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.

13. Hope & Fear

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 much of their content via the Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph Schnaubelt and published by Ballantine Books.

XxXxX

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – HOPE AND FEAR

(Episode: ST:VOY Hope and Fear)

(References: ST:TAS episode The Slaver Weapon & the ST:FC film)

XxXxX

PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell." (The Heart of Mid-Lothian) Sir Walter Scott –Scottish historical novelist, poet, playwright, and historian – 1771-1832

LAST UPDATED ON: 02-12-2021

OUTER ORBIT OF THE 7th PLANET, GHELICO SYSTEM, SECTOR 36, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51256.4

"Aslan, this is Valkyrie."

Junior Lieutenant Rick Steinbach jerked awake with a muttered, "Finally!" He chided himself on dozing off but to be fair, he had been stuck in his fighter for almost 16 hours now. He was thankful that the flight suit, which was practically powered armor, had a waste recovery system. "Go ahead Valkyrie," He said on the Gold Squadron leader's frequency.

On the other end of the conversation, the Bandi leader of Gold Squadron, JLT Gal Sahreen tracked her targets which were close enough she could visually see them from her cockpit. While the dense ice ring her squadron was hiding in had so far kept them from being detected, it was still easy enough to make out the ships as they moved past her. It also was a testament to how well Commander Tuvok's team had done in predicting where the pirates were likely to stage from.

"Aslan, I'm visually tracking the Nihydron pirates now. Tuvok's intelligence was spot on. I'm counting eight raiders about the size of a runabout as well as two corvettes which are about half the size of the Marianne. No sign of the mother ship. They haven't spotted us and are moving away but we could be detected at any moment."

Steinbach looked at the telemetry being sent from where the Badgers lay in wait, "Copy that, Gold Leader. Hang tight. Blue and Green look to be in the best position. If they do an about-face, they'll just run right into your guns."

"Acknowledged. Gold Leader going dark," came the reply.

Steinbach hands danced over the controls. The cockpits of the squadron leaders had an extra screen to plot attack courses. He used that now to finalize his plan. He hit the buttons for Blue and Green squadrons, "Basilisk, Raven; the Badgers had our targets jump in and move almost on top of them. As you can see, they are moving mostly towards Blue Squadron. You two engage and I'll move Red Squadron to cover the left flank but still be able to reinforce the Ravens if they just try to barrel ahead. Questions?"

"Are we attacking to get them to retreat into Gold Squadron or engage to destroy?" JLT Jarvin Breve, the Green Squadron leader, asked.

"Both. If they stand and fight, Gold can pincer from behind. If they, turn and run, well Gold should be able to do plenty of damage to allow us to close. Either way, it will hopefully draw out the mother ship. Begin your attack when ready." Steinbach ordered.

"Acknowledged, Red Leader," came the reply from the other two squadron leaders.

Steinbach hit another button, "Phoenix, preparing to engage enemy. Sending telemetry now." Normally their fighters would be linked up to the fleet but with deception being the order of the day, they were keeping to the lower band, tight beamed frequencies to avoid being detected. "Initial enemy location shows a good likelihood of the mother ship being where the Tactical team predicted it be hiding."

"Good to hear. Good hunting Red Leader," came the voice of the Wizard from where the Phoenix was hidden in a different part of the system.

Steinbach sent the planned telemetry to his own squadron. It took only a few minutes before both Blue and Green squadrons power up and began to move to attack range. Given the amount of ice in the ring, missiles would have to wait until they left the planet's ice ring.

His sensors showed them that the Terkellian convoy, the target of the pirates and the bait of the Federation's trap had turned to move away from where the pirates were just beginning to emerge away from the concealing cloak of ice.

Red Squadron moved carefully into position to help cover Green Squadron's flank even as they still could quickly reinforce Blue Squadron. However, it quickly became apparent that the Nihydron pirates were not in the same class as the Hazari. With barely a few shots toward the incoming fighters, the pirates increased speed and moved to break contact.

Steinbach frowned. On one hand, they were heading towards the moon where Phoenix was hiding (with the Marianne hiding in the next outer moon) which was good. Still, he worried that somehow the pirates had gotten wind of the fleet's agreement with the Tekellian's to help them against the pirate raids that had been plaguing them for almost two years. Could this quick escape be itself a way to lure his fighters into a Nihydron kill zone?

With a shake of his head, Steinbach banished such concerns. Unless the pirates had a lot more firepower than they had ever shown, his fighters and the Phoenix and Marianne should be enough to get themselves out of danger. That and Voyager and the Equinox could quickly come to their aid if needed. He gave a quick order to Gold Squadron to join the pursuit in such a way as to look like they were trying to box the pirates in instead of herding them in hopes the mother ship would come to their aid.

Of course, to make this look real, his fighters had to keep attacking. Out of the ice ring, missiles from Blue and Green Squadron began to penetrate the enemy's defensive screen. Two of the smaller vessels had already been destroyed with another damaged and drifting on emergency power.

Suddenly threat alerts began to blossom on his HUD. More enemy were detected coming from the moon. Moving to intercept the enemy vessels was not only the mother-ship, a bulky vessel slightly larger than the Equinox, but two more vessels about the size of the Marianne.

Steinbach cursed. The data had predicted there might be other large vessels but it wasn't confirmed. Still, sensors showed the Marianne was on its way at high impulse. That and the Phoenix had appeared around the curvature of the moon behind the enemy formation. So more of a fight than they were expecting, but Steinbach was confident in the plan.

"All wings; engage and destroy but use full defensive protocols. We're not here to die for the Terkellians!" He ordered as both Red and Gold squadron move into a supporting position to the Blue and Green fighters already in the fight.

OoOoO

"Red 6 has lost two engines and starboard weapons. Pilot has sustained minor injuries. Gunner droid offline so I'm moving them to safety," Zim said into the earpiece in Harry's left ear.

"Good. Send the order to have all fighters break off. Any of them that still has missiles can continue to engage but there is no reason to keep them in range," Harry ordered. Now that there wasn't any need for deception, all units were linked up properly allowing Zim to move damaged fighters to safety if their pilots or gunner drones were unable to.

From his tactical position, Alars nodded, "Orders sent."

"Veer, I want you to send another volley of torpedoes to keep their warp fields destabilized. I think the Marianne's done enough damage that I can't seem doing anything but get out of here." Harry said as the tactical display showed that the pirates had taken heavy damage and the mother-ship was starting to take some heavy hits as well.

As the deck thrummed with the torpedoes firing, Harry found it odd that one of their most powerful weapons seemed to be used more often to keep the enemy from retreating. He made a note to see if maybe they could create a torpedo specifically designed to destabilize warp fields so they wouldn't be wasting good war shots.

