Chapter 4: Hope and Fear
Zach listened to the Doctor's report. "Good work, Doctor. Keep me informed." With that Zach signed off and turned back to his work. This was delicate work, installing a new computer system in a who knew how old of a castle. Suddenly there was a very persistent beeping. He turned around to see the computer console saying that there was an incoming message from the Negh'Var- class ship, I.K.S Vorsoth. "Computer, put message on screen." A small, dirty blond-headed boy appeared on screen. "Hello, Zach," the boy, whose name was Alan, and Zach's cousin said. "What do you want, you twit?" the admiral snapped." Do you realize you've interrupted very important work? DO NOT DO IT AGAIN!" "Sorry, I just wanted to know if I could dock at Starbase 74," Alan said defensively. "Why don't you just ask the admiral in charge of the starbase?"the admiral asked, turning back to his work. "There was no answer."Zach's head wipped around. "No answer, why?" "I don't know, that's why I called you," Alan said. "Permission granted. Go find out what happened." "Cool. If I find people can I attack them with my light saber?" "Only if they are enemies. Now bugger off." The screen went blank. Now maybe I can get some work done, Zach thought. I should never have given him that damn light saber.
*********************
Alan Mohan was a human who'd been given this ship by a Klingon whose life he'd saved. His two cousins Kris and his brother, Brandon, were with him as he beamed down to Starbase 74. What they saw made them throw up. Half- assimilated humans, Borg, and regular Starfleet officers had literally been torn limb from limb. "What happened?" Brandon said, wiping the vomit from his mouth. "A weapon?" Alan asked apprehensively. "No weapon did this, or it would show up on my scans," Kris informed. He had been the only one who didn't get sick. His brother turned to look at him. "Its official, you're not human."
"What do you mean by that?" Kris screamed at his brother, throwing down his tricorder and rounding on his older brother.
"I'm only stating the facts, wondering why you're not throwing up like the rest of us," Brandon said, more then ready to fight his little brother.
"All right, knock it off. We have to get back to the ship and tell Zach why Admiral Stone wasn't answering," Alan said." Come on." The away team returned to the Vorsoth to inform Zach what had happened. "Hail Admiral Baker," Alan told the communications officer. "Hailing frequencies open," he replied. Zach's face appeared on the screen. "What have you learned?" the admiral asked at once.
"Sir, we have very, very bad news," Alan said. "Well, spit it out boy, I don't have all..." "Sir, all the people on the starbase are dead. It looks like the Borg attempted to assimilate the station but something killed them as well," Alan said quickly, anticipating a harsh reprimand for interrupting the admiral." Killed them? Who and, better question, how? I want answers, Commander." Alan sighed in relief, but then snapped too." I can only answer one of those questions, Admiral, and that's how. They were ripped apart. But as for the who, that's a different story."
"One I want told. Find out what happened and report to me what you've found, when you've found it. Baker out." With that he signed off. Alan sighed, wishing his own cousin would be kinder to him. He shook his head and sat down in his chair. A proxcimety alarm blared in his ear the second he sat down. "What in the hell is going on?" Alan snapped, whirrling around in his chair. "A ship just came out of no where!" Kris shouted. "On screen," was all that Alan had time to shout before the unknown vessel opened fire. The ship that appeared on the viewscreen was huge, much larger then the Romulan D'derix Warbird and almost as large as a Borg Cube. Kris confirmed what Alan had been assuming."It's weapons are like nothing I've every seen before. And if all thier shots are as dammaging as that last one were in big trouble."
"Get us out of here," Alan shouted at his helmsman. A second blast rocked the vessel more vilontley then before. "Engines are down and our sheilds and weapons are offline!" Alan looked at the viewscreen and the ship that had beaten him. "Who the hell are they?"
***************************
Harry woke up in the Granger's guestroom coughing and sneezing. Oh, please don't let me be sick, Harry thought grumpily. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Harry said gruffly. "I thought someone sounded a bit under the weather," said the Doctor, entering the room with his medical equipment.
"It's just a head cold. I think I'll be okay," Harry said, maneuvering to get to the door. He really didn't want to have the doctor hovering around him for a half-hour, poking and prodding him.
"Now, you just wait one minute young man. You are sick and I am a doctor, so please sit down and allow me to find out what ails you," the Doctor said, pushing Harry into a chair and beginning to scan him.
"Doc, please. I really don't feel that bad." I'm getting really good at this lying thing, too. I'm not sure I like it, Harry thought.
"Nonsense. A small cold could explode into a big one."
"Or it could just go away," Harry said irritably. He watched the Doctor scan him, and then close his tricorder. "Mr. Potter, you worry too much. Here take this," the Doctor said, handing Harry a hypospray, while putting another against his neck. Harry felt a slight tingle, then watched as the Doctor took the other hypospray from Harry's hand and repeated the process. "There now, that didn't hurt at all did it?"
