Chapter 51: First Contact
"Comm open," Comes the response.
"Earth Command, this is Elder Huntress," Hermione says, causing everyone to look up at the new name," We are leaving the solar system to return an artifact we found on the back side of the moon to its rightful owner. We will return in a couple of days, Phoenix out."
"Acknowledged," comes the response, "Good luck."
As she finishes her transmission Harry exits the base and joins her above the planet in the shuttle. With a countdown of three, both ships enter hyper-space at the same time for the trip to the alien's home world.
"The trip will take about ten minutes," Hermione says," there is time for a quick break if you want one. Get some coffee or tea, use the fresher, whatever."
No one moved as they are all too anxious about what they will run into when they arrive at their destination. Harry and Hermione pass the time talking.
"This is a nice little ship," Harry sends," It would make a great personal boat for just us to tool around the galaxy in for sight-seeing."
"It is a nice design," Hermione sends as she looks out the window at the sleek red ship," Needs to be a little darker maroon color though and a Phoenix needs to be put on each side of that ring drive."
"Yea, it could use a personal touch," Harry sends back, an alarm sounds in the background;" Coming up on our destination, prepare to revert to normal space."
"Stand by to revert to normal space," Hermione commands.
Everyone sits up straighter in their seats and attends to their screens in anticipation.
ooOOoo
On a ship orbiting the only inhabited planet in the 40 Eridani system the ops officer calls out.
"Two unscheduled ships have entered the system," He says," Their method of entry was most unusual. They don't have warp signatures, nor do I recognize the type of drive they are using."
"Put them on the screen," the captain orders.
The screen switches on to show a saucer like black ship with a bird painted on the bottom and the other ship looks like one of their shuttles.
"We aren't missing any shuttles are we," the Captain asks?
"No sir," the officer answers.
"We're being hailed," the Comm officer reports!
"On screen," The Captain commands again.
A picture of a fourteen year old human boy comes up on his screen and he raises an eyebrow," This is Captain Soren, what can I do for you young human and if I may ask, how did you come by one of our shuttles?"
The face of the boy on the screen breaks out into a wide grin," Are you the same Soren that was commander of the Earth observation post on their moon?"
"I am," the Captain answers, his curiosity peeked.
"Then you are the one I want to speak to," the young man answers," My name is Harry Pendragon and my wife Hermione is piloting the Phoenix. We are from Earth and wanted to return your shuttle to you with a few improvements. Looks can be deceiving Captain and we want to talk to you. You may need permission from your superiors for what we have in mind so feel free to invite them to the meeting. We can meet on your ship or mine. At any case the shuttle is yours to study and use. Do you have room in your docking bay for it?"
"Yes," The Captain says while looking at his Ops officer.
"The ship is clean except for the strange drive system I am reading," he says.
The Captain looks back at the screen and says," Look for a shuttle bay at the rear of my ship. It will open as you approach, I will meet you there."
"Very well, Little Phoenix out." Harry returns.
The Captain raises his eyebrow again as he gets up from his seat and walks to the turbolift for the ride to the shuttle bay.
On the Phoenix, Hermione stands up and orders," Commander Chernov, you have the con. I will be joining Harry on that ship when he docks. Keep the Phoenix here unless ordered otherwise. You're people make up a good crew and if we have to land on the planet below I trust you to do a good job of it. Harry and I will be alright and this ship is impervious to anything they might have if things were to get hostile. I don't think it will, but I just wanted to reassure you everything is going to be alright."
With that she disappears.
Earlier, on the larger ship, the Captain waits by the shuttle bay observation window as the air is evacuated from the docking bay to allow the shuttle to dock. The doors open and he watches as the young human brings the shuttle in to a perfect landing.
"He certainly knows how to fly a shuttle," the Captain thinks.
The doors close and Captain Soren exits the observation room and enters the shuttle bay to greet Mr. Pendragon. As Harry exits the shuttle he observes the Maroon robes with the runes and the silver cylinder hanging at his waist. The young man walks down the short ramp to the floor and walks up to the Captain and stops.
"Hold on just a minute so my wife can join us," the young man says, holding up a hand.
