Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Wizard on the Edge of Forever
Chapter 20: The Return of the Chosen One.
Hui sat down in the cafeteria at Starfleet Medical with a bowl of vegetable soup for lunch. The past few days she had been feeling a bit...off, for lack a better term. She couldn’t put her finger on it but as a physician, she knew that she was going to be a terrible patient if she was coming down with something.
As Hui sat at her table quietly eating and mentally going over symptoms, a voice interrupted her musings.
“May I join you Dr. Potter?” asked Healer T’Laura. The Vulcan Mind healer was on Earth for a series of conferences and had eaten lunch with Hui several times. Their conversations had been light for the most part and didn’t really count as work-related per se. They were more like bull sessions, where ideas would freely flow that might or might not turn into medical treatments in time.
“Certainly, T’Laura, please join me,” responded Hui pleasantly. She enjoyed their conversations quite a bit.
As T’Laura sat down at the table, a pensive look crossed Hui’s face for a second as she tried to resolve her thoughts on her own condition. T’Laura noticed the look and asked “Is something bothering you Hui?”
“No…well, kind of. I’ve been feeling physically off for the past few days. Nothing specific, mind you, and nothing that I can describe as a true symptom of any infection or illness, just not quite up to my best.”
Healer T’Laura nodded in understanding at Hui’s description. After a minute she suggested in a mild tone, “Hui, once we have finished here, let’s go back to your office and run some tests. As you well know, my specialty is mind healing, but I believe I can at least help you discover what, if anything, may be affecting your physical health.”
Hui agreed and they continued with lunch and conversations on other matters.
After lunch, the two physicians retreated to Hui’s office where T’Laura ran a series of tests to see if she could discern what was causing Hui’s malaise. When she finished the last test, T’Laura made what Hui initially thought was a bit of an odd request.
“Hui, I hate to impose, but may I perform a mind meld with you? I assure you that nothing is wrong, but it will allow me to confirm the latest sets of test results.”
Hui thought about it for a moment. She wasn’t a neurologist or mind healer like T’Laura, and if a Mind Meld would confirm some sort of neurological aberration that could be easily treated, she couldn’t think of any reason to refuse.
“Go right ahead. I don’t have a problem with it. Hopefully whatever it is will be easily treatable or controlled.”
T’Laura’s voice didn’t reveal anything but a ghost of a smile crossed the Vulcan woman’s features. “Indeed. It should be. Let us begin.”
Hui closed her eyes and T’Laura placed her hands on the necessary facial points and began to speak the mantra “My mind to your mind…my thoughts to your thoughts…”
The meld didn’t take more than five or six minutes, but towards the end Hui winced slightly as a minor headache hit her. As she winced, T’Laura’s eyes snapped open and in what would be considered an major lapse of emotional control, the Vulcan gasped out an astonished “Oh My!”
As quickly and as safely as she could, T’Laura ended the meld. Taking a moment to compose herself, she said, “Hui, I have some excellent news and some...unusual news. Whether it is good or bad will be for you to decide.”
Conflicting emotions crossed Hui’s Eurasian features and she processed the statement that T’Laura had just given her. Making up her mind, Hui sighed and asked “Okay, what’s the good news? Perhaps it will help balance out the other issue.”
“Very well. Congratulations, Hui, your son is healthy and is going to be quite the curious child when he is born.”
Hui’s jaw dropped at the news. Given the stress of her job and the strenuous exercise required of a Starfleet officer, her cycles had often been somewhat irregular, but she hadn’t been expecting that.
“I’m pregnant? How did that happen?” Hui asked in a state of minor shock.
T’Laura raised a single, ironic eyebrow. “I trust that I do not have to give you talk about--what do you humans call it?--that’s right, the ‘Birds and the Bees’?” Though T’Laura’s tone was straightforward, the teasing humor snapped Hui out of her stunned state and brought a wide smile to her face.
“Alright, I deserved that. But what about my implant? I thought I was still good on that thing.”
T’Laura shook her head slightly at Hui’s query. “Hui, you of all people should be aware that the implants are not 100% effective. There are varying reasons for failure, but they really aren’t germane to the situation. How will Harry take the news?”
Hui grinned, imagining the scene. “He’s going to be over the moon about this. He’s always wanted a family. While it’s unexpected, this pregnancy is very much wanted.” Hui closed her eyes and sighed. “Now, what’s the ‘unusual’ news?”
T’Laura hesitated for a moment then said “Hui, those headaches you get on occasion, I do not know why it wasn’t thought of before, but a mind meld should have been performed while you were having one previously. From what I can tell, you have what we Vulcan’s refer to as ‘temporal sensitivity.’ A Vulcan adept with this ability can access glimpses of possible futures while in a meditative state.”
“I’m a seer?” Hui gasped.
“If that is the human term, then yes. From what I was able to gather, your ability is active, but blocked. Your conscious mind has been suppressing the visions, which is what causes the headaches. The stronger the vision, the more painful it becomes.”
Hui sat back in her chair in shock. After a moment, she asked, “Healer T’Laura, what exactly does this mean, and how will it affect the baby, let alone my mind?”
“This ability will not affect your child in any way. Now in Vulcans, the ability to glimpse futures is extremely rare. The last known Vulcan temporal adept passed on shortly after the first contact with humanity. Now, after you and Harry revealed your special abilities when you were a student on Vulcan, I took the liberty of looking into some of Earth’s legends that seemed to match your description of ‘Magic’. It has been a fascinating look into human culture. But I digress; I suspect some of the Vulcan mind disciplines might help you properly integrate the visions with your mind and memories. However, controlling when they occur is something that Vulcan techniques cannot do. There are enough differences in the human mind and brain that Vulcan disciplines will not work. I can only assume that there are humans that know of the ability that might have other methods will allow you to control the gift.” T’Laura finished with dignity, but even someone that wasn’t used to a Vulcan’s controlled speech patterns could tell that she wasn’t completely pleased with that answer.
Frowning Hui said, “Okay T’Laura, what aren’t you telling me?”
T’Laura looked straight at Hui “Integrating the visions is not the issue; that will not take very long and will be fairly easy. Controlling when the visions occur is the problem. I know that your practice within Starfleet doesn’t generally include surgery, but once the visions are integrated, then the visions will come without pain but could interfere with your motor skills depending on the strength of the vision. Obviously, that is something that could be lethal during surgery. At best the visions will be a bit more of an annoyance than they are now. At worst…I do not have enough information to even begin to formulate an answer.”
Hui nodded in understanding. Performing surgery was a very small part of her duties as she was more of a research physician, considering her duty assignment of improving the methods of detecting beings with the gift of magic and how to properly educate them on the use of their special abilities.
