Harry stared at the devastation below them. The colony grade shield generators they had buried had done their job, since most of England still existed, but the university that had been around for nearly a thousand years had taught its last class.
"Viewscreen off," Janeway said in a choked voice. After a moment of stunned silence, she barked, "Computer. Main viewscreen off!" The screen obliged, turning its standard silvery-white. "When we return to our time," she finally said, "we all are going for proper counseling. This is not a situation you simply walk away from."
"And yet, in all of that horror we just unleashed, Captain," Harry said softly, "we have just prevented someone far worse from coming to power. With that thing in place, we would have returned to our time with him still in power. Starfleet never would have had the chance to form. Cochrane wouldn't have been around long enough to be able to invent the warp drive as Earth knew it. I know I need counseling, but forgive me if the horror of what I prevented keeps me from feeling quite as bad about the horror I just caused."
"But your own words show the need, Mr Potter," she said gently.
"Yes Captain," he replied, understanding her underlying message. "I won't let it get that bad this time." He gave her a wry smile, which she returned.
She straightened up at the conn. "Well, we now have to plan for our return home. Mr Tuvok, begin the calculations for the slingshot maneuver. I'd like to be home before the clock hits midnight again."
"Agreed, Captain," came the droll reply. "I find myself desiring a properly prepared plomeek soup - one prepared on Vulcan." He began to work at the console. "This will take several hours captain, but we should be able to leave within the specified time frame."
Harry looked at him with amusement. "That sounded practically giddy, coming from you, Mr Tuvok."
"I find myself appreciating the anticipation of return, not only to the Alpha Quadrant, but our own time as well."
"Currently we're only one for two," Paris said with a chuckle.
"Indeed," Tuvok added with a slightly raised eyebrow. For him, that was nearly sidesplitting laughter.
"If you don't mind, Captain," Harry said, "I'm going to go down to the shuttle bay and make sure that Flyer II is up to snuff. We've still got that other ship to worry about, and I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened yet. " She nodded, so he left the bridge.
As stoic as he was acting for the crew, a part of him wanted to curl up and cry for a few weeks. Millions were dead, and a war that would kill billions more was about to begin. It would bring about the future that he was about to return to, but there is a difference between reading something in a history text and realizing that you personally are the cause for it.
He made it to the shuttle bay to find the Grangers waiting for him. Rachel immediately took him in her arms and hugged him, and that broke it free. The feel of a mother holding him while he felt such raw emotions simply was too much, and he began to cry.
Several hours later, after he had cleaned up some after his breakdown, Harry sat in the Delta Flyer. He had convinced Captain Janeway that since history showed the Flyer in apparent battle with someone, it was much faster to have someone in the shuttle to begin with. He had the shuttle's systems tied in to Voyager's at the moment to stay on top of everything.
The Voyager headed out toward the asteroid belt to start their run, just to give themselves a little extra time for correcting course as necessary. Being tied into the systems as he was, he could hear what was going on with the bridge crew.
"Captain, we're picking up a heavy chronoton concentration ahead," Lieutenant Kim said.
"Sensors indicate a ship materializing from the chronoton radiation," Tuvok added.
"That's a Federation design," he could hear Janeway say, "but not a ship style I recognize."
"Attention Federation Starship Voyager. This is the Federation Timeship Vivian Smith. You are attempting a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive. Stand down before we are required to take action."
"Captain?" Harry Potter broke in on a secure channel. "Ignore them. I'll launch and start bothering them. In fact, when I launch, start your run. I think I can at least keep their attention for a while."
"What about you?" she asked. "You'll be stranded."
He laughed as he maneuvered his way out of Voyager. "Captain, do you remember how we ended up here, in this time frame? I should be able to just jump back forward, even if I have to do it in multiple jumps. But you need to leave me behind if you want any chance of escape."
There was silence for a moment. Finally he heard, "Very well. I expect to see you at Starbase One when this is over, Lieutenant," she said. "That is an order."
"One I have no intention of disobeying, Captain," he replied. "See you on the flip side. Potter out." With that, he launched the Flyer and faced the Smith.
"He took a deep breath and hailed the Smith. "Attention Timeship Vivian Smith. Any attempt to prevent the USS Voyager from performing its intended maneuvers will be considered hostile, and will be responded to accordingly."
"Voyager, stand down!" broadcast the Smith, ignoring Harry's broadcast. "We will open fire if we detect your engines powering up."
"Timeship Vivian Smith, be aware that we are tracking your weapons," Harry said. "Any sign that you are powering them up will be seen as hostile and dealt with accordingly." Thank God no one ever de-tuned the warp engines in this thing.
Either they had already planned on firing, or felt his threat level to be negligible. Just the way I like it. Any level of surprise I can give them makes the likelihood of the Voyager making it away that much better. He positioned the shuttle between the Smith and the port nacelle, since that was closest and easiest for them to fire on, and pumped his magic into the shields.
He guessed right, and his shield held as the Smith's phasers tore through space toward the Voyager's nacelle. The shuttle rocked, him holding himself in his seat through the expedient of gripping the console. "Seatbelts," he grumbled. "When I get back, I'm pushing for seatbelts in these things. They worked in cars, why not starships?"
