The Astria Porta Project – Part Two : Rise of the Commonwealth
Disclaimer I don't own the Harry Potter franchise, nor the Stargate franchise. Other, rich, people do. I also apologize if several people in this story aren't portrayed with sufficient respect; I try, but I only have my imagination to base off.
"Master," an annoying voice woke him up. He groaned. The house-elf ignored him. "Master be needing in the dungeons, his Muggles want to see him." He had to admit it was funny that Kreacher kept on insisting he was taking over the world by using the Muggles against each other. Oh well, every man his disillusion, n'est-ce pas?
"Tell them I'll be there in ten minutes."
He wondered what they wanted that was so urgent, his shift started in three hours.
He left his bedroom and crept inside the shower. Five minutes later, he returned clad in his boxers. Opening his wardrobe, he hesitated on what to wear. He had the option between his Armani suits, his Louis Vuitton suits, his Guardian uniform and his regular suits. He had robes as well, but they didn't exactly fit with the activities downstairs.
He chose his uniform. If an emergency had come up, he'd need the protection and equipment. The uniform was in fact nothing more than a pair of pants made out of basilisk hide - thankfully centuries old creatures didn't decay that quickly, an enchanted black dragonhide shirt and a long cloak made out of the hide of the dragon from the Triwizard's first task, one of his first kills and a very satisfying at that. On the cloak's backside, a red phoenix went up in flames, a crossed wand and sword depicted in the background. The Guardian's logo.
He put his wand in a holder on the inside of the cloak, checked for his Disintegrator, the Terran Zatnickatel, put the translator device in his ear, activated his energy field and powered up the tablet nano-computer attached to the right inner side of the cloak. He checked his appearance in the mirror a final time and left for the second floor of his quarters at Adder Castle, where a room housed a Ring Transporter - modified and produced by the gents in Newfoundland.
By the time he reached the room, his computer was on line and updating the base's logbook records. Except for Maggie Brown returning home sooner than her shift ended due to sickness, nothing extraordinary was logged. He checked the Porta schedule. White Dove Beta left on a mission yesterday evening to establish closer cooperation with the Tok'ra. That must be it.
He transported himself to the dungeon level. The guard on duty raised his Disintegrator briefly, recognized him and lowered the weapon.
"Good morning, Knight Cornwall," he greeted. "Had any problems?"
"No, sir, there were no problems."
"That's good to hear. Someone needed me, do you know who?"
"Director Daniel Leigh and Knight Basil Thompson are waiting for you in the director's office."
He made his way to the head of Homeworld Security's office - coincidentally situated directly beneath his own office in the castle. He knocked on the door, but didn't wait for an answer to go in.
"You wanted to speak to me, Daniel?" The man might be in a way his superior, they had worked closely with each other for the past three years, all the way from Approject's inauguration.
"Good, you're here," said Daniel. "As you probably know, White Dove Beta visited Tok'ra headquarters a couple of hours ago."
"How did it go?"
"We have a better deal with them than the Americans got. The Tok'ra are a bit disappointed in the feedback they get from the US and impressed by our progress, on a galactic and planetary scale. The fact that we represent one third of the world population doesn't hurt either. SGC only has the quarter million citizens," answered Knight Thompson.
"And why am I needed?"
"We would have asked Vice-Guardian Su Li to do this, but with her pregnancy... We have to take into account the unborn child."
It had been a surprise for him to find the Muggleborn Asian girl at the Le Fey site for five successive days. He'd eventually invited her in for a cup of tea and he had a wonderful time analyzing her character. He played with the idea of making Hermione his Vice-Guardian, the magical backup of the Blackpool base, but the girl cramped up too much in stress situations. That she unconsciously looked down on her parents and felt ashamed for them didn't help either. Su Li had a more neutral perspective of life and while she wasn't on par with his abilities, she possessed an incredible intelligence and open mind, two traits that were rather important for the job.
Daniel continued. "The Tok'ra are playing a dangerous game right now. They've allowed a Goa'uld in their ranks - brought in by the Jaffa working with SGC of all people - and are using him to spread disinformation. There is a very real chance the location of their base will be conveyed to Apophis.
"Taking into account that their constant moving from one planet to another interferes with their objective of taking down the Goa'ulds from their thrones, White Dove Beta disclosed the existence of the Fidelius charm."
Harry immediately understood the implications. Homeworld Security wanted him to leave Earth and cast the charm for their allies.
"You are aware of the risk involved?"
"It's been cleared by Chieftain Scott, he said he would send you a message. Wasp Gamma will accompany you."
He checked his computer, sure enough, waiting in his inbox was the Chieftain's approval/order.
"Alright," said Harry. "Let me check my agenda first." From an inner pocket, he took his PDA. The difference between his two handheld computers was startling, where the Avalon Carbon OS computer booted up immediately, was a thousand times more powerful, his PDA needed five minutes to start, its software - a Microsoft Windows derivative - was simply said archaic and contained so much bugs, Harry was surprised it actually worked. "Let's see... I have a lunch appointment with Jules Webster tomorrow, and have to attend a conference in London the day after tomorrow."
"I'll tell Knight Vaughn to gather his team in an hour," proposed Knight Thompson.
"Excellent, if that's all? I'm going to get some breakfast."
Daniel nodded at him, while Thompson rose as well.
Wasp Gamma was waiting for him in the terminal; the room housing the Astria Porta.
The Wasp teams' uniforms resembled the SAS uniforms, though they were made of a lighter material. Their emblem was a wasp with the Greek letter of their team in front of it, placed on the left shoulder of their jackets, the Phoenix logo directly above it. Their shield devices were different from the one he carried, they were attached to their forearms and shaped like a big watch. They didn't tell the time of course, instead they displayed the power level and the shield's density.
The battle strategies they primarily used were heavily inspired by old Greek and Roman strategies, something their shields were specialized in. Each Vice-Knight carried two Disintegrators and one long-range energy rifle. Disintegrator grenades were also part of their standard equipments, grenades that blasted three times, one of the Jamaican branch's ideas.
