-Chapter 9-
"So what do we know about our neighbors?" Harry asked over a secure channel.
There was a little bit of static on the com channel when their scout spoke as communication was beamed through a wormhole. "These guys have obviously never been inside a wormhole before." The scout answered, sounding rather amused. "They're talking to each other with broadcast messages. Typical nullies," he muttered as he mentioned the null-security space residents, "they think they own the system already. I can't wait to prove them wrong."
Harry remembered this event he was now witnessing within the dream. Within their home wormhole system, Harry was sitting motionless nearby a newfound wormhole in the Normandy SR9, ready to jump through and provide backup should their corporate scout need it. On the other side of the wormhole, the corporate scout worked with his ship's onboard directional scanner to find the newcomers. Based on the results of multiple scans, the scout deduced that the two capsuleer pilots were around a null-sec wormhole he had found earlier. Unlike Harry, he gladly jumped into connected wormholes in search for fights or opportunities on hapless miners. From time to time Harry would do the same, only he wouldn't kill hapless miners unless they deserved it. In wormhole space, however, everything is fair game.
"Hang on…" The scout announced as he double checked the broadcast messages his ship was intercepting. After confirming what he read, a grin grew from ear to ear. "Do you have a bubble in your cargohold?" the scout questioned, asking about a Moblie Warp Disruption Field Generator. "I think the nullies found our wormhole and are warping there."
A grin started to grow on Harry's face as well when he figured out what the scout was thinking. "I don't have one with me, but I'll see if HQ will dispatch an interdictor to drop a bubble on my location." Harry was about to call in reinforcements when he noticed something de-cloak off the starboard bow.
Harry watched with sensors for eyes as a Loki class Tech 3 Strategic Cruiser revealed itself, ready to pounce upon its prey.
The Loki, despite the majority of it being made out of rust, was more technologically advanced than the Tech 1 cruiser that was the Normandy SR9. This was possible thanks to the integration of harvested fullerene elements and reverse-engineered sleeper tech. When fitted with the proper modular subsystems, a T3 cruiser was granted battleship-like defenses, higher damage output, superior electronic capabilities including electronic warfare, and increased agility and mobility. Since this cruiser was able to move about their wormhole system undetected, Harry deduced that the ship was designed to sacrifice offensive potential to make room for advanced computers to properly use a Covert-ops cloak. This gave Harry a small degree of hope, but not much. Out-gunned, weaker defenses despite his installed 1600mm armor plate, weaker DPS capabilities, and not as maneuverable; every instinct told Harry to flee. Unfortunately, the decision was made for him when the Loki locked onto the Normandy SR9 and scrambled her warp drive.
No turning back now...
Harry knew that the Normandy SR9 was no match to a Tech 3 cruiser, but since he wasn't going anywhere soon, he figured he'd make the Loki pilot work for his kill. He wasn't even going to try to destroy the Loki with his drones. Instead, he focused on escape. Not thinking about calling for help, Harry piloted the Normandy SR9 into an orbit around the Loki, activating both the fitted afterburner and tracking disruptor in the process in an attempt to reduce incoming damage. He also activated the fitted warp scrambler and stasis webifier to prevent the Loki from pulling range. When he knew that the Loki was within his grasp, Harry activated every fitted energy neutralizer on the Normandy SR9 to try to render the capacitor fluid in the Loki inert, a backup plan should his deployed ECM drones fail to break the Loki's target lock.
Realizing that his turrets weren't hitting their mark, the Loki pilot maneuvered his ship out of orbit around the Normandy SR9 and began maneuvering away from the Arbitrator class cruiser in a straight line. This act not only improved his fitted turret's hampered tracking ability, but also forced the Normandy SR9's navigational computer to fly in a relatively straight line toward the Loki. This has allowed the mounted auto-cannons to hit their mark once again.
