One of One

by zArkham

As the USS Voyager becomes embroiled in the war between the Borg & Species 8472, a strange anomaly is detected on the Borg Cube where Captain Janeway is negotiating for the life of her crew and maybe for all life in the Delta Quadrant. Within that anomaly hides a centuries old secret. A being who found that resistance was not futile and will continue to resist till the end.

8. Prey

PRIME DIRECTIVE: Space may be the final frontier, but I'll never get there by any monies derived from this as Harry Potter and all properties of such are owned by the Dark Lady JKR. All content, characters related to Star Trek are owned by Paramount Pictures, Inc....except maybe some of that stuff that ended up being used in Starfleet Battles which is owned by the Amarillo Design Bureau who used that content via the Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph Schnaubelt and published by Ballantine Books.

XxXxX

CHAPTER EIGHT – PREY

(Episode: Unique chapter based on elements from all of the Hirogen episodes)

(ST:TOS References: The Devil in the Dark)

(Note! Due to the change in course, Voyager does not find the Hirogen Communications Array)

XxXxX

PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "The best lesson the Raptor can teach you is to be grateful for the prey that sustains you. The worst lesson it can teach you is a practical demonstration of that point." Brazilian Corpo de Fuzilieros Colono Manual for Planetary Survival and Evasion (Harmony Level 4, Civilization: Beyond Earth)

LAST UPDATED ON: 04-27-2021

XxXxX

"Ah Harry, my old friend! Welcome to my home away from home!" Khan said as he spread his arms to encompass the opulent room. What had once been a high-class hotel for the world's elite was now a forward headquarters for Khan's forces in the region. Harry had been walked through what had been part of the hotel's casino that now was filled with Khan's theater headquarters staff. It had been a hive of activity as they tracked the various fronts of the war which had grown to be world-wide conflict.

Harry bowed in response. No one shook hands anymore. The deadly Covid-19 pandemic of two decades past had started the ruin of the practice and the bio-weapons in current war finally killed it Even among friends and family, skin-to-skin contact was something one did with caution and not a little trepidation. It made the AIDs scare in the late 20th century pale in comparison to the worry people had these days. As he watched the tyrant bow in return, Harry had to wonder if Khan was channeling Dumbledore some days. No matter that he wasn't old or his friend, Khan certainly called him that almost every time they spoke. He was sure if Dumbledore were alive, Harry would still be 'my boy' to the Headmaster.

"So, what can I do for the great Khan? I don't think you went out of your way to find me just for a social call," Harry asked after the flurry of servants, food and drink tested in front of him and the like had finally subsided leaving him alone with Khan, his faithful bodyguard Joaquin Weiss and one of his lieutenants, Bindu Desai. Desai was drop-dead gorgeous woman who had a smoldering aura of sexuality which caused far too many people to dismissed her as mere arm-candy for Khan. Harry knew better. She reminded him of the Mentats from that old David Lynch movie. Harry had watched her calculate odds using mind-boggling sums in real time in her head. It was another indicator that Khan and his people were not like other humans.

Khan laughed, "Do you remember saying that asking for my help with your ICW was making a deal with the devil?"

Harry sighed, "I do. I take it that the Devil wants repayment for that help?"

Khan nodded, "I do indeed. It has come to my attention that you have continued to work against Colonel Green's forces."

Harry shook his head, "No. I've been trying to save people that don't need to be slaughtered out of hand. I've taken out a few of your troops while doing it. It just is that Green likes to kill a lot of people I want to save. I told you, Khan, I'm not on Green's side but that doesn't make me on your side either."

Harry noted the pinched looks on both of Khan's people's faces. For all Khan's disdain for promoting a cult of personality, his own people had no trouble doing it for him. It was obvious they didn't like Harry's tone and lack of deference to their leader. Not that Harry cared. He knew that Khan's bodyguard was allowed to stay only to keep him happy given Khan was well aware that if Harry wanted to, he could kill Khan before his bodyguard could do more than stand up.

Khan made a dismissive gesture, "Nor am I asking you to be. What I am asking you to do is allow me to direct more of your actions. You've already become a bit of a legend. A shadow that comes and goes, leaving death in its wake. In recompense for my help in getting your people to safety; I wish you to be a blade against my enemy. In return, I will help you in your personal quest to save those you feel are needed. This is something I wish to happen as well. Sadly, I am engaged on too many fronts to do much about it. With your help, the few resources I can spare can go a long way toward both our goals. You save those worth saving, and they should be saved, while I get another weapon pointed at my enemy. So, what say you, my old friend?"

Harry was silent for a moment before gesturing to Desai, "I take it she's got an amazing briefing lined up to show me all sorts of targets you've figured I'd be willing to take out?"

Khan laughed even as Desai looked surprised, "See Bindu? I told you that Harry is no fool. Yes, we do have plenty of targets for you. Green grows bolder and is actively starting pogroms against those he and his faction deem too impure to live in his coming utopia. Unfortunately, most of these are in lands he controls or are too contested for me to adequately deal with. You can, however, can infiltrate and make a difference."

"One man can't change the future," Harry said with a sigh. The seers had been adamant about that. The only way he'd be able to save people for sure was to get them off planet. How he was going to do that was still something he was working on.

"Ah but one man can change the present!" Khan said with a waggle of his finger towards Harry. "Yes, you are but one man, but you are one man who can strike at will. Killing the commanders, executing the secret police chiefs, bringing final justice to the torturers and the traitors."

"Green's fanatics are prone to magical thinking. They believe Green and his allies are anointed by their God to bring about His will. There is an aura of invulnerability to Green and the upper echelon of the Purity movement," Bindu said in a toneless voice as if reading a screen by rote. "You striking in key areas and at important people will challenge their dogma, make them question their faith. Too many fighting in Green's armies are doing so because he is winning. Many fight simply because they have little choice. Break that image of invincibility and you break some of the hold Green has on his armies." Bindu called up one of the new hologram projectors and started a presentation.

For ten minutes, Harry watched as the professional report broke down what was currently known about actions being taken behind Purity lines. Harry frowned as the report ended, "I knew Green's men are starting to do some terrible stuff. I've already seen plenty of it. Still, this is more than I ever imagined he was capable of doing. You'd think the horrors of war would be enough without torture and death camps."

