I hope you're all enjoying Zeta Chronicles as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Thank you to everyone and stay safe in this crazy time. I'd also like to apologise for some things. One being how long it took to make this chapter. Two, the length of this chapter it's pretty long and three the content/quality of this chapter, as some may find it boring but it is needed. Take care all and enjoy.
Terminator
The Zeta Chronicles
Chapter 7
Preparations
The early morning sun barely warmed the cold air of Palmdale, hot vapours were visible with every breath taken. The air around them felt oppressive and the city itself felt like an enemy. Any shadow, any crevice or hidden doorway could be hiding Skynet. Eyes continued to search the skies for any looming threat, eyes searched down the streets for a glimmer of steel. They were in deep and they knew it.
Sergeant Willow looked to her comrades behind her then back down the street, her eyes spied nothing, her ears couldn't hear anything close, close being the relative term. She could hear the engines of HKs off in the distance, she could hear the enemy walking somewhere, who knows how many endoskeletons marching at the same pace to the same soundless tune; Terminate humanity, terminate humanity.
She felt a tap on her shoulder, two taps, that was the signal. Quickly she ran down the street, minutely aware of Sergeant Jackson doing the same thing on the opposite side of the street. Willow ducked into cover and quickly searched the new area, she looked right; nothing, the looked left, wait! She held up her hand signalling others to stop, she raised her index finger then clenched her fist twice, pause, four raised fingers then repeated four raised fingers: one-zero-zero, four, four, T-100s, eight of them. She waited with bated breath as the death machines rolled closer and closer to her, she glanced briefly into the air, no aerials, she looked back to the Skynet units. Willow pushed herself against her cover as the machines rolled on by and then to her horror turned down the street they were occupying. She held her breath not daring to utter a peep as she stared at the back of the machines and silently prayed to any god that still cared that the machines wouldn't see them.
The T-100s rolled on by and went down the next street unaware of any threat around them.
Willow released a slow shuddering breath and nodded her head, she looked back to the signal and saw two soldiers giving the sign for all clear. She nodded mainly to herself then looked back left and right, all clear. The raised her hand and signalled her fellows to approach. Then one by one half of the combined squad joined her with the other half joining Jackson opposite her.
Their targets were said to be patrolling an area just west of their current location; a large squad of T-500s. They needed as many of their CPUs as they could get, something for Connor. She surmised if they could bring back the bodies in decent condition that'd be a couple of extra T-500s on their side which wasn't a bad thing. The hard part would be getting the chips back to Connor. After a few short minutes Willow felt a triple tap to her shoulder. She looked to Jackson opposite her who was looking at her expectantly, Willow nodded and Jackson rushed across the road and placed herself in an alleyway between two building, the ebony skinned fighter looked behind her for a few second before looking back and nodded, one by one the team opposite the road joined her, pressing themselves into the alleyway and looked down the westward road.
A double tap to her shoulder, Willow rushed down the road and came upon an old clothing store with blown out window which she quickly ducked inside. She'd covered a good couple of metres. She looked around and listening, she couldn't hear any additional Skynet activity around her, she signalled to her squad with an all clear. Once more one by one they approached.
Treads! Rolling close! Halt!
Willow and Jackson raised their arms, the runners quickly found a place to duck and cover.
Jack motioned for Willow and her team to keep low. Willow could see the woman and her squad look on with horror. Terror. She found out why not minutes later. T-300s, lots of them. They'd never seen this number of them before in one place.
'We can't fight that.' Willow though as the large tank-like units made their way north towards the factory. Jackson motioned for them to keep low.
Following the three-hundreds came large amount of the older two-hundred series, smaller less armoured units with less powerful ordinance. Why so many? What were they doing here?
Then following the roller machines, strangely, came T-400s again lots of them, but Willow noticed the T-400s were damaged. Thinking back, the roller units had been damaged; some three-hundreds as well had been missing a chaingun or two or a rocket pod, perhaps the torso had burst open, same could be said about the two-hundred series, a few roller units looked as if they were completely offline, dragged or pushed along by other machines around them.
Were they going for repairs? Was that something Skynet did? It made sense she supposed, but then she'd seen T-200s before with bullet holes riddling its body and still patrolling. Questions were building up and there were no answers.
Finally the convoy of Skynet passed them by Jackson gave the all clear, Willow gave the all clear the runner continued on to their squads.
Minutes passed by like hours, and an hour felt like a day but the teams finally reached the coordinates. Willow's team were huddled inside an old bar, one of her guys had jokingly pulled on the lever for a beer only for a short blast of the liquid to pour out, the lever quickly went back up. Willow knew how they'd be celebrating later. Willow pressed herself up against the blown-out bar entrance and looked down the leftward side of the road. The T-500s were there somewhere, but where. A stone suddenly struck the wall next to her, startling her. She looked opposite the road and looked up to the rooftops seeing a figure with a concealed face. A Palmdale scout. The soldier had an M14 styled rifle slung around their front from a strap their right hand resting on the foregrip as they signalled diagonally froward and to their right, behind and to the left from Willow's perspective. They knew where the T-500s were, likely could see them too, the figure lowered themselves back down against the rooftop and disappeared from sight.
This was it. The teams gathered moving quickly as one towards where the scout had directed, there they found the T-500s, ten of them, patrolling a church where thick steel slabs were laid down. Skynet it seemed was starting to build deeper into the city. The Resistance forces had been able to slow them down but piece by piece section by section of the city was being taken over and now they were starting here. The metal slabs on the ground were the start of a Skynet build, the flooring for a factory or simply an outpost of their own. Something to make Skynet's presence all the fuller in the city. That had to stop now.
"How're we going to do this?" Jackson asked as the three sergeants grouped together.
"We don't need everyone for this task right? Sure the numbers are good but we don't need everyone." Willow pointed out.
Danvers looked to her, "What've you got in mind?"
"The moment we start shooting or doing anything to draw attention, Skynet is going to be on us in minutes if not seconds." Willow replied watching as two of the T-500s stood guard as the others patrolled the area. "We'll need some of us covering our ass when it comes to Skynet's counterattack."
Jackson and Danvers agreed with her, but they needed a plan of attack. The trio of sergeants quickly formulated a plan, it wasn't perfect but time was their enemy at this point.
The collective snipers and marksmen from the combined group were to come together as a long-range team; the kid Murphy from Bravo team and his scoped Resistance issue M16, like him there was one other soldier armed with the same weapon, a white guy likely in his early 20s. Alongside them were two soldiers carrying 308 rifles, the tanned woman carried an M14 style rifle while the man, possibly her brother due to their resemblance carried an AR-10. Then there was the designated leader of the sniper team; Katherine Smith with her police issue Remington 700 in .338 Lapua Magnum, she was the Corporal under Sergeant Tim Danvers. From what little Murphy had heard of her she used to be a police officer in L.A. before the bombs hit. The long-range squad rushed to the building adjacent to the church. Finding a fire escape they quickly and as quietly as possible made their way to the building's flat roof one there they positioned themselves near the ledge, using the raised brick as cover in case of returning fire. Smith positioned herself in the middle, the twins on either side, then Murphy and the other M16 guy on the far edges.
