Author Notes: Forgive me. A day after posting this chapter I realized more content could be added. The chapter seemed too short. Regardless, I hope the readers will enjoy the added content.
On a further note, A few reviewers have been questioning why Harry is being treated roughly. Consider, what would you do if a stranger approached you and you felt threatened by his/her presence? The authoritative figures on the Citadel are acting to keep the civilians aboard safe from harm. They are un-aware of Harry's intentions and are assuming hostility. Better safe than sorry. That is all I have to say.
-Chapter 4-
Perhaps he should have acted on his bluff. With blurred vision and a throbbing headache, Harry awoke lying down at an angle. What exactly happened after the Normandy SR9 docked?, he thought. He remembered instructing Aura to lock down the ship once he left to prevent thievery. He also remembered giving full control of the ship to Aura if the local populace attempted to force their way into the ship, upon which she will undock from the Citadel and fly the Normandy SR9 to a safe distance away from the Citadel. If the intruders were dumb enough to continue to force their way in, he gave Aura the ability to vent the atmosphere from the drone bay. Since the ship didn't have a docking tube, He told Captain Togris that a form of shuttle would be needed to board his ship at the gaping maw at the bow of the ship, which was the drone bay. He couldn't remember much after he met the boarding party on the deck of the drone bay. Right, Harry thought, I need to find a way out of this room and back to the Normandy SR9. He tried to get up, but Harry found that his wrists and ankles were constrained to a table that he lied upon. "The hell?", he verbally thought. He tried to break the metal bands with his industrialist strength, but was unable to break himself free. Once his vision improved, he observed the room he was in.
There was a panel to his left that had a small, red holographic display in front of it. Perhaps that was a door. The floor around his table was clear and barren, there weren't other tables or chairs to be found. The counters behind him were bare as well, but he wondered what was in the cupboards. In front of him, he saw a glass panel that revealed people being processed through what looked like a scanner. They must be immigrants or new-comers to this station. If that was the case, Harry was surely not far from the hanger bay that held his ship..., unless Aura felt that the ship needed to undock. He hoped that the latter wasn't true, and he also wondered if the immigrants could see him. His musings were interrupted when he heard the panel to his left whisk open. Harry turned his head to see who was on the other side of the door.
"Oh good you're awake." The other spoke in a feminine voice as she walked forward, "We can begin right away."
"And you are?" questioned Harry.
"First lets find out who you are, and why you are here." spoke the other, as she halted in front of Harry and turned to face him.
"What, Captain Togris didn't tell you who I am?", asked Harry.
"No, he didn't." bluntly spoke the other, "That SOB has never trusted humans, and you are avoiding the question."
After a slight pause, Harry responded, "Very well. My name is Harry Namarr, I do not seek the holy grail, and my favorite color is blue."
The woman angrily leaned toward Harry. "This isn't a game Harry, you are a complete unknown to us and you think its wise to crack jokes."
"Just lightening the mood ma'am." spoke Harry, coolly.
The woman defused her anger and pulled herself away from Harry. "What is it you seek then?" the woman asked.
"Well I'd like to know how I got here," Harry quickly answered, "as well as your name, Miss...?"
The woman thought for a moment, probably listening to her ear-piece in her left ear, Harry thought to himself, Also if she doesn't reveal her name I'll have to come up with one.
"My name is not important right now, I'm afraid..." the woman responded, coolly.
"Susan then." interrupted Harry, "So, Miss Susan, as far as I remember I met a boarding party on my ship, and then I woke up here. Am I missing any details?" Harry questioned, although he knew he was missing a good chunk of detail.
"We were given orders to arrest you Mr. Namarr. So once we boarded your ship to greet you, you refused to come into custody, and we had to... persuade you... to come with us." Susan answered.
Harry reached up to rub the back of his head, but the constraints reminded him he couldn't use his limbs. Harry resorted to rubbing his head on the table he was tied to, which wasn't the same. "So I was knocked out to make it easier for you people to drag me into custody." Harry answered for himself. After a brief pause he asked, "Who are you people?!"
"We are the law enforcement on this station." Susan snapped back, "Do you remember the red and blue flashers on our cars?"
"No,"Harry grudgingly responded, "You must've knocked that bit of memory out of me. Was anyone hurt?"
Relaxing a bit, Susan answered, "No one was hurt when we knocked you out. Your robotic toys activated though and watched us as we left. I would be lying if none of us were a bit frightened."
"Good... for no one getting hurt." Harry clarified. Aura must've been watching me through the drones' cameras. I'll have to thank her later for not firing on the police. Harry stored the mental note.
"You still haven't told me why you are here." pressed Susan.
Harry chuckled, "I'm just passing by."
Leering at Harry, "I'm sure you are." Susan responded, not taking his bullshit.
Suddenly Harry was very serious. "I'm sure you know that I'm not from around here." Harry spoke with a straight face, eyes locked onto Susan's. "The job given to me by my corporation had me scout out solar systems at the ends of wormholes we have found. This particular wormhole we found landed me here, and collapsed behind me as soon as I exited the wormhole. The travel through the wormhole wasn't as smooth as other wormholes we've found, and as a result my ship was damaged. Using scanning probes, I found this station and came here to attempt to make repairs. And now I'm here, against my will."
"You are here because we aren't sure if you'll be a threat to civilians!" snapped Susan, "And if it wasn't for your mysterious ship and the metal holes in your back, I would have a hard time believing your story."
Relaxing a bit, Harry responded, "Oh these?" as he leaned as far right as the constraints would allow him, revealing the outlines of 2 metal sockets in his back. There were more hidden underneath his uniform for connecting to the capsule in his ship. Lying back down, Harry continued to speak, "Thats another story, one thats irrelevant."
