Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Wizard on the Edge of Forever
It Never Rains but it Pours.
9 reviewsBack on earth, Harry's life gets more interesting. Rated PG-13 for language in a few spots
5Original
Chapter 19: It Never Rains but it Pours.
A few days after Krulack’s release from Starfleet medical, Harry and Hui decided that it was time to let Krulack in on magic. They didn’t want to surprise the Klingon and have him completely freak out, nor did they want to give up magic while he was with them.
Krulack was a gruff and a somewhat short-tempered individual compared to the average human, but he was quite a bit more cosmopolitan than the majority of his race. Before making up his mind on a species and any cultural foibles that they may have, he looked at things very objectively and non-judgmentally until he had as many of the facts as he could get. He had been a bit standoffish when Harry first explained the existence of human wizards and magic, but hadn’t seemed to want more of an explanation, at first.
Several days after being introduced to what was left of the magical world, Krulack explained to the Potters why the concept of “magic” concerned him. He explained that Klingon legends of the “gods” described Klingon rulers with similar powers and abilities. These rulers were generally extremely cruel and callous by any rational being’s standards. Eventually the populace that these “gods” had ruled rebelled and killed them off one by one. After the rebellions were over, any child that exhibited any resemblance of these abilities were killed to prevent the “gods” from returning.
The Potters blanched a bit at this description of an ancient massacre of alien “wizards”, though it sounded like the Klingons had had more than their share of dark lords. They accepted Krulack’s explanation and assured him that they understood. Human cultures, too, had myths of evil wizards and capricious “gods”, though clearly the Klingon myths were more deeply ingrained. They knew that he would get used to human magic eventually. Harry decided to explain about Voldemort to Krulack and all the nuances that he was aware of in regards to the bastard.
Over the course of the explanation of Voldemort and what he had done, Krulack made the comment that Voldemort would have probably joined in with the Klingon “gods” and their depravity with no problems.
Once Harry and Hui finished their tale and the problems involved with dealing with Voldemort once and for all, Krulack swore a blood oath to help the Potters in ending Voldemort’s existence.
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"Captain, we're leaving sector 15 for sector 16," stated the ships navigator, Lt. Lucas, a bit nervously. They were approaching the Neutral Zone and this piece of the area was known to be full of all sorts of spatial oddities that would make navigation an interesting time to say the least.
Harry nodded in response, then ordered, "Helm, adjust course so we parallel the zone, but keep us out a bit. No need for some cosmic string to shoot us through the zone like a archers arrow."
"Aye, Captain, adjusting course," replied the helmsman with a bit of a chuckle.
Harry smiled slightly as he remembered what Captain Hewlett’s report of their incident along the sector had stated. "The Yeager hit a cosmic string that reacted just like an archers bow on release and shot them deep into Klingon space, knocking out all ship defenses and most of their power."
The ship’s communications officer, Lt. Tafari Uhura, spoke up. "Captain, I'm receiving a distress signal, audio only."
Harry spun his chair around and faced the young man. He was the youngest nephew of one of his mentors and one of his oldest friends in the 23rd century, Nyota Uhura. "Lieutenant, put it on speakers, and tell me what you can about it."
The bridge speakers crackled to life and began to play the weak transmission. "…This is the…Altair Six…Gravitic Mine…Please Assist…”
“Sorry Captain, that’s the best I can do. There’s just too much interference. But I was able to get a directional fix on the signal. It’s coming from Gamma Hydra, sector 10.”
Harry frowned at the information. “Shit, right smack in the middle of the Neutral Zone.” He thought for a moment “Mr. Sakharov, what’s the latest Intel on who’s patrolling the Klingon side of the zone?”
“One moment, sir,” said the Russian science officer from his station. After a moment of manipulating the science station’s library controls, he said, “Sir, the squadron ‘Emerald Fire’ was reported in the area most recently.”
More to himself than anyone else, Harry muttered, “This just gets better and better. What’s next, that ship’s got some politicians daughter on board?”
Making his decision, Harry sat up a bit taller in his captain’s chair. “Okay, we can’t let these people die or end up as long term prisoners of the Klingons. You all know how prickly they are about territory violations, regardless of the reason. On my authority, we’re going in, get them, and get out of there as fast as possible. Please note the ship’s log as such.” Pressing a button on his armrest, he called out, “Engineering, have the transporters ready, and I need warp 8 in one minute. Mr. Skohne, plot an intercept course. I want us as close to that signal source as possible. As soon as we drop out of warp, get the shields up and reinforce them as well as possible. When I give the order, drop just the shield facing the other ship, assuming it’s still intact. I want us in and out as fast as possible.”
Harry looked around the bridge before continuing. “Ladies and gentlemen, if any of you feel that you cannot follow my orders in regards to my decision to violate the neutral zone, feel free to leave the bridge with no repercussions on your part.”
After no one moved for a minute, Harry nodded. “Thank you, everyone. Bring the ship to Red Alert. As soon as all stations report ready, go to warp 8.”
Just under a minute later, all stations had reported in and the U.S.S. Hood shot into warp.
On the Bridge, Harry was intently studying the main viewer. It had several different displays open, giving information ranging from general data on the crippled ship that had been encoded in its distress calls, to a tactical plot showing the astronomical layout of the area the Hood was going to, including any estimated threats and their locations.
After a few minutes the Hood dropped out of warp at the approximate co-ordinates of the crippled ship. As soon as the Hood stopped, Lt. Uhura cried out, “Captain! The signals have been cut off!”
“It’s a trap,” Harry barked out as soon as Lt. Uhura made his announcement. “Nav, plot a course out of here, fast as you can. Helm, get us moving as soon as you can. Weps, blast out a tachyon field as far as you can. If anything’s cloaked out there, that might let us spot them before they can attack.”
Suddenly, the Hood rocked violently and a hollow boom echoed through the ship.
“Damage report,” Harry asked calmly. He knew that yelling wouldn’t accomplish anything at this point.