The Captain starts to ask what he means when a young woman materializes next to him. Harry takes her hand in his and kisses her briefly on the lips.
"Captain Soren, may I introduce you to my wife Hermione Pendragon nee Granger," Harry says.
"You speak Vulcan very well," Captain Soren states matter-of-factly.
"Vulcan," Harry states," the language is Intergalactic Standard for us. Is your race Vulcan then?"
"Affirmative," the Captain answers.
Harry looks around the docking bay and asks," How do you want to handle our meeting? We are uninvited guests in your system and we aren't familiar with your customs yet. We listened to your logs on the base and inferred that you are a peaceful race that has high hopes for our planet. We too have high hopes for our planet since we were born there, but we think we might need your help to calm some of the hot heads down. Is there a meeting room we can use?"
The Captain nods and leads the way to a room off the shuttle bay with a table and chairs. The Captain has brought his first officer and Ops officer along to hopefully get some answers to questions he has. After everyone is seated the Captain starts.
"You stated that looks can be deceiving when I called you a young human," Soren says.
"Before we answer your questions Captain Soren," Hermione starts," We have a couple that will hopefully help establish a dialogue with a common base of reference."
"Go ahead," the Captain nods.
"This question may sound strange since you are not human and it may not apply to your race, but here goes," Harry says.
"Do you have people on your planet that show unusual or different abilities from the norm," Hermione asks," Let me show you what I mean."
She extends her right arm out and a rod ejects from her sleeve into her hand.
"This is called a wand," she says," A magic wand and here is one of the things it is used for."
She points it to an unoccupied portion of the table and with a flash of light, conjures a perfect replica of the shuttle Harry arrived in. She picks it up and hands it to the Captain to examine.
"That is called conjuration," Harry says," "You are correct in your earlier memory Captain. I did say that looks can be deceiving. Hermione and I are called mages, amongst other things. We are known on Earth and in the Intergalactic Community of Planets as the Elders of the Universe."
Harry continues," Hermione and I are physically fourteen and fifteen years of age. In reality, we have lived sixty four and sixty five Earth years. We spent fifty years in another galaxy helping to rebuild its economy from a galaxy wide war."
"Not possible," The Ops officer says," It would take several lifetimes to travel to another galaxy."
"For you that is correct," Hermione answers," Your form of faster than light travel is slow compared to ours. Humans have been in this universe for billions of years. We have colonized twenty eight galaxies so far and this one is the newest. Colonies are starting up on the outer rim of this galaxy as we speak. Colonization is a slow process so we have several hundred years before the general population reaches this far into the Milky Way. From examining the shuttle you left behind we determined it would have taken it about fifteen to twenty days to get here using the warp engines it has. We got here in ten minutes with the Hyper-drive we installed in it this morning."
"So that is the odd signature coming from the shuttle," the ops officer says.
"Yes," Harry answers," with a hyper-drive engine installed in your large ship here you could travel from one end of the galaxy to the other in about two days running full out. At standard cruise speed you can make it in about four."
"Even at those speeds it would still take years to travel between galaxies," The ops officer states emphatically.
"That is true," Hermione states," But we also have the Shigsu drive. Harry and I call it our portal drive. We use it for distances where time dilation would come into effect at sub light speeds. It wouldn't do to travel at .9c and discover years have passed in the real world while we were traveling. I'm sure you understand the effect."
Everyone in the room nods in agreement.
"You called it a portal drive," the science officer asks," What does it do?"
"Well," Harry says," We put coordinates for our departure and arrival points in our computer and the drive creates a portal on our end and an exit point on the other. Through the portal on our end you can see your destination but anyone on the other end can't see you."
"What it does in reality is fold space so that the two points are right next to each other and we can go from one galaxy to another in an instant," Hermione says," Due to the ease with which an unscrupulous leader could use this technology to send an invading army to another planet we will hold back how to build the drive until we can trust the governments we run into with the information. We don't think your government would use it like that from what we were able to infer from the data we gathered from the base on our moon, but you now know it is not just a theory."
"We haven't had a war in over a billion years," Harry says," Oh, we have our criminals, just like everyone else, but they are handled by the police."
