Chapter 555

Makes Perfect

Cameron made a final check around the hanger and everything that was inside of it.

It was time to check the other hangers. She moved out of the hanger. There should be patrols out or Metal, more Metal, maybe lots of it. Skynet or one of its illegitimate offshoots seemed to have a big investment at this location. There was more going on here than met the eye. She knew they were going to hurt Skynet with this operation. That's if they didn't get terminated first.

Cameron made it to the second hanger. It was dark and quiet. She peered inside. There was an obstruction in her way to see further into the building. The door was locked and appeared to be alarmed as well. Maybe she should link up with Cammy first.

Cameron heard some noise that sounded like it was at the other end of the hanger. She headed in that direction to try to find Cammy.

She attempted to contact Cammy, there was no response. She tried Gail and received the same answer - silence. There was no reply from anyone in her field of operations.

Cameron knew there was bad news on the way.

Cammy was down on the ground. The big Terminator closed in on her. She gambled he wouldn't shoot at her if he thought he could capture her. It was time to play it up.

"Don't hurt me." Cammy cried out.

There was a smirk on the Terminators face as he closed in on her.

As soon as he was in range, Cammy rolled over and fired her Taser. He dodged the first set of barbs but not the second set. She'd learned that trick from Savannah when she took down Metal Summer during an altercation. Savannah's multi-shot response surprised all the Terminators. It also increased their respect for Savannah even more. The big Terminator here took the 'juice'. He went down with a thud. He almost landed on top of her. She rolled away to make sure he didn't.

Cammy looked around and quickly removed his chip. She then drug him over against the side of the hanger. She would come back for him later. She didn't want anyone to find him too soon and sound the alarm. They tried to operate under the radar for now.

"I've taken one Terminator down." Cammy reported. "I'm about to enter the first hanger."

Savannah moved closer to her target. She took one quick look around and then fired her silenced pistol once. It hit the man square in the face. The target dropped. She moved forward and fired once again into his left eye. She paused and listened and then quickly drug the man into the brush.

She knew one man was headed for Jesse and she was aware Gail was nowhere in sight. Both of those were 'bad' things. It was what it was.

She was sure there was a hostile Terminator around her. Where he was she didn't know yet.

She'd warned Jesse about the Gray and the Terminator. She needed to find out what happened to Gail.

She wanted to hedge her bet some. It would be risky for her in one sense but she hoped to buy a few seconds in another sense.

Jesse looked up as someone approached her. She didn't know if it was a Terminator or a man. She could see it wasn't Savannah. Savannah told her to be careful. She knew the Taser would take either a man or a Terminator down. She also needed to be prepared to fire more than once if the target deflected the first set of barbs. Savannah told her how to fire a 'pattern' that would catch the foe with at lest one set of the four sets of barbs. She fired her Taser and the man went down. She's been ready to fire again but she'd waited until he walked right up to her. She realized that Savannah did pick the best spot for her. Her opinion of Savannah went up and up. She also remembered those three purple welts on Savannah's torso. Savannah was no stranger to danger.

She looked at the fallen figure. She didn't think it was a Terminator. She instinctively reached for her knife. She was going to make sure he was dead. Practice was the only thing she was out of practice on. She knew practice makes perfect….

Jesse needed to check herself. She couldn't make this personal. Not yet. She needed to know more. Her teammates were still out there. She needed to think of them first. The urge to 'hurt' him was still strong.

No. Gail and Savannah were out there. Savannah thought a Terminator was as well. She fired twice into his head with her pistol. She rolled him into the bushes. She looked around and moved to her preselected secondary location and waited. Savannah would know her three set locations. Anyone else who didn't was a target. It would most likely be a Terminator.

"I've taken one Gray down." Jesse reported.

She hadn't heard from Savannah or Gail.

Jesse checked around her again as she waited. She would try to use her Taser first. There were still three charges in it. Her M4 was ready to go with Coltan rounds.

Savannah told her to concentrate fire on one of a Terminator's legs to immobilize them. That would take away their biggest advantage. It would be easier to go for a head shot with the rest of the magazine.

Savannah heard the report from Jesse and turned off her com. She now was silent. It was a pretty good deduction that both five man squads were terminated. That left Gail and a Terminator out there in her approximate location. She decided to find Gail and try to assist her.

