Harry Potter and a Warm Night Between
Based On J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter
Influenced by many things
History items copied and or paraphrased from Wikipedia
Recommendations for 1987: Firefox, Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise, Star Trek: TNG, Gamera!
2 January 1987: The battle of Fada, where 3,000 Chadian soldiers destroyed the Libyan garrison, killing 784 Libyan soldiers and destroying 92 T-55s and 33 BMP-1s
"So Chad won, and destroyed almost a hundred tanks," Olmayra says, "A hundred tanks would increase the Assassin's combat power, even if T-55s are old and obsolete."
"Dive in, grab tanks, and dive out again?" Angharad asks, looking at the map of Chad.
"Yes," Luna nods, "That would work. We should start well before the battle, and time back repeatedly. Grab the BMPs, too, we can sell them, or give them to our allies."
The pre-dawn darkness fills with the sound of dozens of wings, and the Libyan motor pools empty in minutes.
3 January 1987: Aretha Franklin is the first woman inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Harry's Sandinista trained army has grown from a single youth gang of twenty three young men to a mixed-gender force of over three hundred, even if he, or she, depending on which dragon form he was last, Olmayra, and Ruth are still the only dragons. Oliver North just became famous for selling missiles to Iran to fund the Contras in their terror attacks, and refusing to say who had ordered him to do it. Harry is still very tempted to bite an old actor about it.
Olmayra's Local Contact Teams are working well, at least one female Assassin, preferably one of the older women who has one or more children, a security detail, and a translator. Drop them in by dragon-bag or HIND, and listen to what a village needs, not just wants.
26 February 1987: The Tower Commission rebukes President Reagan for not controlling his National Security Council staff
"Another day, another Libyan outpost to raid," Lessa rubs her hands together, "They have a HIND, and a fighter plane. There are at least five hundred Libyan soldiers, so we're going to steal the aircraft, then bomb the place flat. Any questions?"
"Who gets to play Clint Eastwood?"
"We've got a Cuban pilot for the fixed-wing, and Jones will fly the HIND. Gordon should be done with flight school next month. Lister's in HIND school right now, and we need someone to go to Cuba for fixed-wing school once Gordon graduates."
A dozen hands shoot up, "Company commanders make me an OML, and we'll interview for candidates."
4 March 1987: President Reagan makes excuses about Iran-Contra
"No, Angharad," Luna tells her softly, "You shouldn't bite that old actor. With him, the Cold War ends with a whimper, not atomic fire. He starves his people, and backs lots of murderous bastards, but he does bring a peaceful end to the conflict with the Soviet Union."
14 March 1987: Gainax's first major project, Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise is released in Japan
Dozens of uniformed Assassins crowd pour out onto the platform, then out onto the streets of Tokyo. They settle into line, and wait for the theater to open.
After the movie there is a lively discussion about Shiro's attack on Rakini.
21 April 1987: Central Bus Station Bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, kill 113
"I got us a contract with the Sri Lankan government!" Luna bounces in.
"Oh?" Lessa asks, "What did they agree to?"
"Recognizing Tamil as a national language, ending de jure discrimination against Tamils, and paying us in fighter planes and a C-130."
"What are we getting?"
"A couple of Kfirs, three MiG-27s, and four F-7 Skybolts."
"Could be worse."
"Now we need to destroy the Tamil Tigers."
17 May 1987: USS Stark hit by two Iraqi Exocet missiles, killing 47 Sailors
A dozen translators, fifty suspects, and they have targets. The Tigers use a cellular structure, but the cells aren't tight enough, and it's almost amazing how intimidating a dragon is.
Particularly, Lessa admits, after a year of public bandit-killing, and their cleanup in Argentina.
The old man they are interrogating is no exception. He is almost scared enough to be fearless, but has enough hope of seeing his home again to talk, babble really, about everything they want to know.
22 May 1987: Hashimpura Massacre, where 42 young men were gathered up by the police, taken out of town, shot, and dumped in the local canals
The firestone bin is full of low-grade apatite, full of inclusions and nowhere near clear. Harry, as a brown dragon, picks up a chunk in his claws, puts it in his mouth, and starts to chew.
