Chapter 555

Makes Perfect

Cameron made a final check around the hangar and everything inside of it. There were some passenger vehicles, as well as a few surplus military vehicles parked there. There was something else which made her wonder about things. There was still a lot of room inside of the hangar. She wondered if the team pulled out now, what else would Skynet try to put inside of there? She thought it might be a little late to find out. Savannah and Jesse already engaged an enemy patrol. Gail was out after a second patrol.

It was time to check the other hangars. She made her way to a side door and listened by it for a moment. She didn't hear any sounds. She moved out of the hangar. There could be patrols out, or a Terminator, more Terminators, maybe lots of them. Skynet, or one of its illegitimate offshoots, seemed to have a big investment at the location. There was more going on there than met the eye. She knew they were going to hurt Skynet with the operation, if they didn't get terminated first.

She checked in both directions as she crossed the distance between the two hangars. No alarm was raised, no one shot at her. She knew Cammy should be somewhere in the vicinity. Exactly where, she didn't know. Currently there was no response from Cammy or Gail. Savannah and Jesse were both quiet as well.

Cameron continued across the space. She made it to the second hanger. It was dark and quiet. She peered inside. There was an obstruction in her way to see further into the building. The door was locked and appeared to be alarmed as well. She wasn't sure.

She thought about forcing the door open to take a look inside. She was still wary of a Skynet Patrol or Terminator. She tried to reach the others again on her com. She didn't have any luck. Maybe she should link up with Cammy first.

Cameron heard some noise. It was a metallic 'crash' sound. It was at the other end of the hangar. She headed in the direction to see what it was. She wanted to find Cammy.

She was a little concerned after hearing the noise. Once again she attempted to contact Cammy, there was no response. She tried Gail and received the same answer, silence. Savannah and Jesse both failed to respond. There was no reply from anyone in her field of operations.

Cameron knew there was bad news on the way.

Cammy was down on the ground. The big Terminator closed in on her. She gambled he wouldn't shoot at her if he thought he could capture her. It was time to play it up. So far she hadn't exhibited any Terminator abilities. His first reaction to her should be as a human female. It was another reason why female Terminators were better at their jobs than male Terminators were. No one took them as a threat when they first saw them.

She wanted him to come as close as possible. She hoped he would do it without shooting her. She went to seem weak and fragile. It wasn't too hard to do.

"Don't hurt me." Cammy cried out. "I give up."

There was a smirk on the Terminator's face as he closed in on her. He could see it was an easy termination. The human female didn't even try to use a weapon on him. She cowered in fear on the ground. He was definitely going to capture her alive and turn her over to the men. She was very pleasant to look at, even with a look of terror on her face. He thought she could use a little more work on her hair. He decided he might even give it a try himself this time. The grin on his face broadened. He was a little surprised at what happened next. He attempted to move, but it wasn't fast enough.

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

Cammy looked around and quickly removed his chip. She then drug him over against the side of the hangar. There were some crates and empty 55 gallon drums where she moved him to. He wouldn't be spotted easily. She would come back for him later. She didn't want anyone to find him too soon and sound the alarm. They tried to operate under the radar for now.

"I've taken one Terminator down." Cammy reported. "I'm near the rear of the first hangar. There may be additional Terminators out and about."

Savannah moved closer to her target. She took one quick look around and then fired her silenced pistol once. It hit the man square in the face. She didn't think he even saw her in his last moments alive. The target dropped. She moved forward and fired once again into his left eye. She paused and listened and then quickly drug the man into the brush. She listened again before she moved away from him.

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

She was sure there was a hostile Terminator around her. Where he was she didn't know yet. She already warned Jesse about the Gray and the Terminator. She needed to find out what happened to Gail.

She wanted to hedge her bet some. It would be risky for her in one sense, but she hoped to buy a few seconds in another sense. All she needed was a few moments of hesitation on the enemy's part if they met face to face. She was sure she would need to use her Taser next. Her silenced pistol was ready as well.

