A/N: Hi guys/gals, thanks for the awesome reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter and feel free to pick apart any mistakes I make as I have no beta reader for this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect but I do own James. Can someone own themselves?
Chapter 2.
The hiss of the escape pod barely fazed James as the small life boat decoupled from Yanwe's ship. The young man's face looked grim as he stared into the void of space through the window of the pod bay. The ship that he had claimed…was called the Espero which was the Masodian word for 'hope'. All that meant little to James as he stared grimly at the escape pod that was beginning its descent into the Sol sun.
After rifling through Yanwe's memories, James had taken upon himself to carry out the tradition of the Masodians. A tradition which James thought was poetic as it signified the cycle of life and death. They had believed that all living creatures that sprang forth from stellar matter should return to the source as stellar dust. It was a tradition that James didn't mind the least, especially when he had no room to leave a decomposing body of a dead alien on-board the Espero.
James stared for a moment longer at the descending pod as it broke up in the Sun's corona sphere before walking toward the elevator and headed toward the bridge. On the outside, he looked calm and composed but internally he was panicking as the reality of the situation started to sink in. He was aboard an alien ship, 159 years into the future in the Mass Effect universe which he knew would be invaded by a homicidal race of machines at some point.
He did not relish the prospect of going through a war with the Reapers that would end with the destruction of the galaxy. But as these thoughts ran through his mind, he realized that he still had years to plan for their arrival. He had the tools on-board the Espero to start building technology and the knowledge of the Masodians to help him combat the Reapers, but he couldn't help wondering if that was even enough.
One step at a time, starting with the most important question that ran through his mind.
How the hell did I end up in the Mass Effect games? James wondered.
As he entered the bridge, he scratched his chin in thought. Possibilities ran through his mind, each one more absurd than the last one. At first he motioned the idea that he had ripped a hole in the fabric of space with the time device like what happened to Yanwe, but as he analyzed the ship's logs, he knew that was not the case. Despite the damage it had sustained, the time device had worked as intended by sending him through time. However, instead of being sent back in time, it had sent him forward as a result of a minor malfunction in the navigation array. It was obvious at this point, that the malfunction could not have sent him to another dimension.
It still didn't explain how he arrived in a fictional game however, and try as he might he couldn't find a possible explanation. That left only one thing to do. James decided to head to Earth to do some research and hopefully find answers.
With that in mind, he turned the ship into a low-powered state, while keeping the cloak running. He couldn't use the ship as the sub-light engines were completely burnt out but that didn't deter him. Satisfied that the ship would remain undetected, he headed toward the cargo bay where two small flight shuttles were stationed.
Boarding one of the shuttles, he glanced at the controls which looked overly complicated until memories flashed in his mind. James couldn't help comparing the feeling of it to the Matrix movie where Trinity rapidly learned how to operate an M-109 helicopter on the fly. It was quiet unsettling but passed quickly and he was underway, heading toward Earth in a shuttle which he was certain was going to be flagged for its alien appearance. Accessing the knowledge of the Masodians, James did his best to match the frequency of his shuttle to that of an Alliance Kiosk. The information that he had hacked from the Alliance ship had helped tremendously in that regard.
It took him about eight minutes to reach Earth's outer atmosphere where he was hailed by the Alliance orbital station which had an array of weapons pointed firmly at James' shuttle. He gulped nervously at the size of the point defense turrets which felt menacing even from a distance.
James hastily answered the hail. "Hi um, how is your day. Look…er I'm a tourist visiting Earth."
"Our sensors show that you are using an unregistered Kiosk frequency, please identify yourself and why you are using a military shuttle?" came the unmistakable sound of a military female operator.
James couldn't make out the accent but it had a slight distinct Russian drawl. He tried to remember if the major superpowers of the world, such as the United States and Russia had still existed in the Mass Effect games but came up blank.
"Um it's a civilian Kiosk, modified for my personal use." James replied nervously. There was a pause as the operator on the other end of the line didn't reply right away. He felt his apprehension rising and wondered if they had discovered his duplicity.
"I see, and you say that you're visiting Earth as a tourist?"
"Yes"
"Very well, welcome to Earth. Please follow the coordinates to the Liverpool landing ports."
James breathed a sigh of relief. He frowned a moment later as he had the distinct impression that he hadn't gotten to the hard part yet. The young man navigated his shuttle into the atmosphere of Earth and took a chance to admire the scenery. He couldn't help smirking as he realized that not too long ago he had been an average Joe driving the country-side with a classic car, and now he was flying through space about to do a reentry into his home planet.
