Days of Sky Net

by keithallen

sequel to the 'day' series. John Junior and his crew have gone home. Now, John Connor faces the coming of sky net, and the rush to prepare for it. Knowing when J-day will arrive and having the time and knowledge to prepare for it, John is in a better position than humanity originally was. But then again so is Sky Net. Forget the 'genre', as always, I'll go all over the place.

20. Chapter 20

Ch 20

Captain Barret and his sub wasn't just welcomed at the docks of Corpus Christi, they were cheered. Just beyond the line handlers that came out to help the Seawolf tie up, people came running clapping, cheering, thrusting fists into the air. A home made brow was put in place by a crane that has to shout to get people out of his way. Behind the crane, a box truck with a red medical X on it a white circle waited, with another truck behind it.

A colonel came, yelling, "PEOPLE! WE HAVE WORK TO DO SO BACK OFF!"

The crowd parted and let the crane put the brow in place, then moved off to let the trucks in. The Colonel called up, "Captain! We have food and anti-radiation medicine. Do you have any crewmen who can't make it topside?"

"We have seven bed ridden men." Captain Barret called back.

"With your permission, I'll send Tina over to give them meds," the Colonel replied. "All the rest of your men, have them come to the medic truck to be treated, the next one is the food and water truck."

"Send her over. How did you find medicine that will cure radiation sickness?"

"General Cameron Connor developed it. As long as they haven't died, or very close to it, it will restore people to health. It's a new medicine called nanite, delivered in milk," the Colonel explained.

With the ship tied up, the in port watch was set. After the ship's weapons officer escorted Tina, a busty blonde, down into the sub with a small box on a strap slung over her shoulder. The crew formed a line to visit the meds truck first, then the food truck to get a fresh meal.

.

Curious about this nanite milk, Barret went below with their corpsman to find Tina and the XO headed for the corpsman's shack.

"In here, Ma'am," The corpsman said, leading the way.

In the small space, a thin man laid on the corpsman's counter. His hair was falling out and he looked pale. "Hello," Tina greeted with a bright smile.

The man on the counter covered in a blanket grinned. "Did I die, are you an angel?" he asked weakly seeing a gorgeous blue-eyed blond smiling at him.

"No. I've seen worse," she assured him. She took a covered cup of milk out of the small box she was carrying and said, "I want you to drink this. Can you sit up?"

The man struggled to sit up, Tina put a hand behind his back and helped him. His hands were shaky, so Tina popped the cover off and put the cup to his lips. He drank the contents down. Once he was finished, she helped him lie back down.

"That was good," the man said weakly. "It tasted like milk."

"You have cows that aren't affected by the radiation?' Captain Barret asked.

Tina looked at him and said, "No, all the cattle are dead."

"Then where does that milk come from?" he asked.

"Me."

Barret and the XO stared at her. The man lying down grinned and said, "I can die happy now."

Tina smiled at him and said, "You will not die. In two to three days, you should be restored to full health."

The Corpsman spoke up. "Ahh, Ma'am, why put medicine in your own milk?"

Turning to him, she explained, "It is the most effective way to get my nanites into other people."

"This nanite drug is in you?" Captain Barret asked.

"Yes, and it is not a drug. They are micro machines that heal radiation as well as any other injuries. I am a TX female, so I can produce them and they go into in my milk. It is efficient and as long as I am producing milk, I can keep putting my nanites in it," she explained.

"All TX females can do this?" the XO asked.

"Yes. Cameron was the initial one who developed this procedure. Now, we all can do it. We have hundreds of thousands of people to cure. Unless Sky Net attacks us, that is our main job, to do our best to make as many people as possible resistant to radiation," she told him. May I see the other men who need doses?"

The XO coughed and said, "This way, please."

The man on the counter grinned and asked, "Doc? Think I might need another dose?"

"Behave yourself," he grumbled.

.

Tina gave the men lying in their bunks doses. Just seeing her brightened them up immediately. One asked when he was better, if he could have a date.

"Only after you recover," she told him, which made him try to get up right then.

Tina gently pushed him back in place and told him, "In two days, all right?"

"OK!"

Heading back up, Captain Barret asked, "So, Tina, all the cups of milk for my crew comes from you?"

"No, Kathy and Mindy also milk themselves. They are out on the medic truck."

"Does a woman have to be …. special somehow to produce these nanites?" he asked, thinking they had to have a certain genetic ability, hence the 'TX' designation.