His tummy rumbles, protesting, as the rock begins to change into phosphine gas.
A minute later he dives Between, and breathes fire over the camp full of Tigers, who break and run, straight towards the Sri Lankan collecting force.
12 June 1987: President Reagan challenges "Tear down this wall" in Berlin
"We need to send more kids to flight school, we have, now, over twelve planes per pilot," Lessa smiles, "And thirteen helicopters."
Luna nods, "The Cubans say they'll train us five more fixed-wing, Argentina can train 'a couple' of helicopter pilots, Sri Lanka says they could take a couple of each, now that their Tiger problem has been mostly dealt with, Nicaragua will train as many as we'd like, but their training comes out of our budget-"
"Ouch," Olmayra says, "I have an idea about our budget."
"Oh?"
"We need money, and Nicaragua can't afford to save Africa from herself. I have a dumb plan, but it might work."
"What's your dumb plan?" Luna asks.
Lessa nods.
"Africa is full of little countries laid out by Europeans looking at a map, and most of them can't afford a proper army, much less the border conflicts they keep getting into. We offer to provide security services for one percent of their gross tax revenue, and help them negotiate borders they won't fight over."
"And get paid for impaling bandits all over the continent."
"And get paid for impaling bandits."
"Sliding scale payments, one percent to start, growing as the country's economy does, one percent more for us for every two percent for the country to the ten percent mark. When their gross tax revenue is 120% larger, we get ten percent," Lessa says, "And then we don't have to worry nearly as much about money."
28 June 1987: Iraqi warplanes drop mustard gas on the Iranian town of Sardasht
The numberless, insignia-less, olive-drab Skybolt is nearly at it's stall speed, and Ramoth is pushing herself hard, but she grabs it and dives Between. They dive from 30,000 feet, the Skybolt much faster than the dragon.
Ramoth smiles, spotting the Iraqi planes, still 15,000 feet below, and the Skybolt opens with one, then the other, PL-2, each of which hit separate targets at the back of the Iraqi formation. A moment later Gordon starts firing rockets, one pod per target, as the range drops. The Iraqis are finally noticing the attack, and are breaking to either side. Four bursts from the guns exhaust the ammo, and down two more planes. Gordon pitches up, and burns for altitude, killing the afterburner after a few seconds, then throttling back as she pulls even with Ramoth.
Ramoth grabs the Skybolt and dives Between.
15 July 1987: Martial Law ends in Taiwan after 38 years
Angharad looks over the ranks of her battalion, four infantry companies, an air squadron, and five support companies, over a thousand under her employ, fed, cared for, skilled, tactically and technically proficient. They are out of Contras to fight, but still have some bandits in Central America, and are still getting paid. Three nations in Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, are already paying for their services, and Malawi, Senegambia, and Liberia are negotiating.
"Today, we celebrate. We have run out of Contras. We haven't seen any Contra group larger than a five-man cell in months, and unless more of them show up, we will be out of work in Nicaragua in a year, when our contract runs out. But today we eat, drink, and have fun, because tomorrow we may be fighting again."
31 July 1987: 400 pilgrims killed in clashes between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi security forces in Mecca
"It is really simple, you need to stop being an asshole, or thousands of people are going to die."
President Bagaza stares at Luna like he can't believe what she just said.
"You did translate that right, didn't you?" Angharad asks Michaels, their French translator.
"Yes, I didn't try to soften it at all."
"You will be deposed within a year, and all of the violence and turmoil you have been suppressing for a decade will come out. There will be massacres of Tutsi and Hutu, and your country will sink to being one of the poorest and unhappiest in the world. You hired us to find you a new answer, to help your country prosper, but you need to do your part as well."
"How can I do that?" he asks, "If I let up on the Catholics I look weak, if I let up on the Hutu they'll depose me."
"That is what we are here for. You stop being an asshole, and we'll keep the peace until you stop paying us. Establish real democracy, or at least something that isn't so blatantly fraudulent as the '84 election."
He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, "Let us try."
