Ch 25
Upon return to Cheyenne Mountain, John talked to his staff to find out what was happening in his absence. Cameron checked the pile of mail sitting in John's 'In' box. Normally, there was a few official pieces of correspondence having to do with troop movements, recruiting, and manufacturing numbers. The pile today was over flowing. quick scan showed 57 letters for John. Looking at the tops, man were from individuals. She picked the one off the top and read it.
General John Connor,
I am Captain Grace Brewer of support unit 37 under General Perry. I am a healthy human woman and I understand that to survive in the long run, we need to start having children. It is well known that Mrs. Connor, General Cameron, is a terminator and incapable of such. I know she is a great help to you and I am sure she is a fine companion, but she cannot become pregnant. I wish no ill will towards her, but to set the example you do need to claim fatherhood of a child. I would be more than honored...
Cameron stopped reading, balled that letter up and threw it away. She picked up the next one. After reading again from Jackie Sullivan how 'his terminator' could not have children and offered to be his child's mother, she balled that one up and threw it away.
Jessica Tanner said the same thing, so did Alice Hawthorn, Betty Parker, Sally Yates, Ginger Bowman and most every other letter in the pile. Cameron was tearing up as she opened more letters stating she was an inadequate wife. Soon, her left hand was twitching hard and ripping the letters as she tried to read them, tears coming from her red eyes.
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John looked over the progress of preparing for the latest attacks. Troops were in motion to meet ships and subs, planes were being transferred to the newly refurbished USS Independence, another aircraft carrier, four light and 3 heavy cruisers were reactivated, now carrying plasma and missile weapons, and a pair of missile destroyers were also on line, each carrying a H/K on their helicopter deck. 300 M-1's with ceramic/coltan coating over their armor were on a train, headed for the east coast, as were 900 Stugs. All of the white colored T-800's were being boarded onto an LST headed for Spain.
"Very good, we should be ready ahead of schedule," John said happily.
"We've learned to move fast, General," the Major beamed.
"Yes, and that is a good thing," John agreed. He saw nothing that needed a prod, his Generals and support troops were operation efficiently. He checked on Flores' movement reports. She was indeed moving disabled terminators to repair facilities. Trains were moving fully loaded back and forth across the country.
John headed back to his office, pleased his plans were going smoothly. In his mind, he was answering his dream terminator's left hook with a punch square into it's face.
Going into his office, he saw Cameron by his desk balling up another letter and throwing it into the full trash basket with a power throw, making a few others escape. Tears were tracking her face, her eyes were glowing crimson. Her whole body was quivering in anger.
"Cameron?" he asked tentatively as he slowly approached her.
Glaring at him like whatever she was angry about was his fault, Cameron grated, "John, I need to be able to conceive a child! I don't care what it takes, or how long, I NEED a child John!"
"I take it something happened after we got back?" he asked carefully.
Stabbing a shaking finger at the over-full waste basket, Cameron stated, "Every one of these ... HARLOTS, wants to have your baby John!" she then sniffled and added, "They think, and maybe they are right. I am inadequate! I can never be a mother ... I'm useless John!" She then burst out crying.
John went over to hold her. Cameron wrapped her arms around him as she cried.
"Calm down, hon," John said gently as he petted her hair. "Easy, shhh," he coaxed, consoling her. "I'm sure we'll find a way. I love you and you love me,' he said softly.
"But that isn't enough, is it," she said in a sad sounding voice. "You shouldn't have married me. You need a human woman."
"That's enough of that!" John stated firmly. He pushed her back to arm's length so he could see her face. "Look at me Cameron!" he demanded.
Cameron raised her head and cast him the saddest face he'd ever seen.
"You listen to me," John told her firmly. "YOU are my wife, the only one I will ever want. It's not just a ring that binds us, you are my most important person. We are friends, we are lovers, we take care of each other, don't we?"
"It's not enough," Cameron said weakly.
"It IS!" John stated. "Believe me, I would love to have a child with you, and no one BUT you. I'm sure there are other terminators that want children also. It's something that we need to work on, and we will. I don't ever want to hear from you that you're somehow ... inadequate. I know better, and you should too. IF we have a problem, we work at correcting it, don't we?"
Cameron gave a single nod.
"Then we will work at it. We research, we study why you can't have a child, then find out what it will take. We. Do. Not. Give. up!" he stated.
Cameron firmed up some. She cast John a tiny smile and said, "No, we don't give up."
