It took the normal two weeks to reach Vulcan. Riker's commitment for treatment was coordinated through the Vulcan Security Directorate. Regardless of the fact that it wasn't punitive, Riker's treatment was a plea bargain and all issues had to be handled formally.

Harry had another problem as well. His dreams sometimes included an occasionally recurring images he was unfamiliar with. In it, he stood before a large stone in the shape of a rough circle. He stood in front of it and it spoke. Its words that seemed strange; "Let me be your gateway," was the phrase he remembered most easily.

All in all, the ring reminded him of the Veil of Death without the cloth covering and much rougher in appearance. He would be quite hesitant to jump through any portal without knowing exactly what he was getting into.

Harry brooded about the dream on the way to Sherman's Planet, a planet very close to Klingon space. It had been a world under contention during the Klingon/Federation cold-war before the Khitomer Accords. Now it was an exporter of something called quintotriticale.

The cereal grain, a descendent of a twentieth century hybrid of wheat and rye called triticale, was widely used by different planets as a foodstuff. Griffon was scheduled to pick up a large load and deliver it to Boreth, located in the Klingon Empire. A portion of their load, however, was to be kept for their next mission. It was to be used for animal feed.

Once that shipment was dropped off, Griffon was scheduled to move on to Kazar, home to a humanoid species that had special abilities with all types of animals. Apparently they enjoyed the ability to do some type of astral projection/mental transportation as well as telekinesis. Griffon was set to pick them up to help transport a large herd of animals from another planet to a new colony world that was being set up. Kazarites were widely employed to take care of herds of animals throughout the Federation.

Harry was interested in finding out if their abilities were based on magic or just mental power. As a result, he arranged for the group of fifteen Kazarites to be picked up by the Bruce and transported to Marius, where the animals were to be picked up.

This would actually save the colony launch several thousand credits and about an extra two weeks of travel time. Marius was in the opposite direction of Kazar from Boreth. On the way, the Bruce would stop near Gorn space to deliver Harry's attempt at a Cardassian Vole-delivery system. Worst case? The Gorn didn't like them and it was a pointless exercise.

It had taken weeks, but the Griffon was finally landing the herd of cattle-like animals at their new home.

Harry had picked up the Kazarites and delivered them as required. During the trip, Harry had spent some time with his guests. While impressive, he had found no trace of magic in them. Their abilities were almost entirely mental/spiritual.

Harry sat on his Bridge. "How long until Griffon is unloaded?"

"Two hours, Boss," Dawkins replied.

Harry nodded to himself. "Link in to Krim and …"

Dawkins interrupted him. "Boss? We've got an alert coming in!"

Harry let out a breath. "What is it?"

Dawkins was reading his console. "Federation Starship Enterprise calling for emergency backup! Priority 1. Following destruction of Amargosa star system, attack against Veridian star imminent."

"How far away are they?" Harry asked.

Dawkins and Martinez worked together and Charlie Martinez reported finally, "At best speed, Griffon is 38 hours out. It would take us even longer."

Harry huffed. "Get me Krim directly."

A quick consultation was made and Griffon sped up the colony launch as much as possible, reducing the required time to 35 minutes, but they would need to leave a team and a runabout to help set up some of the equipment.

Once that order was given, Harry contacted Earth via Mirror Relay to ask Buckingham to pass on the message – Subspace took more time than Mirror Relay.

"Okay, Dawkins. While Griffon is waiting for the last runabout launches to return, let's set up."

"Aye, Cap'n."

Having done it several times, it took only a few short minutes to park the Bruce on top of Griffon. Once locked in Harry called Krim. "As of this moment, Griffon has full command and control of BSS Bruce, officially logged by Commodore Harry Potter, commander BSS Bruce."

Krim replied, "Captain Krim Aldos of BSS Griffon acknowledges."

Dawkins nodded at Harry – computer control had been transferred. "Okay. How long till you launch, Captain?"

"The runabouts will be within the inertia field if not landed in six minutes. As soon as that occurs, we take off for Veridian space, Commodore."

"Good. I'll stay on Bruce in case we need to disconnect quickly. Just let us know what's needed."

"Aye, Commodore."

Because the warp field might need to be tweaked and power settings on Bruce could interfere if handled incorrectly, nominal control had to be turned over to the larger ship during warp maneuvers. The step had allowed the power adjustments by Griffon to maintain the warp bubble.

Harry didn't really understand how it could all work but as long as it did work, he just accepted it.

