Ch 16
With the delivery of 2000 terminators and 20 more TX's by Catherine Weaver, John decided it was time to do something with the western train station Genty's troops had found. Weaver had also done something smart with her terminators.
She painted them white.
One reason was for camouflage against the snow. The other was so their own troops would not mistake them for Sky Net units. John saw both were very good reasons for the powder coat over them. By train and by Stug, these new troops, along with 3000 more men arrived with a new rifle they were all carrying.
This new rifle was another work of Weaver genius. It was a plasma rifle, but under the barrel was a rocket launcher. The rockets were small, only one inch diameter, but the head contained a warhead that once the rocket was fired, would ignite the plasma charge upon contact with the target, countering the weakening of a plasma bolt that had to fly through the frigid air. As long as John's troops maintained a distance from Sky Net troops, their weapons would be more powerful.
Gentry's B Commander, Captain Rodriguez, was to take the rest of his B group to the surface after the way was cleared by miners and TX's. Cameron had marked where the Sky Net picket line was, and where the entrance above the eastern train station should be.
Until John knew where the major Sky Net forces were, he had Derek hold in place, but be ready to move. Although it was an unpopular decision, John went to the front. Cameron went with him and brought along two more TX's to ensure his safety. Cameron also had a directional radio set up in the station at Cheyenne city, as one would be put up at the east train station so John could stay in contact with all his troops.
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The first Stug down the tracks towed a flatbed with ramps on top of it. Arriving at the station, a TX unhooked the flat car and lowered the ramps, and locked the wheels in place. The Stug drove just to the east tunnel entrance and shown it's lights down the tunnel.
The second Stug in Bore a ten men riding on top and bundles of equipment. As the people watched, it climbed up onto the flatbed then turned towards the stairs up. The men got down off the Stug and measured the stairs. One waved a hand. The Stug climbed the stirs into the lower mine. It was a tight fit, but it did go up, only scraping the sides. The men followed.
The soldiers in the station became traffic cops. They guided three more Stugs to the stairs, each carrying more equipment.
The fourth Stug came up onto the platform and stopped. This one only had three women on top of it. Police Sargent Betty Hewitt eyed the women. Two ere perfectly shaped Latinos with beautiful medium tones skin and faces that would put models to shame. The third was a Caucasian woman with auburn hair and again, a face straight fro heaven, if she wasn't casting everyone a blank stare. She was the one to rap on the hatch and say, "John, it is safe to come out."
The hatch opened and all the soldiers snapped to a salute as one yelled, "Attention!"
"At ease, carry on," John called as he got up and out. He got down. The women got down as well, bracketing him. "All secure?" John asked the Lt. who ran over to meet him.
"Yes, Sir, General! The first and second levels have been verified free of hostiles, we were about to investigate the first level, when you showed up."
"Cancel that, let's get some of our terminators up there first," John told him.
"Yes, General," the Lt. said with a salute, then hurried off to change his orders.
The Stug that carried John in rolled on up the ramp, a stream of them followed.
John saw the police woman watching him. He went over to her with his entourage. He held out his hand and said, "Hello, I'm General John Connor, this is General Cameron Connor, and this is Maria and Marisa, our escorts."
Marisa said, "General, I'm Marisa, Maria is on your other side."
"Sorry, my mistake." he offered.
Betty Hewitt shook his hand. "I'm officer Betty Hewitt, Sir, it is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for your assistance." She was thinking 'pervert'. He dared have two drop dead beautiful girls as their escorts, especially with his wife right here? The nerve of some guys!
"You're welcome. Do you know of anyone else who may have survived?" John asked.
"No, Sir. May I ask how are the ones who went to Cheyenne city faring?"
"They are recovering," Cameron stated then pulled a bottle out of her jacket pocket and showed it to Betty. "This is anti-radiation medicine. The eyedropper is marked. Only one dropper per person, let me demonstrate. Open your mouth."
Betty did. Cameron pulled the eyedropper out and drew the white substance to the black line on the dropper. She then squirted it into Betty's mouth. "Swallow."
Betty did. With a grin she offered, "It doesn't taste bad … kinda like milk."
"Yes, " Cameron said and handed her the bottle. "Please administer one dropper per person for all of your people. One dropper only, and do not miss anyone."
