Chapter 82

Teams

John Henry, through his server, was always on the lookout for Skynet in any form. He uncovered some new leads. They appeared to be solid. Bob and John did some recon and verified what they were up against. They spotted a Terminator and withdrew. John was ready to attack, but Bob wanted better coverage and more firepower.

There was no way to know exactly what they would be up against. Even a few more Terminators added to the mix might not be able to give adequate coverage at the location. It was decided to organize a full strike against the target.

John thought about what he wanted to do. He wanted to have a planned strike for a change. He didn't want Cameron going off on her own alone to fight the enemy. She did too much of it already. He didn't like Cameron to be the one who took all the risks, and received all the damage.

He understood it was Cameron's goal and function to 'protect' him. He also felt they were certain things he needed to do as well. Sometimes he thought it might be a personal or ego related issue.

John wanted to be a leader. He felt it meant leading the fight. Cameron told him a true leader could lead from the front, or the back, or the sidelines. It was the message they conveyed and the planning which mattered more. She pointed out to him Generals weren't usually on the front lines. He went over the planning three times before he set things into motion. He decided to go over it all again.

The most important part of the information John Henry uncovered was his 'brother'. Upon further reflection, it was more like a 'cousin' at this point. With his experience in the future, as well as interacting with Cameron's program on multiple levels, he'd advanced and expanded greatly. The hostile computer system was some version of the Skynet AI. As long as it existed in any form, it was a threat. They were going to bring it down.

The previous cyber attack he suffered was still fresh in his mind. He wanted some payback. Cameron previously hunted down his 'brother' and destroyed it. Like always, when one version of Skynet was brought down, there was always another to take its place. It seemed to be the case with everything Skynet related.

They still didn't have any way to tell which future any version of 'Skynet' emanated from. He was sure it was more than one future at this point. There was a possibility they could encounter versions of Skynet from more recent futures and even further futures. It was all fluid and everything was in play.

There was no guarantee multiple versions of Skynet would work together with other versions of itself. It was possible there could be some initial cooperation. More than likely each version would want to become the dominant version. There was a strong possibility they would also need to combat versions of Skynet battling itself.

What bothered him was they all seemed to share a common theme to 'take over' and destroy everything in the process. It seemed counter productive to him and totally illogical. If Skynet worked with humans, it would work out far better for everyone, including Skynet. To build upon something mattered more than to destroy everything.

John decided he would lead the strike. They were after a version of Skynet based on intel John Henry recently uncovered. It was a solid lead he personally verified. He wanted to go over the information with everyone present.

"If we can smash the newly discovered servers, along with the ones we already have smashed, it will destroy this timeline's version of Skynet." John said. "They'll have to start over. Everyone in the building is a Gray, or a future Gray."

They all knew Grays were fair game any way they were taken down. They were people who knew the evils of Skynet, and chose to serve it anyway. It was people like them who made Skynet able to keep popping back up every time they destroyed it. Those who assisted Skynet were collaborators and supporters. They were complacent in what it wanted to do. There was no way to reform them. There was nowhere to imprison them. They seldom seemed to surrender anyway.

John asked for some discussion and feedback from the team.

Jesse felt there was a quick and easy way to clean house. It seemed rather straightforward to her. It also seemed like less risk to the personnel involved in the raid.

"Let's blow up the whole building and shoot anyone, or any thing, that makes it out." Jesse said. "It should solve the problem."

Derek liked Jesse's idea. Grays were sellouts. Even some of those in the Resistance 'sold out' sometimes for the easier life Skynet offered. It usually resulted in death to a group of Resistance fighters. The females captured by Skynet forces were usually assigned 'comfort duty' in the barracks for the Grays. It was their 'job' before being sent off to the work camps. Many never made it to the work camps due to the abuse they suffered. It was reported much of the treatment at the hands of Grays, wasn't very different from the treatment at the hands of Scavengers. It could be very brutal and sadistic. The Grays were never held accountable for their actions by anyone.

"I'm all for it. The only 'good Gray' is a 'dead Gray'." Derek said. "I like a plan which involves guns, lots of guns."

Cameron saw it a little differently. She was used to taking similar places down on her own. She felt it was a much more efficient process. It posed less risk to the rest of the Resistance team. She felt every encounter with Skynet was on a personal level to her.

"Bob and I will go in first and make sure no one is alive to come out. I'll personally destroy the server." Cameron said. "I want to destroy it myself."

Cameron knew she must face, and personally destroy, every 'Skynet' they came across herself. She wasn't sure why, she only knew it was something she NEEDED to do.

Allison listened to the briefing. She listened to Cameron's plan as well. She didn't like it when Cameron attempted to operate alone or only with Terminators. She believed it made her very reckless, and susceptible to damage, or even termination.