"Yes, they have to be Terminators," she replied.

"What do you mean, by terminators?" he asked suddenly becoming wary.

"Metal skeleton with biologic exteriors. I'm one of the new ones with a Coltan endoskeleton and interior armor. I was build for fighting Sky Net's terminators, but Cameron showed us how we can heal people as well," Tina explained.

"You were built?" Barret asked in surprise.

"Yes, in the LA factory. I went to school there too," Tina said brightly. "Corpus Christi here is my first assignment. Besides distributing my nanites, I am working on weapons development and rebuilding the Lexington."

Getting to the hatch, Barret asked, "You're talking about the old aircraft carrier? THAT Lexington?"

"Yes, we are badly in need of ships," she replied, then climbed up the ladder to go topside.

Clambering up the ladder behind her, Barret got beside her as they walked for the brow. "How many of there of you?"

Tina said, "As of the time I came here, there were 792 female, and 1356 male TX's. I've been here for 4 months, 26 days. By the rate of construction, I calculate there are 917 females total by now, and 1797 males. That is, unless production has increased, which it possibly has."

"You are all machines," he stated.

"Technically we are all cyborgs." she said, correcting him. "A mix of mechanics and biologics."

Captain Barret walked beside her off the ship, amazed that something like this was even possible.

Coming to the medic truck, Tina pointed and said, "Captain, you need your dose also, and don't forge to eat something.

Captain Barret noted a red head and a dark haired woman passing out their cups of milk to his crew. Both were stunning to look at, as was Tina. Tina joined them in passing out the nanite milk. It seemed much had happened since they had gone out on patrol.

.

Captain Dave was motoring along the Virginia coast with the land just out of sight. The sonar picked up engine noise, he also spotted the ship coming from land. Quick figuring told him it would pass ahead of them 1200 yards away. He slowed and turned into it. "Visual and sonar contact, range, 3400 yards … speed, 12 knots."

From below in the torpedo area the tech Bob said, "Tracking. We have a solution if you want to shoot."

Dave zoomed in with maximum magnification. As the ship closed, he said, "It's a warship … no visible crew … there's a H.K on the helicopter deck. Fire one."

"One fired. "

Not sure if that would sink the ship, Dave announced, "Fire two."

"Two fired."

"Diving to one hundred feet," Dave then announced.

They watched on the sonar scan as their torpedoes raced to the target.

.

Sky Net east determined the safest place if could be was just outside of visual range of the land, but still in radio contact with it's forces. Terminators threw the remains of the dead crewmen overboard and made sure the ship worked. Once the ship's servers were ready to receive the digital radio signal, Sky Net East downloaded a copy of itself onto the ship. Now ocean Sky Net got an H/K on the back in case it ran into another ship. The guns on this ship worked as did the sensors. It also had surface to air missiles. Leaving the port, it noticed many small contacts, partially sunken vessels. It steered around these and headed for open ocean to try to contact Sky Net Europe.

The first few miles out, it left most of the debris behind. It then picked up a loud sonar contact that was pinging sonar fast itself. It was a torpedo, only 2000 yards away, and coming fast.

Sky Net Ocean found no surface contacts, and now there were two torpedoes coming at it. It sent it's data back to Sky Net East as the torpedoes closed. It pinged and found three contacts under water. None large enough to be a submarine. It had no defense, so it powered up the H/K that had only it's plasma canon. The H/K lifted off the deck.

The first torpedo hit, lifting the back of the ship high in the air. The H/K was hit by the ship rising up and tumbled to splash down in the water. When the ship slammed back down, normal power went out. Emergency power, a diesel came on. The second torpedo went for the diesel noise mid-ships and exploded, lifting the whole ship up. The ship came back down as the water came back into the hole in the ocean the torpedo had made. The second slam shook the ship and it broke in half. The terminators had opened doors, searching for dead humans, but had not shut them. Power died. Sky Net Ocean had emergency battery power as the ship halves tipped and settled down in the water. There was not enough power to transmit.

Sky Net ocean survived long enough to watch the ship's deck settle down even with the ocean, then water came into the server room and shorted it out. The stricken H/K also filled with water and sank along with the ship.

Sky Net East had gotten the transmitted data until it stopped mid' report about the first torpedo hitting the ship and the second one closing fast. It determined that somehow, humans knew what it was here, and were waiting for the ship to exit the harbor. An escape by ship was not going to work, and the probing human forces were closing in.

