Lightning among the Stars

Chapter Three: To The Final Frontier

(A/N: So yeah, in an attempt to do something on GoogleDocs and then an attempt to undo it following a change of mind, I accidentally deleted what I had for the first draft of this chapter without having procured a backup, much to my own frustration… though I think it cheesed me off more that I accidentally deleted all of what I had written for my other little HPxME project… Oops! Wasn't supposed to mention that! Anyway, as such I currently feel intensely stupid. Oh and for the record, both Phoenix and Chimera are male. Enjoy the chapter!)

(A/N 2: Beta/lemon writer's notes: it may have cheesed him off… I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to strangle him… I decided to let him live; he's no good to us dead…)

(A/N 3: How charitable of you.)

(A/N 4: I'd rather not have to try and become creative in how I hide the body… and the readers would probably hunt me down and kill me… so… safer for myself to let you live.)

Co-written with XRaiderV1, since I apparently write faster that way.

Featuring:
Kym Hoy as Kasumi Goto
Milla Jovovich as Liselle T'Loak
Michelle Rodriguez as Aela "Valkyrie" T'Loak
Izabella Scorupco as Captain Hannah Shepard
Lauren Holly as Commander Jennifer Shepard

Year 1, Month 12, Day 24 of in-field time.

"Hermione, calm down…"

"Harry, we have to make sure everything's working!"

"Hermione, we finished making sure everything's working two weeks ago. At this point it's simple mania."

Hermione would have protested, but Harry turned her around sharply and pushed her back against the console, leaning forwards to capture her lips in a kiss.

Hermione gave an almost needy moan as they broke apart, "Harry…"

Harry smirked and stroked her cheek, "Now do you agree we should find something else to do? We still have to wait for the field to deteriorate naturally, or there could be unforeseen complications."

"Yes," said Hermione, smirking, "Let's go do something else… christen the ship, maybe?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Harry, as Hermione pulled him out of the engineering compartment.

-LatS-

As Harry and Hermione had said to before activating the field, Kasumi and the others all turned up outside the field exactly twenty-four hours after it had first gone up.

Now they watched as the field collapsed and Harry and Hermione approached, "Welcome to our ship!"

Kasumi eyed Hermione's almost-inebriated smile, "You two had sex didn't you?"

"We christened the ship!" said Hermione happily.

"That's… nice?" said Phoenix, "Anyway, what will you name her?"

Harry and Hermione turned to consider the ship for a moment before Hermione checked her omnitool and grinned, "I know what we can call it."

"What?"

"The Cygnus, the Argenti Cygnus."

Harry frowned, "That's Latin for Silver Swan, isn't it?"

"Yes. Seems appropriate, doesn't it?"

"I didn't say I disagreed."

"Anyway," said Hermione, grabbing Kasumi's arm and preparing to drag her away, "Let's go give you guys the tour!"

-LatS-

"You have all your clothing?"

"Yes, mother…"

"You have your comm unit?"

"Yes mother…"

"What about your-"

"MOTHER! You do not need to, well, mother me."

"Mr Potter was kind enough to put up some wards… it's not often I get to mother you without someone overhearing or seeing."

"Point."

"I really don't want you going, but I need to step back and let you live your life… just… " Aria was having a hard time putting the thoughts into words, "I want you to be happy, like any mother would their own children"

Liselle smiled and hugged her mother, "I love you…"

"Be safe."

Aria tapped on the shield, getting Harry's attention so that he dropped the shield.

"Thank you Mr Potter."

"No problem," said Harry, before he was interrupted by a call on his omnitool from Kasumi.

"Harry? We have company."

Harry turned around to see a krogan in Blood Pack armour approaching, flanked by two lines of vorcha and varren.

"Greetings," growled the krogan as it drew level with them, speaking in a surprisingly feminine voice, "Are you Potter? Harry Potter?"

"….and If I am?" Harry asked, unsure of just what was going on.

"Hm. You don't look much like I expected. I thought the person who defeated the Eclipse, Blue Suns and Blood Pack would be more fearsome."

"Appearances can be deceiving."

"So I see. My name is Weyrloc Kanara, I'm a Blood Pack lieutenant… I'm here looking to join up with you. We krogan have always followed the strongest… you beating the entirety of the Omega chapter of the Blood Pack makes you stronger."

"So basically, I'm the biggest badass in the block at the moment then?"

Kanara laughed, "That sounds accurate."

"And they are?" he asked, indicating the lines behind Kanara.

"My personal soldiers. I trained all of them… well, whipped them into shape… so they're loyal only to me. They and their war varren can serve as security guards around your ship, if you're amenable."

"…they kinda smell…" he was having a hard time not visibly gagging.

Kanara sniffed, "Huh. I guess I just got used to it."

Harry covered his nose, speaking in a somewhat nasal voice as a result, "They can work on my ship, provided they bathe first. Use the swimming pool in the gym; up the cargo ramp and it's the rear cargo bay to the right of the armoury."

"Thank you," she began herding them up the ramp.

"THE VARREN TOO!" Harry yelled after her before turning to Liselle, "As for you, head up the elevators next to the armoury and find yourself some quarters you like. There's a lounge on the upper veranda of the crew deck as well, if you want somewhere to relax."

Liselle smiled and walked up the ramp, "Thanks."

"…We've got a Krogan now?"

"It would appear so, Valkyrie, it would appear so."

"I'll say this… we certainly wont be bored," she gave off a laugh he was certain was borderline insane…

"Riiiiight…" Harry muttered, bidding goodbye to Aria and heading up the cargo ramp himself, "Phoenix, how are you doing up there?"

"Bored, wanting to see what this big assed ship can do" came the response.

"Well you'll get your chance soon. Chimera?" he switched channels.

"Up to my neck down here poking around the engines."

"Enjoying the scenery?" Harry smirked.

"Actually yes.. the walls down here are shiny," came the return shot.

"Well I'm not paying you to preen, I'm paying you to make sure the engines aren't going to crap out on us."

"If they were inclined in the slightest to do so... the fact we're at non propulsive power levels already, well we'd know it by now and the ship would be screaming at us."

"Right… so we're completely ready to go then?"

"Say the word, she'll deliver."

"That's good enough for me. Phoenix, start spinning up the ship." He turned back and yelled down to Aria, "We're ready to go, I'd get back to a safe distance!"

Aria nodded and headed to the observation galley all yard berths seemed to come with.. so it was childish but she wanted to see this ship's launch.

Various cables and whatnot were detached as the ship switched itself over to internal power, supply lines disengaged, and the overhead gantry arms slid back and away.

The various entry ways and cargo loading bays to the construction berth closed themselves in preparation for the berth's depressurization.

An automated voice echoed around the berth, "Attention all personnel. Dock depressurization is about to commence. Please vacate the area."