9 August 1987: Hoddle Street Massacre in Victoria, Australia kills 7 and injures 19
"For 1% of your tax revenue, you get the military, paramilitary, and policy support of the Assassin's Guild. We are the best military force in Africa, and we're getting better all the time."
"One percent from Senegal, The Gambia, what?"
"One percent from Senegambia. Your two countries are too small to do well separately, and your borders get even bigger that way. You can take as long as you want to unify your external laws, but you will need to come up with unified import/export and defense policies."
"I don't know if I like that," the Senegalese representative says, Michaels translating, "But we will try."
14 August 1987: Australian police raid on Kai Lama, rescuing Sarah Hamilton-Byrne's 13 adopted siblings from durance vile
President Doe is justifiably uneasy with the Assassin's Guild's demands, "So I have to let my enemies prosper, work against my allies, and allow the rabble to control the country?"
"Yes, you do," Luna says, "Or you can wait for the Coup that will remove you from power, and likely leave you in a shallow grave somewhere. No one is forcing you to work with us."
19 August 1987: Hungerford Massacre kills 16
"We've been approached by the Congo," Olmayra looks up from the letter, "Nguesso can see the writing on the wall, it seems, and wants us to help shepherd him through Democratization."
31 August 1987: Michael Jackson releases Bad
Lessa watches her volunteers train, Africans of various sorts, Americans from many nations, and wonders how her organizational culture will handle growing so rapidly. She has as many people in training right now as she does in her battalion.
13 September 1987: Scavengers open a radiation source found in an abandoned Brazilian hospital, causing the worst ever urban radiation accident
A force of at least three hundred Contra are attempting to infiltrate deep into Nicaragua. They are fording the Rio Coco when the Assassins intercept them.
Without the League of Dragons it would have been a rout. With the League six CIA advisors are captured.
28 September 1987: Star Trek: The Next Generation premieres
"Encounter at Farpoint" is playing on repeat in the chow halls, and all of the Assassins are under orders to watch it.
11 October 1987: the first National Coming Out Day
"We get to keep any Somali matériel we capture, and they have collected up some money." Lessa says, "The cash payment wouldn't even cover fuel to get conventional forces here," a shake of shoulder-length hair around her twelve year old neck, then she unfolds into a gold dragon, "But we are not conventional, are we?"
"We are not," Luna affirms, turning to address the assembled companies, "The war here will get worse, and it is already bad. By 1991, when the clans will finally depose Siad Barre, things will be so bad that the country will not recover, even with the United States trying to help in 1993. The religious fundamentalists, pirates, and other criminals will have reduced a poor country to a collection of warlords terrorizing everyone who cannot escape.
"We will stop that. Harry and I have the easy part, catch Siad and kill him. You have the harder task, of stopping the Red Berets, and keeping the remnants of Siad's government under control while we try to stabilize the country enough that it doesn't become a feast for crows anyway."
Harry Crewe, Alpha company commander, turns to the others, "Speeches over, we roll in half an hour, get moving!"
Siad Barre's house is nice, much nicer than any of it's neighbors, and surrounded by both armed guards and weapon's emplacements. Harry and Luna, folded into human shape, look through a window into an empty room, checking one more time, then, with a nod to each other, dive Between. The door out of the storeroom is locked, but Luna takes care of it quietly. Siad Barre himself is an old man, weakened by the injuries suffered when his limo hit a bus in 1986. "He does look rather like Emperor Palpatine, doesn't he?" Luna asks.
"He does."
They dive Between with him, drop him, gasping and a little grey, with their S2, American LTC (Ret) Hannibal Smith (no relation, he said, to the member of the television show A-Team who's name he shared) for interrogation.
19 October 1987: Black Monday, global stock markets fall sharply
Assassins are delivering food aid throughout Somalia, and translators are helping spread the news of Siad Barre's deposition. Local contact teams are talking to the women, to see what else is needed.
18 November 1987: King's Cross fire on the London Underground kills 31 and injures 100
The Assassins dig their five-hundredth well, and someone puts up a sign, both in English and, because this well is in Kenya, Swahili.