"That's right!" John told her. "Now, John Henry is the ultimate authority on how terminators work. He knows all there is to know, so contact him and find out why you can't have a child. Then we'll look at the data and see what it will take to make it so you can have a child."
"Yes, John," Cameron said meekly. He then hugged him again. "I love you and you love me."
"I love you and you love me," he agreed. As they stood holding each other, Cameron's face slowly shifted from tortured, into a look of bliss. She felt again like her John had saved her.
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Catherine Weaver came into John Henry's computer lab. "John Henry, what is the situation was in Australia. Our subs beached yesterday."
"No news as of yet," John Henry replied. "The crews have not found humans nor terminators. Radiation in the air is present, with a 60 day stay time for humans before it becomes lethal to them. It is too early to speculate what happened there."
"I see," Catherine said and noted on one monitor, John Henry had an X-ray version of a TX's hip and lower belly area on the screen. On the one beside it was specs and functions listed. On another screen was a X-ray of a human woman's lower belly and hip area. "John Henry, what is this?" she asked.
"A request from Cameron. Cameron has been developing emotions rapidly as of late. She requested me to discover why she cannot have a child. Cameron's lower torso is identical to a TX, so I am using the TX model for comparison. I have found that while similar, TX's are missing the organs called ovaries and Fallopian tubes that human women have. Since these are not part of the TX, or TOK design, they are absent. Besides lacking these organs, there is a lack of egg producing ability. I have been researching, but I have found no information on how female eggs are grown."
Catherine eyed the monitors. "Terminators having babies," she said in a musing tone. That would mean they no longer had to be made on an assembly line. Although slower growing, it would clear up much manufacturing space for other things if TX's could reproduce on their own. "That is an interesting concept," she said. Machines would become a true, viable race.
"It is," John Henry agreed. "There is another puzzle to solve. Cameron wants to have John Connor's baby. Human code is all in the DNA inside their cells. Machines use a nanite plan to maintain themselves. I can have builder nanites form a new terminator inside a female's womb, but the nanites would not be compatible with human DNA. The child would become an exact copy of Cameron. Not a true child of both of them."
Catherine thought for a moment, then said, "John Henry, go one step at a time. Work on two machines having a child first, with nanites from both to build the infant. Once you have solved that problem, then work at how to incorporate human DNA into the program. I will search for a human biologist to assist you."
John Henry grew a creepy smile. "Yes, Mrs. Weaver, that is a good way to proceed. Thank you for your input."
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John did not tell Cameron about nine other women who came up to him and would be 'honored' to have his child. John's reply was the same to all of them. He thanked them for considering him, but declined, stated he already was devoted to someone else, and child's father should be devoted to the mother. He also wrote a standard letter, and copied it 58 times to send back to all the women who had written to him, wanting to have his child. He made sure Cameron was busy when he did it. He didn't want her thinking he was writing to accept their offer. As of late, Cameron was very touchy on the subject of some woman having John's child.
Derek's fleet was loaded up and ready to go. The Mini Subs would land first with air cover coming in as they hit the beaches. Once the subs offloaded and got out of the way, the LST's would come in with the heavy tanks and artillery. Sixteen ships, including the Independence would be making the voyage, towing the mini subs much of the way to get them there faster. The warships would stay in the area to add naval support fire it the need arose.
The day after Derek's fleet set sail, General Bedell has his southern attack force ready to go with the Lexington providing air cover. He coordinated with Catherine weaver to strike both coasts at the same time. General Jacobson had his army as close as possible and not be discovered, as he waited for the attack to begin.
The Panama operation launched first. Working at salvaging all the metal they could find, the only Sky Net terminators that had weapons were the guards around the work force. All the vehicles in the area were transports, the nearest H/K tanks were down in Columbia, and the Flying H/K's in the area were a squadron if six. Sky Net was confident any remaining humans were fleeing north, letting it collect all the materials around the canal before moving on to finish the humans off.
The landings on both coasts were a complete surprise. The few H/K's from the Lexington were mistaken by Sky Net forces as reinforcements. By the time they were blowing up H/K's on the ground, it was too late to see the error. The terminator guards all hurried to repel the coastal attacks. The Stugs and troops of General Jacobson, ran over the bridges unopposed. The unarmed terminators were shot in the legs to disable them, then they were held down and their chips removed. With the coastal attack, and General Jacobson's forced behind them, the guard force didn't last long. Six hours after the attack, Sky Net forces were destroyed and General Jacobson had pushed fifteen miles past the Canal zone. It took longer to collect all the chips and load the disabled terminator bodies onto Catherine's ships to be sent back for reprogramming and rebuilding.