"Voyager, leave!" he barked into his comm. "Timeship Smith, you have fired on a Federation vessel and are now considered an enemy combatant. He tapped his console to fire phasers, pushing his magic again. He didn't manage to break through their shields, but he noted that they were down a respectable twenty-three percent from that single blast. Good. That should make them realize that this little fly annoying them is actually a wasp with an annoying sting. He was also pleased to note the power readings from Voyager - they were about to go into warp. I guess I get to see that sight for the first time now.
Knowing how they worked on Voyager, he waited for a moment before firing at the Smith again, just as Voyager shot into warp. Interesting - I dropped their shields to forty-eight percent, down from the seventy-seven my first blast put them at. Guess I put more into that last blast. He was quickly forced to defend himself, because now all the Smith's weapons were brought to bear on him. When he realized just how powerful the next blast was going to be, based on their output, he rapidly programmed the system, waiting for the shot.
The beam lanced out from the Smith and struck the Flyer with enough force to bring his shields to less than one percent, so he activated his program and let the shields fizzle out.
"Voyager shuttle, we detect that you have bare minimum life support, and are venting plasma from your vessel. Prepare to be brought aboard."
"Not like I can stop you," he coughed into the comm unit. He felt the Flyer shudder as the Smith began tractoring it into their shuttle bay.
Ooh, something I need to do before I get too close, he thought suddenly. A moment later, there was a haze of smoke in the cabin. Should fool them for a little while. Otherwise they'd know I was playing with them as soon as they saw how pristine this baby is.
He laughed to himself as he saw the care they were taking. Once he was inside their shields, he could tell they were getting underway to chase the Voyager. Good luck with that. Those calculations are a bitch, even with the tech available. Maybe they can solve them faster with computers five hundred years later than what I'm used to, but still, it'll take some time.
He heard a banging on the hatch. "Open up or we will be forced to cut you out."
"I'm coming," he coughed. "Gimme a second." He walked to the door, slipping his wand into the charmed pocket he had in his left sleeve. It was unlikely that the security folks would notice it, unless one of them happened to be a witch or wizard. He tapped the console to open the door, and as it opened, he held his hands out and down, palms facing toward the people standing just outside. "As you can see, I am unarmed," he said around another cough. Verisimilitude hurts sometimes,
"No weapons, sir," one of the four security agents said.
"Good. Come with me, Lieutenant," the one who appeared to be in charge said to Harry. "The captain would like to speak to you. We'll be scanning your ship to see how you withstood phasers that should have crippled a full-size starship of this period."
"Magic," Harry replied simply. "I'm a spell-caster." The only response was a raised eyebrow, which spoke far more eloquently than a verbal response could have. "Fine, don't believe me. You'll learn."
The trip to the bridge was faster than Harry would have expected. He was under full guard, the security people with phasers at the ready, but he made no effort to escape or even make a move that might have seemed like reaching for a weapon.
"Ah, Lieutenant Potter," said the man who was clearly the captain of the vessel. "Perhaps you see it as taunting, but I assure you that such an act is not my intention. I merely wish to show you that we have a better understanding of time and space than perhaps you realize."
"Looks like we're well out past Pluto, somewhere in the Oort cloud," Harry said. "Twenty-fourth century, where the Voyager is likely to appear, I assume?"
"An intelligent man. Pity we can't recruit you, because with your brains, you'd do well in our division."
"I'd imagine that you're not exactly allowed to recruit from out of your home time," Harry replied.
"Exactly. On rare occasions we can, but you don't fit the criteria completely, so unfortunately, it's a loss for us." The captain cocked his head. "You don't seem to be complaining very much, or exhibiting any of the expected responses."
"I've never been one for sitting back and doing what's expected," Harry answered him with a laugh. "You were able to hit the Delta Flyer hard enough to take me out without killing me. I thought I'd given my ship a chance to escape, but you're showing me that you can out-think me. Where's the sense in getting into an energy-wasting screaming fit that solves nothing?"
"You impress me. Captain Barklin, by the way. Miles Barklin."
"Pleased to meet you, Captain. May I have a seat? I would expect that you would completely shut down any consoles I might be near enough to touch if I am permitted to sit."
The captain looked around the bridge and said, "Shut down secondary sciences. He can sit there." A few moments later, Harry was seated at a bank of completely black consoles.
He placed his hands on the edge of the console and stretched. "Bouncing around in that thing can hurt, y'know?" He looked down. "Damn, looks like I fail or forget," he said.
"What?" Barklin asked in amusement.
"Seatbelts. Why the hell don't starships have seatbelts if the inertial dampening systems aren't perfect? We get bounced around, where an easily unhooked harness system would keep people from flying all over the ship. How did the twentieth century get it right with cars and we screw up four hundred years later? And what, eight or nine hundred for you?"
"Something like that," Barklin said with a smirk.
"Captain, we're detecting the chronoton emissions from Voyager approaching. They should be here in just a moment." The tell-tale flash of the Voyager's exit from warp happened a moment later.