It was impressive how far Phoenix was now in comparison to three years ago. From little less than three hundred employees to a worldwide organization of four thousand people. In total there were twenty-three wizards and witches acting as Guardians and Vice-Guardians, twenty for the regular branches and one for the Terran Space Force.
The latter didn't have a lot to do yet since the battleships were still under construction and the final modifications to their hyperspace-capable engines were still being made, but the solar system equivalent to space-fighters were operational.
The Terran hyperdrive wasn't a hyperdrive like the Goa'uld and other races used. The concept used was inspired and heavily based on the principles of Portkey travel, where the point origin and the destination point basically overlapped, much like wormholes, and the destination point pulled you through hyperspace to your destination. That wizards and witches casually used this method of transportation was quite a feat.
The Portdrive wasn't as user-friendly as the hyperdrive of the Goa'uld transportation vessel Harry unearthed, with all the unpleasant side-effects of Portkey travel present, but it worked much faster than the existing hyperdrives. It was estimated that Portdrives made the ship travel forty times the speed of light.
Phoenix India specialized themselves in designing the spaceships, while Phoenix Australia and Phoenix South Africa build them. At the moment, four Eagle-class battleships were being made at the same time. Two of them would get semi-permanent positions in geostationary orbit around Earth, at least until the Canadian branch finished works on the defensive satellite designs and the Sri Lankan base produced them.
The public face of Phoenix Operations, represented through the branches in New Zealand, Mozambique, Cameroon and Kenya mainly, was performing miracles as well. A Goa'uld sarcophagi was taken apart piece by piece, the theory behind them studied and healing devices spread to special hospitals in all of the Commonwealth nations. They cured the majority of diseases, even AIDS, though the usage of the Terran equivalent of the sarcophagi was limited to one time a person. The addictive component, unfortunately, was still present.
The devices to stimulate food production were proving to be quite difficult. There was nothing to work from, so all the scientists working on them had, was the theory behind everything they already discovered. The African branches were however working hard on the issue. Their continent was plagued heavily by famine, something which they wanted to solve as soon as possible. The process did benefit the peace in all of the regions, race disputes were decreasing heavily under the knowledge that there existed for more dangerous threats in their society and nations and that only through cooperation they would overcome these problems.
At the moment they were blocked slightly in their options by the Americans' silence on the galactic matter. The official stance was that they would only come clean with the rest of the world when the Americans did, but as time went on, more and more people talked about taking the first step. Harry personally thought that if the issue wasn't addressed in the United Nations by the USA by the time the battleships were operational, the Commonwealth of Nations would.
"Knight Abigail," greeted Harry.
"Guardian Potter," Abigail saluted.
"How is your wife?"
"Fine, sir."
"Excellent." He looked at his magical second-in-command and his partner. "Guardian Brooks, Vice-Guardian Li, when I step through that Porta the tea-time protocol is in place until I return."
Wycliffe nodded. "I'll spread the word."
"Do you want me to close your Floo access?" asked Su.
"And keep an eye on the site upstairs." Officially, Harry's wizarding occupation was heading Ouroboros Warlocks , the wizarding part of the Royal Ouroboros Museum had gone through a lot of expansion in the couple of years since the place was opened. By now it wasn't simply the final burial sites of Salazar Slytherin and Morgan Le Fey, it was an extensive research center of the pre-Hogwarts era of wizarding Europe, with a parlor and bar available to the public during the day. Su Li was registered as his business partner with the Ministry of Magic.
"I'll tell Romilda to be more careful."
Romilda Vane, the girl who tried to use Amortentia on him, but got Ronald Weasley in return, had grown up since his sixth year. She still gossiped a lot, but underneath that airhead exterior, Romilda could be quite vicious and calculating.
Her plans, luckily, didn't involve Harry's romantic life anymore, she learned that lesson rather quickly once she started working for them. She wasn't exactly prime Guardian material, but if push came to shove, the wizard and witch of Phoenix Britain didn't doubt her trustworthiness. In the event of something happening to both Harry and Su, Romilda could at least temporarily replace them.
Harry did something on his computer. "I sent instructions on where to find my will and several ideas to throw into the Guardian Council."
The Guardian Council, comparable to the Chieftain Council, was the platform through which all the witches and wizards associated to Approject could share tips and tricks with each other - or decide on any wizarding world related matter.
"All right," continued Harry, "let's get this show on the road."
Knight Abigail addressed his team. "Vice-Knights, queen sting formation!"
Wasp Gamma immediately assumed position, with one Vice-Knight leading and the others arranged so that they formed a V. Harry as the 'wasp queen' was behind them. Once they stepped through the gate, their formation would change into an O-shape and their shields activated. It was a purely defensive tactic, but just what was required for this sort of thing.
"Chevron 1 encoded. Chevron 2 encoded," a voice droned from the speakers, until, "Chevron 7 encoded. Wormhole established."
Harry looked at the vertical liquid of the Astria Porta. He'd never been off world for obvious reasons, but he'd read the reports of the teams, seen the video recordings of their missions and met the odd alien entity finding his or her way to their base. He was by no means frightened, but he was an adventurous lad with the habit of getting into very surreal situations.
They walked through. His hand itched to get his wand in his hand, something foreign to the desert landscape they were in was present - he didn't like the thought.
The wormhole disengaged.
"Knight," he was about to speak to the Wasp team leader, when six people suddenly surrounded them, their Zatnickatels aimed at them. "Never mind."
"Drop your weapons!"
"Jolinar of the Tok'ra expects us," said Vice-Knight Tripeau, a Canadian recruit.
The men lowered their weapons slightly.
Wasp Gamma didn't disable their shields, so Harry didn't either.
"Very well," said the apparent leader. "Follow us."
They walked several meters to what presumably was the Ring Transporter to their facilities. Sure enough, several rings came floating upwards and relocated them to an underground base - mainly decorated in an ancient Egyptian style. It seemed that despite having separated themselves off the Goa'uld and assuming a completely different stance regarding hosts and domination, the Tok'ra didn't differ all that much from their counterparts.