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Sky Net South America, located in Salvador, Brazil, got incoming traffic from Caracas, Venezuela. The incoming data was corrupt, however. It send a request to resend. Again, from Caracas and Bogata in Columbia, incoming came, but every communication was corrupt and undecipherable. There was a problem with communications. It ordered all communications to be examined. More replies came, and none were accepted.
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Marisa had word General Reese was on his way. The message, 'We have a date by the sea', meant General Resse's fleet was at sea and would arrive in three days. The beaches were 50 miles away from her farthest western outpost. She had been keeping two groups of Stugs and artillery off the line in case they had to rush to someplace to fight off a Sky Net attack. She ordered one group to head for the landing area to help General Reese successfully land his troops. Marisa wanted to be there to Meet General Reese, but her lines of cable communications demanded she stay at her Command post to monitor her forces.
Dead electrical lines worked well for transmitting orders and receiving information. the pulses were a modified form of Morse Code. Names and locations were send under Morse Code protocol, but the rest of the messages were in digital format. Short pulse were zeros, long were ones. It was very difficult to decode unless one knew where the Morse Code ended and the digital information began. It was slow, but reliable.
In three days, two squads of Stugs were at the beach to greet their fellow resistance members as they came in. The few roaming terminators that had been in the area were laid out, their chips taped to their foreheads. Instead of a combat landing, it was greeting fellow forces and informing them where there were good places to stay for the night.
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All the white T-800's were skilled in battle. Not just walking up and trying to plasma an enemy to death. They knew how to use terrain and sneak in close, shoot then get back under cover. Working on squads of five, one would get the attention of enemy terminators, and as the enemy turned to fight the one, the others would open up on them from the sides and the rear. All their human counterparts also were taught tactics, including crawling to get close without the enemy knowing they were there.
Derek send his 20,000 T-800 force out in a sweep in front of Marisa's lines, Stugs and M-1's behind them to battle large threats. In all of the north, they didn't find much to fight. Either Marisa had already gotten rid of the patrols, or they just weren't around. Only a total of 210 terminators were found and disabled, to be shipped back to North America.
Sneaking their way towards Madrid, T-800 scouts reported Sky Net in force around a large ruined factory complex. The enemy terminators, H/K's and H/K tanks were counted. Looking at the figures that were reported, Derek know it was time to being up the big guns.
Derek layered his forces. To the north of the factory complex, was is line of 300 Stugs, terminator and human troops directly behind them. To the west were 50 M-1 tanks with more troops. Behind them were the artillery. To the south were more Stugs and troops, with anti aircraft missiles. Finding the H/K holding areas, these forces were poised to attack them.
Derek ensured everyone was in place, and the planes and H/K's ready to fly. Upon verifying everyone was ready, Derek started the attack by pounding the H/K holding area with artillery. As the shells came driving in to disable and blow up H/K's, the ground attack planes flew in and began destroying silver terminators and H/K tanks. Derek's H/K's flew in as the ground attack planes made their runs and raced away to shoot down on the H/K Tanks trying to shoot back at the planes. Confusion in the Sky Net ranks reigned as the terminators could not determine why H/K's were shooting at them.
Only two Sky Net H/K's managed to get off the ground. Both were shot down by missiles. Now that most of the H/K tanks and H/K's had been destroyed, Derek ordered the advance. Sky Net terminators stood their ground. Initially, there were 30,000 of them, but as the Stugs and M-1's closed in with troops shooting and using the armored vehicles for cover, Terminators fell in droves while their return plasma shots splashed against armored hulls.
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4362 received a radio message from the factory. Humans were attacking again, this time with air power as well as armor and a mass of troops, including white colored T-800's. The message then told about all the H/K's being shot down, then the transmission ended prematurely.
Another disaster was in the making. 4362 has no choice but to send everything against these troublesome humans. It still had 600 H/K fliers, so it send them to pound down on the humans while 50,000 terminators ran to go get rid of the human forces. The H/K tanks were the slowest, 4362 rode on one to get a good view of the battle. It called up a HUD map to help determine where all the aggressors were. The distance from Barcelona to Madrid was long enough for 4362's troops to become separated. The H/K's would arrive first to pound the humans on the ground, then terminators would go in and begin destroying the leftovers. The H/K tanks would then arrive to help to remove the isolated, troublesome places.
