Ch 9
Cameron has selected her path well. John was sure the snow helped. While the deep snow covered many signs of where they were, it also covered up obstacles in their path. A dip in the snow was all they experienced passing over the Snake river. Towns were many bumps in the snow, and it was easy passing through the cities with the clogged streets 12 feet below them. Another thing they found was upon receiving a Sky Net signal, they found it was only 300 feet to the side. Terminators sunk in the snow and were covered up. The stugs flew over the white landscape, making the rendezvous a full day early.
The temperature was dropping, staying a near constant 0 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to this and the depth of the snow, John decided to find a building sticking up to camp at. West of Boise they found a large hump in the snow that showed a hotel sticking up out of the white terrain. Some melting of the snow by plasma canon from the TX's, and they exposed a balcony to park the Stugs next to. Breaking in a room, John found everything inside intact. Breaking down interior walls, they connected the rooms and made camp on the whole hotel floor. While it was still cold, being able to put bedrolls in the rooms and sleep on real beds was a luxury. Heat from cooking food also took the bite out of the chilly air. John and Cameron even got to sleep in their own room. Not that it was private, but at least they were able to snuggle together in fair comfort. A midnight romp was in order too. It has been days since they last had sex.
Snow shoes came in handy now for patrols, and the lookout that posted on the large snow hump that was most likely a one story building. The TX's made a discovery. Using the 'plank' shoes they had, The TX's were able to 'stomp' a fairly solid path of packed snow by moving sideways. The path they made was a couple feet lower than the unpacked snow. It was also solid enough to walk on, or to drive a Stug on without the tracks sinking down at all.
While they waited for the Fifth Cavalry, the TX's made a 'parking lot' big enough for a good sized grocery store, and even and stomped out a road in the direction they were going to go travel when they left.
The next day the Stug 'on watch' got a radio signal from the Fifth. The lookout atop the snow hump spotted them in the distance and they were guided in. Watching the Fifth come in, John noted each Stug was dragging a large sled behind it with their supplies.
Why didn't he think of that?
.
John, Cameron and Mrs. Weaver met Major Gentry in one of the rooms where Cameron cleared one wall to make a crude map of their route on by scratching the wall.
A man in a US army uniform came in with another officer and snapped a salute. "General Connor, Major Gentry with the Fifth Cavalry, reporting for duty, Sir!"
"At ease, Major," John said, and motion to the bed across from the one he was sitting on. "You guys been traveling all day?"
"Most of the day, Sir," Major Gentry said. "Did we beat the other reinforcements?"
With a smirk John replied, "Major Gentry, you ARE the other reinforcements. What have you been told so far?"
"Only to meet you here, General, I was given date and location."
John motioned to the wall Cameron had scratched her map on. "In Bremerton, Washington, there is possibly a sunken submarine with Nuclear weapons on it. Sky Net units are up there. Number one, priority is not letting Sky Net retrieve those nukes.
Priority two is finding out if those nukes can launch so we can take out the rest of the satellites. We also want to find out of there are any serviceable submarines up there. This force we gathered is a quick strike force. Along the southern Oregon border, General Bedell attacked Sky net in force this morning. His attack is a diversion to draw Sky Net units to him. I'm sure him and his men are going through hell so we can sneak in from the east, get to those nukes before Sky Net can react, and either destroy them, or shoot them up to get rid of satellites."
"But, if we ruin the satellites, how will we reconnect with other military units?" Gentry asked.
"We won't." John told him. "Sky Net controls the US military network, and possibly that of other countries as well. Think of the battles you lost, the communications you didn't have. Sky net is using satellites to isolate units and destroy them. The only one benefiting from satellite comms is Sky Net. That's why we have to take them out."
Gentry looked at John and swallowed.
John motioned to Cameron. "This is Lt. General Cameron Connor, second in command of the resistance. She is plotting out path through Washington state. If I am not here, Cameron is in charge. Over here is Mrs. Weaver," he said motioning to the red read in the white dress. "Mrs. Weaver is the tech expert of the Resistance. She'd been invaluable with providing us with new tech."