"Attention crew of the Argenti Cygnus," said Harry, having joined Hermione in their chairs in the centre of the bridge, "This is our maiden voyage so I want no problems. I honestly can't think of any kind of stirring speech so I'll just say that our first stop is to be Illium and dear God, let us not fuck up here."

"Harry… really?" Hermione asked.

"…considering the possible fates that await, and the fact that trouble tends to attack me when I'm alone? Yes."

Finally the physical docking arms and personnel transfer gangways disengaged as the gravity in the bay was lowered.

"Engaging maneuvering thrusters," murmured Phoenix as the ship lifted off from the ground, "Omega Control, please open dock doors."

Aria sent a quick message over omnitool, and the doors opened.

"Reversing the ship out."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

There was a long pause, and then Harry said, "Alright, what wise guy added reverse lights and an alarm to the ship?!"

Hermione blushed and lowered her hand, the beeping sound stifling as she did so, "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"…and she's the sane one?" Valkyrie asked from her seat at the navigational station.

"Sadly, yes," said Harry.

"I can hear you, you know?" Hermione said levelly.

"I know, dear."

Phoenix snickered in his seat, "Anyway, to Illium?"

"Yes!" said Harry, smirking at Hermione, "To Illium, cab driver, and don't spare the horsepower!"

Several floors below, Kanara was still listening to the conversation via the radio they had forgotten to turn off, "Now why do I get the feeling I made a mistake joining up with this loon?"

"Because that same loon took on the entirety of the gangs on Omega?" Chimera commented as he emerged from a service crawl way.

Apparently Harry could also hear them, because he seemingly decided to mess with them a tad. His face flashed up on a screen, a crazed look in his eyes, "Is that mutterings of dissent we hears, precioussssss?"

As Chimera and Kanara both looked bug-eyed at the screen, he burst out laughing and vanished again.

"…That was evil," Liselle remarked.

"He knows," said Hermione as Harry continued to laugh, "He just likes to mess with people. I blame the Marauder in him."

"…And this ship wasn't named that instead?" Valkyrie asked.

Harry stopped laughing and looked at Hermione, "…I hadn't thought of that, did you?"

"…I feel really dumb right now," Hermione admitted.

"We are free of Omega, bringing us about, and taking us to one quarter sublight till we clear the inner marker." Phoenix commented.

"Course to Illium plotted in," said Valkyrie, not taking her eyes from her display, "Hit the Mass Relay when you're ready."

Phoenix complied, and the Cygnus cut through space towards the huge blue object in the distance.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, pointing to another relay in the distance with a red glow.

"That's the Omega-4 Relay," said Valkyrie without looking up, "Nobody knows where it goes to… and nobody that goes through comes back."

"Well… at some point I dare say we need to find out" Harry remarked. He didn't like the connotations of the comment.

"Bringing us in towards the Mass Relay," said Phoenix, his fingers dancing across the keyboard.

The gigantic floating device started spinning up, the whirling and rotating rings beginning to fly… before the ship shot away in a streak of light.

"Dropping out in 30 seconds," Phoenix reported.

Seconds later, the ship slowed to cruising speed; her first mass transit a complete success.

"All instruments are reading green… drift… just under twelve hundred kilometres."

"Bring us around for the second jump," instructed Valkyrie, "I'm inputting coordinates to the computer."

"Bringing us round, and we're off!" Phoenix said, gunning it.

-LatS-

The Argenti Cygnus slowed to cruising speed; their drift was a 'little' worse at twenty two hundred kilometers after the last jump.

"And there's Illium," Phoenix grinned; he loved this ship.

"Illium control?" said Valkyrie, having walked across to the communications console, "This is the Argenti Cygnusrequesting permission to dock."

"Argenti Cygnus, I don't think we have any docking stations wide enough to accommodate your wingspan. We cannot comply, I'm afraid."

Valkyrie nodded and severed the connection, "Guess we're using the new shuttles then."

"This oughta be fun…" Phoenix remarked. He did want to try those out too after all.

-LatS-

"So how is this thing launched, anyway?"

Phoenix had left the ship on autopilot so it would hover, while they would take a shuttle into Nos Astra.

"It lowers on that frame, we board, it raises, and we're catapulted. The shuttle's engines haven't the capacity for full speed launches off the Cygnus, so we have to use this method." Harry replied.

"Interesting… so basically we're about to be shot out of here like a bullet from a gun?"

"Yes. Hold onto your ass."

"…Why does this remind me of something off the entertainment section of the extranet?" Valkyrie asked.

"Oh… I dunno… because it is?" Hermione asked.

"Hold onto your teeth!" Harry called, "Things are about to get unpleasant!"

The clamps disengaged, the Cygnet suspending in a mass effect field before the generator flew forwards on a rail, slingshotting the shuttle straight out of the bay and slamming them back into their seats from the G-forces.

"This is the express elevator to hell!" Phoenix crowed.

"We need to upgrade the inertial dampeners…" Hermione commented through gritted teeth.

Forcing his limbs to move, Phoenix reached out and hit the control pad, flaring the shuttle's aft flaps and instantly slowing the shuttle by a significant degree.

"Phew," Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Hermione drew a ragged breath, "That should be one of the things we do today, find a way to upgrade our inertial dampeners. Otherwise we're going to end up killing ourselves at one point."

Phoenix gained control over the shuttle and banked to the side, pulling it round towards Nos Astra.

"This thing's an animal," he commented, "You've got so much power crammed into the back of this shuttle, I've got to keep a tight rein on it or we could end up hitting something."

Harry nodded calmly before turning to look over at Kasumi, "Where did your friend say he'd meet us?"

"In his office on the trading floor."

"Right," said Harry, placing a credit chit on the control panel beside Phoenix's hand, "Phoenix, you go and get four sets of the best inertial dampeners you can find and cart them up to the ship. We'll install them into the shuttles once we're done here."

"Got it," said Phoenix.

"Kasumi, let's go visit your friend."

-LatS-

They went their separate ways after landing and paying off their landing fee. After obtaining directions from the concierge, Phoenix set off to find a suitable parts merchant for inertial dampeners and Harry, Hermione and Kasumi set off towards the trading floor.

Kasumi's partner approached them after an hour on the trading floor, a volus in a grey suit.

"Kasumi,"

"Fitle Nix… you're late," Kasumi replied.

"My apologies. I had to wait for another acquaintance I wished you to meet to arrive."

"Who?"

The volus looked about him before uttering a wheezy breath and saying, "Not here. Follow me."

"What a cozy little place this is," Harry snarked; still more than a little rattled from the shuttle ride.

"Harry, be nice, sorry Mr Nix. Our new shuttle design is… well, I believe our pilot called it the express elevator to hell." Hermione apologized.

"I left my stomach in the Cygnus' launch bay!" Harry protested.

"Wimp," Kasumi remarked. She'd felt worse, on a Kodiak for example; those things were about as stable as a bucking bronco.

Harry was cut off as there was a knock at the door and it cycled open to reveal a hulking form that both time-displaced biotics recognized as an elcor.

