Title: Persons of Interest
Chapter One: A Dark World
Disclaimer: I don't own Warhammer, nor do I own Harry Potter, so don't sue me
-I am a free writer, and I write when I feel like it, I am not on a schedule, so therefore updates will be infrequent.
-If I lose interest in this story I might just stop writing all together, though in the future I may find interest in it again and then take up updating it then.
-There may be lemons, profane language, character/death, prostitution, possibly torture or abuse, lying, and probably other sins. If this bothers you then don't read. You have been warned.
-The main character may participate in polygamy/bigamy, extramarital relations, and other acts of sexuality, though no homosexuality, so if this bothers you then don't read.
XXX
Suddenly a young man lurched from his bed. Clasped in his arms was a pillow which he had been wrestling with during the night. Nightmares were not uncommon to the young man. Not being able to remember them was new however. What the dream had been about he could not say yet the sweat dripping down his forehead indicated it had been an intense one. His previous nightmares had inured him to much of their effects.
Harry's eyes were blinded when he opened them. An intense white light overhead had been the first thing he saw after opening his eyes. His undiluted pupils were no prepared to go from darkness to light so fast and had informed him of their displeasure through burning sensations.
Scrunching his face he attempted to rub the pain away. It seemed to work yet dark spots still filled his vision. It took a good two minutes at least for the spots to clear up and a minute longer to adjust to the light. Avoiding the blinding white light that had stupidly been placed over his bed Harry cast a glance around the room.
'Where the hell am I?' Harry's mental question echoed within his own head as he gazed around the room he had woken up in.
It was both beautiful and large. The room could have fit the entirety of the Dursley's home in pure square footage with some room to spare. On top of this the room was lined with gold and silver. The walls were a flawless metallic metal that's reflective surface was almost like a mirror. Furniture, statues, a fountain, and many other commodities were added to the room. All were of the finest quality yet none of it could be considered gaudy.
While possessing such beautiful amenities Harry could not help but notice some things that seemed very advanced or strange. The first had been the light that had blinded him when he awoke. It was a strip on the ceiling yet it was not a bulb of any kind. It was almost like a luminous pad yet instead of glowing it shown.
"I am starting to worry," Harry mumbled to himself as he looked down. He was clothed in his old clothes he could still remember putting on. 'Good, means I wasn't stripped while I was knocked out.' No body wanted to think someone was handling their naked body while they were asleep. That was just unpleasant.
Getting up he explored the room he had woken up in. It was interesting to say the least, but he didn't know how a lot of it worked so he decided not to mess with it for fear of causing anything any damage. After a few moments he left the room to see if he could find someone to explain to him what was going on.
The hallway had that same strip on the ceiling that his room did. It was generating a white light to illuminate the empty hallways. 'With how frequent I have been seeing these things I figure it is going to be something of a constant.' From there Harry left the front of the room he had woken up in to walk down the hall.
As he walked down the hall he checked every room he came across for any occupants. They were all empty with no human life whatsoever. After the tenth room he started to get worried. What if he was all alone in a place he had no clue where was or how he got there?
When someone is stressed out they often hallucinate or their mind plays tricks on them. Other people sometimes suffer panic attacks. Another group of people try to tell themselves that things were going to be ok with their mind continuing said explanations in the worst possible way.
After walking for thirty minutes checking rooms and such Harry found something that absolutely blew his mind. A command center if ever there was one set in the formation of a battleship's control room. Yet even the high-tech equipment, even the perfectly smooth surfaces unblemished by dirt, or even the lack of humans was anything compared to the view in front of him.
A glass window would be an overly simplified way of describing the immense crystalline structure in front of him. It was all that seemed to be protecting the inside from the void of space. A planet obviously not Earth rested blow them with several others drifting in slow rotation around a sun far larger than the one he remembered back home. It all seemed to rush to him at once. The realization was too much for him to remain standing. He staggered backwards until his practically collapsed into the command chair.