Harry's pessimistic prediction that they were too far away to help with the fight was borne out when still 18 hours from Veridian, a general distress call was sent out. Enterprise had been severely damaged and required assistance with picking up survivors, though the immediate danger had been resolved.

Harry messaged Starfleet that they were in position to recover all survivors and to transport any recovered materiel as well. Starfleet accepted but also had other ships on their way as well.

When the ships arrived in system, Harry took the Ravenclaw down to the surface. Picard and Riker were waiting. "Captain Picard. We hear you need some assistance."

The dignified man replied, "Yes. Starbase 152 has passed word that BSS Griffon would be transporting my crew?"

"Affirmative." Harry tapped his badge. "Potter to Krim."

"This is Krim."

"Okay. Drop your orbit."

"Yes, Commodore."

Harry grinned and pointed up. Riker and Picard looked up and BSS Griffon became visible in the sky.

Riker whistled appreciatively. Picard peered at it. "I've heard reports, but they don't do her justice."

Harry smiled. "She was built to do colony launches and large relief efforts. I think transporting a thousand crew and family, chattel, and any classified technology qualifies."

Riker was curious. "Classified technology?"

Harry nodded. "Enterprise was the flagship. According to Starfleet Command, many of her systems are classified and Veridian is too close to the Klingon border, and Romulan space isn't that far away either. This is about as far as you can go and still be in Federation space in this direction. While speaking to Starfleet Command, they asked us to transport that as well."

Picard was almost incredulous, though his tone only spoke of mild surprise. "You spoke directly to Starfleet Command despite it being almost six days away by Subspace?"

Harry grinned. "Come on up and we'll get you in touch via Mirror Relay. I have a mirror system that uses magic and quantum entanglement to link instantly. The Gamma Quadrant and Deep Space 9 takes a real-time magical boost and is mostly only one way, but here to Earth? Not hard."

Picard and Riker glanced to each other and the Enterprise's captain said, "I appreciate the chance." He turned and said, "Number One? Start preparing all crew and passengers for transport." Picard asked Harry, "Transporters only or are there shuttles?"

Harry answered, "We have three runabouts on board and one which is coming from the colony we were launching. But if you have any shuttles, we have space for 6 more runabouts or any combination using up that much space. We can carry far more than a Galaxy-class's normal compliment on Griffon."

Picard and Riker looked at each other again and then Picard said, "Well, I suppose we should be off then."

"Of course."

As they walked back to Ravenclaw Harry said, "Sorry about using shuttles and not transporters, but you remember that I can feel the transporters because of magical physiology."

"Of course."

The two men entered the runabout. Picard commented, "This looks more like an Aeroshuttle than Waverider. I had read that the Bruce was based on a Nova Class."

Harry replied, "Yes. But I was willing to sacrifice a bit of space on Bruce to get the same 'built-in' look for my shuttle."

"The Calypso is also flush with the underside of the saucer section." Picard sighed. "It is impossible to launch under current circumstances."

"I understand." Harry accepted Picard's assistance as co-pilot and the two men flew the shuttle up. "How did the drive section get destroyed?"

"Professor Soran, who was responsible for the destruction of the Amargosa star, hired a Klingon captain and ship to assist him. They were the last ship loyal to the Duras family."

Harry's face took on a disgusted look. "Lursa and B'Etor."

"Yes – the Captain was attempting to pay back anyone who had assisted in their death. Worf was present when they were turned over. According to some of the things said, you and the BSS Bruce would have been next."

Harry asked, "What happened to the ship?"

"Destroyed, but not before inflicting catastrophic damage to Enterprise. By sheer chance the main damage was to the drive section and the vast majority of my people were saved by separating."

Harry recognized the man's tone. "How many were lost?"

Picard replied stoically, "Twelve."

"I am sorry your ship and twelve crew were lost. But I am glad that most could be saved."

"Thank you."

Harry set Picard up via Mirror Relay via Buckingham. Harry also promised to install a Mirror Relay on Starbase One as there were wards there to support the magical drain.

Even as Griffon began moving people and material up, Harry visited Selene.

"You need something, Harry?" Harry had asked that she call him by name in private.

"Yeah. I'm considering how hard it would be to create a Mirror Relay without an active map ward collecting magic on a ship. My father's mirrors didn't require that but they were only used on Earth, which has a small magical field in the background to keep it charged. Can you calculate how big a wardstone would be needed to power a Mirror Relay?"

Selene considered it. After a moment in her dreamy tone she replied, "I will have an answer before we reach Earth."

"Thanks, Selene." Harry left her research area with a smile.