She thought about her activity so far. She killed four men by herself and another man with Jesse. She looked again in the direction the other man went. There was no sign of him on his way back. The patrol she took down with Jesse earlier consisted of five men. She knew there were two men so far. There could be stragglers still. Her main concern was there was an enemy Terminator on the prowl. She was at a definite disadvantage on multiple levels. It didn't matter. She needed to find Gail.

Jesse looked up as someone approached her. She didn't know if it was a Terminator or a man. She could see it wasn't Savannah. Savannah told her to be careful. She knew the Taser would take either a man or a Terminator down. She also needed to be prepared to fire more than once if the target deflected the first set of barbs. Savannah told her how to fire a 'pattern'. It would catch the foe with at least one set of the four sets of barbs.

The target came closer. She fired her Taser and the man went down. She was ready to fire again. She didn't need to. She waited until he walked right next to her. She realized Savannah did pick the best spot for her. Her opinion of Savannah went up and up. She also remembered those three purple welts on Savannah's torso. Savannah was no stranger to danger.

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

Jesse could tell he was human when she checked him. She knew he was a Gray. She knew how Skynet prisoners were treated in her future. She should take some preemptive action to make sure he never hurt or abused anyone else again. She knew she needed to hurry. She decided not to do what she originally planned. She needed to check herself. She couldn't make it personal. Not yet. She needed to know more. Her teammates were still out there. She needed to think of them first. The urge to 'hurt' him was still strong.

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

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

She hadn't heard from Savannah or Gail.

Jesse checked around her again as she waited. She would try to use her Taser first. There were still three charges in it. Her M4 was ready to go with Coltan rounds. She was instructed how to best incapacitate a Terminator if they didn't carry a weapon. Savannah told her to concentrate fire on one of a Terminator's legs to immobilize them. The loss of mobility would take away their biggest advantage. It would be easier to go for a head shot with the rest of the magazine. It was much the same tactic lions and other predators used when they attacked their prey. They usually grabbed the hind quarter to cause major injury so the prey could no longer run. The rest was just a matter of time.

Savannah heard the report from Jesse and turned off her com. She now was silent. It was a pretty good deduction both five man squads were terminated. It left Gail and a Terminator out there in her approximate location. She decided to find Gail and try to assist her. She needed to make sure she didn't become the target herself. She needed a moment's hesitation if she ran into the enemy Terminator.

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

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

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

Gail was sure she picked up a Terminator. He was on her six. She wanted to evade him until she could gain an advantage. She knew she might not be able to. The Terminator was operating in territory he was probably familiar with. She wasn't. She looked at the satellite images, but they only showed so much from a straight down view. The relief of the terrain was always hard to determine.

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

In the distance she heard the two Grays talking as she waited. After a few minutes she heard what she thought were two silenced pistol shots. They were about ten seconds apart. It must be Jesse she thought. She was way too close to Jesse with a Terminator on her tail. She knew she needed to try and lead the Terminator away from Jesse. She couldn't let anything happen to Jesse. Her failure to protect Duplicate Jesse weighed heavily on her as she moved.

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

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

Cammy went back to the hangar she was behind a few minutes ago. She paused for a moment and listened. She took one look around in both directions and entered the hangar from the gap the Terminator created by smashing through the wall. She was more than a little surprised at what she viewed. There were a number of HK Tracks lined up in there as well as a group of military vehicles. The military vehicles looked to be both new and surplus. It made her wonder if the HK Tracks she sabotaged earlier were headed for this base as well. It seemed logical. There could also be other storage locations.

She moved to the HK Tracks. They all appeared to be armed. These were a slightly different model than the ones she most recently encountered. They weren't as advanced. They could have just been there longer too. She touched the metal on one of them and moved her fingers back and forth against each other. There was dust build up on it but it wasn't as much as she thought it would be. It might be an older storage area. It was well established.

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

Cameron reported she was on the move.

Cammy moved to intercept. It could be Cameron, or another patrol, or more Terminators…. The threat needed to be identified and eliminated. She didn't want to get jumped or ambushed. Her latest experience was already a close one.