As they made their move the T-400s and three other soldiers moved back towards the end of the main street acting as the first line of defence for when Skynet would send a counterattack. The rest kept low and moved closer to the hostile T-500s. The assault team got within range.
The plan was sound; wait for the patrolling bots to come around, snipers and marksmen would either aim for the right shoulder joints and destroy them, the ammo belt for their weapons to remove the machines' capability to shoot back, or if their rifle was powerful enough, like Smith's .338 Lapua Magnum, to attempt to penetrate the torso and damage or destroy the power cell. Meanwhile the assault team would get in close and riddle the torso with munitions. No one was to aim above the shoulders. The first shot was on Smith's mark.
They all waited and this was the worst part, hundreds of scenarios going through everyone's mind, would they fail? Would it work? What if it went wrong at some point? What if they lost Palmdale because of this? Lost the war?
The scouting T-500s were making their way back around the church now coming into sight. Smith exhaled softly as she looked down the scope of her rifle. The .338 Lapua-Magnum round had been optimised to penetrate steel, but if it would go through a T-500s chest was another thing altogether. The head wasn't too bad as that had less armour, but this one-time headshots were no-go.
"I'm going for the shoulder." She whispered to the other snipers and marksmen which included Bravo team's Murphy and his scoped M16.
The T-500s continued to march unaware of what was about to happen.
The lead T-500 suddenly jolted back as a bullet whizzed towards it and slammed into the joint between its torso and shoulder, then came the crack of the shot. What followed was more fire coming from an unknown location pounding into the joints of the various T-500s.
The machine retaliated immediately, firing randomly into the general area of the shot while their optics scanned for a confirmed location. Their CPUs sent out a distress call to all available units. Now it was a race against time.
With Skynet units distracted the assault team rose from their cover; several soldiers with M16s and S. along with allied T-500s and unleashed automatic fire upon the Skynet machines, aiming for torsos and arms. The Skynet machines returned fire, some aiming towards the snipers' location some turning their attention to the assault team. Soldiers ducked down behind their cover or used the T-500s to hide behind as the Resistance machines relentlessly fired at their targets. All the while the snipers continued to fire away with careful and accurate shots.
The combined fire of the assault team and the snipers finally pounded through the chest plates of the Skynet Terminators, destroying their power cells or severing enough wires and hydraulics the power was cut from the rest of their systems. One by one the Skynet force fell. But time was not on the Resistance's side, they could hear the dull roar of an aerial unit getting closer. When the last of the last of the T-500s fell did the combined teams quickly move to the next phase of their plan.
"Quickly go!" Danvers yelled, the assault team quickly rushed to the downed machines as the sniper team climbed down from the short building's roof and rushed to the covering team. The aerial was getting closer.
The assault team secured the T-500s, allied T-500s hoisting the damaged Skynet units onto a single shoulder while it took two or three humans to carry just a single T-500. Time was quickly running out; they made their way to the cover of the buildings as the dull roar of the aerial unit grew louder and louder.
"Hurry, hurry!" Danvers yelled as they moved as fast as their legs would carry them. Two soldiers accidentally dropped their T-500, "LEAVE IT GO!" Danvers ordered.
The Aerial unit came into sight flying over the city, its visual sensors locked on to the retreating humans, the machines weapon system came online; the M61 20mm gatling cannon under it swivelling into place, targeting systems locked on to targets, the machine only had chance to fire off a quick burst of automatic fire before a volley of four rockets came from a far rooftops and exploded against the machine's thrusters which blew apart instantly sending the Aerial hurtling down to the ground and crashed through the church's remains before skidding across the floor upheaving Skynet's potential outpost and crushing it under the machine's own weight.
"Alright quick get the CPUs leave the machines behind!" Danvers ordered as various soldiers pulled out the power tools given to them by Palmdale outpost.
"Sir! Our defence lines are waving us over, I don't think things are looking good!" a soldier called out to Danvers.
"We need to hurry!" Danvers replied as one soldier finally pulled free a single five-hundred series chip and pocketed it.
Resistance T-500 Unit-711 turned its attention to Sergeant Danvers as the human pulled a CPU from a Skynet unit.
"Additional Hunter-Killer aerial unit detected." The machine monotonously announced, pausing before receiving information from allied T-400s. "T-500, T-600 units on approach."
"WELL LEND US A HAND THEN!" Danvers shouted at the machine. The machine, knowing the meaning of Danvers' order, marched to one of the destroyed Skynet machines wrapped it's hand around the base of the Terminator's neck, a quick message sent to the closest allied machine, Unit-986, ordered it to grab the destroyed machine's head and pull, with a great pull of force from both machines and a few seconds delay the head tore free from the torso, a few hydraulics still connected to the head.
"Rear guard under enemy fire." Unit-711 announced as others soldiers were gathering up more Terminator chips.
"Alright we've got enough, everyone fall back that's an order!" Danvers proclaimed as she pocketed the CPU in her hand and quickly moved out of the building followed by the rest of the assault team. Outside the Aerial unit was already visible flying towards the scene. The rear guard and Sniper team were pinned down by the nigh-unrelenting barrage of munitions coming from the Skynet forces.
The Assault team were quick to run into the nearest building when the Aerial Hunter-killer hovered overhead, this time there was no rocket assistance from the rooftops, the large machine opened fire on the Rear guard's position; the heavy 20mm cannon turning two of the three T-400s into little more than scrap metal, while the last one was eventually gunned down by minigun fire from the T-600s. The rest of the rear guard and Sniper team had already ducked into cover as the Aerial started circling the area, it's 20mm cannon firing in bursts at the buildings.
The Skynet units marched closer, their optics and weapons sweeping left and right searching for a target.
"We've got what we came for, we should just get out of here." One of the assault team whispered only to roughly spun around, grabbed by the top of his grey overalls by Sergeant Danvers.
"Our guys are pinned down! We do not leave people behind private! Not if we can save them." He growled back, glaring the younger man down.
"Sadly the kids got a point, our people are pinned down and we don't have the weapons to take down that H-K let alone all those skull faces." Sergeant Jackson replied regretfully.
"Why don't we use the machines for cover?" another voice spoke out.
"Because between the H-K and the new robots they'll be shredded before our guys even get halfway across the street."
Camila Vasquez suddenly pushed her way to the front, grinning like the mad girl she was.
"Hey sarges! I got an idea!"
The three sergeants, Jackson, Danvers and Willow looked to the girl curiously.