Noticing that his armor buffer was being reduced at a faster rate, Harry made a quick decision to take manual flight control and veered his ship off to the right. The moment he did, the incoming metal slugs began to miss his ship again. The struggle between the vessels continued on, and Harry's armor buffer dwindled ever closer to zero percent effectiveness. Occasionally Aura would remind him about low capacitor levels and Harry would remedy that with injected Cap booster charges. During this time, Harry wondered if HQ was aware of the new Loki on their scanners and were dispatching reinforcements to save him. He doubted that though, as he was a few minutes into this struggle and no one came to his aid.
That's when he noticed something. The tech 3 cruiser was no longer disrupting the Normandy SR9's warp core. A closer inspection of the Loki's hull revealed that the shimmer that covered its shields was no longer present, indicating that its defensive systems had shut down. Harry had no idea when he rendered the Loki's capacitor completely inert, but with the Normandy SR9's armor buffer at 37% effectiveness he didn't bother to dwell upon it. This wasn't the proper time or place for it, especially when the Loki's auto-cannons were still firing! Instead, Harry called back the ECM drones and forced the Normandy SR9 to make an emergency warp back to HQ. The Normandy SR9 violently swiveled to the right as it began to align to HQ. While she was aligning, Harry made sure to keep the energy neutralizers running to prevent the Loki from disrupting his warp core again. Soon after, Harry laughed hysterically as the Normandy SR9 warped away, leaving nothing behind for the Loki to kill. This tussle was a major waste of time for the Loki pilot, as Harry secured a small personal victory.
I'll surely remember this...
Harry opened a com channel to his scout on the other side of the wormhole while warping to HQ, "Hey, buddy. I'd sit tight for a minute. Got ambushed. I'll let you know when the wormhole is clear on our end." He didn't even wait for a response from the scout before opening another com channel to rip HQ a new one. "Where the hell were you guys!" he berated, "Didn't you notice I was being hammered by a damn Loki!?" Harry was quite furious, but his rage fell on deaf ears. "If you guys were a little more alert, we might have caught the bastard! No use going after him now, he's probably cloaked up and gone."
It was only then did Harry notice that both communication channels were silent.
He let his rage subside as he fruitlessly attempted to regain contact. "Uhhh... guys. Do you copy? I was just attacked by... a..." Harry was dumbfounded. As the Normandy SR9 decelerated from warp speeds, his eyes beheld a sight of fire, debris, and chaotic explosions. He was seeing the remains of his corporation's station,... his home.
"My... God." was all that his mouth could formulate. His mind raced to find a solution to how their station was destroyed in mere minutes, and to figure out those responsible. A group can't possibly destroy a station in mere minutes. Although possible, its unconventional. It would take a group weeks of planning and setup to form a sizable fleet to burn through the protective shield. That would leave Dreadnoughts, but we would have picked up their fat ass signatures quickly.
A flicker in the sunlight interrupted Harry's thought process and drew his attention to it. Not long after, an answer was presented to him. An ancient, squid-like statue stood in front of the sun, casting it's shadow onto the Normandy SR9 and dwarfing the cruiser with it's sheer size. It's tentacle-like appendages extended and retracted in rhythmic form as it stood there, staring down it's prey.
Not again... thought Harry, as he realized his dream had become another nightmare.
Like a response to his thought, the sun behind the statue began to intensify it's luminosity. The white light engulfed the statue and continued to intensify until all Harry could see was a blinding light. The whispers in his head intensified as well, but there was one whisper that stood out from the rest. Out of the light and soft whisperings, the deep, ominous whisper seemed to bellow out.
"ASCENSION IS NIGH, HUMAN... PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE NEXT RECLAIMING!"
Once again, Harry jolted upright as he awoke in a cold sweat. Once his frantic breathing slowed to normal, he cupped his hands over his face and groaned, completely oblivious to the new environment he was in. A similar nightmare,... right after the last one? Harry thought to himself, With those... statues... Whats going on. He questioned himself.
"Ah... I see our guest has awoken." Spoke a feminine voice in the distance, "How are you feeling Mr. Namarr?"
