Chapter 648

Next Move

Vanna and Allison held each other close. It was very comforting for them just to hold each other. It was time for some pillow talk.

"Cam would like to be with you later on." Vanna said.

Allison felt a rush of excitement. She thought it was more like being with Cameron than herself.

"I'd like that." Alison said. "How does she compare to me when you're together?"

Vanna looked over at Allison.

"You know no human girl can compete with a Metal girl for sex." Vanna said. "There's no substitute for you when it comes to love, feeling and emotion."

Allison felt the same way. She was with Hanna at least twice a week. It was never the same as being with Vanna, even if everything was identical.

"I agree. I don't think any of the Metal girls ever get depressed like I do." Allison said. "Maybe that makes them more appealing."

Vanna smiled and kissed Allison.

"That's part of what makes you - you." Vanna said.

Allison wondered where Vanna was going to go when she left her room.

"Are you going to see Holly, Hanna or my mother?" Allison asked.

Vanna expected that question sooner or later.

"I'd like to be with all three of them if I could." Vanna said. "If you tell me not to be with one of them I won't. I'm not here to hurt you."

Allison felt very conscious when Vanna was with her mother. It left her with a feeling of being inadequate. She knew if any of the girls had a choice that they would rather be with her mother before they were with her. She also knew it wasn't her place to control anyone. Everyone should have freedom of choice. That was a luxury that they didn't always have in the future. She knew that both Vanna and Jesse paid a steeper price than her in that regard.

"If two people want to share, I think that's up to them." Allison said. "I would like to see you again when you're done with the others."

Vanna thought she should feel a little guilty but she didn't. She enjoyed being with all the different females and everything that each one of them had to offer.

"There's plenty of love to share." Vanna said.

Vanna got up and went to the door naked. She opened it and Cam walked in. She was naked as well. She walked out as Cam moved over to the bed. She looked back once and reminded herself how beautiful they both were. She knew that beauty belonged to Allison.

Cam and Allison looked at each other for a few seconds. They each knew that they looked like the other but that was really the only thing that was the same about them.

They shared a kiss. In that moment Allison realized that Cam had just been with her mother. She recognized that aspect from being with both Holly and Hanna after they were with her mother before.

Cam quickly reached up and held the back of Alison's head closer as she deepened the kiss. She didn't want her to pull away.

Allison responded in kind. She deepened her kiss as well.

John worried about what was happening with Cameron's team. They didn't have a clear picture.

"Is there any word from Cameron or Cameron's team?" John asked. "I need to know more."

John Henry hadn't been updated.

"There's none yet." John Henry said. "Wait, I'm getting something from Gail."

John figured that would be their best source of information since she'd been right over the target area.

"Patch it through." John said.

John waited but nothing happened. He was just about to ask what went wrong.

"… Attacked…." Gail's voice came through with static.

John Henry missed most of the transmission.

"Can you repeat that please?" John Henry asked.

The transmission cleared up. It still wasn't that great.

"Cameron's team is all operational. Her Terminators are on the scene as well." Gail said. "There's only one damaged hostile Terminator still in the fight. Cameron's team has him cornered."

John wasn't sure how Gail was doing. There seemed to be a few things happen that they didn't know all the details of.

"What's your status?" John asked. "We lost contact."

Gail didn't want to get specific. She was still in the fight. That was all that really mattered.

"I received some damage." Gail said. "There's a jamming field in place."

John wondered if he'd get a straight answer out of her. He knew that Terminators weren't always forthcoming with the facts. He needed to look out for all of his troops. He couldn't just concentrate on Cameron and Savannah.

"How bad is the damage?" John asked. "Do you need to withdraw? I don't want you there if you're in danger of going down. I'm authorizing you to pull out if it's necessary."

Gail wasn't about to leave with Savannah still down there. Cameron and Cammy could take some abuse, Savannah couldn't. Gail quickly checked all her instruments. The minigun was still operational.

"I choose to remain in the fight." Gail said. "The damage isn't critical."

John Henry wanted to provide her with some options.