The bulky quadruped lumbered through the door and eyed them. "Uncertain: Are these the ones you spoke of, Fitle Nix?" The elcor's voice was higher than they'd have expected, and as with Kanara they guessed it must be female.

"Yes, they are. Miss Goto, sir and madam, this is Myxtin, my associate. She is a friend who works in the spaceport and is one of my contacts for pinpointing my deliveries."

"Well, we do need an inventory officer," Kasumi said in response to Harry's curious look.

"How big is your ship that you need someone assigned to inventory and quartermaster full time?" Fitle Nix asked.

"Big enough the spaceport doesn't have a bay large enough for us even with the wings folded in," Hermione replied.

Kasumi crossed to the window and pointed, "There. You can just about see her up there."

Fitle Nix crossed to the window, Myxtin on his heels and they squinted upwards. There, easily just inside the atmosphere but only barely, the Argenti Cygnus lurked like a bird of prey waiting to dive.

"Curious and a little awed: How large must your ship be for it to be visible from all the way down here?"

"Think a little larger than a standard cruiser, but with the tonnage and weapon systems of a dreadnought," Kasumi said.

"Fascinated: I see."

"So," said Hermione, do we have an accord?"

Fitle Nix turned to look up at her, then held out his three-fingered hand, "Yes, we do… I don't believe I got your name."

"Hermione Granger, and that's my captain and friend, Harry Potter."

"A pleasure. Now if you will excuse me… I will begin packing."

"There's just one more problem…" said Harry, "Myxtin is…"

"Sardonically: I am too big for your shuttles, correct?"

"Um, yes."

"Calmly: It does not matter. The spaceport often has Kodiak shuttles on hand for heavy loads, we can rent it to ferry me and my belongings up to your ship."

"Then let's go handle that then."

Myxtin nodded, "Cheerful: I will see you at the shuttle bays with my things once I am finished packing." She lumbered slowly out of the room.

-LatS-

"She's going to fit right in with this crazy bunch," Kasumi noted cheerfully.

"Probably," said Hermione as they headed back towards the shuttle port to find a rentable Kodiak.

"…I feel like I just got robbed," Harry remarked half an hour later. The price for a rental had been… Harry actually couldn't find the words to describe it.

"Agreed," Kasumi replied, "But at least you actually have the money to burn, right?"

"Not my point… but true, all the same it does actually NEED to last as long as possible," Harry remarked.

"Point," said Kasumi, "Anyway, there's Myxtin and Fitle Nix over there." She whistled, and they proceeded over to them with their luggage on two hovering platforms.

"I'll fly this time," Kasumi remarked. "Neither one of you has proper flight certifications, and I'd rather not be stuck with a 'scratched' Kodiak and a bill for the price of a brand new one."

Phoenix was handling the return of the Cygnet shuttle… could it even really be called a shuttle? or perhaps was a combat drop ship a better classification given the rapid descents it could make, which no Kodiak he'd ever flown could do. Phoenix shrugged mentally, he'd ask the boss once they were all back aboard.

"INCOMING!" yelled a voice over the radio, and he looked up from where he was settling the Cygnet into its cradle as a Kodiak shot into the bay like a missile, landed on the floor and skidded towards the back.

"…Okay, I'll send payment for a new Kodiak," Harry's voice was heard over the comm.

"It's not broken!" Kasumi protested, "And you can fix the scratches on the chassis!"

"It's faster and causes us less grief to just purchase the bloody thing outright…" Hermione remarked, "…and we need heavy lift capability anyway…" she added as an afterthought.

"We should see about getting a Mako while we're at it," Phoenix suggested.

Harry staggered out of the Kodiak rubbing his head, "No good, the Cygnus is too large to access atmosphere to the depth we'd need to successfully drop it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go throw up in something." He dashed for the elevator with his hand over his mouth.

"I meant so I could study it and modify it somehow," Phoenix remarked, "Hmm… ideas…" he muttered.

Hermione stumbled out next, "Phoenix, I'd like you to meet our two new crewmembers; our requisitions officer Fitle Nix, and our inventory officer, Myxtin. I'd like to speak to you about building something when you have a free minute, by the way."

"Of course, boss."

"Don't call me boss."

"Of course, ma'am."

Hermione simply growled at the quarian before helping a volus out of the Kodiak.

The volus gave a wheezing breath before looking around, "Very roomy, I must say. Where can I set up?"

Hermione pointed to the cargo hold to the left of the armoury, "There. You and Myxtin can set your stuff up in there. Quarters will be on deck three; we can set up your quarters so that you will be able to remove your suit, Fitle."

The volus looked up at her, apparently surprised because he didn't even draw breath, "What?"

Hermione nodded, "High-pressure ammonia atmosphere, right? Each room can be hermetically isolated from the main ship's atmosphere so it is feasible for us to install an airlock on the entrance to your room and create the proper atmosphere. Unfortunately," she addressed Myxtin, "We cannot address specific requirements in terms of gravity so I'm afraid you are out of luck, Myxtin."

"Conciliatory: That is alright, XO Granger. Jokingly: I would have been amazed had your ship had such capabilities."

Hermione nodded, "Anyway, I should go and check on Harry. Feel free to explore the ship and familiarize yourself with the rest of the crew."

"Will do," replied Fitle, "and thank you for this opportunity, XO Granger."

Hermione frowned, "No XO Granger, it's just Hermione."

"You are the XO, XO Granger," said Phoenix as he wandered over towards the lift, "Where are we going anyway?"

"Earth. Harry and I want to see what's become of our homeworld in recent years."

"Got it. I'll go up and tell Valkyrie."

As the quarian vanished into the elevator, Hermione inclined her head to Fitle and Myxtin before heading off to find Harry.

-LatS-

Getting down to Earth when they first arrived back in the Sol system was surprisingly less complicated than they had expected. They were intercepted not far from the relay and escorted down, where they disembarked in a shuttle. Kasumi had, during the relay trip to the Sol system, given Harry and Hermione a crash course in shuttle flying, but they still decided to take the Kodiak out because crashing a Cygnet probably wouldn't set a very good impression to the Alliance.

Crashing being the polite term for slamming into the ground at speed and causing a massive explosion given their luck.

And so it was that Harry and Hermione climbed out of the Kodiak at a shuttle port in what was apparently now London to find a group of soldiers looking back at them, headed up by a uniformed man with dark skin.

"Greetings, I am Captain David Anderson."

Harry inclined his head, "Harry Potter, and this is my friend Hermione Granger."

"If you don't mind, I would like to see some form of identification indicating who you work for."

"We're not pirates, slavers or what have you; if that's your worry. We're independant."

"Your ship is unlike any in common use."

"We built her ourselves."

"Which would explain why its unregistered," Anderson remarked to himself.

"That is correct."

"Very well. I would still ask that you come with me first; it's just standard procedure so we know you aren't hostile. I hope you understand."