Due to the size of Griffon and the number of runabouts available, the transfer of people took only a few hours. The Griffon crew easily arranged quarters on board for everyone – Griffon could have carried ten times as many easily.

When the people and chattel had been brought up, a meeting was held. Harry allowed Krim to run it.

"We've recovered all personnel. How long would it take to recover the equipment which cannot be left behind?"

La Forge was in charge of this and spoke. "We do have USS Nautilus and USS Raging Queen en route to assist in recovery actions."

Picard asked his Chief Engineer, "Will they need us to remain?"

La Forge replied, "Only at the beginning. It will be at least another thirty hours until they can arrive. I don't think Griffon's availability was taken into account when the orders were cut."

Krim said, "Possibly. But Starfleet has been alerted directly via Mirror Relay." He glanced at his boss and then looked at Picard. "There is one more possibility."

Picard asked, "And that is?"

Krim replied, "Griffon was designed to be able to direct a massively powered tractor beam. While the saucer of a Galaxy class is larger than a Jem'Hadar scount vessel, I do think we could successfully pull one from a planetary surface."

Picard was shocked. "Is that viable, Lt. Commander La Forge?"

Geordi considered it for a long moment. He then said, "I'm willing to study it, but the damage to the saucer section was extreme. I think that structural integrity is too compromised to attempt it."

Picard spoke to Riker in quiet tones. He then said, "As we would have at least thirty hours until we can leave anyway, take the time to rest first and then take the day to check if the saucer can be retrieved in one piece. If there is any question, we will reject the proposal."

Everyone echoed their agreement.

Picard looked at the tired crew members and then to their hosts. "I think everyone has done what they can for the day. We'll be ready to answer tomorrow."

Krim replied, "That's fine. Just know that the offer is made."

Harry spoke up. "I would like to get moving toward Earth soonest. While I am happy we were available to assist with this emergency, Griffon does have another mission scheduled in three weeks. That can be put off if necessary but I would like to minimize such occurrences."

Griffon crew members were waiting to direct the visitors toward their rooms. The senior staff were put in the VIP quarters.

Krim and Harry walked with Picard. Krim said, "In addition to quarters and the various Holodecks, you can also use the Griffon's theater if you wish to perform the memorial services for your people there."

Picard almost paused in his strides but asked, "Theater?"

Krim explained, "This ship was designed to transport and the keep busy several thousand people at a time. One aspect that Sir Harry asked for was a hall which could be used for the crew or visitors to watch holo-concerts, live shows or for meetings. If a colony leader, for example, needs to speak to all of his people together, it can seat up to 1200 people. It is based on an old-Earth theater called the Royal Albert Hall, though it is much smaller."

Picard looked at Harry. "Royal Albert Hall?"

Harry replied, "It was the premier British concert venue in my time. When anyone wanted to perform for the Queen, this was the hall used. We couldn't fit a hall for five thousands on a ship, but the basic layout made smaller could be done. It, like the garden, traverses more than one deck."

Picard nodded. "I appreciate the use of it. We will have the memorial service when we get underway."

Krim said, "I will make arrangements with your First Officer."

Harry said, "If this incident had occurred just a month from now, this operation could have been done by the USS Simurgh. I think that's the launch date for the Federation's first of two Griffon-class ships."

Picard got in the lift with the two men. "I wasn't aware that was common knowledge."

Harry smirked. "It isn't. But the use of the design was licensed from me through the Royal House of Windsor. I was aware that you knew and Krim was also in the know. A number of our crew members had input on design and construction."

Pircard chuckled. "I imagine." He looked thoughtful. "It is an impressive ship."

Harry nodded to Krim to take it as it was his ship. "Thank you. It isn't designed for exploration, but it is designed for large-scale logistics in peace time."

Harry said, "And defense if required. It isn't really built for offensive action, but it is designed to defend a star system from massive attack if necessary."

Krim chuckled. "Attack would require support vessels faster than runabouts. I would hesitate to invade with ships limited to Warp 5."

Picard considered that. "I will admit that large-scale operations can take a large amount of coordination under normal circumstances. One ship large enough to transport people and materiel does make it easier."

Krim said, "Of course, it takes a lot of people to run it. I have close to 2100 crew members." The numbers had jumped after survivors from New Bajor had signed up.

Picard asked, "Do you need that many?"

Harry volunteered, "When empty, it's overkill. But when we're moving thousands of refugees, the extra personnel are busy."

