Lafiel knew they were pushing things, yet suddenly being directed to explain themselves to the international confederation of wizards only a week after they got back was not something she had fully expected. It apparently had been scheduled a little later, but their headmaster agreed to move it up. That was odd; that the headmaster of a school to also hold such an important position.
The main reason she had gone along and pushed things so fast was that troubling prophecy, which was apparently a real thing that had to be taken seriously. Sure, they might have managed enough secrecy to just have a few come with her, but if they were in danger of extinction, well it seemed better to gamble a bit. That last thought sounded remarkably like something a Spoor might say. She shuddered at the thought. She could just see what the leader of the Spoor family might say if she brought back a rag tag group of colonists. It would be biting and sarcastic and funny, to anyone but an Abriel. She fought her thoughts back into order. No mocking imaginary Spoor was going to make her lose her focus, though she suspected a few bad dreams might be on their way.
In the end they asked questions and she answered them. It was not rational to do anything else at this point. They really didn't like that she refused to share some technologies unless they swore fealty to the Humankind Empire Abh.
She didn't mention the deal Daphne was working out. She would stick her neck out a bit for them, but not for random people. Too much was a stake. Daphne had mentioned a magical oath of sorts, but that it would be a weak one. She was going to wait and see there.
She would require actually knowing them enough to estimate if they would keep their word, oath or not. That was always more difficult if their was advantage to gain, but she thought herself a decent judge of character.
Babajide suggested magical oaths that she immediately rejected. She would not have loyalty imposed by magic. Loyalty imposed by drugs or conditioning was already banned in the Empire. It only made sense to not accept this either. Of course Daphne's work was again brought to mind. She hoped that would be okay.
He then asked, "What do you want? We are prepared to put you in charge of our research division, along with your friends, if your terms are reasonable."
"I wish the oath of fealty to, not me, but the Empire I represent. I in turn will give my oath of fealty returned. After that, since I don't know them, a simple magical test of whether they meant what they said. I will submit to the same test if you wish."
It would normally be an insult of the highest order to suggest an Abriel would not keep their word, but they had no way to know this, so she ignored it. They gave their oaths and she gave hers. Both verified by veritaserum. Technically she had committed to the duty of a feudal lord, but only until they were returned to her own time. At that point it would be the Empress's duty to determine next steps.
The oaths made her feel just a little bit unclean. There was no magic compelling them. They could change their mind. Should she have offered Daphne's plan that they hadn't even finalized? She suddenly wondered if this was how the Empress felt, having to choose between least bad decisions.
What truly shocked her, as well as the rest of Team Blue was their guess as to the nature of how time turners related to Planar Space and space time bubbles. Their guess was that Planar Space was a muggle way to step through the same place someone using a time turner stepped.
If true, then they may be closer to figuring out forward time travel than she thought. Unfortunately, she did not have a space time generator and it would take time to make one. Muggle technology simply did not have the parts they needed. They would have to build new machines that would make new parts that would help build other machines and yet more parts. All they could do was make a plan and try to execute to it.
Daphne had kept her word and had not only worked with the ICW representatives to provide the best computers and technology to them, but with the help of her father she had arranged a state of the art flight simulator to be installed both at Hogwarts and at the ICW. Hermione and her parents had helped quite a bit in that as well.
Luna was learning healing from ICW instructors and was coming along well.
Harry and the others were helping all over, though the most common request was to try to understand their ability to link.
Two weeks after they had started to work at the ICW, the request came through to take their gate to the asteroid. In the end Team Blue simply agreed to help charge the engine in the Nautilus, and let Nadia and the captain have the fun of dealing with all the ICW staff that wanted a ride. They were not amused, but agreed to run the errand.
Their gate worked, though it required an awful lot of dragonhide to protect the traveler. The ICW had brought with them several highly modified tents which gave them a base to work out of. Some of them remained to continue the operation, though mining wasn't their primary goal. Their primary goal was to use magic to remove enough material to make a cave they could seal and keep an environment in.
This turned out to take a week of effort for the initial area. They then moved the gate inside, along with their tents and tools. The initial area was then sealed with magic. Air was brought in from Earth along with other things they might need. Before Nautilus left they had a self sufficient camp with air they could use to continue the mining operation, and because it was all underground, there was no need for additional wards to hide it.
Even with the support of the ICW the income this brought in was dearly needed if they were going to meet all their goals.
The ICW, with the aid of various muggle companies that didn't know the big picture were building some of the tools that would later be used to generate key parts needed to generate antimatter.
Considerable secrecy was used there, even though the true key pieces and technology would be built off world and well away from Earth. Their best guess was a year before they would be ready to make the trip to begin the process.
The decision was made that the ship building would occur on Sixteen Psyche. The ever expanding underground area was by far the most secure they could make. They would eventually need to come back to Earth to let people board, though they were fairly sure they could hide the ships with magic, so that was a manageable concern.
Harry was spending his infrequent free time on the muggle flight simulator. It was quite fun, and he found all the work much more challenging than flying a broom. There was so much to learn. He was about to get up for a break when he saw Dobby pop in to leave him a sandwich and tea.
"Dobby?" he called.
"The great Harry Potter sir called Dobby?"
"Do you know what we are doing Dobby?"
"The great Harry Potter sir is preparing to leave," Dobby said sadly.
"Dobby, I don't know how this is all going to turn out, but if you want to go I'll make sure you go."
"Dobby not be left here?"
"No Dobby, but I do have something very important that I need you to help with."
"Dobby do it."
Harry grinned. You definitely couldn't fault Dobby's enthusiasm. "The main thing is we make sure you get the help needed to do this task. Do you promise to ask for help if you need it?"
Dobby nodded uncertainly.
"Good. Now, as I said I don't know how this is all going to go, but I want you to find out what the other elves want to do and discuss it with me. We will then figure out how to get it done if we can."
