Chapter 882

Smashing

Earlier:

John Henry received information from one of their drones on long range patrol. They were at the fifty mile radius that Savannah asked for earlier. He'd initially only set the long range patrol out at twenty miles distance. Savannah wanted it doubled and then increased to the fifty mile radius. It appeared that the additional distance just paid off.

"We have enemy contact." John Henry said. "There are incoming HK drones."

That was the last news John wanted to hear now with the girls about to go hot. It already looked like they had a big enough problem on their hands. This was certainly more bad news on the way.

"How many hostile HK drones are there and where are they?" John asked.

John Henry looked at the information on a satellite overlay map.

"There are two. They're hugging the ground." John Henry said. "They are forty eight miles out and closing."

John didn't need to think about it too long. He decided it was time to act since the engagement started at the warehouse. There was no point to allow Skynet to get the upper hand if it could be avoided. Right now they held the advantage. He would definitely like to know their source of origination. That would be a high priority target that he would like to strike when it was identified.

"Take the HK drones down as soon as it's clear around them." John said. "I don't want to chance it. We can worry about recovering them later. I don't want any witnesses either. See if CamNet or you can determine where they were launched from."

John Henry wasn't sure how many HK drones that there would be. It seemed that if there were two of them already that there would probably be additional ones as well.

"There may be more." John Henry said. "I'm keeping the other five drones on recon, all except the one that has the Skynet HK drones locked up."

The long range HK drones weren't the only drones John was concerned about. There were four drones that were low and traveling fast. They were headed right for the target area.

"What are our other drones doing so near the building?" John asked as he looked at his monitor.

To John they seemed very close and in pairs. They trailed each other. That was highly unusual. The two pairs were on opposite sides of the building. They were traveling at speed too.

John Henry noticed the unusual pairings. It would appear to be in an 'in trail' formation of two sets of two drones. It wasn't his doing.

"I'm not sure, CamNet is controlling them." John Henry said.

John looked at the drone footage from overhead. It showed the action unfolding below. He wanted a better explanation. It was something different than usual.

"I can see one drone following another drone. They're right on the deck." John said. "There are two sets of them doing that. What is really going on?"

John Henry quickly checked with CamNet to see what was happening. He hoped for a better update. He didn't receive it.

"CamNet has assured me they're following specific commands." John Henry said.

John wondered where the commands came from and exactly what someone attempted to do. It appeared more like the drones were out of control. Two of them seem to exhibit very unusual behavior.

"They're coming in too low. They're headed right for the building." John said. "The first one of each set has turned backwards while still traveling in the same direction. They're not slowing down. Something seems off. This is all highly unusual."

John Henry tried to get some more information as to exactly what was happening. The only feedback he received was to not worry about it. CamNet informed him that everything was taken care of. It was some experimental pre-emptive action.

"I don't know what's happening." John Henry said. "CamNet told me not to worry. She said it is a new combat technique. She told me to let it play out and stop bothering her about it."

John leaned forward in his chair and moved his head closer to the screen. It was all done subconsciously. It was an anticipation of what was about to happen. It was clear that the drones we're going to impact into the building. As to why one followed another one, that was still a mystery. It didn't appear that anything was going to stop them or cause them to change directions. What made it worse was his screen also showed that Cameron was about to enter the building. When the roll up door opened it appeared that Cameron's team was about to be ambushed. The drones were now right at the building.

"They're going to pile up against the building." John said.

John Henry noted the ambush that Cameron walked into and the apparent drone impending impacts into the north and south sides of the building. None of it made any sense to him.

"I don't know…." John Henry said. "It looks like they will plow into the building."

John Henry wondered if CamNet lost control of them being so near the building. It sure looked like it. Maybe the jamming field caused them to lose control. He still wasn't sure why the lead drone of each pair had rotated around backwards yet maintained its same speed and direction. None of it made much sense to him at all.

John felt that he had enough to worry about. This appeared to be another layer added on top of everything. Not only did his troops need to battle the unknown. There was a lot of unknown to him with their own forces. He didn't want to rock the boat and it didn't appear that he would be able to either. The time was gone. It was the moment of truth.

Ally, Al and Steve all heard the drones close in on them and saw the ambush about to be triggered.

They weren't sure of all that was going on. They were going to need to play everything by ear.

Ally was worried about the girls in the back of the truck. She needed to act now to take some of the heat off of the girls.

"Let me get their attention." Ally said. "Maybe I can draw off one or more of the HK Tracks."

Ally fired one round at each HK Tracks. One of the four turned around to face her. It happened much quicker than she'd anticipated. It appeared it was about to open fire on her position.

"Great, it has locked me up." Ally said. "Spread out, we're about to get lit up."

They all saw the minigun track Ally.

