Chapter 883

She Was Right

John and John Henry watched the warehouse building from the drone footage overhead. There were no explosions evident, that was somewhat reassuring. They waited for some good news from inside the building. They saw the four drones depart from the building after about four minutes. They took that as a good sign. Neither of the two drones that acted as battering rams appeared to exhibit any significant damage.

John hoped to hear from his people inside at any point in time. He took it as a good sign that none of their troops exited the building and called for help.

"All we can do is wait for the jamming device to be deactivated." John said.

John Henry was able to access a bounty of information from the four drones as they departed the building. Everything that they'd viewed on their flight to the building and into the building as well as what happened inside of the building was transmitted in a burst transmission from each of them. It was quite a bit of information.

"I'm processing the video files from the four drones that were inside." John Henry said. "I'll see if I can pull the highlights for you to view. Maybe you went to see the entire files."

John wanted to verify that the two drones that were used as battering rams were fully functional. He knew the Terminators weren't always forthcoming with the damage done to them. Cameron was a perfect example of that. He didn't know if the drones would 'forget' to mention a few things that were wrong with them to stay in the fight.

"I can wait until you're ready. I want to hear from our troops first. Are the two drones that rammed the doors fully operational?" John asked. "I think they would have sustained some damage."

John Henry sent out an additional request to the four drones that conducted the 'Allison Maneuver'. He specified that the request was from the General and he explained why the General wanted a straight answer. He received an immediate update from the two drones that acted as battering rams.

"They are operational." John Henry said. "There's some damage. It's not significant."

John was pleased that he received a 'straight answer'. He was very impressed with the way things seemed to progress so far. He would feel better once he was able to hear from some of those inside. He especially wanted to hear from Cameron and Savannah. He was still worried about everyone.

Earlier:

Cameron led her team forward. She was on one side of the HK Track. Cammy was on the other side of it. Savannah was behind the HK Track. She watched their six and flanks. Dan joined up with them. He remained behind Savannah. His chassis would provide her with some cover. It wouldn't be as much as the HK Track would be able to provide for her but it was better than nothing.

It was clear they'd walked into an ambush earlier. The Skynet transponder codes they were able to attain from the captured HK Tracks proved to be very valuable.

Cameron watched as the second drone entered the building and started to search out targets. The noise of the power plants was loud in the confined space. All of their drones used the new quieter power plants. With the old power plants and four drones inside the building, it would've been deafening as they flew around a few feet above their heads. There wasn't a whole lot of room to begin with.

The drone that smashed the roll up door down tried to free itself from the wreckage. It did a sideways maneuver which allowed the roll up door to slide off of it. It headed for the east side of the building. It appeared to Cameron the drones knew where they were going and seemed to have predesignated target areas. That indicated someone gave the drones the plans to the building to avoid navigation obstacles. Each drone was assigned a specific sector to search. That saved time and sped the process. That was good thinking again. There was no confusion or indecision that way. All of the drones knew what to do and where to go on their own. She knew they were on autonomous control at this point.

The second drone that entered on their side fired a short minigun burst at a running target near them. It appeared a Gray ran when he saw the HK Tracks they'd set to the ambush the team failed to act as he'd anticipated.

All of the Grays chose to run instead of fight when their ambush failed. Cameron would have been more than willing to terminate them herself. It made their search of the building easier without any return fire. It also made it a little less risky for Savannah. That was her main concern.

There was minigun fire from the rear of the building. Cameron spotted two drones as they moved through the north and west sides of the building. They maneuvered around all the columns that supported the roof. It appeared that they knew what obstacles to avoid initially. That knowledge allowed them to operate very rapidly.

It was clear there was activity at the rear of the building for the minigun fire to have occurred. They would need to get part of one of the teams over there to investigate.

There was another short burst of mini gun fire near the sliding doors for the rail siding. It was from the first drone that entered on their side. It was able to carry out its assignment and patrol after it freed itself from the roll up door it knocked down and out of the way. It actually hadn't taken that long for it to free itself. She was sure that the drone that followed it in was programmed to cover its search area if the first drone became inoperable. It hadn't.

Savannah joined Cameron's team when it was evident they weren't going to be cut to shreds by the four HK Tracks waiting to ambush them. Savannah believed she was correct in suspecting an ambush but she relented in her protests when it seemed that Ally was in danger. She thought the next time she felt something 'bad' was going to happen, to stick to her instincts and use her power to 'order' the Terminators as she'd done at the 'day care' center that blew up. She knew that saved all of them.