Harry pulled his hands from his face to find the origin of the new voice. In doing that, he noticed that he was no longer on his ship, but sitting upright on an elevated bed, one of 4 in this room. The room was coated in pristine white with a few lines of red here and there. The room was also remarkably clean, and bristled with medical equipment. There was a large, overhanging contraption to his right, a sealed quarantine table to his left, and the origin of the voice. A woman, probably a doctor considering the decor in the room, in her late 30's/early 40's sitting at a table in front of a personal computer. Upon noticing Harry's awakening, the woman calmly stood from her chair and approached Harry to check up on him, still waiting for his response to her question.
"How do you know my name?" Harry questioned, his paranoia spiking.
"Do you remember the distress signal you broad-casted from your... ship?" The woman asked, answering a question with a question.
"Oh... I did put my name out there didn't I." Harry answered, embarrassed that he forgot about sending a distress call. He felt a little dizzy and short of breath, which he mentioned to the good doctor.
"You're probably still recovering from acute oxygen deprivation." The doctor reported, "The commander mentioned that your ship barely maintained an atmosphere." She paused as a worried expression overcame her, "Most people I've seen don't survive that kind of ordeal."
"Hmph" Harry huffed, I'll have to ask Aura about that. He concluded. "I've been through worse..."
The doctor caught Harry off-guard with her next question. "What I don't understand is what happened? If you knew life-support was failing why didn't you abandon your ship? Why would you treasure a vessel more than your life?" While she asked, she started running some medical checks on Harry to assess his overall health.
"Hmmn..." Harry was deep in thought, he hadn't considered how reckless he was acting as of late. He forgot that he wasn't home anymore, and if he died out here, that was it. Game Over. In the end he figured he still acted like a capsuleer, fearless to the thought of death when he knew he would wake up again in a fresh, new clone. But he doesn't have that kind of luxury anymore, and he should be more careful with his life choices. He was a god who fell from the heavens, and became man.
And then he remembered why he succumbed to unconsciousness in the first place. Even after he patched up the Life-support subsystem with a drone processor, the subsystem still wasn't able to provide enough oxygen to support one person. Harry didn't want to over-clock the processor for fear he might burn it out. Realizing this, he went to his capsule where he could still control the ship without having to worry about the atmosphere. Unfortunately, when he got to the capsule, he found it partially damaged, and pod-goo was sprayed everywhere. This was another major problem as he could no longer use the capsule safely. Choosing the lesser of the two evils, Harry chose to become unconscious with the hope that his metabolic state would slow to reduce his body's oxygen intake, rather than face mind-lock from the capsule. Fortunately for him, this worked out in the end.
Looking back at the doctor, he responded in kind. "I guess it's because my ship is my home, Like the Quarians and their Flotilla. Without it, I wouldn't know what to do with myself." The answer was a load of crap, but there was some truth to it.
"I suppose I can see your reasoning." The doctor acknowledged as she put her instruments away, pleased with the results. "I think you and Joker would get along fine in that regard."
"... Who?"
The doctor turned and looked at Harry with a questioning expression. "Hm?... oh, Joker is our helmsman. He also shares an affinity for 'his ship'".
"Ah I see..." Harry concluded, understanding the doctor's relation. After a rather awkward moment passed, Harry decided to break it. "So doc,... where are we exactly?" he asked. "Are we back on the Citadel?... Another ship?"
"Yes we're currently docked with the Citadel now, but not on it. This is the Normandy SR2 Medical Bay." The doctor answered, and started to circle around the Medical Bay, giving a small tour as she continued her speech. "I could be tending to patients at our colony on Mars. Luckily for you, I declined. After serving on a ship like this for so long, it grows on you. Feels like home." She almost looked like she was beaming with joy as Harry looked on.
The Normandy SR2... hmmn, Harry thought. "I suppose we both have an affinity for star-ships." He added.
"Hmphmphmp." The good doctor chuckled. "I suppose you're right. And I wouldn't want it any other way." she answered with a smile.
Another awkward moment passed as the two shared a tone of silence.
Again, Harry broke the awkwardness. "I'm not gonna keel over am I doc?" he asked, knowing full-well that he felt fine.