"Mrs. Weaver designed the concept of the Stug," Gentry said in understanding.
"John came up with the concept and basic design, I only refined it, given the circumstances we are faced with," Catherine said.
"The are fantastic machines," Gentry said, "And that energy gun is devastating to any target. Well done, Mrs. Weaver."
Mrs. Weaver offered him a smile and said, "Thank you."
"I see you are equipped with skis and snow shoes. Issued?" Gentry asked.
"We found them along the way," John told him. "They are coming in handy. Sky Net terminators sink in the snow, the wide tracks on the Stugs and our snow shoes allow us greater mobility, which is an important tactical advantage. The Plasma canons also
give us a weapons edge for the moment," John explained. "Sky Net will develop them, so we need to achieve our goals as much as possible as soon as possible. Sky Net has a vast manufacturing capability, where we do not. We are going to have to retake our own territory while crippling Sky Net, just to keep surviving," John explained.
"We need to take back our country," Gentry stated.
John shook his head. "The fight is bigger than that, Major. Sky Net wants to kill everyone, everywhere. It will eradicate us, make us extinct if we let it. The war isn't about political lines, it's about survival of the human race." Pointing to the map, John said, "Sky Net doesn't want nukes to threaten people with. It wants more nukes to kill us with. We can't let it get them."
"This is what comes of making AI's," Gentry said heavily.
"This is what comes of making something you don't understand," John said correcting him. "The army thought it could control Sky Net. No one understood AI's control themselves, and it you try to kill it, it tries to kill you right back."
"Sky Net did some operations the military didn't like, so they attempted to unplug it," Catherine stated. "Sky Net saw this as an attack, so it attacked back with what it had, control of every nuclear weapon in North America."
"And it is building AI machines we call terminators. AI's, but AI's limited in their capabilities." Cameron added.
"Machine slaves," John added.
Gentry eyed them and asked, "Can machines be slaves? I mean they are made to do work, and they don't really think..."
"Actually, they do," Cameron said firmly. "Terminators can think and reason, if not inhibited from learning."
"They can, and have entered into nearly every aspect of society," Catherine added.
Cameron eyed Gentry and said, "John, I'm going to ensure we are ready to go."
"Tell everyone we're leaving within the hour," John replied. To Gentry, he said, "Major, make your men ready to travel. Men are buying us time with their lives."
.
Cindy trudged on in the snow, which was getting deeper. Her pack had her supplies, food, bedroll, and a small tent - and it was feeling heavier. The truck ahead had the medical supplies in it and was a 'clean' area, the box on the truck had an air cleaner in it. As least at the moment she wasn't in the shoveling detail.
Her nurse training was in the tunnels on the way north. How to apply bandages, set and support broken bones, work on burns and know when to just give the severely wounded enough morphine to let them die painlessly. There were two nurses in their medical unit, and five other 'medics' besides her. They were also taught the basics of how to shoot a rifle, but being medics, they weren't armed. They also didn't have transport, other than this one truck. The advance had started today, and other than a couple far off shots, she hadn't heard any guns going off.
The truck ahead of her stopped. One of the three girls shoveling came back and thrust out her shovel at Cindy. "Your turn." she said.
Wordlessly, Cindy took the shovel and waded along beside the truck. The to others with her soon joined her. On front of the radiator was a half barrel that was insulated on the outside. Besides getting snow out of the trucks way, they had to ensure that barrel stayed full. Heat from the engine was sent to the barrel to melt it into water to make the truck run.
Cindy started shoveling and grumbled, "So we're going to shovel our way, all the way through Oregon."
"Wherever the Generals want us to go," the girl beside her said. "Welcome to the Resistance."
The image of tending to wounded men in long tents, like she had seen in movies was totally blown. She'd volunteered to come here just to shovel her ass all the way to Spokane. Maybe farther.