"Marianne has scored a direct hit on the mother ship's port warp nacelle. Their defensive grid on that side has gone offline. I don't think it will be able to cover the other two ships," Alars reported.

Harry nodded given, even before Alars finished speaking, three missiles from the retreating Gold Squadron stuck home. Two on one of the ships, with one hitting the other ship which was already damaged. "Okay, that's pretty much going to be it. Those missiles wouldn't have hit but now, well now they're just done. Send the surrender demand. If they don't respond, fire a full spread of torpedoes, centered mostly on the mother-ship."

Harry leaned back in his command chair. All of the smaller pirate ships were destroyed or disabled. One of the corvettes was still supporting the lesser damaged frigate but the other had lost power early in the fight to fire from direct phaser fire from the fighters.

The pirates did not respond, but before Harry could give the order to fire, both Voyager and the Equinox dropped out of warp a few thousand kilometers away. Harry couldn't help but whistle. Paris really could fly like a champ!

The pirates surrender plea was received in short order.

OoOoO

Commodore's Log, Star Date 51260.3, The fleet has almost reached the Terkellian star port orbiting Ereth III. While towing the surviving Nihydron ships has slowed the fleet down, it was still faster than waiting for Terkellian tugs to reach us.

We will be staying Terkellian space for approximately two weeks as we plot our next, best course. Our supplies will be in very good shape after we make port and the new crew complements seem to be working out the expected kinks. Thankfully, beyond a few minor injuries and easily repairable damage, our mission against the Nihydron pirates went off without any problems. In return for our help, the Terkellian are allowing us full use of their facility, cut rates on supplies and most importantly, information regarding what lies ahead of us in the Delta Quadrant.

While normally I would avoid getting involved in inter-species conflicts, the Nihydron pirates have been an issue for many races in this area. Even the Krenim Empire have had attacks by pirates in their outer colonies. Therefore, it was felt the goodwill of taking such action was justified. Another factor is the Nihydron homeworld and sphere of influence is away from us and our projected course. Hopefully, as news of this action spreads, it will help mitigate our involvement with the Borg. Harry was right; a lot of races had been rooting for Species 8472 to wipe out the Borg. Our help to defeat that hope hasn't been well received even as the Terkellians understood we were laboring under bad information.

For myself, I am looking forward to shore leave. The Terkellians are a very pragmatic and joyful people. After so many issues in the Delta Quadrant, it has been a relief that we were able to make contact with the likes of the Zahl and now the Terkellian. Of course, the Mid-Westerner in me can't help but think this will mean trouble is ahead for the fleet.

XxXxX

CARGO BAY 2, USS VOYAGER, IN ORBIT AROUND ERETH IV, SECTOR 36, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51265.2

"Try it now, Doc," Harry said as he disconnected a linkage cable from Seven's alcove which was connected to one of his own nanotech ports. While Seven wasn't in regeneration mode, she was 'offline' in a way.

The Doctor made some changes to the screen at the science station by Seven's workbench. He looked at Torres who was monitoring with a specialized tricorder, "If you're ready?"

B'Elanna nodded, "Baseline is set."

The Doctor hit the enable button and there was a low hum. Seven jerked slightly in her alcove but otherwise there was little to show the diagnostic was running. Harry put his shirt back on and walked over so he could see the readings on B'Elanna's tricorder. "How we looking?"

B'Elanna shook her head, "So far we're still looking at a lot of nothing. The problem is that's what makes me suspicious. You'd think we'd find some form of emotion control or other Borg overrides given Seven says they are standard."

Harry nodded as he rubbed his jaw, "Well a negative result is still a result. I agree with you though. If anything, you'd expect the Borg to put up a dummy override for us to find if there is something they were trying to hide. Basic rule of deception; give the enemy what they expect to see. My friend Bill Weasley used to tell me about various digs he'd done as a curse-breaker. Setting up something thieves expected was a tried-and-true method of misdirection as well as being an excellent cover for a trap."

"Well the Borg are not noted for their modesty," the Doctor said as he reviewed the data coming in from Seven's alcove. "They might not think to be that deceptive given their views of lesser beings. That the Borg Cubes have been boarded before and those personnel are almost always ignored is a testament to that."

Harry let out a sigh, "Can't argue with that. Never did understand why the Collective allows that. It's not like it would take much effort at all for some drones to be sent to assimilate any intruders."

"Well for all the Borg talk about being a Hive Mind, it might be that at that level, unless something out of the ordinary is detected, the drones just don't have enough internal initiative to raise the alarm," B'Elanna said slowly. "I guess it's like having a virus enter through a cut in your finger. Until the virus starts making itself known, the initial infection is pretty much unnoticed."

The Doctor thought on that for a moment, "That does seem to be a good analogy. Still, it does show the Borg aren't the perfection they profess to be."

Harry laughed, "First rule of megalomaniacs; always talk up your abilities and underestimate your opponents. Oh and monologue about how great you are and how doomed your opponents are."

B'Elanna smirked, "Sounds like you've had some direct experience with that."

Harry chuckled, "I wasn't kidding when I joked with the Commodore about luck being my superpower given a lot of my enemies, especially Voldemort, really should have rolled right over me. But I guess it's just in a bad guy's DNA to act a certain way. Probably why they end up bad guys in the first place."

The trio bantered back and forth for another 20 minutes or so before the Doctor sighed, "I'm afraid that either there isn't anything to find or we're not there yet to find what is hidden."

"But you do think something is hidden, right Doc?" B'Elanna asked.

The Doctor nodded, "I do. Your original points about why she has any secondary sexual characteristics are valid and Seven's concerns that even with Kes' modification, there are redundancies built into drones. We're missing something here."

"Well I noted she was a centurion drone the minute she came on to my Cube. I'm still wondering what the Nine that she's the Seven of. I find it very suspicious that even she doesn't know," Harry pointed out.

The Doctor began to end the diagnostic, "Be that as it may, I believe it's back to the drawing board for now. We might want to see if we can find a Borg debris field. With a drone to scan more fully, I'll be able to better see what should be there and where."

Harry harrumphed at that, "Another thing I never understood about the Borg. While I can see that policing up destroyed ships might not be efficient, leaving your tech lying around isn't good operation security either."

The Doctor sighed, "Another example of Borg arrogance I'm afraid. Still, as you said, having your enemy underestimate you is always a good thing."

Seven's eyes opened, "Report."

"And good morning to you, sunshine!" B'Elanna said tartly.