"Oh no you'll be just fine, or you should be anyway." the doctor answered, "Especially since you've been out for... good god how long now?" She questioned as she activated her omni-tool, pulling it up with her right arm to check the time. "mmmm, 5 hours now." she answered her own question as the omni-tool faded around her arm.
"I've been out for that long?!" Harry was both shocked and surprised.
"You've recovered very rapidly Mr. Namarr." the doctor added. "More rapidly than I've ever seen. I'm genuinely curious as to how thats possible." She ended hinting at a question.
"Call it luck." Harry answered, hiding the possibility of his capsuleer body rapidly recovering.
"Sounds like someone doesn't want you to die." The doctor concluded. "Speaking of which, The commander wanted to speak with..."
At that moment the medical bay door whisked open, granting passage to a tall, burley man roughly in his late twenties. He wore a uniform of the colors black, white, and gold and walked with a slight limp in his left leg. His face revealed slight traces of scarring,... probably a testament to what he survived. What was strange though was that there was something glowing underneath the scars. This kept Harry enthralled as the man entered the Medical Bay.
"Ah... there you are commander." The good doctor greeted as she walked over to her desk.
"How is he doc?" the commander questioned.
"He's doing very well." the doctor answered, "For what he's been through, he's recovered very rapidly."
Before the commander could say anything more, the doctor picked up a datapad from her desk and presented it to him. "Here is the report I've compiled earlier in regards to the apparent 'scale itch' virus." The commander accepted the datapad and continued to listen to the good doctor. "The test results from the crew members are attached to the file. I think you'll find this to be an interesting read." She added before heading towards the door. "Now if you'll excuse me gentlemen, I have some personal matters to deal with." she announced, giving the two men some privacy and something to think about as the door whisked shut behind her.
"Hmpf... I wonder what that means," the commander huffed and thought aloud, before reading the datapad, which had just a simple message.
He has implants, a lot of them. And I don't know what they are. The most apparent ones are the sockets along his spine. He recovered faster than humanly possible and he's paranoid. He's not shy to a conversation, but it's clear he's holding something back. Be careful.
Note taken, Shepard thought as he set the datapad down on the doctor's desk before approaching Harry.
"Mr. Namarr... I don't think we properly met. I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy." He announced with pride as he extended his hand toward Harry.
Reciprocating the gesture, Harry gave Shepard a good, firm handshake. "I've heard a lot about you Commander." However, Harry kept a mental note about the commander possibly lying about who he worked for. He recognized the logo on his uniform, a logo that belonged to Cerberus.
"All good I hope" Shepard jokingly asked
"Hahamm" Harry chuckled, "Aye... something about kicking ass and chewing bubblegum."
Now Shepard was the one to return the laugh. "I have chewed a lot of gum."
The two men shared a hearty laugh, signifying that they were both on good terms. As their chucklings subsided, Harry continued the conversation. "I hear you're the one that saved my ass back there."
"I can't take all the credit," Shepard responded as he raised his hands in a defensive gesture, "The media exaggerates a little at times. My team should be the ones taking the credit, without them, we wouldn't be here today."
"I see," responded Harry in understanding.
"I'm surprised that you're still alive after what you've been through." Shepard continued, "No offense, but your ship was a wreck, It barely maintained an atmosphere when we boarded and found you... What happened?" Shepard questioned further.
Harry was hesitant at first, "How much do you know of me?"
"Just what EDI was able to pull up, which isn't much." Shepard answered, "You showed up not that long ago and assisted the council in a rescue mission. Also you make good drinks, but your employer reported you missing after you didn't show up for 3 days. And thats about it." Shepard summarized.
Assisted? Harry was genuinely insulted. I'm not going to forget this. And 3 days missing?... I thought I cleared my vacation time with my employer. Harry decided to shug that bit off as it wasn't a pressing concern. He also took note of the apparent lack of knowledge about the Normandy SR2's new guest. Judging from Harry's conversation with the good doctor, this man clearly knew more than what he let on, unless he was holding that information back for a reason.
"I see..." Harry took the bait, "I guess getting my old job back will be challenging."
"I'd say so." Shepard replied, and relaxed a little. "Why don't we talk about that over a bina. Are you up for it?"