"We're willing to be reasonable, but we WON'T be mistreated," Hermione emphasized the word.

"And you won't be, you needn't worry on that score."

"I assume we're free to leave when we wish?" Harry asked.

"Correct," said Anderson.

At that moment, Harry's omnitool chimed and he looked down at the message he had received.

I have been waiting a long time to see you again, but I knew I would because I saw that I would.

Yes… people claimed I was insane for proclaiming that you weren't dead, but as I've always been considered odd it didn't bother me greatly.

So… since the Department of Mysteries… how have you been?

The moon awaits at the Rookery. You've been before. Coordinates are in the message.

~LL

"…There's only one person who could POSSIBLY do that." Hermione commented when Harry showed her the message once they were in the Kodiak that was to take them to Alliance HQ.

"But how could she be still alive all these years later?" Harry asked.

"If anyone could find a way, it'd be Luna. We'll just have to find out when we see her."

"At least we know where to go," Harry said as the Kodiak bucked sharply, as the pilot swung them about for landing.

"Where?"

"The Rookery? Do you remember his words, when we first saw her home?"

Hermione thought, and then realized, "It looks like a giant rook; a chess rook. The Lovegood's house!"

"Kind of hard to miss," Harry remarked.

"Hmm… maybe she laid it under Fidelius?"

"Modified so I'd still remember where it is… that girl always had some strange but practical ideas."

"Just because we can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there…" Hermione FINALLY understood what Luna was trying to teach her.

"After we're done here, we'll head to Devon and start looking for the house."

-LatS-

Had the situation not been thoroughly annoying, Harry would have laughed at the similarities between the Alliance representatives he and Hermione were introduced to and the Ministry of Magic.

As it was, Harry was edging dangerously close to saying 'to hell with this shit' regardless of the consequences.

"For the last time, no," said Harry, "We are not signing up with the Alliance just so we can get our ship confiscated and stripped down to the bare struts when we just spent two years building the goddamn thing."

"Mr Potter," said one of the female Alliance representatives, "I'm sure we can come to some arrangement that is beneficial for both sides. It is quite clear that your ship is highly advanced and we simply wish to ensure that the Alliance can benefit from this advanced technology as well."

"Then I suggest you come up with a method of doing so which does not make me want to kick somebody's ass."

"You'll treat us with respect, boy!" snarled one of the men, "We could just toss you both in the brig and impound your ship!"

"I dare you to try. Considering I made the Blood Pack, Eclipse and Blue Suns all run from me at the same time on Omega, I would like to see what you can do. I don't play nice with bullies, period, full stop, end of file;" Harry said, "Try it, and not only will I make YOU back down, I'll take my toys and go home!"

"Perhaps we can come to an agreement," said one of the women, drawing Harry's attention to her, "Why don't we assign one of our younger rising stars to the ship as a liaison?"

The officious bureaucrat scowled at her, "Fine. And don't think I don't know exactly who you're thinking of, Shepard."

The woman ignored him and walked around the desk, extending her hand towards Harry and Hermione, "Hannah Shepard, executive officer on the SSV Kilimanjaro.

"That big ship with the obscenely large gun?" Harry replied, shaking the offered hand.

"It's a dreadnought; it's meant to be that size. But I digress; would you be open to an Alliance representative being stationed on your ship?"

"No offence for how this comment may come across, but yes, provided he or she isn't a total jackass like that guy" Harry indicated the bureaucrat.

Shepard chuckled, "Oh, don't worry. I must confess I was planning to put forth my own daughter Jenny for the post… she's been desiring a way to get away from all her fans after the Skyllian Blitz."

"I don't think she's wanting to get away from them, somehow," muttered the bureaucrat.

"And what's that meant to mean, Mikhailovich?" Shepard rounded on him, her tone cold.

"Nothing, Shepard."

"It's the wise man who knows when to back down… what does it say when he's intimidated into it?" Hermione asked Harry.

"He's whipped?"

She hit him, "Harry!" Turning back to Shepard she said, "We'd be delighted to receive your daughter on board. Is that everything?"

"No…" said one of the other officials, "I propose we give another gift, as a token of goodwill. Maybe some individuals for their crew?"

Hermione tapped her omnitool, "Chimera, would you like some more crew in the engineering department?"

A growling voice returned, "Alright, as long as they have no problems with taking orders from a batarian."

"A batarian?" shouted Mikhailovich, "You're harbouring one of those…"

"Chimera is okay," said Harry warningly, "As are the two asari, the krogan, the ten vorcha, their pet varren, the volus, the elcor, the other human and the quarian on my ship. They take orders from me and ONLY from me."

"My ship, my rules," He concluded firmly.

Mikhailovich looked angry, but refrained from speaking as Shepard said, "Excellent. Where shall I tell my daughter and whoever is selected for your engineering crew to meet you?"

"Well," said Hermione, "Harry and I need to shuttle south to Devon to meet someone; our requisitions officer got them to sell us a package we need to pick up; parts for the ship, you understand. Mr… I'm sorry, we never got your name."

"Anderson."

"Mr Anderson knows where we parked our shuttle, so if they go there we'll swing by and pick them up on our way back to our ship."

"Very well," said Shepard, "I guess that's everything so you are both free to leave."

"Thank you," said Harry, inclining his head before turning to the door and walking out with Hermione in tow.

-LatS-

"I have never wanted to hit someone on first meeting as badly as I did that… jackass," Harry commented.

"I know Harry, but we need to be political."

"I hate politics."

"I know," Hermione said pacifyingly, "But come on, let's take a walk while we go back to the shuttle."

Harry nodded and they walked away from the building, heading towards a park that showed up on the GPS on Harry's omnitool.

"It all looks different," murmured Hermione, "I remember this route… vaguely… I used to walk this way to read in the park near… hang on, this is the park near my house!"

"I've… I don't think I actually got to visit your house… before, that is." Harry commented.

Hermione shook her head, "It won't be there anymore."

"Should we?" Harry asked, wanting to know if they should get away from the source of depressing thoughts that this area was.

"I just want to walk through the park one more time," said Hermione, "There was this one cherry tree, I always loved to sit under that and read books. I used to use the petals as bookmarks… I'd like to see if it's still there."

"Then let's go, lead the way."

They set off.

Sure enough… the tree was still there, only, it had grown huge in the intervening century and a half.

"Well, it's still there," Harry joked to the awed-looking Hermione, "Except it might be a little too big to climb now."

Hermione smiled, but before she could respond there was a clattering sound and a curse from behind them.

Turning, they found a young man trying to support himself on one crutch while trying to pick up the other from the ground.

"Here," said Hermione, turning back to pick up the crutch and help him get it situated under his arm. Harry noticed that neither of his legs seemed injured.

"Thanks," grinned the man, hobbling over to the bench situated below the tree and dropping heavily onto it.

"You alright?" said Hermione.