Dobby hugged him fiercely before popping away.
Babajide walked down to the lair the ICW research team had taken over. It was basically an outgrowth of their original area as a result of moving much of the historical records to a new location.
His two most frequent contacts and incidentally the two department heads met with him.
He said, "I had an idea that may help."
"Oh?" the first answered. "What's up?"
"I have no doubt whatsoever that with Lafiel's help we will make the ships that will take us where we need to go. There are several problems that need solved after that."
They listened closely as he explained his ideas. At one point someone brought up their non magical oath. They supposed this skirted the bounds a bit, but wasn't really violating it. They would need Lafiel's help in any event.
Babajide made an appointment with Lafiel and Captain Nemo. They all had appointments and schedulers these days since the line of people who wanted their time, or for that matter time of a member of Team Blue was quite ridiculous.
It took nearly two weeks before the appointed time. He didn't blame them. They weren't the ones maintaining their schedules though they could override them. He was a little surprised to see Nadia, Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Daphne there, though he supposed he should not be.
Hermione was the first to speak. "I'm curious, what this is all about. Is there a problem?"
Daphne gave her an amused expression but then quickly focused on Babajide. The dark skinned man said, "No, everything is coming along about as we expected. Some are better, some worse. I'm given to understand this is good progress."
Harry added, "Then why?"
Babajide said, "Please understand this is just me, not the ICW speaking here. Depending on your response I may propose this to the ICW, but I wanted to hear your thoughts on my idea first." He looked at each of them before saying, "Would it be possible to find a planet before going forward in time? Closer to your time works as well, if we can figure it out, but I'd like a few years at least to establish ourselves before we become a member world of the empire."
Lafiel asked, "You do know that no help can be given from the Empire till time is after I left? You would be on your own."
"Of course. I understand time travel as well as any. Ideally we would find a planet we could settle close to your time, but a few decades behind it. You could of course continue your journey..."
"I could not. I could never forswear my oath."
"It was not my intention to ask that of you."
Lafiel responded, "It is the duty of a feudal lord to see to the well being of her people. If you decide you wish this path, then it is my duty to do my part."
"I had not realized how seriously you took that oath. You will lose decades of your life if we can pull this off."
Lafiel replied, "I can hope you will come to understand the kin of the stars better on the day you meet my people. Until then, I will continue to do my duty. My life is every bit as long lived as your own and those decades are to be treasured not regretted."
Babajide said softly, "You have my thanks. Not just for this. I saw the memory of your trip back. They all told you not to do it, but you went, not because you were certain, but because you believed in your people and your Empress and now you have just committed to even longer being away from your family."
Daphne asked, "Will you recommend this path?"
"How can I not? The prophecies predict a dark time ahead. If we can but have twenty years to prepare. How could I not?"
Daphne nodded, even as he quietly left.
Lafiel said quietly, "It will be a challenge to find a garden world without a population. They are very rare."
Daphne looked at Luna, Nadia and the Captain and quietly walked out. They followed.
Harry gently pulled Lafiel into his arms. She stiffened for a moment before relaxing. Hermione conjured a couch that Harry moved them to before she laid herself on the couch, her head against the pair.
They didn't say anything, nor did they react when they saw something even more rare and precious. They saw an Abriel's tears.
"I can't do this," started Lafiel. "What if I have to ask you..."
Hermione replied softly, "Then we will go knowing you would not ask without reason, and if we were to die, would hope you remember our words now and know that we would hold nothing against you for doing your duty."
Harry said quietly, "Everyone used to always expect me to save the day. It was such a hard thing, and I didn't want to disappoint and let everyone down. You often quote your family honor, yet my own family is by all rights ancient as well and I know Hermione takes her pride as a Granger and a first generation magical as no less important."
Hermione smiled at him fondly.
He continued, "My point is dang it. I know we are not a substitute for your own family, but we hope you would think of us as family too." He looked at Hermione who barely nodded her head and finished with, "And maybe a bit more?" The last was said with a hopeful longing in his voice.
Lafiel looked down at Hermione in surprise. She nodded again. Lafiel then bent down and ever so softly kissed Hermione on the lips, spending several minutes just savoring the experience before she gently let her go and turned and did the same to Harry.
Harry was a little out of it when Lafiel gently slipped out of their presence, only to an annoyed look from Hermione. "Where are you going?" came out in a soft clipped tone from Lafiel.
"Aren't you going to kiss?" Lafiel asked.
"Yes I am, and this was hard enough for me to accept. Now get back here."
Lafiel's eyes widened, even as she sat back on the couch pulling a still catatonic Harry into her lap. Hermione got off the couch and started to kiss Harry just as softly even as Lafiel gently ran her dainty fingers through Hermione's still slightly bushy blue hair.
Hermione then got up and kissed Lafiel softly again.
Lafiel said, "This is all so new to me."
"To all of us, and I think we may have broken Harry."
"Can we stay here for now?" asked Lafiel.
Hermione cast a spell to lock the door and then made their conjured couch wider and more like a bed with fluffy covers. She then kicked off her shoes before taken Harry's and then an amused Lafiel's shoes off. They got comfortable and were soon asleep. The soft glow of their magic twined together and cast shadows into the night.
After they left Daphne directed the others into another nearby conference room. She quickly walked to the front and said, "His idea makes sense. Yes I know it is unfair for Lafiel to be away from her family for so long, if we can avoid it. It is also unfair that we may end up in a war."
Nadia said, "I may possibly have a solution. I don't know if it will work or not, but it may be time to check."
Her father's eyes widened as he figured out what his daughter was thinking.
He said, "We left Atlantis for dead when we came here. I was all of a boy at the time. We had drawn too much from the planet with our magics and our foolish pride that we could not be wrong."