The team leader of the guards talked to his underground colleague before returning to the surface with his companions.
"You are here to help us secure our headquarters?" a middle-aged man queried.
Harry nodded. "If everything goes well, you won't need to move to other planets anymore."
"Very well, let me guide you to the meeting room assigned for this endeavor."
"What about the Goa'uld present?"
"He is in a meeting discussing our future plans and will be engaged for the remainder of the day."
"Good. We don't need the enemy to know of our presence and advancements."
The man inclined his head before walking them through several corridors until they arrived in a room. The half of Wasp Gamma remained outside, guarding the entrance closely. They were joined by two Tok'ra guards. The other half followed Harry inside and assumed positions at the door, Knight Abigail sitting next to him at the table in the middle of the room.
Harry regarded their allies closely. There were three of them, a man who looked to be in between his sixties-seventies, a not entirely unattractive woman in her thirties and a man of the same age.
"I am Harry Potter, Guardian of Phoenix Operations Great Britain," he introduced himself.
The elder man spoke first. "I am General Jacob Carter." He inclined his head momentarily. "I am Selmak, one of the oldest Tok'ra in existence."
The man followed."I am Martouf, the host." The symbiote took control. "I am Lantash."
"I am Anise," stated the woman. "I understand you have a device that cloaks our base?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't know what White Dove told you, but what I am offering to you isn't technology at all. It's called the Fidelius charm and a piece of magic." He put his hand in the inside of his coat and took his wand in his hand. "This is a wand and the tool with which I'm going to perform the Fidelius."
"Magic doesn't exist," denied Anise.
"On Earth it does," contradicted Harry. "There's a complete subclass of humans that can do magic. I'm one of them. We live completely separated from the non-magical humans of our planet and uphold the highest secrecy you can think of. Only the parents of wizards and witches born in the regular world and the government leaders know of our kind, which probably is a good thing. Magical people in general aren't very open to other point of views and look down upon non-magical users, much like the Goa'uld regard humans I suppose."
"I didn't know that," said Jacob Carter.
"You wouldn't," Harry commented. "If anybody witnesses something magical happening, their memory would be erased. It's been like that for the past three hundred years."
Martouf/Lantash took it all in stride; as Tok'ra they'd seen enough extraordinary things, this simply was one more. "This Fidelius charm, how exactly does it work?"
"In general terms the charm has three elements: the secret, consisting of the subject and the location, and the Secret Keeper. The secret basically is the subject that is being hidden, in your case that would be something along the lines of 'the Tok'ra headquarters', and where the subject is hidden. Again, using your situation, the secret would be something along the lines of 'the Tok'ra headquarters is located on Vorash'
"And thirdly, the Secret Keeper. He or she is the only person capable of disclosing the secret to another. So let's say I cast the Fidelius charm on your base and appointed Selmak as the Secret Keeper. Everybody except Selmak will suddenly forget where they are, no matter how hard they'd try to remember it. In order for me to know the secret, Selmak would have to tell it to me.
"But say I was the only one he/she told the secret to and Martouf here came to me, asking where he was. I might want to tell him, but I simply wouldn't be able to. My throat would constrict, my thoughts wander to a completely different subject. I wouldn't be able to write it down or type it, because my hands would block."
"And what about me?" questioned the General.
"If I'd appoint Selmak as the Secret Keeper, he/she would have to tell you. You would be in the same boat as I. Only when Selmak would take control, would he/she be able to tell the secret."
"Does it has to be said in person or can a message be used?"
"As long as Selmak would write it down or convey it, there shouldn't be any problems. It does pose a certain danger of course. Written messages can be intercepted quite easily and then the secret would be out."
Anise doubted. "How can we be sure you won't simply be this Secret Keeper yourself?"
"I already carry a secret," responded he."I'm the Secret Keeper of the British base. And you can't carry more than two secrets."
"What about sensors or observation from orbit?" queried Jacob.
"So far we haven't been detected, not by the Americans, not by the few Goa'uld wanting to attack us, not by the Asgard who've visited our planet. We've done our own tests in our Daggers."
"Daggers?" Martouf wondered.
Harry smirked. "The Dagger-class space-fighters are our answer to the Goa'uld's Death Gliders. We have ten squadrons of 5 fighters each operational."
The eyebrows of the Tok'ra rose. "You are advanced enough to build spaceships?"
Harry inclined his head. "We're having a bit of difficulty with our hyperdrives, but I guess that's to be expected when your first model wants to reach forty times the speed of light."
Anise blinked. "Forty times the speed of light?"
"We started working from a Goa'uld hyperdrive, learned the principles and theory involved. Someone came across something magical people can do, the scientists studied that , combined the two concepts et voila."
"Would you be willing to give us one of your hyperdrives when it's finished?" asked she.
"I doubt it," Harry shook his head, "I'm not the one who has a say over that aspect of Phoenix Operations. One of our policies is that everything we develop should be primarily used to advance our people and planet."
"We understand," spoke Selmak.
"Good. Now, have you thought about a Secret Keeper yet? It's going to have to be someone who doesn't leave the planet much, who is trustworthy and knows deceit."
"What function does a Secret Keeper on Earth usually fulfill?" informed Jacob.
"Guardian," smiled Harry. "Or in other words, they are in charge of the base's security."
"I will go and talk with the High Councilor," announced Martouf, "and see what he thinks about the issue." He rose and left the chamber.
"If I may be so bold," Anise cautiously broached the subject, "but what is that scar on your forehead?"
Harry's expression blanked just a tiny bit. "It is a sign that I survived certain death when I was a baby."
"You are immortal?" The awed tone made it quite clear what she thought of that. Not even symbiote's lived forever after all.
"No, I'm just incredibly lucky," denied he. "And a bit like weed I suppose. No matter how hard you might try to get rid of me, it'll never work completely."
"Oh."
"Why did you ask?"
"The shape of your scar is almost an exact copy of the symbol of a race called the Avengers. They wore it on their forehead as well."
"The Avengers? Haven't heard of those yet," mused he.