Desperate to not be caught here by humans and destroyed, it transferred to an H/K tank and drove north. It ceased transmitting to it's units to minimize the chance of humans tracking it down again.

.

Dave discovered that his little sub did not take the underwater explosions well. Goldfish didn't buckle, but the shaking did dislodge some equipment and caused a few leaks. He drove back to the surface and headed south as fast as the little sub could go. They had more work to do before he torpedoed anything else.

.

John found after his single blissful day of honeymoon with Cameron, there were many messages waiting for him at Delta Base.

Mrs. Weaver had interrogated the living assassin, Edgar, and learned in the North of Mexico was a base of Grays and terminators trying to get information on the resistance. She had contacted General Perry to send a force to deal with them.

In Texas, the Onyx was ready to go to sea with a full load of torpedoes and an extra 20 terminators for boarding actions and was heading out for the African coast to 'capture or sink' any Sky Net freighters they found. The Seawolf was also ready to go back to sea, and was waiting for a mission.. The Goldfish was already on the east coast, also searching for Sky Net units on the water. General Bedell also had troops in Georgia and was heading for South Carolina.

Derek's forces were in western Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, finding many small pockets of humans who were surviving in caves. The main supplies he needed were food, water and TX females to provide more nanites. He also reported that as Sky Net activity over the air had stopped. In Pennsylvania and New York, survivors were also all what General Gentry was finding. Gardens were growing in their underground facilities. The large salt mines in Detroit were being set up for another factory as well as having a three square mile vegetable farm, and were making a smaller farm for any animals that could be scrounged up. Gentry needed lights and generators.

Catherine Weaver had 7 rebuilt ships on the water and a submarine. She also made the first landing ship that was armed, in expectation of beach landings that were sure to come. An oil tanker was floating down the coast was also found intact, and was being towed into San Francisco bay to be cleaned up and gotten ready for service.

At the Groom Lake facility/ factory and caves, Colonel Albert now had 11 prop driven 'A-10' type ground attack aircraft tested and flyable. Each carried a 20 MM chain gun and six air to ground missiles. Going for the faster and easier to make propeller drives, he sent that he could produce hundreds of theses 'pusher prop' planes to give the resistance an air force so they had something to put up in the sky during battles.

John had to wonder why they were making so much progress with basically zero interference from Sky Net. Sky Net units fought when they were found, but very few now were being found. He was sure Sky Net was up to something. Perhaps a surprise attack when it was ready? That didn't make sense, because it's radio towers were being tuned for resistance radio traffic and guarded as they were found. He did authorize making the propeller planes and sent the Sea Wolf to Gibraltar to find out of the Brits still had it, or if it was under Sky Net control. They were also to capture or sink any Sky Net shipping as long as it did not endanger the Gibraltar mission.

Due to his forces being so spread out, John and Cameron, along with Maria and Marisa as their personal guards, and now a staff of 15 officers, returned to the Cheyenne complex to watch over everything from there. On the way, they joined the train of personnel carriers and new Stugs hauling people, terminators, and supplies. Unlike the previous trips John had taken, this line of vehicles was three miles long. The 'road' was packed down snow with wide lanes. They also passed a long line of personnel carries headed west.

Taking a nap as the long line of vehicles traveled on, John had a dream.

Standing before a terminator, John hit it hard, rocking it back. He punched it again, the terminator stumbled and backed up. John tried again to hit it, and it dodged his punch. John kept swinging. The terminator ducked and weaved, avoiding his blows. It's hands tightened into fists. It watched him closely as it ducked and weaved, waiting for it's chance to deliver a devastating blow of it's own.

John snapped awake. His head was on Cameron's shoulder. There was no terminator to swing at.

"John?" Cameron asked. "You had a nightmare?"

John sat up and cast his love a weak smile, "Not exactly. Maybe more of a warning, I think. Derek reported Sky Net is retreating. I can't believe it would do that unless it has some plan to strike back hard at us. We are spread out pretty thin. I guess I'm concerned about a hard counter strike."

"You should be," Cameron agreed. "From all the data I have collected, the Sky Net here did not have sufficient forces. We took it by surprise. The other Sky Net segments have had better communications and now have had time to get stronger. The other Sky Net duplicates will soon know we are here and it is very possible they are strong enough to resist us. We must plan well and expect to encounter them."