James was completely floored. Moments later, he was shaken out of his thoughts as a gruff voice spoke from the radio.
"Hello and welcome to Earth. Please follow the coordinates and do not deviate from the flight path. We will consign a border officer to you once your vessel has landed."
Well shit, James thought. He didn't have any identity papers in this time line which might prove to be a problem in the long run. Of course people on Earth weren't about to let a stranger from outta space roam their planet without some form of ID. Did paper even exist in this century?
Good one James, you idiot. He couldn't help cursing himself a he forgot to forge identity documents.
James shook his head and decided to cross that bridge later. He had a feeling that the System Alliance wouldn't take kindly to him deviating from his flight path toward Liverpool landing ports. With that in mind, he carefully navigated his way toward England and entered London airspace. He was pleasantly surprised to find London looking somewhat unchanged in the future but he did notice a clash of futuristic buildings alongside an array of 20th century era buildings such as the famous Big Ben at the north end of the Palace of Westminster which still stood proudly, displaying its heritage.
He didn't have much time to admire the scenery as he flew the shuttle toward what used to be the Liverpool train station which had been transformed into a large space port, looking lively with many ships entering and exiting the super structure. Following the coordinates that the Alliance operator had given him, he found his way toward an array of smaller docking ports designed for shuttles and landed his Masodian vessel with nary a jolt.
He powered down the shuttle and sighed as he moved to exit the craft. As the airlock opened, James was treated to the sight of his first glimpse of the Mass Effect universe. The hover cars which flew overhead in the clear blue skies, the futuristic holographic billboards arrayed off the side of buildings and the approaching border officers wearing the telltale signs of Omni-tools on their arms, destroyed any doubts he had about being in a fictional game, only it felt very real and lifelike.
He couldn't help scoffing lightly at the design of the hover cars in the skies. "Pfff my 1969 mustang looks better"
"Hello sir and welcome to Earth. May I see your identity documentation please?"
James whirled around to see two officers standing before him, giving his ship strange glances. The officers had an interesting mixture of curiosity, confusion and boredom on their faces as they saw the shuttle but they remained professional.
"Sir, do you have identity documentations?"
This brought James up short, trying to think of an excuse. "Um well you see –"
"Stan, can't you see that this bloke doesn't have an Omni-tool. He ain't got no credentials." One of the officers interrupted, pointing out at James' arm.
He had to think quickly as it looked as though the officers were getting suspicious. "Before you so rudely interrupted me, I was about to say that I have technophobia and do not believe in technology. It's why I don't use an Omni-tool."
"Oh great, not another one," replied the officer whose name was Stan. "Them technophobia stooges are right nutters in the head."
James was getting frustrated but kept his temper in check. "Look, I'm a tourist looking to visit Earth's natural wonders and I came all this way…"
"Laddie, without the proper ID you can only stay on Earth for a period of 24 hours. That is standard operating procedure to allow people for enough time to refuel their space ships and restock supplies." replied Stan, not missing a beat.
James nodded and projected the image of looking disappointed. "I guess that's fine. I think I have enough time to at least explore London before my 24 hours is up."
"Hold on, you have to sign some forms first before you can go."
"Uh sure, where do I sign?" James replied.
Stan sighed and glanced to his partner. "Ordinarily this is done with a handshake of the Omni-tools…but in your case, we'll make an exception. Just place your thumb here and my Omni-tool will scan your fingerprint."
James complied, placing his thumb on the Omni-tool which began scanning. He couldn't help admiring how solid the orange glow of the hologram felt. He recalled a flashback from playing the games, where he discovered that Omni-tools were composed of hard light to form the interactive and complex hologram. It was one of the few pieces of technology that the Masodians had never really branched out to, so he made a mental note to buy an Omni-tool later.
"All done laddie, enjoy your stay on Earth, however I need to remind you that you only have 24 hours before we impound your….shuttle."
"I understand and thank you." James replied, nodding to the officers.
"Good, you won't like what comes after impounding your shuttle," the officer trailed off, implying at the subtle threat. With that, they walked away leaving James standing on the platform, frowning in thought.
He had succeeded in getting to Earth but he wasn't sure what to do next. All he knew was he needed to find some answers to his predicament, so he decided to head to the nearest public Library. That had to still exist in this timeline, right?