"Yes, Ma'am. This will cure radiation sickness?" Betty asked.
"As well as keep you from getting it as long as you are careful with your exposure," Cameron explained.
Betty smiled and exclaimed, "This is … a miracle!"
"Negative, they are nanites," Cameron told her.
"Whatever those are. I'll begin right now," Betty stated and called people over to her.
John and Cameron waited until all the Stugs got up the stairs then watched the white terminators follow them in and up the stairs . Seeing people's eyed go wide, he announced, "These terminators are fighting with us, they will harm no one down here!"
Like the line of Stugs, it took a while for all the terminators to pass. Right after they did, a man came down.
"General Connor, the only way up is a ladder in the elevator shaft. We're talking one at a time, we'll need ramps to get those Stug to the surface. That's going to mean tunneling our way up."
John nodded and replied, "Send one terminator up. If the way is clear, see if you can get that elevators working. If you can or not, either way, begin tunneling to make those ramps. Men and terminators can climb up the ladder."
"We'll get right on it, General," the man said, saluted and jogged back up the stairs.
After the mines and troops had gone through, the support teams came in on a pair of personnel carriers. The radio back to Cheyenne city was put up, a large easel with a map or the area was set up, as was a planning table. John and his entourage went up the stairs to see how much room these levels of mines had.
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Derek was happy that Laura was spending some time at the hospital every day. He also noted she was staying fully dressed, even when she was 'watching' him at night. His lust factor receded enough that he didn't constantly feel like banging his head against the wall.
They were getting more troops and weapons, Gentry's troops were keeping an eye on the Sky Net picket and searching the underground railroad, Jacobson had built a few fake snow forts facing the Sky Net picket, and supplies were no longer a problem now that they had plenty of gardens and factories. Even Laura was behaving. They even had stealth drones to keep a watch on Sky Net.
The drones were small battery powered planes that took video of an area. Small and quiet, they also were invisible to radar. Derek sent these out close to and over the Sky Net picket instead of risking a Stug. With these, Derek found Sky Net was busy building defenses.
Behind the picket line, terminators were hard at work clearing roadways for travel. With the depth of the snow, they looked like WW1 trenches. So far, he was finding a large group of terminators, around a thousand with a few H/K tanks, every fifteen miles, five miles behind the picket lines. The first video of terminators carrying large plates to pack down the snow in front of the pickets, he was confused at. Then he got it, they were making a clear field of vision to warn their sentries and give them a clear field of fire.
They were working hard to defend themselves. Derek was wondering why they didn't come searching for the resistance. A deep probe by a drone that crashed and had to be recovered, showed why. It had flown over a factory in Missouri, and on the way, there wasn't a single terminator he saw that wasn't at work. Even the ones being made were headed east. Not west towards them.
Sky Net was lacking machines, and trying to build itself up before it engaged the resistance. The Houston battle had damaged Sky Net more that they thought. Derek got all his information and had it sent to John.
"Lunch time, General," Laura said as she came into Derek's office with a tray of food and two mugs.
"Thank you Laura," Derek said. He was getting hungry. He sat down at a small table across from her and noted she had food also. "You're eating?" he asked, surprised.
Laura handed him a goat burger with all the trimmings, and picked up one for herself. "Yes, I have to maintain my nanite production, so I need nutrients," she said.
"Making the anti-radiation medicine," Derek said knowingly. "I do appreciate you doing that. You're saving thousands of lives."
They dug into their meal. Sitting this close to Laura, Derek couldn't help but notice that Laura's chest seemed … extra full. It was almost as if her boobs had gotten bigger and were squishing out to the sides and middle. "Do your clothes fit all right?" he asked.
Laura swallowed her mouthful and said, "They do. Why do you ask?"
"It just looks like you're … packed into that jacket," Derek said. He quickly added, "If it doesn't bother you, it's OK, I was only wondering if your comfortable with the size."
Laura cast him a grin and told him, "Thank you for worrying about me. My Jacket is fine. It would be more comfortable not wearing anything, but I must maintain a proper uniform." After a pause, she said, "Derek, would you mind if I wore less during your sleep cycle?"
"That's fine," he said before he thought.
Laura smiled. "Thanks, Getting out of this for a few hours would be nice," she said happily.
