Does the Tempest even have wepons? I'm still in my first playthrough, but sofar no-one mentioned weapons.
Also, during that raid on the Kett flagship, while it's defences were down - courtesy of some crafty talking amphibians - if the Tempest had weapons, wouldn't it have been prudent to use them? Maybe put a few shots through it's engine deck while Ryder was savely in a different part of the ship? Just sayin'...
But that doesn't prove anything, given Shepard didn't think of asking Joker to blast the Collector Cruiser out of the skies when it was wounded by the colony's defence lasers even if you allready installed the guns that would later curbstomp the allmost certainly fully repaired vessel. I guess some brain damage did slip past Miranda and her team...
That being said, I think the Tempest is deliberately unarmed.
It also fit's the image I have of Sara Ryder as a somewhat naive college co-ed in arms thrown into the deep end via nepotism that she went on anty-piracy patrol - in an unarmed ship!
There's also the fact that your ship cannot afford being modified or stationary for too long, because your job as a Pathfinder is needed and urgent everywhere. Adding a gun to it would also make your pilot die. I'm sure the Tempest might get some teeth in due course. But I believe the Pathfinders' ships were never meant to carry weapons. I think shuttles have weapons, though.