"Yeah," said the man, "Walking's difficult; brittle bones and all." He shook his head, "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, though everybody calls me Joker."

"Why Joker?" Harry asked before mentally slapping himself. "I'm Harry Potter, captain of the Argenti Cygnus… that big assed ship that had half the navy panicked," Harry clarified, "This is my first officer Hermione Granger, by the way."

"A pleasure," said Joker, "You have an amazing ship."

"You've seen her?"

"Hard not to when pictures are flashing up on every screen from here to Vancouver."

"I guess that's true. We still need an accomplished pilot for her though."

"Oh?"

"Yes… say, you just said you were a Flight Lieutenant?"

"Yep, and I know where this is going. I just got out of flight academy and I'm just waiting for my first assignment."

Harry folded his arms, "How would you like to come work for us? You'd be very well paid."

"It's not a matter of…"

"We can also," continued Harry, "have our more technically-minded crew look into making something which will counter or cushion your brittle bones."

Joker fell silent.

"The best medical scientists in the alliance can't fix this… what makes you think you can?" he finally asked softly.

"We never said we could fix it. Only that we could counter or cushion your problem; make it so you can walk without crutches or fall down without shattering half a dozen bits and pieces."

"Besides," said Hermione, "We can do things with biotics no-one else can. Repair broken bones or items, etc. I don't know about completely correcting your problem, but we could go some way to making it irrelevant."

Joker stared up at the tree for a long moment before he stood up, balancing on one crutch, and stuck out his hand, "I'm in. I'm going to go turn in my commission. Where shall I meet you?"

"If you follow us, we can show you to our Kodiak. We're going elsewhere to pick up a package first so if you meet us there when we return, we'll pick you up on our return trip."

Joker nodded, grabbed his other crutch, and followed.

-LatS-

"I hate these Kodiaks," Joker remarked, "They handle like flying bricks."

"Wait until you see our Cygnet shuttles," said Harry, "You'll be wanting me to find other people to fly the main ship just so you get to pull stunts on those things."

"Speaking of the Cygnets," Hermione said, checking her omnitool, "Phoenix says the modifications to them, after the initial flight that had earned them the moniker 'express elevator to hell', are complete."

"Oh, good," Harry sighed.

"How bad could they have been?" Joker asked.

"I left my stomach in the launch bay!" Harry yelled.

Hermione sighed, "Sissy, anyway Joker, we'll see you here later today then?"

"Of course. Can't wait," Joker grinned, and he watched as Harry and Hermione got into the Kodiak, took off and shot off south.

-LatS-

"How far until we reach the coordinates?"

"Not far," Harry said.

"Turn us north… there, follow the stream, we'll pass over where the Weasley house is or used to be, then turn us to the east slightly and go straight."

"Got it," said Harry, swinging the Kodiak around to follow the stream until they passed what appeared to be an overgrown ruin. "There's the Burrow."

Hermione did not react as the shuttle cut past the Burrow without slowing and turned east, climbing over the hills beyond the Burrow.

It wasn't long before they saw a tower on a hill ahead. "There it is," said Harry, drawing back on the Kodiak's controls until they were hovering, "The Rookery. Luna's Fidelius must still be functional."

"What makes you say that if we can see it?"

"Luna's always been good at breaking the rules of magic."

"No Harry, that's you,"

"Okay, I break the rules of magic. She just contradicts them. My point is, she's either figured out how to key her Fidelius to us without having to tell us the secret, or her Fidelius itself has collapsed for whatever reason… "

"Which is doubtful, Luna doesn't do sloppy work," Hermione replied.

"In which case she could be dead."

"That's unlikely. Luna's message indicated that she had been waiting. She might still be alive… though she would be immensely old. Maybe she got her hands on a Philosopher's Stone? I know you said that Dumbledore told you that Flamel destroyed it, but if anybody could manage to make a new one, Luna could."

"I'm not too sure I believe everything he ever said… for one thing, what the hell was that damned Stone even doing IN Hogwarts to begin with?" Harry asked.

"The safest place to keep it?" Hermione guessed, "Or maybe a trap for Voldemort?"

"Does it really matter anymore?"

"Not really, though it really wouldn't surprise me if Luna managed to make or find one."

"Of course not, she's just… Luna. I'm bringing the shuttle down."

They managed to settle the shuttle down near the tower and got out.

The tower's front door was closed, but a quick Alohamora dealt with the lock. Everything inside was covered in a thick layer of dust, which crunched audibly under their feet as they looked around.

"It looks like Luna fixed the place up well after the last time we were here. We left it in less than a savoury condition."

"This also doesn't bode well for Luna, Harry. Would she have let her house get into this state willingly?"

"Point. Let's check upstairs."

As they emerged into the upper floor, the first thing Harry saw was a large amount of machinery around the room; machinery that Harry was fairly sure shouldn't be in a magical house; computer banks, a small generator and a lot of other things.

"Ha… Harry…" Hermione murmured, prompting him to turn.

She was looking at a chair which looked like it had come out of a magazine titled Crackpot Interrogation Chairs for You, complete with wrist and ankle restraints and an odd cap thing evidently meant to fit over the head.

Piled haphazardly in the chair and on the floor around it were what Harry recognized at once as bones. Human bones. A completely fleshless skull topped off the macabre heap, sightless eyes gazing up at them while bare teeth grinned.

"Is that… Luna?"

"No," a voice said from behind them, "Well, not anymore at any rate."

They both whirled, magic coalescing around their hands as they turned to face a potential enemy… but there was no-one there. Only one of the computer banks with some kind of small circular pad on top… and on the pad lounged a tiny figure, barely a foot high, and dressed in a Hogwarts school uniform.

The small figure looked up from the minute magazine she was reading, revealing blonde hair and large, pale eyes. She looked barely out of school age, and beamed when she looked them in the face, "Hello Harry Potter, Hermione Granger. It is a great pleasure to see you both again."

"Luna?" asked Hermione blankly, "But… how?"

Luna closed her magazine and slipped it into her robes, "It's a long story. Put it this way; soon after you disappeared, I had a vision that one day I would see you again. Neville understood… but he died a long time ago. When I began to turn old and wrinkly as well… I blame the Nargles… I realized it was likely that I would die long before I could see you again. So I came up with this idea after watching one of those science fiction films you introduced me to Hermione."

"One of the…" Hermione began, and then realization dawned, "You turned yourself into an A.I.?!"

Luna nodded, "That I did. Well… I didn't mean to. I meant to only turn part of my mind into the A.I. Instead, the machine tore my soul, my consciousness, everything that made me who I was out and transformed it all into the A.I. I have been here for the last fifty years, just waiting."

Harry sighed, "Luna, we're sorry. If we'd had the choice, we'd have taken you with us."

"It's alright, I understand. Ronald deserved what he got. But anyway," she settled back down on her little podium, "I understand you two have acquired a ship?"

"Yes."