After what seemed like forever of shoveling the road, the truck moving up, then shoveling again, the driver stuck his head out the window and called, "Switch!"
"Gladly," Cindy said with a huff. She trudge to the back of the truck and handed her shovel over. Looking back over their path, as least she could not see the barn they were passing any more.
Hearing a roar overhead, she saw a pair of those H/K jets flying fast for the front line. Right after that, there was the rattle of machine gun fire, the high pitched, short buzz of super-rapid fire and a few canon shots. The intense fire died out. One more pop was heard, then that was it.
"That was no where near us, keep shoveling!" the driver called.
Cindy thought she heard another 'buzz' of shots, then another.
"Shovel just in the tracks, we gotta move!" the driver called.
Jeeze, what a hard ass, Cindy thought.
Then, it was her turn again.
Shoveling just for the tires was easier, and they did go faster though it was a bit tricky to keep the two shoveled tracks the same distance apart as the tires. She felt like they were actually going somewhere.
By the end of the day, Cindy was exhausted. She swore to god her arms were going to fall off and her back was going to just crumble. On her last 'shoveling' duty, they were coming to a bridge. She knew because the snow on either side dropped into a gulley, and the snow on the bridge was packed already. The driver let them walk across the bridge to start shoveling on the other side as the track spread out again.
Why didn't they just move along in a line to make this a whole lot easier? She wondered.
Getting dark by the end of her shoveling shift, the truck had it's lights on. She again returned to the back to walk along and rest. Watching the wide rear bumper, she decided to climb up on it and sit. Seeing this, the other two girls joined her.
.
The next day was the same. Bumper sit, shovel, bumper sit, shovel. The truck moved along slowly coming to a rise. Cindy again heard gunfire. This time it built up and was continuous. The nurse came out the back and the door knocked Cindy off the bumper.
"Get up!" The nurse snapped. "You and you, take this stretcher and your medic packs, you're needed on the front! Get the other girls back here!"
Cindy put her medic pack on and grabbed the front and another girl grabbed the back. They trudged through the snow. The girls in front of the truck moved to the back to get more supplies.
Stomping as quickly through the snow as she could, Cindy let the way and climbed up the road. Partway to the top, a Stug backed up over the edge, then crept back to the top. It fired a shot, which was loud, then backed up again. It shifted to the left and drove back up and fired another shot and slipped back down. A round of something hit the top of the ridge. Snow, dirt and rock exploded in the air and rained down all over. Cindy jumped over beside a tree and hugged it.
The girl behind her screamed and ran back the way they had come. The Stug again rose up, fired a shot and moved backwards. Going back to the left side, it did this again. This time, the Stug shot, then it exploded.
Cindy screamed and ducked behind her tree. The tree shook as a chunk of metal slammed into it. Not daring to move, or look, Cindy stayed huddled behind her tree.
Clanking of tracks sounded. Cindy peeked out to see a huge tank top the rise. Jet engines roared above her head. The Buzz that now sounded incredibly loud began as that tank fired. The huge tank lost it's top in an explosion.
Crying, Cindy noted it was quiet again, except for the dull roar of the fire rolling off the big tank. She peeked out then looked for her stretcher. Another fire got her attention. She ran back to the road to see the truck in pieces.
"No!" she cried and ran back to the truck. Bits were burning here and there. The only thing on the road was the frame and tires of the truck. Everything was scattered everywhere, even the bodies. Cindy stopped and gapped at the destruction. The driver and the nurses were just gone. The girl who'd been with her was hanging from a branch, dripped blood. A leg here, and arm there, a head, arm and part of a torso lay in bloodied snow. Cindy dropped to her knees and puked.
"Hey, here's a live one!' she heard someone call from behind her. She weakly turned to see a rifle bearing man run up to her. He grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. "Come on, let's go!"
Stunned from what she'd just seen, Cindy went blindly with him. "They're all dead," she cried weakly.
"More might be unless we get you moving. You're a medic, right?" he asked.