It took him almost an hour and many muttered curses to find the nearest Public Library while walking on foot as he had no galactic standard credits to pay for a rapid transit hover car. Ironically enough, the library in question was an old 20th century building that looked modernized with the assortment of holographic projection screens everywhere.
James trudged inside with a sigh and began looking for a terminal where he could access the internet, assuming it still existed in this era. It didn't take long to find an empty terminal nearby; however, as he had never encountered holographic technology, it took him a few minutes to adjust.
What do you know, the internet did exist. Well sort of, as James discovered after a quick search which revealed that the Internet had undergone several evolutionary iterations. The current iteration being internet 3.0, which was somewhat amusing as James briefly wondered if PornHub was still around.
Shaking his head, James started researching various topics regarding the history of Earth between the late 2020's and 2175 CE. After several hours of grumbling, James could feel his patience beginning to flay as he continued to search for anything that could explain how he landed in a fictional game.
In a last ditch effort, he typed in the words 'Mass Effect Game' into the search bar and without preamble, clicked search. At first, there didn't appear to be any mentions of Mass Effect or Bioware but after several minutes of procrastination, he discovered a site that revealed much to his amusement that Bioware seemed to have tanked in the year 2047 after going bankrupt. The gaming company no longer existed which suited James just fine, considering the stunt they had pulled with the ending of Mass Effect 3.
Once more, James logical mind took over and began drawing conclusions. If Bioware had existed in this timeline, there was a good chance that the Mass Effect games did in fact exist as well. Sure enough, there seemed to be a few surviving links to websites featuring an old 20th century game called Mass Effect. If James hadn't known what the name of the game was, he doubted he could have found the websites in the first place which were effectively buried under the weight of so many new websites made in the last century.
The websites in question were positively ancient, and if he didn't know any better, he was certain that the surviving sites were derelict. But as he scrolled down the sites, he could feel his confusion and shock rising. There in front of him, featured articles of the same Mass Effect games he had played, including the upcoming game ME Andromeda he had yet to play.
Da fark? How could a Triple-A title game be inside the reality of said game….the inception is strong with this one, James mentally thought.
He was completely shocked as he stared at the holographic screen in front of him. Why no one in the Mass Effect universe had noticed or remembered a Bioware game that would eventually predict the future was beyond him but if he had to guess, it was probably due to obscurity of a 168 year old ancient game and the lack of information on the internet surrounding the ME franchise and the fact that Bioware had went bankrupt causing thousands of games to be lost.
No one likely knows that the Mass Effect games exist, James surmised.
With that revelation, James slumped in defeat while staring at the screen as if it had transformed into a tentacle slimy monster, the kind that could only come from something out of a hentai manga series. His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp ringing noise in his head followed by a throbbing white-hot pain that lanced through his mind.
James had only time to cry out in pain before he passed out cold and his world went dark.
"How long has he been out?"
The sound of the harsh voice woke James up with a start. He took in his surroundings and found to his dismay that he was in some sort of futuristic cell. What brought his attention however were the two figures standing near the exit of the cell, silently watching him with calculating looks upon their faces.
James instantly recognized one of the figures as Stan, the border officer he met back in the Liverpool space port. The other one looked distinctly familiar but he could not recall meeting him at all. It took him a moment to realize why the man looked familiar and with a shock, he whispered incredulously.
"Captian Anderson!"
"Actually, it's Lieutenant David Anderson. How did you know my name son?" replied the African descent. The man looked sharply at James at the mention of his name. He exuded a powerful, commanding aura about him as he stood with his hands in a military posture behind his back that sent shivers down James' spine.
James cursed slightly for his slip-up and wracked his brain for a suitable answer. He reminded himself that he had landed eight years before the events of Eden Prime which inevitably meant that David Anderson hadn't gained his Captaincy yet.
"Sir, here is the fugitive's fingerprint. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to come up with a match…which means this guy doesn't exist." Stan said. The border officer sent a data file to Anderson's Omni-tool which beeped a confirmation.
"Interesting…good work Stan, you may go," Lt. Anderson replied.
Stan gave Lt. Anderson a snappy salute and walked out of the cell, leaving the two men alone to stare at each other. The silence stretched as the two men continued in a staring contest until Lt. Anderson spoke.
"So…according to the scan of your fingerprint, you don't exist in any database we have."