"I have never been there," Nadia said. "The crystal tells me that Atlantis may have recovered in all this time. It of course has no true way of knowing, but if the veil remained, then the only person who could find it again would be me, as the last possessor of a Blue Water."
"What is the Veil?" asked Daphne.
Nadia's father said, "Even I only know a bit, mostly because of records I've read. It was the ultimate accomplishment of Atlantian magical engineering. A whole world taken out of time and space. It was the ultimate magical defense."
Daphne asked, "Wouldn't that take an enormous amount of magic?"
"The records say it did. They even said it was the key decision that lead to our downfall, but only the removal took magic. In fact, we didn't even consider trying to undo the mistake because that would take even more magic and further damage the planet. By then it was all we could do to make portals to escape our own folly."
Daphne said, "I'd be worried the we world would just hide behind this new shield thing and ignore the universe. That would be poor payment for Lafiel's efforts on our part."
Nadia said, "I'm not sure its a current concern. Our technology for space time bubbles was and is primitive compared to Lafiel's people, but that was how we escaped. The crystal is very clear about that."
Daphne replied, "So, your Veil, while still existing, may only hide the planet. Once people knows where it is..."
"It would be probably useless against any of the major powers," finished the Captain.
Nadia added, "We should probably plan to remove the Veil when we cross the threshold into Lafiel's time, that is assuming Atlantis is usable. The energy requirements are considerable, but nothing we could not do with this many potential magicals. The planet would also be healthier if it was directly connected to the rest of the universe."
"I hated the Grey sky," added the Captain. "Skies should not be Grey. The blue sky on Earth was something I always appreciated more when I remembered the sky of my youth."
Luna said, "We should go."
Daphne replied, "We don't even have the anti matter-factory let alone drives."
Nadia said, "But we could make the time space barrier."
"How?" asked Daphne. "I know we are further ahead there, but not that much further ahead."
Nadia added, "The runic design we used to bridge the veil and travel Planar Space is something we could make. It wasn't remotely as good as the pure scientific solution, but it worked before."
Luna said, "We could also invite a colony of Fairies along on the journey. I think they would like a new home."
"Why?" asked Daphne.
"That is how time turners protect users. Fairy Wings ground to dust. They regrow them, but it is still not very nice."
"That's horrible," exclaimed Nadia.
"True, but I'd bet they would jump at a chance for a new place to live," mused Daphne.
Luna nodded. No one disliked the idea. There were so few left.
Nadia said, "I'm in, if everyone else is. I think we should take a look at our original work though. Perhaps we can merge in some ideas from Lafiel's version, or just find our mistakes?"
They agreed to meet again and explore the old design. It would certainly be a lot easier to create than the purely technological solution.
Daphne said, "There is one other matter. I've promised to come up with a magical oath or something that would be enough to protect Lafiel, but not have to swear an Oath specifically to their Empire. I think it is passed time we finalized on this and took it. I suggested a magical oath, since I think once the Empress understands the implications she would be more apt to accept it in lieu of swearing to the Empire itself."
Luna chimed in, "We should just swear an oath to treat each other like family."
Daphne glared at her. "Fine, that is pretty much what I came up with. We are not actually swearing to do anything, just to treat each other like, well, family. That doesn't mean we lose our free wheel to act or anything."
Luna laughed. "Magic knows well what family is. You protect family if you can. You help family. If family loses its way, you help them, if you can, to find their way back."
Nemo glanced at Nadia who nodded. He said, "This I can support. We should explain it to the others and complete the oath."
The next day it was done. One quiet magical ceremony. A few would be added here and there over time. Ragnok, Samantha, Albus Dumbledore among others.
In her bed that night Lafiel composed another entry in her log. She told of the promise she made and hoped the Empress would understand. She told her birth family again that she missed them, and again requested the message be delivered when possible.
Albus paced the front of the ICW conference room. He, "I'm not sure your plan is wise. Garnok has verified your arithmancy, at least as best as he is able to, and how you convinced an entire colony of Fairies to go along remains something I'm curious about."
Luna blushed furiously.
He said, "But we have no way to come help you if you run into trouble."
Lafiel said, "We'll we are taking my own craft as well. That would give us some flexibility if we end up needing it."
Albus grimaced. "Some would prefer you did not."
"Yes, I know that." Lafiel smiled.
"We'll if your going, I know Severus wants to go, and I think you should take Moody, Sirius, Remus, and Nymphadora at least."
"Why?" Lafiel asked.
"In case you run into trouble. I know Fleur, Victor, and Samantha is going. Garnok is as well, but you may need more backup. Bill Weasley has volunteered as well."
Nadia said, "If we run into trouble, then having so many people will make it harder to keep everyone alive. Space is not a very forgiving place. Still, Severus was useful last time, and Moody and Tonks have helped us train in the past."
"Why not Sirius and Remus?" asked the headmaster.
Lafiel turned to Harry who shrugged. She said, "It is my understanding that Snape does not like Sirius and Remus particularly."
"I'm sure they will get along fine," assured the headmaster.
Lafiel turned to Captain Nemo.
He said, "The time to solve disagreements is before heading into space. I see no reason to add the risk. This many people plus the Fairies will already be stressing the Nautilus's air system. The only way I'd consider adding to this list more would be an essential skill that we do not currently have."
"Poppy," Albus suggested.
Captain Nemo glanced at the others getting an idea of their opinion. He said, "I'm not opposed to it, if she is interested. Both Severus and Samantha have some medical skills and Luna is learning. It would be good to have people spend more time learning useful skills."
The headmaster said, "I'll let her know."