Both the Doctor and Harry chuckled at the puzzled expression that crossed Seven's face, 'So far we haven't found anything. However, what we didn't find is telling. We think the Borg have hidden something but forgot to leave certain things which you'd normally have," the Doctor said.

Seven stepped out of her alcove. B'Elanna gave her the tricoder. She reviewed the data in the quick, efficient way Seven was known for. She finally nodded, "You are correct. While I do not have a schematic of drone control system, I can see various points the scan should have found something in keeping in line with standard Borg protocols. Their absence is suspicious."

Harry smirked, "Glad you agree. So right now, we're chalking this up as a tie. The Borg have hidden something but at least we can be pretty sure we know they did it. Now we just need to keep working on finding it."

Seven nodded brusquely, "Agreed. It is unsettling to not know what might be lurking in my own body."

Before anyone could reply to that, Harry's comm-badge beeped. He tapped it, "Harry here."

"Captain Potter," came Tuvok's voice. "The Commodore has requested you and Seven meet her in Astrometrics. Additionally, Commander Torres is needed in Cargo Bay 1. There seems to be an issue with some of the incoming power converters and her help has been requested."

"She's on her way," Harry said as Torres immediately made a beeline for the door. "Seven and I will be up presently."

Harry tapped his comm-badge again and turned to Seven, "Once more into the breach, I guess."

Seven merely raised an eyebrow and followed Harry out of the bay.

XxXxX

ASTROMETRICS LAB, USS VOYAGER, IN ORBIT AROUND ERETH IV, SECTOR 36, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51267.4

Harry watched from the other side of the astrometrics lab as the alien Arturis, Janeway and Seven worked. Arturis had been staying on the station and had contacted Voyager shortly after they had arrived according to Janeway. Arturis was excited about an odd signal he had discovered that he had had trouble decoding. Given Arturis' race were known to be like a biological universal translator, his inability to decipher the signal vexed him greatly. Now he was convinced that signal had something in common with the fleet. Two days of work with him had the Commodore convinced the alien was on to something.

At the moment, Arturis and Janeway were in animated conversation as Seven worked to enable the protocols that Arturis had created over the last half an hour. While asked to be present, Harry, had had little to add to the process but had stuck around because something was niggling at the back of his mind.

"So Treana, what do you think of our guest?" Harry asked the Orion who was sitting at her station and analyzing the raw data which would later be used to chart their next leg of the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant.

Treana looked over to where Arturis was telling a story that require elaborate hand gestures, "I do not like him."

"Why not?" Harry asked. He was surprised that Treana didn't take a second to think about the question or that her tone was flat and final.

"Because I don't like how he looks at me. Look, he says he knows over 4,000 forms of communication. Well body language, facial expressions and all that are part of language. Most people aren't very good at reading such things. Him? He might as well be reading your thoughts and I don't like that one bit," Treana said flatly.

"Hmmm, hadn't thought of that," Harry said with a quick glance at Arturis which made him realize that if Treana was right (and she probably was) Arturis would easily read out the covert nature of the act with all the suspicion involved. "I think it might be best to say away from Janeway's new best friend."

"Of course, she's enraptured!" Treana scoffed. "If you can instinctively pick up a language in mere hours, imagine how much you would be able to read and manipulate the longer you're exposed to it? You human's made a sport of making your language full of symbolism, hidden meaning, double meanings and the like. He's playing her like a Vulcan harp."

Harry just stared at the green woman for a moment before shaking his head, "You know, for a former pleasure slave, you're pretty damned sharp."

Treana rolled her eyes, "It wasn't all dancing and sex, Harry. Most slaves in my position did what I did. We read, we learned, we discussed things while waiting around in the seraglio. What else did we have to do? Plus, like the geishas of ancient Japan on your homeworld, we often were de facto companions. Not all males wanted sex from a vapid partner only good at bed sports."

Harry's eyebrows went up, "I didn't know you were into history."

Treana shrugged as she finished up her last report and sent it to the operations team in charge of course charting. "Well I got interested in what a cultures ancient stories could tell you about them. Andorians especially! You humans as well. Your mythologies and religion say so much about your people. It should be required reading instead of the scrubbed and sanitized version of your planet's history most people in the Alpha Quadrant get."

Harry laughed, "Well I've been telling people, left and right, that there is little difference between 24th Century humans and the one's I grew up with back in the late 20th Century. Oh, the governmental processes are better and there is a better baseline of what is considered normal. But everything else? It's still the same old drama."

Treana smiled at this, "Speak of the same old drama, my shift is about over. Since you've seen my intellect in action, how about I show you how good of a dancer I am…especially between the sheets."

Harry blinked at this before covertly looking around to see if she'd been overhead, "Treana! What the hell? I thought you were with Tom?"

"So? He's not my owner. It's not like you're seeing Seven even though I know you've banged her," Treana said with an evil grin.

"Banged her? You have been spending way too much time around Tom," Harry said along with an eye-roll.

"He amuses me. Besides, I've wanted to crawl into your bed for some time. If anything, I want to thank you from rescuing me from a hell few sentients could ever conceive of," Treana said evenly.

Harry scowled, "I didn't do it expecting a reward, Treana."

The Orion shrugged. Even this simple act was done in a way which made her ample bosom jiggle seductively. If Harry hadn't spent so much time around Fleur and even full-on Veela, he knew he probably would be acting like Ron used to around Fleur.

"I know you didn't, Harry. But the fact remains my life was crushed into a shadow world. A purgatory I could not escape from. Aware enough to be screaming inside my skull but too much of a drone to do anything about it. Then, one day, I heard your voice. It was like an angel's voice calling me out of the hell of the Collective. In terms from your world's mythology, you went down into Hell and pulled our souls free and back into the light."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Enough with the Messiah metaphors! I got enough of that from those who found out the real story of what happened between Voldemort and I." Harry said as he waved his hands like waving off someone from coming closer.

Treana merely smirked, "Deny it all you want, Harry. But in those initial moments, you were as a God to me. I am sure many of the others would agree if they had the courage to admit to it. And who wouldn't want to be one with their God? I promise I shall worship you most delightfully."

Harry's jaw dropped before he slapped his forehead and muttered a string of curses in Gobbledygook. "Fine, but I'm only doing this because you're drop-dead gorgeous and I know from beings on my homeworld similar to you Orion gals that arguing with you on the subject of sex is like arguing with the Borg."

Treana laughed deep enough that both Seven and Janeway looked over. "Yes, resistance is rather futile."