"You said I was a tyrant and a butcher. I do not deny my forces leave death in their wake. Yet I do not care about creed, dogma, race or religion. I will impose order on this planet. I will give us peace so we may grow and become one human family. In return for obedience, I shall be a merciful ruler. Can you say the same about Green?" Khan asked.

Harry looked Khan in the eye, "You know I can't. Alright Khan, I'll be your assassin for hire. Still, I want it known right up front. I'm not working for you. As you said, you're just pointing me in a direction I'd go if I knew about it. I also reserve the right not to kill any target I don't feel necessary. Agreed?"

Khan smiled broadly, "But of course! I was expecting these terms and they are acceptable. Let us eat, drink and plan. I expect great things to come of this partnership."

Harry's face went blank for a moment, "'After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great.'"

Khan looked bemused, "Harry?"

Harry shook his head, "I was marked as an equal to a terrorist as a child. Who knew I would grow to be his equal in more ways than one?"

BRIDGE, USS EQUINOX, SECTOR 383, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51144.2

"It's not looking good, Rudy," Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Burke said from where he was looking over the shoulder of Specialist James Morrow at the science station. "Whoever these aliens are, they've been nudging us deeper into a trap. One that just closed as we're completely surrounded."

Captain Rudolph Ransom chewed absentmindedly on a knuckle, "But why use a trap at all? We've already seen a few of those ships could take us. They might be small, with a bare minimum of crew, but we're no match for them. Why herd us with so many ships?"

"Maybe they like playing with their food before they eat it?" Senior Lieutenant William Yates said from the helm. "I feel like we've been playing a game of cat and mouse for days and it's obvious we're the mouse."

Ransom nodded, "I hate to admit it, but that sadly looks like the best explanation."

Beeps from both the science and tactical stations interrupted the captain.

"Captain! All alien ships are moving at high speeds toward our position," Junior Lieutenant John Bowler said from tactical.

"Show me!" Ransom ordered. The main screen lit up with a track of the aliens' progress. Sure enough, the alien ships where circling in with a pattern reminiscent of an old camera shutter closing.

"Captain?" SLT Yates asked.

Ransom stared at the screen, "We're trapped. We know we can't fight our way out of this so let's just stay the course a bit and see if they hail us."

Another beep from tactical made Ransom turn towards that station, "Well that was fast."

JLT Bowler shook his head, "It's not an incoming transmission! It's a message being beamed from somewhere on the ship!"

"Let's hear it!" Ransom barked out.

Bowler fiddled with his console before the message came up on the loudspeaker.

"Hirogen hunting vessels, this is Harry Potter aboard the USS Equinox that you've been hunting. This vessel is filled with unworthy prey, weak from lack of resources. I, however, was known on my home-world as The Reaper. This name was taken from my world's image of Death who cut down sentients with an edge-weapon. I have hundreds of kills by my hand and I was responsible for the deaths of thousands by other means. I am the most worthy prey you could ever hope to hunt. I challenge your hunters to meet me on the Equinox, blade to blade. However, if you attempt to harm any of the crew before hunting me, there will be consequences. I will give you a sign to show you I mean business."

Burke looked at the Captain, "Who the hell is Harry Potter?"

Ransom, on the other hand, had gone pale, "If he is who I think he is, which is almost impossible, we may have been saved or just had death deferred."

More beeps erupted from various stations, "Captain, we had some type of ship come out of cloak for a moment. It fired on one of these Hirogen ships and destroyed it!" Bowler called out. "Whatever that ship was, I was able to see it had a quasi-Borg signature to it before it cloaked out."

"On screen!" Ransom ordered. The destruction of one of their number seemed to do little to deter the encircling ships. "Well that didn't seem to work."

"Oh, they've taken the bait alright," said an accented voice from in front of one of the non-functioning turbolift doors.

Ransom whirled his chair around as cries of surprise came from the rest of the bridge crew. A man stood there, with a lop-sided grin on his face. He was dressed in a black one-piece suit with knee high boots. The only color was a red pin of a phoenix being born out of fire where a comm-badge would normally be. Two deadly looking daggers were in his hands. He seemed to be wearing some sort of circlet around his forehead that had a screen over one eye and had an attached earpiece for one ear. To Ransom, it looked like Borg tech.

"I take it your Harry Potter?" Ransom asked dryly.

Harry saluted him with the dagger in his right hand. "That I am. So, Captain, here's the deal. You need to order all the crew to their quarters. They are NOT to take any offensive action. In fact, they are to act as cowardly as they can if confronted by a Hirogen. This species lives for the hunt and killing unworthy prey is a waste of their potential. You keep your crew out of the way and I'll take care of the Hirogen."

"Wait! Where did you come from?" first officer Burke asked.

"Not really important right now," Harry said and pointed his dagger at Ransom, "You really need to get those orders out. I'm already detecting an energy build up in the Hirogen ships. If what the kind folks of Talaska IV told us is true, they are about to hit the ship with a pulse which will drop your shields enough for their hunting parties to beam over. They will kill your crew with blades if I don't stop them. So get cracking if you don't want your skulls to end up on a trophy wall!"

"You can't be the Reaper. He would have died two centuries ago," Ransom said tightly. He'd done a few papers on the Eugenic Wars during his school years. The mysterious Reaper was always a topic students loved to ask about and speculate on. One thing was known about the shadowy figure; a lot of people died by his hand.

"The clock is ticking captain. Get your people to their rooms. As for me, well you better hope I am the Reaper if you want to survive to link up with Voyager and the Marianne. They should be here in a day or so."

The crew broke out in excited murmurs. "Voyager? As in USS Voyager? Does Starfleet know we're here? Did they send a rescue mission?" Yates asked.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist. Yes, Voyager is on its way and no Starfleet didn't send them. They're out here because of the same alien who stole you nabbed them as well. Now get your damn people to safety!" Harry ordered crossly before disappearing in a pop of air.

Burke and Ransom traded looks before Ransom shrugged, "I'll take it. Don't understand it but for right now I'm willing to run with it." Ransom said before activating the ship-wide communications and began giving orders.