"There's one hostile drone that's trying to flee." John Henry said. "Do you want to intercept it?"

Gail didn't want to leave.

John solved that problem as quickly as it arose.

"As long as she's not damaged, I would rather have her stay until Cameron has everything under control." John said. "Our two drones can handle it."

Gail planned to stay anyway. She spotted a new turn of events.

"I need to re-enter the jamming field now." Gail said. "There's been a new development…."

John Henry attempted to communicate with her. There was no response.

"I've lost her." John Henry said.

Jim updated John as to how far away they were.

"We're about twenty minutes away." John said.

John Henry still had a few cards to play.

"I'm checking the feed on the drone that's off to the side." John Henry said.

John was very worried about Cameron's team and her troops.

"What is it?" John asked.

John Henry double checked the drone feed.

"It's not good…." John Henry said.

Cameron's team was able to corner the Terminator in a shed on the compound. It was time to bring him down.

Cammy and Savannah we're set to fire Coltan rounds through the side of the shed.

Cameron kicked in the front door of the shed.

The Terminator wasn't there.

Instead, there was something even worse.

"Run." Cameron screamed.

Cammy immediately grabbed Savannah and ran.

The shed exploded into a mass of metal splinters and flying debris as an HK Track came crashing out of it. It began to fire its minigun. It just missed Cameron as she dodged out of the way.

Cameron rolled as the HK Track spun around as it searched for her. She just barely avoided getting hit again. Now she faced a new problem. The one armed Terminator was concealed behind the HK Track and now he grabbed for her.

The scream of a drone's power plants rapidly grew in volume. There was a burst of minigun fire. It was from Gail. She hit the HK Track from behind. It spun around and went to fire at her.

Cammy and Savannah opened up on it. Both of them fired on one of the treads with Coltan rounds, which caused it to break. They now became the new immediate threat. The HK Track spun around to face them. It fired a burst from the minigun in their direction.

Cameron kicked the Terminator as he grabbed for her. She fired her M4 into him. He lunged at her and she dodged and fired point blank into the HK Track's targeting system. She emptied the rest of her magazine into the Terminator's mid section.

The HK Track spun back around to face her as she moved away from the Terminator.

Cameron saw the Terminator start to spark and smoke. His power cell was damaged. It was about to rupture. It was going to explode.

Cameron pulled her Taser out and jammed it into the gun mount of the HK Track and fired. It was the method she'd learned from Savannah. The HK Track was offline for now until it rebooted.

The smoking and sparking one armed Terminator made a desperate last grab for Cameron and fell against the HK Track. He seemed to be immobile at this point. She could see a bright glow from inside the Terminator. She decided not to attempt to deactivate the HK Track but flee. It was clear the Terminators power cell was only seconds away from exploding.

"Run." Cameron yelled again as she took off.

She headed for the position where Cammy and Savannah fired at the HK Track from.

Cammy saw the threat of an explosion was beyond critical. It was imminent. She looked around for better cover. There weren't a whole lot of options.

"We need to get behind that cement wall." Cammy said.

Savannah understood the severity of the situation. She didn't want to leave Cameron behind.

"Cameron…." Savannah said.

Cammy saw that Cameron was on the run. They didn't have any time to waste.

"She'll make it." Cammy said. "We need to move now. Your survival depends on it."

Cammy and Savannah made it behind the cement wall.

Savannah peeked back over the wall to see where Cameron was at. Cammy pulled her down and lay over her body to shield it. She knew this was serious.

There was a blinding flash of light as she lay under Cammy. She saw a shadow in the flash of light. Something landed next to her as the sound came. It was Cameron. She rolled next to her and shielding her as well with Cammy still on top of her. Debris and pieces of metal, wood and dirt began to rain around them and on them. The noise of the explosion was deafening.

The world started to go black.

Seconds ago:

John didn't know all the details of what was about to go down.

"What is it?" John asked. "Now what's happened?"

John Henry saw that Cameron had her hands full.

