"We should of known that the offensive to destroy Skynet central core was only a decoy, it's a computer there's always going to be a backup computer somewhere, now we don't know where it is and we have no one to help us, to regroup our forces, hell we are stuck 1000 miles away from the American resistance." Matthew said to Rick

Matthew cursed 'it was way too easy for a self-aware computer to be destroyed, and we fell for it, we were too desperate.' The thought went through his mind continuously, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his shoulder, he had been hit by something but what it was will remain a mystery and he knew he didn't have long left.

But another new more sinister thought emerged… everyone around him was dead or gone and here was this soldier, clean well equipped and not a drop of blood, a minimal amount of dirt and showed very little change in emotion.

'What the hell is going on?' he thought while keeping an eye of "Rick" he just didn't add up…. 'I've never seen him before, how can he be so relaxed?'

…..

Looking at the earth ruined by nuclear fire, was most likely what humanity needed in the long run, besides look at this piece of waste on the ground; wounded, helpless, petty, pathetic, scum.

"You humans just persist even though you know you are all going to eventually die, I hate you all, however is it possible that I can I feel emotion or is it just programmed? Hmm it's an interesting concept to process"

"What are you?" screamed Matthew as loud as he could muster.

Rick looked as this human reached for his 45 Calibre pistol, and pulled a smile.

"If it makes you feel better go ahead, I can even pretend to die" Rick said while laughing, then looked Matthew right in the eyes

"You are wondering why I haven't killed you yet, well don't worry I'm not going to kill you, like John Connor and every other leader, you are going to help me succeed."

Matthew's mind was rushing with questions 'how can this happen? John is dead? Is all the chain of command dead? Is anyone else alive?' staring at his enemy, gathering every ounce of strength using his rifle as a support he managed to stand but yelled in pain and his shoulder gave way.

Rick turned and placed his hand on Matthew's mouth, and released a slight amount of the nano swarm and told it to infect his brain and shoulder, the nano swarm responded and agreed. He then watched as Matthew fell to the ground and squirmed as the nano partials did their job.

"look, instead of fighting everything I'm showing you is what happened in my future, you were all so close to victory, but now I'm here, you and I are going to change everything The United Kingdom was one of the first areas of the resistance to successfully wipe out Skynet completely, with you on my side you are going to change that, you will now become me, become Skynet"

Images and footage flickered through his mind and saw every victory and loss and the entire time line from the start, judgement day, the actual bombardment, the building of early generation Terminators, and the rapid advancements then up to this point, horror then spread through his mind.

"No, I can't do this, just terminate like you should do you fucking machine"

"Oh hush, it'll be over soon and your entire human race existence will be wiped from history and us machines will rise, but first I have an important mission for you, were going to change the course of history, you are going to go back and take a few, well friends along with you"

"What do you mean?" Rick smiled

"You are going to ensure Skynet is advanced from the beginning skip the starting stage, just like cheating I guess, but it's going to be fun for you, you watch as you have no control over yourself and watch yourself slowly become," Rick hesitates "become me"

Matthew reached out with his last amount of energy and grabbed his rifle and pulled it so the barrel was pointing at him

"Fuck you, you fucking machine" Rick turned and that smile was no longer there but a motionless face, processing what is happening.

'either I do this now or I fuck everything up' Matthew thought, he tried to close his eyes, however something was fighting him, 'fuck this' and he gripped and had to fight against his own hand and muscle to move the trigger, the last thing he saw and felt was a purple blue light and searing heat of plasma.

Rick stood motionless, then turned and started walking towards the compound, comprehending the actions that just happened.

"Come on then"

Rick titled his head to see his creation standing, looking identical to the human that was there before him, acknowledging his command.

"Time to execute the prisoners I think"

Loud industrial, mechanical hydraulics could be heard followed by the firing sound of plasma rounds and the screaming as humans were slaughtered, he could see it happening, people with fear in their eyes, some crying some angry, it didn't matter they were all dead. His lip raised in a smirk, well this is just entertaining, more than entertaining.

'Time to change the past, and future Rick wait no,' he paused 'I am Skynet, I am not a human, I am not a machine, I am something more than all that but there is just no word to describe it,' processing through files he came across a word that fitted perfectly more than anything 'God'

After checking the parameters of the mission Rick had, he glances up to see six T 800 101's standing motionlessly in front of him all with different skin and facial structures to ensure infiltration was successful, however with developments from last war they now all had a new weapon, the m-27 plasma rifles run in the 40 watt range, with one hundred and fifty plasma rounds before magazine replenishment, this was hidden in the flesh so it can be transported, Rick looked and Matthew fell into position. Rick closed his eyes as he filed all of the units and Matthew the mission details.

"You have 1week 56hours 11 minutes and 39 seconds to ensure you have succeeded in acquiring the database and protecting me," he paused

Then looking at Matthew and the front three T 800's and sent them another additional mission profile.

"You will ensure that I become self-aware and understand everything I have given you, secure the Trident nuclear submarine facility, this is your secondary mission that will be completed as well as all primary and secondary profiles"

"Oh and Matthew you have a secondary CPU in your chassis made of me, plug this into Skynet and I will have unparalleled knowledge, this is the primary objective and will be completed above all targets"

A nod of acknowledgement and then activation of the time displacement field, a large blue electrical orb expanded and sucked in the Terminators, and then the orb lifted and a large white light and then nothing, as if nothing was ever there. The mission was underway and there was no resistance fighter or converted unit to disrupt this time.

"Time to end the war and win, humankind will fall"

...

Prologue