“Well there isn’t much I can do about that at the moment, but on the bright side… I’m pregnant!” Hui finished with a cherry voice and a smile.
That evening at Mickey’s bar, Harry and Hui’s small group of friends celebrated the news and couldn’t help but tease Harry mercilessly. The group thought that Harry’s reaction to the news of the pregnancy was the best thing they had seen all night. When Hui made the announcement, Harry stuttered, “You’re…Pr…Preg…Pregnan….” and proceeded to faint face first into his plate of bangers and mash.
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Hui’s mental retraining for her seer abilities only took about three weeks and was, in Harry and Hui’s opinion, laughably simple. The Vulcan mental and minor physical exercises were very similar to the Chinese martial art of Tai Chi and only consisted of about 10 moves blended together. The concentration on blending the moves together allowed the memories of the visions Hui had to be painlessly integrated into her mind. An unexpected side effect was that Hui developed the ability to detect when a vision was coming and be able to take the appropriate measures to record them.
Shortly after Hui’s being certified by the Vulcans, The Medusians also certified that Hui was the first proven human Seer on record and agreed with the Vulcans that the ability, while uncontrolled in regards to when it would manifest, the subject matter, as well as the scope and intensity of the vision, they could be beneficial to the Federation, if in nothing more than making contingency plans for events that may or may not take place. With these limitations noted, Hui was seconded to the Admiral in charge of the Starfleet Plans and Policies division for any visions that had anything to do with the Fleet or the Federation. Aside from that she was still a Doctor and working on the project that was helping identify the Wizards that might be in Starfleet.
Hui’s first officially recorded vision happened to coincide with Admiral Kirk’s actions in regards to the Mutara incident as it became known within the Federation. Apparently, after Harry had left the Enterprise to live with Winona Kirk over a decade before, the Enterprise had encountered a sleeper ship, the S.S. Botany Bay. The subsequent incident and exile of the surviving company and crew of the Botany Bay had been classified as a need to know item and had been kept very quiet within Starfleet. If the knowledge of the fact that some of the Eugenics wars leaders were now colonists instead of paying for their crimes had gotten out, it wouldn’t have sat well with the average citizen of the Federation to say the least. Unfortunately, the most sociopathic and the ringleader of the lot, Kahn Noonian Singh, had managed to hijack the U.S.S Reliant in an attempt to escape his exile. The Enterprise had managed to destroy the Reliant before Kahn could fully implement his escape plan but had almost been blown out of the sky in the process.
The political fallout in regards to the incident and the revelation of the top secret planetary terraforming project “Genesis” was just beginning when Kirk up and stole the Enterprise. Harry and Hui, as well as Peter Kirk, were being interviewed by Federation security about two weeks after the theft, when Hui had her vision. While the details of the vision were fleeting, the general information gathered from it indicated that if Kirk were brought back from Vulcan in chains, the Earth would be turned into a lifeless ball floating in space shortly afterwards. If Kirk returned to Earth on his own, Earth would be saved by Kirk from its own shortsightedness.
All Harry had to say about it was, “Too bad Nana’s not around anymore. Jim needs to be spanked for this stunt!”
At some point during their travels, Harry had found a pensieve in a curio shop and purchased it. While small in size and fairly heavily battered, it did allow for an in depth viewing of the Visions that Hui had experienced and walled off in her mind. In going over the memories of previous visions, they had found that most of them were fairly mundane. They were mostly about things that happened a day or so in the future, relative to the time that they occurred. However, there was a set that seemed to be re-occurring and each vision seemed to be clearer and more defined with each occurrence.
The initial visions from the set of three that were of most concern were very vague but seemed to deal with the end of the Federation. As the visions repeated they became clearer and in the case of two of them, much more disturbing.
The mildest of the three seemed to indicate that the Federation was willingly disbanded as it was also part of what appeared to be so larger socio-political entity that may have encompassed the galaxy; instead of just their part of the Sagittarius arm. As this seemed to be something that was occurring many thousands of years in the future, the Potters took notes but didn’t really didn’t think that this particular vision was much to worry about.
The other two visions, frankly, scared the hell out of both of them.
The first one seemed technological in nature and, as it progressed, indicated that the standard warp drive technology would, at some point in the future, be modified into an easy-to-use temporal transportation device. This initially didn’t seem to be much of a problem, but as the vision continued in its later permutations, various factions within the Federation perverted the idea to their own ends. The end result was a temporal civil war that resulted in massive loss of life and appeared to blow many of the worlds of the Federation back to the Stone Age.
While very disturbing, the notes regarding this vision would allow for some sort of contingency plans to be put in place to at least attempt to save as much as possible if not stop this possible future from happening.
The final vision was from their point of view the most terrifying. It showed Voldemort emerging from his prison, long after Harry’s death from old age, stronger than ever and even more ruthless. He then took over Earth and enslaved every living being for his own twisted amusements. So depraved were Voldemort’s actions, they awakened a genocidal anti-human sentiment within many of the other races of the Federation. These races eventually scoured the planet of all life and purposely hunted down any humans or partial humans and exterminated them; all in the idea of eliminating the smallest chance that magic and Voldemort (or some human like him) could return.
After viewing this vision, Harry felt ill. He knew that if he couldn’t stop Voldemort within his lifetime, this vision would come true and it would be his fault.
Hui just looked at Harry and said, “If I ever meet the bitch that made that prophecy about you and that bastard, I’m going to kick her ass from here to Antares and back!” The venom in her voice left no doubt that she would without any hesitation.
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Harry, Hui and Krulack sat in the reception area of the Federation president’s office in Paris, having received a summons to come as soon as possible and wondering just what they had done to warrant it. Harry couldn’t think of anything he had done to merit such attention. Hui had speculated that it might have something to do with one of her visions, but couldn’t think of what would cause the President to directly request the three of them to meet with him personally. Krulack, on the other hand,had stated in a rather cynical and disgusted tone of voice, “You two I can understand, with that Magic stuff of yours. Me? If he wants me to take something back to the Empire, it’s out of the question. They’d rather blow me to my constituent atoms than hear any message or receive any artifact that I hand-carry back.”
The secretary ushered the trio into the inner office of the Efrosian President of the Federation, Ra-ghoratrei, with the normal platitudes of a career political servant. After greeting the three of them and ushering the secretary out, the president lowered the lighting a bit to accommodate his light sensitive eyes and removed the mirrored pince-nez sunglasses he normally wore.
“Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Krulack, I do apologize for the precipitous nature of this meeting, but it is imperative that you understand the gravity of the situation I am in,” began the President in a tone of voice that indicated he was going to say something he either didn’t want to say or didn’t want to ask of them.