Dan and Steve each moved away from her.

It looked like there were about to be projectiles fired at Ally. She was the dedicated target of the HK Track. She'd wanted to get its attention. It looked like she'd succeeded.

Cameron saw the ambush and heard four shots. A single round struck each of the HK Tracks, one turned to face the new threat. She saw it was Ally that fired the shots. She watched as an HK Track locked Ally up.

The sound of the drones outside intensified. Something wasn't right here. They were right outside the loading bays and not powering down.

A fraction of a second after Ally's last shot, there was a giant 'crash and a tearing' of metal sound very near them and from the north side of the building at the same time as well.

Cameron and Cammy were out behind their HK Track. The second HK Track followed them out of the back of the truck to take up its station on their left. The exit of both HK Tracks from the back of the truck took only a second. So far the HK Tracks facing them hadn't fired a shot yet. They seemed to be searching for targets. The HK Tracks targeted all of them but didn't fire.

She was aware they should've been cut to ribbons by now. She looked over at the unexpected arrival of the drone that just made a 'smashing' entrance into the building.

The metal crashing noise was one of the roll up dock doors as it was smashed inward into the building by an HK drone traveling backwards. The door was partially tangled with it.

Cameron thought the drone crashed. She didn't hear any gunfire or explosions outside.

Right behind it a second drone entered the building through the now missing loading bay door. She realized that the first drone created a large unobstructed opening by its unorthodox action.

Cameron saw the same thing happening at the back of the building. Two of the doors were knocked down with a drone and a second drone flew inside the building. It was clear at this point that none of it was an 'accident'. It was preplanned and orchestrated.

'What the Hell?' Cameron thought.

Savannah saw the threat of the HK Tracks and moved in back of the HK Track with Cammy and Cameron. She wasn't sure why they weren't being cut to pieces yet. Now there were four drones INSIDE the building. The one closest to her maneuvered to free itself from the door it smashed through.

Cammy, Gail and Sheila were as surprised as everyone else. The Skynet HK Tracks just sat there. They tracked them but didn't shoot at them. One turned toward a side wall but hadn't fired either. They'd heard four shots from that direction seconds ago.

Now there were drones inside the building. The nearest one to them tried to untangle itself from the door it crashed through, the drone that followed it in, fired a short burst from its minigun. They heard the one in the rear of the structure fire a short burst as well. The drone that was tangled in the door freed itself and turned towards them, not to fire but to search for targets near them. They were THEIR drones.

Cameron needed to quickly think about everything. She thought she understood and tried to put it all together. She realized two drones were used to knock the doors in, rather than blow them off. Any missile strike might have damaged their team from the explosion or shrapnel. They knew Ally was inside somewhere and didn't want to chance hitting her or Steve and Al. The drone that followed it was ready for combat if the drones that rammed the doors were incapacitated. The one that was closest to them had been incapacitated for a while until it was able to free itself from the door that it knocked down to clear an unobstructed path.

There was a third burst of mini gun fire near a row of HK Tracks by the sliding doors for the railcars.

Cameron and her team fanned out to search for targets. The four HK Tracks that were there to ambush them stayed where they were. They still waited for 'enemy' targets to appear. So far they'd only encountered 'Friendlies'.

The Resistance team all squawked the current Skynet transponder code as well as the Resistance code. The Resistance teams all appeared as 'Friendlies' to all of the active HK and Resistance equipment. It was clear that somebody wanted to give them a big advantage as to what happened inside of the warehouse proper. That task was accomplished several different ways.

Seconds ago:

Dan and Frank jumped out of the truck as soon as it stopped. They heard four single shots fired from inside the building somewhere. The sound volume from the HK drones increased.

They'd heard them close as they backed the truck up to the dock. They currently moved along the side of the truck to reach the back of it so they could enter the building through the narrow gap between the truck and the opening in the wall for the loading bay.

"HK drones." Dan shouted.

They saw that there were two drones closing in on them. One turned backwards as it continued its forward motion. The other drone followed it closely. It was two seconds behind it. None of this made sense.

They didn't seem to be the targets of the drones nor did the truck. Based upon where the drones were headed they didn't appear to be under any control. They were headed right for the building and hadn't slowed; at least the lead drone hadn't slowed. The drone that followed it did slow slightly to increase the distance between them.

"They're going to hit the building." Frank said. "They must be crashing."

As they ran toward the building they saw the backward facing drone slam into the roll up door two slots over. It made quite a racket as it slammed into the top of the roll up door and ripped it loose from its mounts and knocked it down into the interior. The drone that followed it flew inside the building. They weren't sure of everything that they'd just witnessed. They still needed to get inside of the building.

'What the Hell?' They both thought.

A few seconds later they heard two short bursts of minigun fire.