James carefully observed the man, while he tried to figure out a good lie that would convince Anderson, although considering what he knew of the man from the games, he seriously doubt any lie would work. The man had essentially figured Saren's game long before anyone else did which was impressive really, but he still had to try.
"Well, as I told the good officer back there, I was born and raised to be technophobic, in the outskirts of the borders of Alliance space with a close knit group of colonists. Hey, did you really have to knock me out?" James replied, keeping his voice measured while trying to deflect the interrogation.
Anderson stared at James with a slight frown marrying his face.
"We didn't. The Library curator found you unconscious on the floor and called the emergency services. Red flags were raised when it appeared that you didn't exist in our databases."
Anderson sighed before continuing. "Now that we have gotten that out of the way, tell me who you represent: Blue Suns?...Eclipse?...are you with Cerberus?"
Oh shit, he thinks I'm either a merc or pirate….fuck, this isn't looking good, James inwardly cursed. He made a mental note to check himself for any health issues later to determine if downloading the Masodian knowledge had caused any brain damage. It was the only thing that could explain why he passed out unconscious in the Library.
"I told you, I'm a –"
"Where are you really from? The Terminus System?" Lt. Anderson interrupted.
"Look, I – I come in peace," James replied sarcastically. He knew he was going to regret it, but he just had to. The young man morphed his features into a stoic look and extended his hand out in a Vulcan salute.
Yep, he was definitely sure he had brain damage.
13 Minutes later….
"Oh come on, how was I supposed to know that Anderson didn't have a sense of humor," James grumbled. He couldn't help smirking as he remembered the look on Anderson's face as he left cell immediately, not looking amused in the least.
"Congratulations, I have never seen anyone get under Lt. Anderson's skin like that," replied a police officer whose name eluded James.
The policeman, who was trailing behind James, was tasked with escorting him to a room where he would be processed. James had to applaud his Oscar-level of acting as he walked along the corridor, almost coiled like a Cobra. This was the moment he had been waiting for.
"Yeah, you'd think… arrrrrghhh," James started before groaning convincingly. He collapsed on the floor, scrunching his face up as if he were in pain. Then his body slumped and his eyes rolled up, in a passable impression of an unconscious person, sprawled on the floor.
The officer took this time to check Jame's pulse before reaching for his headset radio.
"This is Scott, I need a doct—"
James didn't waste any time as he sprung forth and delivered a heavy blow to the side of Scott's head who crumbled to the floor out cold. The young man started rifling through the policeman's uniform pockets, looking for the keycard that would allow him to escape.
"Sorry buddy, but I need this."
In moments, he found it and began running down the hallway. Several times, he nearly ran into officers inside the building but managed to duck into some rooms to hide. He had trouble finding the exit, but after a few moments he found the back door to the police station. As he was passing through the door, the alarms in the station began blaring. James cursed inwardly and began running down the street, trying to get as far away from the station as possible.
He kept running for over ten minutes until he was sure that he had gotten far enough away before leaning on the side of a small building for support, gulping in a huge lungful of air. When he had calmed his racing heart, he took stock of his situation which he realized, was not looking good. He was no doubt a wanted criminal by the police and they would most likely be impounding his shuttle soon if they haven't already done so. He had to get back to the shuttle before it was impounded so with that in mind, he began racing toward the Spaceport with a newfound sense of urgency.
A young Quarian, stood with her arms folded, trying and failing to exude a powerful aura as she faced off a group of thugs, murderers and thieves all wearing blue armor with a prominent logo displayed on their chests.
She knew that logo very well. Every Quarian was taught in the Migrant Fleet to avoid criminal organizations from all over the galaxy before they left to go on their Pilgrimage. In this case, the logo which glinted in the morning sunlight belonged to a particularly nasty organization who were widely known as the Blue Suns.
As the group of Blue Suns surrounded the lone Quarian, she couldn't help noticing that they consisted of a many different races including Turians, Asarians, Batarians and Humans, all of which were now pointing their weapons at her.
"Look, I am on a Pilgrimage and I came to transport medical supplies to my people," the Quarian girl implored, her voice wavering.
"Beat off, the Blue Suns are now claiming ownership to this lot," replied the ringleader, gesturing to the supply of Medi-gel and state-of-art Omni-tools which were stored in crates.
"But—"
She was interrupted by the sound of safeties clicking off and knives clanging as they were drawn from scabbards.
