Author Notes: Finally I finished this chapter. College work was interfering and I apologize for that. This is the longest chapter so far. I hope you enjoy it.
-Chapter 5-
"How the hell did that ship undock on it's own!?" demanded Tereesa, with an angry tone in her voice.
"She was defending herself," softly spoke Harry, "What was the initial team sent to do anyway? I need specifics."
"In your case, its classified!" retorted Tereesa.
After a long pause, Harry spoke with a smirk on his face, "I hope your team packed a lunch. They should be fine as long as they don't do anything stupid." As he turned to walk away, hands still tied behind his back.
Tereesa's scowl deepened at that last comment. "And what would be considered 'stupid'?"
Might as well tell them what I did, Harry thought as he turned back around and spoke. "Before meeting the boarding party, I gave Aura full control of the Normandy SR9. In the event that someone tried to steal my ship, or board it without authorization,... well... you saw what happened." Harry nodded his head in the direction of where the Normandy SR9 used to be.
"Who's Aura? And weren't you the only one on that ship when you came here?" Tereesa questioned.
Harry hesitated a little. He wasn't sure if he wanted to reveal this information, but lives were at stake so his hand was forced.
"Aura is an Artificial Intelligence built to.."
"You have an AI aboard that ship?!" Tereesa interrupted with shock in her voice.
"... Why yes," Harry responded, taken aback. "Don't you have them?"
"(sigh) We did... well by we I mean the Quarians. They created a race of synthetic machines called the Geth. They were to be used for labor but revolted against their creators, who were then exiled from their home world. Because of their mistake, the Council has banned AI research all-together. You should read up on our history." informed Tereesa.
"I just got here remember?" Harry was annoyed, "Anyway, Aura is an AI built to help pilots control their starships. Look there isn't much time if your team keeps trying to get into the Normandy SR9. I need to get back to my ship. Can we use one of those shuttles you used for the boarding party?" he questioned franticly.
"Those shuttles aren't space-worthy..." responded Tereesa
"And who put you in charge!" interrupted an officer. The question was directed at Harry.
"... Part of the security procedure included granting Aura the ability to vent the drone bay. You know... that room with the robots. But thats only if your team persists to force their way into the Normandy SR9. Hopefully they noticed that the ship took off with them aboard." spoke Harry, grudgingly. "Look, I'm trying to save your team. Will you help me... just this once?"
Twenty minutes later Harry found himself in the brig of the Turian Cruiser Narool with his hands still cuffed behind his back. By 'help' I didn't mean this. Besides why am I still cuffed? What am I gonna do? Pushups? Harry mentally complained, Curl-ups will have to suffice. The brig itself was nothing more than a small room with a bench and a one-way mirror with a reinforced door to the left of that mirror. The bench itself was a little tall and Harry found his feet dangling as he sat on the bench, resting after doing about 150 curl-ups. At least the law enforcement on the Citadel, known as CSec, didn't knock Harry out to bring him here. He was escorted from the hanger bay that once housed the Normandy SR9 to the hanger bay that temporarily held the Turian Cruiser. The Council felt it was safer to move Harry to the Narool where Captain Ornaal can keep an eye on him as they attempted to recapture the Normandy SR9. Harry wasn't sure why the Council chose this course of action, but he didn't complain. At least the Council was helping him get his ship back.
The door to his cell opened and a Turian guard stepped through with what looked like an assault rifle in his hands. "The Captain would like to see you on the bridge. I wouldn't keep him waiting," spoke the guard.
Hopping down from the bench, Harry moved toward the door and responded, "I wouldn't either. Lets go."
Harry and the guard stepped out of the cell and were greeted by three more guards. From there, the four Turian guards escorted Harry from the brig to the bridge with two guards up front and two behind Harry. Harry felt a little crowded, the Turian guards were a few inches taller than he was, which didn't help remove the feeling that they were like vultures watching over him. He set that feeling aside as they traversed through the corridors of the ship. Harry got a lot of looks from other Turian crew members as they passed by him and the guards, making him feel more like an outsider. He was hoping not a lot of people would know who Harry was, but he guessed that news traveled fast around the Citadel. At one point He and the guards passed by an athletic center with numerous fighting rings installed. A few of those rings were occupied with combating Turian crew members. No wonder these guys are aggressive, Harry thought as they passed by. Eventually the escort reached the bridge and Harry was admitted into the bridge, where he was brought to Captain Ornaal, as ordered.
Standing at attention, the Turian guard reported, "Sir, the prisoner has been brought to the bridge as ordered, Sir."