"Yeah," John said heavily. "We need to develop a good defenses. I'm hoping we can do that at the shore lines." Even as he said that, he began to think about the Normandy landings in WW2. It wasn't the defenses right at the beaches that stopped or severely slowed down allied forces, it was the troops that came up after the landings that stopped the Allied push. He was sure he'd be facing something like that when Sky Net came for them.

He didn't know if the Sky Net here was destroyed. It was probably trying to contact it's counterparts for help. That made more sense. To do that, it had to get to a place where it could use satellite communications. That meant far north or far south, or maybe even heading out to sea. "We need to canvas Canada, specifically Nova Scotia and Greenland. Alaska too, and Mexico," he said absently.

.

The people Derek 's army were finding were eager to stomp out Sky Net's forces. Having most of their children die from radiation exposure, then women were just as hot for revenge as the men. He found they had collected a fairly impressive stash of a mix of weapons. Including Civil War canons. Although these things were archaic, they did still shoot. His techs found that with a sabot around the 160 MM missile/shells, these canons shot them just fine. Since the shells found their targets, all they needed was a tube to launch them in the right direction. The canons didn't need to be accurate.

In this area, and towards the coast, there were plenty of Civil War memorial sites to collect canons from. Derek now needed more 160 MM shells to feed the old canons being towed by their vehicles.

After being treated with anti-radiation milk, the thousands of survivors Derek was collecting joined his army, swelling his ranks. Moving into southern Pennsylvania, Derek's troops met Gentry's troops. The drive east became more solidified.

.

The leaks on Goldfish were becoming worse, Dave had a hard time just staying on the surface. Plugging a leak on a weld seam, his crew found that the plug split the weld farther open. Dave turned for the shoreline to beach his ship before it sank. Although they could just get out and walk to the shore in the shallow water, he didn't want to waste the torpedoes or equipment they had.

Driving at the beach as fast as the little sub could go, Dave drove past a sand dune island and up onto the shore of what looked like mainland. Goldfish grounded six yards from shore in seven feet of water. Getting out, Dave had his crew get out. Two of them in the front, and two in the back , they lifted their boat. This caused their feet to sink into the bottom.

Pull their feet out, pick up Goldfish and shift it ahead a few feet, then pull their own feet out of the bottom and do it again. Doing this, they got Goldfish up to expose most of the hull. After sinking to their knees. Dave decided this was good enough for now. He led his crew up out of the water to go explore and see if they could find something to help them beach Goldfish so they could repair it.

Walking up the sand dunes, Dave hear a familiar engine noise. He got atop a sand dune and saw a Stug. He waved to it. The commander came out of his hatch and waved back, moving his Stug towards Dave. They now had help.

.

General Perry looked for an experienced officer to lead a force south into Mexico to get rid of the Grays there. The best one he had was Colonel Jesse Flores. He had her place her second in command of the north section and come down to his Palmdale office to take command of another group.

Arriving, Jesse was shown what she was taking to go flush out some Grays who also had terminators with them. Besides the 50 Stugs, 10 personnel transports, 500 men and 40 TX's, she was also given 5 propeller planes that were armed with chain guns and missiles.

"This is the location that the Gray base is located at," General Perry said, showing her on a map. "PLan on them being armed and hostile. Most likely they with have scouts or sensors set up around their base. The planes you have only need a flat runway of 200 yards. Two Stugs have bulldozer blades on them to make a runway if you need to. You only have one tanker of gas for your planes, so use them wisely."

"Got it, General. We'll destroy that place," Jesse assured him.

Jesse met her troops, and wasn't happy TX's were there. Especially the five women. She snorted in disgust that all five bore three breasts. Maybe it was a way to identify them as machines. The plane she had were pusher prop planes. For being prop-jobs, they did have their guns in the nose, and missile pylons. A modified Stug held the missiles, and the tanker truck was with her troops.

Jesse moved out, having Stug scouts lead the way, the bulldozer Stugs leading the column. On many of the Stugs, TX's sat on top. The planes she had were towed behind the Stugs not already towing supply wagons.

One thing that did please Jesse was that the snow here was melting and it wasn't bone-chilling cold. The clouds overhead were thinner, letting more sunlight through.

The border towns in Mexico were already covered by Perry's men. Her force passed over the defense ditches and into Mexico.