"Do you need help? I'd like to come along."

"That was never in question, Luna." Harry activated his omnitool and smiled as he held it out to her, "Hop in here."

Luna reached out and touched the omnitool, blinking out of sight. A second later her voice issued from the omnitool, "My, there are a lot of pictures of Hermione in here!"

Harry smacked his omnitool, "Keep out of there; those are private!"

"Yes, I can see why. Very nice Princess Leia bikini, Hermione."

Hermione made a spluttering sound and went brilliantly pink.

"Anyway," said Harry, checking his omnitool's time readout, "I think we should start heading back, we have to meet our other new crew."

"Alright," said Hermione, "What should we do about this place?"

"Leave it as is, but I would either come back for the equipment or destroy it… if misused it could be exceptionally dangerous," Luna's voice came from the omnitool.

"Right. Let's lock the door behind us," said Harry as they headed back downstairs.

-LatS-

Arriving back at the shuttle port, they found three people awaiting them alongside Joker, each with a large foot locker for their clothing and possessions at their side.

As the shuttle touched down, Hermione opened the hatch and smiled at Joker before addressing the others on the dock, "Greetings. I take it you three are our new crewmen?"

The only one of the group wearing armour sniffed, "Obviously, would I be here otherwise?"

Harry appeared at Hermione's shoulder, "And you are?"

The woman looked indignant, "Commander Jennifer Shepard, hero of the Skyllian Blitz? Have you been living under a rock?"

Harry frowned, "No, just not really paying attention. Now get your gear onto the shuttle and strap yourself in. You two?" he addressed the others.

The male straightened up and saluted, "Engineer Kenneth Donnelly, and this is Gabby." He had a thick Scottish accent as he smiled at Harry and Hermione, "It'll be a pleasure to serve with you, sir."

"That's Engineer Gabriella Daniels," cut in the woman, saluting as well, "Likewise, it'll be a pleasure to serve on your ship."

Harry nodded, "Neither of you is averse to taking orders from a batarian, are you? I need to know because our head engineer is a batarian."

"A batarian?" Shepard growled, "You have one of those… terrorists… on your ship?"

"Not everyone is cut from the same cloth; if I thought he was a terrorist, he wouldn't have gotten within two thousand feet of my ship, never mind her engineering section." Harry said.

"If you can't take orders and work with whom I want you to… tell me now, and I'll find someone who will."

Shepard looked furious, but nodded obediently and began dragging her foot locker onto the ship.

"Going to have our hands full with that one,"Harry and Hermione thought as one.

"Anyway," Hermione said aloud, "If you're okay with having a batarian as your superior, welcome aboard."

A noncommittal shrug was the best they were going to get, it seemed.

"Want to fly back, Joker?" Harry asked.

"Why not… might be able to give you a smoother ride if I'm lucky."

"Yeah, and my bones will let me tap dance," he thought sarcastically.

The Kodiak was perhaps the most universally despised transport in the galaxy, it would seem.

Joker apparently enjoyed his first introduction to the Argenti Cygnus; as the Kodiak was moving slowly alongside the large ship, the new pilot was chattering away about how much he liked it.

"Two years from laying down her keel, she was both a joy and a pain to build," Harry remarked proudly.

"Well you did a very good job of it."

"Mm." He leaned forwards and tapped the console, "Phoenix, you there?"

"Reading you loud and clear, Captain!"

"Open the loading bay hatch, please?"

"You got it. We taking on passengers?"

"Two new engineers for Chimera, a liaison with the Alliance and a new pilot for the main ship."

"Oh, good. I keep thinking I'm going to end up crashing this thing into something. Is he good?"

"Better than us. He's flying the Kodiak right now and we haven't had that many bumps."

"Well that's encouraging, but it doesn't say much."

"HEY! Remember who pays your salary, you enviro-suited smart-mouthed tech junkie!"

There was laughter on the other end before the connection severed.

"Stupid insubordinate…" Harry descended into dark mutters as Joker expertly flew the Kodiak into the opening launch bay and settled it down.

He set them down with the slightest of bumps, really more of a love tap.

"Well, you're more than qualified," said Harry, "The bridge is up on the second level."

-LatS-

"I think I'm in love," Joker said once he sat down and had a chance to study the incredibly intuitive control layout.

"Yeah, she has that effect," said Phoenix fondly from the next seat.

"I don't think I like how close that alliance cruiser is to us though, makes me nervous," Joker commented.

"That's been shadowing us ever since we arrived. Don't worry about it."

"Alright then, Captain, where to?"

"Well," said Harry, "I think now that we have an adequate pilot and engineering crew, we should run weapons tests."

Meanwhile…

Jennifer Shepard growled as she set her foot locker on the deck none too gently.

"How dare he…" she growled, "How dare he be so insolent!"

"He dares, because he's seen worse," It was at this point that Kasumi Goto made an entrance, leaning casually against the doorframe with an apple in hand.

Shepard scowled, "What do you want?"

Kasumi took a bite of the apple, "Merely to advise you that the captain brooks no bullshit aboard his ship. If you have a problem with one of the crew, either keep it to yourself or take it to him, but don't bother when you don't have any basis for your claims beyond your own stereotypes."

Shepard did not respond; she simply glared.

Kasumi shrugged, "Fine, don't listen if you want. But it will make your time on this ship much smoother. I'm going up to the bridge." She disappeared from sight.

"What does that bitch know?" Shepard muttered.

Up on the bridge, they were installing Luna into the primary computer core.

"Hope there's enough room, we didn't exactly design it with having you inside it in mind," Harry commented.

"Oh, it'll be fine," Luna's airy voice said as she shimmered into view on the console's screen, "It might be worth investing in some pads like the one you found me on, however. Maybe we could even install them around the ship?"

Harry nodded, "We do have a nearly unlimited budget, so it's possible. Do you still remember where you got those pads?"

"I designed most of the hardware myself, though I did use the early omnitool interface emitters as a base template," Luna replied.

"Alright. If you give me a list of the components you used to make the hardware, I'll ask Fitle for a requisition."

"I can e-mail that to him now." Luna touched her hand to the side of her head and then smiled, "Done. Is there anything else you'd like me to do?"

"Yes," said Harry, "I think now that we have a good pilot and a decent engineering crew, we should start performing weapons tests. Tell Valkyrie to get us a heading to a deserted system."

"Will do," Luna shimmered out of sight.

-LatS-

"Here we are, Captain," said Joker, "Macedon system in the Artemis Tau cluster; completely deserted as per your instructions."

"Right," said Harry, standing beside the helm, "You calmed down after your first meeting with Luna yet?"

Luna had decided to be mischievous; she had popped up from Joker's console at eye level and yelled, "BOO!" as loudly as she could.

Joker had jumped so badly he fractured his knee on the underside of the console, which Hermione had been forced to fix while Harry gave Luna a quick lecture on not frightening their pilot into breaking bones.