By the happy look on her face, Derek couldn't take back what he said. He just returned her smile and decided he'd face the wall when he went to bed. The sight of Laura even partially clothed drove him nuts.
A soldier knocked on the door frame as he entered the room. "General, Major Gentry reported there are several men coming from the Sky Net picket. They are six miles out. He followed their tracks back through the picket to the road the terminators cleared. At least two of the picket terminators saw them."
Derek ordered, "Tell Major Gentry to surround, disarm and detain them. Pat down search, and look for any transmitters. Keep them where he stops them."
"Yes, General," the soldier said and hurried away.
Derek quickly swallowed the rest of his food, as did Laura.
"I'm coming with you," Laura stated.
"Yes, you are, I want you to interrogate these men," Derek agreed.
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Gentry had a good reception party waiting for the men who walked along on snow shoes. Before confronting them, he had a long distance watch set up in front of them.
Sitting still and now painted white, Stugs were virtually invisible to the human naked eye until one got very close. The Stug put in the men's path was watching them, the T-800 on the back with a .50 cal chain gun lay down so as not to be seen. Snipers to each side watched the men through their scopes. Behind the reception committee, two more Stugs and a personnel carrier waited.
The seven men were allowed to slogged along until they were thirty feet in front of the Stug. The Stug's bright combat lights flashed into being, the T-800 stood up and took aim.
"HALT! DO NOT MOVE!" the Stug commander yelled.
The men put their arms over their faces, being blinded by the light. "We're human!" one man yelled back.
"Hands on your heads fingers interlocked, NOW!"
"Yeah, OK! Can you turn that light off?" the man cried as he squeezed his eyes shut and looked away.
The personnel carrier came up beside them. Soldiers got out and one at a time, they checked the men for weapons, then cuffed them and got them inside the carrier. Inside the carrier their outer coats were opened for a pat down search, then they were sat in the back.
Emissions from the men were checked for. One had a homing device. It was removed and crushed.
The carrier moved away, then stopped. The reception Committee moved back towards the Sky Net picket and watched the men's tracks.
Three hours later, to ensure Sky Net wasn't going to bombard the area or attack, Derek and Laura showed up with a sizable guard. Derek went in the carrier and eyed the prisoners. "Where you from?" he asked, noting that for being outside on the surface, these men were the best looking survivors he'd ever seen. They were healthy, food was found in their pockets and all their snow shoes had been factory made. Even their clothes looked like they'd come off a rack someplace. "Where did you come from?" he asked again.
One man meekly said, "We started in Fayetteville, been scrounging and ducking Sky Net this whole time. We were just trying to find a safe place to be."
"Liar," Derek stated in a heavy tone. "You walked right between two terminators on your way here, we watched you and I know both of them saw you. You also had a homing device on you. I'll give you one more chance to tell me the truth, then you loose those coats and snow pants and my assistant will interrogate you outside. She'll keep you alive, but it will be very unpleasant."
The men's mouths dropped open.
"Speak!" Derek barked.
"Look, we just don't want to die!" another man cried. "OK, we were captured by Sky Net. They found our bunker and killed everyone else! This guy who's with them gave us supplies and told us to walk west. If we stopped walking, they'd kill us!"
Derek pointed to him and said, "Take him out to Laura. She's free to do whatever she feels is needed to get the truth out of him."
The man sobbed as he was jerked to his feet and his coat was cut off him. "I'm telling the truth!" he cried.
His snow pants were sliced down the sides and ripped off him. "Please, I told you, we were captured and it was walk or die!" the man all but screamed.
Derek watched the other men's faces as the man was pulled out of the carrier, wailing his innocence. The men's faces were drawn, their eyes focused on nothing. "Anyone else care to speak the truth?" Derek asked.
"Who are you?" a bearded man asked.
"I'm asking the questions. You give the answers," Derek stated.
Outside, the man led out wailed out a scream. The bearded man smirked. "You're this John Connor, aren't you?" he asked.
"None of your business, Mr. Gray," Derek said in a hard tone. "You're next out there unless you tell me why you left your cushy Sky Net provided home to walk here and be captured."
"How do you know that?" a third man asked in wonder.
"Shut up you fool You just killed us all!" the bearded man snapped.