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

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

No sooner than Gail moved onto the trail than she was knocked down. It was a hard blow. The only thing which could hit her with such force, was either a truck, or a Terminator. It was a Terminator. It seemed they wanted to capture her. Before she could get back up, it swung her into some rocks. She lost her weapon somewhere during the process. She just received two very hard blows. There was sheath damage, but no mechanical damage, not yet. A few more blows like she just took and there would be.

Gail scrambled to get up. She was knocked down again. She should have been able to have time to face him.

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

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

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

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

She would try to disable at least one of them. She hoped it would give Jesse a better chance at survival. She couldn't let anything happen to Jesse, again.

Cameron headed towards the rear of the hangar. She was a little surprised at what she found on the way there. She entered the hangar through the hole in the wall. She heard someone in front of her. She already spotted the big Terminator with his chip removed. She knew Cammy won the first round.

Cammy moved to engage the new threat.

Cameron didn't want to take any chances.

"Aqua…." Cameron said softly.

There was a momentary pause.

"Spider…." Cammy replied softly.

Cameron knew it should be Cammy. She gave the appropriate response code. She wanted to make sure there wasn't any friendly fire.

"Cammy?" Cameron called out.

Cammy was pleased to hear Cameron.

"I'm over here." Cammy said.

They met each other with their weapons up, just in case. They each held a Taser in one hand and their pistol in the other hand.

Cammy quickly explained what she found, as did Cameron.

Cameron wanted to know more about what was there.

"We need to check the last hangar." Cameron said.

Cammy was worried about Gail.

"Gail may need our help." Cammy said.

Cameron began to look at the HK Tracks which were there. She knew what needed to be done. She thought Gail, Savannah, and Jesse could handle a few Grays. They usually didn't put up much of a fight when she encountered them.

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

Cameron knew the HK drones in the other building were more valuable to them than the HK Tracks in this building. They were only going to be able to take so much with them when they left. She knew if they left anything, the enemy would return and either move it, or set up an ambush to wait for them to return to retrieve the HK Tracks.

Cammy figured she could take care of business there. Cameron could check the remaining hangar.

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

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

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

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

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

Cameron and Cammy looked at each other. They didn't want things to start too early.

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

Cammy looked at where the HK Tracks were. She could use the extra time to get things done.

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

Cameron nodded.

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

They both took off.

They needed to get started on their 'jobs'.

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

Ally quickly deduced what was about to happen.

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

Sheila knew what she would do. If someone offended her, they were in for a rough go. It would really depend upon how much time she could spend to 'work' on them.

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

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

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

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

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

"Come on." Ally said as she pulled her Taser out and took off. "Let's go."

Sheila was caught off guard.

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

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

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

Sheila followed Ally and watched their six as they moved. As long as they were able to keep the element of surprise, things should go in their favor. If they lost the element of surprise or the Terminator across the building spotted them, things were about to go from bad to worse….

It seemed like a typical operation. Everything seemed to happen in the moment.

Earlier:

Bob let Savannah off under his protest to join Jesse. He thought about following her just to make sure there wasn't a problem. Savannah was adamant he continued with his previous instructions, and be ready to extract Cameron from inside the base.

Cameron established a secure connection through CamNet to him. She verified what weapons he brought in the SUV. She was pleased with the selection. Depending upon how things went, they were going to need all the help they could get.

He was to hold outside the compound for now and have everything ready when Cameron asked for it. It was clear Cameron wanted to have a distraction ready if she needed it. He was to go off the grid for now. She also assured him Savannah would protect Jesse as she did with her. He still felt uneasy about leaving Savannah on her own. He thought about the images he was shown with Savannah in action. He understood why Cameron felt things would work out for her.

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

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

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

It was a waiting game at this point.

Waiting wasn't what Terminators liked to do. He looked at the main gate to the base. He knew it was the 'front door'. He was ready to enter it.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Makes Perfect

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

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

It's been said that those who can - do
And those who can't - teach
Are those really the people
We want to hear preach

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

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

Nobody