Burke turned back to the science station with a shake of his head.

"Do you think that was a Q?" Morrow asked. "They like to mess with Federation ships."

Burke snorted, "Who knows? Pull up anything we've picked up in our travels about these Hirogen. That they are hunters is not sounding good. I didn't join Starfleet to end up with my head mounted on a wall somewhere.

"You and me both, Maxie!" Morrow said with gusto as he started to search the computer records.

OoOoO

The man died with barely a gurgle. Yet the spray of his blood from his slit throat whistled just like Harry had hoped for. No matter his current grim role, Harry was still a man and he needed companionship. As much as he hated it, this meant occasionally hanging out with Khan's people. One of the many generals of Khan's armies had gotten him hooked on various samurai type shows from the general's homeland. Because of this, Harry had gotten a bit obsessed at how he killed. As his body count rose, Harry started to try and kill artistically as he could. When he could, he tried give his opponents a chance, no matter how small, to fight back. If he had to kill from behind, he made it quick and as painless as he could. He saved the wounds that hurt and took longer to die from for those who deserved it. The nameless guard he'd just killed had actually done well with his bayonet compared to most. Now as his life-blood whistled as it spewed out under the force of his dying body's blood pressure, Harry had to wonder if the man appreciated the artistry in his death. To die listening to a kind of music made from their murder. For all Harry tried to pretty it up, Harry knew it was still murder.

Harry didn't know what it meant to truly be the Master of Death but he knew that at the moment, he was certainly sending a lot of people into Death's dark embrace. He had hated the name at first, but as the atrocities of the war continued, Harry had come to embrace the name. The name Green's forces had come to fear.

Harry had to smile as he moved away from his latest kill. His enemies had learned to fear the Reaper!

Right now, the Reaper was also in a foul mood. He'd arrived too late to stop the two missiles from launching. Who knew what terrible new plague or other nasty bio-weapon they carried to some distant target? He'd learn soon enough from the news of the dead and dying. However, Harry swore that those would be the last thing that ever left this compound in what was once North Dakota.

Harry faded once more back into invisibility. The Cloak was him and he was the Cloak. With but a thought, he could fade in and out of sight. Even the most sophisticated of tracking methods failed which is why Green's people had learned that often the best way to find the Reaper was by having enough bodies guarding a facility so Harry had a hard time literally squeezing through. As much as he appreciated the artistry of his last kill, it was quite probable the man had had a bio-monitor on him. Green's gene-tinkerers probably knew he was here. Of course, there was no alarms sounding to alert Harry that they had done so. No, they had learned not to make that mistake again.

Still, for all their counters to his moves, Harry was the last wizard on Earth. Protective walls were transfigured into paper, voices too far away to hear might as well be spoken into his ear with the right spell. The only area Harry needed help on was with computers. Khan's people had supplied him with plenty of James Bond type tech to help him with that.

A klaxon went off which startled Harry. He looked out from the raised walkway he was on to see the compound's troops working feverishly to move two ICBM's off their transport vehicles and into the now empty silos. Harry scoffed at this. They'd never get the time to fire those, Harry would make sure of it.

Still, Harry was here for a more important reason. He was close enough to see where he needed to be. In a quiet pop, Harry disappeared and reappeared closer to the main building's control tower.

Another klaxon blared and now Harry could see the main gate was being opened with lots of troops running around to cover it.

Looking down, he could see a convoy being prepped. It was obvious that his target was getting ready to leave. Green had little loyalty to his troops. Indeed, for all his talk about purity and keeping one's body sacred, he controlled a lot of his troops through drugs and steroids. All for God's glory even though Harry knew Green would martyr the lot of them after he had won.

As Harry was about to do a super-sensory charm, the doors almost right below him opened and a party under guard was hustled out. His target was with this party. Most looked like top brass for this theater but there were a few of Green's scientists as well.

Harry let the convoy leave the compound. He'd catch up with them later. Harry centered his magic which was almost all that was left on Earth except for what could still be found in places of power like Stonehenge. After twenty minutes or so, with a pulse, Harry activated the rune stones he'd previously placed in a precise pattern around the compound. These stones would do what most witches and wizards thought impossible. But the Unspeakables had quite a few secrets that Harry learned of before sending them away.

All around the compound, men and women looked up as a voice sounding like God from up high boomed out.

"IGNIS INFERNALIS!"

To the horror of all, intense flames began to appear all around them. Buildings were consumed, vehicles destroyed and the flames eagerly hunted down the people as they tried desperately to run. Before they died, all would have sworn the fire had been shaped like various fantastical creatures. The fire burned brightly till everything withing the rune stone rings was utterly consumed. Suddenly the hellfire faded as the rune stones themselves broke into a fine dust which blew away in the evening breeze. Nothing was left but a blackened oval of cursed earth.

In the convoy, there was consternation of a different kind. A large rockslide was blocking the road. Yet the flat plain of North Dakota had no place such a slide could come from. As the security team worked to find which route was best around the jumble of rocks and trees, the convoy commander fumed. His mood was not made better as the frantic cries over the radio from the compound they had just left cut off with a scream. Over the horizon, a lurid glow could be seen.

"Sir, something weird is going on. A fog is rolling in out of nowhere. One of my locals says they never get fog like this in this area."

The commander waved his security chief away from the window of the limo and was about to pick up his satellite phone to call for an aerial extraction when a miracle happened. A man in a black one-piece outfit, with knee high boots appeared in the seat across from him. There was a red pin of some kind of bird on his breast. The three other people in the back of the limo all cried out in alarm.

With a gesture, two of these slumped over as if a bout of narcolepsy had hit them.

"You!" The commander said, horrified at coming face to face with an enemy the top brass was becoming increasingly fearful of.

"Me!" the black-clad man said back with a grin. He then turned to the woman in a lab coat who was staring at him in wide-eyed terror. "Hello today's target!"

"Please don't kill me! They forced me to work for them!" the woman blubbered.

"Don't worry! By target, I mean you're the one I'm here to rescue. All these other types are just happy collateral damage!" the green-eyed man said with a lop-sided grin.

The commander went to draw his side-arm but suddenly found himself paralyzed.

