little much to know why a brainless foot soldier would know what it's master was doing.

"There is a high probability," the machine suddenly continued catching them all off guard, "that the increase in T-500 activity is because of the creation of the T-600 infantry unit."

"T-600?" Alejandro asked warily.

Bravo looked to one another; this was new information.

"What's a T-600?" Jackson asked.

"The T-600 is Skynet's latest infantry unit. They are superior to the series 500 unit." The machine replied.

"In what way are they better? We need details." Jackson ordered; this news would've been good a long time ago!

"The T-600 is composed of titanium alloy, they are stronger, faster, more durable than the series 500 and have a more advanced CPU." The machine explained.

"Which means they're smarter." Douglas said with dread.

Jackson looked to her team, none of them were happy with the sudden news. Jackson herself was flabbergasted. "Wh.. I … but …" she stammered before getting control of her thoughts, "when did these things start showing up, recently?"

"The first series 600 to come online was three months ago, specific time unknown." Unit-986 replied monotonously.

"Three months." Jackson said with an air of worry.

"More than enough time to replace the current robots." Murphy added with a shake of his head. "No wonder we've been seeing so many T-500s, Skynet's sending out the old guard now their replacements are here."

"Which is likely why we're making a move on Palmdale, before too many of these new things are out." Luna guessed.

"Well son of a bitch." Jackson cursed.

Bravo continued on in silence each pondering their thoughts over the sudden news of this T-600 unit. What did it look like? How tough was it? How smart? Each member having a different nightmarish vision in their minds. Jackson suddenly felt like she should've brought another robot.


"John, we've got word from our outposts, Bravo, Sigma and Ares teams are heading to Victorville." Cameron Connor informed her husband.

John Connor sat in his office scanning through his battleplan for Palmdale, he'd likely been up all night working on it, numerous rewrites, it was lucky he wrote in pencil to save paper when he made corrections. The young General pulled away from his work and rubbed his weary eyes, he hadn't seemed to have noticed his wife talking to him.

"John!" Cameron called louder.

Connor looked up at her, seemingly in surprise. The dark skin around his eyes confirmed her previous theory.

"I'm sorry Cameron," he smiled at her and leaned back in his chair, "I didn't hear you come in."

"I noticed, I announced myself three times John and gave you a mission update," she looked him over a wave of concern filled her and she stepped up beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "John you're exhausted, get some sleep you can't lead if you're over working yourself."

"I know, I know." He replied slowly before bringing his hands to his face and groaned deeply into his palms. He rubbed his face vigorously then laid his hands on his desk. "This is important, I don't think Skynet will give Palmdale as easily as it gave Barstow and Victorville."

"Those weren't easy either John." Cameron interrupted.

"Which makes this all the more important." He replied, frustrated with his own lack of progress.

"You can't make a sound plan without the information first. Let the teams secure a Palmdale T-500 then work on your plan."

"I know, but I need to do something. You know I hate these parts, where I can't do anything but wait. I can't just wait." He muttered the last part to himself.

"I know John, I know." Cameron knelt beside him, "get some sleep John, if anything happens I'll let you know."

John Connor looked at her, then to his desk his eyes barely registering the pieces of paper before him then looked back to her. "Alright, alright," He conceded to her, knowing she was right. A tired general was a bad general, "I'll sleep in here, wake me when they're in Palmdale okay?"

"Promise." Cameron Connor agreed and watched as her husband sat in the armchair in the corner of the room, it was a good find from Barstow, and closed his eyes to sleep. There would be enough time for him to rest while their teams got into position.


Jason's Notes

Again, these chapters are more world building. Everything in the Terminator can't be gunfight after gunfight, sometimes things are slow and it's all about the characters.

Hope you enjoyed and once again, sorry for the wait. I hope next chapter won't take me as long.

As for "Steel and Bone" I'm working out where I want to go with it immediately after last chapter, especially since the last one wasn't really well received, I knew it wouldn't be but, ah well.

Thanks again to everyone who comments, they honestly make me feel better, even if a little bit.

November 2021- I added a gunfight! Go me! Also a little more was added to the chapter and 986 revealing the existence of the T-600 unit.