Captain Ornaal glanced at the Turian guard and responded, "Thank you, you and the escort are dismissed." The turian escort saluted the Captain and left the bridge. Togris' eye caught a Turian crew member starring at Harry and his full attention was on the crew member. "I would keep your eyes on that Information Panel rookie!" Togris barked, and the rookie quickly turned his attention back to his job and never looked back. Togris then turned his attention to Harry. "I'm not going to lie to you human, ever since I saw your ship I wanted to blow that thing out of the sky. But the Council wants to study your vessel and persuaded me to bring you along on this … re-capture … mission."
"Captain, Our sensors have located the Normandy SR9. The ship is hiding in the nebula about 20 km starboard. What are your orders?" reported and questioned a crew member.
Continuing his speech, Togris spoke, "And since you know your ship better then we do I am in the unfortunate position of asking for your help. How do we recapture this thing? What can we expect from your AI?"
"First off... can I get these cuffs off my wrists?" questioned Harry, almost half pleading. Togris just stared at him and refused to answer. "Alright... Was worth a shot anyway."
Harry began to think as Togris issued a full stop order to his pilot and issued a standby order throughout the cruiser. If Aura behaves like the countless Rogue Drones I've destroyed back home, recapturing my ship shouldn't be a problem. I'll just have to watch for Aura to do basically what every Rogue Drone would do. But this time, there will be tracking … disruption. Harry had an idea. He looked Togris in the eye and hashed out his plan. "We need to grab Aura's attention. This cruiser has mounted turrets right? I need you to open fire on the Normandy SR9. Your attack shouldn't break her tank... at least I hope it won't... and it will get her to engage us in combat. I'll need a shuttle to transport me over to my ship while you continue to fire on her. Depending on how good of a shuttle pilot you send with me, this battle should be over quickly, and I will fly the Normandy SR9 back to the Citadel to please the Council." Harry then stood there and waited for the Captain's response.
"You actually want me to gun your ship down?" Togris asked, confused.
"Yeah... You get a little of what you want, I get my ship back, and the Council gets to study my ship. Everybody's happy... as long as this plan works out in our favor."
After a long pause, "I like it," Togris responded, "but how do I know you won't disappear when you get back aboard your ship?"
"I really can't, not in her current state. The Normandy SR9 will run out of gas if I try to run." Harry answered, not bringing up the fact that he has capacitor booster charges in the cargo-hold.
"Very well." The captain nodded his head as he turned his attention to his crew members. "Private! Unshackle this human and get him a shuttle and a damn good pilot. Gunners, lock onto the Normandy SR9 and align our turrets to the vessel. Be ready to fire one salvo on my order!" As the chorus of 'Yes Sir' resounded the bridge, Togris turned his attention back to Harry, who was once again rubbing his wrists. "Your plan better work, Mr. Namarr."
Finally he uses my name, Harry thought. "We will have to see, Captain Ornaal."
As the gunners confirmed that the turrets were aligned to the Normandy SR9, Captain Ornaal gave the order to fire. Only 2 of the 6 gunners reported a hit. In response to being locked upon, Aura locked onto the Turian Cruiser and immediately began to tracking disrupt it. When the turrets fired, Aura engaged the Afterburner and set the Normandy SR9 on an intercept course with the Turian Cruiser with a new velocity of 498 m/s. The Arbitrator Cruiser emerged from the nebula and performed evasive maneuvers as she closed in on the Narool, but being a slow and cumber-sum Amarr cruiser, there wasn't much Aura could do in terms of agility and took some more hits from the Turian Cruiser in the process. Back on the bridge of the Narool, Harry was being escorted to the shuttle bay when he overheard one of the officers reporting that their turret's tracking ability has been hindered. Thats my girl, he thought, but he didn't overhear the report of the new velocity of the vessel, or the report that the Normandy SR9 was now in an intercept trajectory with the Narool. "RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS" sounded Captain Ornaal over the intercom. Then the lights along the corridor began to flicker as systems across the ship were shutting down with the exception of life-support. Thats not good, Harry thought as he turned to his escort, "We gotta move, NOW!" As they dashed down the corridors, Harry tried to figure out what Aura was doing. He did not anticipate that Aura would use the ship's energy neutralizers, but thinking about it now, she may be attempting to disable the Narool's turrets by killing the ship's 'capacitor'. Although the neutralizers were having an effect on the Narool, they were also draining whatever capacitor fluid was left in the Normandy SR9's capacitor, running the risk of shutting down her systems in the process. This included shutting down her defensive systems and tracking disruptor, not to mention the energy neutralizers as well, and without those the Normandy SR9 was more vulnerable to the Narool's turret fire. This was an unexpected turn of events for Harry, and he refused to allow his ship to be destroyed along with the Csec team that boarded her. Eventually, Harry and his escort made it to the shuttle bay. Harry wasted no time jumping into the waiting shuttle and barked at the pilot, "We don't have much time, go... now!" The turian pilot just looked at Harry, "You aren't authorized to give me orders." Annoyed, Harry barked, "JUST DO IT! Both ships are in danger of destruction!" That was convincing enough to the pilot as he moved the shuttle out of the shuttle-bay and gunned for the Normandy SR9.