"Well time to go. I'm sure there are units being sent to this area already," the man said before smiling and saying in an affected Latino like accent, "But you all get to say hello to my not so little friends!"

All the commander could do was gurgle.

The man turned back to the woman, "Here, hold onto to this piece of rope so we can get out of here," the man said as he gestured for the woman to take it.

She did with a look of confusion, "What will this rope be able…"

The two disappeared and the commander gasped as he could suddenly move again and the two others jolted awake. At that same moment, screams began to erupt all along the length of the convoy along with gunfire.

The commander looked out the window and his jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide in terror. Coming out of the fog were dozens of giant spiders. Somewhere as small as large dogs up to a few the size of cows. All were attacking his troops.

A loud thump on the roof caused everyone in the limo to scream. The screams continued as the roof was ripped off before turning to agonizing cries of pure terror and then agony.

Soon the screams and the gunfire ceased to leave only the sounds of flesh being ripped and bones being crunched. Yet 10 minutes after the man and woman had disappeared, the giant spiders all morphed back into a collection of various sized rocks.

The fast-reaction force was at a loss to explain the scene they found as well as the burnt smear of ground which was all that remained of their base. The only thing they could agree on was who had been responsible. At both sites, an emblem of a phoenix had been burned into the trunk of a nearby tree.

Many of the men who had found these marks had crossed themselves. The formal report would list another Phoenix strike but the troops themselves talked of it being another sign that the Reaper walked among them, cutting them down with impunity.

XxXxX

VARIOUS SHIP LOCATIONS, USS EQUINOX, SECTOR 383, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51144.6

Captain Ransom tried not to look in anyway angry. The 'guests' on his bridge didn't look like they would take anything other than immediate obedience very well. As aliens went, they were impressive. All were well over 2 meters tall and towered over his bridge crew. The Hunt Master was intimidating even when standing still with his arms behind his back.

"Transports complete, Hunt Master," one of the Hirogen said after reviewing a hand-held device. While the smallest, the alien still was easily a head taller than his first officer.

The Hunt Master nodded, "Good! Let us see if this prey is worth delaying the hunt. Although from the looks of it, these humans would have been poor prey."

Ransom couldn't help but snort, "Only because we're in a science vessel that is two quadrants away from our people and low on everything. Head out to the Federation and see how well your hunt goes."

Surprisingly, the Hunt Master merely grunted, "We shall see. Your information on this Reaper at least looks promising if true."

Ransom shrugged at this. He noticed his first officer standing with the look of someone who had something to say. He looked up at the Hunt Master and made a small gesture towards Burke. The alien nodded.

Burke looked relieved, "Captain, still not sure what weapon that ship used was but it seemed to have overloaded the Hirogen ships warp core. Almost like it inverted the field somehow. The problem is we can't figure out how it was done. In fact, the torpedo or energy blast barely registered on our sensors at all. How it could have destroyed that ship like that is unknown."

"Unknown Borg tech?" Ransom asked.

Burke shook his head, "No. The energy was about as basic as it gets. I just don't get it."

A loud beep came from the device the smaller Hirogen had been using, "The bio-signs for the Red Claws have terminated, Hunt Master!" the Hirogen said almost happily.

"Good! It appears this Reaper may yet prove to be a glorious hunt!" The Hunt Master said as the two other Hirogen hunters looked pleased by the news.

Suddenly the lights on the bridge dimmed.

"Report!" Ransom ordered without thinking.

JLT Bowler paused as the information started to populate his tactical screens, "Captain, we seem to be having a breach in our environmental controls. All ship lights have dimmed to 25% throughout most of the ship with some areas are on emergency lighting protocols. I'm also reading some activity that…wait. Okay it seems that fog is being produced on various decks. We're also getting some form of audio on those decks as well."

This time Ransom looked at the Hunt Master who nodded again, "Let's hear it."

Burke hit a control and the bridge was filled with an odd, rhythmic set of tones. Like a funeral dirge but one which had odd sounds like hisses and faint screams added in. The bridge crew looked confused.

Even more so when the Hunt Master laughed, "Ha! This is getting better! The prey is trying to play at psychological war. Good! The glory for this kill will be even higher now!"

OoOoO

Harry flicked the blood off his blades onto the wall. This level hadn't developed the fog yet so the blood spatter on the wall would have to do. He looked down at the two dead Hirogen. They had the same markings as the one on the ship he'd destroyed had. He hoped no one had figured out that his 'torpedo' was mostly just an effect and the warp core failure was due to magic. Popping over to their ship and using magic against the warp core was a risk that had been worth taking. He was running a bluff after all.

Although at least when it came to hunting these aliens, it wasn't a bluff. Harry was surprised how tough it turned out to be to take them out. For all he had stealth and years of experience, the aliens had been difficult to take down. Harry doubted he would have the strength to penetrate their armor if his daggers weren't magical. These Hirogen were big, strong, fast and had a pain tolerance a troll would envy.

Harry pulled the tricorder off his belt to check his trackers. So far, almost all the crew had made it to their rooms except for a few in main engineering under Hirogen guard and those on the bridge. This still left about two dozen Hirogen on the ship who all were vying to get to be the first to kill him.

Harry looked down at the two bodies. It would be a shame to just leave them when they could be put to good use. Harry manifested the Resurrection Stone into the palm of his left hand while the Elder Wand grew into his right hand. With an intricate pattern, Harry intoned, "Mortuos surgere foedari!

One of the dead Hirogen gave a jerk before slowly rising to its feet.

Harry did two quick transfigurations on the Hirogen's gauntlets so that the fingers now had diamond sharp claws. "Go, slaughter all that are like you. Ignore all others, my inferi friend." Harry ordered.

Without an acknowledgment of any kind, the newly created inferi shuffled off. Given what had been in Harry's mind when he gave the command, the inferi would only attack other Hirogen.

Harry looked back at the other corpse with a smile. It was time to resurrect an old favorite of Hermione's. Harry took another quick look at his tricorder before beginning. To get this transfiguration right took a lot of concentration. Luckily, Harry had played this 'prank' a lot during the Eugenics War. It was one of the better ways to spread terror and made a great distraction when he was infiltrating a facility. Major military bunkers underground had been the best place for the prank. As Harry began to complex bit of magic, he had a deep pang of loss. After repressing his memories for so long, thinking of his previous life, what he had lost, had become almost a religious torture. One he ritually took up gladly even as it was like tearing his heart out in the process. In this case, it was thinking about how Hermione of all people like watching horror films and used some to tweak Ron in the process.