"What would you like us to help you with," Captain Soren asks?
"Mine and Hermione's main fear," Harry says," is the same one you mentioned in your last log entry. Since you left, the cold war has died and the Americans and Russians get along a lot better. There is no longer the threat of mutual annihilation that existed back when you were observing us. The rocket you mentioned seeing on a trajectory for the moon was the first manned moon landing. They stayed for a couple of days and went back home. You were not in danger of being discovered. Heck, we found your installation by pure accident because of a reflection of light from part of the airlock door that had become uncovered in a moon quake. We were scanning the moon's back side while it was exposed to the sun for elements and a good place to plant a sensor package. The fear right now is we have a bunch of religious hot heads that wouldn't think twice about smuggling a nuclear warhead into a major city and setting it off, if they could get their hands on one. Probably somewhere in America; like New York City. They think that western civilizations and their democracies is an affront to their religious beliefs because they allow freedom of religion."
"Primitives," one of the Vulcan officers comments.
"You are right," Hermione agrees," They are primitive in their beliefs. If they truly understood what The Creator really thought of their actions they would stop."
"Who is this Creator you refer to?" The Captain asks," You don't believe in Gods do you?"
"The Creator of all Things is just what he sounds like," Harry says," He is the entity that created this universe. He made it possible for your race to evolve and he had a direct hand in creating Hermione and me. We are his messengers and we are immortal."
"Harry is right," Hermione says," We are immortal and cannot die, but we are only two people. Despite our powers, we are not gods and will not force our will on anyone."
She looks around at the gathered officers and can see in their eyes that they do not believe them.
She sighs and says exasperatedly," What will it take to convince you that we aren't just a couple of well-educated kids out on a joy ride in daddy's flying saucer?"
Harry stands up and walks over to his wife and gives her a hug to calm her down. He looks around at the officers and then at the metal table.
"Is this table made from the same material as your ship's hull," he asks the Captain?
"Yes it is," the Captain says," why ask such an obvious question?"
"If everyone would stand up and move to the side away from the table, I will show you," Harry says," We are going to show you we know what we are about."
Everyone stands up and moves to the side when they see him take the silver cylinder from his belt. With a snap hiss a green energy rod extends from the handle as he turns it on.
"This is called an energy sword or what non-magical people call a light saber."
He swiftly brings the blade down and slices the table in half. The two pieces fall to the side with a clunk. Hermione waves her hand across the area the table was sitting and the table repairs itself. With another wave of his hand Harry expands the room to be twice as large as it was before.
"Someone go out the door and look around and then come back in and tell me what you see," Harry suggests.
The science officer does what Harry suggests by walking out the door and looking around. Everything looks normal outside the door. He walks back in and then around the room counting his steps in his head as he goes taking measurements.
"What are your findings, commander," Captain Soren asks?
"The room is twenty meters by ten," he says," twice the size it was. There is no change outside to indicate the room is any bigger than it should be."
"That was done with my magic," Harry says," This is done by my powers as one the Elders of the Universe."
Harry walks over to a wall and places his hand on it. He closes his eyes in concentration and his hand starts to glow. One of the officers tries to move to make him stop in fear for the ship. (Even though Vulcans don't show their emotions, they have them.) He finds he can't move. None of them can.
"What is he doing to my ship," Captain Soren demands!
"Nothing harmful," Hermione assures them," Now be quiet so he can concentrate."
The glow from his hand spreads out and eventually encompasses the whole ship with a yellow orange glow. The comm channels are going wild as everyone is trying to find out what is happening. Outside the ship several more ships have arrived to investigate the newcomers.
Hermione's watch pings to let her know she is being contacted.
"Huntress here," she says.
Commander Chernov's face appears in her mirror," We have been surrounded by fifteen ships, all demanding our surrender or they will open fire. We can see the ship you are on glowing. Is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine," Hermione says," We are giving the gift of Trinium to the Vulcans. It is just taking a little time to convert the molecular structure of a ship this size. We will be done in a minute. Even if they all fired on you at the same time the Phoenix is safe, so don't worry. Huntress out."
