-Chapter 3-
For once Harry was glad he didn't use the Afterburner. Quickly, Harry rushed to the controls and cut off the ship's thrusters, forcing the Normandy SR9 to coast to a halt. In response, Aura utilized the ship's maneuvering thrusters to assist in the deceleration of the ship. The Normandy slowly came to a halt in front of a fleet of similar looking vessels, which have moved into what looked like attacking positions in the event the unknown vessel didn't stop. Harry analyzed the situation at hand. There were about 6 look-alike star-ships facing the Normandy SR9 with the addition of another vessel that easily doubled in size, the one that looked like a large cross.
"Aura, can you isolate one of the communication frequencies being sent to us?" asked Harry, "I would like to open a channel to this... Citadel."
"Analyzing frequencies... Complete. The frequency that is most commonly used between these vessels and the station has been locked to this ship's communication system." replied Aura.
"Thank you Aura. While I speak with the Citadel can you do a scan on all the ships that are in close proximity to the Normandy? I need to know which vessel can potentially be the largest threat. We may need to bug out if the conversation turns for the worst." Harry stated.
"... Without a ship scanner module, I cannot accurately scan the targeted vessels for offensive and defensive capabilities." informed Aura.
That's right, Harry thought, This isn't my frigate. Slightly annoyed, Harry responded, "Very well, just be ready to lock onto and tracking disrupt that cross-shaped vessel in the back. I have a bad feeling about that ship."
"Yes Pilot." acknowledged Aura.
Straightening his olive green uniform and quickly grooming his hair, Harry tried to make himself presentable. A good first impression is what he needed right now with these people. Although he believed his ship had enough armor to withstand a few strong hits, he had no idea what type of damage these vessels could dish out. More importantly, this was the only station in this system that his probes found, and that made it currently the only place for him to perform any kind of repairs to the Normandy SR9's Capacitor Regeneration Unit and, perhaps later on, her shield generator. Harry doesn't need to add his ship's armor on that list of things to repair, especially since he didn't have a spare armor repair module in the cargohold. Him playing nice at this moment, with the type of situation he was in, made sense. After he felt like he was ready, Harry opened a communication channel with the Citadel.
He certainly wasn't prepared for what came up on one of his monitors. On his monitor, Harry could see the face of what looked like an insect. The face had two small, black, piercing eyes that stared at Harry through the monitor. The face had a boney forehead and eyebrow plates, a notched, flat, boney nose with spacing between the notches that contracted and expanded as the being spoke, and two long, boney mandibles reaching from what would have been the hinges of a human jaw-bone down to the corners of a mouth. The being's upper and lower lips were upside-down and right-side-up V's respectively that were flexible, but still boney. In fact, everything about the face except the eyes, sharp teeth, and the evident face paint was boney. The face was also thin and narrow, somewhat similar to a horse. The sight startled Harry but he kept his composure as he began to speak.
"This is Harry Namarr... Pilot of the Arbitrator Class cruiser called the Normandy SR9. We have received your message and decelerated the ship to a halt in correspondence to your warning. To whom am I speaking to?" stated Harry.
Although he was the only living soul on the ship, he still used the term "we" instead of "I"... he can't take all the credit for flying the Normandy.
The boney face spoke from the monitor, "You are speaking to Togris Ornnal, Captain of the Turian cruiser Narool. Who is your captain pilot?"
After a slight pause, "I am, Captain Ornnal. I'm the only one on this ship." responded Harry.
From what he gleaned so far, the face belonged to a Turian, who potentially lead the fleet of look-alike vessels sitting in front of the Normandy SR9. Harry was troubled by the fact that his comm channel connected to one of these ships instead of the Citadel itself. It was probably for added security, he was a complete unknown, after-all.
"A single human commanding a cruiser without a crew... I don't buy it." grumbled the Turian Captain. "Wheres the crew?! Are you holding them hostage? Did you steal that ship!" the Turian aggressively questioned.
"Captain if you run a biological scan on my ship, you'll find that I'm the only body on this ship... Besides, aren't you more worried that you cannot identify the Normandy SR9?" responded Harry, coolly.
"Other than your recent statements, no we cannot identify your ship. And the fact that a human is commanding it is troubling."
Was that a hint of racism he sensed?
Dismissing that comment, Harry responded, "Look, I don't intend to cause any trouble and my ship is damaged. Plus with 6 vessels plus that one large... dreadnought?... in the back against one cruiser, why would I pick a fight? I am merely asking for permission to dock with the Citadel so that I can attempt to make repairs to this ship. Now are you going to help me, or should I look somewhere else?"
Harry was taking a risk, a rather large one in fact, considering he had nowhere else to go if he was denied to dock here. Behind his back, Harry had his fingers crossed.
The Turian captain gritted his teeth, or what looked like gritting of teeth. Letting an unknown vessel roam through the galaxy was dangerous, especially since the Turian didn't know what this... Normandy SR9... was capable of doing, or if the ship had a weak spot to hammer. The ship was completely alien to him, that was for certain. What was strange though was the pilot, who was politely asking to dock with the Citadel after he stated that the ship was damaged. Could the pilot be lying? What if this vessel housed hundreds of Geth? His conscience told him that couldn't be possible. After the battle for the Citadel there have been rare sightings of Geth beyond the Veil, not after the council sent Commander Shepard to mop up the rest of the synthetic bastards. If this pilot was deceitful, he couldn't see it. He didn't like it, but the Turian made his decision.
"Wait here. Don't attempt to leave or we will open fire on your damaged ship. Are we clear,.. human?" menacingly asked the Turian captain.