After a moment, the Hood’s Command Master Chief spoke up from the Damage Control Station. “We hit an anti-matter mine Captain. No casualties reported, but the shock knocked the warp field balancers out of sync. So far no reports of structural damage to the hull. Call it thirty minutes to get the balancers resynced.”
Harry ran the numbers in his head and didn’t like the results. “Damn,” was all he said.
Turning to the science station, Harry asked, “Mr. Sakharov, what’s out there? Somebody laid a trap for us and they’ve got to be around here somewhere.”
Mr. Sakharov responded immediately. “Only a small asteroid field at 192 mark 3. Completely unremarkable at first glance. I’m running an energy scan now.”
Harry thought to himself “That would be a perfect hunting blind.”
Mr. Sakharov suddenly turned to face him. “Captain, I’ve got three low power energy signatures in there. A D-7 and a pair of K-5’s. The D-7 is definitely the Emerald Talon based on the signature. Looks like the K-5’s are escorts for the Talon. Captain, according to the war book, the Emerald Talon usually has a pair of Bird of Prey escorts, not those K-5’s. Either they have upgraded ships or he’s called in a favor to get better escorts for the time being.”
Harry had never had the pleasure of meeting Captain Khosin, but he had read about the Klingon’s exploits in great detail and had a pretty good idea of how to stamp “paid” on his account.
“Emerald Talon, indeed. More like Emerald Vulture,” Harry snorted in disgust. “Mr. Uhura, Patch me through to those pirates. It’s time to put a stop to Khosin and his merry band of cutthroats.”
“Channel is open, Captain,” said Lt. Uhura after a moment.
Harry nodded in acknowledgement and in a clear voice began to speak “Khosin, you sorry excuse for a pile of Targ droppings, get your cowardly ass out here so I can kick it properly, or do you want the Empire to know of your dishonorable ways? I know that your escorts aren’t your normal ones. Who’d you threaten or blackmail to get them to go along with this little scheme of yours?”
Harry then moved his hand across his throat in a slashing motion.
As the Hood waited for the Emerald Talon’s response, Harry reminded himself of a few things. First of all, the Emerald Talon hadn’t been in any sort of fight in at least five years. At least since Khosin had taken command. They were commerce raiders and pirates, picking off crippled or unarmed ships. They were out of practice and rusty when it came to fighting any sort of ship that could defend itself. Secondly, that anti-matter mine had wasted itself against the Hood’s shields and only scorched paint. The hull was completely undamaged but looked nasty. They had full power for all systems and only the warp field balancers were keeping them here for the moment. Next, according to everything Harry had read, Khosin was a coward at heart and had stayed away from a stand up fight with an equal. Khosin’s known history indicated that he’d rather knife you in the back than fight you face-to-face. Harry wasn’t sure how he had gotten command of a fairly up–to-date D-7 Battlecruiser, but he was willing to bet that Khosin had probably assassinated, extorted or bribed his way to the post. Finally, Harry was playing a hunch. Most likely, Khosin had blackmail material on whatever Klingon house those K-5’s were part of. Harry, by wording his challenge the way he did, would force Khosin to fight one-on-one, without his escorts, or be branded a coward throughout the Klingon Empire.
Lt. Sakharov spoke up after a few minutes of waiting. “Captain, the Emerald Talon is heading our way. Her escorts are leaving the area at roughly Warp 7.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Now, to finish the job.” Harry said confidently. In the back of Harry’s mind however he thought, “I bloody well know what I need to do, I just hope I can pull it off. If I don’t, Hui’s gonna kill me and Merlin only knows what Starfleet will say no matter what happens next. “
“Captain, transmission from the Emerald Talon” said Lt. Uhura.
Mentally steeling himself for what was about to happen, Harry snapped, “Onscreen.”
The main viewer switched over to show a pinch-faced, watery-eyed Klingon that strongly reminded Harry of a cross between Draco Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew with all the worst traits of both being emphasized. Based on appearances, if Harry had to make a guess, Khosin was an opportunistic ferret that was about as smart as a box of rocks.
Captain Khosin blinked a few times, then smirked “Well, Well…If it isn’t Harry Potter. The Federation has sunk to a new low by putting you in command of anything bigger that a garbage scow.”
“Save it for someone who cares, Coward. This is the last time your raiding is going to happen.”
Switching over to Klingon, Harry continued “For your cowardly actions causing disgrace and unnecessary strife between the Klingon Empire and The United Federation of Planets; I, Captain Harry Potter, Lord of The ancient and Noble House of Potter, Friend of the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, Honored ally of the House of Moog, Challenge you for the command of the Emerald Talon.”
The shocked look on Captain Khosin’s face showed that he wasn’t expecting this sort of response from Harry.
Not having much choice, Khosin said “So be it Potter, but just so you know…”
Before Khosin could continue, a loud voice was heard over the various noises that were produced by the bridge instruments. “Open the simulator.” It said in cultured voice that sounded curious and had a somewhat amused undertone to it.
The Front wall of the simulator split open as Captain Spock and Admiral Kirk walked in.
“Mr. Potter, wait here” began Capt. Spock. “Cadets to the briefing room for your critique.”
Turing his attention fully to Harry, Capt. Spock began “Lieutenant I am curious as to why you chose to issue a formal dueling challenge to the simulation.”
A look of relief crossed Harrys face for a moment as he began to explain “Sir, when Mr. Sakarov said it was the Emerald Talon, I knew that someone in training command had talked with Krulack. Now, he’s never once talked with me about what he’s currently working on with Starfleet, but we have talked about the different myths and legends of the various Klingon and Human cultures, mainly to help him deal with integrating with the Federation and humanity in particular.”