With a final twirl and flick of the Elder Wand, the Hirogen corpse began to morph into a greyish-black being with long limbs and a wicked, spiked tail. It rose to its feet, it's elongated head highlighted in the red emergency lighting; the double-jaws gleaming with menace. Harry looked at it and marveled at how the lack of eyes really sold the sinister design. "Hunt, my Giger!" Harry whispered.

He didn't really need to give it a command given a transfigured creature, no matter the type, acted as it was created to. This is why this creation was so difficult. Harry really had to focus on his memories of Hermione's favorite, and Ron's dreaded, horror monster to get the actions right. The Giger (his pet name for the beasts that didn't really have a name given the name most associated with them just translated to 'alien looking thing') turned and immediately disappeared into a Jeffries tube. Harry hit it with a tracker which would show up on his tricoder. His will had created it but Harry had found that if he weren't careful, the transfigured Giger tended to act as it would in the movies and comics he was familiar with. Since that was of a relentless, murder machine, Harry had to give very careful mental images of who were prey else everything became fair game...and in one case where he rushed the process, Harry himself had almost been felled by his own creation!

Harry looked at his tricoder for his next possible target but was having a hard time concentrating. He was remembering Hermione taking Ron, Ginny and him to a special showing of Alien and Alien 2 when she was getting her doctorate at Cambridge. Ginny had enjoyed the movies in the odd way most Magicals did when it came to them not understanding anything they were watching. Ron, however, barely made it through the first film and quickly bailed during the initial fight scene in Aliens 2. Later Ron had told him that the jumping aliens reminded him far too much of their brush with death by acromantula back in Second Year.

Harry shook his head with a sad smile. One would have expected Hermione to be mindful of her future husband's phobia yet somehow it just emboldened her to watch more such films especially if there were giant spider-like creatures involved. It didn't help that she found a willing partner in Luna, Rolf and Teddy when he got older. Harry went along for the fun but for him it was mostly had been a social thing. After staring down a 20-meter basilisk when he was twelve along with all the other crap he'd lived through, Hollywood horror films lacked a certain punch. Hermione would later confess that while she did like the films, a big draw was it was the one thing she knew she could do without Ron trying to come along or even discuss later. It was her revenge on Ron for having to live through his Chudley Canons obsession. So between the films and all the comics he ended up reading with Teddy (and later Rose) Harry could create a picture-perfect Giger that would last about two hours. It was sad he couldn't make it have acid blood but there was only so much one could do with animation and transfigurations at once. Still, the jaws, claws and knife-like tail spike were enough.

Even so, it was the terror that had made them a favorite tool in Harry's toolbox. He'd heard a lot of panicked cries over the radios he'd tapped into during many a mission. Harry had always smiled when hearing the screams of frightened soldiers freaking out because one of their men had been dragged, kicking and screaming into some dark access tunnel. It was nice for the bad guys to be the ones Harry heard screaming in terror for a change! Sadly, regardless of the few he saved; Harry still saw all the hundreds he had had to leave behind in his dreams some nights.

There was one mission that Harry thought he'd have to abort. However, while he was trying to figure a way to get to his target, he ended up creating more of his Gigers from the search parties he couldn't always avoid. After a horror filled night, Green's men amazed him by blowing up their own facility as part of their escape plan. Harry had missed his target that time but having an enemy blow up their own base made up for it. Hermione would have been so proud!

OoOoO

Hunter Gothk was not having a good hunt.

In fact, Gothk had been getting a sinking feeling for the last hour that the tables had been turned and now he was the prey. He was the last of the Broken Tusk hunters and Gothk knew he had been lucky to remain alive. His pack's hunt leader and her second had gone to investigate when the sounds of a nearby fight had reached them in engineering. It had rankled Gothk's pack leader that the Hunt Master had chosen her group to be the ones to guard the weaklings of the ship who tended to the engines. So, she had jumped at the first chance at battle.

Not that she or her second had been needed. Gothk and his own second were more than enough to keep the engines secure. The two females and one male were locked in the chief engineer's office and seemed content to just quietly monitor the instruments. They visibly were cowed every time Gothk would look in on them. Calling them weak prey was paying them too much of a compliment. The only problem that had bothered Gothk was they had been told there were four assigned to engineering but his pack had only found three. Still, the fourth had probably disobeyed orders and was cowering in their nest. Gothk had done a scan for life-forms and had found nothing. This thought was helped by the semi-darkness and red emergency lighting. He knew most species, no matter how advanced, disliked the dark.

A deep rumbling caught Gothk's attention and he hefted his rifle. There it was again! Gothk scanned the room from his place of cover but still didn't see anything. This was the fifth time he'd heard the sound. It sounded like someone was dragging stones across the floor. It unnerved him which was not a good thing given he was already rattled. This ship was cursed! It was the only explanation given what had happened to his pack mates.

Gothk checked the dressing on his arm. It was still tight even as he was missing all the armor on that arm. Gothk was glad the armor had been the only thing he had lost. Whatever sorcery had turned his pack leader and her second into the shambling, nearly unkillable things that had attacked him was almost as bad as seeing what happened to the alien that had killed his own second. What could anyone make of killing a horrific beast only to have it transform into a fellow Hirogen? A Hirogen who already had fatal wounds on its corpse?

The rumbling came again and this time a bit of movement caught Gothk's eye. He cautiously moved his rifle with its attached light source. He scanned the room and saw little to worry him till he noticed a tricoder on the floor. Gothk knew it previously had been on the console. So why was it on the floor next to the silicon experiment the humans had told him about? The reddish orange blob with the small device on its top was something the human female had said they were working on to see if they could grow replacements for some of their parts which they could not replicate. Gothk was no scientist so hadn't cared what it was and so ignored it.