Now this has spiked Harry's interest. The Bina is a drink he's so far only served to volus. The ingredients used to create one are pretty toxic for humans, Harry had to wear some protective gloves when he made the drink.
"Yeah... I'm up for that." answered Harry as he stood up from the medical bed.
"Good." Shepard smiled as he approached Harry and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. Afterward, he started to lead Harry out of the medical bay. Harry tensed up, but let the commander lead him. There had to be a reason why Shepard was being cryptic, and he was curious to find out why.
As the two stepped through the doorway, Harry found himself walking along a corridor that existed along the edges of what looked like a mess hall. The walls to his left were curved in the shape of a semi-circle. The floor panels underneath clanked as the two strolled onward, indicating that the space below was hollow. The actual mess area to his right was shaped like the tip of an arrow. As the duo continued walking, Harry noticed that the mess area was pointing to the five way intersection that they were approaching. Shepard mentioned some of the rooms along the other corridors, each of them separated by a door similar to the medical bay door. They walked past the life-support room and proceeded to the lounge. The door opened up as the two approached to allow admittance.
The lounge was interesting to say the least. There were obvious signs that someone moved into this room, but only inhabited half of it. The inhabitant was nowhere to be found though. Regardless, the lounge seemed to be a fantastic place to unwind. Shepard pulled his arm from Harry's shoulders and said "Make yourself at home" as he himself headed toward the bar on the right. The wall behind the bar contained many canisters, each one holding an alcoholic substance. Some of these canisters were familiar to Harry as he paid a glance. Sweeping his head toward the left to get a panoramic view, Harry took in the sight that was before him. Next to the bar was some kind of entertainment system. It consisted of a reclined chair and a dome enclosing the top of the chair. The dome emitted several shades of colors as well as different kinds of sounds, indicating that it was active. Couches and chairs were present, and they all looked very enticing. The material appearing soft enough to fall asleep on. The lounge also had a spacious window that gave a view of one of the Citadel's many docking hangers. The window was nice to have, but Harry hoped that the vessel's shields would never fail. The window provided a structural weakness. But thinking about it now, if the window was shot out, the Normandy SR2 would be without a bar, and a few drinks and books belonging to the inhabitant would probably go missing. Speaking of which, various pieces of art, ranging from sculptures to paintings, were scattered about on the left-hand side of the lounge, which were accompanied by books, and a singular red rose.
After he took in the view, Harry started to head toward the bar to join Shepard, who pressed a hidden button underneath the bar.
"Top secret stuff again Shep?" A feminine voice spoke, as a hooded woman materialized on one of the bar stools, which gave Harry a good start. She looked the sort that prefers to live in seclusion, and her posture seemed to confirm this. "You know Miranda is going to chew me out again for letting you use that button." The woman sounded a little annoyed.
"I don't think the Illusive Man needs to listen in on our conversation Kasumi." Shepard affirmed. "Besides... she can only chew you out if she finds you right?"
"She eventually does after you call for a ship-wide meeting." Kasumi scolded as Harry took the only other available seat. "Just fix me something would you?"
"Yes ma'am." answered Shepard after chuckling a little, "and don't worry, I'll handle Miranda."
"You'll have to forgive me for being so cryptic with you Mr. Namarr." Shepard started, turning his attention to Harry while he fixed Kasumi's drink. "Even though my superior gave me free reign of this ship to complete my mission, he is still a nosy bastard. He had bugs and cameras installed to monitor our progress. This room is about the only place I can talk freely."
"I see," was Harry's response to the explanation. "I was wondering why you were lying about who you worked for, even though you're wearing a Cerberus uniform. And why you were offering me a drink thats only consumed by volus."
"Believe me when I say that I work for the Alliance." Shepard coldly spoke, enraged by the mention of Cerberus, "I'm only working for Cerberus because they're tackling a current threat to humanity. I don't know if you've read the news lately, but hundreds of thousands of human colonists have been abducted. We're after the bastards who did that."
"Batarians?" Harry questioned.
"Worse." was the only reply that came.
"What could be worse than Batarians?" Harry questioned further.