Pausing for a moment, Harry continued “The Emerald Talon was the name of a Pirate ship that Kahless the Unforgettable defeated in battle during the unification of the Klingon homeworld. Khosin was the captain of the Emerald Talon. Now what tipped me off to what was going on is the fact that since unification, no Klingon ship or battlegroup as ever been named Emerald Talon, it’s a dishonorable name as far as their culture is concerned. All I did was try to do what I felt that Kahless should have done if I had been in the same position.” Harry sighed as he finished wondering if he had just blown command school.
Admiral Kirk just chuckled and said “Lieutenant, the Kobyashi Maru scenario is a character test. It’s randomly generated for each Command Cadet. We checked the scenario generator and found no evidence of unauthorized access before you went in, so why it generated that particular scenario for you I’ll never know. Anyway, as it stands now, this scenario is your last exam…Unless you want to take it again.”
Harry just responded with a “That’s alright sir. I’ll let the results stand.” After a moment of introspection, he continued “Admiral, may I ask how you did on this test?”
Spock raised an eyebrow and Kirk busted up laughing. Harry was a bit dumbfounded by this response by the two senior officer’s reaction to his question.
Once Admiral Kirk stopped laughing, he looked at Harry and said, “Kid, I took that test three times before I was satisfied with my results. Needless to say, it’s a bit of an inside joke that one day you’ll probably be let in on.”
Captain Spock calmly looked at Kirk, then at Harry, and , “The admiral’s solution was a rather unique application of theory and history, Lieutenant.”
Kirk huffed in amusement at the description of what he had done in his youth and responded with, “It did have the virtue of never having been tried.”
Spock just raised an eyebrow in response to Kirk before returning his attention to Harry. “Mr. Potter, report back to the briefing room for your official debrief. Do not worry about your performance. All Command cadets perform in different ways and you obviously chose what you believed was the correct solution.”
“Aye sir,” said Harry and left the simulator, heading for his debrief. All the while, he was wondering just what was so funny about his question.
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Harry was not having a good month and things didn’t look like they were going to get any better. Roughly a month ago, a Starfleet-wide notification had gone out that was still reverberating through the fleet, and as it turned out had directly affected Harry. The notification wasn’t something he could just forget and it was something that he could recite from memory. It read:
From: Randolph E. Morrow, Admiral
Star Fleet Headquarters Command, Terra
Commander, Star Fleet Command, Quadrant 0
TO: Commanding officers, All Star Fleet vessels
*]
[* According to information obtained by the highest levels of Star Fleet Command, the race of energy beings referred to as the Organians have ceased their enforcement of the Organian Peace Treaty. This treaty, arbitrarily imposed by the Organians, prevented a war the Klingon Empire and has ensured peace between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets for the past 13 years. It now appears that current conditions exist for the Organians to permit open, widespread hostilities between elements of Star Fleet and the Klingon Empire.
*]
[* Although the exact details have not been verified by Star Fleet Intelligence, this apparent change in status is to be given the most serious consideration by all ship commanders. If the Klingon High Command is also aware of the Organians’ withdrawal from active participation in Federation/Klingon affairs, the result could be a state of war.
*]
[* All ships operating from Star Bases 12, 21, 22, 23, and 27 are to proceed with their current assignments while maintaining full combat readiness for large-scale warfare against any Klingon forces entering Federation space.
[**]
As a test pilot assigned to Research and Development since completing the command course just over a year ago, normally something like this notice wouldn’t affect him all that much. Maybe there would be a heightened sense of urgency in the testing program that he was assigned to, or a tighter security presence, but that’s about it. However, two days after the notice came out, things began to go downhill, as far as Harry was concerned.
Harry had been called to Commander, Starfleet’s office shortly after arriving to work down at the flight test office. In a few weeks, the Excelsior was scheduled for space frame integrity testing and while he wasn’t on the docket for actually being at the helm of the “Great Experiment”, he was doing the maneuvering package for the initial series of flight tests. Being called to the Starfleet Commanders office for Merlin knew what reason while working on such a high profile project annoyed him to no end.
The moment he arrived at the Starfleet commander’s office, he was ushered directly into the inner office without any delay. Before Harry had any time to react to the speed of the entry he was blindsided with a promotion to full commander due to his “Unique abilities, training and knowledge,” along with several other platitudes that just went in one ear and out the other.
Once he had left the office with his head spinning, the head of R&D explained that Starfleet felt it was time for him to get a program up and running adapting the Fleet’s equipment to work in conjunction with magic as well as get the preliminary training program running for magical humans that were in Starfleet and willing to be part of the wizarding program.
For Harry, it wasn’t the program and work that he was going to do that worried him, but a few other things that were making him uncomfortable about this whole setup.
First of all, getting promoted like that was a shock, while he felt that he could do the work and was capable of using the rank responsibly, he didn’t feel as if he had the experience or necessary training to do some of the things that he might have to do. Not to mention the amount of hard core engineering that would be necessary to make all the various components of a starship magic resistant or compatible. One piece of equipment was one thing, but it would be the integration with starship systems that was the kicker. You just couldn’t swap out one biobed for another and have them work; the electronics had to be compatible or you would get all sorts of weird interactions that could kill someone. The good thing about the engineering was that it was a known fact that some systems didn’t need work. High energy generators, such as the shields and tractor beam projectors (which were very closely related) were already sufficiently hardened against their own energies, and thus not affected by magic. Of course, with a big enough feedback they would blow out, but that was true as much for mundane energy surges, like anti-matter mines, as it was for magic. Finally what really bothered Harry about the way this had been sprung on him was that no one at the higher ends of Starfleet Command seemed to have read his or Krulack’s reports on how the Klingon culture was liable to react to a witch or wizard, let alone a colony of them. With magic being so similar to what the Klingon “god’s” used to enslave and torment the ancient Klingon society, Klingons were more likely to wipe out or isolate a colony of wizards that they ran across than coerce or get willing assistance from them.