"They were a mysterious group, appearing and disappearing in the galaxy for a number of centuries. They opposed the Goa'uld, killed quite a few of them and claimed to be lead by the goddess of vengeance. When the last of them was seen, the Avengers warned that the next time they'd appear, the Goa'uld's reign would end. They have been the subjects of many myths and legends in the galaxy." She paused. "A while ago Teal'c, the Jaffa working with SG1, told us he saw one of them on Earth, even mentioned your name."
Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "I know that he saw me once, but aside that I don't really know anything about a goddess or Avengers." He shrugged. "Maybe there's some truth in that story, maybe my scar is a sign of something coming. If the idea gives people hope or strengthens their resolve, let them."
"You know, I've been wondering about this for a while now," began Jacob, "but aren't you that bloke that found all those graves a couple of years ago and started that museum?"
"That's me."
"You're a versatile kid," the General commented. Selmak took control. "You are not interested in becoming one of us? Your skills could be put in good use with the Tok'ra."
"Ah no thank you. I've got my duty to the people of Earth. Besides, I don't know whether a symbiote would be able to take control of me."
At their curious gaze, he elaborated: "Entities have tried to possess me in the past with, I believe, far more effective means than a symbiote."
"We share a body with our host, we don't possess," Selma corrected.
"I know that, but still... Magic has a tendency to be sentient and unpredictable in its pure form. I wouldn't want to risk it."
"A pity, you would be an excellent host."
Martouf came back, followed by one of the guards that accompanied them earlier on.
Harry looked at the man. "You are aware of the dangers involved in this and the responsibility this will take." The man nodded. "What's your symbiote's name?"
"Atosh."
"Okay. Let Atosh in control."
Harry mentally prepared himself. 'The Tok'ra can be found on Vorash. The Tok'ra can be found on Vorash. The Tok'ra can be found on Vorash.' "Fidelius!"
A ball of light appeared at the end of his wand. The secret already was in effect, with every person on base confused as to where their surroundings were.
Harry moved the energetic secret towards Atosh. It burrowed itself inside the host's body and went further until it disappeared in the symbiote. The man's eyes cleared immediately and regarded the British wizard in awe.
"Now you can spread the word to the people in this room and continue with the rest of the base. Make sure you're always shielded or always have someone with you when you're in the proximity of the Goa'uld. If you die, the secret is out and you lose your advantage."
Atosh nodded. To the others in the room he said: "The Tok'ra can be found on Vorash."
Their expression cleared immediately.
"Magic does exist!" whispered the General.
Harry smiled slightly. "If you're ever interested in visiting... Phoenix Operations Britain can be found beneath the Royal Ouroboros Museum in Blackpool, Great Britain. Now I'm afraid I have to go, our base is in lockdown as long as I'm here."
They nodded.
"I'll have one of my men escort you to the Stargate in a minute," said Atosh.
Harry Potter, aged 23, couldn't help but blink at the different mails he received in one night. One came from the current chairman of the Chieftain Council, the Australian Leonard Griffith. Another was a memo of the Guardian Council, with a third sent by the Queen herself.
Dear Sir,
Following the completion of the Terran Space Force's four battleships yesterday afternoon, a video conference of the Chieftain Council and Homeworld Security took place. In this meeting a new course of action has been decided concerning the USA's Stargate Command and the international cooperation required to bring Phoenix Operations to the next level in our development.
A meeting with representatives of the United States is scheduled within two weeks at the Air Force Academy in Colorado wherein the existence of the true nature of Phoenix Operations will be revealed as well as an invitation extended to join our organization.
Because of our close interaction with several wizards and witches, your presence is required for this meeting. Your Vice-Guardian will act in your stead during your absence.
The transport vessel 'Zeus' of my branch will fly you to Denver.
Yours faithfully,
Chieftain Leonard Griffith
Phoenix Operations Gibson
The Guardian Council's mail was something along the same line.
Dear Mr Potter,
In light of the scheduled meeting with the USA and the wizarding representative required for the meeting, we considered who we would send. The answer was clear to us, however. You were the first of our kind associated with Phoenix Operations and the one who contacted each of us. It is only normal that the man who started all of this speak for all of us.
Yours sincerely,
Guardian Saul M'mbamba
Phoenix Operations Cameroon
Not that the Queen's mail was any different...
Dear Sir,
In response to the scheduled conference session with the United States of America, HRH Queen Elizabeth II gives you permission to speak on her behalf regarding the future of the Commonwealth venture 'Astria Porta Project' and in particular the prospect of 'Phoenix Operations'.
It is within HRH the Queen's interest to assure the continuity of the Singapore Declaration, and in particular the promotion of democracy, human rights, egalitarianism, free trade and world peace.
Her Royal Highness's Prime Minister and Minister of Defense will accompany you to this meeting.
Yours sincerely,
Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth II
Queen of the United Kingdom
Supreme Governor of the Church of England
Head of the Commonwealth
It was a bit overkill to get all these orders, but he supposed it was to insure he truly was present. He made a quick call to Amanda Russel, his personal assistant at the museum.
"Hi Amanda, it's Harry," said he through his mobile phone.
"Mr Potter! What can I do for you?"
It was a bit ridiculous she always spoke so formal to him, especially when you considered she was twice his age.
"Can you call off anything I might have in two weeks? And for the rest of that week?"
"You have several meetings with journalists and an appearance on the BBC in that week, sir," she said. "I don't think it's a good idea to call them off..."
"Damn, that show on the BBC, was it that nice talk show?"
"Yes, sir."
"Too bad, but I can't get out of it. I have to join in on a meeting in the USA concerning Phoenix Operations."
"..." there was some silence while Amanda processed the information, "I think they'll understand, Mr Potter."
"Thanks. I'll see you around." He closed the call.
"There won't be any harm in letting Zeus pick us up above our base?" Harry asked Matthew Scott. Zeus was one of the designs of the Indian branch the Australians decided to construct when work on the spaceships was mostly done. It was Phoenix Operations' civilian plane built with all of the technology developed in the past few years. Slightly bigger than Air Force One and a more triangular shape, it was unlike any plane ever made. The fact that it was capable of flying to Pluto without any problems was an oddity as well.
