Chapter 991
Broad Order
Cameron led her team from between the containers once it was established John Henry controlled the security camera that attempted to track them.
Cameron's team moved up to where they could see the refrigerator truck backed up to the dock.
Savannah spotted something that looked very unusual to her.
"That's different." Savannah said.
There was a large strange looking machine.
Cameron knew immediately what the machine was used for.
"It's a container stacker. It is basically a giant forklift. It can stack the containers on top of each other." Cameron said. "It can stack them several layers high."
Savannah looked the large machine over. She wanted to see exactly how it operated.
"I guess I know how they stacked the containers we passed." Savannah said. "I wondered how they did it here. I know at the dock and in the rail yards they use those overhead lifts."
Cameron hoped to use it later on once they took control of the facility. She could probably just stand on it without the need to physically un-stack the containers to look inside each of the containers. The procedure would take a lot of time to actually un-stack them. If there was nothing in them, they could remain stacked.
"We may need to use it later, to find out what's in the containers we couldn't reach." Cameron said. "I can stand on it and be lifted up to look inside their doors."
Savannah wasn't so sure about that. This place may erupt into a battle zone. It was secluded and out of the way. Too much activity could draw unnecessary attention.
"That's assuming this place isn't a battle zone in a short while." Savannah said.
Cameron's team moved next to the truck. There was no movement anywhere around it. They moved up onto the loading dock. It almost seemed that they had free run of the compound.
Savannah thought that they would have better security there. The drones overhead didn't pick up any type of roving patrol around the compound or anything else moving within the compound but their team.
She looked at the entry doors into the building. There were several. She wondered if they could get lucky and find an open door.
"Let's try the doors." Savannah said. "Security seems pretty lax around here."
They tried the first door. It was locked. There were four spots for trucks to back up. The roll-up doors for all four were locked. There was another entry door at the far end. It was locked as well. It looked like it opened into an office area.
Gail spotted a row of transom type windows above the dock awning before they went up on the loading dock itself. They would give them a view inside as well as a possible point of entry.
"There's a row of small windows above the awning that covers the dock." Gail said. "I want to check it out from up there."
Savannah looked around the loading dock. She didn't see any access or even a ladder to use to get up on top of the awning above the dock. She looked at the refrigerator truck that was backed up to the dock. The top of the truck was only about three feet below the bottom of the awning for the overhang on the dock.
"If we climb up on the front of the truck, we can get on top of the cab and then the refrigerator box section. From there we can get onto the awning." Savannah said. "I want to see what's inside the building too."
Cameron already made that assumption herself. She hadn't mentioned it because she wanted to do it by herself while the others remained on the ground. It appeared it was also going to be a team effort. It was clear that Savannah wanted to stay close to her.
"Follow me." Cameron said.
Cameron jumped off the dock down to the ground level. Savannah and Gail followed her.
They were able to stay in the shadows most of the time up until this point. Now they would be totally exposed when they climbed on the top of the truck to get to the awning above the dock.
Cameron looked around the front end of the truck towards the main entryway. There was something there that was going to pose a problem. It was a guard shack. Unlike the rest of the lax security around the compound, it should be manned with a guard.
They could see there was a guard in the booth at the gate. They'd entered the compound from the back where there was a gate that went across the rail siding. There was no one there, only the security cameras.
Savannah could see right away that they could be discovered in an instant.
"The guard at the gate may see us." Savannah said. "All he needs to do is look back when we're on top of the truck."
Gail was surprised that they even had a guard.
"They must have more traffic in and out of here to have a guard." Gail said. "It doesn't look like it."
Cameron looked at the guard booth. Alarm bells started to go off in her head. Something was off there. She wanted Gail to verify her suspicions.
"Gail, what do you see when you look at the guard?" Cameron asked.
Gail looked and zoomed in on the guard. He was upright but sort of slumped over. His head rested on his chest as if he were asleep. The angle of his neck looked very extreme. There was no movement. She couldn't even see him breathe. If he wasn't a Terminator, which seemed highly doubtful, he was dead still. She now understood Cameron's concern.
"There's nothing." Gail said. "There's no movement of any kind."
That sounded highly odd to Savannah. She ran a couple of ideas through her mind. Since security was rather lax around the area, she wondered if the guard was actually a guard at all.
"Do you think it's a mannequin?" Savannah asked. "Like a scarecrow for people?"
Cameron checked in detail from where she was at as best as she could.
"He looks human." Cameron said. "There's no movement."
Savannah decided to take a look herself. She switched her night vision to thermal imagery. She carefully looked around the front of the truck at the guard booth. She picked up a faint thermal signature.
