A/N: This entire story is a response from a challenge given by Zevirillion over at DarkLordPotter forums. It's a HP/Farscape crossover. The basic hitch of the story is that instead of John Crichton getting thrown through a wormhole, it's Harry Potter, who's on a quest from Luna Lovegood to destroy the Martians from Mars.
Present
"Luna, this is Farscape One, cruising at 50,000 feet." Harry spoke into the radio. He was clothed in his finest Auror battle dress; crimson red robes with gold trimmings and a raven-black Manticore cloak, and armed with his wand. His new contact lenses were a little bit uncomfortable, but he ignored them as he soared above the world in Farscape One. The module was a smooth and curved white shuttle. Two wings, almost looking like a tailplane, extended from the back of the module, and folded over when the module landed. The nose of the vessel was complete black, and the cockpit had been heavily tinted to prevent direct exposure from the sun. On the side of the module, there was a painted Gryffindor Lion with a black Raven standing on its head. "Merlin, I'm actually flying this thing! I haven't crashed it yet!"
Luna's voice was humoured as she replied over the radio. "You spent over 5000 hours practising in the simulator, you'll be fine."
"I hope so," Harry muttered, more to himself than Luna.
"Harry, before you leave, I have a few people who want to say something to you.'
"Luna?" Harry wondered out loud. "What do you mean by that?"
"Harry?"
"Hermione?" Harry replied in astonishment. "What are you doing?"
"I was about to ask the same thing Harry! Luna invited me over to see your mysterious project! Where the hell are you?"
"I'm in Farscape One," Harry replied automatically, still feeling the surprise dig into him. "What…"
"Harry, this is Lionel. Prepare to engage rocket boosters."
"Roger that," Harry said and flicked a couple of toggles above him. A red light switched on and the craft made an odd noise as Harry aimed the nose of the module at a steep angle.
"Rocket boosters? Harry, what's going on?"
"I'm going to outer space Hermione, to Mars. I'll be back soon." Harry said and smirked softly to himself. "I tell you what; I'll bring you back a souvenir, how about a rock?"
"Mars! Harry, what the hell are you doing? What harebrained scheme are you involved in now?"
Harry ignored her as he flicked another couple of switches and braced himself. "Rocket boosters are active!"
Underneath the module, two orange boosters, bigger than the module itself roared to life. Liquid Oxygen was combusted into an extremely powerful force, accelerating the module towards the sky. Clouds whipped by the cockpit and the module shook madly underneath the powerful G-Forces it faced. Harry gritted his teeth, his enchantments only partially blocking out the dizziness, and gripped the joystick tightly as the module pushed and pushed against the large sky. He had passed the clouds and now faced blackness, filled with millions of twinkling lights. The module groaned again as it passed the upper limits of the atmosphere, before it suddenly calmed itself as it glided through frictionless space.
In the cockpit, Harry stared at the sight before him with breathlessness. The stars, they were beautiful. Space was beautiful. Pitched blackness lit up by millions of stars filled his vision, and he numbingly engaged the camera, taking pictures of the sight he faced.
"Farscape One, can you hear me?"
It took Harry a while to realise that his radio was crackling words out to him, and he hurriedly activated it.
"Yeah, I can hear you."
"Merlin! You scared us there for a second Harry!"
"Hermione, if you could see….Merlin, it's beautiful. I'm in space, I'm in space!" Harry said slowly, almost not believing it himself. A wide grin came over his face as he started laughing in delight, his happiness transmitting back to Earth. "Hermione, I'm in space!"
"We'd noticed."
But the voice had lost most of its sternness and now had underlaying layers of awe, wistfulness and envy in it.
"Farscape One, are…"
Harry didn't hear the rest of the transmission as he yelled out a curse, swinging back on the joystick madly as something glinting and grey spun into his vision. Farscape One pulled back and dodged the object by an inch, veering away madly.
"Farscape One, what happened? Farscape One, please respond?"
"I'm fine!" Harry said, breathing heavily as the adrenaline shot through his system. "I almost hit a satellite, that's all."
From the radio came Hermione's hysterical chuckling, partly amused and partly worried, and Harry couldn't help but grin.
"Alright, I'm going to try that slingshot thingy," He told them.
"You mean the theoretical high-gravitational slingshot manoeuvre that's never been tested before."
"Yeah, that's the one," Harry murmured as he angled the module towards the giant blue-green planet before him. He sucked in a breath at the sight of his beautiful home, but concentrated on his task as he increased the speed of the module. Suddenly the module shuddered as it skimmed the upper atmosphere and he banked up sharply, firing his thrusters. All of the simulation training was put to use here as he carefully skimmed the world. The module shook as he began to increase in speed, leaving fiery streaks in space as he began the slingshot.
"Luna, its working!" He shouted in delight.
