~Destiny~
Albus Dumbledore looked around in the arrival room aboard Destiny and felt like an amazing adventure was in store for him, should he even be able to decipher a tenth of one percent of the ship's secrets.
Shortly after the trio came back from that planet with a magnificent Phoenix, Dobby came to collect Professor Dumbledore's belongings, so he could put them away and prepare some chambers for the Headmaster.
"It is good to see you Headmaster Dumbledore! I will take your things and set you up in some chambers near where Harry and Hermione are staying, if that is okay with you?" Dobby asked. His speech had improved drastically over the past year and change. Hermione made sure his lessons were always full of proper grammar and she encouraged him to read from classics like Shakespeare, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, and several more good authors that both Harry and she liked.
"Dobby, it is also great to see you again. Yes, you can set up some chambers for me, preferably not too far from the pantry, if there is one aboard this vessel. Hermione, Harry, would the two of you like to catch me up on how your adventure has been so far?"
Both Hermione and Harry were ecstatic to have someone like Albus Dumbledore with them again. Some things, like the unusual lack of magic they went through in the first few months, were a bit awkward to discuss with the Headmaster, yet after an evening of good food and many questions from both the teens and the centenarian, there was plenty to discuss.
~a few days later in the forward observation deck cum mess hall~
The three magical beings had settled into a nice routine. Breaking their fast in the morning, they would discuss magic and their studies into the normal subjects that Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh year had in store for the teens. Then for a few hours the three would walk around the ship and learn more about Destiny. Professor Dumbledore was intrigued about the idea of space travel.
Some parts of the ship were not accessible to anyone without some major repairs. Others, like a few parts in the middle near the gate room, had been repaired after a fashion by Harry or Hermione. The Bubble-Head Charm was great for swimming, though not that much for protecting a person in the vacuum of space. Hermione had learned spells from some of the older tomes that had been part of their library. Some of them allowed for a temporary hard barrier that would encase an area. This allowed either Harry or Hermione to go to the various components, like the shield emitters, and repair them using raw Transfiguration and a small pile of materials. These materials had been harvested from some of the planets that the ship had stopped near in the past.
Lunchtime was mostly the three magical beings discussing things like new spells that could benefit all of Wizardkind, or theories on various subjects, like Animagus transformations, and how to improve the method of finding one's animal form.
One thing that Hermione was quite proud of was her notes file on the laptop. Well, it was actually several files for different subjects. The size of the file where she notated everything about the rune language the ship had was a little large, at 53.7 MB. Some of that was due to her wanting to have a full graphical representation of all the runes and their layout compared to every other book on runes available to them.
It was on the third day after Professor Dumbledore, Fawkes, and the rest of the magical beings had reunited, that something different happened during their lunch.
A hologram of a fair lady had appeared to them. She was the AI of Destiny. Her appearance was based off one of her designers, though not truly important to fuss about.
"Good evening Harry James, Hermione Jean, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian, Dobby, Fawkes, Hedwig, Crookshanks, I am a visual representation of the AI of this vessel. I have studied you all for some time, and I am pleased to have a crew for the first time. Please do not be alarmed, I chose this moment to appear for a few reasons."
Naturally, Albus thought of what kind of mental defenses he may need to employ should this AI not be a benevolent one. He had read from Asimov's works.
Harry decided to greet the hologram, "Hello? Why did you use almost all of our names? Is that something your programming is tuned to? And, thank you for using English. I guess you learned it from Hermione or me, or our many books?"
In response, the hologram answered, "I was programmed to be formal when the situation calls for it. If you would prefer, I can address each of you by only one name. I did learn English through your books and listening to the two of you, before Albus was reunited with you. Though, I think that Hedwig and Crookshanks don't have the ability to respond to me. Do they not understand English?"
"Kneazles and Owls aren't usually able to communicate in any language, though it is possible they can both understand you." Hermione answered.
"Would it be okay to address you as Lady Destiny?" Dumbledore asked.
"Lady Destiny is acceptable. As for why I am appearing to you now, there is a matter of great importance I need to discuss with you. May I begin?" Lady Destiny asked.
"Harry, Hermione, if you both are finished with lunch, I can call myself fed and watered enough to listen to Lady Destiny." Dumbledore spoke, with a slight twinkle in his eyes. He thought this would be a story time, and he liked stories.
Both Harry and Hermione had answered in the affirmative, and Dobby had quickly cleared the table of all the dishes. After he came back, he brought Miss Hermione's laptop computer, along with Mister Harry's spell sheet to harvest raw materials. This sheet had the spells needed to gather raw minerals from any planet that Destiny stopped at. Some of the minerals or other raw material would then be harvested to effect repairs of Destiny. Dobby felt that Lady Destiny might know more about where to find these things so his Great and Wonderful Friend Harry James Potter could continue to fix the ship. Hermione would almost always end up being the one to hold the spell for the barrier, while Harry would do the repair work.
"I see that you have brought a list of spells and the raw minerals, as your periodic table of elements has named them, thank you Dobby. That is something I can address at a later time. For now, I need to inform you all that the flight path of Destiny is currently on track to depart this galaxy in just over 12 weeks. Currently, my estimates on the duration to the next galaxy are 5 years, 4 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days. This is due to several of the engine modules being in need of maintenance, as well as some of the power conduits being damaged in some areas.