Harry uncrossed his fingers and straightened up, "Crystal, Captain." His eyes never left the Turian's as he terminated the comm channel. "Aura, whatever you do, don't lock onto anything unless they open fire." commanded Harry.
"Understood,... Captain." responded Aura.
Sometimes Harry wondered if Aura was developing a personality of her own.
"Why have you called an emergency meeting on this matter?" questioned the Asari Councilor, "Its just one ship."
Upon the urging of the Turian ambassador, who was in turn urged by Togris, the Turian Councilor called for an emergency meeting with the other council members to discuss what to do with the unknown vessel that showed up in Citadel Space. The Turian ambassador was very concerned over the matter, and that was enough to make the Turian councilor worried. From what he had learned from the ambassador, there was a ship resting about 13 kilometers from the citadel that was of an unknown origin. Captain Ornnal could not identify the vessel as a possible Geth warship sheerly because scans of the vessel indicated that the ship was without barrier emitters, did not have any form of mass effect fields around it, and was shining in polished gold and tan colors. The Turian councilor scowled at that last bit of intel. Just because it doesn't look like a geth doesn't mean it couldn't be one, he thought to himself. What made the ambassador more nervous was that the pilot claims that his vessel is damaged and has requested to dock with the Citadel to attempt repairs. The pilot also threatened to look elsewhere if he was denied permission to dock. Besides the pilot's spoken intentions of not causing trouble, the Turian councilor still didn't trust him. But as a Turian, he is always expecting the worst out of every possible situation. And the worst thing that could happen with having this unknown vessel dock with the Citadel would be that civilians on the station might become injured should the pilot become hostile. But the worst thing that could happen if the pilot was denied docking permission would be an unknown vessel, which couldn't be tracked down at the moment, wandering through the galaxy and potentially harming innocents. The Turian councilor couldn't decide on which was the best course of action, hence why he called the other council members to this emergency meeting.
"Yes its just one ship... but its a ship we have no knowledge about. We don't even know how to take the damn thing down should it become hostile." The Turian councilor stressed, "But we can't just let it roam through the galaxy unchecked."
"I know you are concerned about the safety of the civilians on the station, but from the limited intel that was provided the best course of action would be to allow the ship to dock." reassured the Asari councilor.
"Besides," piped the Salarian councilor, "We can learn a great deal about the ship if we let it dock. After we have collected as much intel about the ship as possible, we can then make a decision on whether the vessel is a threat or not."
"Thats if the pilot would allow us to study the ship," the Turian councilor cut in, "We don't know anything about the pilot other than his intent on not causing trouble, which he could be lying about. The humans are new to the galactic community. Although we can trust Commander Shepard who has always been honest with us, even when he terminated his calls early, he doesn't represent all of humanity. Just look at Harken, that screw up at C-sec." the councilor pointed out.
"You are correct in that the humans are quite diverse creatures..." noted the Salarian councilor.
"Which is irrelevant." interrupted the Asari councilor, "Humanity has done a great service to us at the Battle of the Citadel by giving their lives to save ours. We should be grateful to their sacrifice, and so should you."
"I know, but I don't trust this human pilot." countered the Turian councilor.
"Look at the bigger picture," pointed out the Asari councilor, "It's safer to allow this ship to dock than it is to let it go unchecked. Lets welcome this pilot to the Citadel."
After a long pause, the Turian councilor agreed with the other councilors. "Alright, but throw this human into the brig until we are certain he isn't a threat to the public."
Dismayed, the Asari and Salarian councilors reluctantly agreed.
After what seemed like eons of waiting, Harry was considering leaving when Aura notified him of a call coming from Captain Ornnal's ship.
"Put him through Aura." said Harry.
"At once." responded Aura.
Once again the insect face showed up on one of his monitors. "You have been granted permission to dock with the Citadel, human. We will be escorting you to the docking hangers. On a further note, your ship is grounded until we can deem your ship as non-lethal." Captain Ornnal decided to leave out the bit about throwing the human into the brig... he probably wouldn't take it well.
Ha! Grounded my ass! Thought Harry as he tried to hide the smirk. The corners of his mouth twitched as a result. Hopefully the Turian didn't see that. "Very well", responded Harry, "I will oblige. And thank you for permitting my ship to dock."
"Just don't cause any trouble human and we won't break your legs." stated the Turian as he ended the call.
Well he's a particularly cheery bunch. Thought Harry, Even makes the Minmatar look civilized.
The six Turian cruisers maneuvered to surround the Normandy SR9 to escort her to the Citadel to dock, with one in the front, one in the rear, and two on the port and starboard of the ship. They then began to move forward towards the Citadel. The cross-shaped dreadnought didn't budge though, which made Harry a little nervous. Regardless, Harry engaged the Normandy's thrusters to match the speed of the Turian cruisers as they escorted her to the Citadel. The 3 cruisers in the front went a little too fast and were forced to slow down to match the Normandy SR9's speed. The cruiser at the rear almost collided with her as well. Harry got another call from Captain Ornnal as a response.
"Doesn't your ship move any faster human?" question Togris.
"I'm sorry Captain but this is as fast as she goes." responded Harry, excluding the fact he had an Afterburner that he could've enabled.
"You're about as slow as a damn Elcor." grumbled Togris, "Enjoy the view while you can... human." He stated as he ended the call again.
Elcor? Harry thought, Whats an elcor?... and why did he say "While you can".
In all honesty, Harry was thankful for being able to dock, and that his bluff worked out in the end.