"His thermal energy barely registers on my night vision goggles." Savannah said.
Cameron and Gail both conducted multi-spectrum scans of the guard booth and the surrounding area. They came to the same conclusion that Savannah had.
Now Savannah was worried. What if he was dead? That meant someone killed him since the truck arrived. That wasn't a good thought. They arrived about forty minutes after the truck did. They'd been able to make up a lot of time on the freeway.
"Do you think he's dead?" Savannah asked. "Do we need to withdraw? It must have happened in the last half hour or so."
That's not what Cameron wanted to do. She didn't want to withdraw. If the guard was dead, it was bad news. That meant the compound was compromised and their mission to free the girl was in jeopardy. She needed to consider they may be in jeopardy as well. She ran through a multitude of scenarios in a few milliseconds. All of them came back with a negative ending. If she were here alone she would probably continue her quest to enter the building. She wasn't here alone.
"If he's dead, this place must be under surveillance from someone else that we don't know about. If that's the case, they're probably about to launch a strike." Cameron said. "We most likely have been spotted. It's possible we are targeted right now."
That's what Savannah feared. Maybe the Syndicate was about to launch a strike against this location. They knew that Syndicate thugs were at the other two locations associated with this group. It seemed like something that they would do if they wanted to attack multiple targets simultaneously. In fact it's what they'd just done at the old supermarket and the cryogenics lab themselves. It would make sense for the Syndicate to attack all three locations at the same time so that no warning could be issued. None of the enemy would be able to escape our put up a better resistance. She knew that if they were going to launch an attack this is exactly how they would do it. It was time to make a hard choice. She was willing to make it.
"We need to withdraw." Savannah said. "We don't want to be in the middle of someone else's battle. I don't think we have much time. We need to do it now."
Gail wondered why the attack hadn't already been launched. She could only come to one conclusion in the multiple scenarios that she ran in a few milliseconds. More than likely there was someone that currently had eyes on them at this very moment.
"If someone spotted us, it may have delayed their strike while they try to determine who we are and what we're doing." Gail said. "I think it's possible that we've been 'made' by the enemy that is about to attack. They just don't know who we are."
Savannah wondered how much time they had until they were targeted. It was only because the force that was about to attack didn't know who they were that they hadn't made their move yet.
"They may think we're with the authorities and don't want to get mixed up until they know the size of our force." Savannah said. "We need to get to cover."
Savannah thought maybe the two groups would fight it out. That was fine with her. The down side to that was the girl and her father would most likely be killed in the battle. One thing was for sure, she didn't want anyone in their group to be killed. The only person that could get killed in their group was her. She also knew it was possible for any of their Terminators to be damaged as well. She was worried about more than herself.
The news sent John into a mild panic. They no longer held the upper hand and didn't know what they now faced. It looked like Cameron's team was literally right in the middle of an attack that was about to happen. They could end up with enemy troops on all sides of them.
He wanted to issue a withdrawal order himself but it looked like Savannah already made that call. He was sure Cameron and Gail would listen to Savannah more than they would listen to him.
"Beautiful." John said. "Have you detected anything else around them?" John asked.
John Henry quickly rechecked all of the drone footage since their arrival.
"No." John Henry said. "Our drones have been over that location for an hour. No movement other than when the truck arrived has been observed."
If the guard was dead and there'd been no one that approached him, it could only mean there was a sniper with a suppressed weapon of some type.
"Could there be a sniper?" John asked. "How else could anyone get to the guard in the booth without a drone picking it up? The guard must have been able to open the gate for the truck to pull in."
John Henry was unable to come up with any other explanation.
"It's possible and actually more than likely." John Henry said.
John wanted to reinforce Savannah's suggestion to withdraw. He figured if there was a sniper, the girls were probably already targeted.
"Cameron, withdraw." John said. "There may be a sniper with a silenced weapon. Your team is in danger."
John Henry came to the conclusion that an attack was imminent. The need for caution no longer existed. Their team on the ground and in the compound was in danger. He needed to move their drones lower for better scans.
"I'll have the drones check for any heat signatures in the surrounding area. I'll drop their altitude for a better search. It's dark so they shouldn't be spotted." John Henry said. "They're using thermal and infrared. I'm checking to see if any of the past images show any changes since the first drone arrived."
John saw no movement of any traffic around the area other than a truck every now and then. So far there was nothing that looked like an attack force to him. Then again if there was an attack force, they'd probably been in place for hours.
"I don't see much traffic around their location." John said. "There must be other things hidden from view."
John Henry checked the imagery from the drone's arrival until now.