"It's not like it has to land, we can simply use the Ring Transporter," Matthew answered.
"So where's Daniel?"
"Had to pick up some files in his office."
"Who's going to be present from the Americans?"
"General George Hammond, Lieutenant-Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, a Senator Kinsey, the US Secretary of Defense Arthur Simms, us three and the staff of Zeus ."
"At least we won't be underrepresented."
Daniel Leigh came rushing in. "Sorry I'm late." He looked at Matthew and Harry. "The Tok'ra just sent word to us, the Americans have eliminated Cronus a couple of days ago. The Goa'uld in their ranks tried to get away from them. He's dead as well. Arthur's sent Wasp Gamma to their base to reach a mutual strategy now that the balance has changed."
"The pace is picking up," murmured their Guardian.
They walked from Harry's office at the museum to the Transporter room. When the okay was given, they transported themselves aboard their civilian space-vessel. The hour long flight was used to prepare a meeting room and go through all of the aspects they wanted to discuss. Soon enough they landed in America. Because he had the highest function, Daniel stepped outside to greet the American delegation.
"Good morning," he said. "I'm Daniel Leigh, director of Homeworld Security. Excuse me for breaking protocol, but I am going to ask you to come on board. It's the most secure place for the meeting we're about to have."
The Americans glanced at each other.
"How secure are we talking?" informed Simms.
"More secure than your Air Force One."
That seemed to be enough for them to agree.
"Please follow me." He guided them to the meeting room. "Mr Simms, Mr Kinsey, General Hammond, Lieutenant-Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Doctor Jackson, Teal'c, I would like to introduce you to Chieftain Scott and Guardian Potter of Phoenix Operations."
"I remember seeing you at that museum!" Jackson exclaimed.
Teal'c affirmed that. "Indeed, I saw you too."
Harry held in a smile. "I was aware of your presence long before you came as well."
"I must say, Mr Leigh," Simms stated, "that the president was surprised by Queen Elizabeth's request."
Daniel nodded. "And I'm sure you're all wondering why exactly you are here?"
Matthew spoke through the intercom. "Lord Alders, you have a go for lift-off."
"Affirmative, Chieftain. Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready for departure. Do not open the doors or windows. Our destination is the high orbit of Earth, have a nice flight."
"Excuse me," O'Neill interrupted, "but did the pilot just say 'high orbit'?"
"That is part of why you all are here. You see, the United Kingdom and in extension the Commonwealth of Nations have been aware of the Stargate program for three years already."
"You have?" asked Kinsey.
"Your NID isn't exactly subtle in their dealings, just as the copy of Stargate Command's databases isn't protected all that well."
The Senator blanched at that.
"How come you're contacting us only now?" questioned Hammond.
Daniel looked at Matthew, who answered. "The British royal house has been in possession of a Stargate for several centuries; once we knew what it was for and obtained enough equipment and manpower, we started our own program: the Astria Porta project."
"But it's impossible to use two Stargates with the same address at the same time," objected Carter.
"Not if you reprogram the point of origin of your Porta," refuted the Chieftain. "Our program compromises two organizations: Phoenix Operations and Homeworld Security. Director Leigh's agency oversees the workings of Phoenix Operations, as well as provides intelligence and strategy when dealing with the enemy."
"I told you, Daniel Jackson, that Harry Potter was an Avenger," Teal'c commented.
"I didn't think you were serious," murmured the archaeologist.
"Aside exploring the galaxy," continued Matthew, "Phoenix Operations is also responsible for defending Earth and developing technology that advances our world. You might remember reading reports of the healing pods our public facade distributes that heal even HIV? They are based on a Goa'uld sarcophagi we studied."
"I've been telling the President for years we need to do that," said Kinsey.
Harry spoke up. "The devices we study are all machines and objects I found on Earth, hidden all over Europe. We make it a point not to take things from planets with civilizations."
Arthur Simms' expression cleared up. "So that's why all the economies of the Commonwealth rose so quickly."
"Phoenix Operations has bases in eleven countries all over the world," continued Matthew. "From the United Kingdom to Canada," eyebrows lifted at that, "to South-Africa, India and Australia. We have a total of 22,000 employees, are completely separated from any other military organization and have taken our level of evolution to levels you can only imagine."
"Why?" O'Neill inquired. "Why if you've done all of that and known for so long would you tell us now?"
Daniel responded. "We're planning on bringing the other nations of our planet into the fold soon enough as well; we were waiting for the US to come clean first, but some of Phoenix's activities have come to a point where we can't simply co-exist without the other knowing of us anymore."
"What director Leigh and Chieftain Scott are trying to say," Harry decided to be blunt about it, "Is that we have four interstellar battleships of a class similar to a Goa'uld Ha'tak ready for launch and we aren't able to do that if you don't know about us."
"You have a working hyperdrive?" exclaimed Carter.
Harry inclined his head. "As we are speaking ten squadrons of five space-fighters each named Daggers are on standby should Earth be attacked. "
Simms rubbed his eyes. "How long did you say Phoenix Operations is active?"
"About three years."
"Area 51's been working on a spaceship for decades now and they're only now having a prototype for a space-fighter ready."
"About that," Daniel mentioned, "I would check twice before transforming a Death Glider into a space-fighters. Our Australian branch initially based themselves off of Goa'uld spaceships as well, but they abandoned that after a while. There's some kind of recall signal built in they couldn't get around."
"It is something the Goa'uld would do," stated Teal'c. "Harry Potter, it was mentioned you are a guardian; of what are you a guardian?"
"Only Mr Simms will know this," he answered the question. "But hidden throughout our world are thousands of witches and wizards. We are an evolution of the human race, the homo magica, that's been around for thousands of years. What we can do by merely focusing our magic through a piece of wood, is what others need advanced technology for.
"Magical society in general isn't friendly towards non-magical humans and their world. We live twice as long as regular humans, so change doesn't happen quickly, neither does our collective memory fade rapidly. Wizards and witches still think of the witch hunts when they think about the non-magical world."