The column went for two days without any sign of opposition. Day three, radio chatter was heard, someone reported seeing them. Three Stugs raced out to find a pair of men with a radio. Jesse had them interrogated for information. Once she got all she could from them, the location of their base and the fact the Grays knew she was coming, she shot them. This brought questioning looks from her men and TX's.

Day four, she closed on the Gray base. She sent scouts out near the base, Stugs with TX's on them, and had a runway flattened for her planes. While the planes were being armed and readied to fly, one of her Stugs reported in.

"Colonel, this is Banshee. The base looks inactive, but our TX says the place is loaded with land mines. The base itself is a hundred yards to a side, ten buildings, a perimeter wall eight feet high, and a barbed wire ring around it. At the base of the wall, explosives are set up. It's going to cost us to get in there."

Jesse replied, "Understood. Your TX, can he destroy the mines?"

"Yes, Colonel, she can. By the arrangement of the buildings, and the slit windows, we think those buildings have gun emplacements within."

Jesse planned her attack. After all her Stugs were ringing the fort and her men in place, she'd have them start shooting. Men covering the windows of the fort, the TX's blowing up the mines. The her planes would dive in and take out two buildings. Once they had a path in, she'd send the Stugs and infantry in to clean that place out.

.

Hector Rodriguez climbed into his plane and started it up. Third in the take-off line, he watched the lead pilot take off, then the one in front of him. He powered up to full power, maximum prop angle and ran down the short runway. Pulling up, he lifted up and joined them in a circling pattern, staying low. Once all five were in the air, they flew off to do their attack run.

Passing over the command post, they rose to 5000 feet and saw the smoke ad dust from the battle. In his radio, the lead pilot said, "All right boys, we hit the north end, concentrate our fire on the two buildings dead ahead of us. Make your attack run, then get out of the way for the next guy."

Hector watched the lead begin his dive. The second dove after him. Hector nosed down and followed. Each one did as trained. A burst of 20 MM to be sure they were on target, then shoot off two missiles and climb away. Focusing on the clouded up place where the buildings should be, Hector picked the one still visible to his left. He shot a burst that hit the walls, He released two missiles and pulled up and away. Banking left in a turn, he noticed something beyond the Stugs.

"Flight, this is Hector, we got what looks like H/K's and terminators coming from the east. A whole mess of them!"

A plasma shot then raced by right in front of him. "And they are shooting at me!" he cried and rolled over into a dive, jogging up and down randomly.

"Hector, how many?"

"I don't know! I saw five H/K's and … a bunch of terminators!" he cried. Above him another plasma round flew past. If he hadn't jogged down, it would have gotten him. He dove to twenty feet off the ground and was ground hugging low as he flew for the base.

"Flight, this is Lucas, we got H/K's and terminators from the west! A whole big…."

Off in the distance, Hector saw a fireball in the air. "We're bracketed!" he announced.

.

"It's a trap," Jesse realized aloud. She quickly called off the attack on the base and had her units move north to form a defensive line.

The good things about the Stugs were that they were fast. Picking up all the troops they could to ride on the top, they raced back to small ridges around the command post. Men in desert brown rose up out of the sand to attack them. The Stug guns and the men on top cut them down as they went past. One wounded man was ran over, ending his scream of pain.

Jesse noted the plasma rounds streaking by over her head. On the radio another frantic call came in.

"This is Flight! We got terminators coming from the north! Two dozen spotted so far. It is not safe to land! All planes, after your ammo is gone, head west for the beaches!"

"No can do, Flight. This is Hector, there's a long line of terminators coming from the west. The only out I saw is to the northeast."

"This is Squad three, We're shooting them down, we lost two of our TX's and a Stug lost it's canon. More H/K's are coming. Can anyone reinforce us?"

"Squad two here, we're going to have to back up soon unless help comes."

Flight here, we got all but six terminators, they are on the runway, we only got one Stug left. Can anyone shoot those things?"

Shit, she was surrounded! Jesse called on the radio, "Shrink the perimeter, move to the north."

"The tanker just blew up. Thanks for the strafing run Hector! You got three AND the tanker!"

"Squad Six here, we're clear in front, requesting to break out and run behind the attackers."

"Colonel Flores here, Squad Six, help Squad three and Nine."

"Will do, we're leaving the infantry here."

.