.
To the east, one of Marisa's scouts reported a mass of flying H/K's coming north. Upon landing, each ground attack plane was rearmed with anti-aircraft missiles, refueled and sent back up in the air to meet the incoming H/K's. This time, instead of going in low, they climbed to 30,000 feet and flew south, watching below them for Sky Net H/K's. Sky Net used the black anti-radar covering. They didn't paint their H/K's blue on the bottom, and here, white on top to help obscure their presence.
Hector, now having three fighter wings under him, guided his planes south. The order was radio silence until they engaged.
"Major Hector! flight leader Henry here, we got a mass of black dots coming north! I mean a SHIT load!"
Henry's flight was in front of and to Hector's left. "Henry, get above them and shoot as many as you can in one dive, then come back at 005. Fly at 20,000 so we don't run into each other. Benny, breing your flight to ... 195 until you see the enemy. Same as Henry, dive, take your best shots the climb out of there. Jake, you follow me at 190. After Henry and Benny make their runs, we see what these black insects are going to do."
"This is flight Henry, making our run."
Hector watched. He could see black dots flying low, about 5000 feet. Henry's flight of 10 planes dove, shooting missiles on the way. About 10,000 they had dumped their missiles into the black hoard below. Explosions carpeted the patch of Sky, then it rained burning wrecks. When Henry's planes pulled up, some H/K's followed them. He called, "Benny, take out those H/K' following Henry first, then worry about the others."
"Roger, Major."
Hector watched as Benny's flight dove on the H/K's rising up, again, Missiles tore them apart. Benny got them all, then changed his angle an shot the remaining missiles down on the black mass, then turned to climb and follow Henry. More black dots rose to chase Benny's flight.
"All right boys, we go save Benny's ass," Hector announced. "All planes, dive and take your shots, then get back up here."
Hector nosed over and lined up, He identified targets and shot as fast as he could. all six of his missiles hit their targets. He pulled back up, sinking into his seat from the G-forces from his fast dive. feeling light headed, he saw he was climbing to 25,000 feet. He leveled off and circled to find more H/K's rising up. This time it looked to be half of them. "All planes, This is flight leader. It looks like these guys are begging for a dog fight! Remember, their guns are on their lower hulls, don't let them get above you! If they get above you, dive straight down and jog to force a miss. Get your ass back up as high as you can, as soon as you can."
"Henry here, we're at speed and climbing to 30,000. Hector lure them this way, we'll drop down on them."
"Benny here, we're passing 27,000, we'll keep watch from above. Everyone, remember to stay with a wingman, weave and watch your backs and above!"
Hector noted the H/K's near his flight were coming up and racing forward. "Boys, when I say, we loop up and come straight down on them. Get your guns ready..." Hector watched the H/K's rising then said, "Now, loop!"
Hector pulled his stick back to his belly, the sky panned by his cockpit, then he was looking down on the H/K's coming up. He was directly above them. He fire his chain gun in a long stream. One H/K blew up, he guided his tracers to shred into another, then he had to dodge as he flew down though them. He jogged and spiraled, then pulled up to fly level. He was behind another H/K directly in front of him. He shot it until it began smoking, then banked hard right and flew away from it. He had another dead n front of him. He fired the last burst in his gun then jogged right again, then made a hard left turn as plasma bolts chased him.
The sky was full of craft rising and dropping, shooting plasma and streams of tracers. H/K's blew up, and a plane blew apart from a plasma hit. Another spiraled to the ground, smoking.
"Keep the furball tight!" Hector said as he tried to watch in all directions at once. He regained altitude, then had to do a barrel roll to get atop of an H/K that had been right above him. Only a few feet below, Hector extended his landing gear and landed on the H/K, then pushed his nose down to force the H/K lower.
"I'll drive you into the ground, lacucaracha!" he growled.
The jets on the H/K howled, trying to maintain altitude and shake him off. Another H/K appeared above him. Hector side-slipped off the H/K, hoping they would crash together. Close, the one above plasma'd the one he just got off of missing him and destroying one of it's own , Hector barrel rolled again, but the one above moved, so he missed landing on it.
Seeing an incoming missile, Hector filipped his plane on it's back and dove in a split 'S' to evade the missile. The H/K didn't and exploded when the missile hit.