The Skynet force continued to march, the rhythmic pounding of their metal feet against concrete almost in sync with one another, the Aerial continued to hover in place ahead of them at the intersection of the street. The T-600s started to separate from the T-500s to track down the Resistance forces.
Sporadic bursts of gunfire suddenly erupted from an unknown location; it's target unknown to the Terminators. The aerial unit turned and flew further down the leftward side of the street out of the T-600s field of view, more 20mm cannon fire was heard as the unit fired at Resistance targets.
The lead most T-600's head snapped to the left as its optics focussed on a T-500 inside the corner building standing behind the broken wall. With a quick scan the machine didn't respond to Skynet communications; it must be terminated. While being scanned the Resistance Terminator raised its left arm, brandishing a single shot M79 grenade launcher, aimed directly at the lead T-600 and pulled the trigger; the 40mm grenade launched pounding against the titanium chassis of the Skynet machine and exploded, blowing the T-600 back against its fellows, several of the machines fell to the ground. The remainder turned their weapons to the T-500 and opened fire the Resistance robot lowered its stance behind the dilapidated wall, 5.56 and 7.62 calibre munitions pounded against the damaged concrete whittling it away. While distracted firing at the T-500, Camila Vasquez and two other Resistance soldiers threw a series of makeshift pipe bombs at the enemy machines. Explosives rocked the area throwing the Terminators off their feet, those standing to rise were once more knocked to the ground, many were fairly undamaged by the assault, four T-500s and two T-600s had been disabled.
"QUICK RUN!" Camila shouted to the rear and sniper teams.
Corporal Katherine Smith gathered the makeshift group together. "Come on! Let's go, move it!"
As one the remainder of the Resistance forces ran across the street as the Terminators started to rise, ignoring the burst of 5.56 munition being fired at them by the Resistance T-500. One T-600 rose to one knee before hefting its minigun and opened fire at the fleeing Resistance troops, mowing down several of the soldiers before the rest moved into cover, other Skynet terminators focussed on the T-500's location, the Resistance machine now gone from view, having retreated now its mission was done.
Down the street the Hunter Killer unit floated around slowly its optical sensors scanning the area, firing sporadic bursts of 20mm fire into the crumbling buildings. It's enemy combatants having fled into unknown cover once the Aerial was pulled away from the intersection.
AERIAL UNIT – GAMMA 842 TO SKYNET COMMAND.
ENEMY HOSTILES LOST
COMMANDS?
SKYNET COMMAND TO AERIAL UNIT – GAMMA 842
RETURN TO PALMDALE STRONGHOLD TILL FURTHER NOTICE
AERIAL UNIT – GAMMA 842 TO SKYNET COMMAND
ACKNOWLEDGED.
SKYNET COMMAND TRANSMISSION
UNITS 790014: 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 478, 479, 480
UNITS 764498: 850, 851, 854, 856, 858, 859, 860
LOCATE AND TERMINATE
REINFORCEMENTS ON APPROACH
AERIAL DRONES ON APPROACH
The remainder of the combination squad quietly and quickly ducked between cover, some keeping an eye on the large Aerial unit before it turned and flew back to the Palmdale base far north of their position.
"Fucking A." One soldier exhaled sharply.
"Corporal, are you okay?" Sergeant Danvers asked as he approached Smith.
"Yeah I'm okay, we lost a few guys, I'm sorry." She shook her head, Danvers was quiet and a gently patted her arm in a reassuring manner.
"Good call there kid." Sergeant Willow smiled at the young Hispanic girl and gave the young girl a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"We're not out of the woods yet." Jackson quickly added. "We need to get out of here, lose the Skynet troops and report a mission success back to Connor."
"I say we start making our way back to the others now; quietly. We don't need to rush now." Danvers spoke up, looking amongst his fellow soldiers.
The journey back to the Palmdale outpost was long, not due to distance but from the increased Skynet activity in the area; T-100s, T-500s, T-600s and light aerial drones roamed the area searching for them. Part way back they encountered another convoy of damaged Terminator units; T-200 class, T-400s, even a few T-300 class units all heading towards the Skynet factory north of Palmdale.
The sergeants watched the convoy, looking amongst one another each displaying similar expression of worry, confusion and dread. There must have been thirty to fifty machines just there, enough to keep a large amount of area under lock down. Sure, the larger ones were damaged but the T-400 units were relatively unscathed, some were rusted, a deep brown layer covering their steel chassis, but otherwise they were functional. Whatever it meant it wasn't good for humanity, Resistance or not.
The T-500s were left by the old base at the diner as they had been last time, left to stand guard and keep knowledge of the new outpost a secret from Skynet in case of capture.
Private Johnson, still keeping his head covered like the rest of Palmdale's soldier, hook hands with the sergeants once the soldiers returned.
"I take it mission success?" Johnson asked as he looked amongst them.
"For the most part, yeah." Sergeant Danvers replied.
"We lost a few of our guys, the T-400s got wasted too." Smith replied solemnly with a downcast look and shake of her head.
Johnson lowered his head in mourning. "Losing one soldier is a travesty, we all know enough about loss." He spoke in a quiet, respectful tone before focussing back on the task at hand. "Alright our radio equipment isn't located here. Just in case Skynet detects our outward communications," Johnson led the sergeants over to the windows and pointed at a building opposite them. "That's where it is, you can just make out one of our guys by the corner, keeping an eye on the road and skies."
Danvers turned his gaze from the building to the covered man next to him, "Alright, I want you to come with me, Fenwick too, you two can give Command an update on the whole situation here, all the information given in one drop if Skynet detects it we book it our of there and hold up here, got it?"
"Yes sir." Johnson simply replied with a nod.
Danvers, Johnson and Private Fenwick rushed to the radio in the opposite building, once there, Danvers came upon four more covered Palmdale soldiers, each carrying a Kalashnikov all of them guarding a large collection of radio equipment by the back wall, equipment that was outdated and jury rigged together to function.
"Boys and girls, this is sergeant Danvers." Johnson introduced him, the others snapped a salute.
"At ease, all you are doing great work here, but I need to get a message to command." Danvers said as he walked towards the radio equipment.
One of the soldiers stepped behind the large stack of wires and turned them on, immediately all four soldiers moved to cover the windows, rifles at the ready.
Fenwick tuned in the radio before looking to Danvers and gave her nod of approval.
Danvers moved his head to the microphone and pressed down on the "talk" button.
"This is Ares leader to Biggie Man or Mama Bear do you copy?" He paused, releasing the button and looking to Johnson then Fenwick before trying again. "This is Ares Leaders to Biggie Man or Mama Bear do you copy?"
There was a still silence in the room, a tense few seconds passed before a voice replied over the system.
"Ares leader this is command, Mama Bear and Biggie Man are being informed." The voice replied.
"Make it quick, Skynet could be listening in, we may not have much time." Danvers warned.