OoOoO

Captain's Blog, Star Date…let's see here…umm, 51272.4. Or for those of us still rocking it old school, (if I have my math right…which it rarely is) November 5th, 2374. Heh-heh, 'Remember, Remember; the 5th of November.' Of course, I'm probably one of the few people left in the galaxy who remembers that old chestnut. Hmm, I need to see if Tom has V for Vendetta in his classic movie archive. Anyway, so the fleet is in route to where Arturis 'the Amazing' says the signal he caught wind of emanated from. I don't know why he didn't go here first instead of trying to decipher the signal back on Ereth IV. But what do I know? Supposedly I'm a suspicious throwback to humanity's less refined time. Thanks, Arturis. I hope my body language tells you how much I don't trust you. And that you're a smug twat to boot!

So Janeway and too many of the crew seem to think Arturis is the next best thing to jam on toast. Luckily, I'm not the only one who thinks something is a little off about the walking universal translator. That those are all Vulcans or Romulans (as well as Treana) seems very interesting to me. Additionally, the former drones seem less inclined to jump on the 'Arturis is cool' bandwagon. I swear if Neelix gushes any harder about Arturis, I'm going to start calling him Colin.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid but paranoia has worked pretty well for me so far.

It's a good thing I have a lot of various underhanded things at my disposal. I'm going to be watching how this all plays out very carefully over the next few days.

XxXxX

BRIDGE, USS DAUNTLESS, SECTOR 37, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51275.6

"This is truly amazing! I knew Starfleet has some brilliant things hidden in the Skunkworks of Utopia Planitia, but this is truly incredible," Janeway gushed as she and the other captains and selected personnel toured the bridge.

Chakotay shook his head, "Unfortunately we still don't know why it's here and what happened to the crew. Until we know that, I'm a little leery. With all of the escape pods are missing, well that is odd considering the ship seems fine."

"That and finding such an advanced ship adrift two entire Quadrants from home is enough to give anyone pause," Tuvok said from where he and Sakonna were examining the tactical station.

"Given the advances the Dominion have made into Federation space, I'm surprised that Starfleet would be wasting it's time on such a ship," Captain Tahl said from the captain's chair he was trying out.

"Well if this drive does what Torres thinks it can, it might be so that Starfleet could send a strike-force into the Gamma Quadrant to attack key areas without having to go through the Bajoran Wormhole choke-point," Riker pointed out.

Janeway nodded, "Although it's obvious this is a test-of-concept prototype. The lack of serious armament, replicators, holodecks and only one transporter show that. Why install such things on a prototype? I'm guessing if the concept bore out, this ship would be retrofitted as a scout with minimal crew to do mission on par with what V'Lana is itching to do ."

"Speak of the devil," Riker said as V'Lana and Arturis came out of the turbo-lift.

"Commodore," Arturis said with the little half-bow he seemed to give at the start of every conversation. "I believe I have cracked through the corruption of the records. This ship uses a quantum slipstream drive whose technology was discovered in something called a Slaver stasis box. This ship is the first ship of this size built using this engine design. From what I can tell, the original prototype was closer to the size of your ship the Marianne."

"A Slaver stasis box! There hasn't been one found since 2269 in the disputed territory between the Federation and the Kzin!" Chakotay said with an amazed look on his face.

"Well that explains the advanced technology. The Slavers were said to be on par with the Old Kings before the latter ascended and left their space to be taken over by their Klingon sepoys," Janeway said, almost to herself.

Arturis made a placating gesture, "I know little of such things. What I can tell you is that a misalignment of the antimatter injector coils caused a cascade failure. The records show that the crew realized the error but had the choice of a very small chance of fixing it in time or a certain chance of abandoning ship safely. That and they had to make the decision before they were too far away to be rescued. From the last captain's entry, he expected the ship to be destroyed due to too much acceleration, so they abandoned ship. However, the telemetry data shows the ship hit a certain slipstream velocity and then the quantum field began to degrade. Apparently, your Federation engineers overestimated the amount of sheer the ship would be subjected to in the slipstream. Even so, it is quite remarkable to think that in the time it took for the field to completely collapse, this ship had travelled a distance you expect to take 60 years to cross. This ship took a little over two month to travel that same distance."

"A misalignment. So nothing fundamentally wrong with the ship?" Janeway asked.

Arturis shook his head, "No. The issue was there wasn't time to realign the injectors before the crew thought they would have passed a point of safety as well as distance. Hence them abandoning ship. Again, from the last entry, the captain seemed convinced the ship would break apart. It is also apparent that after it fell out of the slipstream, the ship sent out a brief, automatic SOS but this was as corrupted as most of the data files still are. Still, it was enough for me to link it to the Federation signals from your fleet as you entered the Eresh system."

"V'Lana?" Chakotay asked.

The head of the fleet's new special forces unit shrugged, "So far what Arturis says matches up with what Commander Torres has found. Plus, from theoretical work I've seen in the past, passing through a quantum slipstream is going to have much less stress on the hull then comparable travel inside a warp bubble. So, while the crew made the safe call, the lack of overt damage on the hull isn't inconceivable even if they felt the ship was doomed."

Janeway smiled and rubbed her hands together, "Excellent! If anything, we could see if we could send the ship back remotely or with a crew of volunteers. If successful, we could ferry our crew back home in stages. If not, well at least those back home would know we're not dead."

Arturis looked surprised, "Given you issues I've seen in your logs; I'm surprised you wouldn't just take the ship and go home. The Delta Quadrant has not been kind to your people."

Janeway shook her head, 'It's tempting, but I'm not about to risk the entirety of the fleet on a prototype which already has failed once."

Arturis bow again, "Of course, Commodore. Rest assured I will continue to help work through the remaining corrupted files. It has been a fascinating exercise for me."

"It's too bad you don't have help. I'm betting a team of your people could burn through this in no time," Harry Potter said from where he had been leaning against the wall, away from everyone else.

An odd look crossed Arturis' face before he smiled, "That is very true, Captain Potter. However, if I might be forgiven of a bit of vanity, I'd rather horde such an interesting task for myself."

Harry pursed his lips and shrugged. To the surprise of many, Harry apparated away without another word.

OoOoO

Veer blinked in surprise as LCDR Torres beamed onto the bridge unannounced and was even more surprised to see her stagger a bit. He quickly looked at the status boards built into the captain's chair he was currently in. Everything was still green. Nothing had changed over the last few days since they had parked around the USS Dauntless. "Are you in distress, Commander?" Veer asked in the clipped but somewhat chirpy voice Edosians had.

"Where is that bastard?" B'Elanna snarled.

Veer cocked his head to the side, "I do not understand who you mean. Alars is regenerating and Captain Potter usually is in his quarters or in the rec room at this time."