"Fascinating," commented Jackson.
"When some of my discoveries became public knowledge, I was approached by Queen Elizabeth and her entourage and asked to assist the British government into setting up their own Astria Porta program. I answered the request and serve as the co-head of security of the base, protecting our headquarters with magic. It's one of the major reasons only people we want to know about Phoenix know."
From there the meeting continued in a presentation of what Phoenix had to offer and negotiations to bring the USA into the generation. Calls were made to their president, information was exchanged and a promise made to find a Guardian and Vice-Guardian for the Cheyenne Mountain Complex as well as for Area 51.
The treaty eventually agreed upon got the mysterious name of Zeus Treaty - at least it would be mysterious to people who hadn't a clue about their civilian-class spaceship. A slightly modified version of the treaty would later be used as base of the Jupiter Declaration , when the other major nations of Earth joined Phoenix Operations.
Five hours after Harry answered the question posed by Teal'c, it was time for the launch of the HMS Excalibur , the Sankopha , the Exodus and the Tanaka .
They watched from the windows in the middle of the ship, larger than the rest, how two spaceships flew off South Africa and another two left from the Australian desert. When the four battleships kept on moving forwards into space, the Zeus answered in stride by following them to the orbit of Jupiter.
"You know," said O'Neill, "those spaceships look awfully familiar. Like Star Wars Destroyer-familiar."
"It's not as large as in the movies," confessed Matthew, "But as the Indians say: don't waste a good spaceship-design if you have one already."
"They're larger than our plans for the X-303," noted Carter.
"The initial plans were to build even larger ships, motherships to remain in permanent orbit around the planet and house a lot of people in case of a doomsday scenario. We abandoned the idea when it became apparent how much time it would take to build even one of them."
Daniel continued. "The Destroyer -class of battleships will serve as the central command during battles. There aren't any definite plans for smaller battleships yet, but we're working on it. Your X-303 might fulfill that particular need of the Terran Space Force."
"How did you come up with your hyperdrive?" Carter questioned.
"Wizards and witches can manipulate the physical dimensions easily," Harry answered, "they have done so for thousands of years. One of the spells we use is called a Portkey. It's a charm that transforms any object into a method of transportation, making the destination pull the user through hyperspace at incredible speeds without using a lot of energy. Life support is automatically present on activation.
"Our scientists studied the procedure closely, made their conclusions and worked out a hyperspace engine, the Portdrive PD01. A lot of the disadvantages of Portkey travel are still present and we haven't found a way yet to exceed the basic speed of forty times the speed of light in hyperspace or to negate the time relativity factors."
"Time relativity factors?" Carter frowned. None of the spaceships SGC encountered said anything about time when it came to hyperspace travel.
"A six hundred miles journey by Portkey feels like you were underway for a minute," Harry answered, having taken an interest in the subject from the start. "Tests indicate that the same goes for the Portdrive though the ratio differs: a minute per 10 light years you pass in real space. To outsiders, they travel extremely fast, while to the personnel inside the spaceship, time passes extremely slow, aging them quicker than is normal. It's not ideal, but at least we have a means to take the fight to the enemy."
"Isn't there anything they're trying to do about it?"
"At the moment, we allow hyperspace travelers to go through the healing pods after a mission to undo some of the aging process," he explained, "In the long run, we're looking at applying an automatic stasis field after the first ten minutes in hyperspace that stops ten minutes before arrival. We're not abandoning the Portdrive, it's faster than anything else we can lay our hands on, it's relatively easy to construct and it doesn't use a lot of energy."
Hammond looked at Jackson. "Doctor Jackson, do you believe the Asgard would be willing to help us in this endeavor?"
"I don't know. They don't like to give away their technology. We can always ask them and see whether they are willing."
"Make it one of your next tasks."
Jackson nodded.
Nine months after the United States joined Phoenix Operations, a special meeting of the United Nations was arranged with representatives of each Phoenix branch country, the European Union, Russia, China and members of the United Nations itself.
Homeworld Security and Phoenix Operations officially became new organizations of the United Nations, with the other nations actively becoming participants. New branches were decided, China setting up three different bases, Russia two and the European Union setting up an extra base on the mainland - a research and training facility.
With the addition of Phoenix Nevada, the famed Area 51, Phoenix Siberia and Phoenix Yangtze, there were now five shipyards worldwide producing spaceships, which of course caused an increase in trade with different worlds to gather all of the material. The Exodus and HMS Excalibur took turns traveling to different solar systems to harvest the raw materials present there. Four more Destroyer -class ships were constructed, the other ships being produced was the eventual B-305, roughly the same appearance as the X-303 would have had, but with far more advanced technology on board.
The problems with the Portdrive remained, even after the Asgard consented to having a look at it - the Tau'ri hyperdrive wasn't anything they had ever encountered, but even their superior understanding of science couldn't do more than do what the Phoenix scientists could, speed up their ride and disperse the intense feeling of collectively being pulled towards something.
An automatic stasis field wasn't possible on a scale that high, instead the ships' personnel were assigned stasis pods and put into them for the major part of the journey. To keep an eye on the workings of the ship, a special position was created. That person got to lay in a special pod that woke him from stasis every week or whenever the systems encountered an error message.
Harry walked to the third floor of Adder Castle wearing only his undergarments and entered the Master's Provision, a room containing all of the material he used during his relic hunting days and various other trinkets. He regularly entered the place to make sure everything was in a working condition; this time however he was there to fit himself into his raider's 'uniform'.
The okay had finally been given by both the bigger ups of Phoenix and the Queen herself to explore the site that appeared out of the blue on his enchanted map of Britain. Located in between Exeter and Dartmoor in Cornwall, the site showed itself as having an area of five hundred square meters, one of the largest recordings Harry ever saw on the map.
He hadn't a clue why it only registered now, it was suspicious at the least. He wanted to check it out immediately; as it was, he wasn't a freelancer anymore. He needed permission from Phoenix Operations, time off, and permission of the Queen to explore her territory. The site showed as Unplottable and warded extensively, which was why it would only be him entering it.
