A/N: Holy hell, thank you all for the awesome response to the first chapter! Awesome to have people supporting this story as it kicks off the second era... Not gonna spoil anything, but I think CE2 is going to be pretty awesome.

Editing and publishing stays on track for now! ;) Hope you enjoy the read.

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Chapter I – Dead Man Rising

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I stood in front of the full-length mirror and tugged on the collar of my suit. The TIER headquarters were dark. Well lit, but every surface was black. The suit was no exception. Black. The undershirt was a dark grey, so that was a relief. I inspected my reflection. I found it all very strange, being back and all. And so much had changed with me, even.

I looked about twenty-one now. Old. I poked at the stubble on my cheek, realizing what a pain it was going to be having to shave all the time. My cybernetic hand had been upgraded, converted into a full-fledged arm. With the suit, I could only see the hand. Black, synthetic leather and carbon fiber plates. My terrifying, crimson glowing cybernetic eyes had been replaced too. They were still synthetic, but at least they looked natural now. A dark green. Not what they had been originally, but it was an improvement. And my hair. Apparently it had grown out while I was being revived. I had it tied back and it fell well past my shoulders.

I ran my right hand along the side of my face, remembering what it was like to feel. Even with my appearance different, I knew what I was.

A Reaper Sentinel.

A synthetic frame in an organic body. Well, mostly organic. I focused for a moment, a frame of red binary springing up in my peripheral vision.

The very coding that defined me. My thoughts, my memories, my simulated emotions. But it was quiet now. I realized, thinking back, that I had been fighting with Azarith for control of my own head for a while. There was noise, struggle. Hallucinations.

The other me with the slicked-back hair and red cybernetic eyes.

Had I really won? It seemed hard to believe. Azarith was dead, gone. Sovereign had tried to take control of my systems and very nearly succeeded. I could feel no intrusions as I stood there, staring into space and focusing on the red coding. After several seconds, I let the coding slip away and my vision returned to normal.

I thought back to the 517th. I had briefly gone over the extranet for something, for some bit of info, for some lead that would tell me that the three Asari were still alive. I found nothing. We had never existed, according to every record I could find, which was limited as many government records were destroyed during the war. Departments were under construction. Servers were destroyed. The Reaper War of 2187 had taken its toll there.

I didn't want to face the actuality that it was over. That they were dead, that we had l left them on such bad terms. I wanted to at least apologize, tell them that I was grateful, that I didn't mean to ditch them. I wasn't sure if I would have that chance. Not now, anyway.

I tugged at my collar once more before noticing Jack rolling up behind me. The old man was quiet. I turned around and faced him.

Goddamn, he looked familiar. Slender, wrinkled face. Green eyes. White, flowing hair that fell to his shoulders. He must have been seventy. Still in a wheelchair. He smiled at me and said. "Forrest… My apologies for the brief introduction. Now that you're settled in, I thought I could entreat you to a tour of this station – as well as answer any more questions you might have."

"Yeah." I responded. "I've got a lot."

"Very well. What do you want to know first?"

My first question was instantaneous. "The 517th. What happened to them?"

Jack looked at me for several seconds, clearly puzzled. "The 517th? Was that the unit you served on before?"

I nodded. "The 517th commando unit. Three Asari and me. I was serving with them when everything went south."

"I see." Jack nodded. "I ran a complete scan on your name. As far as I can tell, you have no history. According to the books, you never existed." He paused. "Now, we both know that's the case. But history is mean. Those details would have been swept away centuries ago, especially if you left Earth before Alliance unification."

"I know." I admitted, nodding once. I figured that was the truth I was going to have to face. It still fucking stung, though. "Alright. So all that's lost. Last thing I remember was running out of breath in space. I figure I died somewhere along the way, but I'm here now. How the hell did you bring me back?"

Jack looked out the window for several seconds before starting slowly. "We were sweeping a new sector of uncharted space when we happened upon a body. Your body. I'm sure you know about your nervous system being synthetic and all. Well, we recovered… you. I knew you were Reapertech, but I could also see that you were human. I needed answers. With recent events, I figured you might be an asset. Selfish, I know." He shook his head. "Much of your organic flesh had deteriorated over the years. That's why you woke up in the bio-tube. We had to use your DNA to essentially re-grew your body. Most of you is the same, but not all."

I stared down at my hands. That was weird.

"Your nervous structure survived just fine. Except for your right arm. I assume you had a bionic hand from before, did you not?"

I nodded.

"I figured as much."He nodded. "Well, the synthetic structure atrophied. We had to replace the entire arm. It seems to have been integrated, but even with the inclusion of new nanotechnology and software it will not last forever."

"Nor will I." I pointed out.

"True enough." Jack agreed.

