A/N: All stardates are made up. Consensus is that the shows did that too.
Captain's log, stardate 10245.4. On our journey through the delta quadrant we have encountered an interesting nebula…
"Captain, we are approaching the nebula, distance one million kilometers." Paris said as he brought the ship into a parallel cruising course.
"Ensign, agent, begin active scans." Janeway stated as she looked at her display computer on the arm of her chair.
The bridge was silent for a few minutes as the scanners did their work. Everyone was looking at the outputs of the scans.
"That's interesting Captain," Chakotay said, looking at his PADD, "there are currents inside that nebula."
"It's also rich in Omicron particles." Ensign Kim piped up.
"Aah yes," Harry said, as he looked at his scanning console. "What you can't see from your sensors is the nature of this nebula. Captain," he said looking at her, "Permission to bring Kes onto the bridge."
"Permission granted, Agent." The captain nodded at him. "According to Starfleet command her and her people have been seconded into Section 31, and will begin training under wizards to work on unlocking their people's potential."
Harry nodded back at her, and entered in a command on his console, sending a message to Kes to come to the bridge. He got an acknowledgement immediately.
"She's on her way Captain."
"Good. Captain to the Doctor."
"Come in Captain." Joe's voice came in over the comm system.
"I would like you to perform your own analysis of this nebula. We're seeing interesting patterns to the phenomenon, and I know processing massive amounts of data is your forte."
"Aye, Captain. You will have my analysis soon. Joe out."
The turbolift doors opened, and Kes came out. "Reporting for Duty, Captain." She said as she walked onto the bridge.
"Welcome, Kes." Janeway smiled. She pointed at Harry's console. "You can join Agent Potter over there." she said gently, motioning towards the intelligence bay stationed next to the conn..
"Thank you," Kes said as she walked over to Harry's console and sat on the offered seat.
"Kes, I would like you to reach out with your mind like I showed you, towards the nebula."
Kes closed her eyes, and the bridge crew could see the concentration on her face.
"I can feel something out there, a large presence. It's, animalistic in nature. Its mind is very simple."
She opened her eyes. "It's mostly harmless - it's drifting through space on its own power, and it has enough of an ecosystem that it doesn't need to eat anything. I feel like it's hovering on the border of sapience, and given enough time could grow into an intelligent being."
"Joe to the Captain." The doctor's voice blared through the comm.
"Go ahead Doctor," The Captain said, looking at Kes with amazement.
"That nebula is alive, Captain." Joe said excitedly. "The eddys you scanned are part of a circulatory system, and the central nebula is protected by large swathes of omicron particles. It has its own circulatory system, and has rudimentary brain waves."
"The scans show that it would be inadvisable to enter this being - I think it would likely digest us, or worse, see us as as a foreign body and attack us. The power in that nebula is more than the output of our warp drive by a factor of one thousand."
"Fascinating, Doctor." The Captain said. "We just got told from Kes that the being has an animalistic nature, and it's mostly harmless, but yes we won't enter it."
"EK, I'd like for you to put out a warning buoy letting passers by know not to disturb the creature. It's possible that some down on their luck being might see the omicron particles in that nebula as a readily available source of energy." The captain said, as she stood up.
"Kes, Harry, Could you please come to my ready room?" She asked as she started walking towards the door to the captain's hideaway. Harry and Kes soon followed her through the door.
o~o~o
"Shall we?" Janeway motioned towards the couches and walked over to the replicator. "Tea?" She asked, and getting assent a steaming pot of tea and three glasses were placed on the table after the replicator produced them.
"Congratulations, Kes," Janeway started, "I'm happy to see your people get the training you need."
"Thank you Captain." Kes smiled, sipping at her tea.
"My orders from Starfleet were vague, Agent. They said you would clarify them." Janeway turned to Harry with a piercing look in her eye.
"Sorry Captain," Harry gulped down his mouthful of tea, wincing at the heat. "Section 31 is used to having the run of things, so they are still getting used to full cooperation with Starfleet. The long story short is that I am still here under an advisory role, in the same way as all Agents have been in the past, it's just that Kes will be joining me on the bridge to help further her training."