"Acknowledged."
Fenwick hefted her rifle and ran to the entrance aiming towards the door. Suddenly an all too familiar voice came from the radio.
"Ares Leader this is Biggie Man do you copy?" General John Connor's voice asked through the radio. The tension in the room lifted considerably.
"Sir mission is a success, I repeat, mission is a success awaiting further orders."
"Return to held line, await a runner." Connor replied.
"Sir massive chrome position between line and Palmdale, possibly gathering stronger." Danvers quickly added, recalling the large industrial area where the US army had fought Skynet units.
"One moment." Connor replied, there was a silence before Connor continued. "Alright, I can confirm this line is secured for now, tell me everything of our current situation."
Danvers turned his head away and nodded to Johnson, the clothed soldier stepped to the microphone, pulling off his facial coverings, he was young dark-skinned man likely only in his early twenties, but with scars across his face a man his age should never have.
"Sir this is Private Ian Johnson of Outpost one, Palmdale detachment. Our command is dead, Skynet forces are growing in number and in strength, the newer models are aplenty here." Johnson spoke with urgency into the microphone.
"Sir, another thing. During our mission we saw two large convoys of machines heading to the factory. Two-hundreds, thee-hundreds and four-hundreds, in varying states of disrepair, I don't know what it means but I don't like it." Danvers quickly added.
"Thank you both gentlemen for the information," Connor replied, "we'll take a look into it, for now hold tight, send a squad back to Victorville with the chips, the rest of you are to wait in Palmdale, right now I want a stronger hold on Palmdale what's to come in the next few weeks."
"Confirm orders sir." Danvers asked.
"Despatch a squad to Victorville with the chips, the rest of you spread out deeper into Palmdale as best as you can, we need traps, we need diversions, anything you can think of. Further orders to come. Lastly private Johnson: you're hereby promoted to Corporal, congratulations soldier and keep up the good work. Biggie Man out." The radio went silent.
Everyone looked to the radio, the room silent and still.
Danvers turned to look to Johnson. "Good work there Corporal." He said with a hint of humour before patting the young man on the arm.
The radio was quickly switched off, the room's occupants quickly left the room Fenwick taking up the rear as she armed an explosive trap for any potential Skynet threat.
Back in the main outpost all soldiers set up defensive positions, M16s, M14s, Kalashnikovs all aiming towards the streets and the skies awaiting the possible Skynet attack.
Danvers relayed the Connor's orders to the other sergeant, Willow and Jackson. Between the three they agreed Willow's squad would be sent back to Victorville with the CPUs while the rest stay in Palmdale.
Several tense minutes pass by. Rifle and launchers all aimed out of windows pointed down the streets, directed to the skies. Nothing. Not even a single hover drone or a lone T-400. They can hear the engines of Aerial units in the distance but nothing close by. The Resistance soldiers pull away from the windows the tension easing, relief starting the flood through them.
"I think it's time we meet up with the other outpost, mind showing us the way?" Danvers asked as he looked between Johnson and Fenwick.
Fenwick nodded in agreement. "Let me just deal with the traps in the radio room and I'll show you the way."
The moment communications with Palmdale were finished General Connor turned around to face Captain Perry. "Perry I want those CPUs here as quick as possible, get one of the trucks gassed up and dispatch a driver and guard to Victorville, they're to pick up whoever returns from Palmdale. Secondly; we're going to need more vehicles, bigger vehicles send word to all Outposts to find any larger means of transport I want busses, jeeps, anything we can get our hands on, anything that can fit at least ten people inside. I want them retrofitted with steel plating and gun placements."
"This is all for the Palmdale operation?" Perry asked, giving his commander a curious look.
"Damn right, we get those people out of there Perry, as many as can as quick as we can." Connor explained, then grabbed Perry by the sleeve, "this is something we cannot mess up, no room for error when the whole territory is against us." Perry nodded with understanding, the Palmdale situation was a tough one, with the camp and factory North of the city it'd be difficult to damn near impossible to get close without being seen. "Thirdly; something else is going on in Palmdale. I don't believe Skynet would go out of its way to repair damaged units, or pull in full operational T-400s. Make sure we keep our ears open for anything. Understood?"
"Understood. I'll get my parts done immediately sir, anything else?"
"Nothing you can do, I need to make a call," John started to say.
"Not Ashdown." Perry frowned, his brow creasing with anger.
"No." Connor replied shortly. "Not him, trust me Justin, I won't steer us wrong now." Connor gave a tight smile and patted Perry on the arm before walking back to his quarters.
Perry turned to one of the communications officers. "Get word out to the outposts."
Back in his quarters alongside his wife and their bodyguard John Connor sat on a small chair and table with a radio next to it, picking up the transmitter he tuned it in to the correct frequency then spoke.
"This is John Connor to John Henry, are you receiving me? Over."
"This is John Henry to John Connor, I'm receiving you, over." Came a quick reply.
"John Henry, I need you help on something." Connor asked as rest his back against the back of the back.
"I take you it is about your operation in Palmdale, correct?" the A.I asked.
"Correct. I need to make a distraction force, something big enough that Skynet will divert its attention to it instead of my men, at least initially." The general requested. He knew his ally didn't have a strong force to defend himself with, but he knew he had something at his disposal, the machine-man was quiet for a moment before he eventually responded.
"I can supply you with older model units, how many will you need?"
"Whatever you can spare, anything you can spare." Connor requested.
"I have two current model Aerial Units." John-Henry began to offer.
"No, you need them more than I do." Connor interrupted. "What you can spare is already a big help, I'm sending in what I can spare, also trying to reprogram some spiders."
"I will put my focus in capturing additional units for this operation then send what I can over whenever you need them." John-Henry replied, his optimistic tone returning.
"Excellent. Also, in case you or Weaver didn't know, Skynet's just unleashed the T-600 into the battlefield, Cameron and Bob have confirmed it's different than what they know of in their separate futures. My men have started seeing them especially in Palmdale." Connor thought it best to warn them.
The A.I paused. "We will be careful thank you. If we encounter them and cannot capture them, I will send you their parts."
Connor sat up at the cyborg's words. "Yes! Yes we'd appreciate it. I would appreciate it, thank you."
There was a moments pause in conversation before John-Henry continued. "After this mission succeeds, I understand you will be attacking the factory directly, to remove Skynet presence from Palmdale?"
"That's right. We must take it offline to slow the production of hunter-killers in this area." Connor replied with severity.
"Of course, however if possible I may have a better idea." The cyborg replied.
Connor looked to his wife and Bob then back to the radio. "What did you have in mind?"
"I could supply heavier attack units for the operation if it increases the chances of capturing the facility rather than destroying it, however I know how manic things can be in battle. Sometimes an objective simply cannot be achieved. But if it were captured, I would highly appreciate it, I have been developing a virus that may disconnect my brother from it, but it would need to be uploaded from inside."