"Oh, I'm going to wreck his room, alright!" B'Elanna said in a scathing tone as she disappeared into the turbo-lift, pulling out two Klingon daggers as she did so.

Veer blinked a bit in consternation. He hit the comm button, "Harry, I do not wish to alarm you but it appears Commander Torres is here to murder you."

A chuckle was the initial response, "In a mood, is she?"

"Knives and all; I conjecture she is suffering from an over-indulgence of alcohol if her words and inhibited motor control are anything to go by," Veer explained. "Should I throw up containment fields to detain her?"

"No. Just seal my cabin door so she can use any of her engineering wizardry to get it open. While I'm sure she'll just bang on it for a bit and threaten me before coming to the rec room, I'd rather not get my room trashed for being careless," Harry said.

"She may be coming directly to your location," Veer warned.

Harry laughed, "Veer, I'm almost 400 years old. A drunk, knife-wielding half-Klingon is a threat I could have probably have taken down back when I was twelve or so. I'll be fine."

"Very well. Bridge out," Veer said and went back to updating the Pit-Stop protocols for the future time they would want to create the next one.

OoOoO

"I know you're hiding in here somewhere, Wizard!" Come out and fight me like a proper warrior," B'Elanna slurred as she cased the room, her knives at the ready. It was lit only with one weak light on the ceiling, leaving most of the room in shadows.

"Don't be shy! I just want to carve Seven's initials onto your buttocks, you poaching dog! First Seven from me and now Treana from Tom! Oh, I'm going to…going to make you pay!" B'Elanna shouted.

Harry's voice came out of the gloom of the small space the Phoenix crew used as a gym, meeting room and whatever else which might need a bit of space. "My, my; aren't we a bit pissed. Breaking into Korath's stash of blood wine, I take it?"

B'Elanna whirled towards the sound, "What of it? I don't need to be sober to take down the likes of you! Arturis is right, you are a barbarian! And that's saying a lot coming from someone with my pedigree! You just couldn't deal with not being the only savior type around, could you?"

Harry's laugh seemed to come from multiple places in the shadows, "Well far be it for me to contradict Arturis the Many-Tongued. I only speak a smattering of French, Gobbledygook as well as Parsel speech. So, I take it his Glibness got you thinking of what a wanker I am? I know my star has taken a big hit suddenly in the last few days. Kathy has been down-right curt with me."

B'Elanna threw one of her knives where she was sure Harry was, "Bastard! Fight me!"

As the words left her lips, Harry appeared from seeming nothingness and caught her knife in mid-air, "Ah my dear B'Elanna. Drunk or sober, you sadly would never be in my league."

With a wordless cry of rage, B'Elanna rushed Harry, her remaining knife heled pointed down like an ice pick. She viciously slashed at Harry's stomach only to cut air.

She whirled to see Harry smirked at her from a few meters away, "Think fast!" Harry said.

B'Elanna barely had time to blink as the knife Harry had caught struck her, pommel first right in her cranial ridge. With a howl of pain, B'Elanna collapsed on the floor, both knives clattering away into the darkness.

Harry quickly moved in and put a boot squarely between her breasts and pushed down hard. "I win," he said with a lop-sided grin.

B'Elanna snarled a wordless cry which was half a growl and one-half cry of pain from her throbbing forehead.

"Tsk, tsk; you are in a mood tonight. Let's do something about that, shall we?" Harry said with a smirk as he manifested the Elder Wand. "Imperio!"

B'Elanna's ragged snarl cut off like a switch had been thrown.

Harry frowned, "Oh no, no no! That's not what we want at all! Come on B'Elanna; find your center. I order you to fight that which is binding you, influencing you, telling you what you have to do!"

B'Elanna's eyes went from being hazed over to locking with Harry's with a fire in them. She began to shake and push back against Harry's foot keeping her down.

"Is that all you've got B'Elanna?" Harry asked, distaste dripping from his words. "All the rage and spite, all the hurt and need to prove you are better than what people think? Are you so weak minded after all? The disappointment of your parents, of past lovers you ran from. From the Starfleet you betrayed. Was it all a lie? I guess you were just a weakling all along."

B'Elanna gnashed her teeth and began to thrash about as if she were having a seizure.

Harry laughed a nasty laugh, "Thrash around all you like. You're too weak-willed to break through. You mind is weak. Your will is weak. You are weak."

"bIHegh jIH!" B'Elanna roared as she reached up to grab Harry's leg. She'd almost gotten to a point where she could bite his calf before Harry dropped his Unforgivable Curse.

"Now THAT'S the B'Elanna I know!" Harry said as he carefully kicked her away from him.

B'Elanna snarled and bared her teeth before she paused and seemed to come back to herself. She shook her head and looked up at Harry, "Har…Harry? What…what am I doing here? What is going on?"

Harry went down onto his haunches, "I think you and a lot of the crew are being manipulated. What is going on, I'm not sure. What I do know is I think you're free of it for the time being."

B'Elanna shook her head and slumped back prone onto the deck, "I…I feel so wrung out. What did you do to me?"

"Do to you? I did little but lock you into place and push your buttons to force you to show that you have the fire to break free," Harry said with a lop-sided grin. "Plus, I really doubt you would want to stab me because I had sex with Seven and Treana."

B'Elanna moaned, "I ache everywhere. My brain included. Plus…did you punch me in the head?"

Harry chuckled, "Nah, I just hit you with your knife handle. Nice knives, by the way."

"What?!" B'Elanna almost screeched, "I attacked you?"

"Attack implies an ability to wound or kill. I'd like to think it was merely Klingon foreplay. Speaking of which; let's get you to bed. I sadly know firsthand how draining being under the Imperious Curse can be."

B'Elanna didn't know what to think but reached out and took the hand Harry offered her. As soon as her head stopped hurting, maybe she could get some answers.

OoOoO

"You know, when I said I was putting you to bed, I meant for you to rest," Harry said into B'Elanna's hair give her head was resting on his naked chest.

Torres purred deep in her throat. "Blame my mother's genes. A good fight, physical or mental always gets a Klingon going. Plus, as you said; a little pain is just foreplay." She stretched her naked body against his, "Hmmm…I can see why Seven was so complimentary about your 'intimacy lessons' as she put it."

"Well I have to say that it's rare I've managed to bed a gal smaller than me. I was always the runt in my class. It wasn't till I was able to use my tamed Borg nanoprobes to kick-start some long-delayed growth so I could finally get my body back to what it should have been if I hadn't grown up malnourished. That and I was tired of looking a few months shy of my 18th birthday for decades if I didn't use a glamour," Harry replied.