"I may have something." John Henry said. "Here, take a look at this."
John Henry showed John a possible target.
John wasn't sure a drone strike was the way to go. If they could approach the possible target clandestinely, he would prefer that.
"Get Cam's or Cammy's team on it." John said. "Let's try to keep things quiet if we can."
John Henry was surprised when one of the drones that had dropped in altitude continued to drop and targeted the suspected location of the sniper or observer with a missile.
"The spot has been targeted with a missile." John Henry said.
John Henry now realized he no longer controlled that drone. It was either under the control of CamNet or it was operating autonomously, either one most likely indicated that a missile was about to be fired.
Cameron moved away from Savannah as Gail followed behind her. She understood the nature of the threat. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't shy away from being targeted by a sniper. She would continue her advance. It was very difficult for a sniper to get a fix on a moving target unless they were a Terminator. Even if the sniper knew that she was a Terminator, for them to score a hit that could incapacitate her was highly unlikely. So far that hadn't happened to her. She knew there was always a first time. Right now she needed to think about Savannah.
Savannah wanted to get to better cover. There was much better cover from where they'd just come from. They could move to the backside of the building or behind the containers. They didn't know the exact location of the sniper, so they didn't know what the sniper's fields of fire were. If they were behind the building or in between the containers they would be protected from regular gunfire.
"We need to get around the corner." Savannah said.
Savannah glanced back at Gail and then turned around to follow Cameron again.
When she turned around, there was a red dot on the back of Cameron's head. It was right next to her chip port. It was clear Cameron had been targeted by the sniper. Depending upon the type of weapon that was used, it could severely damage her or even destroy her chip.
Cameron appeared to be a few milliseconds away from termination.
John started to talk before John Henry could tell him that he'd lost control of the drone that locked up the location for a missile strike.
"If it even looks like the sniper is drawing down on the girls I want…." John started.
He stopped in mid sentence as the location they were observing disappeared in a blinding flash.
John Henry wanted John to know that he wasn't responsible for what just happened.
"It was just hit with a missile." John Henry said. "I didn't do that."
John didn't want to see that. The battle was now on, one way or another.
"Was it CamNet?" John asked. "It's all going to hit the fan now."
John quickly checked the drone image of the girls. He knew they would be right in the middle of the battle once it broke out. He saw that one of the figures was already on the ground. It took him a moment to realize that it was Cameron. It appeared that she'd already been hit and possibly terminated. Savannah was down next to her a fraction of a second later. It look like two of the team had been neutralized.
A short time ago:
Young Allison and Anna monitored the situation at the three different locations.
Anna was updated by CamNet.
"Two new drones have arrived over the port location." Anna said.
They watched some drone footage as Cameron's team moved around the compound they'd entered.
Young Allison didn't care for the way the events unfolded. It seemed to her that there were too many things out of place and the potential for disaster was close at hand. She wanted to take some preemptive action.
"I want CamNet to eliminate any threat around the three teams of girls as soon as they're identified." Young Allison said.
Anna wanted to tighten up Young Allison's directive somewhat.
"Do you want the threat to be active?" Anna asked. "Or will passive ones be terminated as well?"
Young Allison didn't want to take any chances. She also didn't want to kill a homeless person wandering around. There were more than likely a few of those in the vicinity.
"Let's make it any active threats." Young Allison said. "We'll do that to start out with."
They received the reports of the possible terminated guard and maybe a sniper.
Young Allison knew it was time for 'hard ball'. It was time to strike first if possible. The fact that there was a sniper in the vicinity is what confirmed her actions.
"Make that any threat to the teams of girls on station." Young Allison said. "I want a maximum response. I don't want to take any chances with the girls."
Seconds ago:
When Savannah turned back around to follow Cameron, there was a red dot on the back of Cameron's head.
Savannah lunged forward and knocked Cameron off to the side.
A bullet impacted into the wall where Cameron's head would have been.
Cameron was knocked off balance and sprawled on the ground. Savannah landed next to her.
CamNet instantly responded to Young Allison's latest command.
It caught Young Allison and Anna off guard.
A drone immediately fired a missile.
Anna hadn't initiated the strike and apparently John Henry hadn't either.
"There's a missile away." Anna said. "I have no control of it or the drone."
That wasn't what Young Allison expected to hear right after her directive was issued. She figured she was in for it now with John, Cameron and Savannah. She briefly wondered if she was going to have the death of a homeless individual or several of them on her hands.
The missile impacted into a group of buildings across the way from the compound that was targeted. They didn't appear to be inhabited. That didn't mean there weren't homeless people who had moved in there to live.