Harry was surprised, but didn't have time to say anything because Hermione had appeared." I wondered what was going on in here. Come on Harry, you'll miss breakfast. Oh, and by the way, are you feeling well enough to go Diagon Alley?" she asked this very fast and looked both out of breath and worried when she finished. Harry realized that he was feeling better. "Okay, let's go," he replied. "Great. Let's get some food and then we can go to London. Doctor, would you like to come with us?"
"Why, yes I would like to go. Thank you for asking. I've been a lot of places, but never London..." The Doctor continued to ramble as Harry and Hermione walked into the dining room and sat down at the table. "Good morning, Harry dear," Mrs. Granger greeted as they began to eat.
"Good morning, Dr. Granger. How are you this morning?" Harry said remembering Hermione's mom was a dentist. "Oh, please call me Bev. As for how I'm feeling, I'm fine." She smiled, then continued," So, are you two excited about going to Diagon Alley today? I just love going there and chatting with the Weaslys." Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the mention of the Weaslys. "Are they going to be there?" "I'm sure they are, and I can hardly wait." Harry tried to look happy, but his attempt failed. Hermione noticed this.
"Harry, is something wrong? You seem rather fidgety." Harry turned to her and nodded, whispering, "I need to talk to you." Hermione looked worried, and turned to her mom. "Mum, may we be excused?" Mrs. Granger looked at her watch. "Sorry, Moine, but we've got to go. You kids have school tomorrow." Harry suddenly remembered that today was August 31st, and they would be leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow. Then another thought struck him, "What are we going to do with Doc?" The Doctor sighed and replied, "The exchange student will be expecting me. I'm glad you're taking me someplace were they treat holograms as equals."
"Right, well," said Mr. Granger, who had just walked into the room. "I think we should get going. I just received an owl from Mr. Weasly. He says they are eager to see us." I'll bet, thought Harry glumly as they walked toward the garage, It's going to be a long day.
***********************
Zach was getting tired. The Doctor had just informed him that he was following Harry around Diagon Alley. Apparently, Ron had been ill, and hadn't been able to come. Zach smiled thinking about this as he turned back to his computer. "Computer, bring up data file, Weasly, Ronald." The computer showed an updated picture of Ron and his entire history. He frowned when he read the physiological evaluation. It said Ron was unstable and quick to anger, and perhaps even violent. If Potter does have something going with Hermione, Ron won't be very happy. Maybe it's a good thing Ron wasn't at Diagon Alley. As Zach read on, however, his fears were alleviated slightly.
The report said Ron was almost fanatically loyal to his family and friends. He had put his life on the line for Harry several times. Oh, great! A heroic hothead. This could come to good use if Zach ever needed Ron for something. Zach than read his personal correspondence. Most of it was idle gossip and irrelevant information. When he's not around Potter, this kid doesn't have much of a life. Zach decided to then dig into this Ms. Granger's history. Nothing exordinary, except for her spotless record and amazing test scores. There was very little information on her personal life. Finally, there was Potter. Not much of a life until he started Hogwarts. Now it seemed he was in grave danger all the time. This could lead to problems. He might be so determined to stop Voledemort, he could endanger the lives of everyone around him.
"I see you're reading about our Mr. Potter," came Dumbledore's voice. "He appears to be your 'savior'. Unfortunately, he is dangerous even if he's not trying to be," Zach noted, turning to face the Headmaster. The old man only smiled and said, "That's where you come in."
***********************
Delta Quadrant 80,000 light-years from Earth
"WE ARE THE BORG..." A Borg Cube cuts its way quickly towards the opening into fluidic space. "EXSITANCE AS YOU KNOW IT IS OVER." Through the opening come thousands of Species 8472 bioships. "WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DESTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN." The Borg fire their newly modified torpedoes at the bioships which explode, rocking the cubes. "RESITANCE IS FUTILE." They fire again, but this time the bioships are unaffected. They fire their energy tendrils at the cubes, blowing the them out of the way.
The Borg Cubes immediately fall back to their transwarp hub. Unfortunately, this brings the hub under attack as well. Many of the cubes attempt to escape through the transwarp wormholes, but none make it. The hub explodes in a giant fireball.