The best thing, as far as Harry was concerned, about the project he was on, was that he got to pick who was on the team. Hui was onboard immediately and in charge of medical and life systems/support, as these areas were her specialty. After doing a bit of searching in the Starfleet Personnel database, he had pulled two of his old classmates from what a lot of the fleet considered a “dead end” posting. Harry had pulled Stendec and his wife Tara Vought from the ARCO labs in Idaho where they had been working on improving the warp field/spaceframe interactions on Starfleet designs.
Now All Harry needed was another witch or wizard to assist in testing any modifications that were made to the current systems under review. This person would also assist in developing the necessary coursework for a Fleet wizard to be certified to use magic in and around technology. With Hui’s help they had identified two individuals that were available that might have the necessary background and magical strength to do the job. Rank didn’t matter at this point in time as far as Harry was concerned, Just the willingness to use magic and be willing to learn.
The interview that Harry had gone through that morning with the first of two possible recruits for his project didn’t go well at all. Lt. Dinesh Patel was, at first glance, just what Harry had been looking for. Home schooled for most of his primary education, he had done fairly well at the Academy. It appeared, on paper at least, that Lt. Patel would be someone that would embrace his magical background and meld it easily with his Starfleet career. Unfortunately, Lt. Patel’s reaction to Harry’s offer was not what he had expected. Dinesh was polite enough in his refusal, but let it be known in no uncertain terms that he had joined Starfleet to get away from the “backwards” wizarding lifestyle he had grown up with in India and wanted nothing to do with it in any way.
Disappointed, Harry was hoping that the interview he had after lunch was going to go in a better direction. Based on the name alone, he knew it was going to be interesting to say the least.
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Transporter technician, third class, Cassiopeia (call me Cassie) Malfoy stood nervously outside Commander Potter’s office. Starfleet Research and Development was her first assignment outside of tech school. She had graduated with honors from both basic training and her tech school. While her records showed that she was an orphan and had spent her teenage years in a Federation sponsored boarding school, there was little information on her childhood and birthplace. She preferred it that way.
The door to Commander Potter’s office opened and a Yeoman came out.
“You can go in now Miss.” the man said as he walked by.
Squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she marched into the office to meet her new Commanding Officer, Cdr. Harry Potter.
Harry looked up from the screen in front of him. Giving the tall blond a cursory glance and approving of her appearance, he said “At ease, Miss Malfoy. Have a seat. This is just a get to know you meeting. These files don’t tell you about the person and are a bit dry. So tell me about yourself. Where are you from, some things about your family, what you like to do, and things like that.”
Cassie told him about the parts of her life that were already on record, but he noted the lack of detail about her early years and her family. Harry wondered if the secrecy had something to do with magic, or if she’d just had a bad childhood that she didn’t like to talk about. It wasn’t like he told strangers about Vernon and Petunia at the drop of a hat.
“Interesting Miss Malfoy. Based on your scores, and with a bit of experience, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t go to the academy like you want and become an excellent starship engineering officer one day. I do have a question for you though.”
Harry opened his desk drawer, extracting his wand and placing it on the desktop.
“I take it you recognize this?” Harry asked mildly, noting the growing look of horror on the young woman’s face.
If possible, Cassie paled even further. “How did you know sir?” she asked in a voice that indicated that she was about to burst into tears. The expression on her face plainly said that she thought she was going to be tossed out of Starfleet.
Harry put his wand back into his desk “Relax Miss Malfoy, you’re among friends and you have nothing to fear. There are two reasons that we suspected you to have magic. One is based on some of your esper and apperception scores, which we’ve correlated to magical abilities. The other reason is more personal. I was born just over 300 years ago, and I grew up and went to school in a magical sub-society that has since all but disappeared. You bear a very strong family resemblance and have the same last name as a classmate of mine from back then. Given the lack of information available and your secrecy about your early life, plus your reaction to seeing a wand, I suspect you grew up with wizards and witches yourself. I wasn’t aware that any European communities had survived.”
Slowly, Cassie calmed herself. Maybe she wouldn’t be sent back, after all. “You’re from the past, sir? How did you get here?”
“Bit of a time travel accident; it’s not really important.”
“Was it before World War III? Before Voldemort?”
Harry chuckled darkly. “Before the war, yes. But not exactly before Voldemort. He had recently gotten himself a new body and was just starting to make a nuisance of himself when I had my little accident, though no one would believe me when I told them he was alive again. I’ve since learned how bad it got later. He’s basically the reason there isn’t much of a Wizarding society anymore, though the muggle war certainly didn’t help.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “The community I was born in still worships Voldemort and believes he’ll return someday, though he hasn’t been seen in centuries. The boys are trained from childhood in how to torment animals and non-magical people, to keep ready for the glorious day of their master’s return. Of course, most of them can barely manage a tickling charm and have to resort to knives and sticks.”
“Let me guess, based on what I know of your ancestors. Purebloods, obsessed with marrying only other purebloods, and now inbred to the point of imbecilic squibs, with a few stellar exceptions where the genes aligned just right?”
“Got it in one, sir. Most of my siblings and cousins could barely write their own name.”
“How much magic did they teach you?”
Cassie barked a harsh laugh. “There weren’t many wands to go around, and they certainly wouldn’t have wasted one on a mere girl. I got to hold one when I was eleven and shot some sparks, to prove I had strong magic for potential suitors, but I’ve never cast a spell. When I was fourteen, they told me who I’d be marrying the next week. I left that night and never looked back. As soon as I saw what the outside world had to offer, I wished I’d left sooner. If I never see the bastards again, it will be too soon.”
By the time she was done, Harry was sure that if young Cassie Malfoy had her way, that entire community she came from would be used as a photon torpedo target.
Smiling Harry said “Don’t hold back Miss Malfoy, tell me how you really feel.”
Cassie started giggling “I’m sorry sir, but every day I live out here among the stars I get angrier at the insular ignorance and small-mindedness of my former “family”. They really push all my hot buttons.”
“Don’t worry about it. Go down to medical and talk to my wife, Dr. Potter. Let her know about your talents. She’ll have some things for you to go over. Dismissed.” said Harry.