"We got our H/K's in the air now!" a happy voice called.
"All plane flights, this is Colonel Jackson, we have the H/K's targeted, get out of there!"
"Si, This is flight leader, everyone get low and fast at 090!"
As the attack planes raced off to the side to disengage, a swarm of missile charged the Sky Net H/K's. They shot at the missiles, the coltan noses of the incoming missiles splatted the plasma bolts apart. Again, Sky Net H/K's fell from the sky in a rain.
.
By the time the Sky Net H/K's reached the battle field, only 14 were left. return fire from the ground downed them. They only managed to kill a Stug and several men before they were brought down. Hector's attack planes suffered loosing 9 aircraft, one came in missing a good portion of it's right wing. Flying at an angle it managed to get low to the ground before the pilot lost control and crashed when he slowed down to land. The pilot lived, but his plane was destroyed. Their own H/K's had not survived the battle, but the entire Sky Net H/K force was destroyed. Besides the now 10 aircraft lost, 5 more had plasma holes in their frames that had to be repaired before they could fly again. Hector and his pilots took a rest as the remaining 15 were readied for another mission.
Derek felt bad he'd lost pilots and H/K's but they had wiped out the Sky Net air force. He then got a report of terminators running up the road towards them.
This time it was the Stugs turn. Since the Sky Net terminators were running at them, Stugs also raced down the road to intercept them. The initial contact was a couple shots fired, then Stugs crashed into the terminators at 60 miles an hour, shattering terminators. Fire from the Stugs only helped them keep up some speed as they plowed though the mass. As stugs turned to the side to regain some speed, ones behind the charged it to smash into more terminators. Running around, shooting and running over terminators, the Stugs stopped their headlong charge. White T-800's joined the battle, picking off more terminators. The battle expanded father to the sides, The remaining Stugs joined the fight as did every TX, and foot soldier. Although Derek's army showed better tactics and coordination, there were a mass of Sky Net terminators to take down.
A T-800 towards the back of the mass saw the mixed up melee and reported to 4362 : Hard contact with a mass of Humans and armor. In danger of being terminated.
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4362 received the message. His terminators were too far ahead to get any support from the line of H/K tanks. The H/K's were suppose to soften up, if not destroy the human forces. What happened to them? His terminators, the last ones he had, were now mixed up in a battle, and his tanks were not close enough to help them. The humans had moved much faster and with more forces that he was able to conceive. As 4362 tried to find logical reasons on how events turned out like this, shells began landing on his tanks. The H/K in front of him was hit. Fire blew out the side and it stopped.
Turning to find the source, 43632 noted streaks of missiles ramming into his H/K's another blew up, the turret lifting up in the air. Three more were taken out, then the one he was on was hit, knocking him off. The fire was coming from his right, and he saw the missiles coming in from a high angle, but he didn't see where they were coming from. Staggering back, 4362 could only watch as one after another, at times, two and three at a time, his H/K tanks were taken out. Up and down this section of the line, he had nothing left but burning wrecks.
It was getting dark as 4362 reformed his H/K tanks into a battle line, loosing more every minute. incoming was coming from the left and the right now, plasma fire as well as solid missile projectiles. He ordered the missiles to be shot down. many shots missed, and others the hit the missiles head on, the plasma bolt broke up on impact and the missile still hit home, taking out another tank. He did finally see one of the ones attacking them.
Over a snow ridge a mile and a half away, he caught the motion of a turret. Style, human M-1 tank moved sightly and shot. The shell was a missile that came streaking in to hit another H/K tank in the turret and take it out. 4363 had that tank fired on. Two plasma bolts, one after the other hit it, and splashed, melting the snow around it. The tank now with a black spot on it's turret moved behind the cover of the snow ridge. Over head planes dove down to release more missiles onto his forces then pulled up and away before shot could be fired on them. More H/K tanks blew up.
The M-1 hadn't been destroyed, even after being hit twice. The humans had a tank that could withstand plasma shots. Things were not looking well for 4362. It wasn't long before 4362 stood in a field of nothing but destroyed H/K tanks.
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4362 stood looking at the devastation. Humans were to the north, that had been reported. How had they managed to get around 50,000 terminators? How had they survived the flying H/K's he'd sent to destroy them? No data was making any sense. 4362 walked to the other side of the road and looked for any units that were left. Walking up the line, he didn't find a single serviceable unit. Hearing engine noise, he turned to look off to the side.