“Mrs. Potter, this all has to do with the visions you have been having regarding the 20th century dark wizard Voldemort’s return. I have read the reports regarding all the visions that you have had regarding him as well as Mr. Potter’s reports and honestly, I’m not quite sure what to do about the situation. I asked for you three mainly because Mrs. Potter is the one having the visions, Mr. Potter is likely the most qualified in knowledge and experience in dealing with Voldemort, and Krulack has made no secret of his blood oath to help the Potters in their endeavors not to mention his family’s alliance with the Potter family. I wouldn’t dare interfere with a Klingon blood oath.”
The Potters and Krulack looked at each other in confusion for a moment. Then Harry spoke up “Sir, we don’t understand.” Gesturing towards Hui and Krulack “What do these visions have to do with your office and the decisions that you’re making?”
The President sighed and sat down in a chair. “It’s actually fairly easy to understand, but difficult to execute when you’re in my position. My job, and the oath I made when I took office, requires that I do everything in my power to protect the Federation as a whole, and to protect its member planets individually. The Voldemort vision is my concern here. Predictions of the Federation voluntarily disbanding or future civil wars are problems I am equipped to deal with. Protocols and directives can and have been put in place to work with and guide us if and when the time comes. I’ve even authorized a new department that is charged with investigating temporal affairs, such as the one that brought you to the 23rd century Mr. Potter. It’s the knowledge of Magic and what I am about to ask you to do is the difficult part.”
After a momentary pause the President continued “Currently there is no way for the Federation, let alone Starfleet to stop the entity known as Voldemort. Commander Potter, the rituals that you described in the various briefings you have given to Starfleet and the Federation advisors have forced me to that realization. We can contain him for now, but to be frank, If LtCdr. Potter’s vision comes to pass, then he will break containment and spark a wave of genocidal madness that I cannot, in good conscience, allow to happen if at all possible.”
“Unfortunately,” he paused for a moment while he pulled a piece of paper from a pocket in his suit coat and looked at it “The person that is best suited to helping you destroy this threat to humanity, the Earth, and the moral soul of the Federation is one Albus Dumbledore.”
Harry stood up from his chair and began to pace the floor.
“Mr. President, I apologize for Harry’s reaction,” began Hui.
The President waved it off saying “Mrs. Potter, I’ve been on the receiving end of much worse. His pacing the floor is actually a quite refreshing reaction.”
Harry paused his pacing and faced the President “Mr. President, how can Professor Dumbledore be the person that is best suited to help? He’s been dead for three hundred yea…” Suddenly, Harry realized what the President was going to ask him to do. The realization and the possible implications hit him like a two-by-four.
“Sir, are you asking me to do what I think you are?” Harry asked tentatively.
“Cdr. Potter, yes you have figured out what I’m asking you to do. Based on all the information that I have been given, I am asking you to gather a team together and go back in time to stop that future from happening, then return. Needless to say, try not to change the recorded history that we know if at all possible.”
Harry moved back to his chair and sat down, staring at the floor in thought. Hui and Krulack Stared at the President for a moment before Krulack spoke up in a loud and somewhat incredulous tone of voice “Are you out of your mind? You’re talking about Changing History!!! For all we know Killing Voldemort back then will completely destroy everything that we know! You joH'a' puq vo!”
Harry looked up and placed a hand on Krulack’s forearm, stopping him from saying anything else for a moment. “Mr. President, I’m not going to apologize for Krulack’s outburst because he’s right. Back in the 20th century, the wizarding world did have the ability to go back in time for a short period, but it was highly controlled and usually not undertaken lightly. (Harry mentally noted Hermionie’s use of a time turner for extra classes in his third year at Hogwarts was the only exception that he was aware of) That’s because of the possibility of inciting a ‘Grandfather Paradox’.”
The President just shook his head and said “No need, Captain Krulack’s vitriol is a breath of fresh air and honestly, at times I think more Diplomats need to say what they mean instead of being so circular in their communications. It would make things so much simpler. Now to address your concerns regarding time travel, I made it a point to be briefed on the latest theories before asking the three of you to do this. From what I understand, the current thinking is that time is more like a tree. Each branch is a possible timeline that some major decision or action has created, and the main trunk is the common past for all the timelines. As long as you don’t do anything that interferes with the past as we know it, there shouldn’t be any problems. Yes there will be minor changes but nothing major that will affect things as we currently know them.”
Harry looked at Hui with a questioning look. She responded by stating “You know I want to see what the wizarding world was like. If we be careful, do you honestly think I’m going to say no to this opportunity?”
“Somebody’s got to keep you out of trouble, not to mention my oath to the both of you, where you go, I go.” stated Krulack before Harry could even look his way.
Turning his attention back to the President, Harry asked “Mr. President, we’ll do it, but sir, what do we do if for some reason we can’t return to our time?”
“Cdr. Potter, if for some reason your team is not able to return to this century, you are to do nothing that will interfere with history as we know it. That means no hunting down Kahn and the other Eugenics wars conspirators, No killing Col. Green, Allowing the 9 Judges reign of blood too occur. In other words, let recorded history pass you by.” The tone of the president’s voice left no doubt that this was a direct order.
Realizing that the interview with the President was over the three of them stood up and saluted. The President saluted back and walked over to his desk. Pressing a button on the comms station that was built into the desk, The President said to whoever was on the other end “Timerider is a go.” Looking up at the retreating forms of the Potters and Krulack, the President quietly said more to himself than anyone else “Good Luck Mr. Potter. I hope you succeed.”
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One week later, Harry was sitting in the center seat of his own command, the U.S.S. Saipan. The ship was a Makin class assault ship that normally carried a Federation Marine Expeditionary unit and was modular in design. This allowed the ship to be tailored to meet the needs of the mission. Yes, she was armed, but for this mission, the armament was minimal, more along the lines of an Oberth class science vessel. A pair of Type 1 Phasers dorsally and ventrally mounted in the front of the disk and lightweight Type 3 phasers in the other phaser mounts that were more for asteroid removal than anything else. The sensor and science packages were more along the lines of a cross between one of the Columbia class Scouts and a Galactic Class Survey Cruiser: heavy automation with a sensor suite that was informally described as being able to hear a gnat fart from half a light year away while analyzing what the gnat ate for breakfast a week earlier. Within the hull itself, she was loaded for a planetary rescue mission, not storming a contested planetary landing zone.
Looking around the Bridge, Harry marveled that this little endeavor had been laid on so fast. Counting his initial team of six, the thirty Crewmembers were all volunteers, who were well aware that this could be a one way trip. Harry took one last note of the bridge crew’s locations before they started their attempt.