As he watched the young woman leave, he thought A Malfoy in Starfleet, who would have guessed.
A few days after Krulack’s release from Starfleet medical, Harry and Hui decided that it was time to let Krulack in on magic. They didn’t want to surprise the Klingon and have him completely freak out, nor did they want to give up magic while he was with them.
Krulack was a gruff and a somewhat short-tempered individual compared to the average human, but he was quite a bit more cosmopolitan than the majority of his race. Before making up his mind on a species and any cultural foibles that they may have, he looked at things very objectively and non-judgmentally until he had as many of the facts as he could get. He had been a bit standoffish when Harry first explained the existence of human wizards and magic, but hadn’t seemed to want more of an explanation, at first.
Several days after being introduced to what was left of the magical world, Krulack explained to the Potters why the concept of “magic” concerned him. He explained that Klingon legends of the “gods” described Klingon rulers with similar powers and abilities. These rulers were generally extremely cruel and callous by any rational being’s standards. Eventually the populace that these “gods” had ruled rebelled and killed them off one by one. After the rebellions were over, any child that exhibited any resemblance of these abilities were killed to prevent the “gods” from returning.
The Potters blanched a bit at this description of an ancient massacre of alien “wizards”, though it sounded like the Klingons had had more than their share of dark lords. They accepted Krulack’s explanation and assured him that they understood. Human cultures, too, had myths of evil wizards and capricious “gods”, though clearly the Klingon myths were more deeply ingrained. They knew that he would get used to human magic eventually. Harry decided to explain about Voldemort to Krulack and all the nuances that he was aware of in regards to the bastard.
Over the course of the explanation of Voldemort and what he had done, Krulack made the comment that Voldemort would have probably joined in with the Klingon “gods” and their depravity with no problems.
Once Harry and Hui finished their tale and the problems involved with dealing with Voldemort once and for all, Krulack swore a blood oath to help the Potters in ending Voldemort’s existence.
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"Captain, we're leaving sector 15 for sector 16," stated the ships navigator, Lt. Lucas, a bit nervously. They were approaching the Neutral Zone and this piece of the area was known to be full of all sorts of spatial oddities that would make navigation an interesting time to say the least.
Harry nodded in response, then ordered, "Helm, adjust course so we parallel the zone, but keep us out a bit. No need for some cosmic string to shoot us through the zone like a archers arrow."
"Aye, Captain, adjusting course," replied the helmsman with a bit of a chuckle.
Harry smiled slightly as he remembered what Captain Hewlett’s report of their incident along the sector had stated. "The Yeager hit a cosmic string that reacted just like an archers bow on release and shot them deep into Klingon space, knocking out all ship defenses and most of their power."
The ship’s communications officer, Lt. Tafari Uhura, spoke up. "Captain, I'm receiving a distress signal, audio only."
Harry spun his chair around and faced the young man. He was the youngest nephew of one of his mentors and one of his oldest friends in the 23rd century, Nyota Uhura. "Lieutenant, put it on speakers, and tell me what you can about it."
The bridge speakers crackled to life and began to play the weak transmission. "…This is the…Altair Six…Gravitic Mine…Please Assist…”
“Sorry Captain, that’s the best I can do. There’s just too much interference. But I was able to get a directional fix on the signal. It’s coming from Gamma Hydra, sector 10.”
Harry frowned at the information. “Shit, right smack in the middle of the Neutral Zone.” He thought for a moment “Mr. Sakharov, what’s the latest Intel on who’s patrolling the Klingon side of the zone?”
“One moment, sir,” said the Russian science officer from his station. After a moment of manipulating the science station’s library controls, he said, “Sir, the squadron ‘Emerald Fire’ was reported in the area most recently.”
More to himself than anyone else, Harry muttered, “This just gets better and better. What’s next, that ship’s got some politicians daughter on board?”
Making his decision, Harry sat up a bit taller in his captain’s chair. “Okay, we can’t let these people die or end up as long term prisoners of the Klingons. You all know how prickly they are about territory violations, regardless of the reason. On my authority, we’re going in, get them, and get out of there as fast as possible. Please note the ship’s log as such.” Pressing a button on his armrest, he called out, “Engineering, have the transporters ready, and I need warp 8 in one minute. Mr. Skohne, plot an intercept course. I want us as close to that signal source as possible. As soon as we drop out of warp, get the shields up and reinforce them as well as possible. When I give the order, drop just the shield facing the other ship, assuming it’s still intact. I want us in and out as fast as possible.”
Harry looked around the bridge before continuing. “Ladies and gentlemen, if any of you feel that you cannot follow my orders in regards to my decision to violate the neutral zone, feel free to leave the bridge with no repercussions on your part.”
After no one moved for a minute, Harry nodded. “Thank you, everyone. Bring the ship to Red Alert. As soon as all stations report ready, go to warp 8.”
Just under a minute later, all stations had reported in and the U.S.S. Hood shot into warp.
On the Bridge, Harry was intently studying the main viewer. It had several different displays open, giving information ranging from general data on the crippled ship that had been encoded in its distress calls, to a tactical plot showing the astronomical layout of the area the Hood was going to, including any estimated threats and their locations.
After a few minutes the Hood dropped out of warp at the approximate co-ordinates of the crippled ship. As soon as the Hood stopped, Lt. Uhura cried out, “Captain! The signals have been cut off!”
“It’s a trap,” Harry barked out as soon as Lt. Uhura made his announcement. “Nav, plot a course out of here, fast as you can. Helm, get us moving as soon as you can. Weps, blast out a tachyon field as far as you can. If anything’s cloaked out there, that might let us spot them before they can attack.”
Suddenly, the Hood rocked violently and a hollow boom echoed through the ship.
“Damage report,” Harry asked calmly. He knew that yelling wouldn’t accomplish anything at this point.