"I don't know if we'd be able to, but if it's possible we'll surely give it a try." Connor replied, taking the idea into real consideration.
"Thank you John. I apologise for cutting this short be I must get back to work, please give my regards to Mr Ellison." John Henry asked
"Of course and give mine to Savannah and Catherine. And John-Henry, thanks again."
"You're welcome my friend." Came the A.I's reply in a jovial manner
The connection went quiet. John looked to the two before him. "We've got a lot of work to do before we're ready to attack, and I have a lot to think about."
"I request being present for this mission." Bob announced monotonously.
Both Connors looked at him.
"Really?" John asked with surprise.
Bob only ever shadowed John and Cameron as it was his mission to protect them, hearing he wanted to go out into battle was new.
"The Resistance has grown strong enough to defend you both. As a mentally more advanced terminator unit, it would be beneficial to this mission to direct all allied Machine units. Success of this mission is vital." Bob explained as he looked between the two.
"That would increase mission success John." Cameron turned from their friend and bodyguard to her husband.
"It would," John went quiet. "What if you're destroyed?"
"Then it was an honour to fight by your side General Connor." Bob immediately replied.
John felt his heart clench. They all died for John Connor. The words of his deceased uncle echoed through his head. "Alright, you have my permission to go. But I'd like to discuss what Ares Leader told me."
Cameron sat down and waited for John to continue.
"They encountered two instances of a large Skynet convoy of damaged units including partially damaged 300 class Terminators and T-400s heading north of Palmdale." John relayed to them.
"To the factory." "The factory." Cameron and Bob immediately replied.
"Skynet is likely recycling the now obsolete T-400s for more material in making the T-600s, like it did with the T-70s when the series 500 came out." Cameron explained. "As for the 300 class machines, I have a possible theory."
"Hunter Killer Tank." Bob concluded.
John inhaled his eyes focussing on the pair of them, he'd not been told much of the tank units, only that they were big and the T1, T-100 through T-300 heavily resembled them especially the latter units.
"That's what's waiting for us in Palmdale. Skynet's HK tank, if it thinks we're going to attack it'll send it out. God damn it." He cursed heavily. "If we could destroy it or them in the escape that'd be great, but I'd rather concentrate on the prisoners." He slumped forward in his hand and looked down to his hands, rubbing them together briefly before looking back to the others. "Anything you can tell me about the first models?"
"Anything we tell you could be wrong in this timeline." Cameron warned. "It may be best to keep specifics to ourselves," she glanced at Bob for a moment before looking back to John, "best we can say is they're large, several stories high, thickly armoured and heavily armed."
"Agreed." Bob added.
"We'll have to keep our eyes and ears open." John muttered to himself. Things were getting hard for the Resistance, all forms of human resistance, the newer T-600s are their titanium armour made putting them down all the harder without explosives and with the potential of the HK Tank about to come online or already online somewhere, made things all the worse. But he couldn't give up, despite how dark things seemed now. He couldn't lose hope. John Connor turned his attention back to his radio and opened it to all frequencies.
"This is John Connor leader of the Resistance coming out from Crystal Peak, California. Skynet continues to create newer and deadlier machines to finally drive the last nail in humanity's coffin, and we keep pushing back, fighting, surviving." He paused to let himself breathe, to calm his tense nerves and speak what he needed to. Cameron and Bob watched him silently. "My forces have bore witness to Skynet's latest infantry unit; the T-600. With more powerful hydraulics and servo motors, wrapped up in tough titanium armour these machines are physically superior to the previous model, that combined with their new CPU makes them more intelligent. Our standard munitions barely leave a scratch but we're adapting, we're fighting back despite the odds. If you don't have access to explosives, try and avoid these machines, or do what you're all good at; think outside the box. You're human, imaginative, you can outthink the Terminators, you can outthink the enemy. This is John Connor, be careful and stick together, if you're listening just know, you are the Resistance."
John released the transmitter's button and exhaled with exhaustion.
"You did good John." Cameron walked up to him, knelt beside him and placed her arms around his body.
"I hate giving speeches." John muttered tiredly.
"They're good for morale," Cameron pressed her lips to her husband's neck, "and they're something to give people hope, something to give them a chance to fight back themselves. Localised groups, or people trying to survive."
Bob nodded his head. "Cameron Connor is correct."
Weeks went by. For some it seemed like a blink of an eye, for others an eternity of pain, of anxiety, restlessness, panic. A whole mixture of emotions.
Within the first week things in Palmdale grew ever tense. After meeting with the second Outpost and meeting their designated leader, Private George Stafford who gave Danvers and Jackson a sitrep of the situation in their parts of Palmdale, afterwards Sergeant Danvers had taken Ares and Bravo squads deeper into Palmdale, deeper into Skynet territory, his own personal mission to set up a new outpost or at the least a hideout they could abandon at a moment's notice having found a place at an old ma's and pa' corner store. The place had a decent basement where extra merchandise would have been left, surprisingly with some merchandise left untouched, a little moral boost for the Resistance.
Between the three Resistance locations, those in charge Danvers, Jackson, Johnson and Stafford began talking amongst one another, and to their respective teams, coming up with traps for Skynet forces when the big push came. The explosive experts, or nutjobs in Camila Vasquez's case, had put together the possibility of constructing a series of remote controlled or timed explosive charges.
The combination team quickly realised how bad things could truly get in Palmdale. Skynet forces regularly patrolled the streets usually T-600s being supported by T-100s. Any remaining T-500s were sent out of Palmdale towards Resistance territory alongside spider units and T-100s, sometimes they'd have a single or two T-600s alongside them.
It almost seemed like Skynet was paranoid after the combination team had ambushed and extracted several series 500 CPUs. Perhaps thinking Connor's Resistance was finally making a move on Palmdale.
'Not yet you metal mother fuckers, not yet. But soon.' Danvers had thought one night as he and his team rested.
Resistance outposts from Barstow to L.A. were on the hunt for vehicles that could potentially be restored, for spare parts, and machines. Victorville had located a school bus in a depot, unlike many others this one was intact, the brunt of the aftershock taken by the others parked around it. That wasn't to say it didn't need work. Connor had sent a convoy to grab the vehicle and haul it to Barstow to be fixed up and modified for the coming mission. A few survivors in Barstow had been mechanics or assistant mechanics before the bombs fell, those who survived shared their knowledge with others and in a few short years had become The Resistance's forward mechanic crew. Being such important individuals afforded them extra security in the form of T-100s standing guard outside their base of operation along with additional T-400s inside as personal guards and if need be assistants.