Hector banked around and said, "Sorry about the tanker." He flew back down on the three remaining terminators that were shooting and blew up their missile carrying Stug. He shot a burst and got one, then another. He again pulled up and banked away. Another plane came in and got the last one.

"Flight, we got them!" Jerry called.

Hector was glad they had, but now, they had no fuel, and the only missiles available were on their wings. Another radio called.

"Fly boys, this is Squad Six. Come around and help us get these bastards from behind! H/K's first, then work at the little metal, and don't shoot our own troops!"

.

"Squad Six, where are you?" Jesse asked.

"Right now, running up an H/K's ass. Kill it and use it for cover."

"You were told to assist other squads!" Jesse growled in anger.

"We are! We're taking out terminators and H/K's from behind!"

"That's how we do it," another man said. "They don't turn around unless you don't take them out first shot."

"Squad five here, we're clear, heading out to blast these fuckers from behind."

Jesse was about to yell at them for disobeying orders. The Lt. beside her reached over and pushed her mike down. "Let them fight, they know what they're doing," he said.

Jesse glared at him. She didn't transmit though, not when those Stug commanders were giving them a chance to win this disaster.

.

Once the H/K's were destroyed the Stugs were everywhere shooting and running down terminators. There were no lines of battle left, it was a massive free-for-all. The sun was setting by the time all the terminators were destroyed.

So were Jesse's forces. She had two planes left, 14 Stugs and three transports had been destroyed, the TX's and 430 men were dead. The tanker and the ammo for the planes had been blown up. Even with her greatly diminished numbers, Jesse still insisted they go back to the fort and see what was there.

A pair of Stugs and ten men went into the blown open fort. The place was empty. One man opened a door and the building blew up. The Stug crews brought the wounded up onto their tops and drove out. Jesse had the Stugs hit the rest of the buildings to blow them up before them left.

Jesse headed back north with what she had left, dragging the knocked out Stugs piled with terminators bodies. She wasn't happy the TX's that had gotten it were brought back also. Then again it was material to make new ones.

.

Upon returning into resistance controlled California, Jesse made her report to General Perry. Perry took her report and that of her Lt. He then contacted General Connor to tell him what happened.

John decided that never again, would Jesse Flores take units into battle. Even though Flores knew the Grays were aware she was coming, she had gone straight to the Gray base and fell into a trap. He needed someone else who had a clue what they were doing to take men into battle. .

.

Derek thought had seen the sexiest Laura could be. After his day of monitoring the new recruits training near a town that had somehow survived Sky Net, then studying the progress of his forward scouts that were in the Shenandoah valley in Virginia, the remains of Sharpsburg in Maryland and closing on Gettysburg in PA, he was tired and ready to call it a day. His headquarters were in the town hall that was recently decontaminated, and the old Mayor's office was now his bedroom.

Derek opened his door to see Laura in a frilled out robe that only went to her mid thighs. The thin black robe that looked like silk was lined with a pink trimming, the wide belly belt was also pink edged black cloth that bore pink flowers, tied in the back in a big, loose bow tie. Her hands stuck out of the long, wide bell shaped sleeves, again with a ring of pink at the ends and her legs were wrapped in black fishnet stockings, her feet were in paten leather high heeled pumps.

She cast him a smile over her shoulder. "Welcome back, Derek," she said in a sexy tone.

"Holy mother of God," Derek whispered, taking the sight of her in. When she turned to him, he saw the robe was open up enough at the top that he saw most of her middle breast, and a nice show of both cleavages.

"You like this?" she asked, raising her arms. "It's a nightgown version of a Kimono," she explained. "I found it in a sealed package when we were in a sleepwear store. I decontaminated it to be sure it was safe to wear."

"It's fantastic … very sexy," he said, panning her with his eyes.

"Oh good!" Laura beamed. "I knew you'd be tired, so I wanted something to perk you up."

"I'm perked," he admitted. Upon seeing her, he'd forgotten all about being tired. He'd gone from exhausted to horny in the space of 2 seconds.

Coming over to him with a sway in her hips, Laura unbuttoned his jacket. "Let's get you out of this uniform," she said, grinning broadly at him.

"Yes, let's," Derek eagerly agreed.

Halfway through getting him stripped down, Derek got to open her robe, which required untying the belly belt with a hug and a few long kisses. He found Laura had no bra, but again, black panties trimmed in pink.

Pausing long enough to finish getting undressed, Derek was very eager to get back to kissing and petting. Laura stroked his very hard member and shyly asked, "Oh, is this for me?"