She moved behind the first captured HK Track from the back of the truck as it moved through the south side of the building. Dan joined up behind her a few seconds after they'd exited the back of the truck. The noise of the drones was very loud. She wore an ear plug in one ear and her com in the other. She'd lost all communication with the 'outside' once they entered the building.

The drone maneuver impressed her even more so than the second transponder code. Both were great ideas. Savannah knew that they were lucky to have those codes. That wouldn't normally be the case. They'd been able to capture three pieces of Skynet equipment linked to this location earlier.

Savannah watched as Cameron directed Cammy and Dan to break off and head up a different aisle way. It was where the running Gray was killed. Cameron and her continued toward the row of parked HK Tracks on the east side. It was where the third Gray was engaged by the first drone.

She saw Cameron look where the Gray was at behind a row of HK Tracks.

Cameron looked back at her.

"The third Gray is here." Cameron said. "You don't need to look. He's very bloody. He took a direct and nearly point blank blast from a minigun."

Savannah previously was involved with a number of operations and had been to two different futures. The horrors of the battlefield were no stranger to her. She was always bothered by them but understood it was a part of combat. The enemy chose to fight them and they chose to defend themselves and fight back. Whenever she viewed someone who was deceased on the battlefield, it bothered her a little to know that that could be her in that person's place. That wasn't how she wanted her life to end but she always knew that it was a possibility. She understood that no one was lucky on the battlefield forever. She felt that she'd been lucky a lot. Luck only went so far.

"I need to remain acclimated to the battlefield." Savannah said. "I've seen a lot of death already."

Cameron could have done without that reminder but she knew that it was true. She wanted Savannah 'hardened' for the future. She wanted Savannah to be able to kill In cold blood and without remorse in the blink of an eye. She felt the 'harder' that Savannah was, the greater her chances of survival would be in a Skynet future. She was aware that survival often came down to who could kill the other person first when two people encountered each other. They didn't necessarily need to be the 'official enemy' either. There were plenty of people who could act like an 'enemy' that were supposed to be on her side. Vanna, Jesse and Allison all encountered those individuals at some point. They'd all led to assaults.

Savannah moved to Cameron's position. She looked at the third Gray and he was a mess. She knew that was what she should look like right now but even worse, if the ambush she feared would have occurred. She didn't doubt it all that they all would have been terminated. They would all be chewed up like that. The noise of one of the drones increased as it moved back towards where they were. It already finished its predetermined sweep for targets and was headed back to go outside. Savannah watched the four drones make a final sweep of the building and exit.

The noise level dropped dramatically with the drones back outside. There was only the sound of the HK Track that followed Cammy and Dan.

Cammy advanced with Dan. They'd split off from Cameron and Savannah. The HK Track went with them. They followed the path that the second HK drone took as it moved through the building. They passed by the cowardly shredded Gray that ran earlier. She looked at him and knew they would've looked a lot worse than that if the four HK Tracks waiting to ambush them would have opened up on them.

She saw the sector they were in was clear of anyone else. She watched the drones make a final sweep and depart. Dan followed her to join up with Cameron and make sure all the HK Tracks were deactivated. They would reprogram them once the building was secure. It appeared they would be able to capture a bounty of HK equipment. She was mindful of the fact that there could be a counter attack or some type of further Skynet response with HK drones.

Gail, Sheila, and Frank followed their HK Track. They headed toward the rear of the building where the drones from the north side engaged a target. That was the sector they were assigned to investigate further. There were three HK drones sitting parked near the rear roll up door that was smashed in. The smashed in door actually rested on top of two of them. They all quickly moved to make sure the HK drones were deactivated. The combat in the building or even the door landing on two of them could have triggered the automatic startup process. They wanted to make sure that none of the HK drones were able to become airborne.

They found the body of the second Gray terminated near one of the HK drones. It appeared that the Gray attempted to activate them but never made it that far. Gail and Sheila knew they could look like he did right now, a bloody shredded mess. Savannah tried to warn them it seemed 'off' to her but they all wanted to 'go in'. Savannah saved them earlier in the night from termination. Savannah warned them this was 'off'. It appeared whoever came up with the enemy transponder code plan and the bold indoor drone strike saved them on this one.

It was a reminder to all of them that things needed to be thought through a little better next time. When someone raised a concern of a terminal nature, they needed to pay better attention. The main reason why less caution was used was because it was thought that Ally was in a jam and needed assistance. It was because the communication block that raised that fear and led them to believe that. To be able to have constant communication with all of their troops on the ground was imperative going forward. It appeared that Skynet found two different ways to prevent them from always having that luxury.