Krim said, "We do have a section just to manage the personal education and advancement of our crew. A number are studying remotely through a number of universities within the Federation. The University of Bajor had to bow to several Cardassian rules to stay open. Many Bajoran crew members plan on returning to Bajor and helping to help reverse the degradation of Bajoran education during the Cardassian occupation."

Picard said, "A noble goal."

The next day the various Enterprise crew members were given access to the computers on Griffon to help correlate the scans of the saucer section and determining if lifting the saucer section was a viable option.

Finally, after several hours, it was determined that it was possible to lift the saucer with one day of quick patches created on Griffon could be installed first. No one was attempting to make the saucer fully space worthy. The intention was to prevent any buckling due to stresses.

The inertial dampeners on the saucer were repaired as much as possible and additional parts were installed. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

Power was transferred from the Bruce, which landed next to the saucer and connected directly.

Once the power reserves were full enough to maintain the inertial dampeners for an hour, the power connections were disconnected and the BSS Griffon instantly connected with a tractor beam when the word was given.

Harry decided that Georgi La Forge was a technological wizard. The man somehow got the landing struts on the saucer section extended and reinforced. This allowed the saucer section to be parked on the designed landing platforms on Griffon's top instead of being lashed to the bottom as had been planned.

USS Nautilus and Raging Queen did arrive during the operation and Nautilus would fly as escort with Griffon and Bruce. USS Raging Queen would do the final recovery of any technology which might have been knocked off Enterprise.

The convoy would be limited to Warp 8.26, Bruce's maximum cruising speed, but if necessary, Griffon could cloak, Bruce could cloak, and the Miranda-class Nautilus could increase speed to 9.2 for twelve hours.

Everyone hoped that such a move would be unnecessary, despite the fact that there was a part of the trip which would require the convoy to move almost adjacent to Romulan space.

Picard was the senior Captain for the Federation and Harry put Krim and himself under the man's directions for the trip – Harry was a savant when it came to personal battle but still had less than a year's experience as a ship's Captain.

Halfway across the passage which was parallel with the border, the routine was interrupted. "Alert to Nautilus and Bruce; Romulan ship detected within scanning range."

Harry asked, "Is the channel open?" Dawkins nodded. "Potter to Picard; are we expected to act?"

"No, Commodore. The alert is just in case. Currently, I don't expect them to act."

Harry considered. "If they move closer, suggest dropping to impulse, launching runabouts, and then resuming at Warp 5."

There was a pause. "I'll take that under advisement. Picard, Out."

Harry shrugged. Stolel spoke up from tactical, "It is a sound idea, Commodore. It would give the convoy four more ships to defend." The fourth runabout had linked up a day out from Veridian.

"Thank you, Stolel."

The Romulan ship stayed on its side of the border and the convoy deescalated the alert after the Romulans hadn't been seen on scanners for two days.

On the way to Earth, Harry did get a message from his factor on Cestus III: The Gorn did like Cardassian voles, but not as much as they liked Earth rats. Harry mused that a better diet for the voles than what they had scavenged on Deep Space 9 would probably make them taste better to the Gorn. But he wasn't going to worry about it at the moment.

Thirteen days into the trip, Selene Lovegwood produced a proposal to land the Bruce on the secondary landing platform on Griffon. She had found a warp field modification which could allow Griffon to travel at 8.9 even with the two ships attached. The Enterprise saucer section was the problem as it was much larger than even the Bruce as a whole.

Griffon was 1400 meters long and there was a secondary landing section. It hadn't been used for the scout ships as the landing struts were in the wrong place. The Bruce hadn't landed on the Griffon for this trip as the speed couldn't be improved beyond Warp 8.3, the difference between Bruce's cruising speed of 8.26 was unnoticeable if lives were not on the line.

With Griffon now able to stably go to 8.9, the difference was now worth it. The Miranda could go 8.8, which was the cruising speed they used.

All in all, it took a month for the BSS Griffon, BSS Bruce, and USS Nautilus to return the main section of the USS Enterprise D to the Utopia Planetia shipyards.

As thanks for the work to bring back their people and the Enterprise's saucer section, the Federation was going to install a Class 7 warp engine on Bruce. It wouldn't get it to 9.975 like a class 9 could push an Intrepid class, but with the modifications to structural integrity, the BSS Bruce would be able to max out at 9.6, and would have a top cruising speed of 9.2. On a ship the size of Enterprise, the Class 7 engine was slower. But neutronium coating on certain struts allowed the Bruce to take advantage of the extra power.

Harry took a two week vacation on Earth and left Dawkins to watch over the modifications to Bruce.