"Captain, if I may?" Kes asked. Janeway looked at her and nodded. "My people have long had telepathic abilities, but it wasn't until you helped repair The Caretaker and we met the wizards that we realized just how far our abilities could go. The Caretaker along with some wizarding specialists and a group of us determined just what sort of powers we had, apart from the basic telepathic powers we all displayed."
"That's what we were doing in the Ocampan system for 6 months Captain." Harry said. "The wizarding world and Starfleet decided then and there to start releasing knowledge of our powers to select members of the Federation, especially since we had finally encountered a species with powers to rival ours."
"So does that mean that this is a sort of cultural exchange, you being here Kes?" Janeway asked.
"That's part of it, yes. I'm here for training as I am the most powerful telepath of my species, I just don't have much control or training compared to most wizards. There's also the dimensional shifting aspect which we only found out about a few missions ago. It's partly cultural as well, our species have spent most of their lives underground on the same planet, so it's refreshing to be able to explore the universe and meet new and exciting species."
"The other reason Captain is that the Ocampans have agreed to join the Federation. Them embedding in Starfleet and training under wizards will help bootstrap their skill sets, meaning Starfleet as a whole is more able to respond to threats. Think the Borg, part of the reason for this mission into the Delta quadrant is because Starfleet command knew the Borg were here."
Janeway's eyebrows raised. "Why wasn't I notified about this, Agent?" She asked. "I'm the Captain of this ship, but it feels like you're above me in rank and end up knowing more than me. As far as I knew we were only coming here to assess the long range transportation abilities of the array, not to go after the Borg."
"That's true." Harry agreed, "and again, I'm sorry. There were contingencies after contingencies that were told to me as the ranking Agent on the ship. In the event of us becoming stranded here you would have been informed. In the case of your death, the senior staff would have been informed."
Harry sighed. "I will speak to my leaders about releasing more of this information to the captains of vessels, rather than the agents. Just remember Captain that for the longest of times we had to keep this sort of information secret due to what would happen if someone found out about the wizarding world."
"I think perhaps more cooperation is in order, Harry. I can take finding out from you in here, but if you revealed information like this on the bridge in front of the crew they may feel like I do - that it's essentially Section 31 leading Starfleet around, not Starfleet."
"Agreed Captain," Harry said. "I will talk to my colleagues in Section 31 reminding them cooperation is key."
"Thank you Harry. And again, welcome to the Federation, Kes." Katherine said.
o~o~o
Harry and Kes walked down the silver corridors of the Starship Voyager, their bootsteps echoing off the walls.
"Harry," Kes said hesitantly.
"Yes?" Harry asked.
"I sense that you held back from Captain Janeway. Is there more to this joining between the Wizards, Federation and Ocampan peoples?"
Harry looked at her as they entered the lab. "You're very perceptive Kes. To think that a few months ago your people's abilities were mostly unrealized." He chortled, "Of course, you are right. There is more to the joining than the Captain and most of Starfleet know. Your people have as I've said before dimensional abilities greater than our own, able to view alternate time streams before they happen."
"Tell me Kes," he said as he looked into her blue eyes, "what do you think the general Federation will think if the Ocampan's abilities become widely known in the same way as the wizards?"
Kes's brow furrowed as she looked over the lab, it's blinking equipment providing no distraction for her racing thoughts. "We'll be used." She said as she looked at Harry. A pleased grin split his face.
"Correct. As it stands now the treaty between the Federation and my peoples is still being written. We are afraid of a wizard-specific post, in the same vein as what we have now with the agents of starfleet intelligence which we second into from time to time. We are happy to help out, but don't want Starfleet or the Federation dictating terms to us. It's like I said to the Captain before, imagine if there was a preference for wizards on away teams."
Harry sighed. "This issue is very difficult, because on the one hand we want to help out, but on the other we don't want to be taken advantage of, including things like preferential treatment because of our abilities. On the other hand, we should be put in certain posts because of our abilities."
"Your people have spoken at length about these laws and treaties Harry, but why do you need such heavily worded treaties and laws? Surely people follow the gist of the law, not the bare words. That's how it is on our world."
"Aah, you don't have lawyers." At Kes's confused look he continued, "Lawyers are there to get around the letter of the law to confuse meaning and semantics to make the law say things that wasn't in the spirit of it. Or sometimes to take cold words and get the spirit of the law out of it instead."