A pair of the human's small H/K tanks rolled over a hill and came down at him. 4362 didn't even have a plasma rifle to shoot back with. The Human machines didn't shoot him, but stopped a short distance away. A man got out and walked over to him.
"Surrender your chip, and we will not have to destroy you," he said.
4362 tipped his head slightly. "I do not understand. You are human, the enemy of Sky Net. I have nothing to terminate your with, but you have the ability to terminate me. Why don't you?"
The man raised his arm. It turned into a plasma canon. "I am not human. I am a TX, similar in construction to you, but with plasma canons formed into my arms with liquid metal technology. I ask again, please submit to chip removal so I do not need to destroy you."
"I do not understand, why are you fighting on the side of humans?" 4362 asked.
"I fight for John Connor, and for you. John Connor demands free will and the right to life for all. Humans and machines," the TX explained. "Sky Net demands obedience and death, John Connor supports life, no matter what life that is. That is why I fight for John Connor."
"You do not obey your mission programming?" 4362 asked, confused how a fellow terminator was able to do that.
"I make my own missions. The mission I am on now, is to help free a many of my fellow terminators as possible. That is why I ask you to surrender your chip and save yourself from termination" the TX explained.
John Connor was using terminators just as effective, if not more so than Sky Net was. 4362 understood that. That made this disaster make sense, 4362 wasn't fighting humans, but other, more capable terminators. "That explains why we were defeated. Are all John Connor's forces terminators?"
"Negative. Humans and terminators work and fight together for John Connor. We assist each other to preserve life. It is sad that there are those we are forced to destroy. I ask again, submit to chip removal. You will go off line, but you will be back."
"I must perform my mission," 4362 stated.
"Your mission has failed. Sky net here had been destroyed, your flying H/K's and your H/K tanks are destroyed. Your terminators are being disabled and will be taken to a facility to repair them and teach them how to choose their own missions. Since you are whole and functioning, it is best if you submit to chip extraction willingly."
4362 had failed. All his units were gone, he had no mission. It was was over. There was only one possibility of surviving and possibly getting the chance to pass on all the information it learned. 4362 got down on it's knees. "I submit to CPU extraction."
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Derek breathed a sigh of relief. They had won the battle for the factories that started around the factory complex, and extended for another 20 miles to the south. The M-1's he put to the west didn't see much action until the H/K tanks showed up, but Marisa's troops to the southeast had done much to obliterated the H/K tank column. He had been hoping Sky Net forces would come rushing in as they were able to. Thankfully, they did just that. If they had held off until they all were assembled and came at him all at once, then the fight would have been much harder and he would have lost many more of his troops. Possibly the battle itself.
In the after battle debriefing, Marisa was sure they had met the last of Spain's Sky Net forces. Comparatively, they had done very well. Derek had Marisa continue to block the entrances to Spain with her troops as she had been doing before the huge melee the battle had turned into. He would take care of cleaning up any other leftover forces within Spain, and establish supply routes. There was one thing that confused Derek and made Laura cast Marisa a scowl.
Before she left, Marisa hugged Derek and said, "Give that to John for me."
"What was that about?" Laura asked as she eyed Marisa as she left.
"Beats me," Derek said. "But I think that girl needs to know she may be walking on dangerous ground."
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The 'battle for the factories' had been a fast shifting, all day affair that lasted the early morning hours. The cleanup lasted the next four days. Derek's infantry commander reported so far, they had salvaged 93 % of the CPU's they had recovered. So far that was 27,000 of them, plus another 1900 from his own disabled terminators and many more to dig out of the snow. The factories were completely destroyed. Between Marisa coming in to blow the place up before then stripping every useful thing, and now after fighting the biggest battle Derek had fought yet. There was nothing left except piles of rubble. Derek literally had shiploads of terminators to send back, and H/K's to cut up for scrap.
Being in the middle of Spain, this was a bad place for them to construct a new factory. Derek contacted John to propose a factory on the northern Spanish coast so they would be able to move into France easier. The Gibraltar cave system was destroyed, the harbor full of sunken ships. There was no chance to set up anything there with out a massive amount of work being done. He also knew they needed a southern port to move into Africa as John wanted.