"So," I began, turning my hands over and inspecting them, noting that they did not match, "Am I still me? Am I still really Forrest?"

"We tried to keep you intact. Your memories, your genetics, your frame are all the same as before. You should be the same. You just have a fresh start."

"Yeah. And I need to get in shape." I grumbled, poking at my left bicep. I was even skinnier than before. Now I barely had muscle mass. I was actually scrawny.

"Providing you're willing, that's part of the plan. We need to get you back in the action." He turned and began to wheel towards the exit. "Come along. We'll see the rest of the station."

"Sure." I began to follow, then spoke. "Trinder, can I ask you a question?"

"Please, call me Jack. What answers can I give you?"

"You were able to rebuild me with nanotech, bring back a dead man. How… How come you're stuck in a wheelchair?"

He stopped for a minute, staring at the floor bleakly. "My boy, not all wounds are physical. A broken spirit is not something that can be fixed by technological advancements or medical inventions."

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"So," I began, "What exactly is TIER? Terminus Recon or whatever?"

We were making our way along a walkway above a hanger. Like the rest of the station, everything was fricking polished black. I could about see the undersides of the craft below because the floor was so shiny. There were two frigates in that specific hanger, medium sized by the looks of them, then racks on each side. On the left, there were fighters. Black with white stripes on their right wing. Probably thirty or so in total. Then on the right, there were racks full of hoverbikes. Hot damn, that was exciting.

"TIER," Jack started to explain, slowing to a stop and looking off the walkway down on the bustling hanger, "Terminus Intelligence Enforcement and Recon. I founded it seven years ago. I suppose you could consider it a paramilitary organization. The Traverse has and always will be lawless and brutal, but we're trying to at least contain that violence, keep it from spilling out on a fragile galaxy."

I nodded slowly, leaning on the railing, watching Asari, Turians, Humans, Salarians, even a few Batarians bustling about the hanger. Cooperation. "A fragile galaxy, huh?"

"I suppose you don't know about the Reaper War."

I shook my head even though I had looked it up on the extranet. I probably didn't know all that much.

"Well…" Trinder started to wheel on again. "A single Reaper, Sovereign, attacked the Citadel seven years ago. It had the intention of opening a massive relay and hailing the Reaper fleet. Between the Alliance and the other Council fleets, we drove it back. Destroyed it. It was the first time the Council had to fight off a serious attack… and it marked the induction of Humans onto the Council."

We paused as we reached the end of the walkway, waiting for an elevator. I smirked. Sovereign was dead. No more worrying about losing my mind.

Jack continued: "Four years later, the Reaper fleet reached the Terminus. Nobody was prepared, and we quickly found out that even our best fleets were outnumbered and outclassed. Our ships, our worlds were devastated." He shook his head and wheeled onto the lift. I followed behind, clasping my hands behind my back and listening as he talked. "We assumed that they were a unitary, opposing force, so the Alliance did not even attempt communications. The war went on for several months, reaching every homeworld and wrecking destruction everywhere. Then… Then something changed. To this day, we do not know what happened. A group of Reapers splintered off from the fleet and called themselves 'Azarith's Guardians.'"

"Azarith?" I asked. I remembered the Reaper from before. He had made me what I was now, and admittedly he had a vision. A vision that this cycle of organics could sustain and would not have to be eradicated. The same vision that got us both killed.

Trinder nodded. "We never figured out who Azarith was, but his splinter group tore a hole right through the main fleet. We were able to turn the tide, fight alongside the Guardians and drive back the invasion."

"Well, seeing as we're still here… I take it we won." I assumed out loud. "Did any of those Guardians survive?"

"As far as I know, five survived. Once the main force had been destroyed, they vanished without a trace. We assumed that they returned to Dark Space and we only assumed that they did not want more conflict."

"Guess I owe Azarith another one." I shook my head.

"You know of him?"

"Yeah. He was a rebel Reaper, if you will." I began, thinking back to the massive machine. "He also made me what I am now. Implanted me with nanotech and brought me into the fight. I was his avatar right until Sovereign arrived."

"I take it you met Sovereign as well, then." Jack inquired.

"Well, he killed Azarith and tried to repurpose me." I noted grimly. "So yeah."

"What year did that happen?"

"It came to a head in 2012." I responded simply.

Jack nodded. "I see." He sounded like he wanted to elaborate more, but didn't.

We finally got off the lift, stepping into a hallway. Looked like work areas to each side. Finally, I asked: "So… how do you fit into this? Why TIER?"