"All yours, baby."

"Oh good," she beamed.

Laura didn't even have a chance to take her shoes off or the robe when she hit the bed, kissing and stroking her lover.

Yes, Derek really liked this kimono-robe.

.

Back to work, John and Cameron updated the map of where his troops were and the new developments. Goldfish had torpedoed a ship Sky Net had commandeered, but was found beached in Georgia with leaks from being too close to the detonations. Jesse Flores had gotten to the Gray base and destroyed it, but had also lost more men and machines than any other battle this size. The Onyx was on it's way back to Africa to get or sink more shiploads of coltan, and the Seawolf was headed for Gibraltar. General Bedell had made the east coast. Derek was slowed due to picking up 5, 230 more survivors so far who'd joined his army, and was collecting Civil War canons that could shoot out the 160 MM missile rounds. General Gentry was in New York state, finding few survivors, but plenty of materials. He found a place east of Rochester where a big battle had taken place. Ruined H/K's, H/K tanks, M1 tanks and many other vehicles were buried in the snow, but recoverable. Gentry reported they had found hundreds of tanks alone. Sky Net had not defeated the army easily. Another battle had taken place along the NY, PA line, again the field of ruined military vehicles included quite a few H/K tanks.

"That must be why Sky Net was so weak by the time it got to us," John said in a musing tone.

"Yes, and with our successes, Sky Net is fleeing to contact another part of itself," Cameron agreed. "I believe it is going north."

Looking at his situation map, John frowned and said, "We're spreading ourselves thin, but at the moment we need to. If Sky Net is trying to get to eastern Canada, we need to block every bridge across the Saint Lawrence and every border crossing. Send a message out to General Bedell, closing off Sky Net's escape."

"John, that will not be practical," Cameron stated. "The Sky Net units our forces are running into are stationary. If Sky Net is fleeing, it will be moving. If General Gentry makes some landing strips, we can send planes to search for any Sky Net units on the move. We should have more planes on the front anyway."

John hugged Cameron and gave her a kiss. "Good thinking, hon, send the message and have Gentry get ready for some planes up in New York. Then send Derek a message, we need a good Colonel to head the army we're sending into Mexico. I'm thinking Colonel Jacobson deserves a promotion, if Derek can spare him."

"Yes John."

Checking the more mundane items, John found the flow of food from his three biggest producers was moving smoothly. Having more area with no Sky Net interference, more railroad tracks were being uncovered and put into use. Having planes now as well, he ordered airports found and plowed out.

After a meeting with his staff, John was feeling good about how well the resistance was doing. Even then, he still had that image in the back of his head of the terminator ducking blows and waiting for the moment to strike it's own knockout punch.

.

Making the coast of Africa, Captain Barret had his ship in high alert. Passive sonar only and cruising at 150 feet so he was shallow enough to go to periscope depth and pop the ESM mast up to listen for analog and digital traffic as well as any radar that might be around. After a five minute listen, he dove back to 150 and continued on.

On the conn as they gave their last listen, sonar reported, "Contact, merchant ship at 021, speed 8 knots, drawing left. Distance, 110 miles."

"Distance to Gibraltar?" Barret asked.

"185 miles, Sir," the navigation station replied.

"Officer of the deck, go deep and chase down that ship." Barret ordered.

"Yes, Captain. Dive, make your depth 800 feet, Helm ahead full." The Officer of the Deck ordered.

Barret went over and looked at the charts. By chart, he was sure that they could catch that merchant before it got to the straits.

"Update on contact Sierra one, Speed and course steady, distance calculated at 87 miles."

Captain Barret watched the chase on the navigation map. They were closing fast on the merchant. By the information they had, they would catch up to it a few miles before it made the straights of Gibraltar. It was going to be close. When they were within 30 miles of it, he ordered an intercept course. Ten miles away, he ordered the ship slowed and a maneuver to verify the contact's position. 6 miles away, he ordered periscope depth and the attack scope raised.

Coming shallow, Captain Barret looked through the attack scope as it broke the surface. The contact was right where navigation and sonar put it. Zooming in, he said, "1000 ton freighter, distance 5.6 nautical miles. Bearing … mark!"

"010"

"Captain, fire control has a firing solution."

"Battle stations. Ready tubes one and two," Barret ordered. He then noted objects on the freighter's deck. "It looks like they are carrying two vertical takeoff aircraft. Ready the anti-aircraft missiles for launch."