A team of Unspeakables from the Ministry of Magic would come in handy, those guys knew their magic as well as Harry did, but it was too risky right now. Something was stirring in wizarding society worldwide. It had vague signs of a full-blown civil war on the horizon, but they weren't certain. Muggleborns and half-bloods were getting restless all over the world. It started with the people sent to Azkaban by the Ministry during Voldemort's brief coup and seemed to have spread from there.
In some ways it was fortunate Phoenix existed and united the Muggle governments to deal with the rising abnormal behaviors of their magical citizens, otherwise a magical world war could easily result in a world war on the Muggle side the likes of which hadn't even been portrayed in the disaster-movies of the seventies.
It was scary how one wizard could influence so many non-magical people like what happened during the Second World War, a war that only ended because Dumbledore 'imprisoned' Grindelwald. That old coot of a former headmaster was a piece of work, really. He hadn't gone to the German wizard to end his reign like modern magical history told you, the bearded man had left to do something about his sexual frustrations with his former lover. Only when the Russian wizards tried to breach the wards of Grindelwald's abode, did Dumbledore take the Elder Wand and bind the blond wizard.
There was a reason Eastern European wizards and witches joined Voldemort's organization and it certainly wasn't because Dumbledore was light and Voldemort dark, a naive idea at the best anyway.
A leather hat sat on a table next to a Muggle trench coat, a pair of jeans, cowboy boots, a pair of sunglasses and several satchels. Yes, he might look a bit cliché, that didn't stop the outfit from being the best he could imagine. When you're trying to enter a crypt when it was pouring, lightning and thunder striking eerily close to you, you'd wish you wore exactly those clothes. There didn't exactly exist a spell to keep rain from falling.
He dressed himself, placing his wand in the holster built in his right boot. The holster had a nifty trick that caused the wand to jump into his hand when he tapped the boot three times with his other boot.
He picked up several daggers and spikes from another table, putting them in various pockets. They came in handy when the mafia caught you or you couldn't leave the location and had to hunt for rabbits or their likes.
Fully equipped for the task, he descended to the dungeons for a final check of the men. As he walked into the Phoenix part of the base, some idiot decided to be funny and played the theme song from the Indiana Jones movies, causing every head in the room to turn to him.
"Looking hot, Harry," Maureen Kitten, an administrative Vice-Knight, called out.
Harry rolled his eyes upwards and ignored the giggles and wolf calls from the other Vice-Knights. Really, was this the organization defending Earth against aliens?
It didn't take long until he could really leave and Apparate to the top of Dartmoor, Apparating to the lower end of the hill in order to avoid having to hike all the way down.
Finding an Unplottable location wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult either when you had a map to guide you somewhat. The entrance was covered up by almost a meter of earth, shrubberies and dried leaves growing from it. There were spells to trim shrubberies, to accelerate their growth and even to shape them into the most ridiculous forms like a duck or hedgehog. When it came down to removing it though, Harry had to fall back to his years of gardening at the Dursley's. With a dagger he cut through the growth of the plants, piling the remains next to him. With a couple of well cast reductos, the earth was scattered to all directions (even on his nice outfit), eventually causing a hole of several meters wide.
The 'entrance' strangely enough was a hi-tech looking piece of rock that on contact with the palm of his hand, transported him into a cave-like room.
"Greetings, I am Morose though you may know me better as Arthur Pendagron's wizard advisor Merlin, the founder of the organized magical world."
Harry glanced at the ghost-like appearance of a man his former headmaster liked to appear as, but failed utterly in comparison to what apparently was the real deal.
Morose continued his explanation. "If you have found this complex, then the time has come for a wizard or witch, depending on your gender, to learn several secrets of the way this universe works and who lives in it. To prove your worthiness as a warlock, it is up to you to breach the protections of the corridor behind you. If you fail, your mind will be wiped completely and you will return to the surface of this planet with none the wiser on who you are and what you were doing. If you succeed, a treasure and a wealth of knowledge will be given to you. Choose wisely and do not hesitate."
He turned around and walked to the mentioned corridor. It was long and dark, not a good combination. Because you shouldn't ignore the simple things in life, he moved his left feet forwards only for something to grab it and move him upside down.
"Levicorpus, great. Just great," he muttered. It figured the greasy dead bat of a potions professor wouldn't be the first to invent this. He reached out to take his wand, causing his hand to get stuck as well. Sighing, he started looking more closely at the beginning of the corridor. There wasn't much more he could do, hanging upside down with only one hand - not even the right one - free. A trigger or sensor had to be present. Before the Ancients went through the process of Ascension, they relied heavily on trinkets and gadgets to do what they wanted. He suspected this corridor wasn't any different.
"Stone, stone, stone, stone, mm... a shiny glimmery thing in the stone, is that it?"
He took a dagger and, careful to avoid the opening, carved a groove around the shiny thing, deepening it millimeter by millimeter. Eventually he reached a wire behind the thing and cut it in one go.
"Ugh, I think I hit my tail-bone," he said after he'd fallen down.
Twenty meters and six hours later, a bedraggled Harry Potter exited the corridor from hell, entering a wide and large underground facility, almost as large as the Blackpool base. The only thing in the room was a hexagon-shaped spaceship over fifty meter long and thirty meters wide.
"At least I'm getting something out of all of this," he said to himself. It was like the time he found that Al'Kesh in the Alps, only more impressive, because this would probably be an Ancient ship.
He walked around it, trying to find an entrance. Naturally it was on the other side than where he started watching. The interior was very... alien, but made for human-sized people.
There was a central 'hall' with a round table in the middle, throne-like chairs set around it. On the table lay several scrolls of parchments, a book and something he recognized as an Ancient knowledge repository - don't touch no matter what happens, Colonel/Vice-Chieftain O'Neill had experience with those things.
Was this the round table? He picked up the book, opening its cover. Written in Ancient. Too bad he didn't have his linguistic devices with him, they could translate Ancient these days.
He left the 'hall' and went to what he presumed was the front of the ship. In the bridge, Morose's ghost, hologram, whatever it was, appeared in front of him.