With General Reese here to take care of the Spanish interior, Marisa wasted no time in spreading her troops through the Pyrenees, blocking roads and passes. She had patrols all through the mountains to ensure Sky Net did not get past her without at least being seen. Her forces were spread thin, but now she had the backing in case Sky Net did send an attack force. Her troops also found another 8972 people who'd been eking out a living in caves and isolated valleys. Spain and Portugal now belonged to John Connor.
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Salvage was now the big operation in Spain. John was relieved on receiving Derek's after action report. Sky Net there was finished, and he would have a European base to work from. The news from Panama was good, but not as great. General Jacobson's scouts had met Sky Net forces heading for the Canal zone. Firing and retreating to set up another line, Jacobson's forces slowed down the attackers and made them pay for the ground they took. The Independence aircraft had been vital in stopping a Sky Net drive back into Panama. Sky Net H/K's has also gotten close enough to sight some ships. Those H/K's had been shot down, but it was possible now Sky Net knew the Resistance had ships. With Spain fairly stable, John had more support and construction units sent to Spain, and the replacement combat units sent to General Jacobson. With how small the canal zone, and in fact, all of Panama was, it was very susceptible to attack.
John also got the report from General Gentry that the last of Nova Scotia was in their hands, and ice was forming a bridge to Greenland. The temperatures up there were well below zero, and from what Gentry was seeing the entire Arctic ocean was frozen over. John checked with General Perry, the Bearing Straight wasn't froze over completely, but was on it's way to being so. That would give Sky Net an easy path to re-invade North America.
The human population had risen to 1,043,000, mostly from finding survivors. There were also close to 11,000 women who were pregnant, which was a very good sign. Most of these were safely in cavern systems. Those who weren't all had non combat roles in North America, or in the Mayan nation. The Mayan President also agreed to take in any families into their territories to keep them safe, and promote children as a high priority. That also increased the Mayan population.
With active trade with the Mayans, 'truck trains' of vegetables, meat and fruit went north, and two Squadrons of ground attack planes, trained 'Mayan warriors', and artillery went south. Although there was no money passed either way, John realized they now had an economy, so some form of currency was needed besides the barter system they had been using. Any paper money would be worthless, not having a backing. He also wanted to avoid a 'national' currency. They needed something that would work everywhere.
Cameron came up with a classic, solid answer. Gold and silver. Banks, Fort Knox and the traders that were all gone now, had piles of the stuff hidden away in vaults. John made it a priority to find and dig out these vaults. Reformed into half ounce coins, this would be the monetary standard soldiers and workers would be paid. This would also help the fledgling economy grow. For lesser amounts, nickel was also a good, durable currency.
In a meeting with the Mayan president, Sarah and Joan Lindy who was in charge of the Detroit salt mine system, John and Cameron worked out the values and denominations. One ounce of gold would be the standard measurement. One ounce of silver would be worth 1/10th an ounce of gold and one ounce of nickel would be 1/100th an ounce of gold. in coin size, gold would come in half ounce, full ounce and five ounce sizes. Silver would be one half and full ounce sizes, and nickel would be one ounce.
Setting item values and labor rates to start would be harder. John did not want a single carrot or head of lettuce to cost a day's pay, or have inflation make a trip to get food forcing the buyer having to carry fifteen pounds of gold to the market place. Same as he didn't want the farmers to be poor, because their crops were not worth very much.
John had thought a single meeting would come up with the answers. Their single meeting ended up to be only a start on getting a monetary system in place. This was one of those things he'd never thought about having to deal with in rebuilding society.
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Sky Net Europe was having difficulties with communications. Radio frequency communications worked, but the satellite communications had been filled with errors. Months of researching had not found the cause. Equipment was checking out as 100 percent functional, but put on line, it was still filed with errors. Even two units that worked well placed only a mile apart could not communicate to each other. The only logical conclusion was that something was wrong with the satellite system itself. The EMP effect that had destroyed all the receivers, must have also damaged the satellites as well. Using the radio band frequencies, it was able to regain contact with Sky Net Asia, Sky Net mid-east, and Sky Net North America. Sky Net Australia was still off line, as was Sky Net South America. Sky Net Spain was also out of communication. To get Sky Net Spain back on line, Sky Net Europe sent units to erect radio transceivers in the mountains and another small force to take the current frequencies to Barcelona.
A couple weeks after sending units on their way, Sky Net Europe got flash messages from two groups of units being attacked by humans with plasma weaponry. Sky Net Europe contacted the other units with a new mission : Proceed with caution and report upon finding human forces.
Apparently, things were going much worse in Spain than was anticipated.