The captain raised an eyebrow at that but shrugged. He said, "You had your job assignments. Everybody swap and verify they were complete and everything is accounted for, then swap again and verify it again. If anyone has any last thoughts, bring them tomorrow morning. I'm guessing we could be gone for a month, but it could easily be several times that. Nadia, could I trouble you to bring me to Hogwarts? I want to make sure Poppy and the others know how long we are likely to be gone. Lafiel, make sure we have any spare parts we might need for the router table. I could easily see us building one of those portals to refill our propellant tanks. Magical storage only goes so far..."
Babajide sat on the bridge of the Nautilus. He was not going. He just wanted to talk to them one more time. He asked, "Have you testing the new portal rings?"
The four foot rings they had designed were intended to provide a last ditch option for emergency escape and possibly to allow them to provide supplies to the Nautilus and its crew.
Captain Nemo said, "We have. Though we don't have high expectations. We expect it to work in system, but not much more. We will test it today when we fill our propellant reserves. By doing it after we get to space we should be able to reduce the energy needed for takeoff. We plan to build a second one and link them to each other if we need water from a planet without having to land."
Babajide nodded. Technically doing so would break the link with their copy, but if they needed to do it, they needed to do it, and it wasn't as if the Nautilus had unlimited storage.
He asked, "Do you have everything you need?"
"Everything is triple checked. I was a unsure if everyone was prepared for a possible multi month close quarters journey, but they assure me they are."
"We'll I'll get out of your hair and let you get on your way. I look forward to hearing about your journey. I just hope our communications hold up."
Team blue returned to their quarters before takeoff. There wasn't space on the bridge and there was no need in the engine room, having charged it over a week prior. Lafiel, Hermione, and Harry occupied one room. Luna, Daphne, and Nadia another.
Small magical energy converters had been added to each room, similar to what they made for the engine, with the ones in the Team Blue rooms a bit bigger. The largest was still less than a hundredth the size of the main engine.
Hermione was lying between Harry and Lafiel when they heard over the speaker. "We are ready to launch. Make sure everyone is comfortable. If there is no objection I'm going to transfer the load from the secondary systems to the energy converters in your rooms. This will reduce the amount we have to pull from the primary reactor."
Lafiel quickly sent back, "Go ahead." A similar comment was heard from Nadia. Hermione reached up one hand to grab hold of the energy converter even as Harry and Lafiel snuggled in closer. Their combined magic flowed into Hermione and then into the energy converter as they took half the load of the secondary systems and began to trickle in a charge to their crystals as well.
From the bridge they heard, "Secondary systems idling normally. I'm going to let the computer control this launch and only interfere if necessary with the goal of minimizing propellant and energy usage. Get comfortable. This is going to take about an hour."
Madam Pomfrey sat in her chair in the room she shared with the captain. It was easily the largest personal room on the ship, but she supposed there were benefits to being the ships captain. She had agreed to share this room. Everyone else was at least doubled up as well. For as big as Nautilus was, most of the space was not used by people.
She was amazed as she looked out the window as the Earth receded in the background till it was only a pinprick. She thought they were slowing. The speaker came alive and said, "I'm stopping our acceleration and most of our velocity here while we try to onboard the necessary propellant for our journey."
She thought it odd that they called water propellant. She suppose it was propellant, but in practice it was just water. If they were on Earth she could summon a rather large quantity of it herself, but then the water summoning charm did not work in the desert, nor in space. Attempting it would probably summon water from their own storage tanks, and given they were massively magically expanded that was something she wasn't about to attempt.
It was such a simple thing. Superheat the water beyond all reason and use it to move. The speaker activated again. "We are taking on water at a rapid pace. I'm estimating forty eight hours till we fill our reserves. Taking off with minimal propellant probably saved us having to recharge the main engine for at least a week and greatly reduced the stress on the ship."
That she could get behind. People as magical batteries still seemed ridiculous to her. Her mind tried to imagine how much water they could store in forty eight of running that portal. It had to be the ships weight in water hundreds or thousands of time over. She further knew they wouldn't use propellant continuously. They would come up to speed and largely drift to where they were going, which was apparently a nearby solar system.
Lafiel was on the bridge with Nemo and the rest of team Blue. Everyone else was taking a break.
She said, "It would help if we could move the closet Sord to the Milky Way, but I just can't see a feasible way to do so, and it would require probably a decade to settle if we managed it."
Nadia said, "According to the Blue Water we used a far more distant Sord to come to Earth. This one was either unknown at that time or didn't exist. Our records say it took us almost a year from where we exited till we reached Earth in the generation ships. Getting to one in a couple weeks seems like nothing in comparison."
Lafiel said, "Sords are strategic choke points. Battles are won and lost by control of them. You generally want to secure them on both the outside and the inside of Planar Space so your not surprised."
Nadia asked, "People stay in there?"
"Generally not outside of a military campaign. Usually we leave automated beacons to monitor the area inside planar space. A nearby ship in real space can keep in touch with them. If the beacon stops responding, we assume they are destroyed and proceed accordingly."
The captain asked, "What about the United Mankind? How is their technology? Could they move Sords around? It might represent a huge strategic advantage if they had the ability and took advantage of it."
Lafiel's eyes widened as she considered the possibilities. She pulled out her tablet, "Ship record the following message for the Empress. Transmit when possible. We have reason to believe their may be a threat from the United Mankind or a perhaps as yet unnamed group. The possibility of a strategic move of an available Sord was also mentioned and I believe it is an area we should investigate. Preparing for war is recommended. More details will be sent when available."
"Confirmed."
"To answer your question," Lafiel replied, "We are, as far as I know the only ones with the technology to move Sords. Given what we know, I am not prepared to bet that is still true in my time."
"A wise move," the captain noted. "It is a problem that we may have to fight. Having any time to build up our own resources is going to help."
"I know," Lafiel said softly. "I miss my family dearly, but to see them safe I will do what is necessary, even if it means I never see them again."