Krulack sat at the weapons station. He had reconfigured it to resemble a Klingon K’tinga Class Battlecruiser’s weapons station and, honestly, Harry was glad that Krulack had decided to take charge of the ships weaponry. The grumpy Klingon knew what he was doing and if the shit hit the fan, Krulack was the best choice to gut the opposition.
Over at the Science station sat Stendec, his Vulcan friend from back in the Academy. The Vulcan may not have been a scientist, but since their graduation he had become an absolute master of warp space theoretical mathematics.I If anyone could accurately make the necessary calculations for performing a time warp jump, it was him.
Transporter Technician 3rd class Cassie Malfoy sat at the Damage Control Station. The transporters we not necessary for the moment, so she had taken the post, freeing up more experienced volunteers for more critical assignments.
Down in Engineering, Stendec’s wife Tara Vought was the Chief Engineer. The flame haired bundle of energy was an acknowledged expert in space frame design and engineering and damn well made sure that the best people she had were in position for this trip.
Mr. Shackelford sat at the navigation station. He was an old man that had retired from the fleet as the Starfleet Chief of Navigation many years before and had volunteered for this mission as a way to make one last contribution to the Fleet before he died of inoperable cancer. When he had reported to Harry for duty, He’s said in a cherry tone but in no uncertain terms “I’m retired now, I’m not an admiral, you’re in charge and I won’t hear of anything else, so don’t try to pass of command stuff to me. I’m the ships navigator and that’s it, Captain.” Harry had chuckled briefly at the old admirals statement and let him know that he had no intention of doing that but he would ask for advice when necessary and expected it to be given when asked.
Command Master Chief Yeary was pulling double duty as the ships leading enlisted man as well as Helmsman. The Old Chief had retired a few years earlier and had volunteered to go with Harry’s Command. When he had reported and Harry had asked the Chief why he’d volunteered and he responded with “Well, I’ve got nothing left back on earth but good memories and well, to be honest, I wanted to see if you were still as good a Volleyball player as you were when I first met you at Medical.” Harry had busted up laughing at that and fully admitted that he still was pants at the game, just as he’d been at age 16 when they’d first met, but that didn’t stop him from joining in on games when he could.
Lt. Raja Indainda sat at the Communications station. Harry had never met the small Indonesian man, but when he had volunteered he carried several letters of recommendation from communications command and Harry honestly knew that he could use someone there more for signals interception and analysis than any actual communications with 20th century Earth.
Hui was standing behind him and when they began their attempt at time warp by using the Enterprise’s slingshot maneuver around Sol, she was going to be over at the environmental station. Despite the fact that she was 4 months pregnant with their first child, he could think of no one better to be handling the Sickbay. Besides, there was no way in hell he was going to go on this without her. If it was a one way trip, his son was going to have a daddy.
“All stations, report,” said Harry with authority. He listened to the reports and nodded in acceptance. Pushing a button on the armrest of his command chair, Harry spoke.
“All Hands, this is the captain speaking. We’re about to do something that honestly could either destroy the Federation as we know it or save it from a fate that is honestly too distasteful to contemplate. All of you are volunteers for this, and if you want out, now’s your last chance. One last thing: we’re going to be dealing with a society that in some respects is as advanced as our own and, at the same time, one that can be violently xenophobic. Keep your eyes and ears open, and do your best to stay out of trouble with the locals. That is all.”
Looking at the Main Viewer on the bulkhead in front of him, Harry drunk in the image of Earth one last time. After blinking a few times to get back into the game so to speak, He said “Mr.Stendec, is the Program ready for insertion?”
“Aye Captain, the Program is ready for insertion, our target date is the first of June, 1996. Be advised that because the Makin Class Spaceframe has never been used for this type of maneuver, there are several variables that I cannot be certain of. We will arrive in 1996, but I am not certain of the exact date... It should be close to the First of June.”
Harry nodded in understanding and said “Thank you for your candor Mr. Stendec. Please insert the Program”
The Program, as it was generically called, was a specialized set of instructions that modified the navigational instruction and warp drive settings for starship so it could safely go into a time warp using a star’s gravitational field. Based on computations that had first been developed by then-Commander Spock of the USS Enterprise, they were highly complex calculations and had hundreds of variables that could affect the time and location of the ship’s exit from the time warp field. Some of those variables could cause the ship to fly into the star, resulting in its destruction, if they were not precisely correct. Copies of the Program were carried in every ship’s database, but accessing them required multiple forms of security identification and should a ship’s database be captured, using the Program without destroying your ship required an expert navigator to follow the highly accurate and complex course that was generated as well as someone that could handle the high level spatial and theoretical mathematics used to factor in the variables in the equations.
“Captain, ” Mr. Shackleford said, “the Program has been injected and has calculated the course and speed. It’s tricky, but nothing too outrageous. We’ll get through just fine.”
“Thank You Mr. Shackleford. Chief Yeary, as soon as we receive clearance, take us out and bring us to the start point for our run, one quarter impulse.”
“Aye aye, Sir.”
“Captain, we have received clearance to depart from spacedock,” said Lt. Indainda from the comms station “Also, the Excelsior is waiting at the start point. Captain Sulu’s Compliments sir, and he sends ‘Good luck and Godspeed, Saipan.’”
“Thank you Mr. Indainda, Send our Compliments as well, and append ‘Good fortune and clear skies for your mapping in the Beta quadrant, Excelsior.’” said Harry. Turning his attention to the Navigation/Helm Stations, in a clear voice, Harry ordered, “Chief, take us out.”
It only took a few minutes to reach the point out near the asteroid belt that was the designated starting point for the run that would catapult them into the past.
Looking at the viewscreen, the bridge crew could see the Excelsior sitting out about 500K from their position.
“Gawd, she’s a big one,” Cassie Malfoy said, more to herself than anyone in particular.
“Aye that she is, Miss. She’s a good omen; the best of the Federation watching over our flight from the nest,” said Chief Yeary from the Helm.
Harry smiled at the comment and pressed a button on his armrest. “Engineering, are we ready?”
“We’re Green ‘cross the board, Cap’n,” replied LtCdr. Vought. “Go For Broke.”
Harry just shook his head at the small woman’s voice. He could just imagine her vibrating with excitement at the prospect of this little trip.
“Acknowledged, Engineering. Hold on tight this could be a bit bumpy.” said Harry. He removed his finger from the comms button. “Chief, Mr. Shackelford, it’s time. You know, Starfleet expects a certain degree of refinement from its officers," he observed lightly. "I feel it is our duty to disappoint them. Warp speed. And don’t spare the horses."
With that, the U.S.S. Saipan shot off to her destiny, leaving a hail of Cherenkov radiation to mark her departure in her wake.