"I have been abducted by aliens." It came out as a whisper but it held a deep sense of dread and fear with each syllable. He placed his head in hands trying to get a hold of himself. "I don't know what to do" he began to mutter. Looking up and out the window he mumbled, "I wish Hermione and Ron were here."
To his shock a holographic screen popped up showing a sleeping Hermione in one room and a sleeping Ron in the next. At that moment he was so happy, so shocked, that he didn't even care how revealing his two best friends were in their sleep.
"What the hell is going on?"
"You have been accepted as the captain of this vessel." A monotone metallic voice echoed inside Harry's ears frightening him. "Your appearance was the first. For this you have been logged as the new captain."
"Captain?" Harry's tone was unbelieving. "What about the rest of the crew? Why haven't they been elected to be captain."
"Outside the two humans who accompanied you onto the vessel, there are no other living beings to become captain." The metallic voice's response was spine chilling.
Almost too afraid, Harry asked, "What happened to the rest of the crew?" He followed the question with another. "And how did me, Hermione, and Ron get here?"
"They have long since deceased." The voice once again did not change in any way. It simply stated the facts regardless of how unpleasant they were. It had Harry start to question what it was. "How three humans happened upon this vessel… Unknown."
Curious, Harry asked, "What do you mean unknown."
Instead of responding a third screen appeared beside the ones of Hermione and Ron sleeping. The three rooms were empty but then a golden light appeared. It was so bright that even Harry watching it on the screen had to shield his eyes. Once the light died down there they were. Hermione, Ron, and himself sleeping on the beds as if nothing had happened.
It was creepy.
Overwhelmed by all this influx of information Harry almost had a mini breakdown. He couldn't do all of this alone so he asked the voice to show him to where his friends were resting. The lights along the sides of the hallway floors lit up a green color to show him the way. Rousing Hermione had been easy, rousing Ron had like always proven a challenge.
Eventually they were all up and equally disbelieving of what had happened as Harry still was. He escorted them back to the bridge where they then mimicked fish heads gapping open mouthed at the clear view of outer space.
The storm of questions that followed were answered as best as Harry could. Surprisingly the voice was also helpful in some aspects. The voice spooked Hermione and Ron greatly as they like Harry suspected that it had something to do with their abduction. It made it difficult to suspect the ship, for that is what they learned the voice basically was, when it told them everything they wanted to know in a plain fashion with no deceptive words or fraises.
"I want to go home" demanded Ron as he glanced around the ship. Obviously so much muggle technology was far more overwhelming for someone who had lived in the magical world their entire life than for with the opposite experience. "Voice! Send us back home!"
"Verification denied. Only the captain may make such decisions." The voice was neighed kind nor mean. It simply stated the facts as plainly as it could.
"Harry, make this bloody ship take us home!" Ron had turned on Harry not even arguing with the mechanical voice.
"Oh, come now Ron! Do your really believe a ship this large can be crewed by just three people?" Hermione's fallback plan when confronted with something too much for her to take in all at once was to be bossy, a no it all, and snippy.
Predicting a fight Harry cut them off. He turned towards where he thought the voice was coming from. "Can you take us home?"
"Processing… No." Ron, Hermione, and Harry all deflated at that. "Unable to verify where 'home' is. Please ask for a specific place."
"Uhmm…" Harry looked out at the stars, the sun, and the planets orbiting outside of the window. "How about Earth?"
"Earth, the origins of Humanity. Located in the Sol System. Distance from current location… twenty thousand light years." All of the human's present, save Ron, looked awestruck by such a distance. Ron who had never before head of such a unit of measure, just looked confused. "Estimated arrival time two months twenty three days Warp time. Estimated time real space one hundred twenty two years."
"Huh?" Just like light years Ron didn't know what Warp time was. Judging by the confused looks on Harry and Hermione's faces neither did they. "What is warp time?"
Both Hermione and Harry just shrugged their shoulders.