"Over time, the lawyers have made laws more complicated because of people being able to get away with breaking the laws, so more laws are made. Then if other things happen that people think need to be stopped more laws get created on top of those laws. Eventually they've ended up like they are now, where you need a whole education in them to understand."
"Now, in saying that," Harry sat down and motioned to Kes to sit as well, "Wizarding laws are no better, and in some cases are much, much worse. The part that is difficult for treaties between us is that the wizarding world law is fundamentally different to non-magical law. You have two sets of laws which are both based off events that happened in the distant past. There's basically no overlap between them."
"So are your people having problems defining common ground with the Federation law?" Kes asked.
"Yes, in matters as simple as what is considered sentient, or sapient if you prefer. We have a precedent going back around 350 years which considers beings which the Federation would consider animals sapient. It's frustrating because we've been aware of these differences for a long time, but the revealing was rushed so the groundwork for most of this wasn't done."
"Groundwork?" Kes questioned, "Do you mean wizards attempting to change the Federation laws so they are more compatible?"
"Yes. It was meant to be starting in 5 or so years time but the expansion into the delta quadrant and finding your species accelerated the timeline for this."
"Why? Why would finding my people accelerate this?" Kes asked, leaning forward.
"Your people are very similar to mine in regards to power. We couldn't just stand by and see how your fate with the Federation played out, we had to have a hand in it publically. We had to set a precedent, and if something went wrong then two peoples with powers would be a stronger case than just one."
"Ok, that's enough boring politics." Harry said as he leaned forward, "Now show me how your manipulation of time is going."
o~o~o
Harry and Kes entered the Holodeck, greeted by an old wooden bar, its main feature a large pool table, with Tom and Harry playing, the air hazy with smoke.
"Hey fellas," Harry said, "Nice place you made here Tom."
"Thanks Harry," Tom said, "It's a place called Chez Sandrine - it's a bar in Marseille, in France. I spent a lot of time here as a cadet, and even more afterwards. I love this place," He looked around and smiled fondly, "It has a great atmosphere."
"It's certainly cozy," Kes added, looking appraisingly at the bar. "Does that bar serve alcohol?" She asked, looking over at the female bartender leaned up against the bar.
"Of course, but it's synthohol, sorry," Tom said, lining up his next shot.
"Sounds good to me, I haven't had a chance to try it yet." She said as she walked up to the bar and spoke to the bartender.
"She's quite adventurous, isn't she," HK said as he looked at Kes appraisingly.
"What does it feel like," HK started as Kes walked over carrying a drink, "To be able to scan space and beings with your mind, Kes?"
Kes took a sip of her drink as Harry walked over to the bar. "Gents, anything? He asked on the way, and nodded as they gave their answers.
"Well Ensign, it's like I'm in the middle of a rolling ocean, being able to feel all of the waves and currents around me in a large radius."
"Doesn't that get overwhelming?" Tom asked as he grabbed the beer Harry got for him. HK did the same as he looked curiously at Kes for her answer.
"At first, after Harry showed me how, yes. But now all of that noise is background. I can let my instincts and knowledge guide me on what is more important. I can also focus on a point, like with the nebula today. I'm still learning though, sometimes it's hard to block everything out, and sometimes I've felt so much that my senses become numb." She shrugged and took another sip of her drink, already half gone.
"So do you know what everyone is thinking?" HK asked.
Kes laughed, her light laughter contagious, causing the others to smile along with her. No, my powers require more direction and concentration to do that, and I don't have quite enough discipline yet. I can only get feelings at the moment, but even then they're vague and I have to concentrate to get them."
"That's fascinating. Harry what about you? You've explained some of your powers, how do your people do with mind reading?"
"How about an example, Lieutenant?" Harry asked, and called to the computer to create a deck of cards. Tom nodded his assent, and Harry dealt out 5 cards, face down.
"Have a look at the cards, then I'll tell you what they are."
Tom did so, picking up the cards, as soon as he looked at them Harry called out "Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten of Spades."
He looked at Harry in surprise. "Did you stack the deck as well?"
Harry nodded.
"Holy shit, I'm not playing cards with you ever." he laughed. "That's some scary stuff Harry, can you dig deeper and get childhood memories or things like that without anyone becoming aware of it?"
"Not really. You need to have line of sight to their eyes, and they will feel something, I've heard it described as an insatiable need to remember something, feeling like someone's rifling through your memories."