Hui sat down in the cafeteria at Starfleet Medical with a bowl of vegetable soup for lunch. The past few days she had been feeling a bit...off, for lack a better term. She couldn’t put her finger on it but as a physician, she knew that she was going to be a terrible patient if she was coming down with something.
As Hui sat at her table quietly eating and mentally going over symptoms, a voice interrupted her musings.
“May I join you Dr. Potter?” asked Healer T’Laura. The Vulcan Mind healer was on Earth for a series of conferences and had eaten lunch with Hui several times. Their conversations had been light for the most part and didn’t really count as work-related per se. They were more like bull sessions, where ideas would freely flow that might or might not turn into medical treatments in time.
“Certainly, T’Laura, please join me,” responded Hui pleasantly. She enjoyed their conversations quite a bit.
As T’Laura sat down at the table, a pensive look crossed Hui’s face for a second as she tried to resolve her thoughts on her own condition. T’Laura noticed the look and asked “Is something bothering you Hui?”
“No…well, kind of. I’ve been feeling physically off for the past few days. Nothing specific, mind you, and nothing that I can describe as a true symptom of any infection or illness, just not quite up to my best.”
Healer T’Laura nodded in understanding at Hui’s description. After a minute she suggested in a mild tone, “Hui, once we have finished here, let’s go back to your office and run some tests. As you well know, my specialty is mind healing, but I believe I can at least help you discover what, if anything, may be affecting your physical health.”
Hui agreed and they continued with lunch and conversations on other matters.
After lunch, the two physicians retreated to Hui’s office where T’Laura ran a series of tests to see if she could discern what was causing Hui’s malaise. When she finished the last test, T’Laura made what Hui initially thought was a bit of an odd request.
“Hui, I hate to impose, but may I perform a mind meld with you? I assure you that nothing is wrong, but it will allow me to confirm the latest sets of test results.”
Hui thought about it for a moment. She wasn’t a neurologist or mind healer like T’Laura, and if a Mind Meld would confirm some sort of neurological aberration that could be easily treated, she couldn’t think of any reason to refuse.
“Go right ahead. I don’t have a problem with it. Hopefully whatever it is will be easily treatable or controlled.”
T’Laura’s voice didn’t reveal anything but a ghost of a smile crossed the Vulcan woman’s features. “Indeed. It should be. Let us begin.”
Hui closed her eyes and T’Laura placed her hands on the necessary facial points and began to speak the mantra “My mind to your mind…my thoughts to your thoughts…”
The meld didn’t take more than five or six minutes, but towards the end Hui winced slightly as a minor headache hit her. As she winced, T’Laura’s eyes snapped open and in what would be considered an major lapse of emotional control, the Vulcan gasped out an astonished “Oh My!”
As quickly and as safely as she could, T’Laura ended the meld. Taking a moment to compose herself, she said, “Hui, I have some excellent news and some...unusual news. Whether it is good or bad will be for you to decide.”
Conflicting emotions crossed Hui’s Eurasian features and she processed the statement that T’Laura had just given her. Making up her mind, Hui sighed and asked “Okay, what’s the good news? Perhaps it will help balance out the other issue.”
“Very well. Congratulations, Hui, your son is healthy and is going to be quite the curious child when he is born.”
Hui’s jaw dropped at the news. Given the stress of her job and the strenuous exercise required of a Starfleet officer, her cycles had often been somewhat irregular, but she hadn’t been expecting that.
“I’m pregnant? How did that happen?” Hui asked in a state of minor shock.
T’Laura raised a single, ironic eyebrow. “I trust that I do not have to give you talk about--what do you humans call it?--that’s right, the ‘Birds and the Bees’?” Though T’Laura’s tone was straightforward, the teasing humor snapped Hui out of her stunned state and brought a wide smile to her face.
“Alright, I deserved that. But what about my implant? I thought I was still good on that thing.”
T’Laura shook her head slightly at Hui’s query. “Hui, you of all people should be aware that the implants are not 100% effective. There are varying reasons for failure, but they really aren’t germane to the situation. How will Harry take the news?”
Hui grinned, imagining the scene. “He’s going to be over the moon about this. He’s always wanted a family. While it’s unexpected, this pregnancy is very much wanted.” Hui closed her eyes and sighed. “Now, what’s the ‘unusual’ news?”
T’Laura hesitated for a moment then said “Hui, those headaches you get on occasion, I do not know why it wasn’t thought of before, but a mind meld should have been performed while you were having one previously. From what I can tell, you have what we Vulcan’s refer to as ‘temporal sensitivity.’ A Vulcan adept with this ability can access glimpses of possible futures while in a meditative state.”
“I’m a seer?” Hui gasped.
“If that is the human term, then yes. From what I was able to gather, your ability is active, but blocked. Your conscious mind has been suppressing the visions, which is what causes the headaches. The stronger the vision, the more painful it becomes.”
Hui sat back in her chair in shock. After a moment, she asked, “Healer T’Laura, what exactly does this mean, and how will it affect the baby, let alone my mind?”
“This ability will not affect your child in any way. Now in Vulcans, the ability to glimpse futures is extremely rare. The last known Vulcan temporal adept passed on shortly after the first contact with humanity. Now, after you and Harry revealed your special abilities when you were a student on Vulcan, I took the liberty of looking into some of Earth’s legends that seemed to match your description of ‘Magic’. It has been a fascinating look into human culture. But I digress; I suspect some of the Vulcan mind disciplines might help you properly integrate the visions with your mind and memories. However, controlling when they occur is something that Vulcan techniques cannot do. There are enough differences in the human mind and brain that Vulcan disciplines will not work. I can only assume that there are humans that know of the ability that might have other methods will allow you to control the gift.” T’Laura finished with dignity, but even someone that wasn’t used to a Vulcan’s controlled speech patterns could tell that she wasn’t completely pleased with that answer.
Frowning Hui said, “Okay T’Laura, what aren’t you telling me?”
T’Laura looked straight at Hui “Integrating the visions is not the issue; that will not take very long and will be fairly easy. Controlling when the visions occur is the problem. I know that your practice within Starfleet doesn’t generally include surgery, but once the visions are integrated, then the visions will come without pain but could interfere with your motor skills depending on the strength of the vision. Obviously, that is something that could be lethal during surgery. At best the visions will be a bit more of an annoyance than they are now. At worst…I do not have enough information to even begin to formulate an answer.”
Hui nodded in understanding. Performing surgery was a very small part of her duties as she was more of a research physician, considering her duty assignment of improving the methods of detecting beings with the gift of magic and how to properly educate them on the use of their special abilities.