"I'll back you up." Allison said.

Cameron glared at Allison. It wasn't what she wanted to hear.

John understood Allison's reasoning. He agreed with it as well.

"I'll go with her." John said.

Cameron glared at John. It was even less what she wanted to hear. She wanted them to see the bigger picture. Each attack was different. There was no way to know what other variables would be involved. It was usually the variables which caused her problems when she attempted to act on her own.

"NO. It's too dangerous. You need to be the blocking force so no one gets away and anyone who shows up will 'stay' forever." Cameron said. "We need to be on the lookout for reinforcements arriving."

It seemed to be one of Cameron's recurring problems. She'd done the recon and brought down the target, only to have reinforcements show up. It was usually when the shooting went wild and she'd received the most damage. There was never any way to know how many individuals were associated with any of the operations.

Jesse could see there was tension developing in the room. It seemed to be focused on Cameron and John, as well as Allison. She hoped to offer a more workable solution for everyone.

"Let John go with Bob. I'll go with Cameron." Jesse cut in.

Jesse and Allison stared at each other. The tension between them was there.

John didn't want the issue to turn contentious. It was already close to a boiling point. There was no need to make it worse.

"OK, we'll do it. Kyle and Sarah are with Jim. Derek and Allison are with Ed." John said. "You each take a corner at opposite sides. All four sides of the building will be covered. All escape routes will be blocked. I want his place flattened. I want Skynet terminated. I don't want any Grays to escape. I don't want them to rebuild elsewhere."

Cameron agreed with John's statement to a certain extent. Skynet always seemed to find a way to rebuild a version of itself somewhere. She was also aware not all escape routes were on the surface.

The team spoke as one. They were ready to go.

"Let's do it." They all said in unison.

Vanna always volunteered to go on operations as well. Allison was usually very adamant about her not going. She felt the same way about Allison. She understood Allison felt a need to be a part of the action. She also knew Allison was good at it.

She didn't necessarily like being on the more technical side of operations and repairs. It was the repairs which bothered her. The repairs applied to all of the Terminators. They all tended to take damage from time to time. It was just how things worked. There wasn't much she could do about it one way or the other. She understood any of the damage done to the Terminators could have been done to a human as well, with much more complicated or terminal results.

Vanna noted the friction between Allison and Jesse. She was fairly certain it was motivated by more than their 'competition for John'. She believed there was a high level of desire between them. It made her think back to what Allison first told her about Jesse. She was pretty sure Allison rejected those initial desires because of her absence when she was sent to the present, the past.

She felt the same desires for Jesse herself but it didn't do anything to act on them. Jesse was very alluring. Sexuality radiated off of her.

Vanna watched the others armor up and go. She went to the lab and attended to her duties. Everyone was a piece in the puzzle. She was no different.

The teams arrived clandestinely near the location. It was their goal to attempt to get in undetected, and remain so for as long as possible.

Cameron and Jesse moved silently. She gave Jesse the silenced pistol she'd let Allison use before, she carried an M4 as well. She carried a large backpack with explosives in addition to her weapons.

There was no way to know exactly what they would face. The general layout seemed to be pretty standard in all of the cases.

Cameron wanted to interface and communicate with the Skynet mainframe before she blew it up and terminated it. She wanted Skynet to know who'd come for it. Payback is a 'Bitch'. She wanted Skynet to know which 'Bitch' it was. It was a technique she'd used before. It always left her with a very satisfied feeling to watch the Thermite melt, and then burn the metal it was constructed from.

Bob and John moved together. Bob also carried a large backpack with explosives. John would help lay the charges while he watched Bob's six.

Allison felt she'd been sidelined. It didn't sit well with her. She was used to being in the forefront of operations. It was more than a carryover from her actions in the future.

"I don't like waiting out here." Allison said.

Derek didn't like it either. It was how some things played out. They were assigned to do a job which needed to be done by someone. It was important none of the Grays escaped from the building once the attack commenced.

"Look, we go with the plan unless there's a problem." Derek said. "John Henry is monitoring all of us, our communications, and the body cams. If something goes 'south', he can redirect us as needed."

Allison frowned. She understood plans needed to be followed, at least to a certain extent.

"I still don't like it." Allison said.

Derek looked at Allison for a few moments. He deduced the real issue at play. He wasn't blind as to what was happening around the base. He really wasn't sure he had any right to address it either.

"What you don't like is Jesse with John and Cameron." Derek said.

Allison almost snapped back at him but restrained herself. None of it was Derek's fault.

"Do you?" Allison asked.

Derek didn't even need to think about it.

"I learned a long time ago Jesse plays her own tune." Derek said. "I accept her for how she is or what she does. She doesn't inhibit me from anything, or anyone, nor do I restrict her. At least I got her to leave some of the females alone in the future."