"Harry! There's some kind of magnetic……pulse…..solar flare…..Ab-"
Harry frowned and flicked the radio. "Luna, repeat."
"Th…w…can't….interf…stop…ab…"
"What in Merlin's name?" Harry murmured, before something flashed in front of the module. An entire area of space was shimmering and cackling, magnetic forces tugging at each other. Energy cascaded through vacuum, blue cackling energy. Harry's mouth dropped open as his module was tugged towards the phenomena by an unseen gravity. The energy cackled madly and came together in a blinding flash, revealing a tunnel made of swirling blue light.
"Luna, there's something out here! Some kind of tunnel! It's taking me in! Luna!" Harry screamed in desperation over the radio, frantically trying to steer the module away from whatever that thing was. But it was too late, and he was sucked in. A minute later, the tunnel disappeared without a sound.
"Alright, I'm going to try that slingshot thingy," Harry's voice came over the radio in the large hanger.
"You mean the theoretical high-gravitational slingshot manoeuvre that's never beentested before." Luna corrected absently.
"Slingshot thingy? Are you sure he's the right person for the job?" Hermione asked sceptically.
"He has picked up quite a lot of scientific theory, even if he doesn't show it a lot." Lionel responded calmly. The group of three waited for a few minutes in silence, until Harry's voice crackled in the radio.
"Luna, it's working!"
"Luna, there's something wrong!" Lionel suddenly barked, staring at one of the computer screens that were surrounded by the glowing crystals.
Luna took one glance at the readings and her eyes went wide. "Harry, there's some kind of magnetic field, an electromagnetic wave! Wait; there's been some kind of solar flare! It could be related! You have to abort!"
"Luna, Repeat!"
"The pulse, it might be dangerous! We don't know what it can do! It's causing the interference! You have to stop, you have to abort!" Luna shrieked her eyes wide with fear.
Hermione felt something squeezing her heart. Fear pumped into her body, a cold wave of dread. No, Harry couldn't die like this! Not after Voldemort, not after his Auror days! Not like this!
"Luna, there's……………Luna!" Came Harry's lost panicked scream, before the radio went dead. There was utter silence in the room as the three occupants stared with dawning horror and the instruments that indicated that Farscape One no longer existed.
The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, a cascading bombardment of swirling lights. Harry dug into the seat, his hands wrenching the joystick madly as he tried to stay away from the watery-like walls, using his advanced reflexes to stay on the path. The tunnel twisted and turned, went up and down, left and right, back and front, until Harry couldn't tell where he was, where had come from. The light continued to bombard him, bombard Farscape One, and the module swivelled, skidding through space, flipping upside down, banking sharply, left and right, travelling through the tunnel at speeds Harry wasn't able to comprehend. But, after what seemed like an eternity, but had only been thirty seconds, he was thrown from the watery passage and into the vacuum of space.
Harry closed his eyes in relief, feeling the sweat that beaded on his forehead. He tried to relax into the seat, but his body was rushing with adrenaline, and he shook his head dazedly, opening his eyes and activating the radio.
"Luna, what the hell just happened?" He demanded.
There was no response and Harry finally took a good look at the vacuum outside his craft. Earth wasn't there anymore, the planet was gone. Instead, he was slowly flying in some kind of asteroid belt, gliding past twisted, gnarled rocks the size of houses.
"Luna, where am I?" Harry asked in a calm voice, his eyes frantic.
Suddenly something shot past his cockpit and he gave an inaudible yell, his eyes wide as he watched a sleek black spaceship dart past. It had two sleek wings supporting two thin objects that gave him the impression of weapons. These wings extended from a glossy black fuselage, big enough for two people, which ended in a needle-like cone. It radiated technological superiority and deadliness and moved with an ease that Harry felt envious of. Suddenly Farscape One didn't seem that impressive.
Two more of the craft shot past him, missing him narrowly and Harry fired the engines, speeding up to get the hell away from the things, the spaceships. The module suddenly jolted angrily and swivelled madly, and Harry gripped the stick hard, forcing it back on track, but not before he caught a glimpse of a spaceship spinning madly away from him, a streak of white paint on its nose, before slamming into an asteroid and disappearing under a fiery explosion.
"Shit!" Harry murmured and sped past the asteroids, rising above them, before catching his breath at the spectacle in front of him. The dart-like spaceships he had seen were tiny figures against the large convoy in front of him. Several orange vessels, massive vessels with blinking lights and bumpy hulls, stood amongst the stars. They were relatively oval¸ except for the ends, which extended into three sharp curved tails that met together at the end of the vessel. Black curves and ridges decorated the ships, an intricate and beautiful pattern. The spaceships that had darted past him were firing on the one vessel closest to him, tiny pricks of light raining on the surface. Small fiery explosions battered at the hull, but the ship seemed to be taking the punishment well.