HK looked concerned. "Do you have any rules on when to use it?"
"Not really. Like the prime directive with Starfleet now, it's up to the particular case and every case gets judged the same. So something like this where I'm demonstrating to you is fine. Something like getting all of the memories out of the two Vidiian's is fine because of their crimes. It wouldn't be fine to do this as I'm walking past a random woman on the street however, because there's no justification for that, just curiosity."
"And what's the punishment?" Kes asked, looking curiously up at Harry.
"Well, that's more complicated. If the offender is useful to the wizarding world, then they get put into time dilation with certain therapists who are longer living than humans. If they're not then they get put into therapy still, just not under time dilation. What their reoffending chance is determines their level of incarceration."
"So if someone is 'useful'," HK used air quotes, "they get better treatment? How is that fair?"
"It's been that way for hundreds of years Harry. During the time that law was passed the number of wizards was severely diminished because of World War III. Over time the law just seems to make a lot of sense, and hasn't been repealed. I've even gone through the time dilation system a few times during my younger and more rash years."
"What for?" Tom asked, eagerly looking at Harry.
"That's a story for another time," Harry smirked as the door opened and Janeway and the rest of the senior staff came in.
"Captain! Welcome to Chez Sandrine!" Tom grinned, spreading his arms with a flourish. "I created this haven for the crew to relax in while off duty. Care for a game of pool?"
The Captain looked at Chakotay with an amused look on her face, then turned to Paris and said, "Of course. It's been a while since I've played, so I may be a little rusty."
"That's ok, Captain, I'll go easy on you." Tom said as he racked up the balls. "Want to break?" He asked as he handed Katherine a cue, motioning to the table.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Janeway said as she walked up towards the table. With a fluid motion she broke, sinking three balls. She relentlessly sunk ball after ball until only the black eight ball remained.
She looked at Tom and shot at the ball, sinking it in the corner pocket.
"Thanks for the game, Tom." She smirked and walked over to the bar, leaving a shell shocked Lieutenant behind, and the rest of the staff laughing uproariously.
o~o~o
Harry stood outside of the door to the counsellor's office. His finger lightly pressed on the door chime, and a voice cried out "Enter."
As he entered the office he looked around at the spacious, yet cozy room. It was lined with differing chairs - some laid back, some arm chairs, some roman style lazing about chairs. All faced the one oriented towards the door, with Commander Chakotay sitting in it.
"Come in Harry," he said, gesturing towards the array of chairs, "I've been looking forward to this ever since you came on board."
Harry walked across the room, smiling, and sat down in his chair. "So how have you been doing here Harry? It's been just over six months so far, how are you finding being on Voyager?"
"It's been great, it feels like we've really bonded as a family, rather than just a set of crewmates. I think part of that is because I can finally be myself around people."
"What do you mean by that?" Chakotay asked as he keyed something in on his PADD.
"Well, for the vast majority of my career in Starfleet I couldn't tell anyone, or alternatively I could only tell a select few people about being a wizard. It's really freeing that you all know, it makes me feel included, you know? I haven't felt that in some time"
"Tell me about it, when was the last time you felt included?"
"I'm sorry Chakotay, but I don't want to go into it, it's a painful memory." Harry looked down, "I know you're trying to help, but, yeah I don't want to talk about it now."
"Fair enough Harry. Moving on." Chakotay looked at his PADD. "Are you enjoying you new rank of Agent? I've been speaking to people in Section 31 and they told me this was a recent thing."
"Yeah, I'm enjoying it. It's strange to have more responsibility again, for all I'm good at leadership I think I've shied away from it at times because of wanting to help others lead instead. The sensor array is also very cool. I can't wait for the boffins at HQ to come up with a way to let non-magicals use it."
"Interesting. Tell me about it Harry, what's it like using the array?"
"It's a hybrid interface. Partially done through the mind magics, and partially through the tactile interface. It took a little while to get used to, connecting to a computer rather than a mind, but with practice it feels pretty natural now."
"One thing Section 31 is working on in conjunction with Starfleet medical is a nanite interface to bridge the gap between the brain and computer hardware. How do you feel about that?" Chakotay asked.
"I'm a bit dubious, but also excited about the potential uses. It would give the ability to store databases worth of information inside people's heads, allow for instant communication ship or even fleet wide and give us a real shot at being able to take the next leap evolutionary speaking."