Ally, Steve and Al were surprised by the bold drone entrance. They saw the direction where the other two teams were headed inside the building. One was headed for the north side and the other one split and covered the center section and east side of the building.

Ally led her team to the west side to search for any targets, threats or surprises. She was very grateful that she'd received the transponder code update just seconds before she engaged the HK Tracks. He'd been very worried when the one HK Track spun around to engaged her after she fired a shot at it and the other three. She knew that she should have been terminated at that point or so severely damaged that she would beg for termination from her fellow Terminators.

"That was a close one." Ally said. "That HK Track locked me up but didn't fire at me."

Steve thought it was a bold move on Ally's part. He felt a little bad about moving away from her when the HK Track spun around to engage her.

"You said you wanted to get its attention." Steve said. "You did."

Ally knew at the time she needed to act. There was no time to do anything else. She wanted to protect her fellow Terminators and Savannah. She did what she could to try to take some of the heat off of them. That still would have left three HK Tracks to fire at those in the back of the truck. At any rate, it was still a close one.

"I'll need to rethink that maneuver next time." Ally said. "I knew I needed to try and help the teams in the back of the truck."

The drones that buzzed around inside would be intimidating if they weren't Terminators. They watched them make a final sweep and depart.

The three of them continued to search the west side of the building. It seemed to be the office part of the building.

Al was away from Steve and Ally when he spotted something inside of a small room next to a large office. He figured the office belonged to the boss of the operation. More than likely that meant the Terminator that was associated with this group. From what they'd heard of the conversation with the Grays, they believe he was in Reno currently. That would most likely require some additional investigation as well. He needed to be in Reno for a reason. They knew it wasn't to gamble.

"Over here." Al said. "I think this is the jammer."

Steve looked at it and made sure it wasn't booby trapped before he disconnected it.

Ally wanted to make sure that they were back in communication with everybody. There could always be a second device.

"Testing, testing, does anyone copy?" Ally asked.

The response was immediate from everyone.

Their coms now functioned.

All of a sudden their coms were jammed again. This time it was because everyone started to talk at once. Order needed to be reestablished.

John Henry was pleased the communications were restored. He was a little appalled by the lack of communication discipline. He quickly re-established control and checked in with everyone. Through his server, he would be able to carry on conversations with each of the team members and connect any that needed to be connected to each other simultaneously.

Everyone was accounted for and undamaged. That was a relief in the casino Command Center.

Cameron gave a full report for her team as she deactivated the last of the HK Tracks. Gail gave a report for her team and Ally gave one for hers.

John was pleased to learn that everyone was accounted for and there were no injuries or damage.

Cameron was aware that they'd been lucky in their endeavor and hadn't triggered the ambush. She knew that they weren't the only group that needed to be worried about. There was always the real possibility of some type of counterattack. It could happen on the ground or it could happen from the air.

"What's happening on the roads and in the air space around us?" Cameron asked.

John Henry kept a watchful eye out on everything around the desert warehouse.

"There's nothing on the side road to the warehouse along the railroad tracks." John Henry said. "Only two hostile HK drones have been detected so far and both have been strategically brought down in a remote canyon. Their power plants were targeted and they needed to set down."

Cameron was pleased to learn they had a little bit of a 'time cushion' without an impending attack. She made a quick evaluation of the HK equipment that was stored inside of the building. She determined what was necessary to remove it.

"We'll need three big rigs to move all this equipment." Cameron said. "That's in addition to the box truck we already have. Is anything else happening?"

John Henry kept track of the two box cars that they'd dealt with earlier. He monitored their progress once they started to move again.

"There's a train approaching on the mainline, heading north." John Henry said. "It has the two box cars in its consist that we already confiscated earlier in the day. They should pass your location and keep going towards Utah."

Cameron was glad that problem had already been taken care of. They'd installed their own trackers on the two box cars themselves.

"It's been a long day." Cameron said. "What can we expect in the way of big rigs and when?"

John Henry was just updated on where other members of their team were at.

"The ETA is one hour on the first truck and two hours on the other two trucks." John Henry said.

John was pleased how the operation had progressed and turned out. He'd been very worried a few times as to what was going to happen with the girls. It looked like the operation was just a little mop up and clean up at this point. Maybe he could relax a little.

He looked at the food cart sitting not far from him. He'd already tried some of what was on it. He remembered it looked untouched when he'd first looked at it. He felt a little guilty to know that Savannah hadn't eaten, at least not food. He was worried about her. She'd been out all day with Cameron.