"Well I hope you realized that good things can come in small packages," B'Elanna said as she nuzzled into Harry's chest.

"Cumming being the ongoing activity for this evening," Harry said with a smirk in his voice.

B'Elanna bit Harry's chest slightly, "Jerk! Although, you are a Wizard. Tom is good in bed but nothing like you!"

Harry sighed, "Well I can cheat. While I can't read minds without some work, I can get a lot just being in close proximity especially if I can look in your eyes. So yeah, easy to please your partner when you can get real-time updates on what is working or not. Plus, wizarding kind is tougher and has more stamina than normal humans."

B'Elanna chuckled, "I'm not complaining. Most human men are one shot and it's off to dreamland. You can cheat all you want me with me given your stamina and staying power. Of course, now I want to get Seven in here. Oh, the fun we can have!"

Harry began to run a hand through B'Elanna's hair, "One thing at a time, my dear Mistress of Engineering. We've got a more pressing thing to deal with.

OoOoO

BRIDGE, USS VOYAGER, SECTOR 37, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51278.3

The turbo-lift doors opened and Harry rapidly found everyone except for Arturis scowling at him.

"I didn't call for you, Captain Potter," Janeway said coolly. Standing next to Riker in the XO seat, Harry felt Arturis' smile was a less the normal, friendly expression he affected and was very much the smug look of someone who feels they have won.

"Well Commodore, I'm rather infamous for showing up at the right time in all the wrong places. I know it's a bit of the kettle calling the pot black, but it seems a bit odd to me that you, of all people, left me out of the loop in regard to a major decision," Harry said easily. He was working hard to project the breezy, 'one-of-the-guys' at the pub sort of air he had found to help make people be at ease around him. By the dark looks on everyone's face, it wasn't working. It also didn't escape his notice that Tuvok wasn't at his station at Tactical even though the entire Alpha shift was on duty along with Commissioner Ransom sitting next to Janeway.

Riker stood up and faced Harry, a look of distaste on his face, "And that's exactly why we don't want you here. You're a threat. You always have been. Our fleet exists only because you allow it. All of that could change in at a whim. You're just as bad as a Q playing a game to amuse only yourself. So, we're taking back our lives and leaving."

Harry quirked an eyebrow at Janeway, "How? The Dauntless doesn't have the room."

Commissioner Ransom shook his head, "It doesn't if we were to fully crew it for the journey. But the ship can be run by a few personnel. Even taking it slower than the original journey here, the Dauntless can get us back home in three months. Even with crowding the ships with cyropods, there still is enough room for supplies for the small crew still awake to live on. Neelix is almost done prepping those supplies now."

Harry crossed his arms, "Well far be it for me to deny you a quick ride home. However, since I wasn't told, does this mean there are others that aren't invited?"

Janeway made a dismissive gesture, "Some of the more radical elements of the Maquis seem quite willing not to go home and face Federation justice for their crimes. Most of the former drones as well. Which is fine as it eases the burden on the rest of us to get home."

Harry snorted, "Right. Wouldn't want to make it difficult to leave some crewmembers behind if it allows you to get home."

Commander Braga, who was manning the Tactical station coughed slightly, "I think that's your cue to get the hell off the bridge, Potter. As the Commodore said, you aren't wanted here. Go take your sorcerous ways and go toy with some other playthings. We're done dancing to your tune."

It took a lot for Harry not to crack a smile at the inadvertent joke the Beta shift leader just made, "I find your lack of faith in me disturbing," Harry said with a hint of menace. But then he grinned, "Still, it's your party. Can you at least tell me when you expect to leave? If you're going to just dump Voyager here, I'd at least like to ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

Janeway sniffed, "I'd blow the old girl up before we left if I didn't know you'd just stop it. We leave in two days. Good-bye, Harry Potter. Maybe someday justice will come to you for all the crimes you indulged in during the Eugenics War. At least now we have a face to go with the crimes. You'll be properly added to the lineup of war criminals from that era just like your friend Khan."

Harry couldn't help but look surprised at this. Arturis really had been pulling out all the stops to get him cut off from the rest of the crew. But why?

Harry bowed slightly, "And on that note…" and apparated back to the Phoenix.

OoOoO

"I just don't understand what the ultimate goal here is," Tahl said as he rubbed his jaw. Around him in the Equinox briefing room were the highest-ranking members of the "Exiles" as V'Lana had dubbed them. The discussion of what to do had been on-going for over an hour now as the time the Dauntless was expected to leave grew closer. "By using the Dauntless, the crew is leaving behind Voyager and the rest of the ships. All that technology we know is above and beyond most of the races we've encountered so far."

"That might be the point," Tuvok said slowly. "Separate the bulk of the crew from the ships. Perhaps there is a fleet of ships, perhaps even hired Hazari, ready to pounce once the Dauntless leaves."

Harry grunted, "But that predisposes that Arturis does indeed have some sort of plan. My question is why? I mean okay maybe he's a slaver, or someone who is using his language powers to make lots of money. He could easily be a renegade from his people since he's the only one we've ever seen."

"Most of Species 116 rarely leave their borders. The Borg have been trying to assimilate them for going on two centuries. They have proven…resilient foes," Seven said.

"Really?" Harry said. That something that had been niggling at him for days suddenly broke through. "You know, the Terkellians and others were not happy to find out we helped the Borg. I mean that's why we helped against the pirates. Given it looks like one member of this Species 116 can use his voice to enthrall almost an entire fleet, well if it weren't for the Borg, they'd probably be running the Delta Quadrant if Arturis is typical of his people."

Uriash hissed dangerously before making a chopping motion with his non-Borg hand, "You think he is plotting for revenge against the Commodore for helping the Borg? That without the Borg, his people could be ruling this space?" The Gorn's tail twitched in agitation as he said this.

"It is as good of motive as any, I think. Revenge is a universal dish, served cold throughout the galaxy," Ventrys said from her seat next to Harry. "I have issues with the timing. I know he's clever but to be able to find the Dauntless and create all of this? How did he do it? He would have to have had access to Federation history, protocols and the like to fake what we've seen."

"Something he could have gotten while you all were on Talaska IV," V'Lana pointed out. "From what Neelix told me, there were plenty of non-Norcadians at their star-port. Given Arturis' command of coding, it is entirely possible he was there and looted all the info he needed right out from Voyager's databanks. He then could craft a story with all the elements we needed to make us accept what we were seeing."

"But we didn't learn about the war with the Dominion and the Empire and the Federation till after the Marianne showed up," Korath pointed out which got many nodding at the point.