"He did," Derek agreed. "But there are two ways to die. A quick, painless bullet to your brain, or slow torture.
Another wail and a "PLEASE, Nooo! … AHHH!" came from outside.
The door opened, Laura stuck her head in. A moaning sob was coming from beyond the door. "Who's next?" Laura asked.
Derek pointed to the Gray. "Him, and make him suffer. He's a gray working for Sky Net."
Laura came in and grabbed the gray by a foot to jerk him out of his seat and drag him to the door. She smiled at the remaining men and flashed her red eyes, then threw the gray outside and stepped out to shut the door.
"She…. She's a terminator?" a scared looking man said in a gasp.
"Damn right she is," Derek stated. "A much better one than anything Sky Net has."
He eyed the fearful looks of the other men and said, "This is your last chance. Tell the truth and I'll find you a nice, safe jail cell. Lie, and you go see Laura."
Suddenly, all the men were talkative and telling Derek about their capture, being watched and 'conditioned' by the gray, Charles Fisher, and every place they were and the Sky Net facilities and weapons they saw.
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John was pleased Derek had captured some grays trying to infiltrate the resistance. Derek had even gotten helpful information from them. The location of a terminator factory in Missouri, another in Mississippi, and a new work camp in east Missouri. From what Derek had found, Sky Net had just begun taking humans to work instead of killing every one they saw.
The picture of Sky Net's forces and facilities was getting clearer with every bit of information gathered. John mentally work out his attack strategy as details of Sky Net trickled in. Cameron helped refine his plans. By the time the ramps were dug out to get his army to the surface, John planned on dealing a blow to Sky Net that would severely cripple it west of the Mississippi. Possibly in the whole of North America.
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Rolling along inspecting the tunnel, Fred reached down and tapped Sargent Willis on the shoulder. "Sargent, you awake?"
"Yup, what's up, Fred?"
"Voices ahead, someone sees our headlights. It sounds like they are falling back," Fred told him.
"How far?"
"By the acoustic properties of this tunnel, and the volume, my best guess is 80 yards," Fred informed him.
Willis thought for a moment, if they stopped, the ones ahead would know they were heard. If they didn't, they might run into a trap. He got on the radio. "Pete, once we round this corner, I'm going to stop and go ahead on foot."
"Got it. You taking Leo with you?"
"No, just Fred."
"Be careful."
To the driver, Willis said, "When we hit the straight, stop. If you hear shooting, turn on the combat lights."
"Do we shoot back?"
"If they shoot us, yes. Not until then." Willis told him.
Coming to the straight stretch, Willis had the driver stop. Up ahead it was dark, no lights.
"There is a block in the tunnel, six heat forms behind it, sixty two point one yard ahead." Fred stated.
Willis got out, grabbing a flashlight and the flare gun. "Driver, kill the lights. I'll be in radio contact."
The Stug headlights went out. Willis walked on with his flashlight, Fred beside him. He kept his light low, searching the railroad tracks for any traps or mines. They walked fifty yards when a voice called out.
"Halt! That's far enough!" the deep voice called.
Willis stopped and said, "I'm Sargent Bob Willis, Fifth Cavalry under Major Gentry. Who are you?"
"Lieutenant Ross, Tenth armored brigade, Captain Galliano currently in command. How did you get down here, Sargent?"
"We've been following the racks from Cheyenne city, Sir. We found some survivors back a ways at a station. We send them back to Cheyenne. We're searching for survivors and a way back to the surface."
"You are cleared to approach, Sargent,"
"Thank you, Sir," Willis said and walked up to the barrier.
Lights now came on. The Lt. Stuck his hand out over the makeshift barrier. "Happy to see you, Sargent," he said with a smile.
Willis returned his smile and shook his hand, 'I'm delighted as well, Sir. I was afraid it was terminators up here. This is one bad place to fight in. No maneuvering room."
"Agreed. We heard what sounded like a tank. How did you get a tank down here?" the LT. asked.
Willis went into a long explanation from the time he was running from Sky Net to save his remaining troops, to getting down in the tunnel to search east, as another group headed west.
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Later, Willis and his team were in another large train station that had the side racks filled with five engines and a variety of cars. His two Stugs sat on the tracks with their flat cars. His men were out talking with the platoon that was guarding the tracks.