"Well..." Shepard started, still holding the cold expression on his face as he handed Kasumi her drink, to which she gratefully accepted. She sipped her drink as she intently listened to the conversation with keen interest. "I'd say a cyborg would be one of them." Shepard gave Harry a hard stare.
"... I beg your pardon?"
"With the amount of oxygen on your ship... or lack there of... no one could survive. Yet somehow you did." Shepard interrogated, "On top of that, the doc noticed the sockets along your spine and also found some interesting implants. How do I know you're not another husk, another thrall for the Reapers!"
Harry was taken aback by the outburst, but he was cool and collected as he processed the accusation that was being thrown at him. "I could ask you the same thing." he finally said.
"What?"
"According to historical records, The SSV Normandy, the ship you commanded two years ago, was ambushed by an unknown vessel and was completely and utterly destroyed. The majority of the crew survived, some didn't make it though, and you were one of them. Despite your heroic efforts to save your crew, death had claimed you in the end. And then, miraculously, you show up at the Citadel two years later with the Normandy SR2, where a scanner identified you as Commander Shepard with a positive DNA match. This raised an alarm because technically you were dead. Although C-sec was willing to cooperate with you, they failed to inform you that the scanner also detected the presence of multiple embedded implants." Harry took a breath before continuing. "So how dare you make such an accusation when you yourself could be a 'husk'" he scowled, enraged by the accusation.
Kasumi wore a puzzled look. She knew Shepard had visible scars on his face that radiated an odd glow, but could Harry's accusation hold some truth?
Shepard stood firm. Although he didn't show it, he was shocked that Harry knew so much about his past. There was a long period of silence shared between the two men before he finally asked, "How do you know?"
Harry relaxed a little, sensing defeat in Shepard's voice. "Where I come from Commander, We study our enemies to better understand them, to find a weakness to ensure our superiority and our survival... Old habits die hard."
Shepard let out a sigh before continuing. "You're right... I did die that day." He went silent as he remembered the traumatic event that ended up costing him his life as he succumbed to oxygen deprivation and fell through the nearby planet's atmosphere. He snapped back to reality to continue his story. "Cerberus invested a great deal of money to bring me back to life, using experimental technology in the Lazarus Project. It took the project two years to bring me back, and now they want me to stop these abductions of human colonies. I couldn't simply say no to them, and those people needed my help. So here I am today." Shepard concluded. "I still don't trust Cerberus... not after seeing the sick experiments they have done in the past... If you're curious you could ask Jack about her uplifting escape story." he mentioned.
"Although tempting Commander, I think I'll pass." Harry politely declined.
"Suit yourself." Shepard stated with a shrug as he knelt down to pull two beers from the miniature fridge under the bar. He stopped when he found the Canadian Ale as he remembered a good friend who passed away. After paying his respects, Shepard pulled two beers from the fridge and tossed one to Harry. "Jack is quite the individual."
"If she'd ever show it," Kasumi remarked, "That girl almost never gets out, to which I am thankful for."
"Like you Kasumi?" Shepard warmed up and edged at her.
"Hey... I socialize every now and then," Kasumi retorted, "Its just that my field of work requires me to not be noticed."
Both men chuckled then and Harry was the one to speak up, "I may ask you for some tips sometime Kasumi." Harry took a swig of his beer before asking Shepard, "So... whats a Reaper?"
The room grew silent as Harry asked that question. Shepard took a swig of his beer before answering, "Since you know a little about my history, Do you remember the news that followed after the Battle for the Citadel?"
Harry reached back as he sifted through the historical records of this galaxy. In failing that, he activated his omni-tool to search for the historical record. He eventually replied while searching, "I think so... That was when a rogue specter and a geth army attacked the Citadel right? With their advanced geth dreadnought."
"That wasn't a geth dreadnought." Shepard stated simply, "Contrary to what the Council and the media wants everyone to believe, that dreadnought was a Reaper, and it was a bitch to take down. We lost a lot of people and ships that day." He said as he recalled that day with crystal clarity.