The crew worked tirelessly, endless for days, replacing or fixing tyres, refilling them with air, usually getting one of the T-400s to manually pump the tyres up. Husks of cars were retrieved and taken apart piece by piece, their doors and frame pieces welded over the sides and windows of the bus and around the driver's seat for extra protection. Inside a short, jury-rigged stair well and platform had been rigged in the centre of the bus where a single .308 minigun would be placed on top. Another long school bus had been located in Victorville, the primary base there informing Barstow of its existence. Within a few days it had been dragged, with flat tyres, into Barstow by a few allied four and five-hundred series units.
But not all was good news, Outposts out in L.A. and locations close to Skynet territory spoke of more encounters with the skull-faced T-600s, the newer model became rapidly more numerous on the battlefield, likely all previous T-500 guard units finally being replaced. General Connor would hear reports of Ashdown's men coming under fire from the T-600s and nothing short of explosive ordinance or larger calibre rifles would put the new machines down. Skynet was pushing back against Ashdown's forces slowly, regaining any ground lost to the military. Connor's own scouting groups encountered the new Terminators. Ordered not to take on the new hostiles and simply allow squads of them to pass-by if option was possible. Connor needed ever man and woman he had for the upcoming mission as it would be the biggest manoeuvre the Resistance had pulled to this point and Connor wasn't taking any chances.
From Crystal Peak to Los Angeles, all Resistance soldiers and scavenger teams had been tasked with finding vehicles or useful spare parts for the Barstow mechanics. For the sole duty of capturing machines for reprogramming specialised squads had been formed; equipped with power tools and explosives just in case something went wrong. Marching routes of Skynet forces had been tracked from a distance, and kill-zones had been put in place, usually an area with hidden metal fencing on the floor connected to one or more car batteries.
One daring and brave squad had located a Skynet squad in Los Angeles; around eight T-500s accompanied by two T-600s, and attempted to capture them. But the Skynet squad was too spread out once the T-600s stepped onto the trap three of the eight T-500s would have stepped off it and the battery they had didn't have much power left in it. They set the trap anyway, aiming for the newer machines. The trap hadn't gone quite as planned. While the entrapped T-500s surged with voltage and shut down, the T-600s even while shocked had enough functionality in them to stay online long enough for the battery to run out of juice. Pipe bombs had been thrown and bullets pounded into the Skynet troops. They captured the machines. All of them in fact. But none had been in whole condition, it would do.
Back at Crystal Peak, the whole base had been working nonstop every section of the Resistance working harder than ever before all guard duty had been left to simple T-400 units while most of the human guards and soldiers had been sent out into the field. Only a day or so after communications with Palmdale did General Connor finally get his hands on Palmdale 500 chips; he, his wife and various officers all combed through their database, scanning through their memories of the factory's layout, the doors to the prison. One officer pointed out the series 600s weren't created at that specific factory, they were delivered via an aerial transport unit. That thankfully meant T-600s were not going to pouring out of the factory in large numbers. Over the coming days a more in-depth plan was already being put together. Each action, each move their Resistance forces would make in the operation was painstakingly choreographed, but the deal breaker would be the size of their distraction squad.
In the early stages of the second week, Cameron Connor strode towards the quartermaster and the armoury. The female cyborg scanned the area searching for her intended target but didn't seem to locate him, though there were others in the room. They had yet to notice her arrival. Cameron Connor raised her hand and knocked upon the door frame alerting them to her presence.
"General Connor, ma'am!" One said as they all saluted her.
"At ease, I'm looking for Jones, where is he?" she asked in a calm authoritative tone.
"He went to the firing range with the T-600 body to test some of the new munitions we made." Another assistant replied.
"How has the work progressed?" She asked with a slight raising of her left brow.
There was a pause. "Slow at first," started the first speaker, "firstly collaborated on what we'd need from the projectile, it's weights, the amount of powder, then we thought about the case and how perhaps we could improve that."
The second continued, "We needed to get the projectile moulds right, first we needed to accurate create the moulds, which was hard then we needed to melt down enough steel to create sufficient supply. And well we don't have a proper munitions factory so melting it down with what we had available took some time. Afterwards, well more accurately about a day or two ago we finally got started on the munitions."
The second looked back to the first hoping he'd continue, "But uh! We're pretty confident in our work, we're not as far ahead as we'd like but we think the initial munitions trials may be lead to a breakthrough, ma'am." He finished lamely snapping another hasty salute.
Cameron regarded the two as she processed what they'd said, she nodded her head, saluted. "Excellent, I'll go find him, thank you." Cameron turned abruptly and marched towards the firing range.
Back into the base she walked, seeing T-400 guards scanning the area, a simple Ar-15 in their hands, while soldiers ran past her, quickly giving salutes as they made their way out of the base. This had been the busiest she'd seen Crystal Peak in along time. The upcoming offensive would be a massive undertaking destroying the prison and saving the prisoners. If they'd had more soldiers and superior ordinance they likely would have been double co-ordinating for the destruction or capture of the factory, but Palmdale was still too heavily fortified, if they attacked both their forces would be too thinly spread out and Skynet would just kill the prisoners then and there, that fact coupled with the introduction of the T-600 just made everything more complicated and now of the possibility of the HK-Tank being produced that only made everything worse. John was stressed, John was always stressed, but she knew he'd feel better once the mission succeeded and it would succeed. She was confidant in her husband, confidant in the team of officers he'd put together and that John-Henry's assistance could indeed turn the tide.
The quickly approached the firing range, putting in the ear plugs given to her simply to keep the rouse of being human. When the reveal eventually came she wasn't looking forward to that, some already knew, Perry for example was already aware of her true nature, he knew what was coming, as did a few other trustworthy officers, all sworn to secrecy.
Upon entering her gaze landed on the man she'd been searching for, along with another assistant behind him jotting down notes on paper and clipboard. Quartermaster Jones held a standard Resistance issue M16 in hand, shouldered and firing single shots at the hung-up T-600 corpse. Striding up to the pair Cameron silently stopped beside them, watching at Jones fired a few more rounds into the machine. Jones relaxed his shooting stance and turned, jumping and yelping in shock, also startling his assistant, as he noticed Cameron there.
"Ma'am!" Jones snapped a hasty salute.
"At ease, both of you." She replied as the assistant tried to salute while fumbling with the clipboard, Cameron made a show of removing her ear protection followed by Jones and his assistant. "Progress?"
Jones exhausted a sigh. "Well ma'am initial tests are promising but the difference is negligible. We haven't gone completely through what we've made. Five rounds of each new type of ammunition. We've just emptied the first batch of 5.56 then we'll do the next and move on to 308." He said and motioned his hand to the Remington bolt action rifle by the stand.
"Shall we go take a look?" She asked and immediately started walking towards the target, quickly followed by Jones and his assistant.
Upon reaching it they took a look at the damage to the machine; a few dents and scuffing were seen across its titanium armour.
"As you can see the Titanium armour is pretty thick, so it's damn strong. The first few shots of uh," he paused and looked to his assistant for aid.