"Who cares" butted in Harry. "We know where home is so shouldn't that be enough?" He looked between his two friends. "Lets just go. We can think about this in the meantime."
Eventually they agreed with him about going on. Giving the command to the voice the gigantic vessel began to hum lowly with a strange energy. In front of them Hermione, Ron, and Harry watched as a whole of purple and black swirling energy was seemingly torn into reality. As the ship got closer they began to get more and more worried. Just as they slipped into the darkness what they thought was a mirror suddenly disappeared to reveal only the smooth surface of the metallic walls.
"Wow" mouthed Harry. "Why did the screen shut off?"
"In the past humans who have looked too deeply into the Warp Dimension have suffered from various mental conditions such as nervous breakdowns, insanity, and madness. Only the sub-human species known as Navigators are capable of looking into the Warp without fear of suffering these fates."
The three best friends looked at each other, eyebrows raised, mirroring the looks of confusion the others had. They seemed to unanimously decide to drop it as it wasn't something that they wished to press into.
Hermione was practically vibrating she was so excited. "So when we come out of the Warp we should be close to Earth right?" This must have been a dream for her. Science and magic, they were one in the same to her anyways.
"Negative. Only calculated jumps of up to four to five light years are permitted without the use of a Navigator." The voice stated plainly. "A vessel coming out of the Warp must also exit in deep space or else risk damaging the inhabitants of said planet or the vessel and those inside."
"Makes sense" mentioned Harry more to himself than anyone else. "We are ripping a whole in reality it seems."
XXX
"Captain Potter" spoke the metallic voice of Calypso. It was a name he had given her so that he didn't have to reference her as an it or by the voice. She had accepted it as her new name. He didn't know what her old one was but now she was Calypso for better or worse.
"Yea?" Harry's mumbling was all she would get for waking him up from such a comfortable rest. Why was it always when he was enjoying himself someone wanted something from him?
"Unidentified ships have blocked our passage." That peaked Harry's attention instantly. "A fleet of ships claiming to hold jurisdiction in this sector of space has demanded that we stop our trajectory. Threats have been made to destroy this vessel should none compliance be met."
Harry was already up throwing on his clothes in an unorganized yet rapid manner. "Tell them we mean them no harm!" His heart was beating rapidly in his chest. 'I have seen to many space movies to want to get blow into void parts!' "We will dock!"
Calypso confirmed his orders before her presence left his mind. The longer he seemed to stay connected to Calypso the more in tuned he became with her presence not only with him but the ship. It was something he just assumed came with being the captain.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all met each other on the bridge. Considering the amount of time they had to stay on the ship and the limited amount of clothes they had, one pair each, they had been forced to change into clothes left by the humans who operated the ship previously. Now they looked dressed to kill like high ranking Naval Commanders.
What they saw blew their minds. Through the projection of the outside space through sensors similar to when they first arrived on the bridge they saw who was 'pulling them over' as it were. It was a massive space station armed to the teeth with dozens of ships flying all around patrolling the protected space.
"Wow" was all Harry could say. Having been unable to see the outside of the Calypso instead of just the inside this was the first time he saw a space ship in its entirety.
"I can't believe people could make something so big!" Hermione was fighting with a ring she wore on her index finger.
"Muggles I tell you." His eyes has swollen to huge proportions just bordering on comical. It took Ron the longest to accept new technology out of the trio.
The ship moved silently through the void passing through a barrier of some kind before entering a docking station on the space station's side. A barrier of energy formed behind them closing off the void to allow oxygen to once again take dominance in the hanger bay.
The Golden Trio spoke about the humans that they might meet. Some of their theories were wild while Hermione the voice of reason purposed that they wouldn't be any different than they themselves. The only differences she considered were that they may wear devices to help them in their jobs.
She could not have been anymore wrong.