“Well there isn’t much I can do about that at the moment, but on the bright side… I’m pregnant!” Hui finished with a cherry voice and a smile.
That evening at Mickey’s bar, Harry and Hui’s small group of friends celebrated the news and couldn’t help but tease Harry mercilessly. The group thought that Harry’s reaction to the news of the pregnancy was the best thing they had seen all night. When Hui made the announcement, Harry stuttered, “You’re…Pr…Preg…Pregnan….” and proceeded to faint face first into his plate of bangers and mash.
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Hui’s mental retraining for her seer abilities only took about three weeks and was, in Harry and Hui’s opinion, laughably simple. The Vulcan mental and minor physical exercises were very similar to the Chinese martial art of Tai Chi and only consisted of about 10 moves blended together. The concentration on blending the moves together allowed the memories of the visions Hui had to be painlessly integrated into her mind. An unexpected side effect was that Hui developed the ability to detect when a vision was coming and be able to take the appropriate measures to record them.
Shortly after Hui’s being certified by the Vulcans, The Medusians also certified that Hui was the first proven human Seer on record and agreed with the Vulcans that the ability, while uncontrolled in regards to when it would manifest, the subject matter, as well as the scope and intensity of the vision, they could be beneficial to the Federation, if in nothing more than making contingency plans for events that may or may not take place. With these limitations noted, Hui was seconded to the Admiral in charge of the Starfleet Plans and Policies division for any visions that had anything to do with the Fleet or the Federation. Aside from that she was still a Doctor and working on the project that was helping identify the Wizards that might be in Starfleet.
Hui’s first officially recorded vision happened to coincide with Admiral Kirk’s actions in regards to the Mutara incident as it became known within the Federation. Apparently, after Harry had left the Enterprise to live with Winona Kirk over a decade before, the Enterprise had encountered a sleeper ship, the S.S. Botany Bay. The subsequent incident and exile of the surviving company and crew of the Botany Bay had been classified as a need to know item and had been kept very quiet within Starfleet. If the knowledge of the fact that some of the Eugenics wars leaders were now colonists instead of paying for their crimes had gotten out, it wouldn’t have sat well with the average citizen of the Federation to say the least. Unfortunately, the most sociopathic and the ringleader of the lot, Kahn Noonian Singh, had managed to hijack the U.S.S Reliant in an attempt to escape his exile. The Enterprise had managed to destroy the Reliant before Kahn could fully implement his escape plan but had almost been blown out of the sky in the process.
The political fallout in regards to the incident and the revelation of the top secret planetary terraforming project “Genesis” was just beginning when Kirk up and stole the Enterprise. Harry and Hui, as well as Peter Kirk, were being interviewed by Federation security about two weeks after the theft, when Hui had her vision. While the details of the vision were fleeting, the general information gathered from it indicated that if Kirk were brought back from Vulcan in chains, the Earth would be turned into a lifeless ball floating in space shortly afterwards. If Kirk returned to Earth on his own, Earth would be saved by Kirk from its own shortsightedness.
All Harry had to say about it was, “Too bad Nana’s not around anymore. Jim needs to be spanked for this stunt!”
At some point during their travels, Harry had found a pensieve in a curio shop and purchased it. While small in size and fairly heavily battered, it did allow for an in depth viewing of the Visions that Hui had experienced and walled off in her mind. In going over the memories of previous visions, they had found that most of them were fairly mundane. They were mostly about things that happened a day or so in the future, relative to the time that they occurred. However, there was a set that seemed to be re-occurring and each vision seemed to be clearer and more defined with each occurrence.
The initial visions from the set of three that were of most concern were very vague but seemed to deal with the end of the Federation. As the visions repeated they became clearer and in the case of two of them, much more disturbing.
The mildest of the three seemed to indicate that the Federation was willingly disbanded as it was also part of what appeared to be so larger socio-political entity that may have encompassed the galaxy; instead of just their part of the Sagittarius arm. As this seemed to be something that was occurring many thousands of years in the future, the Potters took notes but didn’t really didn’t think that this particular vision was much to worry about.
The other two visions, frankly, scared the hell out of both of them.
The first one seemed technological in nature and, as it progressed, indicated that the standard warp drive technology would, at some point in the future, be modified into an easy-to-use temporal transportation device. This initially didn’t seem to be much of a problem, but as the vision continued in its later permutations, various factions within the Federation perverted the idea to their own ends. The end result was a temporal civil war that resulted in massive loss of life and appeared to blow many of the worlds of the Federation back to the Stone Age.
While very disturbing, the notes regarding this vision would allow for some sort of contingency plans to be put in place to at least attempt to save as much as possible if not stop this possible future from happening.
The final vision was from their point of view the most terrifying. It showed Voldemort emerging from his prison, long after Harry’s death from old age, stronger than ever and even more ruthless. He then took over Earth and enslaved every living being for his own twisted amusements. So depraved were Voldemort’s actions, they awakened a genocidal anti-human sentiment within many of the other races of the Federation. These races eventually scoured the planet of all life and purposely hunted down any humans or partial humans and exterminated them; all in the idea of eliminating the smallest chance that magic and Voldemort (or some human like him) could return.
After viewing this vision, Harry felt ill. He knew that if he couldn’t stop Voldemort within his lifetime, this vision would come true and it would be his fault.
Hui just looked at Harry and said, “If I ever meet the bitch that made that prophecy about you and that bastard, I’m going to kick her ass from here to Antares and back!” The venom in her voice left no doubt that she would without any hesitation.
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Harry, Hui and Krulack sat in the reception area of the Federation president’s office in Paris, having received a summons to come as soon as possible and wondering just what they had done to warrant it. Harry couldn’t think of anything he had done to merit such attention. Hui had speculated that it might have something to do with one of her visions, but couldn’t think of what would cause the President to directly request the three of them to meet with him personally. Krulack, on the other hand,had stated in a rather cynical and disgusted tone of voice, “You two I can understand, with that Magic stuff of yours. Me? If he wants me to take something back to the Empire, it’s out of the question. They’d rather blow me to my constituent atoms than hear any message or receive any artifact that I hand-carry back.”
The secretary ushered the trio into the inner office of the Efrosian President of the Federation, Ra-ghoratrei, with the normal platitudes of a career political servant. After greeting the three of them and ushering the secretary out, the president lowered the lighting a bit to accommodate his light sensitive eyes and removed the mirrored pince-nez sunglasses he normally wore.
“Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Krulack, I do apologize for the precipitous nature of this meeting, but it is imperative that you understand the gravity of the situation I am in,” began the President in a tone of voice that indicated he was going to say something he either didn’t want to say or didn’t want to ask of them.
