AN 1: A whole hearted Thank You to all of you who have reviewed. Constructive criticism is always appreciated! I do believe both my writing and plotting have improved over the years but there's always room for additional growth.

AN 2: At some point, I will likely take a break and rewrite this story, given all the comments about how jarring some of the scene changes are. For now, I am still writing, I just don't have the time to write as often, much less edit.


As curious as Harriet was about Jim and his fellow intruder, something that felt suspiciously like that extra sense of hers was resonating with the idea of using arithmancy to resolve their current problem … and nudging her toward a discussion with Amanda. But how did the two relate? Where was the pull taking her with this?

She would seek out Amanda first for clues. Leaving her place by the turbolift, she let the feeling guide her feet as she thought.

The niggling had begun with Spock's last question: time travel. Impossible time travel because non-magical time travel simply wasn't possible – yet. Which was possible due to the very science behind time travel being rooted in the debate between how linear time was or was not and the consequences of deviations from what was, at a particular moment on a particular continuum, considered truth and fact.

So it wasn't impossible time travel so much as it being an act that non-magicals shouldn't have the means to accomplish. She would know; she'd spent plenty of years and realities searching for ways to just undo the acts that left her, society, or history irrevocably marked by tragedy, death, destruction, the loss of great potential, or all of the above.

Yet the possibility had always been an impossibility. There were plenty of theories of course. But if she hadn't known for certain magicals had in fact achieved a form of time travel, they would have remained nothing but impossible, implausible, fantastical theories.

Now however… what could Amanda possibly know about this or those theories?

As her feet took her on a winding path here, then there, she reviewed and applied potential theories and outcomes to equations, factors, and variables. When she arrived – somewhere – where was she? These weren't Amanda's quarters…

The Relaxation Corner? Well then. She would certainly prefer to have this conversation in her own 'office' such as it was, since familiarity was important to gaining and maintaining Amanda's trust enough to receive forthright answers. Still, the Relaxation Corner would have far too many ears now for the sort of openness she imagined the conversation would require.

She entered nonetheless, eyes roving the room until she spotted Amanda watching a number of young Vulcan children playing some sort of mathematics based game from the couch. On quiet feet that belied exactly how heavy and sturdy her dragonhide boots were, she approached the couch and took a dainty seat.

"Amanda?" She startled slightly.

"Hari dear? Whatever brings you here?" she inquired, then gave a slight shake of her head. "Forgive me, I completely forgot this is part of your work space. Do you have a patient?"

"Oh, well, no, but do you perhaps have a moment? I had a few questions?" When Amanda looked at her expectantly, she quietly continued. "Well, I was actually hoping to ask you if you knew anything about research into the matter of time travel..."

"I see," she said, her expression thoughtful. She took a moment to consider the children, then gave Harriet a look that was all Spock. "Shall we take a walk?"

Harriet agreed and rose to follow Amanda's graceful steps out of the Relaxation Corner, leaving the curious glances of the children behind without much thought.

"Is there something in particular about it that you wish to know? Most of my knowledge is theoretical," Amanda stated as the door swiftly closed behind them.

Harriet sighed as she matched Amanda's amble. "So is mine." 'Mostly,' she conceded mentally. "Yet I have reason to believe it's quite possible." 'In the non-magical sense,' she added. She really couldn't bring herself to lie to Amanda.

It was a bit troubling really.

"Who is to say that it isn't? It's a matter the Vulcan Science Academy has been studying for some time. In fact, if the research they've been publishing is anything to go by, it's entirely possible."

"What? How?" Harriet asked, startled.

"Red matter. It's quite the mystery at the moment but some of the more… fervent researchers do posit one of the potential usages of red matter to be a seeming form of time travel, if not the actual breach of the space-time continuum. Truthfully, it's not a field of research I've studied extensively as my true interest lies in applied quantum physics." For some reason that last bit surprised Harriet. It really shouldn't have ...

They walked in silence for a time and Harriet did not push.

Spock was rubbing off on her.

"There is quite a bit of hesitance around the discussion of red matter as well."

Harriet cocked her head. "Why so?"

"It can be quite destructive by nature Hari. I must insist on knowing your interest in the subject," Amanda stated firmly.

Harriet hesitated, then made a decision.

"It's not exactly a classified matter but I would prefer to have this discussion with Spock present. Perhaps a few of his other officers as well, as they were also present for the initial discussion. It also concerns the safety of the ship?"

Amanda took her arm into hers and began steering her in a slightly different direction. "If that is true, then I would suggest a more private location for our discussion."

Harriet only nodded before she comm'd Spock to inform him that they were headed toward the Captain's Ready Room, informing him only that she had acquired additional information.

As they walked toward their new destination, Harriet's mind whirled, equation after equation, variable upon variable presenting itself. There were too many unknowns!