Luna was presently in the lower decks, consulting with the new engineering crew on the status of their weapon systems.

"It's a simple breech/loader system, one piece, it loads the round, closing in the process," Luna said, describing the basics of the MAC's mechanical operation, "The round drops in from above and then the loading mechanism cycles shut before firing."

"Yes," said Chimera with some amusement, "I do believe I studied how this thing would work in detail after I started down here." He turned around, "Donnelly, get one of those fancy suits on and get up that ladder into the array, I want to make sure this thing will fire properly before we start and end up blasting this ship a blowhole at the back."

Ken nodded, "Sir!" and headed for the suit rail.

Because the MAC employed a series of high-retention capacitors to power the MAC arcs, the capacitors were prone to some overspill, which often led to bolts of electricity hitting things inside the MAC array at random. The effect was such that anybody not wearing a Faraday suit inside the array was liable to end up a little charred.

The electromagnetic fields also rendered any tech inside the deck's protective shielding defunct while the capacitors were active, so they were required to shut the MAC down before attempting any kind of maintenance.

"I feel like I'm wearing a suit of chain mail," Ken commented as he finished putting the suit on and started up the access ladder.

"Yes, you're a regular knight of old," joked Gabby as he struggled up the ladder into the airlock which would take him into the main MAC array.

-LatS-

"Alright, we'll test the MAC first," said Hermione, examining a data pad, "Lowest power setting Joker, and you take manual control. I need to work out how our aim differs between you eyeballing and Luna giving you a firing solution."

"Shooting from the hip then… ok; just need something to fire at… there we go… a nice asteroid."

"Attention crew of the Argenti Cygnus, please extinguish all cigarettes and strap yourselves in. Test firing of the Mass Accelerator will commence in 5… 4… 3… 2…"

Chimera's voice broke over the communicator, "Captain, don't fire! Donnelly's still in the…" but it was too late.

"…1… Firing."

Below in the Engineering department, they felt a soft concussion run through the floor beneath their feet and heard a loud yelp from above their heads.

A horrible second later, the hatch swung open and Ken fell through it, smoking and somewhat singed but otherwise very much alive.

"The suit saved me! Did anyone get the number of that elcor…?" he burbled before passing out on the floor.

Chimera palmed his face, "Daniels, help me sit him up and get him out of the suit. It's okay sir, Donnelly's alive."

"…" Harry went to say something before deciding nothing he could say… would really quite cover what just happened.

"Wow," commented Joker, "That asteroid's so many floating pebbles now."

It definitely was.

It also wasn't quite what Harry was focused on.

"Commander!" said Valkyrie, who had commandeered the communications panel after noticing something, "I'm picking up a distress signal from the planet below us!"

"Bring it up," Harry ordered.

"…quarian ship Kyten. We've been… …by slavers; anyone who can hear this, please help us!"

Harry immediately took charge, "Phoenix, go get one of the Cygnet shuttles ready to fly. Hermione, you're in charge here."

As Phoenix ran to one elevator and punched the button for the shuttle bay, Harry headed for the other, going upstairs to grab his Locust.

The Cygnetwas lowered into its launch cradle for boarding, and munitions were loaded into the armament the shuttle presently found being equipped onto it, normally they weren't armed, but the designer had had the foresight to design weapons-carrying capability into the shuttle.

"Launch!" Harry commanded, Phoenix immediately engaging the mass effect "catapult" and engaging the inertial dampeners as the shuttle streaked through the open cargo bay doors and banked down towards the planet.

Instead of a barely controllable remote guided missile, it was more along the lines of white knuckles.

"Well," said Harry, once the initial feeling of being crushed into their seats had faded, "That was definitely better than the last time. Luna, how are we doing?"

Luna's face flashed up on the comm screen at his elbow, "We are cruising at about two hundred miles an hour. The location of the distress call is another forty kilometres dead ahead."

"Any information on the enemy position?" Phoenix asked.

"The Argenti Cygnus' sensors pick up snipers in towers all around the main building with at least four heavy vehicles and around three dozen foot soldiers. The Cygnet should be fast enough to lay down a bombing run on the foot soldiers and thus remove the major threat before they can react."

"Understood. Thanks Luna."

"I do my best," she disappeared.

"Captain, a question. Are you aware of the history between quarians and A.I.?"

"No,"

"Then while we wait to get to the enemy base, let me explain."

-LatS-

The slaver band were just chatting over the potential prices they could get for the quarian ship they had captured when something shot over the top of the hill off to the south and everything went to hell in a hand basket.

Whatever their attacker was, it screeched over their heads and loosed a hail of missiles, which arced all around the base and slammed against the bases of the sniper towers, sending their occupants plunging to their deaths in the wreckage of their perches as the heavy vehicles tried to work out what direction to fire in.

The attacking enemy came again, and this time the dusty ground kicked up in a long strip as the automatic cannons cut through the slavers currently scrambling for cover.

"One more pass ought to do it… I want to take out that vehicle, its got a nasty piece of ordnance on board," Phoenix remarked.

"All four of them do. Let's test the pulse cannons."

The Cygnet swung about on a high parabolic arc, and came in nose first.

"There they are! Get them, get them, get them!" yelled one of the slavers, pointing.

The Grizzly raised its main cannon, but it didn't save it. A projectile flew from the small craft's underbelly and struck the Grizzly dead-centre, gutting the vehicle in seconds and overloading its power cells, reducing the rest to twisted shrapnel.

"Let's go say hi, set us down on the ridge," Harry instructed, Phoenix obeying as Harry climbed out of the co-pilot's chair and headed into the back.

"I'm going to head back up to the ship," Phoenix said, "If any of the quarians are injured, we're going to want to load the shuttle with some sterile field generators."

"Good idea. Bring another shuttle as well if you need to."

Phoenix nodded and tossed him a breathing mask. Once Harry had fixed it over his face, he opened the passenger hatch and let him climb out, closing the hatch and taking off immediately afterwards.

"Well this isn't exactly my brightest idea ever... then again neither was taking on Old Snake-Face mano-a-mano way back when…" Harry remarked to himself.

Checking his Locust, he began making his way down.

-LatS-

Inside the base, three slavers were watching the front door. They had heard the sounds of battle outside, but when they had died away they had reasoned that their boys had won but had suffered radio damage and couldn't report in.

The sudden CLANG as the door flexed inwards with a conspicuous fist-shaped dent at the centre quickly disabused them of that notion.

Outside, Harry drew back his arm and recharged the magic surrounding it. The tactic he was exploiting revolved around unleashing a Bombardment Hex at the point of impact, thus greatly amplifying his "punches".

Pulling his arm back from the second strike, he inspected his work. The door was now promisingly dented; it wasn't going to survive more than a couple more blows.

Inside, the slavers watched as the door visibly deformed under the hammer weight blows being levelled at it.

"Should we… try and reinforce it or something?" asked one.