"We weren't asking… girl"
"Oh Keelah…" she whispered, afraid for her life.
James cursed for the umpteenth time as the familiar sound of sirens drew close. He had already evaded several police hover cars as he drew close to the Spaceport. The police were obviously very determined to find him which made his job all the more harder to escape. He had been running for several minutes and felt himself getting winded from the strenuous workout. James made a mental note to start doing exercises every day if he managed to escape this fubar mission.
"Oh Keelah…"
James whirled around at the voice and did a double-take as he looked at the sight before him. There before him, were a gang of thugs wielding guns and knives threateningly at a trembling Quarian who was cornered at the end of gloomy alley.
This made James angry as he took in the situation. There was one thing he hated more than anything and it was bullies. He decided there and then to save the Quarian, and somehow fend off a group of well-armed and equipped hooligans with nothing but the clothes on his back. He considered his options which were limited as he had no weapons or power-armor to protect him.
It left him with one thing to do which was to create some sort of distraction. A distant memory of his grandfather speaking to him flashed through his mind as he made a plan.
'James, always remember that your mind is your greatest weapon….'
He always took those words to heart soon after his grandfather had died. It had served him well in the past. James glanced around; looking for anything he could use as a distraction and spied one of the crates which appeared to be full of bullet holes, with huge chunks of debris milling around it. It looked like someone had forced open the crate in a sloppy manner. At a closer look, he noticed that some of the debris was actually an array of intact Omni-tools sprawling around the ground. Coincidently, the damaged crate happened to be nearest to the Quarian who was now cowering with her arms raised as if to ward off evil.
James started to formulate a plan and smirked maliciously. He took a moment to steady himself before he ran toward the Quarian at top speed. The gang hadn't noticed him yet which worked in his favor until he was almost upon them. There was a shout of surprise as finally, one Blue Sun thug noticed him approaching and made to warn the others. By then, it was too late as James awkwardly flipped by the damaged crate, left hand clawing desperately at the pile of Omni-tools on the ground while his right arm wrapped around the Quarian's midriff and dragged her with him behind the crate.
Time slowed down to a crawl as he saw the Blue Suns raised their guns to fire, but his attention was drawn to the Omni-tool clutched innocently in his hand.
"DON'T SHOOT, I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!" James yelled. The bold-face lie was enough to give the Blue Suns' gang a pause.
"Does this thing come with sound?" James whispered furiously, taking advantage in the lull of the battle.
"Um…I- yes it does," The Quarian replied, looking flummoxed at her savior.
"Fan-fucking-tastic…alright let's see…."James mumbled, as he tweaked the Omni-tool urgently. He glanced behind the crate to see the Blue Suns gang advancing cautiously.
"Hear that lads, this human thinks he's hotshot with a single piece!"
"Stay back, I will shoot," James shouted. He went back to fiddling with the Omni-tool, nibbling his tongue in thought.
The Quarian snorted in disbelief and whispered incredulously. "With what, air pellets? You don't have a gun, human."
"Oh ye of lil' faith….aha gotcha," James replied victoriously. He did a mental jig as his plan was coming along nicely.
"We only want the Quarian. We'll let you go human."
James almost snorted at that. Yeah right, after what I saw what the Blue Suns did to Garrus in ME 2…
"Hey, how do I ramp up the volume to maximum on this thing?" James whispered, pointing at the Omni-tool.
"Like this," The Quarian replied as her three-fingered hand flew across the holographic display of the Omni-tool at dizzying speeds. There was a beep which James took to mean that the Omni-tool was ready.
James smiled in satisfaction and nodded at her who simply stared back incredulously at him. She took the moment to study the human before asking a question.
"Err, what are you doing?"
"Well, I thought that I should be a gentleman and save you," James replied, flashing white teeth.
Once again, she snorted and answered derisively. "Well you're doing a marvelous job so far"
"Aha Aha…not until the fat lady sings," he replied, wagging is finger at her.
"What…?"
At her confusion, he elaborated with a single word and a jab of his finger at the Omni-tool. "This!"
There was a loud wailing of a very…familiar siren that all criminals had come to know intimately, emanating from the Omni-tool in James' hand.
"Quick, the Alliance is coming, gather the crates and heave to." The Blue Sun ringleader shouted. The gang gathered the crates and stumbled down the street as fast they could with their heavy load.