Captain Sorens eyes widen when he hears what Harry is doing, but since he can't move he stands there patiently waiting. After a few minutes the glow fades and Harry steps away from the wall.
"I've just converted the molecular structure every metal part of your ship to Trinium," Harry says," It is the material that our starships are made from. The formula is in your data base now so you can start using it to build the rest of your ships with."
Harry takes his light saber out again and swipes at the table. The blade leaves a gash but doesn't cut though in one go. He hits it three more times before the blade cuts through the table. Hermione again repairs it with a wave of her hand.
"You saw what the blade will do," Harry says," You have nothing to fear from the humans on Earth. Hermione and I are the only ones on this side of the universe that have these swords. We are also considered Jedi Consular. Meaning we are from the diplomatic wing of the Jedi order in their galaxy. The one we told you we helped rebuild after a war. Now watch this."
Harry holds his blade out and runs his hand along the glowing energy field. It pops and sizzles as he does so. Hermione does the same to show she is like Harry. They show their hand to the Vulcans and then release them from stasis. The Vulcans stand there and stare at the young couple while they contemplate what to do.
"You will find your ship is now the strongest ship in your fleet Captain Soren."Harry says," Our light sabers can even deflect any personal energy weapons you might have. They are a very strong and potent weapon to wield. They also require you get up close and personal to use them against an opponent. That necessity is to be avoided at all costs, because it means that diplomacy has failed to the point of violence and Hermione and I will not take a life if we can help it. We use them for defense only. Oh, and demonstrations."
"I'm glad to hear you say that young human," says a Vulcan standing in the door looking around at the expanded room.
She's dressed in formal robes that look amazingly similar the robes Harry and Hermione are wearing, minus the runes. They are rust red in color with a red tunic and trousers tucked into black boots. Her hair is white and there are wrinkles around her gray eyes showing great age. She has a staff in her right hand and a sword at her hip. The Vulcan officers all turn to her and bow their heads in respect.
"Who might you be," Harry asks politely?
"I am Elder T'Por of the Vulcan high council," she answers.
"Are you a true Elder," Harry challenges?
T'Por waves her staff over the table and it is filled with various items from models of the ship they are on to plates and utensils used for a meal.
Harry and Hermione extend their right arms and their wands eject into their hands where they expand into their staffs. They wave their staffs over the table and conjure similar Earthly items from a model of the Phoenix to a model of Camelot.
The Potter's turn to the Vulcan Elder and bow to her and say in unison," Greetings to the Elder of Vulcan from the Elders of the Universe. May we all serve the Creator to best of our abilities!"
She bows back and says," We do our best, as always."
Then she says, to the astonishment of the Vulcan officers," I didn't think I would ever get to meet you Elders. All Elders know about you of course but it is an honor to serve with you."
"We only live to serve," Harry and Hermione chant together.
"Now that the formalities are over," T'Pol says," How can Vulcan help the people of Earth without causing a first contact issue with a pre-warp civilization?"
Harry and Hermione look at each other and nod. They morph into their Pantheras personas to the astonishment of everyone in the room. Even the Vulcan Elder couldn't do that.
"We are the Pantheras," they chant together," Hunters for truth and justice."
They morph back into their true forms and with a wave of their hands conjure enough chairs for everyone and they all sit down around the table to talk.
Harry and I go by Hunter and Huntress to the public of Earth," Hermione starts out," They think of us as aliens from another world. We were born on Earth from Earth parents but we were genetically engineered on another planet and have Nano-Probes in our blood. We are invulnerable to harm and the people of the Earth accept that. Because of us, they are aware they are not alone in the galaxy."
"At least most of them do," Harry continues," We've only been active for about two years so far and word is slowly spreading about us. What we thought you might be able to do is to help us build a larger space station that could act as a trading point between our peoples. The governments will see your ship in orbit along with mine. Our ship is two hundred meters across and the ISS station is slightly smaller overall. With a ship this size dwarfing the space station and the Phoenix the peoples of Earth will finally get the idea that we are not alone in the galaxy. Seeing is believing for the doubters. You don't really need to do anything drastic right away. Hermione and I can be intermediaries between our peoples at first until the world decides what to do. We are hoping that just with you there, the fanatics will calm down to at least keeping their violence within their own countries."