Captain Galliano grinned at the Stugs, and said, "These can destroy those big tanks?"
"Sure can, Sir, "Willis beamed. "The H/K tanks Sky Net has are slow and their gun depression sucks. We position troops and the few M1's we have to get the H/K's attention, and hide off to the side. They charge, we run in behind them, close up, and shoot them in the ass. Once Sky Net units get a lock on what they are fighting, they don't watch behind them. Terminators, those skeletal things, we either shoot, of just run over. The ceramic coating absorbs their plasma shots. Our Stug's armor isn't thick, but Sky Net has very few powder guns now. They are almost all energy weapons."
"That is impressive," Captain Galliano said. "Is your Major available?"
"No Sir, he's out on the surface someplace, scouting out Sky Net positions. Right now, our Captain is answering directly to General Reese, back at Cheyenne"
"A General? So, you have an army, not just remnants?"
"An army of remnants, sir. General Connor, the leader of the resistance, is gathering up all the people he can find to fight back against Sky Net," Willis explained. "Not sure how many men we have now, but it is an army, and Connor has led us to some great victories. We've been blowing the hell out of those Sky Net machines every time we took the field. He started back in California, and had been pushing east."
Galliano clenched a fist and stated, "We are finally fighting back and winning! I knew those things would not beat us!"
"It has been a long fight. Sir, I have to report back on what we found. I you like, Sir, I can have my Stug reinforce the other tunnel with your men."
"Yes, do that. If you can raise your superiors, I want to talk to them."
"Right away, sir."
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Willis got the radio operator at the 'station' they were now calling 'Mid Point' station, for lack of any other name. He called Captain Galliano over to Pete's Stug and handed him the head set. "It's Mid Point Station, Sir."
"This is Captain Galliano, Tenth armored brigade, in Jacksonville Missouri."
"Hello Captain," a female voice said. "This is General Cameron Connor, do you have access to the surface?"
"We do, Ma'am, but it has been closed for months, our manpower is very low and we have no tanks or artillery left. We have been working on survival."
"As you should be, Captain. General John Connor will be sending you reinforcements. Do not open your outer doors until reinforcements arrive. Will our Stugs make it up the path to the surface there?"
"They should, Ma'am. They are small and from what Sargent Willis tells me, very maneuverable."
"Yes, they are. I am going to put the supply officer on. Please inform him of any supplies you need. I am also sending Marisa to administer anti-radiation treatments. Ensure all your men receive this treatment. It is vital they receive it."
"Yes, Ma'am. I will see to it."
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When Cameron told John where their tunnel scouts were and they had access to the surface, John laughed and hugged her. "This is the break we need!" he said happily. "This exit point is only thirty miles from the work camp and the Sky Net factory. It's a also another large underground bunker. We can strike Sky Net hard in multiple places at once."
John went over to the map and looked at the current status of the army and where units were positioned. He studied where and with what assets each of his unit had, and where Sky Net was, and it's known units. With Cameron being good at exact figures, they worked out where to hit and with what. Just to re- organize his army for this attack was going to be a monumental effort. The payoff though, was well worth it.
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In his reorganization plans, John made some promotions.
Jesse Flores was promoted to Colonel, and given the Washington State, Oregon and Idaho areas to guard against sky Net. Colonel Perry under General Bedell was made a Lt. General and given California and the southern border to protect, Flores was also under him.
General Bedell was moved from the west coast to the south in the Texas/Arizona border to receive the incoming recruits and terminators, and train them for combat. Besides the men and terminators, he also got 50 more Stugs and 25 of the new long range 160 MM artillery guns.
General Reese was now the Command General for the eastern front, Major Jacobson was promoted to Colonel, as was Gentry. Gentry was also to command the expanded Fifth Cavalry under the newly promoted Captain Willis. His other forces were an artillery brigade of 155 MM guns under the newly promoted Major Smith, who also had some Stugs and carrier mounted antiaircraft rockets to protect his guns, and the two brigades of white T-800's, each under a TX.
Besides Major Jacobson, Derek had a new Major Bennet (Ex Fifth Cavalry) to command the Fourth Cavalry of scout Stugs. A few of Captain Gallano's tank drivers and gunners were drawn from him to give the new Fourth some experienced men.