After a moment, the Hood’s Command Master Chief spoke up from the Damage Control Station. “We hit an anti-matter mine Captain. No casualties reported, but the shock knocked the warp field balancers out of sync. So far no reports of structural damage to the hull. Call it thirty minutes to get the balancers resynced.”
Harry ran the numbers in his head and didn’t like the results. “Damn,” was all he said.
Turning to the science station, Harry asked, “Mr. Sakharov, what’s out there? Somebody laid a trap for us and they’ve got to be around here somewhere.”
Mr. Sakharov responded immediately. “Only a small asteroid field at 192 mark 3. Completely unremarkable at first glance. I’m running an energy scan now.”
Harry thought to himself “That would be a perfect hunting blind.”
Mr. Sakharov suddenly turned to face him. “Captain, I’ve got three low power energy signatures in there. A D-7 and a pair of K-5’s. The D-7 is definitely the Emerald Talon based on the signature. Looks like the K-5’s are escorts for the Talon. Captain, according to the war book, the Emerald Talon usually has a pair of Bird of Prey escorts, not those K-5’s. Either they have upgraded ships or he’s called in a favor to get better escorts for the time being.”
Harry had never had the pleasure of meeting Captain Khosin, but he had read about the Klingon’s exploits in great detail and had a pretty good idea of how to stamp “paid” on his account.
“Emerald Talon, indeed. More like Emerald Vulture,” Harry snorted in disgust. “Mr. Uhura, Patch me through to those pirates. It’s time to put a stop to Khosin and his merry band of cutthroats.”
“Channel is open, Captain,” said Lt. Uhura after a moment.
Harry nodded in acknowledgement and in a clear voice began to speak “Khosin, you sorry excuse for a pile of Targ droppings, get your cowardly ass out here so I can kick it properly, or do you want the Empire to know of your dishonorable ways? I know that your escorts aren’t your normal ones. Who’d you threaten or blackmail to get them to go along with this little scheme of yours?”
Harry then moved his hand across his throat in a slashing motion.
As the Hood waited for the Emerald Talon’s response, Harry reminded himself of a few things. First of all, the Emerald Talon hadn’t been in any sort of fight in at least five years. At least since Khosin had taken command. They were commerce raiders and pirates, picking off crippled or unarmed ships. They were out of practice and rusty when it came to fighting any sort of ship that could defend itself. Secondly, that anti-matter mine had wasted itself against the Hood’s shields and only scorched paint. The hull was completely undamaged but looked nasty. They had full power for all systems and only the warp field balancers were keeping them here for the moment. Next, according to everything Harry had read, Khosin was a coward at heart and had stayed away from a stand up fight with an equal. Khosin’s known history indicated that he’d rather knife you in the back than fight you face-to-face. Harry wasn’t sure how he had gotten command of a fairly up–to-date D-7 Battlecruiser, but he was willing to bet that Khosin had probably assassinated, extorted or bribed his way to the post. Finally, Harry was playing a hunch. Most likely, Khosin had blackmail material on whatever Klingon house those K-5’s were part of. Harry, by wording his challenge the way he did, would force Khosin to fight one-on-one, without his escorts, or be branded a coward throughout the Klingon Empire.
Lt. Sakharov spoke up after a few minutes of waiting. “Captain, the Emerald Talon is heading our way. Her escorts are leaving the area at roughly Warp 7.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Now, to finish the job.” Harry said confidently. In the back of Harry’s mind however he thought, “I bloody well know what I need to do, I just hope I can pull it off. If I don’t, Hui’s gonna kill me and Merlin only knows what Starfleet will say no matter what happens next. “
“Captain, transmission from the Emerald Talon” said Lt. Uhura.
Mentally steeling himself for what was about to happen, Harry snapped, “Onscreen.”
The main viewer switched over to show a pinch-faced, watery-eyed Klingon that strongly reminded Harry of a cross between Draco Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew with all the worst traits of both being emphasized. Based on appearances, if Harry had to make a guess, Khosin was an opportunistic ferret that was about as smart as a box of rocks.
Captain Khosin blinked a few times, then smirked “Well, Well…If it isn’t Harry Potter. The Federation has sunk to a new low by putting you in command of anything bigger that a garbage scow.”
“Save it for someone who cares, Coward. This is the last time your raiding is going to happen.”
Switching over to Klingon, Harry continued “For your cowardly actions causing disgrace and unnecessary strife between the Klingon Empire and The United Federation of Planets; I, Captain Harry Potter, Lord of The ancient and Noble House of Potter, Friend of the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, Honored ally of the House of Moog, Challenge you for the command of the Emerald Talon.”
The shocked look on Captain Khosin’s face showed that he wasn’t expecting this sort of response from Harry.
Not having much choice, Khosin said “So be it Potter, but just so you know…”
Before Khosin could continue, a loud voice was heard over the various noises that were produced by the bridge instruments. “Open the simulator.” It said in cultured voice that sounded curious and had a somewhat amused undertone to it.
The Front wall of the simulator split open as Captain Spock and Admiral Kirk walked in.
“Mr. Potter, wait here” began Capt. Spock. “Cadets to the briefing room for your critique.”
Turing his attention fully to Harry, Capt. Spock began “Lieutenant I am curious as to why you chose to issue a formal dueling challenge to the simulation.”
A look of relief crossed Harrys face for a moment as he began to explain “Sir, when Mr. Sakarov said it was the Emerald Talon, I knew that someone in training command had talked with Krulack. Now, he’s never once talked with me about what he’s currently working on with Starfleet, but we have talked about the different myths and legends of the various Klingon and Human cultures, mainly to help him deal with integrating with the Federation and humanity in particular.”
Pausing for a moment, Harry continued “The Emerald Talon was the name of a Pirate ship that Kahless the Unforgettable defeated in battle during the unification of the Klingon homeworld. Khosin was the captain of the Emerald Talon. Now what tipped me off to what was going on is the fact that since unification, no Klingon ship or battlegroup as ever been named Emerald Talon, it’s a dishonorable name as far as their culture is concerned. All I did was try to do what I felt that Kahless should have done if I had been in the same position.” Harry sighed as he finished wondering if he had just blown command school.