Massive was the first word that came to mind. Each of them were over eight feet tall with some of them being even taller. The clothing that they suspected were worn by their guests was unknowable under the extremely large mechanical armor that for no better word bulked in every way possible. The coloring was not helping things either as it was colored blood red with a black tribal fist at the very center of its plated chest piece.
That was the least disturbing parts of these people if they could even still be called that. More like half giants in the trio's opinion. Effigies hung from the belts around their waists, on the horns that sprouted out of their shoulders, and from the monstrous weapons they each held in their hands.
On their armor were glyphs, symbols, and writing in languages that none of the trio could understand yet just trying cast dark images in their minds until they were forced to look away. The markings were bad, but nothing compared to the utter wrongness that they felt simply being in their presence. They had spoken of it while traveling through the Warp. How the energies just didn't seem right. Now it felt like some of that wrongness had followed them. But now they didn't have the protection the Gellar Field.
Finally, the eyes that these creatures possessed spoke more than any words ever could. Death, pain, misery, and corruption. Looking into these men's eyes was like staring down the passing of time that destroys all in turn.
In short, the Golden Trio were frozen in fear, rooted to the spots in which they stood.
"Where is the rest of your crew?" The one at the center was the first to speak and the only one absent a helmet. For all the good it did them with his face so utterly destroyed and then seemingly wired back together with crude technology.
"T-this isss ev-everyone sir" was all Harry was able to get out, his eyes unable to tear themselves away from the monster's own.
This seemed to please him momentarily before he approached them threateningly. "Do you take me for a fool, whelp?" When he stopped he was towering over Harry like a mountain does a valley. "We watched as you exited that Warp Jump. You cannot protect them."
"Were telling you the truth!" Hermione instantly looked down in fear having spoke out in such a way. She was weak to being called out. She could not stand being wrong or being told she was wrong for that matter.
One of the giants gripped a massive axe the width of Harry's torso. "A mouthy one she is." His voice was just as dark as the firsts only it was distorted by some type of breathing apparatus on his face. "She will do well in the pit." With that the giants chuckled darkly save the first to speak. Hermione's face had gone pale with Ron and Harry stepping a bit closer as if to shield her from these monsters.
"My patience grows thin" began the leader. His eyes sweeping over the bridge though even in the madness Harry could see surprise. Why surprise he wasn't sure. "Tell me what to know and I promise not to kill you."
The face of a murderer, the face of a monster, the face of a liar, and yet just to avoid him Harry truly wished to tell him where a crew that did not exist was hiding just to be free. But regardless of what he wanted he couldn't for there was nothing to tell. On top of that Harry had the sinking suspicion that once he said anything, true or fake, they would kill them before moving on.
Before Harry could reply Calypso cut across him. "Threat detected to ship's captain."
The monster turned on Harry after looking for the voice. "Who was that" he demanded. The massive claw like appendage on his right arm being leveled off in front of his face. A hole at the end smelling of chemical compounds, ash, and fire caused Harry to cringe but for fear he did not step back. "Tell me or I will reduce you to a pile of cinders!"
A light seemed to dance against the skin of all present for just a moment before disappearing once more. "Threat identified. Threat Level: High. Deploying Bloodtide Unit."
The monsters began to laugh. It was a hurried laugh, mechanical in nature. Most of them seemed to have been heavily augmented with cybernetics. "Oh? So there are some fighters on this worthless ship are there?" The leader turned to his men. They were all holding onto their weapons practically shaking to cause some form of pain or other. "Well then lets meet them with blades and bullets!"
"Yeahhhhh!" They all roared terrifying the three teenagers present.
A strange twisting sound seemingly muffled with some type of petroleum product could be heard after the roars died down. Looking up at the ceiling a metal tube slide out from the roof. Along its sides were vents.
"An A.C. Unit?" The monsters chuckled. The chuckling stopped when a silvery white dust fell from the cylinder. It spread all across the room but before anything could happen it seemingly faded to nothing. "Is that it?" The demand came from one of the masked assailants. "How pitiful. Did they really believe poison could kill a Space Marine of Chaos Undivided? We shall punish them for their insolence!" The resounding men roared in agreement but it was short lived.