"You are invited to return to your facility on the moon if you like and we can use that as a place for meetings that would be safe from these fanatics trying to interfere out of some innate fear of the unknown," Hermione adds," Most of our population watches what we call Television. It is where we get our news from and most of our entertainment. Harry and I are discovering that Earth is home to a lot of different people from other planets. One of our most popular movies was about the galaxy these light sabers came from. The movies were so accurate with names and events that we are convinced that the producer of the movie is a descendant of someone from that galaxy. The events actually happened a thousand years ago so it would be a legend in their folklore. We also have a series of movies and TV shows that have Vulcans in them and they look exactly like you. Granted, there was a Roman God of fire from mythology that was named Vulcan, but the resemblance is too uncanny to be an accident."
"We have landed on your planet in the past," T'Por says," We tried to stay hidden, but in your era of the nineteen fifties one of our scout ships crash landed there and one of the crew chose to stay behind to study you up close. He might have met this person when he was a young man and gave him the inspiration for the TV show you mentioned."
"I bet he was on the production crew," Harry comments," Even though it is considered science fiction to the population, the show has a character named Spock that looks remarkably like a younger you Captain Soren, even though he was just an actor in makeup. The other uncanny similarity is the fact that the show's star ships use dilithium crystals and anti-matter to create a warp field to propel the ship through sub-space. If the world sees your likeness on television and your ships in orbit they will catch on pretty quickly that we as a people have been influenced by aliens from other planets. A lot of good things come from ideas generated in these forms of entertainment."
Hermione continues," One of Harry's and Mine's favorite sayings is that if someone can come up with an idea, someone else will find a way to make it work. That is the wonder of Human ingenuity and the reason we are advancing so quickly on our planet. We gave one special witch some Trinium wire to use as a superconductor and she turned it into a field generator to create a null gravity field. She was working on it to create a hover chair for her little girl who was paralyzed from a car accident, so she could negotiate stairs and uneven terrain easily. We healed Crystal's injuries, but her mother went right ahead with her work anyway. Now we have null gravity chairs for the crippled, gurneys for hospitals and floating stretchers to carry patients injured in earth quakes and other natural disasters. With you to help, we could find a way to provide for the ever growing population of our world and with us there pushing for more star ships like ours to be built, we will be able to relieve the pressure caused by overpopulation by allowing colonization of other planets. We've already started one of sorts in the Tau Ceti system. We are sending our worst trouble makers there with resources to start a colony. It is our way of getting their influence off the planet and to send a message to other would be crime lords that we won't tolerate them corrupting our society just for monetary gain. Sending there gives them something else to put their education towards, survival."
Everyone in the room is watching them take turns talking by their eyes bouncing back and forth between the two. Elder T'Por is impressed with their reasoning, so is Captain Soren.
"I volunteer my ship Elder," Captain Soren says to T'Por with a bow of his head," I spent twenty Earth years observing them and it would be logical for me to be the one to go. Besides, I am fascinated by the Pendragon's logic as well. It all fits well with my observations of Earth and I happen to agree with them."
"We will make sure everything runs smoothly for you Captain," Harry says," Would you like a tour of our ship? You could meet our magical guests and also the crew of the space station we want to expand. They are the crew that we have been training to run a ship like ours."
"We have put the specs for the Hyper-drive and Trinium in your data base," Hermione says turning to the science officer," The shuttle is already equipped with one and she navigates the same way as the Phoenix. Hyper-space is different than warp drive. In hyper-space you can't see the stars. It's like going through a tunnel with sides all around you so you have to enter your calculations for the trip correctly or you could come out of hyper-space in the middle of a star or planet. The Milky Way galaxy has been mapped by us already with general coordinates for all of the major stars in the galaxy; including stars on the other side of the galaxy, courtesy of the Intergalactic Community of Planets data base. These coordinates should take you to just outside of each stars gravitational influence. You can then use your warp drive to explore those stars to see if they have habitable planets. Once you have mapped an individual system, you can update your data base with coordinates closer to the star in question so you don't have to fly so far away from the star to use your hyper drive."