"I don't think we need to go that far. If time travel is possible and safe, we need years yes, but not centuries."
"How many years?" Lafiel wondered.
"A lot depends on how many resources we can pull from Earth. If we can quickly bring a new world to that level of technology, then advancing it further quickly with our technology is possible. That we can rely on magic, particularly to simplify many things helps a great deal. Our biggest weakness is automated construction systems and energy. The first we will solve. The second we need a solution for."
"We normally use solar energy for space based installations. We don't normally colonize planets, but have used fusion reactor designs. Where are you going with this?"
Nadia's father said, "I want to leak solar panel designs to the non magicals. We can make them think it is their design. If they could make them in bulk, it would take the load off us. We could probably store them in bulk in an expanded space, particularly if we tailor that space to storing many of the one item without harm."
Lafiel's eyes widened and looked around, focusing on Luna who replied softly, "I don't know if doing that is safe or not. It is potentially a big change to the timeline."
Lafiel said, "I'm not sure how, but we need to find out. In the meantime we can compare our two technologies and see if they can be improved, or made simpler to produce. If there is any possibility of us making this contribution to the Earth without causing problems, then you have my full support.."
Luna said, "Figure out the details. Get everything ready. It is possible we will be given a warning if it is a bad idea. It is also possible that we won't. If we hear nothing, then I will try to see with your help the correct path. Partially solving the energy problem on Earth may not even be enough to change its fate."
Nadia said, "The field may have changed since our time, but I know trying to force visions is horribly dangerous."
Daphne added, "But probably less so than mucking around with the timeline without guidance. What a mess. If it comes to it Luna, we will have your back."
"I know." She smiled at them all.
Harry said, "I just wish we could do more somehow… Actually there is another thing that has been troubling me. I should have perhaps mentioned this to Hermione already, but I have Dobby beginning to work on a plan so that when we all leave the elves get to choose."
Hermione and Lafiel looked at him proudly. Hermione said, "I'd be glad to help." "I as well," Lafiel added.
"I know, but I got the little guy to promise to ask for help if he needed help. I don't know. I just wanted them to mainly have choices. They seem to have so few." The last was said with a bit of wistfulness.
Captain Nemo said, "House Elves are our mistake. We modified them after we modified humans to be much like us. I wasn't personally involved, but I knew about it. I've thought about it for awhile, and even studied the old records recorded in the Blue Water with Nadia's help. We haven't found a solution yet. Perhaps you could help us?"
"What did your people do?" Lafiel asked.
"We engineered a true slave race, that wanted to serve. After our failure with humans we wanted loyal servants, and, for the most part we got that. They had magic. They served. It wasn't absolute. I think wizards changed them more, or the magic evolved. I'm not sure. They were also deformed from what they were. I don't know how to change it, at least not without risking their lives. I swear to you I don't."
Nadia said, "I apologize. We should have mentioned this sooner, but we hoped to find a way to atone for our people's sin. The best I've found so far.."
"Nadia no."
"The best I've found so far is to sacrifice myself. The potential of the Blue Water at that point is nearly without equal. It could do it, for a few at least."
Lafiel said, "The time for such sacrifices is not here, and we hope will never be here. We are a team. No we are more. We are a family. Your debts are our debts. We will find a solution together."
Harry added, "Dobby would not want anyone to die. They are part of it as well. Perhaps they can help?"
Luna grinned. "Of course they can. House Elves are far more clever than you think. I'd bet there are elves that know some of it, but can't take the final steps themselves, nor can they ask, because of the magic."
Nemo said, "You may very well be right. It fits with what I have read. It seems we have another large task to accomplish when we return. It is possible we may find something on Atlantis that may help us with this task, now that our city on Earth is gone."
The Nautilus stood before the Sord that Lafiel's ship had noted in the Alpha Centauri system. Lafiel and Daphne were in their ship scanning the Sord.
Lafiel said, "Ship, open a com line to the Nautilus."
"Com line opened."
"The good news is it gives all the indications we would expect in a stable Sord. It is unlikely to shift in a major way in either real space or planar space. The bad news is it in a very raw state, likely indicating a relatively recent formation in cosmological terms. Entering the Alpha Centauri Sord is not going to be pleasant, and I highly recommend no attempt to turn around. We enter, maintain a slow velocity, and make no attempt to change course until we are will in planar space."
The captain's voice responded, "I'd have preferred the ability to turn around. You are sure that is not feasible?"
"From what I'm reading, I'd rather not risk it. I think we can get in okay, but I'd let it settle a few weeks before trying to return. The careful movement of ships tends to settle one, eventually, but if these readings are correct we are likely going to be the first ones to transit from real space to planar space using this Sord."
"Your recommendation is a go then?"
"The only alternative is at least a couple months of travel and there is no reason to believe it will be better. Ultimately, the decision is yours."
"What are your estimate of the odds of fatalities?" asked the captain.
"I don't know. My guess is the runic matrix we designed will work, and the fairy magic present will help, plus our own magic augmenting the shields. We should be fine. This ship was the pinnacle of our design teams, even if it can't enter planar space itself. It can survive just fine by itself, or so the specs say. We could manufacture some plates to allow me to generate the Atlantian version of a time space bubble so I could at least enter and check it out. I'm certainly willing to take the risk, but it would be at least a month before I could return, and I'd have to do it by myself to have enough supplies to survive the duration. After that it might be an additional week or two till the Sord was stable enough to enter again."
"Negative. Return to Nautilus. I'll want all of Team Blue at the main engine. Worst case it is close enough to where your ship is stored that you can try to get to it in an emergency. I do have one order for you Lafiel."
"Sir."
"If things go badly, such that you have no realistic chance of doing anything but getting in your ship and leaving, I am ordering you to take Daphne and go. She has the most knowledge in operating that craft. If you can't then try to save someone, but make sure you get out. Daphne, the same goes for you. If things go badly, do not go down with the ship."