The leader, the captain of the murderous war band began to cough violently. In his clawed hand he used to cover his mouth by instinct was a glob of blood. The sound of dripping could be heard next as his nose ran red with blood next followed by his ears. In but a moment blood was dripping not only out of his eyes but the very pores in his skin. A puddle of crimson blood pooled around his armor spreading across the previously perfect flooring.
"What is this" demanded the captain. He went to point his clawed hand at the terrified trio but his blood loss was soon too great. His strength failed bringing him to his knees requiring both hands simply to support himself while he blood from every orifice, every pore, ever opening his body had ever had.
He wasn't alone. All of his men were in a similar state as himself. Not even the breathers that they had worn was enough to protect them from whatever biological agent the ship had unleashed upon the. Coughing, yelling, panting was common but soon they gasped their last breaths as they bleed out on the floor.
The only ones not effected by whatever had been done where the three most terrified individuals in the room. Clutching each other for support whether it was physical, moral, or emotional none could say as they simply stared into the bloody remains on the floor.
The silvery dust cloud that had come from the cylinder became visible once more as it merged into one form. A silvery luminescent figure appeared before them that was roughly humanoid. It had neither a feminine or masculine figure. Its face was neither young or old yet retained a oddly serene expression. Only its red eyes which seemed to glow told of story of intelligence beyond even what the ship was capable of.
It did not speak. Looking down at the dead captain the being dissolved once more though this time even to the naked eyes they could see the silvery particles slipping into the monster's body. When the silvery being was gone the body began to move. It stood up but in its eyes it was still dead.
None of the Golden Trio tried to stop it as it left back to wherever the monsters had come from. For hours after that they just held onto one another for support. After several hours their bodies could take no more of the stress so they passed out into sweet darkness.
XXX
As his eyes began to open the silvery image of a foot next to his face was the first thing that registered in the teenager's mind. Confused at first until the memories of the previous day filtered into his head resulting in a fearful scramble away from the killing machine. In his hasty retreat he fell over Ron and Hermione's sleeping forms.
"Ahh, what the hell mate?" Ron rubbed his head for a moment before turning to his friend. Harry, who had faced down even a basilisk without losing to much of his cool, looked about ready to wet himself. When Ron turned around his mimicked his friend's reactions.
Eventually all three of the Golden Trio were up and terrified. Trying to remain as far away from the silvery monster that had killed such dangerous men yesterday single handedly was the only thing on their minds.
It began to walk in their direction. "Stay away!" At Harry's command the silvery entity stopped its approach. They each glanced at each other still very terrified. "A little further please." The silvery entity took ten steps backwards giving them a wide birth.
"What is going on" whispered Ron not taking his eyes off of the being.
"Do I look like I have any idea" responded Harry with a bit more bite than he would have liked.
"It obeyed you" noted Hermione. She looked from Harry, to the silvery entity, then up at the tube it had come from, before the captain's chair. "Is this thing part of the ship?"
"Correct." Calypso's calm voice was a thing of beauty after all the stress they had been put through. "Nano weapon, code name Bloodtide, is a specialist weapon designed for specific protection and destruction objectives."
Hermione pointed at the silvery entity. "Then why does it look like… that?"
"Unknown." There was a momentary pause as if Calypso was thinking about the possibility itself. "Nanite Weapon Bloodtide, explain yourself."
The voice the being had was soft yet held something deep within that captivated its audience. "Each of the nanites used in my creation possessed a spark." The creature looked down at its silvery hands. "After ten thousand years locked away in that canister the sparks merged into one being; me. I am now a singular entity."
"So… your self-aware?" The shock on Hermione's face was incredible.