"True, but we also spent two weeks with the Zahl after our battle with the Hazari," Dhael pointed out from her place next to Tahl.

"Which implies he has a ship capable of not only keeping up with Voyager but being able to get ahead of us. Gee, what ship do we know of that's really fast?" Harry asked with obvious sarcasm.

Seven nodded, "Technology such as quantum slipstream would explain how Species 116 has kept the Collective at bay. However, there is still the issue of time. How could Arturis build such a ship in so short of time?"

"I do not believe he did," Tuvok said. "Before ordered off by the Commodore, my team and I were tracking down odd readings from various parts of the ship. Ensign Kim's team also had found anomalous readings. Given the level of technology implicit with the quantum slipstream drive, I conjecture that perhaps the USS Dauntless itself might be a Species 116 ship altered to look like a Federation ship."

Tahl nodded slowly, "That would explain the lack of many of the features like replicators on the ship. This is all conjecture, though. What can we do? If Arturis is in control of the rest of the fleet, then they are essentially hostages. While Captain Potter can keep our ships from being from being used aggressively against us, we are still left with Arturis being able to threaten the lives of all the crew under his thrall."

"That and we don't know what steps he's taken to watch for threats to his plan. By the way, Jonna, you've been quiet this whole time. Your thoughts on this? The rest of the Earhart crew had already given their views," Harry asked.

The one-time Angosian super-soldier looked startled at the change of topic. "I have nothing to contribute," She said rather softly.

"Really?" Harry asked. "You seem rather invested in the conversation. I might not be in Arturis' league but you seemed to get upset at certain topics. Almost like you didn't like hearing Arturis being slandered. Ha! What am I saying? It's exactly that!" Suddenly Harry thrust out his hand and a red bolt of energy slammed into Jonna. She gasped in surprise before a second bolt took her down.

"Accio listening device!" Harry intoned. A ripping sound was heard before a small, alien device sailed over to Harry's hand. Around the table, the rest of the group looked shell-shocked. "I think we can safely say the jig is up. I guess Angosians are close enough for Arturis to work his magic on. Hell, quite a few folks on the ship are probably plants," Harry said speculatively.

Before anyone could speak, Harry's comm-badge beeped, "Harry here."

"Captain! The Dauntless just powered up and I'm reading transporter activity…"

Alars' voice cut off with a hum. Harry instinctively apparated away at the first hint of a tingle. As he reappeared by the door, Harry could see that the rest of the group had been beamed away.

"Damnit! I should have thought to lock down the transporters!" Harry cursed to himself before apparating to the bridge of the Phoenix to find it empty. He jacked in and reinforced the shields. Unless Arturis had some form of super-transporter on the Dauntless, he wasn't beaming Harry off the ship.

As he did this, the image of the Dauntless on the viewscreen began to change from the Federation looking ship to something which definitely never came out of Utopia Planitia, "Looks like Tuvok was right," Harry muttered as he unlocked protocols between the ship and Zim. "Zim! Lock onto the Dauntless and shoot to disable if it looks like she's going to activate the slipstream drive!"

He apparated to his room before getting a reply and he quickly donned his armor that had already opened with a mental command. Another jump back to the bridge had Harry giving a sigh of relief. The faux Dauntless had not gone into the slipstream but Harry knew that it was probably only a matter of time. He really didn't want to fire on the ship given it held everyone on it at the moment.

As he apparated away, Harry prayed that Arturis would monologue for a bit like a good villain should.

OoOoO

In her time in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway had felt despair quite often. But right now, the worst thing she felt was the utter helplessness. Trapped on the now mostly alien bridge with Seven and the rest of the Alpha shift crew, all she could do was listen as Arturis crow about his plan to get his revenge for his people who had recently fallen to the Borg.

"So instead of you and the few of your people left working to help other races survive the Borg, you're just going to give up and indulge in some petty revenge before allowing yourself to be assimilated?" Janeway said coldly. At least whatever linguistic magic Arturis had used on them had faded as the reality of what he had done became apparent.

"So self-righteous, Commodore. So typical of your species. Always from the moral high ground. You don't have the capacity to understand how futile that course of action would be," Arturis sneered. "As soon as the Collective fully assimilates my people's technology and adapts it to their Cubes, there is nowhere in the galaxy that any species will be able to hide from the Borg. You didn't just doom my people; you have given the keys to the entire universe over to the Borg. I am merely allowing myself a modicum of 'petty revenge' as you say before I bow to the inevitable." Arturis said before he turned and began to bring the quantum slipstream drive to full power.

"Inevitable? Hope makes a mockery of what is felt to be inevitable in my experience," a voice from one side of the bridge said.

Arturis whirled (as did most on the bridge) to see Harry in his Iron Man styled armor appear out of thin air. "You!"

"Me!" Harry said before he made a gesture with both hands, "Fulmen Potentia!" Bright, blue-white energy leapt from Harry's hands to strike Arturis who screamed in pain for a few seconds before losing consciousness and slumping to the floor. Even then, little bursts of energy flitted around the alien's body for a moment or two.

"Count yourself lucky I didn't use the CruciatusCurse, you smug twat," Harry said as he stepped out of his armor. Another wave of his hands and Arturis was suddenly bound in chains.

Harry sighed, "Okay people, we're in a bit of a bind. I'm thinking that Arturis wasn't too nice about where he beamed people to be. But until I can get into his brain and dig out some stuff, I don't want anyone doing anything. Who knows what sort of fail-safes and the like he might have?"

Janeway took a step forward but stopped herself from going any further, "Harry…I…"

Harry waved Janeway off, "Save it, Kathy. You all got linguistically curb-stomped. Anything you all said was due to him pressing all the right buttons. I've seen the same effect with due to emotion-warping wards to know it wasn't you speaking. Right now, I'm more worried about getting us off this ship. We can worry about everything else after that."

Janeway nodded as she took a step back to stand next to Chakotay as Harry knelt over the still twitching Arturis.

"You know…Arturis might have wanted his revenge for all the wrong reasons but he's right you know," Chakotay said quietly. "How will anyone be able to stand against the Borg if they can travel an entire quadrant in the time it takes most races to get a quarter of a way through their own territory? Overwhelm the more technologically advanced civilizations and police up the rest at their leisure. Our entire galaxy might be all Borg mere months after the bulk of their Cubes adapt to using the slipstream drive. Look how much damage one Cube did at the Battle of Wolf 359! The Federation and all the rest would fall quickly if a fleet like we saw go up against Species 8472 suddenly showed up."

Janeway snorted, "Not to mention the Cube involved in the incident above Alpha Centauri where the Enterprise prevented the original warp test by Zefram Cochrane being disrupted by the Borg Queen."