"Uh, bullet designation we used first was R.A.P 100." The assistant spoke up looking at their notes.
"Right, the 100 was the standard ammunition we're using with a steel head, not much different from what we're using now, as you can see on the left side of the torso here," he pointed to a five-shot grouping, "damage was negligible, pointless really takes longer to make for little difference, same goes for the next ten shots of the others, the last five here though." He pointed to the right of the chassis. "Seem to have done a bit better."
Cameron was silent as she listened, she could tell the Quartermaster was going to continue.
"I'd like permission to try steel cased ammo ma'am, if we can use hardened steel for the case, make the walls thinner and add more powder, we might be on to something special." He asked. "Reloading those bullets would likely mean completely melting them down and starting again for best results and the rifles would need cleaning more regularly but I believe the pros outweigh the cons."
Cameron nodded her approval.
"Good because I ensured we made a few of those, differing thickness of steel, the varying use of powder and how dense we made the steel projectile." Jones quickly added.
"Excellent. I take it however production of the ammunition would be slow." She asked.
"Like a snail, if we had our own munitions factory or a dedicated workshop just for ammunition, production would be much faster." Jones replied with a shrug of his tired shoulders.
"I'll inform John. However do note there'd be the possibility you'd have to go elsewhere, though hopefully not far, Barstow or Victorville possibly." Cameron quickly added.
Jones weighed the thought up in his head. "I suppose if I see things through first get others up to speed and learned, they wouldn't particularly need me there, right?"
"Right." Was all she replied. "I'll report my findings to John and inform him of your request. Until then keep going, the Resistance needs you now more than ever." A little buttering of one's ego always seemed to aid in productivity Cameron found.
Jones smiled tiredly, "Thank you ma'am we won't let you down."
Cameron smiled politely in return bowed her head then took her leave.
The beginning of the third week showed signs of progress along all boards of the Resistance. Machines in various states ranging from utterly destroyed to near pristine condition had been brought into Crystal Peak on the back of jeeps and trucks. Spiders and T-500 units had been delivered the Machine Labs for repair and reprogramming. Fixing up the Spiders had been a delicate and pain staking process as the labs had never had the need to repair them whereas fixing up the T-500s was fairly routine for them. Any pieces unusable were sent to the quartermaster to be smelted down for the munitions project.
Doctor Mack, the lead technician of the Machine Labs, was beyond excited to get his hands on a few T-600 parts, despite the Machines being blown apart, ordering his assistant to look over everyone of the new infantry units and see how to put the machines back together.
The munitions project itself was well underway after another few days of tests, perfecting the thickness of the case, to the amount of powder used, to the density of the projectile, and how their weapons fared when using the ammunition, a combination had been found that worked adequately and was now in production. General Connor had a spare squads dispatched to Barstow and Victorville to search for a potential location for a future munition workshop, but until then construction of the new munitions was slow but underway.
However halfway through the third week news came, news Connor had been dreading.
"Someone needs to get General Connor in here, we've got a message coming in from France!" one of the radio operators spoke up.
Within a few minutes General John Connor dashed into the radio operations room.
"What's going on?" He asked urgently, his breathing a little heavier than usual from running.
"Sir, we're getting incoming transmission from Paris, France." The operator informed him.
"Patch us through. Everyone quiet in the area!" He ordered then leant forward.
"This is General John Connor of Crystal Peak, who am I speaking to?"
"Bonjour Général Connor," came a woman's accented voice, from what John could tell her accent sounded genuine enough, the woman sounded as if she was gasping for breath, John worried over the physical state "I am Major Celine Matisse, I must warn you!" There was a pause the Resistance could hear the woman's heavy breathing. "I need," she panted between breathes before muttering "God help me" in French before speaking once more in English, "I am, I was a part of the 18th infantry division in France. The Général had ordered us to move on an armoured Skynet facilité." She paused once more to get her breath. "We knew of the new six-hundreds from you and your broadcast, so we thought we were prepared. We were not. Skynet released a giant. Bigger than its Harvester machine. It was, it was like an old T-300, but so so much bigger! It wiped out our armure, our tanks and hélicoptères. Skynet used the machine as its initial counterattack, we were able to destroy it with rockets, but the damage was done. We were forced to retreat." Matisse inhaled and she forced back a sob and failed, the Resistance listened as the woman's warrior wall broke and her emotions came flooding out, they listened to the woman cry. "So many more of us died! There are only a few survivors of the 18th infantry left! Be careful Général Connor."
John looked amongst his staff, some lowered their heads in respect and mourning, others had tears in their eyes, he steeled himself leant closer to the microphone. "Thank you so much for this information. I promise you I will get the warning out to everyone, whoever is left hide, get yourselves patched up, but most importantly you need to keep living. You staying alive means Skynet loses in the end. We'll make Skynet pay for what it's done, mark my words. But thank you again Major Matisse."
"Au revoir Général Connor and good luck, Major Celine Matisse, signing off."
The line went dead. The room was as quiet as a tomb. General Connor closed his eyes mourning for those lost. Skynet would pay. Palmdale would be another cut to Skynet's hold on the world.
"Skynet," John suddenly spoke aloud, "will not win this war. Our allies over seas may have lost a battle, but they return with information that aids the rest of us. We now know what Skynet may have waiting for us, a Hunter-Killer Tank." He swallowed to clear his throat. "I'm going to make the announcement over the radio. Keep me informed of anything else."
John Connor spoke across the radio waves, warning everyone who listened about the HK Tank, and the lost of brave men and women in the French 18th Infantry division. Across the lands there was silence for French losses, admiration for their bravery, and a vow of payback against the enemy. John Connor Resistance worked harder, spurred on by rage and vengeance. Though John knew many of his own soldiers would let their anger out on their own machines, which had been inevitable, small fights broke out and reprimands for officers were given out. John didn't give the order to discipline them, not this time at least. They needed their outlet, officers were just there to make sure that outlet was work and Skynet and they worked on throughout the following night.
The following few days reports came in through the radio of successful Skynet attacks all across America, all across the world, Skynet shipments destroyed, Skynet factories left in ruin. Skynet had reawaken the raging beast inside of man and had paid for it. But John Connor, though elated and hopeful wasn't mistaking the situation, Skynet would hold strong, it would push back and it would push back hard. He feared when Skynet would start using its Infiltrators.
Near the end of the third week locations had been found for Quartermaster Jones' munition project, thankfully not too far away in Victorville and Barstow disused garages and workshops. 1st Sergeant Ramirez in Barstow and Lieutenant David Kringle in Victorville had been the ones to report the locations. The quartermaster's equipment had been packed up and shipped out to Barstow and Victorville fast, with multiple of his assistant following the man himself. From both major bases scavengers teams and civilians had been given to Jones for the project.