“Mrs. Potter, this all has to do with the visions you have been having regarding the 20th century dark wizard Voldemort’s return. I have read the reports regarding all the visions that you have had regarding him as well as Mr. Potter’s reports and honestly, I’m not quite sure what to do about the situation. I asked for you three mainly because Mrs. Potter is the one having the visions, Mr. Potter is likely the most qualified in knowledge and experience in dealing with Voldemort, and Krulack has made no secret of his blood oath to help the Potters in their endeavors not to mention his family’s alliance with the Potter family. I wouldn’t dare interfere with a Klingon blood oath.”
The Potters and Krulack looked at each other in confusion for a moment. Then Harry spoke up “Sir, we don’t understand.” Gesturing towards Hui and Krulack “What do these visions have to do with your office and the decisions that you’re making?”
The President sighed and sat down in a chair. “It’s actually fairly easy to understand, but difficult to execute when you’re in my position. My job, and the oath I made when I took office, requires that I do everything in my power to protect the Federation as a whole, and to protect its member planets individually. The Voldemort vision is my concern here. Predictions of the Federation voluntarily disbanding or future civil wars are problems I am equipped to deal with. Protocols and directives can and have been put in place to work with and guide us if and when the time comes. I’ve even authorized a new department that is charged with investigating temporal affairs, such as the one that brought you to the 23rd century Mr. Potter. It’s the knowledge of Magic and what I am about to ask you to do is the difficult part.”
After a momentary pause the President continued “Currently there is no way for the Federation, let alone Starfleet to stop the entity known as Voldemort. Commander Potter, the rituals that you described in the various briefings you have given to Starfleet and the Federation advisors have forced me to that realization. We can contain him for now, but to be frank, If LtCdr. Potter’s vision comes to pass, then he will break containment and spark a wave of genocidal madness that I cannot, in good conscience, allow to happen if at all possible.”
“Unfortunately,” he paused for a moment while he pulled a piece of paper from a pocket in his suit coat and looked at it “The person that is best suited to helping you destroy this threat to humanity, the Earth, and the moral soul of the Federation is one Albus Dumbledore.”
Harry stood up from his chair and began to pace the floor.
“Mr. President, I apologize for Harry’s reaction,” began Hui.
The President waved it off saying “Mrs. Potter, I’ve been on the receiving end of much worse. His pacing the floor is actually a quite refreshing reaction.”
Harry paused his pacing and faced the President “Mr. President, how can Professor Dumbledore be the person that is best suited to help? He’s been dead for three hundred yea…” Suddenly, Harry realized what the President was going to ask him to do. The realization and the possible implications hit him like a two-by-four.
“Sir, are you asking me to do what I think you are?” Harry asked tentatively.
“Cdr. Potter, yes you have figured out what I’m asking you to do. Based on all the information that I have been given, I am asking you to gather a team together and go back in time to stop that future from happening, then return. Needless to say, try not to change the recorded history that we know if at all possible.”
Harry moved back to his chair and sat down, staring at the floor in thought. Hui and Krulack Stared at the President for a moment before Krulack spoke up in a loud and somewhat incredulous tone of voice “Are you out of your mind? You’re talking about Changing History!!! For all we know Killing Voldemort back then will completely destroy everything that we know! You joH'a' puq vo!”
Harry looked up and placed a hand on Krulack’s forearm, stopping him from saying anything else for a moment. “Mr. President, I’m not going to apologize for Krulack’s outburst because he’s right. Back in the 20th century, the wizarding world did have the ability to go back in time for a short period, but it was highly controlled and usually not undertaken lightly. (Harry mentally noted Hermionie’s use of a time turner for extra classes in his third year at Hogwarts was the only exception that he was aware of) That’s because of the possibility of inciting a ‘Grandfather Paradox’.”
The President just shook his head and said “No need, Captain Krulack’s vitriol is a breath of fresh air and honestly, at times I think more Diplomats need to say what they mean instead of being so circular in their communications. It would make things so much simpler. Now to address your concerns regarding time travel, I made it a point to be briefed on the latest theories before asking the three of you to do this. From what I understand, the current thinking is that time is more like a tree. Each branch is a possible timeline that some major decision or action has created, and the main trunk is the common past for all the timelines. As long as you don’t do anything that interferes with the past as we know it, there shouldn’t be any problems. Yes there will be minor changes but nothing major that will affect things as we currently know them.”
Harry looked at Hui with a questioning look. She responded by stating “You know I want to see what the wizarding world was like. If we be careful, do you honestly think I’m going to say no to this opportunity?”
“Somebody’s got to keep you out of trouble, not to mention my oath to the both of you, where you go, I go.” stated Krulack before Harry could even look his way.
Turning his attention back to the President, Harry asked “Mr. President, we’ll do it, but sir, what do we do if for some reason we can’t return to our time?”
“Cdr. Potter, if for some reason your team is not able to return to this century, you are to do nothing that will interfere with history as we know it. That means no hunting down Kahn and the other Eugenics wars conspirators, No killing Col. Green, Allowing the 9 Judges reign of blood too occur. In other words, let recorded history pass you by.” The tone of the president’s voice left no doubt that this was a direct order.
Realizing that the interview with the President was over the three of them stood up and saluted. The President saluted back and walked over to his desk. Pressing a button on the comms station that was built into the desk, The President said to whoever was on the other end “Timerider is a go.” Looking up at the retreating forms of the Potters and Krulack, the President quietly said more to himself than anyone else “Good Luck Mr. Potter. I hope you succeed.”
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One week later, Harry was sitting in the center seat of his own command, the U.S.S. Saipan. The ship was a Makin class assault ship that normally carried a Federation Marine Expeditionary unit and was modular in design. This allowed the ship to be tailored to meet the needs of the mission. Yes, she was armed, but for this mission, the armament was minimal, more along the lines of an Oberth class science vessel. A pair of Type 1 Phasers dorsally and ventrally mounted in the front of the disk and lightweight Type 3 phasers in the other phaser mounts that were more for asteroid removal than anything else. The sensor and science packages were more along the lines of a cross between one of the Columbia class Scouts and a Galactic Class Survey Cruiser: heavy automation with a sensor suite that was informally described as being able to hear a gnat fart from half a light year away while analyzing what the gnat ate for breakfast a week earlier. Within the hull itself, she was loaded for a planetary rescue mission, not storming a contested planetary landing zone.
Looking around the Bridge, Harry marveled that this little endeavor had been laid on so fast. Counting his initial team of six, the thirty Crewmembers were all volunteers, who were well aware that this could be a one way trip. Harry took one last note of the bridge crew’s locations before they started their attempt.