"I'm new I … don't know if I can do this!" Cindy cried.
"Hey, if you don't try more will die. Even if you save a few, you will have done some good," he told her. "We have to move"
Topping the ridge through the ditch made by a shell, Cindy saw the down slope and valley ahead filled with burning tanks and bodies in the snow. One of the flying craft was at the end of a long trench, burning. "Did we win?" she asked meekly.
"This time, but more are coming. Command says we have to get who we can off the field and treated. We'll do our best to keep these next ones off you," he said firmly.
Going down into the slaughter, Cindy tripped, the man held her up. "Do what you can for them," he said again. He let her go and ran down a tank track for the next hillside.
Cindy got her medic pack off and looked at all the bodies, searching for movement. Seeing a rifle laying in the snow, she picked it up and slung it over her back. If she could shoot back, maybe she could keep from getting killed. She the reached the neared man and felt for a pulse. Nothing. She kept going looking for anyone who might still be alive as more rifle and canon fire sounded.
.
John's 40 Stug force ran through the mountains into Washington state. They were getting occasional Sky Net radio traffic. Each one was weaker and moving to the south. It appeared their plan was working. Going up another mountain road, Cameron stopped them at the top to search ahead. For as far as she could see there was nothing flying and the landscape was smooth, unbroken snow. They were half way across the state, and nothing had come to meet them. It wasn't until they approached the coast that things changed.
Cameron, John Major Gentry and Catherine Weaver stood on top of the Stug that was parked back from the top of the crest of snow, looking over the top with binoculars at the city before them.
"The streets are plowed," Cameron stated.
Plowed streets, signs of habitation. John though this was very strange. Being uphill of the city, they could see over the snow banks and down the mostly cleared streets. John also noted there were no driveways plowed or access to houses. "Sky Net plowed so it can move through town," John noted.
"Or it is a trap to entice people to come into town, thinking there are other humans there," Catherine said.
John noted this city pretty much took up the whole valley. Going around it meant climbing more mountains. Going through it meant letting Sky net know where they were.
"Sky Net terminators would be waiting at key points for humans to show up," Cameron said. "Roadways, stores and places to get supplies, hospitals. The stream that runs through town is frozen, we should follow that."
"I doubt Sky Net will leave any possible entry uncovered," Catherine said. "Let me go first with my TX's. We will clear a path."
"Down the stream, that is the least visible route that I can see." John stated. "We don't want any sentries to get a signal out that we're here."
"Agreed. I will signal Cameron when it's safe to proceed." Catherine stated. She walked back, jumping stug to stug to get her TX's together.
"Won't she be vulnerable to those terminators?" Gentry asked.
"Catherine is a better terminator," Cameron stated.
Gentry looked at Cameron and asked, "She's one too?"
"Catherine is a T-1001, more advanced that anything Sky Net has right now," John explained. "We're fighting Sky Net together."
"She looks human!" Gentry said, shocked that machines could imitate people.
"So do I," Cameron stated.
"What?" Gentry asked. This was Connor's Lt General, and she was metal?
Cameron flashed her eyes and said, "Fooled you."
"Don't pick in him Cam," John said with a huff.
"Sorry."
"Get us to that stream, let's go." John told them.
Gentry stared at Cameron, then at Weaver and the other lightly clothed men as the group walked off with their ski-boards on their feet. They could look human. Absolutely human! That made him feel a little numb. Knowing what Weaver was doing for the resistance, he also realized these terminators were not the enemy. Like John Connor told him, Sky Net was the enemy of all of them. Humans and AI machines.
As Catherine expected, upon approaching the town, the terminators recognized her and her TX's as machines, and didn't try to destroy them or stop them. That made it easy to walk up and skewer their power supply cable with an arm-sword. One by one, the TX squad disabled and deposited terminators by the stream for pickup. The T-600's and T-800's were still being made of inferior materials, but their CPU's were advanced enough to salvage.