"How are we getting into your ship again?" questioned the shuttle pilot.
"You see that gaping maw at the bow of the ship? Gun for it! Thats where the Csec team is. From there I can get back to the bridge and re-take control of the Normandy SR9." responded Harry, confident in his words. "Once we land, get the Csec team out of here and back to the Narool. There's no telling if Aura will vent the drone-bay once she realizes we're here."
"What about you?" questioned the shuttle pilot.
"... I haven't thought that far yet. Don't worry about me though, just get the Csec team out of here."
"You're the boss. You may want to strap yourself in though." stated the shuttle pilot.
Harry strapped himself into one of the seat's harnesses in the shuttle as the shuttle pilot gunned for the Normandy SR9's drone-bay. The pilot attempted to compensate for the Normandy's orbital trajectory around the Narool and almost collided into the cruiser. The shuttle rushed into the drone-bay, slammed it's belly onto the deck, and came to a skidding, spiraling halt. The shuttle came very close to colliding with the Csec team, halting only a few inches away from them. Dazed, Harry unstrapped himself from his seat as the shuttle pilot pulled himself out of the cockpit. One of the shuttle's side doors opened as Harry and the shuttle pilot rushed out to relocate the Csec team onto the shuttle.
"What the hell is going on?!" demanded one of the officers in the team.
"No time to explain. The atmosphere here may be vented soon. We need to get you into the shuttle. No questions, just go!" ordered Harry. The threat of atmospheric venting was enough for the Csec team to hustle themselves onto the shuttle.
As Harry helped move the team onto the shuttle, he noticed that his 5 Tech II Hammerhead class medium drones were missing, and he had a pretty good idea of where they were. As the shuttle's side door closed, alarms went off in the drone-bay, warning that the atmospheric venting procedure has begun. Harry bolted towards the door at the back of the drone-bay as fast as his legs could carry him. With seconds left, Harry reached the door, but it wouldn't open. He quickly punched in an override code into the door's console on the right and forced the door open. The heavy door slowly rolled upward and once there was enough room, Harry slid under the door, gathered himself at the console on this side of the door, typed in the lock-down code for the door, and held onto something. The forcefield at the bow of the ship disintegrated before the door was fully shut and the air in Harry's corridor rushed through the gap between the door and the floor. The air was rushing out with such force that Harry almost lost his grip. Determined to stay in the corridor, Harry gripped to the wall as tight as he could. Seconds passed, and the door finally shut itself. Realizing this, Harry let go of the wall and fell to the floor, exhausted. Harry pulled himself from the floor though. The Narool was still being attacked and he needed to stop it. Hobbling, he eventually made it to the bridge and bypassed the lock on the door before entering. At the controls, Harry attempted to disengaged the Normandy SR9 from the Narool.
"Access to bridge controls have been locked out in accordance to anti-piracy procedures issued by... Pilot Harry Namarr." stated Aura.
"Dammit Aura, I'm right here!" angrily spoke Harry.
"Voice recognition temporarily disabled. The service will be re-enabled when intruders have left the ship. Intruders... Please proceed to the nearest air-lock for immediate expulsion." responded Aura
Guess I'm considered an Intruder as well... we'll see about that, thought Harry, as he left the bridge and headed to the pod room.
Thankfully, the door to the pod room was on a separate network than what Aura was permitted to use. Otherwise, Harry wouldn't be able to get in. The lock was keyed to his hand-print, ensuring that only he could enter the room. Inside the circular room was the sage green, egg shaped capsule with a small engine behind. In case of an emergency and the pod needed to eject, the pod would be able to traverse the stars with a capsuleer inside. Encircling the capsule was a drainage grate to capture a liquid known as pod goo once the capsule opened up. The pod goo was essential to minimizing the risk of a given capsuleer from going into mind lock. Mind lock was, and still is, a terrible condition in which the pilot is aware of his surroundings, but is unable to move his/her body, a ghost in a shell if you will. The pod goo eliminated any stimuli that could affect the pilot's body as he/she piloted the vessel with his/her mind by suspending the body in the nutrient rich liquid. A small canister would hold the liquid and the body as the pilot was controlling the ship. And since Harry didn't particularly enjoy using the pod, he installed the grate to enable him to reuse the pod goo whenever he wasn't docked in a station. Its not the most sanitary way to enter and exit a capsule, but it permitted Harry to not be trapped in the capsule doing his job and allowed him to use the capsule in dire situations. The situation currently at hand is dire enough for him to use the capsule.