Jones and his assistants split up, half of them staying in Barstow while he and the rest went to Victorville. Each half of the Quartermaster team set up and started with the munitions project in full with the help given, even using newly reprogrammed T-500s units for assistance.
By the beginning of the fourth week production of the new munitions progressing considerably faster than it had been before with two larger facilities in two separate cities each producing larger quantities going day in and day out with the scrubbed Terminators put to use during the night. But would take far too long to get all the Resistance fully supplied, but now it wouldn't take quite so long.
Back in Palmdale things had been progressing slowly over the few weeks, but noticeably. The explosives they'd been planning for the big mission had been made and stored away. In the old corner store now Resistance outpost Sergeant Jackson all but collapsed against the floor heaving a weary tired sigh, placing her M16 across the lap and lowered her head.
"You okay sarge?" Corporal Douglas asked as the young man sat beside her.
"Just tired kid, just tired." She muttered in reply.
Bravo team had been informed by Corporal Johnson that General Connor had sent the Palmdale outposts supplies. So Bravo team had been decided to go pick up what their share from the rear outpost. Damn near got surprised by a squad of Skynet units, the majority being T-500s, three T-600s with two T-100s at the rear. Jackson didn't like the T-600s were becoming a more common sight. Thankfully no more large Skynet convoys had been seen, but that only meant Skynet had enough materials to create that HK-Tank they'd heard about from Connor. That didn't sit well with them at all. The idea of some colossal sized T-300 with enough firepower to turn tanks and choppers to scrap metal.
However, the supply runner came with some additional good news. The roads to Palmdale from Victorville had been made less treacherous in the last few days. General Connor had contacted General Ashdown of the US Military, about the industrial area full of Skynet forces, forces that had killed his men and destroyed his tanks. Whatever the conversation had been between the two generals Connor had been able to get Ashdown to send helicopters and jets to do a bombing run of the area destroying the Skynet machines allowing the Resistance to get a foothold in the area and try and scavenge whatever they could.
Jackson pulled one the M16 magazines from its secured place and looked down to the new munition in the magazine, the runner had explained to them Connor's want to update the Resistance's previous extra-penetrative munitions with these newer steel rounds. Supposedly to be more effective against the T-600s. There had been some relief from Bravo team as shared out the rounds, Connor had come through for them. Again actually. The Resistance was already adapting to the new threat, but would it be enough?
"I hear that." Douglas chuckled in reply, the bags under his eyes showing his lack of sleep despite his sunny disposition. "But hey look at it this way; things are happening, we're pushing back. Soon Palmdale will be in Resistance hands." He said clenching his right hand tightly for emphasis.
Jackson snorted and rolled her head to the side to look at the young man. "I love your enthusiasm corporal, never lose it kay?" she asked tiredly.
"You got it sergeant." He replied with a cheeky grin.
Ahead of them Unit 986 gave Sergeant Danvers the supplies they'd retrieved, the man seemingly thrilled to see the new munitions and taking them to the rest of Ares. Danvers would sort out sharing between the two squads he was a reliable and trustworthy guy. Jackson pondered Connor would likely make the guy a lieutenant when they got Palmdale under their control.
Unit 986 marched back to the rest of Bravo with SAW still in hand and stood ever vigilant as guard for the squad. Jackson looked the robot up and down; its steel chassis had a few dings and scratches it had received from enemy fire and one time falling from the second floor of a building. Jackson almost pulled a smile when she recalled the incident. Bravo had been scouting the area when they'd encountered a family, hungry and scared, hiding among the ruins of a second story apartment. They'd planned to take them back to base when they'd been caught by Skynet forces. Unit 986 had provided distraction, firing at the enemy forces using a wall as cover when the wall and floor beneath it gave way from enemy fire sending the T-500 tumbling down to the ground. The machine had suffered little damage despite landing on its side. The family was now further south of their position with Corporal Johnson.
A small part of Jackson admitted the robot had grown accustomed to Resistance fighting, hiding and waiting in cover till the right time, setting up ambushes if need be or allowing the enemy to leave. The machine wasn't smart enough to pull off these tasks by itself, but as an extension of Bravo the machine had earned it's place. Funny how a few weeks can change a person's view.
"Hey Robot." Jackson found herself saying, her voice just loud enough to be heard.
Unit 986 turned its focus to her, two bright red optics staring right at her as the machine awaited her command.
"You doing okay?" she asked gaining a few weird looks from her team.
The machine continued to stare for a few seconds before replying. "Systems functioning within acceptable parameters. Minute damage to hydraulics. Minor damage to chassis. Combat efficiency 93%."
"So you're doing good then." She stated rather than asked her tone neutral if not tired.
"Affirmative." The machine replied.
"Then just say you're doing good, it's quicker that way." She replied before looking away from the robot exhaustion's grip on her lulling her to sleep.
Information was saved to its CPU. A lot of new information had been stored in its CPU since activation, was this learning? If it were a more sophisticated machine it would have pondered this, but it wasn't so it didn't. Unit 986 continued to scan the area, enhancing its auditorial receptors to listen for Skynet activity.
The fifth week came and went quickly, more of the new munitions were passed around, more machines has been captured, some rebuilt some melted down for the quartermasters. The armoured vehicles from Barstow, now gassed armoured and fully armed, were slowly driven to Palmdale for the assault, messages to all outposts were sent with additional supplies; "Be prepared" "We attack soon" then finally "We move out in four days".
The Resistance were prepared. They were anxious. Some were excited, finally another big push against Skynet. But this wouldn't be like Barstow or Victorville, years had gone by, and Skynet had always been dug deep into Palmdale.
A message came through to Connor from John Henry, he was on his way with his gift. Shortly later a large 16-wheeler driven by a red-haired woman arrived at Crystal Peak. As strange as it was it, both Connors admitted it was nice seeing Catherine Weaver again, she'd not changed since they'd last seen her, even dressed in her white suit.
"John Henry sends his best as well as these machines." Catherine Weaver had said politely before revealing the entire trailer was filled with older model terminators; T-70s, T-400s and even some spiders. Each packed close together like sardines, some even laying on top of one another like a pile.
It was time.
Resistance forces from Crystal Peak to Los Angeles left behind the bare minimum of soldiers to defend what was theirs, all machines were pulled from all bases. Civilians and scavengers said goodbye to their loves ones, some made love the night before in fear they would never see each other again. Machines were taken by trucks to Palmdale. CPUs inserted and directives with a simple mission. "Attack Skynet Factory"
The veteran Terminator Bob said his farewell to his allies and friends before departing for Palmdale, his own orders were clear, joining the machine was Captain Perry along with the freshly trained Private Yates and other defectors of his previous squad. Hundreds of soldiers converged upon Palmdale. The plan was sound but the enemy was many.
"Good luck to you all." Was all John Connor said over the radio.