Gothk didn't want to get tied to one spot, cover or no, so he cautiously began to make a sweep through the room. As he did, Gothk noticed the prey were staring out their window all in the same direction. Gothk turned towards that and smirked. Perhaps the missing crew member had returned and felt the odds were now in its favor. He would take its skull with pleasure! Gothk moved to where the tricoder was, carefully knelt to pick it up. A quick look found it to be unnoteworthy so he put it back on the console and continued to creep toward the circular work area around the ship's warp core.

He had only gone about 10 steps when he suddenly realized something. The silicon experiment had been over by the far turbolift when he had arrived. He straightened up and shown the light where he first remembered seeing the mass. As he expected, the mass wasn't there. As he whirled back towards where he had come from as the rumbling was suddenly loud in his ears. He fired his rifle with a cry but barely registered that his shot hit nothing when the silicon mass seemingly rose up from the floor and tackled him. Gothk felt only a hint of intense agony before dying.

"Wow!" Came a voice from one of the Jeffries tubes. "Now that's something you don't see every day!"

Midshipden Moleg turned towards the voice even as it quickly moved off the burnt husk of what had been the Hirogen. While the armor had been quite flavorful, the organics had tainted the taste. While Moleg did not have eyes, it could still sense that the being in the tube looking down at him was humanoid and Moleg felt was probably a full human.

"Identify yourself!" came the artificial voice from the box on Moleg's back.

The man easily jumped down to the floor. Moleg caught a whiff from the knifes the man was carrying. Whatever they were, Moleg hadn't smelled the like. It wondered how they would taste.

The man gestured and Moleg (whose senses were 360 degrees in nature) saw the door keeping his crew mates locked in open. They all quickly came over to support Moleg.

"I concur with Midshipden Moleg; identify yourself," SLT T'Pev asked in a firm tone. As a Vulcan, she was the strongest besides Moleg and such kept herself between the unknown human and the rest of her engineering team.

"I'm Harry Potter and I was coming to rescue you but it looks like you managed that all by yourself. Still, sit tight till this is over. I've still got about nine Hirogen to take out." The green-eyed man looked down with a look of wonder, "So what's the story here? I've seen a lot listening in on the Collective but I don't recall seeing something like this."

"Moleg is a Horta. It's a silicon-based race…" Ensign Maria Gilmore, a pretty blonde began to say before Harry cut her off.

"...found by the USS Enterprise under Captain Kirk. Okay now I'm tracking. Well, I have a long history of killing people and have seen so many ways you can die but being run over with a Horta is a new one even for me," Harry said with a lop-sided grin.

OoOoO

"Hunt Master, bio-signs for the last of the Broken Tusk pack have failed. We have survivors of Green Fang and Dark Blood packs on Deck 7 and War Cry pack on Deck 5," the smallest Hirogen reported.

The Hunt Master rubbed its chin as he had removed the lower part of his helmet to drink from a frothy liquid that smelled like turpentine, "So many dead and not a single confirmed sighting of this Harry Potter." The Hunt Master turned to Ransom, "You are certain this Reaper is human?"

Ransom spread his hands, "As much as our fragmented histories say about him. The only contact with non-terrestrial life we had on Earth at the time came from time-travelers and this was not commonly known outside the highest levels of government. Still, no human can live as long as he obviously has especially since he looks young by the standards of our race. Perhaps it is some type of alien who has taken on the form of the Reaper for some reason."

The Hunt Master seemed to ponder this before it snorted and knocked back the last of its drink. It buckled on its armor and motioned towards the smaller Hirogen, "Beam the Deck 7 hunters here. They can take over watching the ship. They have hunted and come up empty. It is time to show why I am Hunt Master."

Ransom watched as the Hunt-Master and his second left in the only working turbolift. He waited till the smaller Hirogen finished giving orders via his device. "I mean no offense, but does your pack gain or lose status by waiting to hunt?"

The Hirogen chuffed as he fiddled with his device, "The Hunt Master makes the gamble that the prey is worthy and could be taken by the initial hunters. Yes, if they blood the prey well enough there is less honor in the final hunt. But this prey? When the Hunt Master takes its head, the death of so many hunters just enhances the worthiness of the prey."

Three battered Hirogen hunters beamed into existence. All the bridge crew could tell that these were far from the proud, fearless warriors they had been guarded by previously. These were hunters who had been bested and bested badly.

The other Hirogen motioned to his smaller second before glancing at Ransom, "Now with Oncoming Storm on the hunt, you will see why we Hirogen are feared throughout this space." The pair entered the turbolift without a backward glance or acknowledgment of their fellow hunters. It was obvious to Ransom that this was a serious snub. Yet the new Hirogens didn't seem to care. The largest just pointed at Ransom, "Are you tracking the hunters?"

Ransom nodded, "We are."

"How many have been lost?" the Hirogen asked, his voice somewhat shaky.

Ransom swiveled his chair towards the science station and made a gesture to SPC Morrow who spoke up, "You started with twenty-four. We are only reading nine life-signs of your people,"

A Hirogen who obviously was from the Green Fang pack due to the face paints and various icons etched on its armor gave a watery cough and wiped a bit of blood off its lips, "Fifteen hunters! At least when I return to my clan with the news of the death of my pack-mates, I at least survived such a hunt!"

A mournful beeping sounded at the science and tactical stations. Bowler responded first as Morrow turned back to his console, "We just lost the Hirogen signals on Deck 5."

OoOoO

Harry leapt to the side and narrowly missed losing his left arm to the halberd-like weapon the Hirogen hunter was using. He had to admit these last four were good. They'd already taken out the inferi he had on this deck and all his Giger's had returned to their original corpse state. Still his creations had taken out half of the hunters which had allowed Harry to concentrate on the ones which were tougher and smarter. Luckily for him it didn't take too much effort to figure out who was in charge of any group of Hirogen. Obviously, they rarely went up against snipers.

Harry evaded some throwing star type weapon when the halberd wielding Hirogen leapt to one side and a barbed net smashed into Harry and painfully pinned him to the bulkhead. The three remaining Hirogen's let out a blood-curdling cry of victory. This pissed Harry off. As much as he was enjoying the challenge, these Hirogens went from being a relentless enemy to being worse than the lower dregs of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Mad-Eye would have had a field day with these idiots who paused to crow before the battle was over.