"It's an HK Track." John Henry said. "Cameron's fighting it. There is also a Terminator she's fighting with."

That sounded like trouble to John.

"Do you mean she's fighting both of them at the same time?" John asked.

John Henry spotted the additional developments.

"Yes." John Henry said. "Gail's just made a strafing run on it to draw the HK Track's fire away from Cameron. It turned and fired at her. Now Cammy and Savannah have fired at it. It's turned to face them. Cameron made a move for it with her Taser. They appeared to have immobilized it."

John was sure there must've been some damage to his troops.

"Is anyone hit?" John asked.

"That's unknown at this time. Cameron's attacked the Terminator and the HK Track, both of them appear inoperable." John Henry said. "Cameron's running from the area at an incredible speed. Cammy and Savannah have taken cover behind a cement wall. I believe the Terminator's power cell is going to explode. It will also explode the HK Track. It will be a very big explosion."

John would have liked to have been behind a monitor in the Command Center so he could see what was going on. He wasn't. He still needed to go by the descriptions from John Henry.

"Are they all behind cover?" John asked.

John Henry could see it was going to be close, maybe a little too close.

"Cammy and Savannah are. Cameron's trying. There's been a massive explosion and a series of smaller ones." John Henry reported. "The jamming field is gone."

Gail was able to give them a quick rundown of everything. She saw the area where the three girls went was now covered with debris. The three girls weren't visible.

"I can't see anyone right now." Gail said.

Savannah needed to catch her breath. She wanted to report in.

"I'm alright I think. I need to check on Cammy and Cameron." Savannah said.

John felt a wave of relief to hear Savannah's voice.

Savannah reported she wasn't hurt. Cammy was on top of her and Cameron was next to her. Both of them used their chassis to shield her. They'd both lost their coms in the blast. They both reported back as operational….

John knew that left a lot of leeway for damage….

He knew if Cameron wasn't behind that wall before the explosion that there was going to be a lot of sheath damage. He doubted he'd see her in the bedroom anytime soon. Then again, he did know where Savannah's room was at. He really wanted her virginity.

Savannah's ears rang from the explosion.

Cameron rolled away from Savannah and looked at her.

"Are you OK, Savannah?" Cameron asked.

Savannah thought she was. Her ears still rang pretty good.

"Yes. How are you and Cammy?" Savannah asked.

They both told her they'd suffered some minor sheath damage but were fully functional.

Savannah called in her report. Cammy found her com but Cameron's was lost in the struggle. Savannah offered to give Cameron hers.

"No, I have another one." Cameron said as fished it out of her gear.

Cameron rolled away from Savannah further and moved some debris off of Cammy.

"Let me get off of you." Cammy said.

Savannah tried to lighten the mood some. She was very aware that they'd just experienced a 'close one'. There didn't seem to be a shortage of those recently.

"Thanks. I just got a reminder." Savannah said. "Now I know why I'm always on top…."

The three girls looked at each other and giggled.

Savannah checked them over for damage as they checked around for threats.

Cameron and Cammy both double checked Savannah for any injuries.

Cameron contacted her Terminators and updated with CamNet and John Henry.

John wanted to send Gail out to follow the fleeing drone. He was sure there were other targets wherever it would end up at. Savannah expressed other considerations.

"John, Gail's taken some damage. She needs to return to base and get it checked out." Savannah said. "The drones you have tracking it already are enough to follow or disable it."

Cameron was sure that Gail suffered additional damage, especially the second time she dropped down to assist her.

"Savannah's correct." Cameron said. "Gail took further damage coming to my aid twice. Her equipment needs to be inspected. I don't want anyone damaged needlessly."

There was no parachute for the pilot of the manned drone if it was damaged to the point of not being able to fly. A crash with the manned drone would most likely result in a one way trip to the scrap yard.

Young Allison and Anna watched all the new developments.

There was now an air of relief in the Young bunker.

Anna wanted to know how Young Allison would deal with the situation differently than John expressed.

"What's your call on Gail?" Anna asked.