She wanted to give herself an advantage against the enemy Terminator. She hoped Gail would see it was her. She removed the vest and cap from man that she'd shot. The cap was big so she stuffed her hair in it to contain it which made the cap tight. That move also concealed her red hair. She put the vest on over hers, it was big enough. It was a camouflaged vest, theirs were black. She knew this should cause a moment's hesitation if she ran into the enemy Metal or another patrol. She knew she would look like they did. This should give her the edge in a sudden face to face encounter.

She hoped Gail wouldn't be the one she ran into first. She also hope Jesse didn't come down the trail and open up on her with her M4. She moved off the trail again and went low and slow as she started soundlessly down the slope….

There was trouble ahead and she was headed for it. She didn't like to look like the enemy but the enemy looked like they did most of the time. It seemed to be fair play in this instance.

Gail was sure she'd picked up a Terminator. He was on her six. She wanted to evade him until she could gain an advantage.

She moved rapidly to the side then back the way she'd come, then off to the other side and up the slope again. She paused and listened. She hoped that threw him off of her immediate trail. She knew he would use the same Terminator abilities that she possessed to search for her as she did for him. It would come down to who got the jump on the other one first.

In the distance she heard the two Grays talking as she waited. After a few minutes she heard what she thought were two silenced pistol shots. They were about ten seconds apart. That must be Jesse she thought. She was way too close to Jesse with a Terminator on her tail. She knew she needed to try and lead the Terminator away from Jesse.

Gail moved from her cover and back onto the trail. It was time to become 'bait' to help Jesse. The Terminator should spot her and follow her. That's what she hoped anyway….

She knew it was a risk. She just knew she needed to keep Jesse safe. The best way to keep Jesse safe was to keep the Terminator away from her.

Cammy entered the hanger from the gap the Terminator created by smashing through the wall. There were a number of HK Tracks lined up in there as well as a group of military vehicles. The military vehicles looked to be both new and surplus. It made her wonder if the HK Tracks she'd sabotaged earlier were headed for this base as well. It seemed logical. There could also be other storage locations.

She moved to the HK Tracks. They all appeared to be armed. These were a slightly different model than the ones she'd most recently encountered. They weren't as advanced. They could have just been here longer too. This might be an older storage area. It was well established.

Cammy heard some metal scrape from the area where she'd entered. That wasn't welcome news. She was sure there were more hostile Terminators at this location. Any of them or any enemy patrol was bound to investigate the hole smashed through the wall.

Cameron reported she was on the move. It could be Cameron or another patrol or more Metal….

Cammy moved to intercept. The threat needed to be identified and eliminated. She didn't want to get jumped or ambushed.

She didn't use her com in case a Terminator was around like the one she'd already encountered.

She also worked on a plan of action for some of the equipment that was there. It all needed to be rendered inopreatable if she could have the time to do it. Right now she needed to see who was after her.

No sooner than Gail moved onto the trail than she was knocked down. It was a hard blow. It was a Terminator. It seemed they wanted to capture her. Before she could get back up, it swung her into some rocks. She lost her weapon somewhere during the process. She'd just taken two hard blows. There was sheath damage but no mechanical damage, not yet. A few more blows like that and there would be.

Gail scrambled to get up. She was knocked down again.

'How was he moving so quickly?' Gail wondered.

There was movement on both sides of her. It was only at that point that she realized she was fighting two Terminators. She reached for her Taser and pistol but was hit again.

They both grabbed Gail and pinned her down. She managed to break free. She shoved one of the Terminators over a small incline and pulled her Taser out but the second one was already on her. She was sent flying over the incline as well. He jumped after her. He landing hard on top of her. She was on her knees with her back to the rocks. Both of the Terminators were there. She was boxed in. She was trapped.

Gail knew she was damaged, but still in the fight. This was a fight to protect Jesse. She didn't intend to go down easy. It looked like long odds….

She would try to disable at least one of them. She hope that would give Jesse a better chance at survival.

Cammy moved to engage the new threat.

Cameron entered the hanger through the hole in the wall. She heard someone in front of her. She'd already spotted the big Terminator with his chip removed. She knew that Cammy won that round.

"Cammy?" Cameron called out.

Cammy was pleased to hear Cameron.

"I'm over here." Cammy said.

They met each other with their weapons up, just in case.

Cammy quickly explained what she'd found, as did Cameron.

Cameron wanted to know more about what was there.

"We need to check the second hanger." Cameron said.

Cammy was worried about Gail.

"Gail may need our help." Cammy said.

Cameron began to look at the HK Tracks that were there. She knew what needed to be done. She thought that Gail, Savannah and Jesse could handle a few Grays.