Indeed, the Hirogen's cries turned to shouts of amazement as Harry apparated out of the net. He had to admit that their hearing was exceptional given that even with their cries, all three heard the pop he made appearing behind them.

"Such worthy prey!" The biggest one said even as the one with the halberd charged forward.

Harry, however, was tired of this game. He was running on fumes and his body ached from previous injuries the Hirogen had managed to land earlier, "Expello Ventris!"

In retrospect, he realized using the organ expelling curse on someone wearing a mask was probably a tad cruel. Then again, cruel sort of went with a curse where one vomited up their intestines. The halberd skidded to rest by Harry's feet as the Hirogen began the painfully messy spiral down into death.

The Hunt Master surprised Harry by holding up a hand which caused the smaller Hirogen to lower the device he had used to shoot the net at Harry.

"Nice to see that you realize that I've been going easy on you," Harry said as evenly as he could. He didn't want the aliens to see how out of breath he really was. It had been a long, long time since his body had had this much of a physical workout. Even the repurposed Borg nano-tech in his body were working overtime to help keep him from crashing. "I think it's time we end this."

"I agree even though I was just keeping you within range," The Hunt Master said when there was a click from the smaller Hirogen and the halberd at Harry's feet exploded.

Harry was thrown backward, his magically enhanced uniform blunting the explosion though Harry knew he'd have nasty burns on his face to deal with. That and he was sure he'd broken a few ribs hitting the bulkhead. Even so, seeing the Hunt Master stride confidently towards him made Harry allow himself to slide down the wall to rest on his butt. It hurt to look up at his enemy but Harry was used to pain.

"The glory from this hunt will enrich my name and that of our clan for generations!" the Hunt Master said with an expansive gesture.

"I think it'll be used as a lesson on never gloating over your opponent," Harry said with a coughing hack. "I really think we need to end this pointless fight."

The Hunt Master ignored him as he pulled out an enormous knife, "Your skull will be the jewel of my collection."

Harry gave a watery laughed, "You really don't take hints very well, do you?"

The Hunt Master grabbed Harry roughly by his tunic and raised him up to eye level, "Any last words? You were worthy prey so I will grant you your final words in this life before I behead you."

Harry looked into the alien eyes. Even without looking into its mind, Harry saw no pity, no empathy. It made things easier. "Just two. Avada Kedavra!"

Harry couldn't help but groan as he fell to the floor. However, he counted himself lucky the dead Hirogen had fallen backwards and not onto him as he died. No matter the pain, Harry manifested the Wand and had it pointed at the smaller Hirogen, "Okay sport, this is how it's going down. I've killed most of your fellows and while I'm a bit banged up right now, I can fix that. So, here is the best deal you're going to get. You hunted and lost. I don't care if you lose face for it but I'm willing to let you and those three on the bridge go back to their ships and leave. I will claim all the ships of the groups I killed. Those left behind will have to hitch a ride with the survivors. You understand?"

The hunter (who had quickly dropped his weapon on seeing his Hunt Master die in green fire with but two words) nodded, "You have won in combat. They are your rightful trophies."

"Are you going to be able to make this stick with your buddies out in the ships? It would be safer to kill all of you but I'd rather send you back to your people with the warning not to mess with us again," Harry said as he began the laborious process to heal himself up. He figured just seeing his suit magically fixed and the like would just make the Hirogen that more agreeable.

He was right. The Hirogen made a saluting gesture which ended with him thumping his chest with his fist. "It can be done and it shall be done!"

"Brilliant!" Harry said with a tight grimace.

XxXxX

BRIDGE, USS EQUINOX, SECTOR 383, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51146.6

LCDR Burke sat in the command chair and read the latest reports on his PADD. The Equinox was in sad shape. The few tussles with the Hirogen had almost been the straw that broke the camel's back. Without a lot of work and supplies they didn't have; the Equinox could barely make it past Warp 3. Consumable supplies were almost non-existent and the crew was tired from being on constant alert for the last three years. Burke himself was only the first officer (and a lieutenant commander) due to a field promotion after the death of the first officer. While there were others that could have stepped into the role, Captain Ransom had decided they were needed more in the duties they already had. So Burke had been jumped past them all to XO. It had been a lot of responsibility to take on so quickly.

It would be easy to fall into despair if not for the hope that suddenly had arrived on the ship.

Of course, their savior had disappeared almost as mysteriously as he had arrived. Although the captain and the rest of the staff were sure that Harry Potter was onboard the odd craft that had begun to 'eat' if that was the right term, the four Hirogen vessels had left behind. However, it didn't matter given what Mr. Potter had said when he had first arrived.

"Max! I think this is it! I'm getting a faint signal with a Federation signature on long-range sensors," Staff Sergeant Noah Lessing called out from the science section.

Burke chuffed at that, "It's an insult to actual long-range sensors that you call them that, Noah." The ship's sensors, once the pride of Starfleet, would be over-shadowed by the old Constitution class ships in their current state of disrepair.

He hit the intercom button, "Rudy? I think we're about to have the company we're expecting." He then got up and moved to the first officer's chair.

Captain Ransom came onto the bridge from his ready room, "What have we got Chief?"

"Checking now," Chief Damir Tsmirci replied from the Tactical station. The Elasian's hands moved over his console, "If it is Voyager, they should be entering…"

A beep of communications interrupted the older non-com. Ransom smiled, "Let's see if the Reaper was yanking our chain or not."

A crackle of static washed over the bridge before a slightly garbled voice could be heard, "USS Equinox, this is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager. We will rendezvous with you in under two hours. It will be good to have company our here in the Delta Quadrant for a change."

The bridge crew broke into cheers. Ransom himself merely sighed and softly said, "Yes...yes it will."

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Richard Herd: This chapter is dedicated to Richard "Admiral Paris" Herd who has died at the age of 87 of cancer the day before I originally posted this. May he boldly go to where there is peace, friends and family.

Manga/Movie Reference: One of the shows the Japanese general showed Harry was that of Lone Wolf and Cub. Itto Ogami killed his way through feudal Japan but he certainly did it artistically! The whistling blood thing comes from the Hidari Brothers known as the Bentenrai. During a fight between these brothers and Ogami, he does this to one of them. It's called "the Flute of the Fallen Tiger" and one of the brothers had always wished he himself had been able to make a cut like it. For readers of Lone Wolf & Cub, it's easy to see how Harry might want to make his bloody work into something other than what it really was, bloody murder writ large.