"Congratulations! You have found the interstellar spaceship Galahad . You have probably seen the conference chamber where you will find my journal, my notes and the enchanted device containing all you need to know to understand what is being explained in the journal and notes.
"The Galahad and the enchanted device are already modified to your magical DNA, as such only you who has proven himself worthy will have access to them. The only way to get outside the ship is with the knowledge contained in the enchanted repository."
The apparition disappeared, leaving Harry staring at an empty space.
"Bloody fantastic."
Since there was nothing to do about it, he returned to the conference chamber, contemplated on whether he really wanted to turn in an Ancient-talking freak. His options were limited of course, so he decided to take the risk.
A white glow surrounded him briefly, that was all he noticed before he fell unconscious to the ground.
The repository wasn't all that terrible, apparently made especially for magical humans and containing nothing more than the Ancient language and the instructions on how to fly the Galahad , a spaceship that apparently could shift to another dimension, so it could fly through solid matter. He'd give it to Phoenix Operations South Africa, Siberia, Yangtze, Australia or Nevada if it weren't for the fact that only a magical human could enter it and only he could operate it or even take it apart.
Morose's journal and notes were something he could donate though, they contained details about a separatist movement of Ascended beings that liked to lord it over the lesser planes of existence, had a grudge against the Ancients and probably would invade the Milky Way sooner rather than later. The plans on how to build a weapon to destroy them were quite prominent in the journal.
One of the scrolls was the codex adscensio, the rules and regulations of the Ascended. An essential text to better understand the behavior of the Ascended.
With the repository inside his mind, the object itself was worthless, so he would just leave it inside the Galahad , which he flew to a cave in the Scottish Highlands he discovered several years ago. He didn't really need it, but he had to place it somewhere.
Once that was done, he put the journal and notes in his satchel and Apparated to Ouroboros Warlocks , the only place Apparition was possible on his property. He was ready to report in, making sure, of course, to omit anything related to the Galahad and the repository. Phoenix worked heavily on a need to know basis, this wasn't any different.
The trumpets blazing a battle march woke him up in the middle of the night.
"Fuck," he cursed. Those trumpets only meant one thing: Earth was under full-scale attack. Considering who was strengthening his grip on the galaxy these days, that only meant one thing...
He rose and dressed in his uniform quickly, activating his communication link with the people doing their shift downstairs.
"Wycliffe, what's going on?"
"Over sixty Ha'taks are in our airspace, the Destroyers and B-305s are keeping them at bay for the moment. Anubis' mothership is above Antarctica. The Americans know more about what he's doing. It doesn't look good. The shields on his Ha'tak stop everything we've tried to take it down."
"Do you know anything about the status of Morose's weapon?"
"They're still working on it."
"Then there's no obvious way to off the bastard?"
"No."
"All right. Put the Astria Porta activities in lockdown, call in Su and the others." He steeled himself. "I'm going to finish this once and for all."
"What do you mean?"
"I destroyed one Dark Lord, I think I can handle another one."
Wycliffe was silent for a moment. "How are you going to get there?"
"Let's just say Morose left behind more than Phoenix' has at the moment."
"It's not like I can do anything to stop you," the other sighed. "Good luck, Harry."
He ran to the stables, jumped into a Hummer and drove off towards the exit of the property. Once he was out of the Apparition wards, he turned the car off and promptly Apparated to the cave in the Highlands. It had been two years since he'd been there, luckily the Galahad was untouched.
It took an hour to fly, at top speed and in the other dimension to avoid detection, to Antarctica. He'd taken the high orbit route, wanting to see for himself how bad it was. It was bad. None of their battleships had been destroyed yet, but the HMS Excalibur and Sankopha looked pretty roughed up. The Odyssey and Prometheus , the American Destroyer and B-305 respectively, were doing their best to ward off any assistance to Anubis' ship. Scattered all over the space were the Daggers and Spikes, the American space-fighter model, taking down hoards of Gliders and Al'Kesh.
The battle was far more intense than any science-fiction movie or series could portray.
He didn't simply leave the Galahad outside the Ha'tak, instead he flew straight into it, glimpsing Oma Desala opposing Anubis. He shook his head. The Ascended wouldn't be able to do anything substantial.
He made sure the exit of the ship came out in a corridor and shifted the Galahad out of its alternate dimension, causing a massive explosion. He left the city and Apparated to the place the partly Ascended Goa'uld and permanently Ascended Ancient were. His appearance caused them to cease their attacks momentarily, both of them surprised.
"Go back to your kind, Oma Desala," he warned. "This is an affair of the lower planes of existence."
"Who are you?" spat Anubis.
Harry grinned evilly at the thing. "They call me an Avenger. To you however, I'm your worst nightmare."
Anubis laughed at him. "You cannot harm me."
"Yeah well, I'm afraid your visa is expired." Having said that, Harry cast a Killing Curse at the other. It never hurt to start with the basics when facing the unknown.
Anubis jumped to the side to avoid the curse.
He kept on casting the Killing Curse, saying in the meantime: "You know, Avada Kedavra, I was having, Avada Kedavra , a nice dream, Avada Kedavra when I woke up, Avada Kedavra because you decided, goddamn it, will you stay put! Avada Kedavra !"
He focused momentarily, this game of cat and mouse had gone on long enough. Anubis wasn't even reacting. Time for the heavy guns, the ever-handy Extinguish-Your-Soul curse. " Exstinctor animus! " His arm moved in a horizontal arc. Nothing happened. "Right, you don't have a soul. Should've figured." Modifying his curse slightly, he hoped this would have any effect, otherwise he was toast: No doubt once he stopped sending deadly attacks at the other, some kind of Ancient / Asgard / Ascended mojo was going to come his way. " Exstinctor natura !"
An explosion of energy washed over him, extending outwards in a radius of five miles.
Harry breathed heavily. That was the most intense, shortest fight he'd ever participated in. "So that's how you kill an Ascended being."
A rumbling sound came from all over the ship.
"Crap," he whispered, "how do I get out of this thing?"