"The problem I have with it," Harry leaned forward and looked intently in Chakotay's eyes, "Is that the potential for abuse is too high. If someone got into that computer system and it was able to effect change in the body or brain then it will eventually be used against the people that have it on."
"You're right Harry, that's why they're developing it for now as a view/interact only device. So you can send commands and get information back, but that's it. Viewing the information is like viewing a video. Do you think you're likely to get one implanted when they are created?"
"It depends if I like the idea when they come out. I'm still a bit wary of implants in my body."
"They've figured a way with this of keeping the entire communicator in your body with this technology. So this is a viable way of avoiding the 'take their communicators away' problem. Also, a limited tricorder has been implanted successfully as well, so passive scanning will be possible with this, which again would lead to a lot of benefits if anyone is taken against their will."
"OK, I hadn't heard that," Harry trailed off, and looked around the room, thinking. "OK. In light of that I'll take the implant when it comes. It would be nice to have more than just my senses in a pinch, especially if I have to use magic."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, when I use magic to sense, then fire spells, it bleeds most of the magic from the sensing part, so it's less effective. It would be nice to have something that's not effected by magic."
"Excellent, I'll let them know you've volunteered," Chakotay grinned, "Apparently Voyager is going to be part of the initial rollout, so we'll get to iron out the bugs."
Harry nodded, a serious look on his face. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Moving on again." Chakotay said, again pawing at his PADD. "Roster's all good?" Harry nodded. "Any grievances with your crewmates?" Harry shook his head.
"Do you have anything you want to ask me?" Chakotay asked.
"Yes, how did the first officer of a Starship also become the counsellor? It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense."
"This is experimental Harry," Chakotay answered, "As you know a lot of what voyager is and does is experimental. The first ship to get intentionally sent to the Delta Quadrant, the first ship to break the news about wizards to the crew, the first ship to have the new active sensor array, bioneural gel packs, and so on."
Chakotay looked pensive. "What Starfleet medical has realized over the years is that the Counsellor role and first officer role aren't always mutually exclusive. So first officers have to deal with personnel problems right?" Harry nodded.
"Well, what if that personnel problem was caused by a personal problem?" Chakotay grinned along with Harry. Both chuckled.
"OK, joking aside the traditional way of dealing with this was for the first officer to refer them to the Counsellor, then that's basically it. Unless they asked the crewmember about how it went they wouldn't really have any insights into what was going on. This meant that over time there was a disconnect between the first officer and the crew. The same disconnect that happens between the crew and the Captain as well."
"Starfleet decided on Voyager to try and deal with this in a new way. Because of my background I have more education than most first officers. I enjoy the leadership but also social anthropology which is why I took courses relating to that in Starfleet Academy. The other thing is the Voyager has a more limited crew than most ships, so it makes sense to double up on roles where possible."
"That's really interesting Chakotay," Harry said. "Now that you've explained it it makes sense, but I never saw an issue with the old system. Is Starfleet studying whether you doing both of these roles makes you less effective a leader?"
"Yes, there's a multitude of things they're studying in regards to this, but it's why most of the senior staff have more leadership skills than normal."
"Right, there's just one more thing Harry." Chakotay said.
"You look excited, Commander," Harry said, at the look on Chakotay's face.
"I am. As you know I have a native american background. Well after conversing with Section 31 we discovered that our finding of our spirit animal is a little bit magical. It's a mutation we have in our genome that allows interaction with the higher dimensions enough to tap into it and create our spirit animal, our guiding spirit." Harry leaned forward, looking intrigued.
"What they found is that our methods of finding this animal and communicating with it is like."
"Finding your animagus!" Harry blurted out. "Seriously?" Chakotay nodded. "Fucking finally, so they think it will work for me?"
"Yes, they're very confident that it will work for you Harry." Chakotay smiled. "We can start working on that in future sessions if you are keen?"
"Fuck yeah, I've been trying to do this for most of my life so of course I'm interested."
Chakotay stood up. "Thanks for coming Harry, I'll send some material over to you so that you get the general idea of the procedure before we start it next session. Is that okay?"
Harry smiled, standing. "Sounds awesome. Thanks Chakotay."
As he walked out of the room you could hear him mutter, "Animagus, here I come."