"Captain I.."
"I have given you a direct order Lafiel. Someday you are going to be the one giving them, but that is not today, and not on my ship. Are you going to fulfill that order?"
"I will captain. If things go badly I will make sure to save others, if I can, but I will insure that I survive." She said this in somewhat clipped tones indicating she wasn't at all happy with it.
"Good. Go ahead and land your ship. We will enter the Sord once everything is ready."
On the bridge Nymphadora asked, "Was that really necessary?"
"No," he admitted. "She would have done the correct thing regardless. However, if something does happen it may ease her conscience somewhat to have had it been an order from me. I grew up with responsibilities not dissimilar to what that girl has now. I was a prince to a kingdom, to a people, but my people were a failing people trying to hang onto dreams of the past. Hers are in control of half the galaxy and she is close enough to the throne to be likely forced to rule one day. I doubt the young woman has ever been permitted the luxury of tears."
Hermione and Harry stiffened before looking at one in the general direction of Lafiel's small craft.
Poppy looked at the captain with a touch of admiration.
He continued, "Don't forget she just volunteered to take all the risk onto herself. Yes, Daphne was there too but the first thing she suggested was that Daphne would have to leave to fit enough supplies. With expanded spaces this is not true, and she knows it."
He then looked on Hermione and Harry. "It will be up to those closest to her to make sure she doesn't go too far and to never fight with her in public."
Hermione and Harry turned to look at the captain.
"Do you understand?" he asked, even as the others looked on.
"Yes," both said soberly.
Nadia said, "If you wish, I can help teach you two. Things may be a bit different for the Abh, but I don't think that much. If all goes as expected you will probably end up with power only second to her own."
Hermione's eyes widened, as did Harry's. Hermione said, "I didn't think we would be in charge of anything..."
Nadia said, "It doesn't work that way. There are no unimportant people near royalty. Lafiel appears to be heading to being the leader of Atlantis, if the world is habitable. She will, for perhaps decades, lead and will rely on you two."
Harry asked, "What about you and your father? This is your world."
Captain Nemo said, "Nadia was born on Earth. It was the world the generation before mine left for dead with their foolishness. I failed again to save my people from destruction and from doing truly reprehensible things when we came to Earth. In the end Nadia and I got trapped in our own city by our own people, and it was only luck that ended what might have been a reign of terror by them. Some things like the elves still bear our mistakes. We are the past. I have no intention of ruling, and I know Nadia feels the same. We have no people to rule."
Moody said, "They will try to get Nadia pregnant and take over, claiming divine right, or some other nonsense."
Nadia said, "The blue water will fry anyone to ash who attempts it, magically or physically. I assure you that I will not allow that to happen."
Moody nodded, turning to the Captain. "What about you?"
"I have no intention of having more children at my age."
Moody nodded again.
Everyone was ready for the transit into the Sord, or at least as ready as they could be. Team Blue was around the Nautilus's main magical energy converter. Over the speaker they heard the bridge communications.
"Fleur, if you could, please activate the bubble generator."
In the engine room you could feel the magic start to flow from the reactor into the ship. Fleur said, "It's activated. No problems detected. My link with Lafiel's ship is also reporting the same. We are clear to proceed."
"Let's give it a few minutes. We aren't interacting with the Sord yet and this is what our third time testing it?"
"Fourth actually," noted Fleur, "Though our first failed and we fixed it, so third of the working design."
They waited patiently until his voice came back. "Is everything still stable?"
Fleur's said, "Everything remains stable. The barrier has actually strengthened by ten percent according to Lafiel's ship. Our readings show an increase but we can't quantify it that closely."
The captain asked, "Lafiel or anyone, is the change a concern? Should we wait?"
Garnok said, "I think its fine. Rune patterns this large often take a little life of their own. Exceeding expectations happens."
Lafiel added, "I've also noticed this on the flight suits. I don't think it is important. I vote to proceed."
The captain said, "Okay, proceed into the rift. All ahead slow."
The ship started to buffet as the leading edge touched the outer event horizon of the cosmological curiosity that bridged normal space and planar space.
"Starting counting down your estimate for when we will be in planar space."
Fleur said, "It looks like we have about a minute till we are at the crossover point, and another minute till we are fully inside. Counting down from two minutes."
"100 seconds remain."
The ship was shaking now. Tonks got tossed out of her seat, but quickly scrambled back and fastened her seat belt.
Victor said, "We are using energy at roughly double the rate predicted. We are fine, but if this continues at this rate."
"Understood," noted the captain. "Continue."
"80 seconds remain. Radiation readings are edging into the danger zone."
Lafiel hit the com button, "We will handle it." even as she placed her hands on the magic energy converter. Everyone else followed.
"How are we going to handle this?" was her first thought sent to the others.
Daphne suggested, "Some kind of shield charm?"
Hermione said, "They don't block light, and the radiation we are getting bombarded with is just another frequency of light right? It's not particle?"
"Mostly gamma rays, so yes," noted Nadia.
Luna suggested, "Would a Fidelius charm work?"
"That's crazy," suggested Daphne, though she was far from certain as indicated from her mental voice.
Hermione said, "A dwelling whose location has been protected by this spell is then invisible intangible unplottable and soundproof."
Lafiel asked, "Do you know the arithmancy? Does it support blocking radiation?"
Harry thought, "My grandfather's house wasn't particularly cold in winter."
Daphne thought, "That means nothing. An old house like that would have any number of charms on it."
Lafiel asked, "Do you know the spell Hermione?"
"I remember the page in the book, but I never tried to cast it. It is supposed to require insane amounts of power and skill." Her mental tone was almost panicked. "I can't even imagine overlaying it on all this active magic. You'd need to be Dumbledore..."