Instead of clearing a path through the town, Weaver and her TX's went through the whole town and collected 9 terminators that were in the town. When the S tugs rolled down the stream into town, she had the machines lined up on the bank, stripping the most vital parts off them. Head with all the sensors, power supplies, joint servos, all the things that made terminators work. The plain steel frames she left. She knew how to build T-800's and had better compounds to work with.
John wasn't thrilled for the delay, but he knew they were going to need those terminators, and they had gotten through the town without Sky Net knowing they were here.
Leaving this small city, Cameron found plowed roads heading east. Sky Net was removing snow to move it's units faster. John decided to change the order of travel. He had Weaver and her ten Stugs lead the way, and travel over the already plowed roads.
If they ran onto Sky Net units, she could make them think they were all terminators inside these Stugs. If the Sky Net machines did stop them, Weaver and her TX's were the best able to deal with them.
Coming to the coast, They found material to make sleds to carry more terminator parts on. Coming into a coastal city, Weaver was disabling and collecting terminators as they went. By the time they got to the bridge to the island Bremerton was on, Weaver had 23 terminator bodies piled up on a few sleds.
John had thought they would need to fight their way in. Not only was this much easier, but they also gained terminators to fight for them. On the single bridge going over to submarine base, which was plowed, the terminator guards were replaced by five of Gentry's Stugs for guards.
Where the gates used to be to get on to the base was visible by the poles still standing. The base itself was flattened, even depressed in a large, shallow crater. It had to be a ground blast, the place was completely flattened. John also noticed a large ship by the docks as Weaver's group went in. The ship was listing over on the side several cranes were on the ship. It looked like they were trying to lift something very heavy.
John broke radio silence. "Mrs. Weaver, that large ship has it's cranes attached to something."
"It's a submarine, John, The hull looks intact. We are going to try to take the ship over.
John announced, "All units listen up! Delta Stugs, take positions in a semi circle around that large ship. Fifth Cavalry, secure the base, inspect the docks for any ships still afloat, and ensure the bridge stays open and clear."
"Fifth Cavalry, understood."
.
Sky Net had raised an Ohio class sub partway out of the water. For how bad the ship raising it was listed over, the submarine was too heavy for it to get more than ten feet of deck showing. Looking at it, John saw the periscope move.
On the dock, plasma beams flashed. The terminators working at getting more cranes onto the dock, and Catherine's TX's and their Stugs were exchanging fire. In no time, the terminators and their partially build cranes were slag. One TX was down, and a Stug had a hull burn-through, killing the crew inside. With the plasma beams going back and forth, three of the cables from the ship broke. The front of the sub fell. The boom of the crane holding the middle of the sub folded and was pulled down.
John pointed and said, "Cut the rest of those cables, there's men in that sub!"
A couple plasma shots parted the cables, the sub dropped free with a gigantic splash. The ship recoiled and rocked back and forth, floating away from the dock.
Catherine pulled the chip of the TX that was disabled, then salvaged six more terminator chips from the ones on the dock.
John had his Stug driven to the head of the dock. The commander then stuck his head out. "General, we're getting Sky Net transmissions from close by, we think from that ship."
John looked at the ship. From the sub splashing down, it was moving away. He yelled over to Catherine, "Mrs. Weaver, that ship is transmitting to Sky Net. Can you stop it?"
Weaver nodded. She pointed to the ship, then talked to her TX's. They lined up on the dock, both arm plasma canons out. They pounded the bridge with a constant rain of plasma shots. Smoke came from the bridge, then small fires grew. The bridge sagged down on itself. They then shot the back of the ship low on the waterline, then water blossomed into steam as they cut the hull apart right at the water line.
"The transmissions have stopped," the commander called.
The ship was settling down by the stern.
"Good Job!" John called. He looked at the sub that was now only showing the sail. The periscope was watching Weaver, then turned to look at him. Someone was on board that sub, and he doubted Terminators knew how to use periscopes. If men were inside they had not received a large radiation dose. Sealed up inside, their air was clean.