Admiral Kirk just chuckled and said “Lieutenant, the Kobyashi Maru scenario is a character test. It’s randomly generated for each Command Cadet. We checked the scenario generator and found no evidence of unauthorized access before you went in, so why it generated that particular scenario for you I’ll never know. Anyway, as it stands now, this scenario is your last exam…Unless you want to take it again.”
Harry just responded with a “That’s alright sir. I’ll let the results stand.” After a moment of introspection, he continued “Admiral, may I ask how you did on this test?”
Spock raised an eyebrow and Kirk busted up laughing. Harry was a bit dumbfounded by this response by the two senior officer’s reaction to his question.
Once Admiral Kirk stopped laughing, he looked at Harry and said, “Kid, I took that test three times before I was satisfied with my results. Needless to say, it’s a bit of an inside joke that one day you’ll probably be let in on.”
Captain Spock calmly looked at Kirk, then at Harry, and , “The admiral’s solution was a rather unique application of theory and history, Lieutenant.”
Kirk huffed in amusement at the description of what he had done in his youth and responded with, “It did have the virtue of never having been tried.”
Spock just raised an eyebrow in response to Kirk before returning his attention to Harry. “Mr. Potter, report back to the briefing room for your official debrief. Do not worry about your performance. All Command cadets perform in different ways and you obviously chose what you believed was the correct solution.”
“Aye sir,” said Harry and left the simulator, heading for his debrief. All the while, he was wondering just what was so funny about his question.
HPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOS
Harry was not having a good month and things didn’t look like they were going to get any better. Roughly a month ago, a Starfleet-wide notification had gone out that was still reverberating through the fleet, and as it turned out had directly affected Harry. The notification wasn’t something he could just forget and it was something that he could recite from memory. It read:
From: Randolph E. Morrow, Admiral
Star Fleet Headquarters Command, Terra
Commander, Star Fleet Command, Quadrant 0
TO: Commanding officers, All Star Fleet vessels
*]
[* According to information obtained by the highest levels of Star Fleet Command, the race of energy beings referred to as the Organians have ceased their enforcement of the Organian Peace Treaty. This treaty, arbitrarily imposed by the Organians, prevented a war the Klingon Empire and has ensured peace between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets for the past 13 years. It now appears that current conditions exist for the Organians to permit open, widespread hostilities between elements of Star Fleet and the Klingon Empire.
*]
[* Although the exact details have not been verified by Star Fleet Intelligence, this apparent change in status is to be given the most serious consideration by all ship commanders. If the Klingon High Command is also aware of the Organians’ withdrawal from active participation in Federation/Klingon affairs, the result could be a state of war.
*]
[* All ships operating from Star Bases 12, 21, 22, 23, and 27 are to proceed with their current assignments while maintaining full combat readiness for large-scale warfare against any Klingon forces entering Federation space.
[**]
As a test pilot assigned to Research and Development since completing the command course just over a year ago, normally something like this notice wouldn’t affect him all that much. Maybe there would be a heightened sense of urgency in the testing program that he was assigned to, or a tighter security presence, but that’s about it. However, two days after the notice came out, things began to go downhill, as far as Harry was concerned.
Harry had been called to Commander, Starfleet’s office shortly after arriving to work down at the flight test office. In a few weeks, the Excelsior was scheduled for space frame integrity testing and while he wasn’t on the docket for actually being at the helm of the “Great Experiment”, he was doing the maneuvering package for the initial series of flight tests. Being called to the Starfleet Commanders office for Merlin knew what reason while working on such a high profile project annoyed him to no end.
The moment he arrived at the Starfleet commander’s office, he was ushered directly into the inner office without any delay. Before Harry had any time to react to the speed of the entry he was blindsided with a promotion to full commander due to his “Unique abilities, training and knowledge,” along with several other platitudes that just went in one ear and out the other.
Once he had left the office with his head spinning, the head of R&D explained that Starfleet felt it was time for him to get a program up and running adapting the Fleet’s equipment to work in conjunction with magic as well as get the preliminary training program running for magical humans that were in Starfleet and willing to be part of the wizarding program.
For Harry, it wasn’t the program and work that he was going to do that worried him, but a few other things that were making him uncomfortable about this whole setup.
First of all, getting promoted like that was a shock, while he felt that he could do the work and was capable of using the rank responsibly, he didn’t feel as if he had the experience or necessary training to do some of the things that he might have to do. Not to mention the amount of hard core engineering that would be necessary to make all the various components of a starship magic resistant or compatible. One piece of equipment was one thing, but it would be the integration with starship systems that was the kicker. You just couldn’t swap out one biobed for another and have them work; the electronics had to be compatible or you would get all sorts of weird interactions that could kill someone. The good thing about the engineering was that it was a known fact that some systems didn’t need work. High energy generators, such as the shields and tractor beam projectors (which were very closely related) were already sufficiently hardened against their own energies, and thus not affected by magic. Of course, with a big enough feedback they would blow out, but that was true as much for mundane energy surges, like anti-matter mines, as it was for magic. Finally what really bothered Harry about the way this had been sprung on him was that no one at the higher ends of Starfleet Command seemed to have read his or Krulack’s reports on how the Klingon culture was liable to react to a witch or wizard, let alone a colony of them. With magic being so similar to what the Klingon “god’s” used to enslave and torment the ancient Klingon society, Klingons were more likely to wipe out or isolate a colony of wizards that they ran across than coerce or get willing assistance from them.
The best thing, as far as Harry was concerned, about the project he was on, was that he got to pick who was on the team. Hui was onboard immediately and in charge of medical and life systems/support, as these areas were her specialty. After doing a bit of searching in the Starfleet Personnel database, he had pulled two of his old classmates from what a lot of the fleet considered a “dead end” posting. Harry had pulled Stendec and his wife Tara Vought from the ARCO labs in Idaho where they had been working on improving the warp field/spaceframe interactions on Starfleet designs.