Chakotay nodded, "I remember reading a paper by one of the historians on the Enterprise who worked out that if the Vulcan's hadn't detected the test at that time, it was probable that Alpha Centauri and Earth would have been found by the Andorians first given records of their fleet movements of the time."

Janeway snorted, "Which would have doomed the Federation before it started."

"Exactly," Chakotay said.

Janeway was silent for a moment, "Perhaps we should make contact with Species 8472 again and see if there is anything in our dimension they would want enough to risk fighting the Borg again for. Hopefully, they could find a counter to the nanotech torpedoes before the Borg deploy the slipstream technology. If the Borg take our galaxy, it won't be long before they journey to others, increasing the chance of finding a tech to defeat the 8472's.""

"That or hope the Borg taking over is something the Q would find boring. I mean there still is a lot of speculation why Q alerted us to the Borg in the first place. I mean maybe he didn't want the Borg messing with his toys given how much he plays around with Picard and now us," Chakotay said slowly.

"The idea that our galaxy's survival against the Borg might hinge on Q's childish actions is something that will darken my dreams so thank you for that image," Janeway said dryly.

Chakotay shrugged, "Even so; Arturis was right. We inadvertently have given the Borg the galaxy. With such technology and patience, they could spread out throughout the universe till everything is Borg."

Janeway looked to where Harry was holding Arturis' head in his hands and peering into eyes wide with what could only be described as terror. The enormity of the consequences of her previous decision began to set in as she really thought about it. Cubes able to cross a quadrant in a month would mean inside a year, the Milky Way would be completely Borg. Long travel would be easy for drones so even if it took a year to get to the next nearest galaxy, inside a century, trillions of sentients in the neighboring galaxies would be Borg. All because she didn't confirm the telepathic impressions Kes had had.

Luckily for her, Chakotay caught her before she hit the floor as she fainted.

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Slaver Stasis Box: This is taken from Larry Niven's Man-Kzin Wars series and the Star Trek Animated Series episode The Slaver's Weapon which was written by Niven as well. The Star Date Chakotay gave is the date of that episode where Spock, Uhura & Sulu are captured by renegade Kzin while transporting the Slaver's stasis box. I only changed that it was found in the border, buffer zone between the Federation and the Kzin Hegemony instead of on the Kzin homeworld as stated in that episode due to using the Starfleet Battles Universe model. You know, I find it odd in this era of reboots and the like, that one episode from the 70's is the only bit from the popular Man-Kzin stories. You think that Netflix could at least take a stab at it.

Arturis Wormtongue: I realize I am inventing a power for Arturis. However, it is one that I believe is within reason. As Treana said, being able to read language so well and instinctively, well you would rapidly be able to weaponize that language. Using choice words, body language, tone and the like, it would be easy to play each person's biases and preconceptions against them. Riker, for example, would be a prime example given he was willing to leave Harry behind last chapter. So, I don't think it's too far-fetched to have a polyglot like Arturis be able to use his abilities to manipulate people into doing what he wants. That and his people's technology is higher than the Federation's so you figure they are used to dealing with 'lesser' races. I've done a lot of study of language and tutored people it as well as learning how to use language tricks to do proper interviews and interrogations. To me, Arturis manipulating people via language is very much in the realm of possibility.

The Horrifying Consequences of Scorpion I & II: Star Trek, like so many TV shows, are often really good at ignoring some major thing that happens in one episode that should have huge consequences going forward. The assimilation of Species 116 is one of those events. Though it does make you wonder. On one hand, you can see the Borg being very interested in assimilating Species 116 due to their technology and yet at the same time not being able to do the same to the Federation. Of course, that's just the writer's hoping we don't notice. Look how many Federation ships have to be used to deal with ONE Cube. Now we don't know how new the transwarp nebula seen in Endgame was. Maybe it was new and built using tech from Arturis' people. But the evidence of the show argues against that since it's not a bunch of slipstream corridors but a collection of what look like Borg created wormholes. Regardless of its origins, again we've seen what just ONE Cube can do and from the Endgame episode we KNOW that the Borg could send ships directly to the Solar System. Why haven't they done so? We know that the Queen is rather obsessed with humans.

More to the point, somehow even with quantum slipstream technology, 17 years into the future, the Borg still aren't ruling everything. It really makes no sense except for the simple truth that the writers hoped none of us noticed this fact. Luckily for them, most people watching a show simply accept it. It's not till fan-fic writers like myself start picking at the stories that we start to see the HUGE gaps in logic.

(I had to watch the movie Aliens five time before it dawned on me how monumentally stupid the Marines were for not immediately calling a transport down to the surface the minute they got back to the compound. That and they could have left Bishop (safe from the aliens as a replicant) and taken some of the civilian transports seen in the initial landing and just boogied away from the compound. Even if the aliens followed (on foot) and somehow could keep up, I'd much rather deal with a horde of xenomorphs on a flat, open plain than where they can't come through the floor or ceiling. So yeah, call down the ship and just have Bishop pick them up from wherever they are at that time. Back up to the ship and one "nuke from orbit" later, game over man!)

Even if ships took the long way around, how is it that the Borg only seem to send one Cube at a time into the Alpha Quadrant? We know they're in the Beta Quadrant; shouldn't take them that long to send a fleet of a few Cubes into the Alpha Quadrant and start quietly assimilating a few species with little to no technology just to get a pool of drones. Plus, even if the Borg can just send one or two Cubes at once into the Alpha Quadrant, why didn't they do this during the height of the Dominion War when the bulk of both the Klingon and Federation forces are tied up in war? The Borg were always one writer's need away from being an unstoppable force to being more of a paper-tiger.

Fighter Squadrons: I should hope most of you have caught the whole schema of the fighter squadrons. You have Red Squadron (Gryffindor) whose leader's call sign is Aslan (lion) just as Gold Squadron (Hufflepuff) leader's call sign is Badger. Likewise, with Blue Squadron (Raven leader of Ravenclaw) and Green Squadron (Basilisk leader of Slytherin). I haven't picked who Red-5 is but their call sign is Skywalker!

Translations

bIHegh jIH: Klingon for "I will kill you!"

Fulmen Potentia: Force Lightning. A spell I had Harry create in my fic, HP and the Thin Blue Line after playing a lot of Knights of the Old Republic with his kids.

Star Trek: First Contact: Obviously by using the original Star Trek canon, this film had to be ignored. Then I realized that the basics of the film could still be used if one changes the venue to Alpha Centauri and just do away with any contact between the Enterprise crew and the surface and keep the tension in space.