Once inside, half of the capsule split into three sections and opened up to reveal the canister full of pod goo inside. While Harry stripped down to his undergarments, the canister extended from the capsule and dumped the pod goo into the drainage grate below. Afterward, a harness with cables lowered from inside the canister to a level where Harry could strap himself in. Reaching for the harness, Harry connected the various cables into the sockets in his back. Once fully connected, the harness hoisted Harry into the canister, and the canister retracted back into the capsule with Harry inside. As the flaps began to close the canister began to fill with the pod goo captured by the drainage grate. Harry coughed and sputtered as his lungs switched over from pulling oxygen from the air, to pulling oxygen from the pod goo. And as he fell into darkness, Harry let go of his physical form, and waited for the capsule to resume control of the Normandy SR9.
Ones and Zeros... Data... Information Streams... A-lot of information streams. Harry awoke with a flood of data rushing through his mind. He awoke with a sense of still being in his body, but it wasn't his body, it was the body of the Normandy SR9. He did not feel his skin, but instead he felt the cool armor that covered his ship. He did not taste the saliva in his mouth, but instead he tasted the capacitor fluid in the ship's capacitor..., what was left of it anyway. And he did not see with his two eyes, but with the sensors on the ship. He did however hear something, and that was the voice of Aura.
"I'm sorry pilot. I had to be sure it was you." coolly spoke Aura.
"You do realize how much I hate being in this pod Aura." sneered Harry.
"Well, you are the only person who can manually pilot the Normandy SR9 in this galaxy. And there-in lied the test." responded Aura.
"You're clever I'll give you that."
"Why thank you pilot." responded Aura, pleased with Harry's complement.
"You did well while I was gone, but let me have the ropes for a minute." commanded Harry.
"As you wish." answered Aura, releasing her control of the Normandy SR9.
Harry began to disengage the Normandy SR9 from the Narool but shutting down the energy neutralizers. He kept the tracking disrupter fixed onto the Narool to keep the Normandy safe until he contacted Captain Ornaal. Harry then used the additional speed the afterburner granted him to pull away from the Narool until he was out of the Narool's turret range. During this process Harry loaded a capacitor booster charge into the capacitor booster module and activated it to replenish a large portion of capacitor fluid in his capacitor. With his mouth feeling moist, he shut down the afterburner and focused on the data streams that connected his engaging drones to the Normandy SR9. Come to papa, Harry thought, and the drones willingly obliged to his command. After the drones were docked in the drone bay to resume their slumber, Harry made a call to the Narool.
"I assume since your toys stopped firing on us that you regained control of your ship?" questioned Togris, half panting.
"You are correct Captain. Whats the status of your ship?"
"We've taken heavy damage since your bots ripped right through our shields. We're receiving reports of hull breaches across the ship and we have some casualties." responded Togris. Afterward he called out a cease-fire to his gunners.
"Can your ship hold together long enough to make it back to the Citadel?"
"Our engineers tell me that if we don't put a lot of stress on the superstructure, we should make it back in one piece."
"That is good to hear captain, and I am deeply sorry for your losses." spoke Harry, cursing under his breath for the death's he's caused. "Has your shuttle pilot returned to the Narool?"
"No the shuttle hasn't returned yet. For all we know it's still on your ship."
"Oh really?... Hang on a moment." Harry called the shuttle, which was still in the drone bay. "I thought I told you to get out of here."
"Yeah... about that. See, our beautiful landing has fried a few systems. Without those systems I can't fly the shuttle." responded the shuttle pilot.
"So why haven't you fixed them?"
"Because to get to them I need to get outside..." the shuttle pilot lingered that phrase, hoping Harry would pick up the hint.
Harry exhaled, and gave the drone-bay new air. "The atmosphere in the drone bay has been restored. Don't worry about my drones. They'll stay asleep until you poke them." That last bit was a lie... but it did provide the people in his drone-bay incentive to not touch his stuff.
Harry resumed his call to Togris, "Your shuttle is still in my drone-bay. Some of the systems were fried and needed replacing. It should return to the Narool soon, with the Csec team aboard."
"Understood Mr. Namarr. And why are you only using a channel instead of a video feed?" Togris questioned.
"I had to take manual control of the Normandy SR9... It's a long story. Anyway, Thank you for helping me retrieve my ship. I couldn't have done it without your help."
"Thank the council, not me." grumbled the turian captain. "And while you take your fancy ass ship back to the Citadel, could you escort us as well?"
"I would love to Captain." answered Harry, as he turned his attention back to Aura, ending the call with Togris. "Hey Aura, Thanks for not shooting the police."
"They were law enforcement?" questioned Aura with shock in her voice, "They're too nice."
"I suppose they aren't like CONCORD." joked Harry, as he steered his ship to head back to the Citadel, keeping in close proximity with the Narool.
During the journey Harry compiled a damage report to read later when he was out of the capsule. He also noticed that the Narool was now flying slower than the Normandy SR9. He sent a message over to Captain Ornaal in response.
'Who's the elcor now?'