As they faded into the distance, James smiled in relief. He took a chance to glance at the startled Quarian before turning off the siren from his Omni-tool.
"How did you do that?" The Quarian asked, dumbfounded.
"Psychology 101, criminals always run at the sound of Sirens," James replied, looking faintly smug.
"But…how?"
"Well that was simple. I downloaded an audio file of the standard police siren from the Internet and played the audio. Thank god this thing has wireless," he answered, admiring his Omni-tool.
"I can't believe that worked…that's…" She stuttered, while her body language displayed shock and amazement.
"Well, it looks like they're gone…you're welcome by the way," said James. The young man stood up from his crouch and looked about at the empty street. The crates that had been there moments ago was gone, no doubt carried away by the Blue Suns.
"Oh no, they took everything," she cried out in dismay. James squinted at the Quarian who looked upset over the loss of the crates.
"I take it that it was yours?"
"Oh Keelah…yes I was on my Pilgrimage. I was sent to buy Medi-gel and the latest Omnitools in bulk for the Migrant Fleet." She replied, looking downtrodden.
James looked sympathetically at the Quarian and wondered if there was anything he could do. He was reminded of his situation moments later as he heard the faint sounds of sirens in the distance. James shook his head and knew that there was nothing he could do for her.
"Look, I'm… er sorry for what has happened, maybe you can be re-reimbursed for your losses if you file a complaint or something, but right now I gotta go as I'm on the clock," James replied solemnly.
There was brief silence as the Quarian considered his words, before she shocked him with her reply.
"Then I am coming with you."
"I'm sorry but no. It's too damn dangerous," he said firmly.
The Quarian crossed her arms stubbornly which had the effect of accentuating her already sizable bosom. James had to consciously keep his eyes from drifting down as he stared at her.
"As hard as it is to believe, you saved my life and my people have an edict when it comes to this by returning the gesture in kind so I am coming with you until my debt is repaid," she said stubbornly.
"I….grrr. Fine, we need to get to my shuttle at the Spaceport. Try and keep up with me," James relented.
They ran down the street, heading toward the giant space port with the sound of sirens snapping at their heels.
"I'm Lunna'Hillo vas Mizal," Lunna' panted as she ran.
"Hi Lunna', my name is James…Bond, look… we'll get to know each other later but right now we need to leave," He replied urgently.
Several minutes later, two panting figures stumbled onto the shuttle platform upon which the Masodian vessel was stationed. Lunna'Hillo vas Mizal stared at the human who had saved her from the Blue Suns, puzzled as to why he was in a hurry. His particular behavior was the greatest source of her consternation, and it didn't escape her notice that he ran as if a rampaging horde of Geth Armatures were snapping at his heels.
"Who are we running from, James?" Lunna' asked.
"Later," he replied, glancing around cautiously.
Lunna' was about to reply when she noticed the shuttle which looked very alien and unlike anything she had ever seen before.
"What- who built this ship? I have never seen anything like it," she wondered aloud.
"I'll explain later, we gotta get this bird off the ground," James explained unhelpfully.
"Are those…Alliance clamps around your ship?"
James looked to where Lunna' was pointing and swore loudly. The alliance had managed to impound his ship with clamps to prevent him from leaving.
"Damn it," he yelled in frustration.
Lunna' stared suspiciously at James, wondering if he was some sort of criminal. But as she recalled how he had saved her life, she couldn't picture him as a bad or evil bosh'tet. After a moment of conflicting thoughts, she decided to place her trust in this human.
"James, I will hack into the clamp system and we should be able to take off….but I want an explanation when this is over," she said, glaring at him for emphasis.
"Thank you, sweet cheeks. I promise I'll explain everything when we're out of Alliance space," James replied graciously.
"Did you just….you know what, never mind," Lunna' muttered somewhat exasperated. The young exotic woman walked to the console panel on the far side of the platform and slapped away on the terminal with more force than usual all the while muttering about crazy humans.
James grinned innocently and entered the shuttle to warm up the engines. It took a few moments for Lunna' to hack the terminal and unclasp the clamps holding the shuttle in place. The sounds of sirens were getting closer as Lunna' entered the shuttle. James for his part could feel the beginnings of a nervous tick as he was getting tired of hearing the sirens.
"That sound should be illegal," he muttered.
"What?"
"Never mind….are the clamps gone?" He asked her.
The Quarian nodded solemnly and sat down in the co-pilots chair. James didn't hesitate to lift into the air and fly at maximum speed into space.