"What the hell have I gotten myself into this time?" Harry breathed softly, before his module started moving. Frowning, he pulled back on the stick, but nothing happened. His blood ran cold as some invisible force pulled him through space, towards the giant vessel closest to him. A large side-ways tear shaped door opened on the side of the ship, and before Harry was pulled in, he noticed a large black metal ring strapped around the ship.
Farscape One was pulled large dark tunnel, which converged into a large hanger bay. Twinkling lights gleamed from the roof of the bay, and the walls were made of some kind of dark coloured substance Harry didn't know, and at the moment, he didn't care. His eyes were wide and his astonishment was growing each second he was pulled into the bay. As an Auror, Harry had thought that he had finally seen everything the world had to offer; dark and kind wizards, vicious magical creatures and soulful beings of light, crazy magical instruments and places of impeccable beauty and of haunting desecration, he had seen them all. It looked like it was the universes turn to surprise him, and for a brief moment, he suddenly felt like an eleven-year-old in front of a Great Hall with a hat on his eyes.
Harry suddenly realised that his module was dropping, and quickly extended the wheels. The invisible force gently departed Farscape One onto the hanger floor, and the module rolled for a few meters before stopping. Inside, Harry breathed quickly as he considered his options, his frantic mind racing. Should he get out? Would he be able to breathe? Who brought him on board? Were they hostile?
A tapping noise on the module's cockpit made Harry's head swivel up. A small yellow robot, a thick half-sphere made up of yellow plating and two extended stalks with glowing bulbs, was tapping on the window. Harry frowned and flicked a switch, and the canopy retreated. The small machine gave a surprised squeaking noise as it fell off the module, falling to the ground with a loud clatter. With a wand in his hand, Harry stood up from his module, breathing deeply. The air did appear to be breathable. He jumped from the side of his ship, landing on the ground and coming up with his wand extended. There was nobody there, just a stack of crates at the far end of the hanger and a pair of open doors in front of him.
"Merlin, this isn't good," Harry muttered. He took a tentative step forward, before he remembered the small robot and spun around. The machine was upright and barely bigger than his foot. It rolled across the ground, its wheels hidden underneath its shell, but one of its eyestalks was dangling from a thin thread of metal. It beeped angrily and Harry sucked in a breath.
"Um…are you the…owner…of this spaceship?" Harry asked tentatively. "Can you even speak English? No, of course you can't."
The machine moved forward, coming closer to Harry, before a panel slid forward on its shell and a small needle like appendage emerged, aiming directly at Harry. Harry hesitated, his wand still in his hand. The machine was aiming at him with some kind of weapon, and while he could have tried to blast it away with a curse, he didn't know what that weapon could do to him. Could he shield himself from it? And would the attack on the machine be considered aggressive. Sighing, he slowly placed his wand into his elbow holster and raised his hands.
"Your move, little squeaky thing," Harry told the machine.
The machine seemed to consider this and moved forward, bumping into Harry's black leather shoe. Two other identical machines emerged from the doors, whizzing forward quickly. Harry glanced at them, then at the machine holding the weapon on him. It rammed his foot again and Harry cautiously walked forward to the other machines, which spun around and led him away from the hanger.
He was led through curved passage ways, past doors made of some kind of hardened thick glittery material, past walls which seemed to throb with life. Finally, he was led into a relatively large room with various alien consoles. A large window of some sort gave a magnificent view of the stars, until the ship shuddered and two of the dart-like spacecraft zoomed past. What really attracted his attention though, were the two other occupants in the room. They were aliens.
Harry stared in amazement, any occlumency training of his absolutely useless. There were two aliens standing in front of him with their backs to him. One was a tall humanoid, taller than Harry by at least two feet, easily dwarfing pass the two metre range. His red hair, which reminded Harry of a Weasley, was partially braided, and red-coloured tentacles protruded from the back of his head like hair. He was dressed in red and orange clothes and was slamming a powerful fist down on one of the consoles. The other alien seemed to have a woman's figure but she was literally blue. The back of her head was adorned with golden spots and she wore a gauzy blue gown which hugged her figure tightly. They both seemed to be shouting something at each other in a rapid clicking tongue, too fast for Harry to comprehend let alone translate.
"Um…Hi," He called out nervously, and the aliens turned around. The reddish alien had a beard made up of braided red hair and three small tattooed tentacles. Hair covered his chin and jaw, and his brow was elongated and thick, protruding above two angry eyes. His nose was made of a thick bone-like substance and he was baring sharp teeth. He was right about the blue alien; it was a female of some kind. She might have been considered attractive in an abstract sort of way, but her multi-hued blue eyes were cold and hard. Something like magic seemed to shimmer from below the surface, and of the two, Harry admitted that it was the woman that worried him the most.