They both squeezed between the rear of the truck and the open door of the building to join the others, both of them searched for targets.

They were a little surprised to see the HK Tracks still sitting there in a semicircle pointed at the rear of the truck. They were briefly tracked but not for long. They didn't show up as the enemy because they squawked the Skynet code as well as the Resistance code.

There was a third short burst of minigun fire off to the east side.

They each joined one of the two teams. They saw the drones that entered the building were theirs. That was a new approach. If the building was tall enough they could have drones enter with or before them in the future. They didn't know if the drones were being controlled or operating autonomously. They've seemed to know where to go on their own very specific locations. They also easily avoided any obstacles that made up the structure of the building.

John Henry still tried to process all that he'd just witnessed. He quickly reviewed all the data that he had so far and what CamNet previously briefed him on. He tried to make sense of it all.

"I've lost communications with everyone and the drone cameras inside the building as well. John Henry said. "CamNet informed me they're our drones."

John watched as all the current live footage pixilated and disappeared. There was no footage from inside of the building currently from the personnel or the drones that were in there. The screen replayed what just occurred from a drone overhead. They'd recorded everything. He could see what a bold and brilliant move was just carried out to aid the personnel inside without endangering anyone with shrapnel from using a missile to blow open a door and enter the building.

"What maneuver was that?" John asked. "It got at least two functional drones inside the building if not all four. It was accomplished without blowing the doors off and endangering our personnel inside."

John was sure this was going to be known as the 'Allison Maneuver' in the future. He would need to get more information as to what went down and who planned this tactic. He was sure it originated in the Young bunker.

John Henry was impressed with what he'd just witnessed. He understood since it was a new concept and hadn't been tested but it could have all gone horribly wrong. He figured that was why CamNet hadn't provided him with more information ahead of time. He was sure John would have tried to prevent them from testing the theory.

"That's definitely a new concept." John Henry said. "It was very bold and daring."

John wanted to know more about what went into the planning of all of this. He hadn't thought that there was very much time to get everything into play after they were informed to have the Resistance team squawk the Skynet code in addition to the Resistance code.

"It's obvious someone definitely 'thought outside the box' on all of this." John said. "I mean for the drones to enter the inside a large building and our troops to be able to squawk the current Skynet transponder code."

John Henry knew that they were lucky to have three sources to verify the current Skynet transponder code. Normally that's not something that they would be able to have and verify before any operation. He believed that tactic would come in handy in any of the futures where they battled Skynet.

"We need to adopt this tactic when we can in the future." John Henry said. "They needed to adopt this tactic in THE Future."

The two drones that orbited over the building and surrounding area only recorded four rifle shots and three short bursts of mini gun fire. It was unknown if any of their troops were damaged or not. The way the things played out that they were able witness before they went dark, seemed to indicate that their troops were very fortunate.

John was aware that what happened inside of the warehouse wasn't the only thing that needed to be addressed.

"What's the status of the two hostile HK drones that are approaching on the deck?" John asked.

John Henry kept a careful eye out for any additional HK drones that might be on their way there. So far there were only the two that were picked up earlier.

"They're both locked up." John Henry said. "They will be brought down in a secluded area that will aid in their recovery by our forces. No more HK drones have been detected."

John was more than aware that this group possessed a vast amount of HK equipment.

"Yet…." John said.

John could see the battlefield was fluid. The 'battle' for the Skynet building looked more like a turkey shoot, at least so far. They didn't know what else would develop inside or even what was in there.

Seconds ago:

Young Allison followed everything. She saw the threat that Cameron's teams faced. From the Resistance drones that remained overhead. She was able to watch two of their drones turn around backwards in flight and slam into the roll up doors on the building to knock them out of the way. So far it looked like that part of it worked. The drones behind them were able to fly right into the building unopposed. One of the drones appeared to be tangled in the wreckage of the roll up door for a while but was finally able to free itself. She really wondered what kind of trouble that she just brought down on herself for doing that on her own. She was prepared to face any repercussions that would most likely follow.

"I'm not sure about all of this." Young Allison said.

Anna wasn't sure about it either. As soon as the drones were inside of the building, CamNet no longer was able to control them. They needed to rely on their Resistance programming. It was supplemented with the complete blueprints and layout of the interior of the building. Each of the four drones was given specific areas to search for the enemy.

"We don't know if this is going to work." Anna said. "We may lose two drones or all four. So far the fresh Skynet transponder codes have worked."

Young Allison asked for CamNet to take volunteers for the 'battering ram' mission. What she didn't know was that CamNet asked for two volunteers for a dangerous mission from one of the 'Chosen Ones'. CamNet mentioned that the mission may end up as a 'termination mission'. Every drone that was in the theater of operations volunteered for the assignment. She picked the two closest ones for the task. It was clear that every machine would follow the 'Chosen Ones' on their own initiative without an 'order' to do so.