"Captian, torpedo tubes one and two ready."

"Open outer doors."

"VLS anti-aircraft missiles ready, Captain."

"Launch tube one." Barret commanded.

"Tube one away."

Barret kept an eye on the fliers as he said, "Launch tube two. Slow to one third."

"Tube two away … First torpedo acquired target. Time to impact 24 seconds."

24 seconds later, water blew up in the air at the back of the freighter. The aircraft stayed in place.

"Torpedo two acquired target."

Barret saw one of the aircraft lift up. "Fire one AA missile, bearing zero zero five."

"Missile away."

The second torpedo hit just aft of mid ships on the freighter. The other aircraft lifted up as the missile streaked in to hit the first aircraft. It dropped down missing the freighter's deck to splash down in the ocean.

"Fire second AA missile, bearing zero zero five," Barret ordered.

"Missile away."

This aircraft shot up into the air. The missile followed it and exploded. The aircraft poured out smoke and wobbled down to hit the ocean. Barret watched as the freighter listed to port and tipped down by the stern. He lowered the periscope. He told the Officer of the Deck, "Run parallel with that freighter, ahead slow. Make sure we got it."

"Sonar contact Sierra one is making banging noises. It sound like freight moving. I can hear rushing water from it … a bulkhead just failed."

"Periscope depth," Barret said and went over to rise the observation scope.

It didn't take long to find the stricken ship. The bow was out of the water and tipped to port. It tipped up farther and the ship settled down into the sea. "Mark position, freighter sunk. Officer of the Deck, resume course, depth 150, ahead two thirds." Barret said. He lowered the periscope.

.

Coming to the straights, Captain Barret ordered ahead slow and silent running. Being fairly shallow and only 8 miles wide, the Straights of Gibraltar was a dangerous place for any submarine. They crept through at 200 feet, the lowest they could safely get through.

Watching the navigation map closely, Barret had them turn into the port of Gibraltar and come up to periscope depth. He ordered all stop. "Watch and listen closely boys," he announced and raised the observation scope. The OOD was on the attack scope.

They were just outside the harbor. Looking into the harbor, he saw a few ships floating, some were sunk at dock, others only the tops showed. "This place got hit," he noted as he increased the magnification and searched the land for any movement. ""Officer of the deck, come to 70 feet, ahead slow."

"Why 70 feet sir?" the OOD asked.

"The harbor is only 80 feet deep. We don't want to scrub along the bottom. After we are in the harbor, we'll surface. Get the TX and terminators read to depart."

Being popular with the crew, Tina had come along as a medic. Captain Barret saw this as a mixed blessing. She did raise morale, but then again, the poor woman didn't have a moment to herself. Everyone on the boat who wasn't on watch, wanted to talk to her and gaze at her lustfully.

The OOD and Barret studied the land and sky as the Seawolf entered the harbor. Barret had the ship surfaced and slid up along side a British cruiser tied to a pier. From the bridge, with two lookouts on the top of the sail, Barret had Tina and the terminators help get lines over to the cruiser to hold them in place. Tina threw a grapple over to catch the railing, then climbed up the rope. Once on deck, she caught the lines the terminators threw to her. Now tied up, all but four terminators climbed up the lines. The four stayed back to help guard the Seawolf.

The terminators stepped inside an open door and cam back out.

Tina keyed her radio. "Captain, The men here are dead, at least three months."

Barret replied, "I don't expect anyone alive outside the caverns. Make quick checks as you go but I need you to look inside the mountain. The British have made Swiss cheese of that place. Find a way in. If there are survivors, they will be in there."

"Right, Captain. On our way," Tina replied. She and her terminators walked around to the other side of the ship and down onto the dock. Barret saw her striding along the pier with her terminators following her, studying the buildings as they passed.

.

Tina had no idea where entrances to these tunnel systems might be. She decided to go uphill and spread the terminators out to search for an entrance. Walking up a street in the town, Tina saw a gated opening. It was locked. She broke the lock and stepped in, telling the terminators to stay outside for the moment. After the short entrance tunnel, the tunnel turned. She walked around the corner to have a dozen bright lights flash into being in her. Adjusting her vision to block the light as she threw up her hands in the air, she saw the way blocked by four armored vehicles, and many guns pointed at her.

"Don't shoot!" she cried.