The red being spat something out; his teeth were bearing violently as he snarled his sword, which were punctuated by a short tremble through the ship. Harry looked blank; he hadn't understood a word that had just been said. The women also said something, quickly and almost melodiously, but it was just as incomprehensible as the red alien's language.
"I…I don't understand what you're saying," Harry said, his voice only shaking slightly as he gazed at the aliens. They both glanced at each other, almost incredulously Harry thought, before he felt a sharp pain in his foot. He glanced down and saw the broken yellow machine pump a reddish liquid into his foot. It was done as quickly as it started and Harry felt a wave of dizziness come over him.
"…did you come from?" The reddish alien's language suddenly became comprehensible.
"What manner is your craft? Can we use it to escape?" The blue woman demanded.
"What the hell is this? What did it just give me?" Harry asked them in amazement.
"Translator Microbes. They colonise at the base of the brain and will interpret the language signals sent…"
"The lesson can wait," The reddish-alien interrupted impatiently. "We brought you aboard because your ship appeared from nowhere. I have not heard of any technology like that. Is there a way to use it to escape?"
"Um…"
"You remain alive only as long as you are useful!" The reddish-alien spat out, just as another series of trembles rocked the ship.
"Pilot!" The blue woman called out anxiously.
On a device that looked vaguely like a clam-shell extending from the wall, a face appeared of another species of alien. It had large eyes and a lobster-like appearance. Its face was covered by a hard shell, the back of its head protected with a thick plate. Clawed hands, more than two, moved rapidly in the background, pressing instruments off-screen.
"Moya is unable to Starburst until the control collar has been removed!"
"How do we remove it then?" The blue woman insisted anxiously. "It is impossible to tell which connections lead where!"
"Enough of this!" The red alien snapped and pushed the blue alien out of the way, reaching inside to the open console.
Harry, who had been silent, cleared his throat. "Who's Moya?" He asked the blue woman.
"Moya is the ship. She's a Leviathan bio-mechanoid, a living ship," The alien answered softly, examining him closely. "Tell me of your craft. I have never seen a Sebacean vessel as such."
"Sebacean?" Harry muttered, just as the reddish alien pulled a large mesh of tubes from the console. Yellow liquid pulsed from the ends, spilling onto the console and floor, and the ship rumbled. Something rattled loudly and as Harry looked out the window, he saw pieces of the metallic ring he saw on the ship float away.
"You did it!" Pilot exclaimed, relief thick in his voice. "Moya is moving away from the convoy!"
Harry could see that the giant ship, the living ship that he was standing in, was indeed moving. The small fighters continued their bombardment, but their attacks were once again painfully shouldered as the ship moved away from its collared kin, aiming for the blackness of space.
"Can we starburst?" The blue alien asked quietly.
"Moya is unsure; we have been collared for so long…" Pilot trailed off.
"She had better. It is the one defensive manoeuvre that a Leviathan possesses!" The red alien hissed.
"Initiating Starburst!" Pilot called and his image flickered from the screen. Harry stood in the corner by himself, watching with a quiet intensity that bordered on desperation. Something had gone wrong in his life, and now his small universe had both collapsed and gotten bigger at the same time.
Moya moved past the convoy, picking up speed. As Pilot initiated the starburst, the section where Moya's tail met cackled with a brilliant white electrical flow, the energy cascading up the tails. The circular grooves glowed as the energy poured onto the rest of the ship, filling the grooves with the white light, until Moya glowed. Most of the small fighters broke off, retreating to their convoy, but one of them pushed forward. With a burst of energy, Moya disappeared with a flash, taking the fighter along with it.
"Starburst is complete," Pilot announced calmly, but there was a deeper emotion underlying his tone. "We…are free."
The red alien sighed, relaxing his rigid shoulders, and turned around. "We are free. For eight cycles, I dreamed of freedom. And now, I am."
"Pilot, are there any Peacekeeper's about?" The blue alien asked.
"Moya cannot detect…wait! A Peacekeeper Prowler was dragged into our Starburst!"
"Jam its coms, and bring it in!" The red alien growled angrily, whirling around. "Have DRD's meet us in the hanger, and we'll deal with the Peacekeeper!"
The blue alien nodded, but stopped as she regarded the almost-forgotten Harry. "What shall we do with you?" She wondered curiously.
"If you could drop me off at Earth, I'd be grateful." Harry said, and was rewarded with a blank stare. "You know, Earth, the third planet from the sun, the outer spiral of the Milky Way Galaxy, Orion's Belt, Northern Star…and you have no idea what I'm talking about."
The red alien sighed and regraded Harry with anger brewing in his eyes. As Harry slowly slipped his hand towards his wand sheath, the red alien jerked its head forward, and a tongue shot through the air, striking Harry in the neck. Harry gasped, his eyes bulging, and stared at the alien in shock, before he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.