The TX's Leo and Fred were promoted to Captain to each lead 1000 of the new white terminators directly, Under Colonel Gentry's command.
Cameron was given the responsibility of communications and intelligence collection as it was gathered.
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In a large meeting with all these officers John stood in front of the battle map he and Cameron had made and explained the plan.
"First off, everyone, congratulations on your promotions, you deserved it. If you look here, we have the Sky Net positions we know of marked. Their units are spread out, trying to find us. Well they will, but may not be happy about it when they do. I'll start in the south."
"General Bedell, make your initial starting point here at the Arizona, Texas border. Down on the Rio Grande someplace, is a small force of navy TX's are making. Find them. Train your troops as well as you can until the word is given to attack. Your primary targets are Houston and Dallas. Set lines ahead of your artillery, the 160's have a 100 mile range. Once they are within range, begin pounding Houston and Dallas. Keep watch to the south, Corpus Christi may have Sky Net units, it may not. Assume they are there until you can prove otherwise."
John then addressed Derek. "General Reese, your responsibility is large. Sky Net's picket line. Cover as much of it as you safely can, Open up a five mile wide area, taking out all the picket units, then consolidate and meet the attack that is sure to come. For a while you will be defending the line with just your own troops. Keep in mind where the Sky Net units are congregated behind their picket. Your job is to draw them out and pull them west. We want to move them out of Missouri. Make them chase you. Defend, hit them, then move back a mile or two. Be careful and don't get surrounded."
"Colonel Gentry, your part in this is vital. There is a work camp here, where Sky Net is holding humans as slave workers. Send in your terminators to attack it from within if at all possible and get as many humans and disabled terminators out of there that you can. Up here, is the factory the work camp supplies with parts. Destroy it, then move west and south to get behind the line where General Reese is attacking. Hit the work camp first, then the factory, then when you're ready to assist General Reese, radio him to let him know. Whatever Sky Net forces are there, hit them from the front and back together, and watch your flanks."
John then said, "Timing again, will be vital. General Reese goes first, hitting the Sky Net line and dropping artillery shells into the Sky Net units behind the lines. Bedell will begin pounding Huston, and any other concentration of Sky Net forces he can find. Once we get a Sky Net response and they attack, Colonel Gentry goes to work. Sky Net is sure to have wised up some from our last battles. Keep a close watch out and look at their tactics. Adjust your fire and positions as you see fit. Reese and Bedell's job is to lure Sky Net into fighting, not hold ground. If Sky Net gains ground, we'll deal with that later. Supplies will be carried by the personnel carriers and sleds. Any questions?"
"When do we start?" Derek asked.
"Just as soon as everyone is ready to go. Right now, I'd say we have two more days for everyone to be in position," John told him. "Cameron has copies of the attack plans, she will pass them out to everyone. Do. NOT. Let these plans fall into Sky Net's hands. Dismissed."
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The Fayetteville mining was going well, they had gotten to the first level and found the trapped terminator. Another terminator pulled his chip and dragged him out from under the rock, leaving his legs behind. At Jacksonville, Gentry's army was inside, waiting to move. Derek already had his initial targets marked and a bead on the picket terminators.
Bedell got his troops into position in Texas, and Corpus Christi was being scouted out for a Sky Net presence. Seeing all was ready, John sent messengers to set the start time, and synchronize with a time standard. The word that would be broadcast to start was 'Blitzkrieg'.
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When the locator beacon stopped transmitting. Sky Net Segment west - that used to be South, but now had command over the entire western front - knew where some human were, only eight miles from it's picket. It reasoned out not to attack, for hearing and seeing nothing of a large human force, it concluded it was a small pack of humans not worth going after and exposing where it's forces were. This time, it wanted to know where the humans were before it lost over half it's units.
On the quiet radio channel the humans used, it heard a single word. "Blitzkrieg".
Artillery shells began to fall on two of it's collection of units in the middle of the line. In front of those units, communications were lost on a five mile stretch of the picket line. Minutes later Dallas and Houston were both receiving artillery fire.