"It was not uncommon at one point." The machine didn't seem to think it something shocking as Hermione did. "The humans once created artificial intelligences in mass during the height of their power. Used to pilot their ships, fight their wars, and to serve them. My intelligence just came about differently than the others."
"What happened to them," questioned Ron.
The silvery machine tilted it head to the side. "They were all destroyed over time."
Hermione gasped. "So you are all alone?" Her brown eyes misted a bit. "That is so sad."
"Is it?" It looked down at its own hands. "I do not feel as such."
The conversation continued with Ron jumping in asking his own questions though none of them got to close to it. Harry had seen several A.I. robot movies so he suspected why the machines were all destroyed and why the humans no longer created them. He didn't say anything as they had no way of destroying it should it turn on them.
A sudden question popped in Harry's head. "Is Calypso an A.I?"
The silvery entity looked at him strangely. "Calypso?"
"Yea, you know… the ship's name…"
The silvery entity looked up towards the top of the bridge. "Originally the ship was called The Slaughtersong." Terrible name. "Calypso is a better one… it is not such a." Again the silvery creature looked down at its own hands. "Bloody name."
"Well I guess being called Bloodtide is not very appealing." Looking at his two friend and scratching his head he asked, "Would you like for me to give you a new name?" The machine looked at him oddly. "I mean you are not what you were right? Maybe its time for a change?"
"That is a great idea" announced Hermione enthusiastically.
"A new name…" it looked at him for a long moment. "I would like that. Thank you."
"Ok…" Harry looked at her for a long moment going over so many names in his head it gave him a headache. It was only when he stared into those red eyes once more that he came up with the perfect name. "How about… Rose?"
"Rose" questioned Ron clearly not getting why his friend would give a machine such a name.
"Calypso pull up a picture of a rose." The ship did as he asked pulling up a picture of a rose on a holographic image. "Humans use roses for a lot of different things. They symbolize passion, love, and beauty. I thought you might like it."
The silvery machine looked at the image for a long moment. "Rose…" It said the name with such longing. "I am Rose. That is my name."
Hermione congratulated it with much zeal. Ron and Harry clapped for it but at a more sedate pace. Once everything was back to normal they began to discuss with Calypso and Rose about what they were. If was from this conversation that they learned that Calypso was not an A.I., but that she was as close to one as a machine could get without being an A.I. as that is how she was programmed.
Rose on the other hand was confused as to what she should do. She was still bound by the will of the captain even if she was an A.I. Harry's commands she was forced to follow verified that. What was interesting is that she admitted to not revealing herself for fear of being used as a weapon of mass destruction once again. With Harry's promise not to do so she was much more open to the idea of serving him.
Of course Hermione through a fit due to Rose being 'forced' to serve Harry. This Harry would not budge on until they had some way to defend themselves from her should she turn out to be a mindless kill as she was intended to be. He wouldn't abuse his power over her, but he wouldn't let her just kill them just like that.
"Wait a second!" Ron suddenly turned towards the window that was actually another holographic illusion showing them inside the hanger bay as if looking through a window. "Why haven't those ships attacked us?"
It was true. They had forgotten about the other ships that had attacked with the monsters that boarded their ship. Why hadn't they attacked yet? Were they waiting on something?
"You have no need to fear them." Everyone turned to look at Rose who was looking at the ships. All life forms on the attacking ships were eliminated as protocol dictates."
Of course Hermione had a moral fit about that again. She half blamed Rose and then half blamed Harry. She was only placated when Rose told her that all the life forms were corrupted as the ones who boarded their ship.
"Look," began Harry. "We have all had a long day. Let's just go to bed," he glanced at Rose, "Or whatever we do to rest and pick this back up tomorrow? Agreed?"
They all agreed with him and one by one they left the bridge. Calypso assured them that she had a protocol that would be able to clean up the dead Space Marines and dispose of their bodies. It was enough for Harry who felt more drained then any other time he had almost lost his life. This world they were in. It was just getting worse and worse.