Derek remembered Jesse 'taking' them away, one by one, whenever any would drift through their base. He asked her about it. She told him she did them a 'favor' for when they would be captured and abused later on. She said it would cut down on the length of their initial abuse when it happened. He could tell she was serious. He remembered Vanna saying something similar happened to her and why it was. He knew it was what happened to Jesse too. The other females captured with them didn't suffer as much abuse because they were already 'used'.

Allison wanted to be part of the main assault group. The other issues shouldn't be issues, even if they were.

"I still don't like it." Allison said.

Allison's words brought Derek back to now. He needed to shake his head to clear it. He was aware how certain things went down at the Resistance base.

"Cameron will never allow Jesse to do anything, Cameron doesn't want Jesse to do. You should know that by now." Derek said. "Jesse is scared to death of Cameron, while she loves her madly at the same time. I've never seen her act in such a manner before."

Allison could actually understand it. It didn't change anything. They were still where they were at.

"I still don't like it." Allison repeated.

Allison was worried about Cameron wanting to face Skynet alone. It seemed to have become personal to Cameron. She knew once that happened, people tended to lose objectivity and make mistakes. She really wondered if Cameron wanted to punish Skynet for 'creating her'. It seemed Cameron wanted to punish Skynet for all the grief she'd suffered. She didn't believe it was the proper way to approach the issue.

Derek didn't think there was much they could do about it. They needed to stick with the plan which was already pre-arranged. The situation would most likely become fluid soon enough. It always seemed to.

"I get it. Now all you have to do is accept whatever it is Cameron chooses for each of us. Cameron is the very adhesive holding everything together and making it all work." Derek said. "I heard about it from Sarah. She told me how everything, and everybody, fell apart when Cameron was GONE. Cameron is following what Future John wanted. It's probably programmed into her, or maybe even hard wired, so she can't change it."

Allison thought about what Derek said. Cameron did operate on what 'Future John wanted'. She could understand Cameron's thinking, or processing, better now. It was in her programming to make sure what 'Future John wanted', happened. Future John wanted Future Allison and Future Savannah. It was why Cameron tried to put Vanna and her with John nonstop. It was all so clear to her NOW.

Vanna and her were an aberration. They offered Cameron an expedient way to accomplish her goal. Cameron was doing exactly what she was programmed to do. The 'Future Allison' in her furthered those same objectives. Cameron was being driven by internal 'demons' she couldn't control. Cameron tried to do what she was supposed to do, even if it wasn't what she wanted. Cameron still needed to do what she'd been programmed to do. By loving John, and marrying him, she was in direct conflict to what 'Future John wanted' and programmed into her. Those conflicts were what drove Cameron to seek termination. She needed to end or stop the internal conflicts. It's what Cameron's obsession was. It was doing what 'Future John WANTED'. It was all Future John's fault, not Cameron's fault.

Allison needed to tell Vanna about it. Maybe they could alter or turn off some of the programming Future John installed in Cameron. It would help Cameron a lot and maybe stop Cameron from forcing Vanna and her on John. She was also aware Jesse might not be stoppable at this point…. Jesse actually possessed a desire to be with males, where Vanna and her didn't. They would be at John's side when they needed to be, but their heart wasn't in it. They would do their duty. Everyone sacrificed for John Connor.

There seemed to be a number of issues which could be involved. She knew Vanna was reluctant to change or alter any of Cameron's programming. It might, or would, alter who Cameron was, or at least who she'd become. She didn't want to change Cameron. She only wanted to try and free Cameron from some of the demons which lurked in her programming. They were the things which already hurt her. They forced her to make choices which would continue to hurt her. They were the forces which caused the conflicts in Cameron. They were very conflicts which made self termination, or destruction in combat, seemed like a better choice, or a choice to make the hurt and pain stop.

They all seemed like bad choices to Allison. She saw plenty of bad choices over the years growing up. It seemed bad choices were constant in any timeline.

Allison knew Vanna and Jesse loved Cameron as much as she did. They all love - loved her more than as a 'good friend love'. She found out nobody could be around Cameron, and everything she did, and not fall in love with her as a person.

Allison reflected back on a recent conversation with Cameron….

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Teams

Are we stronger as one
Or are we stronger as a team
We can all work together
For a shared goal or a common theme

Alone is very lonely
Just as it would seem
One is still only one
No matter how hard you scheme

The company of others
Can make your soul gleam
It radiates from within
It lets a smile beam

The darkness is dark
In it you can dream
You can seek what you want
Maybe even gain some esteem

In the emptiness of nothingness
Nobody can hear your screams
There is hope and reassurance
If we form into united teams

Nobody