His friend opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment there was a rending crash and the door broke straight off its hinges and flew across the hall, pinning two of the slavers behind it as it crashed into the opposite wall.

The third gaped at the destruction before hearing a clicking sound to one side. He turned, and found himself staring down the barrel of a Locust submachine gun.

"Knock, knock," said the intruder, and pulled the trigger.

In the sub basement… the soon to be slaves huddled, as the sounds of intense fighting above filtered down.

After about ten minutes, they heard footsteps approaching and the door seemed to peel away like the top of a plastic box. A tall human stood there, biotics glowing around his left arm and a Locust submachine gun held in his right. He gave the room a quick once-over before addressing the quarians, "Hey, I got your distress signal."

Captain Ceya'Lana vas Kyten approached him, "You're here to help us? Then please, you have to find her!"

Harry dropped his biotics and held up his hand, "Find who?"

"One of the girls!" said the quarian in a panic, "They… they took her as an example!"

Harry swore and raised his omnitool to his mouth, "Luna, I need you to run a scan of the base. Look for a lone quarian!"

"At once, Harry," there was a pause before Luna spoke again, "Harry, she is back up the stairs; you missed her door on your way. She's with four slavers."

Harry nodded and lowered his omnitool, "All the slavers I found are dead; their weapons are stacked up at the top of the stairs. Go outside and wait; my shuttle will be back in a few minutes and then we'll get you out of here."

Ceya nodded and beckoned to her crew, who filed out of the room carrying or supporting their wounded. Harry caught her arm as she passed, "Don't worry about your wounded. My shuttle will have sterile field generators on board for you, and we can treat your injuries on the ship."

Ceya nodded again, "Thank you."

Harry turned and ran back up the stairs.

When he arrived at the door Luna had mentioned, he didn't bother opening it the way he had been before. He simply spun on the spot and kicked it in.

Inside, an asari was coldly watching three batarians attempt to corner a cowering quarian girl against the opposite wall. She turned as Harry entered, though she had no time to react before Harry yanked her towards him and placed his Locust against her head, "Leave the quarian alone or your buddy gets it!"

The batarians looked at him for a long moment, then laughed and turned back to the quarian. One reached out and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her off the ground.

"FUCK!" Harry swore, pistol whipping the asari in the side of the head before reaching out with biotics and grabbing the batarian holding the girl by the neck.

For a second, nothing happened… then the batarian dropped her and began clawing at his head, howling with pain. As his friends watched, aghast, his head suddenly imploded, spraying gore all over his surroundings. Before either of them could do anything about it, Harry's biotics wrenched one into the air and snapped his neck as the other took almost a full clip of Locust rounds into the chest plate, throwing him back against the wall.

Once it was all over, the girl lay curled up and almost crying on the floor, until a hand touched her shoulder. She flinched.

"Shh," a calming voice said, "I'm not going to hurt you. Are you okay?"

She raised her head, seeing a tall male with black hair and green eyes standing over her, "Y-Yes."

"Good," said the man, waving his hand slightly. Much to her surprise, all the blood and assorted body bits covering her enviro-suit vanished. "Can you walk?"

The girl shook her head, and then she squeaked as the man lifted her into his arms and, holding her cradled like a baby, carried her from the room. A moment later he returned and lifted the unconscious asari with his biotics, levitating her along behind him like a doll.

-LatS-

The quarians were amassed outside, all of them armed as three shuttles swooped in towards the base and settled in the dirt.

"Ah, you made it," said Harry as he emerged from the building, prompting the quarian captain to turn and run towards him as she saw the girl in his arms.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes," said the girl, "I… he saved me before they could do anything to me."

Ceya nodded and looked up at him, "I am indebted to you for saving my charge, Mr…?"

"Potter. Harry Potter."

"Mr Potter, thank you."

Smiling and still cradling the girl in his arms, Harry raised his omnitool to his mouth, "Phoenix, you there?"

"Here, captain. You got all the quarians?"

"Yes. We have wounded though so hurry up and open the hatches."

The shuttles immediately opened their hatches, Phoenix, Valkyrie and Kasumi appearing and beckoning groups of quarians aboard.

Harry boarded Phoenix's shuttle, still carrying the young girl and followed by the captain, who tilted her head slightly when she saw Phoenix but said nothing.

"Are you ready to go captain?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, Phoenix. Let's go." He settled the girl into a chair and dragged the still-unconscious asari in after them, "I'm going to interrogate this one though; I think she was the leader of those slavers."

"She is," said Ceya, "She gloated that she'd caught us; apparently quarians fetch a good price."

"Right," said Harry as he shoved the asari unceremoniously under a seat to keep her out of the way, "Now let's move, Phoenix. We have wounded on board, remember."

"Right away, captain."

One by one, the three Cygnets took off and banked upwards into the sky. In less than a minute, all three were gone.

-LatS-

"That's the last one," said Harry, three hours later.

He and Hermione had been hard at work as soon as they returned to the ship, helping Kanara (who had displayed a remarkable level of medical knowledge for a krogan) stabilize and care for the wounded quarians. She was busy running scans on the uninjured quarians, making sure they were all alright, while Harry and Hermione administered medigel, antibiotics, and immune supplements and even repaired the suits with a few quick jabs of magic. Harry was working with one hand for most of it; the still somewhat frightened quarian girl had not let his hand go since they had arrived back on the Cygnus.

Now, they had finished helping the quarians and set them up two rooms with sterile field generators in which to bunk. Those they could not fit into the large rooms were given rooms to share, the captain almost demanding to share with the girl Harry had rescued.

"I never thanked you for saving me, did I?" said the girl as Harry finished setting up her bed and started opening and preparing a small sachet of lightweight sedative so that she could sleep. Kanara had suggested it after Harry told her of the situation he found the girl in, and told Harry to do it since the girl would be more relaxed with the human who saved her than a hulking krogan.

Harry shrugged; intent on his work, only to be surprised when the girl gave his arm a slight hug, "Thank you."

Harry smiled, gesturing her onto the bed as he finished dissolving the sedative into water and added a straw, "That's alright. Just stay out of trouble. You know, I never got your name."

The girl took a long drink from the water, her captain seated on the other bed to supervise, "It's Tali. Tali'Zorah… nar… Rayya…"

Harry caught the glass just before it spilled and set it on the bedside table. He nodded to the captain, "I'll leave her to you then, captain."

The woman inclined her head, "Thank you again, Captain Harry Potter vas Argenti Cygnus. Keelah se'lai."

Harry nodded back to her and left the room, "Goodnight."

(A/N: And we're done! This chapter took a remarkably short time after the little setback… Though it might have taken less time had my cowriter not been insistent on writing irrelevant KOTORxHP boards. *evil stare* Anyway, until next time folks! Sorry there was no lemon this time but I'm sure there'll be one early in the next chapter! Tune in next time for Thessia and the Citadel. Leonineus, OUT!)