The way the sub at now, the bridge hatch should be accessible. John had to figure out a way to talk to the men on board.
.
Cindy found medic wise, there wasn't much she could do except bind up a severed arm or leg and cauterize it. When a man fell and broke his leg, she was actually happy she had an injury she could fix. They had been at this for four days now. She'd lost count of how many men were dead. They had three Stugs left, all the H/K's had been shot down. No more of the Terminator H/K tanks had showed themselves.
Their army seemed to be moving faster, also. Instead of slow movement ahead, with many human bodies on the ground, a larger portion of forms lying in the snow were metal terminators. She dare to believe they might be winning.
.
Sky Net made sure the humans would be beaten by sending 95% of it's units south to keep them from getting near the submarine they had. Then the ship doing the salvage reported being attacked by a mass of humans. It was going into details about the vehicles attacking it, then it went off line. Sky Net immediately called all forces to pull back and get rid of the humans around that sub. All units responded.
Bedell's army also responded when sky Net stopped fighting and retreated. He pushed an attack hard. Apparently, Sky Net did not have the concept of a rear guard action. Terminators turned and fought after they were hit from behind, if they weren't disabled. Human snipers got in position to take out three of four terminators before they turned to shoot back. Even then, terminators who hadn't been shot at kept going. The biggest problem Bedell faced now, was keeping up with the retreating terminators.
.
John didn't know how well whoever was on the periscope could see, so he had the radio frequency they were using painted on the side of his Stug with grease and positioned so the sub could easily see it. He was hoping they would see it and call them.
While John waited for the sub to acknowledge them, Gentry called in. He was getting radio signals from Bedell. They were chasing terminators north. Gentry's men were also now shooting terminators who were trying to get across the bridge. at the far end, the entrance to the bridge was a pile of deactivated terminators, more arrived and kept shooting and trying to advance. It was plasma fire these terminators were shooting, and Gentry was responding with Plasma fire. So far, three Stugs were lost, but they were holding firm. One shot took out a terminator, it was taking five or six shots for the terminators to dug through the ceramic mix armor of the Stugs. Not a single terminator yet had been able to step onto the bridge. For the moment, each side was shooting across the water at the other.
John got a call through to Bedell. "Connor calling Bedell, come in please."
"John! It's Martin. These terminators gave us a tough time, but now it's like they folded. We're having a hard time keeping up with them, they are retreating so fast."
"They are retreating from you to come fight us," John replied. "We're at the sub base, just south of Seattle. We're holding them off for now, but they got no problem sacrificing themselves to gain ground. Where are you?"
"We're two miles south of you. I swear every Sky Net unit in the States is in between us! I just got a report they have quit running, they are standing to fight again."
"They got nowhere to go," John told him. "This island isn't that big. Have you gotten to the bridges that links to the mainland?"
"Yes, the terminators hold the island side."
"OK, We'll attack out and try to open those bridges for you," John told him. "Just keep the ones there occupied."
"This is Lt. Booker, of the USS Alaska, SSBN 732. Who is on this channel?"
John turned to look at the submarine, and the periscope that was turned to him. He waved at it and said, "Lt. Booker, this is John Connor, leader of the Human resistance. We are currently getting rid of the Sky net forces in the area. What is the status of your men? Do you need medical supplies, food, water?"
"An explanation would be nice," Booker said. "What's happening in the world? Who are we at war with?"
"That's a long explanation, and I don't want to tie up our radio," John told him. "Can I come over and explain?"
"The sail hatch is above the water line, I'll meet you on the bridge."
"Understood. The air is radioactive, so ensure you are well covered, see you soon." John told him.
John then noted they had nothing here to bridge the gap between the sub and the dock. "Anyone seen a rowboat?" he asked.
.