"Thank you, Captain Barklin," Harry said. "I managed to see that from both ends, and that is a singularly beautiful thing to watch. I appreciate it."
"Quite the gentleman, Lieutenant," Barklin said with a small chuckle. "At least you take defeat gracefully."
"Well, I am British, after all," Harry said in a faux snooty tone, which led to chuckles all over the bridge. "Of course I do such things gracefully." He smiled.
Suckers. Your own prejudices are going to lose you this battle.
"Voyager, this is the Vivian Smith. As you can see, we were able to plot your exit point. You should also know that we have your shuttle pilot aboard," Captain Barklin said after having a channel opened.
"Hi Captain Janeway!" Harry called out. "I'm fine, before you ask." He punctuated it with a small cough.
"Good to know, Lieutenant," she replied. "So, I take it this is where we negotiate for getting my crewman back?"
"Not really," Barklin said. "We've shown that our technology is capable of tracking you. History shows that you limped out of your most recent battle. As much as it pains me, we are going to be forced to damage you before reinserting you back in that area, just outside their territory. You memories will be adjusted, and you will be permitted on your way."
"And nothing we can say will allow us to return home?" Janeway asked, her voice tight with anger.
"I do understand your feelings, Captain, but we're talking about the future, from your point of view. Our past. And the past cannot be permitted to be changed."
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to burst your bubble, Captain Barklin," Harry said. "Captain Janeway? Head for home, I'll be with you in a little bit."
Barklin laughed. "You're sitting at a non-working console, and somehow think you're going to overpower this entire ship? I'd like to see that," he replied, his tone making it clear that he was certain to be an impossibility.
"Just remember, Captain Barklin, you did just ask for a demonstration," Harry said with amusement. "Bumbulum Maxmimus!" He exclaimed next, using his connection to the console to tie into the Smith and her engines.
He regretted that spell a moment later, as the stench of more than a dozen overpowered cases of flatulence fought with the ship's air scrubbers. From the sound of it, there were probably a few sharts in there as well.
He also noted that the ships lights were dim, with a distinct reddish tint to them. "Captain, our engines just overloaded! We're on battery at the moment!"
"What the hell did you just do?" Barklin asked him in shock.
"I proved my point, both to you and the security officer. I said it was magic, and it was. That rumbling you heard was the sound of every single crewman farting in unison, at maximum force. I wanted the least damaging spell I could think of." He turned to the viewscreen, to the sight of an amused Janeway, with Tom Paris folded over the helm, laughing so hard that Harry was sure he was crying. Harry Kim was trying to be a good bridge officer, but Tom's laughter was clearly making it very hard to keep a straight face. Tuvok simply had a raised eyebrow, although Harry Potter could see a very tiny upward quirk to the left side of Tuvok's mouth.
He turned back to Captain Barklin. "We're going home. I can get us home even if you drop us back in the Delta Quadrant. You're Federation; you saved me when you didn't have to. You could have left me to die in the asteroid belt in the twentieth century, but you didn't. I'm betting you won't kill me in cold blood." He connected to what remained of the engines of the Smith, expecting that someone would decide to take the decision out of the Captain's hands. "Captain Janeway? Please head for home, as I mentioned before. I'll catch up to you."
"You fool," Barklin said. "We'll be destroyed in a temporal cascade, with you aboard. You'll die with us!"
"Worth it to keep you from killing the people on Voyager by sending us back," he replied. He heard a gasp from Voyager. "Why are you still here?" he asked. "Go!"
"Lieutenant -" Janeway said, but Harry cut her off.
"Just go, Captain. I have no intention of sacrificing myself, but you shouldn't just to save me, either." When he noticed both Captains start to react, he silently cast his shield. The phaser fire dissipated without harming him. "See, Captain Janeway? Go." She scowled, but the screen went back to the view of space. The Voyager started to move, and he saw Barklin's fingers fling over the console at his chair. He was fairly certain that the man was trying to get off a crippling attack on Voyager, so he cast his rather fragrant spell from before. Several consoles around him exploded in some rather amazing sparks.
"Captain, we're on emergency power only! Containment is failing on the core!" helm screamed.
"I'm sorry, Captain Barklin. I really didn't want to do this. Now I have even more deaths on my conscience," Harry said sadly. "Get to your escape pods if you can, and get your people to pick you up."
"There's no one to pick us up, Potter," Barklin snarled. "You've killed not just us, but the future as well."
"Always in motion, the future is," Harry said in a bad Yoda imitation. "It's unwritten for us. I must away," he said, preparing for Apparation.
He forgot that they still had phasers, though. This blast dropped his shield and made him a little groggy. He focused on the Flyer and tried to Apparate.
He managed to make it with everything attached, and slammed the console to power everything up and close the hatch. He also cast Ennervate on himself.
"Okay, I'm awake now," he said. "Crap." His hands flew across the console as he re-ignited the engines. "This ship's gonna go up, and I'm not sure I'm going to be out of blast range in time." He glared at the shuttle bay and realized that he still had to get out through those doors. Another idea came to him and he prepared for it. As he closed his eyes to activate it, the world went white around him.