Harry eventually found the article and was able to pull up a few images of the dreadnought... and was shocked as he realized the dreadnought looked hauntingly similar to the squid statues he faced before. Harry wore a grave look on his face as he stared at the image.
Shepard was the first to notice this, "What is it? It looks like you've seen a ghost."
"Thats because I have." He looked up to the Commander. "The reason why my ship is such a mess is because I ran into these... Reapers... and there were a lot more than one."
Shepard was now genuinely horrified as he realized how much trouble they were all in. "Please for the love of god tell me they aren't already here."
"Thankfully, no. The wormhole collapsed when I came back through."
Shepard let out a sigh of relief, "Good, because we aren't ready to deal with another one of those machines... especially not a whole damn fleet."
Kasumi was more interested in the second bit of Harry's answer. "You went through a wormhole?"
Harry was taken aback by the question. Passing through wormholes has become so common to him, he forgot how extraordinary it was to those who haven't done it, or those who were unable to do it. "Well... yeah." He started, "thats how I got here in the first place."
Shepard was not phased by this knowledge, "It makes sense... You weren't in civilian records until about a few months ago. And even the information on the record is scarce; no birthday, no planet of origin. The bar he worked at is his only work history."
Glad to know he read up on me as well,Harry grumbled to himself. He then proceeded to explain of his origin. What his real job was and of it's importance to his corporation. He also spoke of the wormhole he traveled through that carried him to the Milky Way galaxy, and how it collapsed behind him, trapping him in this galaxy.
"Thats rough," was Shepard's solitary response.
"Its not all bad," Harry concluded, "I just have to adapt... I'll still be looking for that one wormhole that brought me here, in hopes that it will take me back home." There was a period of silence that followed, but then Harry spoke up again. "And I thought I did find it... but turns out that wormhole brought me to the edge of the galaxy, right to the Reapers." Harry finished as he took another swig of his beer.
"If that was what happened to your ship... I'm surprised it's still in one piece." Shepard stated before catching himself, "Relatively speaking."
"Call it luck," Harry stonewalled, he wasn't ready to reveal how his ship survived. And he definitely wasn't ready to part with his knowledge about the Reapers... not yet anyway. "Shit," he proclaimed as he remembered the sad state of the Normandy SR9, "I really have to fix that old bird."
"Maybe the council will help..." Offered Kasumi,
"Pah," Both men grunted, knowing full well how eager the council is willing to 'help'. Harry spoke up afterward, "I'm not sure if they would be willing to provide aid after what I did to the Narool."
"I heard about what happened to that ship," Shepard about did a spit-take as he heard the name, "Don't tell me you were involved with that."
Harry only grinned.
"Well... good luck with that then," Shepard answered as he took another swig of his beer.
To be fair, I wasn't even on-board when that happened, Harry thought to himself before speaking, "Its not a bad idea though. I'll give it a shot." He said as he started to get up.
"Before you go Harry, I just have one question." Shepard interrupted Harry, grabbing his attention. "For our mission, we're going through the Omega-4 relay. Now I don't know if you've heard about it, but it's common knowledge that no ship going through that relay has ever returned. We think the bastards that are abducting our colonies have a base of operations there. It goes without saying that this may be a suicide mission. I've only known you for a very short time Harry, but if your ship can stand up to a Reaper longer than any of our ships can, you might have something we need. Is there anything you can do or tell us that may give us an advantage?"
First the council now this guy, Harry grumbled to himself. He thought long and hard about it before answering, "Let me think about it Commander. Thank you for the bina." With that, Harry got up and walked towards the door. He stopped at the door as he gave the request some more thought. Coming to a new conclusion, he turned his head toward Shepard and gave his answer. "Stick around, you may learn something." Afterwards he wore a questioning expression on his face. "So how do I leave the Normandy SR2?"
"Right this way Mr. Namarr." Kasumi shot up before Shepard could formulate a response. She strode over to Harry and proceeded to guide him to the elevator at the tip of the mess hall. Shepard just chuckled to himself, hoping that the thief wouldn't steal something from Harry as he reached down and pressed the red button under the bar again.