"Great." Young Allison said. "I'm probably in trouble now. I wonder who was just killed. It's on me, not CamNet."
Anna checked all of her screens and saw that it was the right move. Cameron was down. So was Savannah. Otherwise all of Cameron's team could have been chewed up by sniper fire.
"It was a good call." Anna said. "Cameron's team took a near miss from the sniper. CamNet eliminated the threat as it fired at them. It was the sniper."
Young Allison was a little relieved to hear that. At least the main target had been a legitimate one. It would be the collateral damage that might come back to haunt her. That didn't seem to matter right now. She knew the battle had just started. It was sure to escalate from there forward. Since she'd drawn first blood against the enemy, now wasn't the time to back down and play it safe. She doubled down on her efforts. If the enemy wanted a fight, she was going to give it to them.
A few seconds after the explosion, they could see Cameron and her team were up and moving. It didn't appear that any of them were severely damaged from the sniper or the explosion. It appeared that Gail shielded both of them.
"There must be more to that group." Young Allison said. "I want CamNet to protect our people at the port. Keep the maximum response directive in place. I want all hostile targets attacked and destroyed. There will be no survivors or prisoners."
Anna was surprised to see more drones arrive. The only good thing was that they were all theirs. She thought Young Allison's actions were a little on the reckless side but she understood that Young Allison wanted their troops on the ground protected. They also needed to worry about the drones in the sky as well. There could always be anti-aircraft fire or hostile HK drones arrive on station. They still didn't know for sure who the attacking force was since they hadn't actually attacked yet. They'd only taken down a sniper who had taken out the guard in the guard shack at the Skynet compound. They still didn't know any more than they did going into the battle.
"More drones have arrived." Anna said. "There are ten drones on station now."
Young Allison asked CamNet for help earlier. It looked like CamNet delivered. There was more action sure to follow. She wanted to make sure that they were able to take out the maximum number of the enemy as possible.
"Watch for an assault on the compound." Young Allison said. "Let the vehicles enter the compound before they're engaged. If there is any other movement from the sides or back, eliminate it as soon as it is identified. Try to use the gun first. Use missiles if necessary. Watch out for hostile HK drones and HK Tracks. We don't know what's inside of the building."
It was clear to Anna that Young Allison was going to hit every threat with maximum force. She wanted to make sure Young Allison understood the implication of her directives.
"That's a broad order." Anna said.
"We need to protect Cameron's team." Young Allison said. "The drones are here to help them, to help us."
Young Allison followed all the action as it developed. She kept a careful eye on Cameron's team as they moved towards the rear of the building. She thought that incident had been a little too close for comfort. She understood CamNet took the proper action when she did prevent any follow up shots on Cameron's team. It bothered her immensely when she saw both Cameron and Savannah down on the ground with Gail behind them to shield them. She made the determination then that the enemy was going to pay for their transgression against the girls.
Anna glanced over at Young Allison. She was pretty sure that this was going to be personal to Young Allison at this point because of what almost happened to Cameron and Savannah. She would need to see how it played out before she said anything. Young Allison needed to remain focused on the job at hand.
Seconds ago:
Cameron's team just avoided the first shot from the sniper.
Behind them somewhere in the near distance there was an explosion.
A second later Savannah was down on top of Cameron and Gail was behind her. She shielded both of them with her chassis. If there were any follow up sniper shots or shrapnel from the explosion, Gail would take the brunt of them in her back.
Cameron knew they needed to get away from that location. She needed to make sure there were no follow up shots from the sniper or any additional explosions before they moved.
Cameron and Savannah were on the ground. Gail was behind Savannah in an attempt to shield her with her chassis from more projectiles. There was no follow up shot. There were no more explosions.
Cameron quickly surveyed the situation as she received input from John Henry and CamNet.
"That was a drone strike." Cameron said. "They got the sniper."
Savannah figured an all out attack was imminent.
"Now all Hell is going to break loose around here." Savannah said.
Cameron made her decision. It was time to act. The explosion was on the far side of the compound from where the railroad siding entered the building. She decided to use that as her entry point into the building. The Skynet forces should have their attention focused across the way, not in the back. She wanted Savannah to remain outside of the building. She gave her a plausible reason why she needed to remain outside.
"We're going into the building through the doors on the railroad siding." Cameron said. "Only Gail and I are going in. Savannah, I want you to keep our back door open. You will need to remain outside to make sure we don't get trapped inside of the building."