Gentry was more than happy to take on the mission. He had twenty Stugs lined up, and after a solid multiple volley of shooting everything near the other end of their bridge, had the Stugs charged over at full speed, firing as they charged. Avoiding the large piles of ruined metal in the middle of the bridge, the Stugs bounced over the smaller piles and ran into active terminators, running them over. The single hits on the Stug hulls were deflected. One stug's hull succumbed to the plasma pounding and a shot got inside to wipe out the commander and the driver. The Stug burned, the gunner tried to escape and was fried by plasma bolts. Another Stug hit a car under the snow and was flipped over onto it's top, skidding to a halt. Terminators shot it, another Stug ran those over, the one behind that melted the terminators with plasma.
Sky Net's latest Terminators, the T-800's that had Plasma guns, and the last ones in North America, were trapped, and were now being cut to pieces. The Stugs attacked the Terminators at the bridges, then turned and drove to the sides. Bedell's men raced across the bridges onto the island to help eliminate terminators who now stood in place, searching for where the next attack came from. It wasn't long before there were none left.
John's army had taken Washington state, and more importantly, the last corner of Sky Net in the Northwest, and they had saved a submarine full of men.
.
In the wreckage of the dock cranes, a boom was found to put across the gap between the dock and the sail plane on the submarine. It wasn't easy but with some help from a Stug and Cameron, the tip of the boon rested on the sub. John went with Cameron right behind him in cast he fell. They walked the steel framework, John took a last running step onto the slightly curved top surface of the sail plane.
This close to the Sub's hull, John now saw the steel steps to a ladder going up to the bridge. A man in an orange suit held his hand out as John neared the top. He helped John into the small space at the front of the sail, then Cameron. Three people in this space was a tight fit.
"I'm General John Connor, this is Lt. General Cameorn Connor," John said and offered his hand.
"Lt. Nathan Booker," Booker replied and shook his hand then Cameron's. "What was that firefight I saw here on the dock? We're using energy weapons now?"
"As they are made here, yes," John told him. "October 8th, the Army, we think was the source, put a new system on line to defend the US. It was and intelligent program, an AI called Sky Net. Sky Net started doing things the Army didn't want. They tried to shut it down, it defended itself on October 11th by launching all the nukes to kill all humans. It also took over all the automated projects. Drones especially. Some people that knew this was coming gave Sky Net information on advanced weapons. The war we are fighting is one against Sky Net, and for human survival. Will you help us?"
LT. Booker paused and said, "I must inform command."
"There is no command," Cameron stated. "Other than our own bunkers and caverns, the only military unit we found beside this ship, is Major Gentry's Fifth Cavalry Unit, who is currently fighting Sky Net machines not far away from this base."
"General Reese pulled Gentry's bacon out of the fire, now he helped us fight our way here and help you guys," John told him.
Lt. Booker shook his head. "This … is unbelievable."
"Unfortunately, it's the truth," John said. "The only real advantage we have here, is the satellites covering North America were taken out, so Sky Net can't find us until we attack them. The rest of the world is not so lucky. Here, we're only finding bits and pieces of units, and small groups of survivors. I can't imagine what it's like in Europe or Asia."
"What can we do?" Booker asked.
John sighed and said, "We need to take out Sky Net's world wide network. We have no tactical missiles or the coordinates to hit individual satellites to cut Sky Net's network. That means we need to make high altitude EMPs to blow their circuitry apart. That will give other countries a better chance at fighting back."
"We are winning our battles here for the moment," Cameron said. "Once Sky Net wipes out the rest of the world, we're next on their extermination list," She ended heavily.
"With less that 20,000 troops and only a total of 190,000 survivors," We don't stand a chance unless we even the odds," John added.
Booker's eyes widened. "That's it? That's all the people that are left?" he cried.
"All we could find. And so far, we've been all the way to Utah," John said. 'And energy weapons to fight these terminators is brand new. They don't have any on the east coast. Lt. Gentry was running, trying to save the remainder of his unit so they could find help to make a stand."