*************************
Alpha Quadrant
Several Federation starships converge on one of the transwarp apertures in this quadrant, believing that several Borg vessels were about to come through. Suddenly the hole appearing in subspace ruptured, destroying two ships, damaging five more, and limiting all others to pre-warp speeds. Although the circumstances were desperate, all the Starfleet officers were relieved that no Borg had come through. None of them were aware that a small, badly damaged bioship had got past them, heading: Earth, European continent, United Kingdom, close to a certain school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Zach listened to the Doctor's report. "Good work, Doctor. Keep me informed." With that Zach signed off and turned back to his work. This was delicate work, installing a new computer system in a who knew how old of a castle. Suddenly there was a very persistent beeping. He turned around to see the computer console saying that there was an incoming message from the Negh'Var- class ship, I.K.S Vorsoth. "Computer, put message on screen." A small, dirty blond-headed boy appeared on screen. "Hello, Zach," the boy, whose name was Alan, and Zach's cousin said. "What do you want, you twit?" the admiral snapped." Do you realize you've interrupted very important work? DO NOT DO IT AGAIN!" "Sorry, I just wanted to know if I could dock at Starbase 74," Alan said defensively. "Why don't you just ask the admiral in charge of the starbase?"the admiral asked, turning back to his work. "There was no answer."Zach's head wipped around. "No answer, why?" "I don't know, that's why I called you," Alan said. "Permission granted. Go find out what happened." "Cool. If I find people can I attack them with my light saber?" "Only if they are enemies. Now bugger off." The screen went blank. Now maybe I can get some work done, Zach thought. I should never have given him that damn light saber.
*********************
Alan Mohan was a human who'd been given this ship by a Klingon whose life he'd saved. His two cousins Kris and his brother, Brandon, were with him as he beamed down to Starbase 74. What they saw made them throw up. Half- assimilated humans, Borg, and regular Starfleet officers had literally been torn limb from limb. "What happened?" Brandon said, wiping the vomit from his mouth. "A weapon?" Alan asked apprehensively. "No weapon did this, or it would show up on my scans," Kris informed. He had been the only one who didn't get sick. His brother turned to look at him. "Its official, you're not human."
"What do you mean by that?" Kris screamed at his brother, throwing down his tricorder and rounding on his older brother.
"I'm only stating the facts, wondering why you're not throwing up like the rest of us," Brandon said, more then ready to fight his little brother.
"All right, knock it off. We have to get back to the ship and tell Zach why Admiral Stone wasn't answering," Alan said." Come on." The away team returned to the Vorsoth to inform Zach what had happened. "Hail Admiral Baker," Alan told the communications officer. "Hailing frequencies open," he replied. Zach's face appeared on the screen. "What have you learned?" the admiral asked at once.
"Sir, we have very, very bad news," Alan said. "Well, spit it out boy, I don't have all..." "Sir, all the people on the starbase are dead. It looks like the Borg attempted to assimilate the station but something killed them as well," Alan said quickly, anticipating a harsh reprimand for interrupting the admiral." Killed them? Who and, better question, how? I want answers, Commander." Alan sighed in relief, but then snapped too." I can only answer one of those questions, Admiral, and that's how. They were ripped apart. But as for the who, that's a different story."
"One I want told. Find out what happened and report to me what you've found, when you've found it. Baker out." With that he signed off. Alan sighed, wishing his own cousin would be kinder to him. He shook his head and sat down in his chair. A proxcimety alarm blared in his ear the second he sat down. "What in the hell is going on?" Alan snapped, whirrling around in his chair. "A ship just came out of no where!" Kris shouted. "On screen," was all that Alan had time to shout before the unknown vessel opened fire. The ship that appeared on the viewscreen was huge, much larger then the Romulan D'derix Warbird and almost as large as a Borg Cube. Kris confirmed what Alan had been assuming."It's weapons are like nothing I've every seen before. And if all thier shots are as dammaging as that last one were in big trouble."
"Get us out of here," Alan shouted at his helmsman. A second blast rocked the vessel more vilontley then before. "Engines are down and our sheilds and weapons are offline!" Alan looked at the viewscreen and the ship that had beaten him. "Who the hell are they?"
***************************
Harry woke up in the Granger's guestroom coughing and sneezing. Oh, please don't let me be sick, Harry thought grumpily. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Harry said gruffly. "I thought someone sounded a bit under the weather," said the Doctor, entering the room with his medical equipment.
"It's just a head cold. I think I'll be okay," Harry said, maneuvering to get to the door. He really didn't want to have the doctor hovering around him for a half-hour, poking and prodding him.
"Now, you just wait one minute young man. You are sick and I am a doctor, so please sit down and allow me to find out what ails you," the Doctor said, pushing Harry into a chair and beginning to scan him.
"Doc, please. I really don't feel that bad." I'm getting really good at this lying thing, too. I'm not sure I like it, Harry thought.
"Nonsense. A small cold could explode into a big one."
"Or it could just go away," Harry said irritably. He watched the Doctor scan him, and then close his tricorder. "Mr. Potter, you worry too much. Here take this," the Doctor said, handing Harry a hypospray, while putting another against his neck. Harry felt a slight tingle, then watched as the Doctor took the other hypospray from Harry's hand and repeated the process. "There now, that didn't hurt at all did it?"