Aliens: First off let me point this out too many of my reviewers, calling them 'xenomorphs' is not naming them given the term means 'alien like thing' – So alien or xenomorph, it's not really a name.

Spells

Ignis Infernalis – Infernal fire or Fiendfyre.

Mortuos surgere foedari – Rise dishonored dead. Incantation to create inferi

Expello Ventsi – Expel entrails. Vomit up your organs for fun and profit!

WARNING: AUTHOR PONTIFICATION AHEAD!

Harry's Smack-Down on Janeway: Quite a few reviewers felt that Harry was being too harsh on Janeway and the Federation. In fact, a few semi-rightly pointed out that a lot of the 'bad' stuff of Star Trek came later in the franchise's history. However, let's not forget the Jim Kirk followed the rules only when it suited him. Here are a few good examples that people rarely think about.

Kirk and Pretty Aliens: Remember all the trouble Harry Kim got into for having sex with a Varro in The Disease? Kirk made it with a LOT of aliens back in ST:TOS. No one said a damn thing! But what do you expect when his Doctor friend smuggles in contraband from over the Neutral Zone?

Kirk and the Klingons: So, while we expect the Federation to be putting on a better show by TNG times, let us remember Picard's Federation gospel speech was pretty much what Kirk was pushing. Yet for all the peace, enlightenment and the like, it took the Organians to stop Kirk from giving the Klingons the war they were obviously pushing for. Kirk himself admits that he was arguing for war without really thinking about it. So, one of Starfleet's top captains 'forgets' that he's not supposed to be dragging the rest of the Federation into a war with the Klingons and has to have an advance race basically spank him to remind him of this fact!

Kirk and the Gorns: While both captains are guilty, Kirk really screwed the pooch in the episode Arena. This is another episode where the 'mythic' status of being a captain was on display. "I have to fight in this gladiatorial death sport to protect my crew!" Yet when he finds out that he can talk to the Gorn, does he try and figure a way both captains can save their crew? No. In fact, he waits till he wins BEFORE he remembers that he's supposed to be an enlightened guy. If anything, at least the Gorn was like, "Hey pal, I'm going to do you quick because it's nothing personal." The episode would have been MUCH better if BOTH captains refused to play the game, daring the supposedly 'superior' race to explain why a death sport was better than just putting both captains in a room where they might have found that the attacks the Gorn thought were coming from the Federation where actually being done by the Romulans. (Not sure how canon that is but it is SFB canon) In fact, in one of the early Starfleet Academy magazines for Starfleet Battles (Captain's Log), they had story about a fight between a Gorn and Federation ship where the captains basically do what Kirk and his Gorn captain should have done: talk instead of just going directly to combat.

Kirk Part II: Did J.J. Abrams have Kirk steal a vital holy relic for no apparent reason? Yes he did! (Not canon but I point it out that Kirk really was rough early on.

Janeway the Temporal Terrorist: Here's a plot for an episode. A starship captain has issues in the future and decides the pain is too much so they need to go back in time and 'fix' things so their future pain will be erased. Sounds like the plot of the episode Relativity, right? Well it's the EXACT plot of the series finale as well. Except the villain isn't Captain Braxton, it's Admiral Janeway. And yes, JANEWAY IS THE VILLAIN here. She breaks Starfleet rules, she steals proscribed tech, she breaks temporal rules, she gets other Starfleet officers to conspire to commit temporal 'genocide' as well as bringing future tech backwards in time. She then wages a one-admiral crusade against the Borg.

Okay, the Voyager crew suffered a lot. It took them 17 years to get home, people died, Tuvok got sick and the like. But they got home. Many went on to other things, many had families and the Doctor seemed pretty pleased with his life. How many other trillions of sentients were totally happy with their life at that time? Nope. Doesn't matter to Janeway because she was THE CAPTAIN and she had a DIVINE RIGHT to protect her crew. So she DESTROYS an entire timeline to do it.

"But wait, zArkham!" I hear you say. "She destroyed the Borg." Yes she did. But we never see how that panned out did we? (Well we didn't till Picard but I haven't seen it nor do I plan to. For me, canon ends with Voyager for this fic) For all we know, the Borg drones all went nuts and died soon afterward. Given at this point there are probably trillions of drones throughout the galaxy, it is possible Janeway killed them all. So all those drones, all those collective memories, were lost from a potential anti-Borg campaign. All those Unimatrix Zero drones, didn't they deserve their chance to try and free other drones? Nope! Janeway only cares about her crew. Also, the Queen rightfully points out that if they assimilated Voyager, they'd not only get that future tech but the Doctor's mobile emitter. Janeway risked a Borg Über Alles universe all because she couldn't stomach that she lost Seven, Chakotay and that Tuvok went crazy.

Boo fucking hoo! Did she expect everyone to magically make it home? Apparently so because she went for the magical fix. The thing is the end of canon Voyager probably NEVER happened. Why? Because as the scene of the Federation ships greeting Voyager fades to credits, the time-ship Relativity shows up under Captain Ducane who arrests Janeway and works to put EVERYTHING back to how it was at the beginning of the two-part episode. And why wouldn't they? They're time-cops and Janeway was acting just as badly as Captain Annorax did in the Year of Hell arc. But just like in Harry Potter, everything seems to be okay when the good guys do it. (/sarcasm)

Also, one caveat here. At least Admiral Janeway just wanted them to get home. It was Captain Janeway and the rest of the crew who felt they had to destroy the Borg transit station. One last chance to fuck with the Delta Quadrant because whether or not it was a good thing or not, it just shows that Federation types can't help but 'save' a lot of people who never wanted to be saved in the first place. In fact, in at least two separate episodes of Voyager, we see how Federation interference or just sending out probes screwed over other civilizations who were busy minding their own business. I'm not saying the Federation is bad. I'm just saying that like in Harry Potter, the writers want us to just accept the Good Guys are the Good Guys and ignore all the times they aren't acting like the good guys.