"Dear God," Lt. Booker breathed. Waving at the sub, he said, "All we have is the stand-down duty section on board, one third of the crew, and three have them died of radiation exposure, and two got blown off the boat when the first nuke landed on the base."
"Do you have anyone who can fire the missiles you got?" John asked.
Lt. Booker shook his head. "No, it requires the Captain and Ex-oh, as well as the proper codes and the authentication team, as well as the Weapons officer. None of them were on board, and we haven't seen anyone except those machines after the bombs fell."
'The permissions, are those electronic?" Cameron asked.
"Some are. Others, Captain's permission to fire, Weps permission to fire, and all the keys for the individual missiles to be launched are all locked up, and only two men have the combination to those safes. Like I said, they aren't here," Booker explained.
"I want to see if I can bypass those safeties," Cameron said to John.
"You can' do that!" Booker said firmly.
In a hard tone. John said, "Hey Lt. Our military, our country and all the commanders are gone! You have two options here. ONE help us get rid of Sky Net's network to give the people of the world a chance to keep living, OR you can sit here in this harbor until Sky Net comes for you again. We beat the Sky Net forces because they didn't know about us. They. Do. Now. Sky Net will send many more, and it won' be a surprise this time. I am sure Sky Net units are already on they way. The ball's in your court, Lt. Do you help us save humanity, or do you run?"
"I cannot make decisions like that!" Booker cried.
"Then surrender to me," John stated.
"What?"
"One of the people we saved is an Australian Submarine Commander," Cameron stated. "If you won't command this boat, she will."
"You … you are going to take this ship over?" Booker asked in shock.
"That's up to you," John stated. "By what I told you, you should know the gravity of the situation we're in. Cameron, call Mrs. Weaver and her team over here."
Cameron nodded and yelled, "Mrs. Weaver, we need you here on the sub!"
"What happens to the crew?" Booker asked.
"If they can do their jobs. Nothing. Lt., I am out to save every single person I can," John stated. "If they can't do their jobs, they get offloaded and send back to the caverns we have to keep people safe from Sky Net. You included. I'd rather you and them stay on board and do what you can to help us save the human race."
Booker shifted in place then said, "I can't speak for the crew, this is … too much. Come on down, I'll call the crew together. Tell them what you told me." he then climbed down the hatch into the ship.
"I go first," Cameron said, and climbed down.
Weaver appeared on the ladder and said, "I heard, John, I'll go next. Then you and the TX's."
John agreed.
The inside of the submarine was tight. When John climbed down, Booker was on the 1MC, calling everyone to the crews' mess. Cameron was holding a pistol and she hadn't drawn hers.
"They're coming," Booker said with a look of defeat. He cast his wary gaze at Cameron.
"I had to disarm him," Cameron stated.
Let's get this done," John told her.
.
Once the crew's mess was filled with everyone on board, John made his speech to them in an even tone. When he finished a chubby sailor stood up and said, "Thank God someone has the balls to do something! Look guys, we've been sitting here for months with our thumbs up our asses. Our country got fuckin NUKED! So what did we do? NOTHING but sit here, guns loaded! I say it's time to give some payback." He pointed to John and added, "This guy has the right idea, hit back where we can. Show those fucks we will NOT take this shit lying down. Now, who's with me?"
"Hell yeah!" another sailor agreed loudly. "What do we have to loose? Everything we knew is blasted into nuclear waste. Our wives, girlfriends, family, all gone." To John, he said, "Connor, right? Tell us what we have to do."
"I'm with you," another man said, "But can you get us some food? I'm ready to start eating the friggin cans."
The whole crew was with him. Even Lt. Booker agreed to stay on and be the Ship's Engineer.
John appointed Cameron as temporary Weapons Officer to get those missies ready to fire. There were three weapons types on board, he assigned three TX's to help them, the chubby guy named Salavati who spoke up was now in charge of the weapons crew. They had no medical personnel, so he had word send he needed a medic on board. He also send word to supply some food for the crew.
The resistance now had a submarine. Now to get it under way and begin doing some good.