"I have made extensive scans of the planets along the corridor of space Destiny has been traveling through, and unfortunately, none have the raw materials necessary to repair the engine modules in the way Harry and Hermione have been repairing other parts of the ship. Albus, while I've had the opportunity to study all the books that are opened by either Harry or Hermione, there are numerous things I do not fully understand about magic. If there was an Alchemical way to convert one raw material into another that would be something you could help with, if you feel up to it.
"I have calculated that with Gamp's Law, as Hermione has been quite kind enough to have one of the books covering all that Gamp discovered open one day, the food stored on the ship should be sufficient to last all of you at least 7 years, should some of the engine modules degrade during the trip to the next galaxy. Please accept my apologies that at this time, my programming will not allow for a course correction. Any planets in range that could have potential for additional food or other raw materials that may be helpful, I should be able to stop the ship, if you find you need something that isn't stored on board."
Harry felt like asking a question, "Lady Destiny, you mentioned your programming won't allow for a course correction at this time. Is there something that could be done to change that? Is there a module that needs to be repaired? You seem very intelligent, and if there is something that would allow us to ask you to stop the ship, would we be able to repair it?"
"No Harry, at this time the core components of my logic systems are not in need of repair. The auto pilot is locked to a mathematical code that would be impossible to decipher given your current computing system's processing power."
"What if we had more laptops? We could duplicate this one, maybe a hundred times, and link them all together to run that mathematical code?" Hermione asked, pointing to the laptop on the table.
"Hermione, I am sorry. Even if you had 25,000 laptops like that one, the estimated time it would take to crack the code would be upwards of 4.5 billion hours. One moment, please."
Harry and Hermione shared a look that was one part skeptical, and three parts worry. Dumbledore merely looked pensive.
"Harry, Hermione, Albus, there is an incoming connection to the astria porta. It is coming from a very long distance. If you three could go there and set up some barrier spells or other defenses, that would be appreciated. My internal systems to arrest momentum are not working at this time; anyone traveling through the incoming connection could be injured." Lady Destiny spoke.
"Dobby, could you take us to the ring room please?" Harry asked his friend.
Dobby grabbed the hands of Harry and Hermione and used elf apparition, while Fawkes, being a very smart bird, took Albus Dumbledore to the ring room by fire travel.
~Astria Porta Room, or ring room to Harry and Hermione~
They arrived near the consoles at the end of the staircases. The incoming wormhole was almost formed. Dumbledore raised his wand and created a large shield around the astria porta, extending enough to allow for the unstable vortex to form. Moments after this, Harry and Hermione activated the defensive wards that had been in place from several months into their life aboard Destiny. They had never been needed, yet were some of the most powerful wards that Hermione could find in the library. Some of the wards were there to screen out airborne toxins or poisons, while others would allow them to adjust gravity, along with intent wards to subdue anyone looking to harm either Harry or Hermione or their friends. Dobby had added his own wards, to tag anyone who came through that was part of his former Master's Death Eaters with a very large muzzle on their mouths. One of Hermione's favorite wards was one that made it impossible to cast a spell silently inside the field. That along with Dobby's special ward made it so if someone came through the astria porta with wand intent on harming Harry, herself, or now Albus, they would have no option to get the spell to work.
As the final chevron lit up and the wormhole formed, several people and crates of all kinds of things came spewing through the astria porta. Thanks to the wards, their movement was slowed and a massive calming field was in place. Hermione didn't really know why she added that ward to the list so many months ago, but it would prove to be a good thing.
Lt. Matthew Scott was setting up his position to check the arrival area, while the people of Icarus base came pouring through. One thing he noticed right away was that despite the Lucian Alliance having found the base at Icarus, he felt truly calm about it all. He also saw three people near some consoles by the two matching staircases. Grabbing his vest radio, he called back to his commander, "Colonel Young, or if you can hear me, General O'Neill, I think we gated to a ship. There are three people and, a bird on the other side of some kind of force field. I don't know if they're friendly, advise all SG units to lower weapons for now." Then, walking forward to see if the people on the other side could understand him, he spoke again, "Hello, my name is Matthew Scott, I'm a Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. We were on a planet that was being attacked from space, and came through the Stargate to escape. If we are intruding, please accept my apologies. Dr. Rush! Why didn't we gate to Earth?" Lt. Scott had looked over to the scientist.
"The core of the planet was going critical. I couldn't risk that explosion transferring back through!" Dr. Rush was not in the best mood. He felt military presence would dampen his efforts to understanding the mysteries of the 9 chevron address.
More Icarus base personnel came through the active wormhole. General Jonathon O'Neill, Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Colonel John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Dr. Jennifer Keller, Dr. Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Vala Mal Doran, and Colonel Cameron Mitchell also came through the wormhole. An assortment of kit that each of these people normally used came through on a F.R.E.D. train consisting of 6 vehicles.
Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger each looked through the crowd of over one hundred people, with nearly half of them being military, and each had different thoughts. Harry wondered if this group would help them fulfill Merlin's Great Need, while Hermione wondered if any of them brought a book she hadn't read, and Albus wondered who would be up for a nice discussion of socks and their importance at Christmas.