Using history, Sky Net knew what a blitzkrieg attack was. Two forces punch through a line to meet behind the lines then attack the enclosed forces to wipe them out. It had not known what a 'Panzer Vor' was, so it didn't recognize the maneuver right away. It had the words filed in memory, and would watch for further deception. It knew what Blitzkrieg was, and ordered it's units to counter. Moving the bombed on concentrations on the northern pincer, it would intercept the move to stop that pincer. In the south, it had it's units move from the city areas and meet the southern pincer.
The northern forces met the humans just past the picket line, and drove them back. It was farther out in the south, but again, the humans fought then retreated. It had read what the humans were going to do and were driving the humans back. Loosing units to human weapons didn't matter, it was going to drive them together and crush them.
Sky Net west then got an unexpected message, the northern factory in Missouri was under heavy attack and reported it needed significant reinforcements to hold the attackers at bay. The work camp near there got off a partial message, of being assaulted, then the transmission stopped. The assault units in that area had gone out after the human's frontal attack, and were engaged.
How had the humans gotten behind the picket? Despite the northern human army was being pushed back, it had to save the factory. Every unit not in sight of a humans was ordered to the factory to repel the humans. It's units were spread out and responded slowly.
The blitzkrieg was a fake signal. Again the humans had struck and pulled back to draw it's forces away from the real targets. Sky Net Segment west determined that unless it could reduce the humans' numbers, they would continue to pull these maneuvers. It changed it's orders to the units to keep the attacking the human forces, and used only picket and other reserves to make it to the factory under siege.
It then got a message from that factory, "Defenses breached, factory no longer suitable.." and the message ended.
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Derek kept close track of the battle. Sky Net units came at him from the left and right. He kept artillery on them until the Stugs got up the middle, then ordered the artillery back two miles and set up again. The Stugs attacked the right hand Sky Net units, destroying H/K tanks at will. Anti aircraft missiles were taking out H/K's before they could do much, if any damage. Shifting his positions to the south, Derek concentrated on the right side attackers first. When they were mostly gone, except for maybe a hundred terminators, he pulled back again and shifted north to meet the left hand forces head on.
Pull back, bombard them with artillery, then send the stugs in while the artillery retreated, Derek kept Sky Net off his front line troops, and dragged them further west, fifteen miles back now from their starting point. He was loosing some units and men, but the farther Sky Net came on, their army was getting significantly smaller.
"General Reese, this is Colonel Gentry, where do you need us?" his radio announced.
"Gentry, This is Reese, Map coordinates Tango, Foxtrot, fifty, three. Follow the tracks, we're at the end, Sky net will be between us."
Gentry send 40 stugs , each with a pair of white terminators riding on the back, racing off to get behind the Sky Net forces attacking Reese. The slower artillery, survivors from the work camp, and disabled terminators, he sent back to Jacksonville. Setting explosive thermite and phosphorus charges at the factory and in the work camp, He retreated the rest of his men and vehicles.
The Stugs Gentry send doomed the remaining Sky Net forces attacking General Reese. Surrounded, the comms H/K tank reported their position and 'enemy on all sides' before an artillery shell landed and took it out. Being terminators, they fought to the very last one.
Now Derek had a big cleanup operation to perform.
.
Sky Net was forced to reconsider it's tactics. The northern attack force had been obliterated. Fearing the same would happen to the southern force, it recalled them. Of course they lost units to the fast little H/K's the humans had, but many did survive the retreat.
Communicating with the eastern Segment, Sky Net concluded that to attack the humans over ground was not an effective tactic. Attempting to send humans to go find John Connor and kill him had not been effective either. They needed a solid deterrent to keep the humans at bay until a solution could be found, and it had many more units to put into the battle.
Sky Net had no other significant resources west of the Mississippi river to guard. A wide river would keep the humans from slipping past a picket line, unseen. It was time to fall back and set up an impenetrable barrier until other Segments could be contacted and it's forces became much larger. Sky Net knew this fight was with it's arch enemy, John Connor. A human who seemed to read Sky Net's intentions and find ways to defeat it.
The true war was just beginning.
.
Now that John had stopped the Sky Net attempted attack and destroyed the factory west of the Mississippi, Catherine Weaver took her forces of terminators. TX's and Stugs through the southern hole in the Sky Net defenses and set up ambushes for any reinforcements Sky Net sent.