He was always bothered by the way Cameron ran Savannah around. He felt they were times when Cameron treated her like a Terminator. He knew Savannah never complained about anything. Maybe he needed to do that for her. Maybe that was what Cameron wanted him to do. Maybe she wanted him to speak up for his 'future mate'.

"Cameron, when was the last time Savannah was able to get anything to eat?" John asked.

Cameron didn't answer at first.

The silence was deafening.

"I've neglected her needs." Cameron said. "I don't think about it because she never complains."

There was another issue to address. It may turn into a touchy subject. He'd agreed with Savannah on her assessment of the situation with the 'Trojan Horse'. He wanted to point that out but not in a condescending way.

"You know she was right earlier…." John said.

Cameron didn't even need to think about it. She'd already gone over everything multiple times in her head as she played out the events and possible outcomes.

"I know." Cameron said. "I should've listened. She saw we all wanted to go in and act like Terminators. Next time I will listen better. The quick thinking with the transponder codes and drones saved us."

John hoped to get some answers out of Cameron. He wasn't sure if she knew the answers herself though. She certainly would know more about it than he was privy to.

"That was a unique approach that - CamNet used." John said.

Cameron didn't respond.

"Cameron?" John asked.

Cameron already made multiple calculations about the events that transpired and how everything played out. She didn't wish to discuss it with John, at least in the current setting.

"We will discuss this later." Cameron finally said.

John was a little worried by Cameron's response.

"Is something wrong?" John asked.

Cameron still wished to avoid directly talking about the subject in the current setting. She did make one more thing perfectly clear without actually saying it.

"Not at all…." Cameron said. "I've underestimated some of the projects I'm working on."

John wasn't really sure he liked Young Allison being referred to as a 'project'. Maybe that was the point and he was supposed to say something to humanize Young Allison. He did understand that this wasn't the time or the place to discuss these issues.

Earlier:

Young Allison watched everything and soon the four drones that were inside the building exited. That should indicate everything was secure and all targets inside were neutralized.

Anna was able to quickly process the information as CamNet fed it to her. She could pull out the highlights for Young Allison as necessary.

"CamNet has sent us the video files." Anna said. "I downloaded them to review them faster. All of our team members appear undamaged."

Young Allison made a point to look at the security camera.

"Thank you." Young Allison said.

Anna was a little disturbed at the direct communication. It wasn't supposed to be like that. She decided to step in.

"The ideas were yours." Anna said.

Young Allison knew that that was true but they only would have remained as ideas without the assistance of CamNet and the Resistance personnel including their drones.

"We're all a team and we work together." Young Allison said. "We all fight together as well."

They soon received all the transmissions from the team members inside once the jamming field was taken down by Ally's team. Everyone confirmed no damage.

"This was an amazing success and a large quantity of Skynet equipment will be confiscated and undamaged." Anna said.

Young Allison was pleased with both of those things. There was something that still troubled her however. The nature of it was very personal to her.

"I'm worried about the damage I may have caused to the two drones." Young Allison said. "I exceeded their design parameters. I knowingly sent them on a task where they could be damaged or even destroyed. I knew all that and I still did it anyway. It needed to be done."

Anna wanted Young Allison to be a little stronger about what happened. She did however note that the concern was genuine and heartfelt. It was the touch of humanity that was needed in the Resistance leadership. In the future that was something that Future John lacked. In the present Savannah and Young Allison would be able to provide John with that.

"Allison, in war there are casualties." Anna said. "People die and machines are destroyed. You made the call you needed to make to help the mission."

Young Allison was painfully aware of that. She didn't look forward to the day when humans would die because of her commands. She didn't even like the fact that machines were damaged because of her commands.

She didn't know that every drone in the theater of operations volunteered for the assignment when one of the 'Chosen Ones' asked for it. The 'Chosen Ones' didn't need to 'order' any of the machines to ask for something to be done. The machines all wanted to serve the 'Chosen Ones'.

"I don't look forward to making that call when people end up dying." Young Allison said. "I still wish to personally see those two drones I abused when this is over."

Anna knew Young Allison would build the same personal loyalty that Savannah established, with both man and machine.

She Was Right

The stars up above
Aren't always bright
When that happens
It darkens the night

Two can butt heads
Or they can try to unite
Isn't that much better
Than to argue and fight

Not everything is solved
With one's very might
Sometimes it's better
To be civil and polite

When things go bad
Don't expect a shining knight
Do the proper things
Everything will be alright

When things turn good
Everyone can feel delight
Some things will even excite
Remember that she was right

Nobody