"Amanda… what are the proposed properties of red matter that make it of interest to the Science Academy?"

They could discuss the implications of time travel paired with the destructive capabilities of red matter and the death of Vulcan later.

Preferably much later.


Harriet was surprised to find Spock not waiting in the ready room but sitting deep in thought in the captain's chair.

"Spock?" she called.

"Harriet." Curious: short and to the point. Typical Spock but odd nonetheless, given the nearly distracted manner with which he said her name. He hadn't even looked at her…

"Do you wish to have the discussion here?" she asked in Vulcan, coming to stand a proper distance from the chair.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Uhura twitch.

"Now is the time for transparency. The battlefield is not the place for the crew to have reason to question the competency or the honesty of the commanding officer," he responded in the same language.

"I shall respect your decision within reason then." She switched back to Standard. "I wish to discuss the issue of time travel," she declared loud enough for the other officers on the bridge to hear. "The variables inherent to the theories Mrs. Grayson has been explaining to me, when input into various equations, suggest our enemy is not only a time traveler in fact but also one in possession of a device that facilitates their ability to travel at will."

Spock furrowed a brow but said nothing. Instead, it was Uhura who asked the first question.

"What kind of device would be capable of time travel?"

"One that could actually divide reality," she replied succinctly. She firmly believed that when dealing with both the overly complicated and "muggles," it was best to be as simple and straight forward as possible.

Within reason, of course.

"Meaning what?" Uhura asked in very short tone. Clearly, she didn't appreciate Hari's approach.

"Meaning this reality and the reality that Nero has experienced are entirely different." Hadn't they already discussed this? Surely, it hadn't been that long.

"We already discussed this," Uhura pointed out shortly, unknowingly echoing Harriet's thoughts.

Harriet furrowed an eyebrow in brief confusion before she realized what the other woman was missing. Really, she can't expect everyone to be in on everything. "Yes, but now I've confirmed it." She turned to address Spock, who had understood the point of her making an otherwise redundant statement. "I've also confirmed that something followed Nero here."

"How?" Sulu asked. She ignored him in favor of continuing her report, such as it was, to Spock.

"There are two vessels out of place Spock. They are both currently in the same location but they were not originally. The formulae indicate that they converged. So there is someone or something out there who brought the second vessel through the opening that brought Nero to our reality."

Several faces on the bridge paled at the implications.

"You are certain of this?" Spock asked.

"As certain as I can be," she replied. "The formulae are very reliable, and my inputs were as precise as I could make them." Particularly as she was doing them while walking and talking. But she'd had more than enough years to become rather proficient with the knowledge either Death or Hermione had dropped into her library.

"There are time travel formulas?" Chekov wondered aloud.

"No," she admitted to him readily enough. "But there are formulas associated with time, transportation, and dislocation. The outputs are not always as specific as one would like but they are reliable." Harriet explained, almost patiently. She really couldn't get annoyed at Chekov – who could?

A terse "McCoy to Captain Spock" came over the comm, interrupting the conversation before they could continue.

"Doctor," was the equally terse response.

"Sir, I think Kirk has some information that needs to be shared."

"The cadet has spoken more than enough." Harriet was certain Uhura wasn't the only other person who registered the understated anger in Spock's voice.

She mentally sighed. 'So the draught has near completely worn off then…' All told, it hadn't lasted as long as her Vulcan specific formula and hadn't quite behaved as expected. Still, the calming draught had done its job in taking the edge off his more volatile emotions. It just hadn't been as lasting as she'd hoped given his unique physiology.

"With all due respect, sir, Jim can go too far, but he's sane. And what he's saying sounds like information that could be useful, Captain."

Harriet interrupted before their version of a fight could start – not that Spock would start one while on duty.

Normally.

"Bones, Hari. Does this potentially useful information include the existence of a second vessel from the future?"

"How does she –," came Kirk's voice.

"Answer the question," Spock interjected.

"Without the provision of opinions," Harriet seamlessly added.

You could practically hear Kirk gritting his teeth. "Yes," was the reluctant but otherwise civil response.

"Explain," Spock commanded, head slightly tilted as he thought.

"Nero was chasing a different, older Spock. They were both sucked into a black hole. Nero arrived first," Kirk gritted out over the comm.

Harriet idly wondered how he could be using McCoy's comm… 'Focus!'

"How did older Spock's vessel end up with Nero?" Harriet asked instead, not even questioning the existence of this Older Spock – which garnered a fair few looks.

'Muggles,' inner her sighed, then blanched at the reaction.

"Nero captured him and his vessel. According to him, Nero spared his life and marooned him on Delta Vega just so he could watch the destruction of Vulcan." The fact Kirk didn't question that particular set of facts either didn't seem to matter.