Jack was quiet for several seconds as he rolled along, quiet and seeming deep in thought. When he spoke, it was quiet and deliberate. "I was in the Alliance military. A commander. I lead the 423rd Airborne Brigade right into battle against Sovereign. Eighty men, all decades younger than me. Three of us survived. That was the final straw for me. To see those good men killed following my orders, because the Alliance was so set on having every last military craft involved in the fight. We weren't prepared. We weren't even trained to attack dreadnoughts. The three of us that survived were lost in the confusion and rubble. So I disappeared. Collected a few samples from Sovereign's debris and retreated to the Terminus."

Perhaps he was younger than he looked.

"That's probably when this happened, huh?" I asked, gesturing to his wheelchair.

"Yes… yes it was. A support beam collapsed and broke my lower back in five places. But having killed my squad kept me unable to recover."

"Damn." I shook my head. "That's rough."

"It was. But it also drove me to found TIER, to try and do something different." He shook his head. "it has not been a smooth road. Other paramilitary groups, Cerberus from Earth, Typhon from Palaven, have made our type of organization infamous, feared and hated."

"What was Cerberus?" I asked. I hoped it wasn't what the legends had foretold.

"In short… they were a human organization that operated recklessly, setting a rather undesirable reputation for similar groups. They also ended up allying with the Reapers."

"Well shit." So Azarith was right. I didn't remember any mention of the second point, though.

"Needless to say, the Council has not been receptive of TIER. Even though we have nothing to hide, our operations are forced to be secretive." He continued on, seeming to pay little mind to the people bustling about with guns or armor. "And unfortunately, TIER is necessary right now. We are waging a war on an enemy almost more ruthless than the Reapers. In part, that is why I hold hope in you. You may know more than we do."

"I doubt that." I shook my head sadly. "For all my upgrades and electronics, I still can't remember shit sometimes."

"Perhaps…. But anything will help now." Jack turned into a room to our right. A small armory, fully equipped. He wheeled to the center of the room and stopped, turned around and faced me. "The enemy we're going up against now calls himself 'The Contractor.'"

Back up a minute.

I stood there in the doorway, no, I was frozen there, for several seconds.

It can't be. We killed him centuries ago.

"The Contractor?" I finally managed to ask. "Please don't tell he's back too. The grey and red armor, the Reaper-tech, the galactic army…"

Jack looked disheartened. "I'm afraid so, my boy. I didn't know how you fit in, but he launched search raids over a year ago, looking for an old Reaper sentinel. Said he wanted it destroyed. I take it you tussled before."

I began pacing, digging my fingers into my hair as my mind raced. Panic. At first I couldn't even discern the processes. Last time around, I had a squad. People stronger than me, smarter, more experienced. I didn't have the 517th now. I had TIER. Resources, maybe. They seemed harmless enough for the time being, but it was not the total trust I had with my squad. "It can't be the same Contractor. We killed him in 2012, ended his rampage then and there. There's no way he could have come back. I just… no. It has to be something else."

"Tell me if these look familiar, then." Jack instructed as he raised an omni-tool and brought up a highly detailed holo of some stony ruins. And amidst the stones, there were machines. Cyborgs with very few organic parts left. Grey plating over their entire body, two sets of arms both armed with razor-sharp metal blades, thin, crimson slats in the place of eyes.

I felt my heart drop as I recognized them: "Mark Twenty-Fives.

Mk.25s. The old Contractor's ultimate battle platform. Take a functioning person, implant them with enough cybernetics to build a legion of droids, arm them with blades, reprogram them, and set them loose.

"I'm sorry to break all of this to you, Forrest. I truly am." Jack apologized. "We're in a race now, TIER against the Contractor. I don't know what he has planned, but if what we have seen is any indication… may God have mercy on us all."

I stopped pacing and sat down on a workbench. I didn't say a word. I just sat there and stared at the floor. I didn't know what to do or think. I had barely been able to keep myself together knowing that everything else had gone to hell. But knowing that the Contractor was back?

"I understand that this is a tremendous burden to put on anyone. I will help you however I can, but you know what it will take to fight the Contractor."

"I need to get back in fighting shape. We'll need weapons and armor. A squad. A fast ship. And I need time to hunt this bastard down again." I explained, my blank expression not reflecting the fury in my words.

"I can assist with the first four. Time… I can only do so much to change that." Jack explained. "For weapons and armor, this room is yours. You'll have access to everything TIER possesses."

"You trust me?" I asked, raising my brow skeptically. "Just like that when you know that I'm a Reaper Sentinel?"

"My boy, things are never clear cut. Allies can be the most powerful enemies, and enemies can be the most powerful allies. I know what you are. And I know you were Azarith's creation. If you believe the same as he did…"

"Heh. I guess I do." I shook my head. Strange to think that we stood for the same cause all along. We sure fought like we weren't.

"Mutual trust will be the means by which we are able to survive." Jack explained. "Now, as for a squad… I have three specialists in mind. The decision is ultimately yours, but they have my recommendation."

"Alright. Let's get started, then."

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