They march order the drilling machine, folding down the boom, then in the tripod-legs, and make sure the step-sized augers are packed away. Subteniente MacNamera calls for pickup.
A soldado climbs down the ladder built into the sides of the 30 inch inside diameter concrete pipe sections, making a final check that the sections are joined together, the ladder is straight, and the water is deep enough for a bucket at the bottom. She climbs back out and gives a thumbs up.
The couple of spare pipe sections are strapped to the pallet, and the work crew gathers by their dragon-bag, one of the modern semi-rigid inflatable models, waiting for pickup.
Ramoth pops out of Between, frigid air wafting over the village, and grabs the drilling machine by the handles, and dives Between with it. A minute later, she's back, and collects the pallets of unused building materials.
Another cold breeze, and Ramoth folds into Lessa. Teniente Walsh has the village headman, and most of the rest of the people, gathered.
"I thank you for this chance," Lessa says in well-practiced Swahili, because even after more than a year she isn't fully fluent, "To help you help yourselves, to help you with something you could have done, but it would have taken you longer. When you need us, ask, and we will be here."
She pulls an iridescent glass bubble, in a nice metal box with a glass front, secured in velvet, "If you need military help, immediately, break this, and we will be here." The headman accepts the box.
Lessa and the work crew accept hugs, and stay for afternoon tea, then the crew straps in in the dragon-bag, and Ramoth dives Between with them.
18 November 1987: House and Senate panels release reports charging President Reagan with ultimate responsibility for Iran-Contra
Ramoth pops out of Between over the Assassin's Nicaraguan headquarters, having dropped the work crew at their Somali compound.
She folds into Angharad, and goes looking for Luna.
20 December 1987: MV Doña Paz, a ferry with at least 2,000 more passengers than on the manifest, strikes MT Vector, a petrochemical tanker full of gasoline and other flammables. Final estimates are 4,386 fatalities and 24 survivors.
Luna, pops out of Between into the late evening warmth, unfolds into Gamera-shape, and belly-flops into the sea near the tanker she's looking for. She double-checks it's name, then takes it's nose in a gentle hand, slowing it to a complete stop without jarring it unduly. "You really should watch where you are going," she tells them in Spanish, then swims away.
The Doña Paz doesn't notice it's escort, and docks safely in Manila. Luna puts her hands on the concrete pier, lifting her head out of the water, "You need to document your passengers better, and have evacuation drills," she tells everyone gathered in the lightening pre-dawn twilight, "More than four thousand dead, more than half not on the manifests, it would have been very sad, and might have been the end of a company."
She pushes off the pier and swims away.
23 December 1987: Doña Paz collision makes the New York Times.
Luna drops the paper, and dives Between. She is back a minute later, tired, and gathers Angharad into a hug, "I hope I didn't just set up a worse disaster."
Angharad looks at the paper on the table, even though she knows the article that prompted Luna's actions won't be there anymore. "Gamera saves Philippine Passenger Ferry" is the new headline. She reads the article, stroking Luna's arms where they are wrapped around her. "It looks like the ferry company is pushing for increased safety enforcement, and is changing their manifesting procedures."
"That's good."
31 December 1987: Luna is still 15. Olmayra is 16. Harry/Lessa/Angharad is 14.
Log:
Early May 2017: Reading too many Harry Potter fanfic, and thinking about how one cannot,
canonically, be a magical creature animagus. Pernese Dragons are non- magical . . .
Mid May 2017: Thinking about other books that would influence things, checked out a copy of
The Blue Sword and Dragonriders of Pern
17 May 2017: Realized that, while the Harry Potter books are firmly removed from muggle
time, this story isn't. It's all about what Harry's saving people thing would look
like if it got Harry's full support. Hit up wikipedia for more historical context.
27 May 2017: Realized that, after chopping anything Harry wouldn't be paying attention to,
that Olmayra's paying forward, and is interested in all of the disasters . . .
5 June 2017: More.
16 June 2017: More.
18 June 2017: More. Finished 1985 first draft.
28 June 2017: More, Finished 1987 first draft.