Young Allison believed a call like that depended upon the situation. In this case she agreed with Savannah.

"Savannah's correct." Young Allison said. "The risk is too great for so little to gain."

Anna would have liked there to have been more direct feedback as the operation unfolded. That wasn't the case. They would have access to the missing data soon enough.

"I'll have the footage from Gail's drone and from the body cams later." Anna said. "We'll fill in the missing pieces then and review everything. We can wrap this up for now."

Young Allison liked to stay with an operation until everyone was home.

"I don't want to stop monitoring until Savannah and Cameron are back." Young Allison said.

Anna didn't think that was necessary. She didn't want Young Allison to push herself needlessly.

"I want you to rest for now." Anna said.

Young Allison saw it differently. She wanted to make a point.

"When does Savannah get to rest?" Young Allison asked.

Anna immediately saw the 'Catch 22'.

"When Cameron does…." Anna said.

Young Allison made her point again.

"That's – never." Young Allison said.

Young Allison wanted some changes. She didn't like Savannah being run around endlessly. She was ready to step up and do her fair share. She didn't have the same hang up about her age like the others did. Age was just a number. Ability and training were more important.

Two of the Resistance drones tracked the fleeing HK drone to its destination.

John Henry was a little surprised at where the drone ended up at.

"John, the drone we're tracking has set down." John Henry said.

John hoped that they got a break.

"Where's it at?" John asked.

The location was somewhat obscure. John Henry used the community name that was most recognizable to John as to where it was near.

"It's in the 'low desert'. It's close to the Palm Springs area." John Henry said.

John thought the location was somewhat ironic. It seemed that his mother and Skynet thought along the same lines at times.

"Skynet sure likes the desert." John said. "So did my mom. Most of the other Skynet activity we have been dealing with has been in the 'high desert'."

John Henry could observe from the drone footage that Cameron was just about ready to pull out.

"Cameron's operation has nearly concluded." John Henry said.

John thought that was typical. Everything would be over when he arrived.

"We're almost there." John said.

John Henry was worried there'd be a verbal confrontation with Cameron about John being out in the field.

"Perhaps it's best if you return." John Henry said.

John wanted to see Cameron. He wanted to make sure she was alright. He also wanted to see Savannah.

"I'll see Cameron first." John said.

John Henry decided to let it slide. He'd done his part to make sure there was no trouble.

"The Blackhawk has retrieved the fallen hostile HK drone." John Henry said. "Al's team has collected the one at the location you were at."

John knew that the explosion was very large. He was sure that there'd be some repercussions from the surrounding area.

"What is the feedback and spin on the explosion?" John asked.

John Henry already prepared a cover story. He thought it was a pretty good one this time. They weren't going to use the usual story of a natural gas explosion for everything on this operation.

"It will be reported that 'flour dust' at a cookie factory exploded." John Henry said. "It's happened before."

John laughed to himself.

"There was an explosion at a cookie factory?" John asked. "That's a first."

"The other location will go down as a natural gas leak that resulted in an explosion and fire." John Henry said. "It is part of our standard procedure to cover our tracks."

John knew they needed to follow up on the location where the HK drone landed.

"Let's figure out our next move." John said.

John Henry figured that common sense should be what guided John at this point. He hoped John realized that he drew away critical resources. He was pretty sure where Cameron was headed next. He didn't think John should be a part of it.

"Your next move is to return to the base." John Henry said. "I've sent a team of Terminators to check out the Palm Springs area."

John thought that might be a good ideal to gather some intel first. He figured he was already in enough hot water with Cameron to push things too much.

Next Move

To advance in life
Everyone must take chance
That's just how it works
In life's endless dance

Sometimes one can forge ahead
That is seldom the case
There are many obstacles
In life's never ending chase

Each small step forward
May seem like two steps back
Things that should be simple
Turn into more of an attack

One needs to keep moving
To stop is to accept defeat
The payoff must be remembered
It may be something sweet

It's only to themselves
That anyone needs to prove
Once they find their grove
They'll know their next move

Nobody