Krulack sat at the weapons station. He had reconfigured it to resemble a Klingon K’tinga Class Battlecruiser’s weapons station and, honestly, Harry was glad that Krulack had decided to take charge of the ships weaponry. The grumpy Klingon knew what he was doing and if the shit hit the fan, Krulack was the best choice to gut the opposition.
Over at the Science station sat Stendec, his Vulcan friend from back in the Academy. The Vulcan may not have been a scientist, but since their graduation he had become an absolute master of warp space theoretical mathematics.I If anyone could accurately make the necessary calculations for performing a time warp jump, it was him.
Transporter Technician 3rd class Cassie Malfoy sat at the Damage Control Station. The transporters we not necessary for the moment, so she had taken the post, freeing up more experienced volunteers for more critical assignments.
Down in Engineering, Stendec’s wife Tara Vought was the Chief Engineer. The flame haired bundle of energy was an acknowledged expert in space frame design and engineering and damn well made sure that the best people she had were in position for this trip.
Mr. Shackelford sat at the navigation station. He was an old man that had retired from the fleet as the Starfleet Chief of Navigation many years before and had volunteered for this mission as a way to make one last contribution to the Fleet before he died of inoperable cancer. When he had reported to Harry for duty, He’s said in a cherry tone but in no uncertain terms “I’m retired now, I’m not an admiral, you’re in charge and I won’t hear of anything else, so don’t try to pass of command stuff to me. I’m the ships navigator and that’s it, Captain.” Harry had chuckled briefly at the old admirals statement and let him know that he had no intention of doing that but he would ask for advice when necessary and expected it to be given when asked.
Command Master Chief Yeary was pulling double duty as the ships leading enlisted man as well as Helmsman. The Old Chief had retired a few years earlier and had volunteered to go with Harry’s Command. When he had reported and Harry had asked the Chief why he’d volunteered and he responded with “Well, I’ve got nothing left back on earth but good memories and well, to be honest, I wanted to see if you were still as good a Volleyball player as you were when I first met you at Medical.” Harry had busted up laughing at that and fully admitted that he still was pants at the game, just as he’d been at age 16 when they’d first met, but that didn’t stop him from joining in on games when he could.
Lt. Raja Indainda sat at the Communications station. Harry had never met the small Indonesian man, but when he had volunteered he carried several letters of recommendation from communications command and Harry honestly knew that he could use someone there more for signals interception and analysis than any actual communications with 20th century Earth.
Hui was standing behind him and when they began their attempt at time warp by using the Enterprise’s slingshot maneuver around Sol, she was going to be over at the environmental station. Despite the fact that she was 4 months pregnant with their first child, he could think of no one better to be handling the Sickbay. Besides, there was no way in hell he was going to go on this without her. If it was a one way trip, his son was going to have a daddy.
“All stations, report,” said Harry with authority. He listened to the reports and nodded in acceptance. Pushing a button on the armrest of his command chair, Harry spoke.
“All Hands, this is the captain speaking. We’re about to do something that honestly could either destroy the Federation as we know it or save it from a fate that is honestly too distasteful to contemplate. All of you are volunteers for this, and if you want out, now’s your last chance. One last thing: we’re going to be dealing with a society that in some respects is as advanced as our own and, at the same time, one that can be violently xenophobic. Keep your eyes and ears open, and do your best to stay out of trouble with the locals. That is all.”
Looking at the Main Viewer on the bulkhead in front of him, Harry drunk in the image of Earth one last time. After blinking a few times to get back into the game so to speak, He said “Mr.Stendec, is the Program ready for insertion?”
“Aye Captain, the Program is ready for insertion, our target date is the first of June, 1996. Be advised that because the Makin Class Spaceframe has never been used for this type of maneuver, there are several variables that I cannot be certain of. We will arrive in 1996, but I am not certain of the exact date... It should be close to the First of June.”
Harry nodded in understanding and said “Thank you for your candor Mr. Stendec. Please insert the Program”
The Program, as it was generically called, was a specialized set of instructions that modified the navigational instruction and warp drive settings for starship so it could safely go into a time warp using a star’s gravitational field. Based on computations that had first been developed by then-Commander Spock of the USS Enterprise, they were highly complex calculations and had hundreds of variables that could affect the time and location of the ship’s exit from the time warp field. Some of those variables could cause the ship to fly into the star, resulting in its destruction, if they were not precisely correct. Copies of the Program were carried in every ship’s database, but accessing them required multiple forms of security identification and should a ship’s database be captured, using the Program without destroying your ship required an expert navigator to follow the highly accurate and complex course that was generated as well as someone that could handle the high level spatial and theoretical mathematics used to factor in the variables in the equations.
“Captain, ” Mr. Shackleford said, “the Program has been injected and has calculated the course and speed. It’s tricky, but nothing too outrageous. We’ll get through just fine.”
“Thank You Mr. Shackleford. Chief Yeary, as soon as we receive clearance, take us out and bring us to the start point for our run, one quarter impulse.”
“Aye aye, Sir.”
“Captain, we have received clearance to depart from spacedock,” said Lt. Indainda from the comms station “Also, the Excelsior is waiting at the start point. Captain Sulu’s Compliments sir, and he sends ‘Good luck and Godspeed, Saipan.’”
“Thank you Mr. Indainda, Send our Compliments as well, and append ‘Good fortune and clear skies for your mapping in the Beta quadrant, Excelsior.’” said Harry. Turning his attention to the Navigation/Helm Stations, in a clear voice, Harry ordered, “Chief, take us out.”
It only took a few minutes to reach the point out near the asteroid belt that was the designated starting point for the run that would catapult them into the past.
Looking at the viewscreen, the bridge crew could see the Excelsior sitting out about 500K from their position.
“Gawd, she’s a big one,” Cassie Malfoy said, more to herself than anyone in particular.
“Aye that she is, Miss. She’s a good omen; the best of the Federation watching over our flight from the nest,” said Chief Yeary from the Helm.
Harry smiled at the comment and pressed a button on his armrest. “Engineering, are we ready?”
“We’re Green ‘cross the board, Cap’n,” replied LtCdr. Vought. “Go For Broke.”
Harry just shook his head at the small woman’s voice. He could just imagine her vibrating with excitement at the prospect of this little trip.
“Acknowledged, Engineering. Hold on tight this could be a bit bumpy.” said Harry. He removed his finger from the comms button. “Chief, Mr. Shackelford, it’s time. You know, Starfleet expects a certain degree of refinement from its officers," he observed lightly. "I feel it is our duty to disappoint them. Warp speed. And don’t spare the horses."
With that, the U.S.S. Saipan shot off to her destiny, leaving a hail of Cherenkov radiation to mark her departure in her wake.
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