Now All Harry needed was another witch or wizard to assist in testing any modifications that were made to the current systems under review. This person would also assist in developing the necessary coursework for a Fleet wizard to be certified to use magic in and around technology. With Hui’s help they had identified two individuals that were available that might have the necessary background and magical strength to do the job. Rank didn’t matter at this point in time as far as Harry was concerned, Just the willingness to use magic and be willing to learn.
The interview that Harry had gone through that morning with the first of two possible recruits for his project didn’t go well at all. Lt. Dinesh Patel was, at first glance, just what Harry had been looking for. Home schooled for most of his primary education, he had done fairly well at the Academy. It appeared, on paper at least, that Lt. Patel would be someone that would embrace his magical background and meld it easily with his Starfleet career. Unfortunately, Lt. Patel’s reaction to Harry’s offer was not what he had expected. Dinesh was polite enough in his refusal, but let it be known in no uncertain terms that he had joined Starfleet to get away from the “backwards” wizarding lifestyle he had grown up with in India and wanted nothing to do with it in any way.
Disappointed, Harry was hoping that the interview he had after lunch was going to go in a better direction. Based on the name alone, he knew it was going to be interesting to say the least.
HPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOSHPSTTOS
Transporter technician, third class, Cassiopeia (call me Cassie) Malfoy stood nervously outside Commander Potter’s office. Starfleet Research and Development was her first assignment outside of tech school. She had graduated with honors from both basic training and her tech school. While her records showed that she was an orphan and had spent her teenage years in a Federation sponsored boarding school, there was little information on her childhood and birthplace. She preferred it that way.
The door to Commander Potter’s office opened and a Yeoman came out.
“You can go in now Miss.” the man said as he walked by.
Squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she marched into the office to meet her new Commanding Officer, Cdr. Harry Potter.
Harry looked up from the screen in front of him. Giving the tall blond a cursory glance and approving of her appearance, he said “At ease, Miss Malfoy. Have a seat. This is just a get to know you meeting. These files don’t tell you about the person and are a bit dry. So tell me about yourself. Where are you from, some things about your family, what you like to do, and things like that.”
Cassie told him about the parts of her life that were already on record, but he noted the lack of detail about her early years and her family. Harry wondered if the secrecy had something to do with magic, or if she’d just had a bad childhood that she didn’t like to talk about. It wasn’t like he told strangers about Vernon and Petunia at the drop of a hat.
“Interesting Miss Malfoy. Based on your scores, and with a bit of experience, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t go to the academy like you want and become an excellent starship engineering officer one day. I do have a question for you though.”
Harry opened his desk drawer, extracting his wand and placing it on the desktop.
“I take it you recognize this?” Harry asked mildly, noting the growing look of horror on the young woman’s face.
If possible, Cassie paled even further. “How did you know sir?” she asked in a voice that indicated that she was about to burst into tears. The expression on her face plainly said that she thought she was going to be tossed out of Starfleet.
Harry put his wand back into his desk “Relax Miss Malfoy, you’re among friends and you have nothing to fear. There are two reasons that we suspected you to have magic. One is based on some of your esper and apperception scores, which we’ve correlated to magical abilities. The other reason is more personal. I was born just over 300 years ago, and I grew up and went to school in a magical sub-society that has since all but disappeared. You bear a very strong family resemblance and have the same last name as a classmate of mine from back then. Given the lack of information available and your secrecy about your early life, plus your reaction to seeing a wand, I suspect you grew up with wizards and witches yourself. I wasn’t aware that any European communities had survived.”
Slowly, Cassie calmed herself. Maybe she wouldn’t be sent back, after all. “You’re from the past, sir? How did you get here?”
“Bit of a time travel accident; it’s not really important.”
“Was it before World War III? Before Voldemort?”
Harry chuckled darkly. “Before the war, yes. But not exactly before Voldemort. He had recently gotten himself a new body and was just starting to make a nuisance of himself when I had my little accident, though no one would believe me when I told them he was alive again. I’ve since learned how bad it got later. He’s basically the reason there isn’t much of a Wizarding society anymore, though the muggle war certainly didn’t help.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “The community I was born in still worships Voldemort and believes he’ll return someday, though he hasn’t been seen in centuries. The boys are trained from childhood in how to torment animals and non-magical people, to keep ready for the glorious day of their master’s return. Of course, most of them can barely manage a tickling charm and have to resort to knives and sticks.”
“Let me guess, based on what I know of your ancestors. Purebloods, obsessed with marrying only other purebloods, and now inbred to the point of imbecilic squibs, with a few stellar exceptions where the genes aligned just right?”
“Got it in one, sir. Most of my siblings and cousins could barely write their own name.”
“How much magic did they teach you?”
Cassie barked a harsh laugh. “There weren’t many wands to go around, and they certainly wouldn’t have wasted one on a mere girl. I got to hold one when I was eleven and shot some sparks, to prove I had strong magic for potential suitors, but I’ve never cast a spell. When I was fourteen, they told me who I’d be marrying the next week. I left that night and never looked back. As soon as I saw what the outside world had to offer, I wished I’d left sooner. If I never see the bastards again, it will be too soon.”
By the time she was done, Harry was sure that if young Cassie Malfoy had her way, that entire community she came from would be used as a photon torpedo target.
Smiling Harry said “Don’t hold back Miss Malfoy, tell me how you really feel.”
Cassie started giggling “I’m sorry sir, but every day I live out here among the stars I get angrier at the insular ignorance and small-mindedness of my former “family”. They really push all my hot buttons.”
“Don’t worry about it. Go down to medical and talk to my wife, Dr. Potter. Let her know about your talents. She’ll have some things for you to go over. Dismissed.” said Harry.
As he watched the young woman leave, he thought A Malfoy in Starfleet, who would have guessed.
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