The surprise she got was not reinforcements, but lines of retreating Sky Net units. She blew a bridge they needed to cross and attacked from both sides. The Sky Net units were taken unawares, and lost 400 terminators and ten H/K tanks before they even fired back.
Concentrating on the units that were trying to get to the bridge that was no long there, her terminators and TX's, along with some Stugs to run in for 'fast strike' attacks against the rear, her units chewed up the Sky Net units.
The rocket rounds from the plasma rifles did devastating damage, as did the dual arm plasma rifles from the TX's. While her terminators used cover and 'pop up' tactics, the Sky Net terminators walked straight into the withering fire and were put down in droves.
The last southern defenses Sky Net had were obliterated.
.
Sky Net West had made it across the Mississippi to set up it's defenses with only a quarter of it's units left. This human attack had been devastating. East Sky Net sent the few units it was able to, and pressed it's remaining factories for more production. It was also still fighting humans in and around New York, Atlanta and Pittsburg, and spattering of Humans all over the east coast. In the high mountainous areas, humans were like fleas, it could not seem to kill them all. It tried again to contact the eastern European Segment. Again, there was no answer.
.
Corpus Christi was a gold mine for the resistance. General Bedell found that while it had been bombed, it had been only one, and the TX's with their fleet of small ships and one submarine were found and came up to port at the city. The air group at Corpus Christi had no planes flyable, but many had survived, as did some of the airmen there.
The big prize in Corpus Christi were a WW2 submarine, a destroyer, both on land and blown over by the bomb, and the aircraft carrier, USS Lexington. None of these ships were battle-ready, they were museum pieces. When John learned about these ships, he ordered them restored if at all possible and with modern weaponry.
Catherine Weaver was already working on restoring several ships, including two aircraft carriers. She also had five ships out now, patrolling the coast. The resistance had a navy. It was made of bits and pieces, but so had the army when John started out.
One of Catherine's ships had gone out far enough to pick up Sky Net satellite comms. It received a report from India. The transmitters and receivers were working again, and it down loaded it's data to Sky Net. Coming back into port, John Henry deciphered the report. One of the reports of Sky Net -India segment was the sinking of a submarine that had caused the communications blackout. He sent this report straight to John Connor.
.
John went to visit his mother, Marisa going with him, as Cameron went to find Claire, Maria accompanying her. She found her parents at home. Knocking on the door, Cameron saw Claire open up.
"Cameron!" Claire cried happily and hugged her. "Come on in, what have you been doing all this time?" Claire asked dragging Cameron inside.
Cameron cast her a brief smile, Seeing Maria followed her in, Cameron told her, "Maria, wait outside please, and shut the door."
Seeing the look on Cameron's face, Claire sat her down at the table, clasped her hands and asked, "What happened?"
Cameron looked down. "I did my best to ensure … she was safe," she said in a wavering tone. "Cindy was the medic on the Alaska, no where near any Sky Net forces…"
"Oh god," Claire whispered as she stared at Cameron.
A tear dripped down Cameron's face. She offered, "I'm so sorry, Mom, the Alaska went down in the south Indian ocean. We just found out. There were no survivors."
Claire was upset, and saw Cameron was also, She moved over and pulled Cameron into a hug. Claire cried, that got Cameron to cry as well.
"I'm so sorry," Cameron said in a choke.
"Me too, hon," Claire replied and petted Cameron's hair. "Cindy felt she had to do her part. Was she happy?"
"I know she had friends, and felt she was making a difference," Cameron told her. "The last time I saw her, she told me she was doing what she had to do, and asked me to accept it. I should have brought her home!"
"No, dear," Claire told her. "You did what was right, you respected her wishes. You didn't know that sub was going to sink. Just like Cindy, you do your best. What you have to do. Be sad she's gone, but do not blame yourself."
Weakly, Cameron said, "John tells me that too … but is doesn't help. I failed Cindy and you."
Speaking firmer, Claire said, "That is wrong. No one failed Cindy. Cameron this is war, people, many people died and are going to die. You can't stop that. You have never failed me either. You have not failed anyone."
From outside, they herd Daniel yell, "What do you mean I can't go in? This is MY friggin house!"
Cameron let out a snort and said, "I better go save Dad."