T'Por turns to Captain Soren and says," Transmit all of the data they are talking about to the Vulcan central computer and you may follow them home and re-establish your base there. The D'Kyr is yours to command as long as you need her. Keep the shuttle as well. You can gift it back to the Elders if you so desire. We will study the data you are sending and start construction on more ships using this Trinium material."
The Captain bows his head at T'Por," It shall be done as you command Elder. Live long and prosper."
"Peace and long life to you Captain Soren," T'Por says then turns to Harry and Hermione," Till we meet again Elders."
They bow to her as she leaves the meeting room to return to her ship and the planet below.
"I would very much like to tour your ship before we go to your system," Captain Soren says," May my science officer join us?"
"Of course," Harry says," Each one of you take hold of an arm and we will take you there now."
The two officers look at them with raised eye brows but comply with the strange order anyway. As soon as they grab hold the Potters phase themselves and the two officers to main bridge of the Phoenix.
"Oh my god, Star Trek is real," Commander Rhodes says when they phase in.
"It sure seems that way, although the story line for the TV show takes place two hundred fifty years in our future, the Vulcans have been in space for a very long time," Harry says," Everyone, I would like you to meet Captain Soren of the good ship D'Kyr. He is the same Soren in the log we translated for you back on the moon. He will be following us back to Earth to re-establish the base and run it for us to set up diplomatic relations with the Vulcans. The person next to him is D'Kyr's science officer, Commander?"
"T'Rena, Captain Pendragon," she says formally.
"Glad to make your acquaintance ma'am," Harry says, then points to one of his officers," This is our Science and First Officer, Commander Gregory Chernov. He is also in charge of the space station. The young lady sitting to the right is our Comm officer, Ensign Akira Sato. In front of her is our Navigator Lieutenant Chenka Vaslovich. To my left, is our Ops Officer, Lieutenant Commander James Sheffield and last but not least by any means is our Engineering officer, Commander Michael Rhodes. They have been training for the last year on this ship when their other duties allow. I'm sure our engineer can't wait to get his hands on his own ship, which we hope will be very soon."
"Behind us," Hermione takes over the introductions," are our magical guests. To the right is Professor Karkaroff, he is the headmaster for the Durmstrang institute, a magical school in Bulgaria, along with his student Victor Krum. Standing next to him is Madame Maxime from the Beaubaton's Academy of Magic in France with her student Miss Fleur Delacour, whose father is a French diplomat. He might actually be a good contact for our purposes. Next to Madame Maxime is our Astronomy Professor Aurora Sinistra and one our students Cedric Diggory. Guys, we are going to be here for a couple of hours while the Vulcans get a crew for the base assembled, so if you want to have a meal in your staterooms go right ahead. We will let you know when we are going to leave so you won't miss anything."
They all nod and head to the lift to descend to crew quarters to relax for a while. Once the civilians are gone, Harry leads the two Vulcans over to the command chairs.
"These are mine and Hermione's command chairs, I'm sure you noticed them and the unusual indents on the arms. We don't really need a crew to operate this ship if one is not available. These slots are how we control the ship while we are on board if we are alone. We can control the ship with our minds. The Phoenix was designed specifically for Hermione and me, with that in mind. Our Nano-Probes is what allows us to do this. They communicate our thoughts to the Phoenix and she does what we ask of her."
"I swear this ship is sentient," Commander Rhodes puts in," We were on board training one day when all of the systems came on line and the ship powered up for departure. It actually waited for us to return to the station before it left. The second the last of us crossed the threshold of the airlock, the door closed and the umbilical retracted, with the ship leaving right after. It was spooky."
"The Phoenix is sentient, in that she has a Biotic brain in the central computer that can pick up our thoughts," Hermione says," She is one of a kind, our Phoenix is and is the only ship like her in all of the Universe. She was a gift from the Creator of all Things and we love her dearly."