Daphne snorted, "Together we are far stronger and smarter than Dumbledore. I say we do it. We don't have a better plan do we? Turning around isn't feasible is it?"
Lafiel thought, "Take the link Hermione. We will focus on protection from the radiation and helping you. You take the bulk of our focus and power and do it."
Hermione hesitated, really not liking having to do something without practice. She felt everyone's mind merge with hers.
Lafiel's providing brilliance, insight, passion and discipline that amazed her. Buried deep in there was a person that would be the best friend in the world and the absolute worst enemy. She saw her love for her family, for Harry, and for her and treasured it all. Then came Daphne. She was oddly similar in many ways, but despite her exterior her feelings were never far from the surface.
Luna was all insight and whimsy. Jumping to conclusions based on a thousand details no one noticed and usually being accurate. She felt it then, the echo of Luna's true potential to see. She appreciated it now, but understood her a little better. Harry was power and insight of the practical. An intrinsic understanding of how magic worked. A passion to protect all, save sometimes himself. He saw his love for her and Lafiel and hope for the future, his hope for a less busy time, but his content for what was.
Nadia was so much older than they all were, but it was a barely noticed age. A girl her age forced into that coffin barely noticing time pass by as her strength kept Atlantis intact, even as the whole ward scheme froze her and her fathers aging process. She saw her original bond with Fawkes, her hope for the future dashed so long ago, and her renewed hope now. The last of Atlantis were determined to fix the mistakes of their race. She then saw the blue water. This was the last of them, fully charged and ready to do her mistresses bidding, whether it be defense, healing, knowledge, or shaping of magic jn any form. It was potential given form. She even saw the part of Nadia's soul that bound it.
She recalled the page from the book with the Fidelius charm. The Blue Water instantly recognized it as an even older Atlantian spell twisted and changed by wizards, but fundamentally of Atlantian origin. The part that was Nadia was surprised. It asked for a summary of differences. It could not complete the task, since the book Hermione had read had not given enough detail. The Blue water asked if it would like it to be erected? The part that was Nadia thought, "Stick with your version, or combine them, but you cast it. We may not have time to reorganize the link."
Hermione quickly asked the Blue Water to help her learn the old version. The mind that she controlled learned it nearly instantly, compared it, tweaked it and before she even knew she was ready she reached with their combined gestalt and willed the new matrix into existence, parts of her mind automatically balancing it with every other magic on the ship. Hermione's last thought was to transfer the secret to Nadia who accepted it gladly as the link dissolved leaving them exhausted but still strapped in.
Nadia recovered quickly, opening a ship wide announcement on the com panel, "The Nautilus is Hidden in Magic. We setup a Fidelius charm. Did it lower the radiation?"
Fleur's voice seemed a bit shaky when she said, "Yes, the radiation level is zero. We are inside the Sord and seem stable. I can't believe you did that, or that it worked!"
Poppy's voice said, "Does anyone need immediate care?"
Nadia said, "I think we are fine. Just tired. Are there any more problems?"
Victor said, "We are still using energy at almost double the expected rate, but I think if the majority of us head to our quarters we can offset this, for awhile at least."
Lafiel asked, "What is our transit time? Where did the Sord dump us in Planar space?"
Fleur said, "It's not good I'm afraid. It tossed us in completely the wrong direction. Given our propellant supplies we have to sustain this for about a month."
Lafiel said, "That behavior should settle in time, but we will just have to deal with it. If need be, I think I can heat up my engines in my craft and provide some of the energy, though since we can't replace the antimatter, that is not ideal."
The captain said, "For now, we stay on course. I want the best possible contingency path available at every point. If we need to go somewhere else, for whatever reason, just make sure we are ready."
Lafiel said, "My ship should be able to keep that computed. Just ask."
Fleur said, "Sure. Since we are stable, you guys should probably go rest. That can't have been easy."
Garnok pulled Samantha into his room. "What are your thoughts?" he asked.
"About the emergency Fidelius charm done with brute force?"
He nodded.
"If anyone has the skill to do it, then I'm going to say that group does. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a different kind of space, and you can't really analyze a Fidelius unless your the caster, and even if there was a problem, only the caster could try to fix it. I think we need to let them rest and try to make them experts on the Fidelius charm, or at least test them. The secret was certainly odd, but its not as if you could give it a fixed location."
Garnok replied, "Those were more or less my thoughts. If nothing else they threw enough magic with intent at the problem that we are likely okay for now, but it bears watching."
"No kidding. This ship is way bigger than a house, and it already has a ridiculous amount of magic inside of it. A group Fidelius is also so crazy as to be absurd, but perhaps not for them."
Back on the bridge the captain asked, "What was the source of the gamma radiation?"
Fleur said, "The Nautilus computer together with Lafiel's ship is working on that. Preliminary analysis suggests it was a side effect of our time space bubbles that was only seen when we were exposed to planar space."
"So," the captain mused. "Our design doesn't work, at least not right. Their new shield contains everything right?"
"As near as I can tell yes?"
"The question is, do we even need to keep the bubbles active. They are a continuous drain."
Severus said, "I was there when Albus cast the Fidelius charm on a house. It took a lot more preparation than what they did, including inscribing runes into the keystones. Until we know more about how safe what they did is, I suggest leaving them. At least I'm presuming the Gamma radiation is less likely to kill us than being exposed directly to this Planar Space?"
Nemo said, "No, both would be very certain to kill us, though the radiation would take time and our magic would tend to reverse the damage. Alright, let's leave them up. Once everything is stable go ahead and start the acceleration, but try to keep it under what can be drawn from the secondary magic converters. Everyone except Fleur and Victor are relieved. We will change to a three shift pattern. Fleur,Victor, and myself will take the A shift. Nadia, Severus, and Samantha will take B shift. Lafiel, Harry, and Hermione will take C shift. We may change these patterns a bit as needed, but that should work. Under no circumstances will the bridge be manned by less than three. If your on it and there are fewer, then wake someone up, and if that doesn't work, wake me up. While on shift, one person can be out of their seat, walking, getting a drink, or whatever, but must be within a minute of their station."