Susan had a frightened look on her face as she leaned onto the glass panel and crossed her arms. "Tentacles aren't going to sprout out of those holes are they?" Susan questioned.
Harry laughed, "So now you're the one making jokes. And no, how these work is actually quite the opposite."
"It wasn't a joke." reminded Susan, "Anyway, you seem human enough, and it looks like you won't be doing any harm to civilians. If I could decide your fate I'd say you were free to go."
"So, am I free to go?" questioned Harry with a curious look on his face.
Tilting her head slightly to the right at the question, Susan pulled herself from the glass panel, unfolded her arms, and kept her right arm raised. A molten orange tubular hologram with a circular holographic section around her hand lit up around her arm as she tapped away at it. Moments later, the constraints on Harry's wrists and ankles were removed and Harry began to rub his wrists.
"You are free from that table, but not from this room. You will have to fill out a questionnaire so we can complete a psych profile on you. I don't suppose you have an omni-tool on you, do you?" Susan questioned as she waved her right arm in the air.
Harry just gave Susan a smug look and tilted his head to the right.
"Very well, someone else will be here to hand you a datapad. If you have any questions I'm sure she will be happy to answer them. Just don't be surprised that she's blue, and doesn't have hair like we do."
"Wait... what?" questioned Harry, puzzled.
The panel whisked open again as Susan approached it. "And my name is not Susan, its Natasha." barked Natasha as the panel whisked shut behind her.
Harry chuckled a little. So that was her name, He thought. He also was chuckling at the thought of potentially meeting a smurf.
About 5 minutes have passed, and just as Natasha had warned a woman in blue strode into Harry's interrogation room, with a small glass panel in hand. She looked human, but Harry couldn't get past the blue skin, and small tentacles that wrapped around her skull that replaced what would have been hair for a human. And she certainly wasn't a smurf in regards to size. It wasn't long before Harry caught himself staring at the woman's forehead, and he averted his eyes to break the trance.
Remembering his manners, Harry made eye contact and extended his hand to greet her with a handshake, saying, "You must be the woman Natasha spoke of. I am Harry Namarr. And you are?"
The woman looked at his hand, then returned her gaze to Harry's eyes and placed the small glass panel in his hand before speaking. "Mr. Namarr? I am Chief Tereesa. Here is a data-pad that contains the questionnaire you need to fill out. I'm sorry we had to lock you up, but we had orders from the council to act to ensure the safety of the civilians here, and that included knocking you out. How are you feeling?" she questioned.
Well at least she's more polite, Harry thought, taking the data-pad. "I'm doing well, all things considered. Just some minor head throbbing but its nothing serious." Harry looked at the data-pad and thought to himself, This must be a touch-pad, As he tested the device by poking it. His thought was proven correct when the device emitted a chime in response. After that, he began filling out the questionnaire. "I'm just glad that I could dock here. The old girl could use a rest after what has transpired." Remembering the instructions he gave to Aura, Harry pulled his eyes from the data-pad and looked at Tereesa. "She's still here isn't she?" Harry questioned.
Tereesa returned a soft expression, "Since you are a Human I assume you must be talking about your ship. Of course its still here. We just sent a team over to secure the ship for study. Why would you think otherwise?" She asked with a curious look on her face.
Uh oh. Harry thought, then spoke. "You may want to call them off."
"Why?" Tereesa questioned.
"Unless you want to see that ship do a magic trick, you need to call off your team." Harry spoke with serious concern as he stopped filling out the questionnaire.
"Your jokes are unwarranted Mr. Namarr. What are you suggesting?" Tereesa pressured.
With a raised tone in his voice, Harry responded, "I'm suggesting that you call off your team!" His eyes were intently focusing on Tereesa's, desperately hoping that she would take the hint. He didn't want to be responsible for deaths that could have been easily avoided.
Tereesa paused as she analyzed Harry's face, wondering if he was bluffing. The majority of the Human criminals she interrogated in her past frequently lied about their crimes to try to avoid jail time. As a result, her senses have become quite accurate on whether the perpetrator was bluffing or not. At this moment though, her senses told her Harry was not bluffing, and that something bad was about to happen.
Taking the hint, Tereesa committed two fingers to the ear-piece in her left ear. "Hey HQ? Whats the status on the team we sent to secure the new ship?" There was a long pause. Harry could see Tereesa becoming more concerned as she received the report, pacing back and forth. Suddenly, she stopped as a mixture of shock and fear erupted on her face as she quickly spoke, "Send teams alpha and charlie over there now! I'm on my way as well." She pulled her fingers from the ear-piece and reached back behind her back. Suddenly Harry noticed the data-pad being pulled from his grasp as he was getting hand-cuffed. Tereesa spoke soon after, "You are coming with me!"
"What do you expect me to do?!" Harry rebutted.
"You tell me, Magic Man!" Tereesa responded as she hustled Harry out of the interrogation room and through a corridor that lead to one of the many hanger bays on the Citadel. Harry soon figured out what was happening and didn't fight back as he began dashing toward the hanger bay as well.
They made haste to where the Normandy SR9 was docked, but they were too late. Upon arrival Harry, Tereesa, and a handful of other Officers watched as the ship pulled away from the hanger bay. The ship rotated to her right once she had room to maneuver and accelerated away with the security team aboard, and her gold plating glistened as she flew out of view. If only I could remotely override Aura's actions, Harry thought, as he watched in awe. Once the Normandy SR9 was out of view, one by one, Tereesa and the other Officers turned their heads upon Harry with looks of anger and disapointment.
Well... shit, was all Harry could think.