She leads them over to the ship's plaque to show them the name and the note, written in the Creator's own handwriting, lovingly framed next to the ship's plaque. They all look on in awe at the note from the Creator. After a short pause, The Potter's give a general tour of the Phoenix, showing the staterooms and crew quarters, along with the kitchen and dining area, where some of the guests were enjoying a meal. They show the Vulcans the rooms with the bunk beds made for troops if they were ever needed. They then went down to the cargo bay where they examined the sensor packages that still need to be delivered.
"What are those obelisks against the far wall," Science officer T'Rena asks?
"Those are planetary shield generators," Hermione explains," They work off the magic of the planet they are implanted on. They are indestructible and no energy weapon is stronger than a planet's magic. Emperor Palpatine found out the hard way when he built a one hundred sixty kilometer diameter space ship with a super powered laser. The shield prevented him from destroying his first planetary target and we took care of him and his toy while we were there. We are here to protect the universe from tyrants like him and any other threat to life in general. Let's return to the bridge and Harry and I will return you to your ship. We don't have a personnel transporter on the Phoenix because we haven't needed one. We just have a mining one right now for getting the raw materials we need to build more ships like this one."
They all head back to the bridge where Commander Chirnov assumes his station.
Ensign Sato looks at Captain Soren and says," Sir, you have a call coming in."
"Can you put it on your screen?" he asks?
"Aye sir," she says and complies.
"Soren here," He answers.
"Captain," The crew is ready to get under way and the station crew is assembled. Ambassador T'Lin will be joining the station team for first contact."
"Very well," he says," We will be there right away; Soren out."
He nods at her and she cuts the connection. The Potters each take one of the Vulcans and phase them to their ship. They return shortly and take their seats while inserting their fingers in the slots on the arms. The magical visitors return to the bridge and their seats.
"We will do this one Chenka," Harry says," We haven't taught you how to create a portal larger than the Phoenix yet."
"Aye sir," she answers," I will watch the numbers on my screen and learn."
"Good answer Lieutenant," Harry says," Comm, open a channel to the D'Kyr."
"Channel open sir," She answers.
"Captain Soren," Hermione says," If you will watch the area of space six hundred meters in front of your ship we will form up on your starboard bow and open a portal to Earth."
"I'm at your command Captain," he responds.
Harry moves the Phoenix over to the position stated and closes his eyes in concentration. Numbers start rapidly running across Chenka's screen as they form the formula for a portal large enough to admit both ships. It starts off as a white star in space at the point Harry indicated and expands to Seven hundred meters in diameter. When the portal is completed, Earth can be seen through the portal, like looking through a window.
"Send a message through the portal to let them know we are coming and that we are bringing a permanent visitor with us," Hermione commands," Then open a channel to the D'Kyr."
"Aye Ma'am," the comm. officers says and sends the message.
"Follow us through Captain Soren," Harry says once the connection is established," Nice and slow, as if you were approaching a docking station."
"As you say, Captain," Soren responds," It will be done."
After the channel is closed Hermione comments," This should wake up the naysayers."
In Earth orbit, the cameras on the space station point to the coordinates given them by the transmission and they start transmitting the image of an area of space just beyond the station's orbit. The cameras pick up an anomaly as the Phoenix comes through this end of the portal. It starts out as a light and then the edge of the ship that everyone is familiar with starts to materialize like it is coming through a dark window where you can't see anything past where the glass would be. After the Phoenix is through, it moves away from the area it just emerged from. A few seconds later the red nose of the D'kyr starts to materialize as she comes through the portal. The cameras pick up and transmit the image of the ship as it emerges. It just keeps coming and coming and coming as its six hundred meter length transverses the portal threshold. When it is through, the portal collapses with a slight flash of light and the D'Kyr is there for all to see. She fires up her engines and assumes a standard orbit adjacent to the space station, which is very small compared to the large ship.
"Comm, open a channel to the T'Kyr," Hermione orders.
"Channel open," she responds.
"Captain Soren," She says," You are free to navigate the system and re-establish your base on the moon. We will join you there when you are ready. We need to continue our survey of the system and deliver these sensor packages."
"Very well Captain Pendragon," he says," May your survey be successful."
The D'Kyr moves off towards the moon and is soon out of sight of the naked eye.