She was bothered to see two of the drones need to use themselves as battering rams. It was her idea. It was clear there must be some damage to them, especially to one of them. She made the decision to work on the repairs herself with one of their Terminators. It would show she cared about ALL of their machines, even the 'lesser' ones. She was the one who wanted the drones to possibly sacrifice themselves to complete the mission. It troubled her greatly to make that decision but she made it anyway. She felt that the issue needed to be addressed as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry for the damage I may have caused to two of the drones." Young Allison said. "I want to personally see them when this is over. I'll assist in their repair. It's something I need to do."

She knew that every action created a reaction. That was what she'd done. She didn't want order troops into combat. Those troops could be either human or Terminators. She was prepared to order four of their machines into combat if no volunteers came forward. She knew two of them could possibly be destroyed in the initial action. She was unsure what would happen to the other two that followed them into the building. She would have picked the four closest drones to carry out her order if it was necessary. It was a calculated risk. Everything was a calculated risk.

Anna could see that Young Allison was troubled. It looks like more than worry.

"We still don't know what is happening inside." Anna said. "The jamming field has blocked everything. The drones are operating on autonomous control now."

Young Allison felt the drones entered the building as prepared as they possibly could be.

"All we know is there were four shots fired and then two short bursts of minigun fire. There was a third short burst of minigun fire after that." Young Allison said. "The drones have their programming and plans for the building. They weren't to engage anything that didn't pose an immediate threat. The transponder ploy was to cover that."

Anna hadn't heard any negative feedback or calls for help.

"That was a brilliant suggestion." Anna said. "It looks like both ideas worked."

Young Allison was mindful of the other threat. She'd given it some thought and thought that they needed to do something specific.

"So far…." Young Allison said. "There are at least two incoming enemy HK drones approaching. The real threat is if there will be more. Have our drones watch for any at altitude too."

Young Allison recollected a naval battle in the Pacific where the enemy fighters all dropped down to the 'deck' to shoot down the attacking torpedo bombers. While all the enemy fighters were down on the deck, the attacking dive bombers showed up in formation at altitude. The pilots reported later it was just like in 'practice' as they peeled off one at a time as they selected targets and sank many of the enemy ships. The battle was decided in that moment. She didn't want to develop target fixation or to be caught off guard.

"The HK drones are locked up." Anna said. "They'll be flamed as soon as it's clear. Savannah and you were both correct on everything you called. If the transponder codes on our team hadn't been modified, this would have a very different outcome. You made two excellent calls."

It pleased Young Allison that she was able to come up with two options on short notice. They'd just popped into her head and they were able to act on them.

"I just thought of it all of a sudden when I heard Savannah's concern." Young Allison said. "I wanted to help."

Anna received an update from CamNet. The enemy drones were dispatched with extreme prejudice.

"CamNet reported the two hostile HK drones were flamed when they entered a small canyon." Anna said. "They're no longer a threat."

Young Allison was pleased that the HK drones were down. She also tried to plan ahead. More of their Terminators were sent to the Las Vegas area. She'd asked CamNet to have them do some very specific things.

"Let's hope there are no more." Young Allison said. "Are the big trucks you called for on the way?"

Anna was pleased to see that that request was taken care of. What they still needed to find out was what all was inside of the warehouse. That would determine how many trucks they would actually need in the end to capture everything.

"Yes." Anna said. "CamNet has directed the other Terminators that were headed to the target site to acquire some."

Young Allison thought along the lines of Anna on her own.

"We don't know how many we will need and what is inside exactly." Young Allison said.

Anna was pleased when she received word that the communication jamming field was down.

"We will shortly. All communications have been restored." Anna said. "Everything is back to normal. Everything looks good."

The monitors all showed the body cams and drone footage inside the building. All team members were accounted for and undamaged. Three Grays were terminated. The drones headed back outside from inside the building as Cameron's teams secured the building. Reports indicated this was a storage or transfer facility of some type. It wasn't a factory or an assembly line.

It looked like a win - so far….

They all wondered if this was winding down or about to ramp up.

Young Allison was very relieved to find out that the two drones that were used as battering rams weren't severely damaged and fully functional. She would still personally deal with their repairs.

So I Should Apologize

In every relationship
There are many highs
There are even more lows
Some issues will even polarize

On some of life's choices
We must all compromise
What was once written in stone
We can evolve and revise

Sure we all can ridicule
Demean, insult and chastise
That will only speed
The relationship's demise

There's always something to hide
It should never come as a surprise
That everyone one can wear
Some type of inner disguise

If I want to feel comfortable
Keeping secrets is not wise
For lying to you
So I should apologize

Nobody