As they flew, James slumped in his chair and sighed heavily. He had been awake for over eighteen hours ever since he had entered this dimension and it was beginning to take a toll on him. He was about to capitalize on the silence and peace until Murphy's Law decided to crash the party.
"Unknown Vessel, our scans are showing an illegal take-off. You have ten seconds to land your shuttle or we will be forced to open fire."
"Oh for crying out aloud," James muttered, glaring at the radio. He put every ounce of power into the sub-light engines and flew directly toward the Espero. With any luck, the Alliance wouldn't have a chance to scramble fighters to intercept their shuttle. But that was not to be, as there was an incessant beeping coming from the sensor telemetry terminal which showed over 30 fighters heading toward their shuttle.
"Fuck you Murhpy's Law!"
"What is this Murphy's law?" Lunna' deigned to ask him.
James glanced at Lunna' then turned back to his console and replied sadly. "It's something worse than the Geth….and even far worse than Clowns. It's…trust me, you don't want to encounter it, sweet cheeks"
"Would you stop calling me that – that name," Lunna' snapped at him, gritting her teeth. James gave her a lopsided smile before he jerked as the radio flared to life.
"This is your last warning. Disable your engines and prepare to land, failure to –"
James had enough and turned the radio off with a grunt. He glanced at the monitor which showed the fighters slowly advancing on his ship, despite the fact he was already at maximum speed limit his shuttle could travel.
"Damn, this isn't good, we'll never make it back to the Espero before the fighters reach us," James muttered angrily.
"What do we do?" Lunna' asked him worriedly.
James thought furiously for a few seconds. He needed a way to shake off the fighters long enough to reach the Espero. He glanced at the sensors and noticed that he was approaching Jupiter. His eyes widened as a light bulb went off in his head.
"Mmmm, this should work," he mumbled. The young man piloted the shuttle toward the gas giant which was rapidly growing larger in their field of vision every second.
"What are you doing?" The Quarian inquired, sounding nervous.
"We need to shake those fighters and the only way to do that is to do an aero-braking maneuver around Jupiter….the gas giant should throw off their sensors long enough for us to reach the Espero. It should make us temporarily invisible to them…hopefully."
"Hopefully? This is crazy….you are crazy," Lunna' retorted. She began to panic and her breathing grew irregular.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine sweet cheeks," he replied, flashing her grin.
Lunna's anger flared and she started rambling in her native language. James smirked, somewhat amused at how easily it was to rile up the Quarian but it had the effect of getting rid of her panic attack.
"Alright here we go," James said, for Lunna's benefit. The shuttle began to jerk and shudder as the gravity of the gas giant took hold. The force propelled the shuttle in a 180 degree angle, while rapidly accelerating the vessel far beyond the speed limits of the sub-light engines. It took a few seconds for the shuttle to complete its aero-braking maneuver and exit the gravity of Jupiter.
James took this opportunity to glance at the sensors which showed that the fighters no longer following his shuttle and he smiled.
"Told you we'd be fine Lunna'," he said smugly.
Lunna' who was still gripping her armrest in a vice-grip, muttered softly. "Crazy bosh'tet."
By unspoken agreement, the duo sat in silence while staring at the stars. Both James and Lunna' were in deep thought for different reasons. During that time, James took the opportunity to examine the revelations that he had discovered at the Library and found that he still couldn't explain how he had ended up in a fictional game. There was nothing that could explain it, but he made a mental note to do some more research later.
The shuttle finally made it to the Espero in half the time than normal thanks to the extra speed the shuttle had picked up from Jupiter's gravity.
"We have arrived," James broke the silence.
"But I don't see any ship?" Lunna' replied.
"It'll become visible to us when we pass the cloaking field surrounding the Espero."
"What – but no such technology exists," she stuttered. The Quarian was stunned as she saw a gray-silver streamlined ship appear in her peripheral vision. James smiled and amusement danced across his eyes at her reaction. He carefully docked the shuttle in the docking bay and couldn't help making one last quip, partly for his benefit of relieving tension.
"Thank you for flying with Delta Express. We hope you enjoyed your flight and please make sure you have gathered your belongings in the overhead and next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube; we hope you'll think of us here at Delta Express."
Lunna' had the strong urge to whack James behind the head. Instead she settled for the next best thing.
"Crazy Bosh'tet!"
End Chapter.