Harry was surprised, but didn't have time to say anything because Hermione had appeared." I wondered what was going on in here. Come on Harry, you'll miss breakfast. Oh, and by the way, are you feeling well enough to go Diagon Alley?" she asked this very fast and looked both out of breath and worried when she finished. Harry realized that he was feeling better. "Okay, let's go," he replied. "Great. Let's get some food and then we can go to London. Doctor, would you like to come with us?"
"Why, yes I would like to go. Thank you for asking. I've been a lot of places, but never London..." The Doctor continued to ramble as Harry and Hermione walked into the dining room and sat down at the table. "Good morning, Harry dear," Mrs. Granger greeted as they began to eat.
"Good morning, Dr. Granger. How are you this morning?" Harry said remembering Hermione's mom was a dentist. "Oh, please call me Bev. As for how I'm feeling, I'm fine." She smiled, then continued," So, are you two excited about going to Diagon Alley today? I just love going there and chatting with the Weaslys." Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the mention of the Weaslys. "Are they going to be there?" "I'm sure they are, and I can hardly wait." Harry tried to look happy, but his attempt failed. Hermione noticed this.
"Harry, is something wrong? You seem rather fidgety." Harry turned to her and nodded, whispering, "I need to talk to you." Hermione looked worried, and turned to her mom. "Mum, may we be excused?" Mrs. Granger looked at her watch. "Sorry, Moine, but we've got to go. You kids have school tomorrow." Harry suddenly remembered that today was August 31st, and they would be leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow. Then another thought struck him, "What are we going to do with Doc?" The Doctor sighed and replied, "The exchange student will be expecting me. I'm glad you're taking me someplace were they treat holograms as equals."
"Right, well," said Mr. Granger, who had just walked into the room. "I think we should get going. I just received an owl from Mr. Weasly. He says they are eager to see us." I'll bet, thought Harry glumly as they walked toward the garage, It's going to be a long day.
***********************
Zach was getting tired. The Doctor had just informed him that he was following Harry around Diagon Alley. Apparently, Ron had been ill, and hadn't been able to come. Zach smiled thinking about this as he turned back to his computer. "Computer, bring up data file, Weasly, Ronald." The computer showed an updated picture of Ron and his entire history. He frowned when he read the physiological evaluation. It said Ron was unstable and quick to anger, and perhaps even violent. If Potter does have something going with Hermione, Ron won't be very happy. Maybe it's a good thing Ron wasn't at Diagon Alley. As Zach read on, however, his fears were alleviated slightly.
The report said Ron was almost fanatically loyal to his family and friends. He had put his life on the line for Harry several times. Oh, great! A heroic hothead. This could come to good use if Zach ever needed Ron for something. Zach than read his personal correspondence. Most of it was idle gossip and irrelevant information. When he's not around Potter, this kid doesn't have much of a life. Zach decided to then dig into this Ms. Granger's history. Nothing exordinary, except for her spotless record and amazing test scores. There was very little information on her personal life. Finally, there was Potter. Not much of a life until he started Hogwarts. Now it seemed he was in grave danger all the time. This could lead to problems. He might be so determined to stop Voledemort, he could endanger the lives of everyone around him.
"I see you're reading about our Mr. Potter," came Dumbledore's voice. "He appears to be your 'savior'. Unfortunately, he is dangerous even if he's not trying to be," Zach noted, turning to face the Headmaster. The old man only smiled and said, "That's where you come in."
***********************
Delta Quadrant 80,000 light-years from Earth
"WE ARE THE BORG..." A Borg Cube cuts its way quickly towards the opening into fluidic space. "EXSITANCE AS YOU KNOW IT IS OVER." Through the opening come thousands of Species 8472 bioships. "WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DESTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN." The Borg fire their newly modified torpedoes at the bioships which explode, rocking the cubes. "RESITANCE IS FUTILE." They fire again, but this time the bioships are unaffected. They fire their energy tendrils at the cubes, blowing the them out of the way.
The Borg Cubes immediately fall back to their transwarp hub. Unfortunately, this brings the hub under attack as well. Many of the cubes attempt to escape through the transwarp wormholes, but none make it. The hub explodes in a giant fireball.
*************************
Alpha Quadrant
Several Federation starships converge on one of the transwarp apertures in this quadrant, believing that several Borg vessels were about to come through. Suddenly the hole appearing in subspace ruptured, destroying two ships, damaging five more, and limiting all others to pre-warp speeds. Although the circumstances were desperate, all the Starfleet officers were relieved that no Borg had come through. None of them were aware that a small, badly damaged bioship had got past them, heading: Earth, European continent, United Kingdom, close to a certain school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.