"Gail can take care of herself." Cameron said. "Savannah and Jesse are there to help her. We need to set these HK Tracks to overload and explode. They're all armed as well."

Cameron knew the HK drones in the other building were more valuable to them than the HK Tracks in this building.

Cammy figured she could take care of business here. Cameron could check the last hanger.

"I can do it." Cammy said. "You can check the second hanger. This looks like it is all going to go ballistic."

Cameron knew it was all about the hit the fan. She wanted the Command Center to know there they were at and what needed to be done.

"John, I want Sheila and Ally out now. I want two of the drones to hit each of the assembly facilities. I want Cam up in the manned drone and to come hit this place. The hanger on the east side is a definite target. The one on the west isn't, not yet anyway. I need to check the center hanger still." Cameron said. "We've lost contact with Gail and Savannah."

John Henry checked the satellite overlay map with everyone's GPS. The 'MIKE Force' was still out a ways. They'd lost contact with some of the others as well. He thought they needed some more time.

"The Blackhawk is still fifteen minutes out." John Henry reported. "We've lost contact with Ally and Sheila."

Cameron and Cammy looked at each other.

"We need to delay the attack for a few minutes still." Cameron said.

Cammy looked at where the HK Tracks were.

"I'll take care of these." Cammy said.

Cameron nodded.

"I'll check the last hanger." Cameron said.

They both took off.

They needed to get started on their 'jobs'.

Ally and Sheila lost track of the male Terminator. They figured he'd spotted them and would confront them. They waited for the Terminator to attack. He didn't. They soon spied him in the area where the damaged HK drone was taken. He'd followed the forklift.

Ally quickly deduced what was about to happen.

"I got five bucks the Terminator terminates that forklift driver when the 'Metal Bitch' is gone." Ally said.

Sheila knew what she would do.

"That's a sucker's bet." Sheila said.

Ally and Sheila watched as the truck was loaded by another forklift operator.

They moved close to the door. They got the intel and the wanted to make a break for it and get out.

They saw the 'Metal Bitch' talk to what looked like the truck driver, he nodded and left. They saw him jump off the loading bay next to the truck. The 'Metal Bitch' went inside the trailer.

Ally looked and saw the other Terminator was still on the other side of the building. She got an impulse idea.

"Come on." Ally said as she pulled her Taser out and took off.

Sheila was caught off guard.

"Are you…." Sheila started to ask but Ally was already gone.

Sheila looked around and headed out after Ally. She needed to back her play on this one. This was a big risk. She knew that Ally wanted to take the female Terminator down.

"She's as jumpy as a 'joey'." Sheila muttered.

Sheila followed Ally and watched their six as they moved. This looked like it was going from bad to worse….

It seemed like a typical operation.

Earlier:

Bob let Savannah off under protest to join Jesse. He thought about following her just to make sure there wasn't a problem.

Cameron established a secure connection through CamNet to him. She verified what weapons he brought in the SUV. She was pleased with the selection.

He was to hold outside the compound for now and have everything ready when Cameron asked for it. It was clear that Cameron wanted to have a distraction ready if she needed it. He was to go off the grid for now. She also assured him that Savannah would protect Jesse as she'd done with her.

He moved closer to the base entrance. He parked off of the main road by some bushes so he wasn't as observable. He went to the back of the SUV and readied the weapons he would need. He moved them up to the front of the SUV for easy access. He took the old helicopter base under observation. He waited a few hundred feet away from the SUV. He knew that Cameron would give him some warning. He also knew that several patrols were spotted. He wanted to make sure one didn't find him.

He heard something behind him at one point. He spun around to face it. He spotted a small canine near him. He identified it as an adolescent coyote. It ran off when he spun around. He decided to move back closer to the vehicle. He didn't think any patrols were by the main road.

He listened to the com traffic and what was said from the Command Center. He was a little concerned when they wondered what happened to him. CamNet told him to back Cameron's play. She would take care of everything for him.

It was a waiting game at this point.

Waiting wasn't what Terminators liked to do.

Makes Perfect

Things only start to happen
When one puts their mind to it
Otherwise nothing takes place
Nothing occurs and everything will sit

People are lazy by nature
It's easier if others do it for them
That seems to be the root cause
From where most problems stem

It's been said that those than can -do
And those that can't – teach
Are those really the people
That we want to hear preach

No one knows everything
Maybe it's true that every action
Will sooner or later at some point
Produce or create a reaction

It seems to be the effect
Is what life will reflect
Of whom one wants to protect
That practice makes perfect

Nobody