Savannah didn't like that Cameron and Gail would need to go in with a minimal force against what was more than likely going to be a hot target. She understood there were multiple factors in play currently. She knew that Cameron wanted to try to get the girl out. She also knew that there could be an enemy force about to attack the compound. She would need to prevent any of the enemy from entering the rear of the building where Cameron and Gail entered. She would have to make sure that their exit remained open. She understood Cameron's reasoning and it made sense. She wanted them to know where she was going to take up her position at.
"I'll cover your exit out of the building from where we were at by the containers earlier." Savannah said. "I'll go back to the specific spot where we avoided the security camera."
Cameron received the good news from CamNet. More help was already on the way. It would be there much quicker than she'd anticipated. It was clear that somebody was 'on the ball'. Savannah would receive adequate protection in a very short amount of time. Gail and her needed to get moving.
"Cammy's team will back you up. Cam's team will back us up. They're on the way." Cameron said. "We're ready to move."
John and John Henry watched Savannah and Cameron go down from the drone footage. A second after that was the explosion in the building across the street from them. Gail moved over the top of Savannah and Cameron as the explosion occurred.
"The girls took a sniper round." John Henry said.
John had trouble following everything because it happened so quickly.
"Is anyone hit?" John asked. "It looked like Savannah and Cameron were hit."
They saw them all move again. They were relieved to hear their plans for action. None of them were hit, at least not so far. Gail currently shielded both of them with her chassis.
"Not yet." John Henry said. "CamNet has eliminated that threat. There will probably be an assault on the compound now."
John wondered how CamNet reacted so fast. He soon realized someone else already directed CamNet to act. He was thankful someone was looking out for Cameron's team better than he was.
John Henry went over Cameron's plan and CamNet's plan.
"OK. We'll follow it to start." John said.
It was clear to John that all Hell was about to break loose.
Cameron wanted to get into the building as soon as possible. Hopefully it would be in conjunction with any attack that was launched in the front of the compound. She wanted the quickest way into the building.
"I need a drone strike against the railway siding doors leading into the building." Cameron said. "Gail and I are going to go in that way. I think there are going to be vehicles coming in the front entrance. When that happens, we will move in right after that."
Cameron laid out her plan.
Cammy's team and Cam's team were both on the move. They were going to crash through the gate over the tracks as soon as the doors into the building were blown open. It would give both of them a straight shot at the entrance into the building rather than using the truck entrance. Everything was paved with concrete so it wouldn't be a problem.
Young Allison looked at the plans of the building. She knew there were no boxcars inside the building. There was plenty of room for a drone to enter into that area the boxcars would normally occupy. If nothing else they could provide close fire support for Cameron's team from that location and engage any HK Tracks that were inside. They wouldn't be able to move inside of the building past the loading dock for the boxcars.
She was aware that the drones would literally be 'sitting ducks' at that location. As long as they were able to strike first they should be able to hold the upper hand. It crossed her mind that she may lose one or more of the drones that were sent into the building. She stuck with her decision. The drones would provide close support for Cameron's team once they were inside the building.
CamNet was notified of what she wanted done. She wanted Cameron to know before it happened. She made sure CamNet sent photos of the girl and her father to the drones that would enter the building as well as all the Terminators on the ground. Bob and Jim were able to get images of both of them off of the Terminator's chip that they'd taken down at the old supermarket. The father and daughter wouldn't have vests on that squawked their transponder code.
Drone footage appeared of two dark sedans on the move towards the compound.
"Here comes the outside assault. There are two vehicles headed toward the compound." Anna said.
Young Allison wanted them hit hard.
"Let them enter the compound first and then finish them." Young Allison said. "That will contain the spin we might have to do. Let them stop first unless they head for where Cameron's team is currently at."
Anna needed to remind Young Allison they still hadn't identified the attacking enemy conclusively.
"There are no first responders within five miles of the compound. John Henry has sent them all elsewhere." Anna said. "We also don't know who they are whoever is in the vehicles that are headed for the compound."
It was clear to Young Allison that they were working in conjunction with the sniper. She knew there was the outside chance that they could be from the anti-Metal faction but that wasn't going to change her decision at all.
"Yes we do. They're targets." Young Allison said. "They took a shot at Cameron's team. They're a threat. They will all be terminated. I want them hit hard."
CamNet relayed Young Allison's statement to Cameron.
Broad Order
It's an unspoken rule
That people be treated fair
It's one way to show
That others listen and care
It often becomes easy
For one to take advantage
To create an unfair burden
Make the other carry the luggage
There are those who say
It doesn't hurt to look
Later on they try to justify
What else it was they took
The rule often becomes
Do as I say, not as I do
Is that really equal
If one wants to be two
Often things will become
A mental form of torture
When rules from one
Become a broad order
Nobody