Samantha said, "I suggest Garnok, Tonks and Moody pick a shift and learn to be a fourth shift."
The captain looked at them and nodded. He then turned to Poppy. "Our hope is that you will be bored, or perhaps find time to teach. Either way, I'm sure you know your duty well." She nodded.
The captain asked, "I need someone to check on the Fairies. They have the only other expanded space outside of the propellant storage."
Luna said, "I will. If they will permit it, I think I'll sleep there sometimes."
The captain shrugged.
He added, "This may seem the boring part of space travel, and if we do our jobs it will hopefully remain so, but this is still a hostile region in a ship not primarily intended for this purpose. If you can, contribute what magic you can to the crystal storage in your rooms." He turned to Poppy again. "I know I don't need to ask, but please check everyone at least daily."
"Of course," she agreed.
The month of travel turned out to be almost boring except about three weeks in they encountered another ship in planar space of an unknown design. It matched nothing in either Lafiel's or the Atlantian database. It also gave no indication it noticed them. It appeared to be a freighter of some type. Either their Fidelius really worked, or someone knew they were there and didn't react. They presumed it was the former. A freighter wasn't necessarily a threat, but no one knew what civilization existed at this time with the technology needed to casually traverse planar space. They hadn't used any active sensors, but their space time bubble certainly looked correct based on records in Lafiel's ship.
In the end no one wanted to particularly add another possible headache to their list of concerns, so they were content to hopefully remain unnoticed.
Exiting planar space was very smooth. They were unsure as to why. The Fidelius was a guess, but it could have also been a fluke. They dropped their primitive space time bubble after exiting the Sord in the system the Atlantians believed their original world was hidden
Nemo said, "Okay if possible, I want an updated design for the space time bubble generator by the time we are ready to leave. We can decide whether or not to implement it then. Now, the fun part is finding the planet. Nadia is the Blue Water telling you anything?"
"Nothing yet. It should be the fourth planet, but it is obviously not, nor does the orbit of the planets appear to be being affected. I did study the Atlantian version of the Fidelius charm. It looks like the veil around the planet was originally based on the same idea, but with compromises to be able to scale to a planet. The temporal part appears to have been based on our research into Planar Space. It was basically a big mix of magical engineering principles."
Garnok said, "The usual methods of detecting a Fidelius may matter here."
"And they are?" asked Nemo.
"Indirectly. We check everything. Air, ground moisture. Transmission of sound in the ground. Muggle laser pointers actually have some use, since their beams sometimes end up jumping, to account for the discontinuous space. The quality of the charm matters. I think we should use Lafiel's ship and bounce light or whatever between it and us."
The captain said, "Nautilus can easily project a low power laser. To be visible in space it is going to have to hit something. I assume that is not a problem Lafiel?"
"Shouldn't be. This could take ages though. I'll start with Daphne as backup, and once she is up to speed for solo flight, we can teach others. Maybe we will get lucky?"
Daphne snorted.
Hermione asked, "What about fuel? Should we do something so not to use up what we can't replace?"
Lafiel yawned. "Shouldn't matter. Very little is required to move at the speeds we need to move. We can program a search pattern that barely uses any. It is just going to be boring. I can send data back with a com laser, which I hope you can interpret, and maybe use as a second detection source. Standard RF will be the fallback, and we already have that working."
Their search pattern took another month of time before they finally found it.
It had moved closer to the Atlantian sun, for reasons yet unknown. Now they just had to figure out how to breech it. The Nautilus just seemed to fly straight through it.
By this time Harry and Hermione were flying the little ship and it was only by accident that Harry got a bit too close that he just saw it. It was amazing.
Hermione immediately radioed, "I believe we have found it. It is a little bigger than Earth, and seems mostly earth like, with about twenty percent more land mass than Earth."
Nadia's voice replied, "You have found it."
The captain added, "Remain where you are for now. We can't see you, but at least you can communicate. If you lose connection, fly back to us."
Harry continued to slowly fly around absorbing what the interface showed him as Hermione did the same with the less precise view screens. Ten minutes later Nemo said, "Swap with Lafiel and Daphne. We are going to try to stay right behind and see if that works."
"Confirmed. Heading back," responded Harry, then flipped the com off and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Didn't want to try you luck landing with a gigantic ship right on your heals?" mentioned an amused Hermione.
"Not particularly no."
"The computer could have done it," noted Hermione.
"I'd rather have Lafiel here. She has the skill to do it herself, and Daphne isn't half bad either. We should make them port keys though, just in case."
"Agreed."
Lafiel and Daphne tried leading Nautilus in at a range of one thousand feet. That failed. They tried activating their primitive space time bubble generator, but it made no difference so they shut it off. They then tried five hundred feet. That also failed. They tried again at one hundred feet. That failed too and Lafiel refused to try any closer.
Luna suggested a rope made of hair. They ended up with one more than a hundred feet long by the time they increased the size with magic. Thanks to a bit more magic the hair used grew back.
The thin rope was highly magical and a spacewalk by Lafiel easily connected it to her craft and then to the Nautilus. The rope was very thin, and was only structurally sound due to the magic they laced into it. The next trip Lafiel made easily got the Nautilus inside the barrier.
When they were barely inside the barrier, Lafiel and Nautilus came to a relative stop and she space walked out to pick up their impromptu rope before returning to her craft and returning it to the Nautilus. They then landed just outside what had been the capital city.
Much to the surprise of everyone, it was intact.