"Why?" Spock asked with true curiosity in his voice.

"Nero blames Vulcan and all Vulcans for the destruction in the future of Romulus. He thinks the Federation, and Vulcan in particular, as exemplified by a future mission headed by Spock, could have saved his home world. Now he doesn't trust the Federation, Vulcan, or Spock to do it in this time. So he thinks the only way to save Romulus in the future is to destroy the Federation in our present."

A localized patch of silence formed and stretched until Kirk insisted he was telling the truth. And really, she wouldn't be surprised if it was. More importantly though –

"Would this second vessel happen to be a red matter machine?" Harriett asked in the silent wake of that statement.

"How did you know that?" Kirk asked sharply.

She focused on Spock without any indication she had heard Kirk. "Mrs. Grayson had some rather interesting information about the properties of red matter that were being studied at the Vulcan Science Academy. Unfortunately, the implications of the existence of such a dangerous machine, and its capabilities, forced her to curtail our discussion."

There was another brief moment of silence before Kirk cut back in.

"If we're already headed to earth to stop Nero, why haven't we caught up to him yet?"

Spock raised an eyebrow, likely at his tone. Hari could only guess at what unflattering thoughts were going through the Vulcan's mind.

"Look, I'm trying to help!" was Jim's insistent reply.

Spock seemed to consider the merits of not answering Jim's otherwise valid question before responding. "The situation with engineering remains. We cannot reach the appropriate warp factor."

"Scotty may be able to help us there."

"I have already spoken with Lieutenant Scott. He believes there is a way for us to latch onto Nero's position. He is assessing engineering as we speak."

"I believe it is worth asking the odds of us being too late," Harriet interjected. "If they are moving in a figurative straight line for Earth, that is."

Spock's voice was clear in the ringing silence that followed her statement. "It is unlikely they plotted a … straight course for Earth."

"Why not?" Sulu asked. "It makes the most sense." Was Sulu the only one brave enough/ capable of actually participating in this conversation? Why weren't Spock's other officer's contributing more?

By Merlin, Jim was actually being useful in that respect.

Harriett refused -

A figurative light bulb went off for her. "But then they wouldn't have needed Pike for anything if they had."

"The protocols," Jim breathed out. "They needed him to get the subspace frequencies that alert Starfleet to hostile intrusion…"

"That is the most likely scenario," Spock thoughtfully confirmed.

Harriet bit her lip in thought. Was a rescue attempt now in the picture? Did that attempt now coincide with the more pressing concern of Nero and his access to the red matter machine?

"Is there more Doctor?" Spock asked.

"Yes, although I think it would be better to finish the conversation in private."

Spock paused for a moment, then stood and headed toward the turbo lift. "I'm on my way Doctor."

Naturally, Harriet followed.

Naturally, Uhura scowled.

Naturally, others began to seriously wonder the same thing Kirk wondered: who was she? She was practically acting as counsel…


"What is she doing here?" Jim's tone sounded near, but not quite, hostile and McCoy was momentarily off balance. Suddenly, his new personal office felt even smaller.

"Jim," he said tiredly, "don't. Hari, it's good you joined us. Take the damn cat."

Hari, the evil woman, merely shrugged. "He likes you. There's nothing I can do about it."

McCoy snorted and pointed to his chair. Sighing dramatically, she went to pick up the supposed cat. Darn thing was far too intelligent to be a cat. He'd could almost swear it was listening in to their conversation. Almost.

"Doctor, you said there was additional information," Spock stated.

He turned his attention back toward Jim, who was standing, arms crossed, gaze going from Hari to Spock and back again with an expression he didn't quite understand. "Jim?" he asked leadingly.

When Jim failed to elaborate, Spock let a little irritation bleed into his next statement. "I fail to see how this information required privacy Doctor."

"It doesn't," McCoy o so helpfully put in. He knew Spock to a certain extent, and he knew the Vulcan appreciated both directness and getting quickly to the point.

… Didn't he say he wasn't going to be the one who asked? "Hari, Jim claims older Spock didn't know who you were." There. "Know anything?"

Harriet simply blinked owlishly, then began to slowly stroke the four-legged interloper, like a B-rated villain from a B-rated film.

… well, that was an interesting reaction.

"Hari?" he asked suspiciously. "What'd you do?"

Harriet's expression turned mildly offended. "Me? Nothing." Her eyes and lips set in concentration, thoughtfully adding, "but I'm not entirely surprised."

"Harriet?" Was that uncertainty in Spock's voice? That was twice, no three times in the last half hour where even he could tell the Vulcan was being emotional. He discretely eyed Spock, his thoughts from earlier returning.

Harriet's quiet hmmm was most assuredly not helpful.


Prompt: None! [how'd that happen?!]