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.

15. Scythe

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.

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN – SCYTHE

(Episode: No comparable episode; continuance of Counterpoint)

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PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "Necessity has no law." Oliver Cromwell – English general, statesman and only Lord Protector of Britain – 1599 - 1658

LAST UPDATED ON: 04-28-2021

Mission Log, Star Date 51332.5. The Earhart has arrived in the Ciderron system and successfully inserted the Beta Team to the surface Ciderron III or Kasdeya as it is known to the Devore. Good thing too given how packed the ship was for this mission. With Harry's team planet-side, we've more room to breathe now. We are on approach to the Kasdeya Battle Station and having to come in slower than expected. Not only is the station one of the nastier starbases I've ever had to sneak onto, it also the staging base for the 5th Imperium Fleet. Surprising all of us, most of the ships are still in orbit or docked. Damir thinks they are holding back for numerous reasons. The first being we're beginning to hear of incursions into Devorian space by empires bordering them. Devorian newscasts are being coy as to why but I think the other empires think the Devore are going to be distracted going after us and so are doing some aggressive recon. This means the Devore here need to keep the fleet ready to deploy if needed.

However, Damir believes that the local Admiral also wants to use his fleet to utterly crush our fleet for the propaganda value. Given most would reasonably expect the fleet to be broken up in searching for Voyager, the visuals would then suggest that the actual 5th Fleet is bigger than it is. At first, I thought this was a ploy easily seen through but given the rabid xenophobia of the Devore, getting info out of their space is difficult so this sort of psy-ops might actually work. Whatever the reason, the extra ships has caused us to be more cautious before we infiltrate the station.

UMATILLA RE-EDUCATION CAMP, ISLAND OF KESH, KASDEYA, SECTOR 368, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51333.6

Harry lowered his binoculars and sighed. He wished he could use the much higher tech versions that allowed all sorts of range finding, sensor readings and the like. However, the Devorians were being true to form and the area was littered with sensor traps, flying drone guards and some form of emitter which was sending out random pulses of energy which messed with any readings taken from their tricorders. So, they were stuck using the old Mark I eyeball to plan their next move.

"As you can see, it will be as difficult as I warned you it would be," Ryn said from her position lying next to him on the slight ridge overlooking the facility. She was their Brenari contact for this mission. It had become apparent to Commodore Janeway that they'd need help escaping Devorian space so they had contacted the Brenari resistance using the codes from the Brenari agents they had brought into the Imperium. After reviewing their options, the Fleet Council and the Brenari had come up with the current mission, even if the mission goals were fluid.

Harry took another long look at the facility as his team kept watch from their concealed locations along the ridgeline. In return for their help, the Brenari had wanted to get as much intel on the Umatilla Re-Education Camp as possible. It was the largest of such camps in Devorian space and the Brenari were concerned it could easily be converted from a place to supposedly help non-Devorians of the Imperium be able to integrate more fully into their society to that of a death camp.

Harry frowned at what he saw through his binoculars. Sadly, due to all his time in the Eugenic War, Harry was all too familiar in seeing refugee or detention camps becoming a place to quietly get rid of undesirables. So far, all the signs were there. He'd seen prisons with less security than this supposed re-education facility. Worse, while there was plenty to keep the people at the facility in, most of the security was to keep people out. The Imperium obviously didn't want anyone, their own people included, to know what was going or was planned to go on at the facility.

Harry started tapping a device on his wrist. Normally they just use their comm-badges but given the situation, they were using the watch-like device which used a very low band signal to transmit pulses to all the linked units. Essentially Harry was using a form of Morse Code where instead of dots and dashes, long or short vibrations were felt by the other members of their team. In short order, his team along with Ryn had assembled back to their base, leaving a smaller and much stealthier version of GO-4 to keep watch. Of course, calling the equally stealthy tent a base was a bit of a stretch. It was a larger version Harry had used during the Eugenic Wars when he mostly had to only house himself.

The tent had brought back old memories of his Seventh Year when he, Ron and Hermione had trekked across England in that tent which had smelt of boiled cabbage and cats. Unfortunately, almost all those memories were bad or at the very least, very bittersweet.

Harry waited as his team sat around the table before beginning, "Okay, we've seen the target and Ryn was absolutely right that it's locked up tight. Thoughts?"

Cassi, a former drone who now worked in the Equinox's med-bay spoke up first. As always, she spoke in the slow, precise way that most of the other Romulans in the fleet spoke with. "They can call it what they want, but it's a prison. While the prisoners do not look like they aren't being overtly mistreated, it is obvious they are not getting full rations. Judging on my earlier scan of Ryn here, I'd estimate most have already lost 5 to 10% of their normal bio-mass."

The Tellerite (and also former drone) Zom nodded, "The work I observed was done using the bare minimum of equipment. If it were indeed team building exercises, they certainly would be using better equipment. What they're doing is one step away from punishment detail."

Warg snorted at this, "Team building! I saw the guards hit some of the workers with those swagger sticks for working too slow. So, unless this facility is using the Klingon Military Academy model for re-education, it's all a sham."

Alars nodded in agreement, "While Warg would know his people's training better than I, this camp is far too dissimilar to what we have back in Cardassia for my liking." While normally not part of the Earhart crew, Harry had wanted Alars to come given his previous experience as a member of the Cardassian Obsidian Order. While not an agent, Alars had supported intelligence ops throughout Cardassia space and into the Federation before being assimilated. A lot of information had crossed Alars' desk so V'Lana had quickly agreed to him being part of the mission.

"How is it different and why does that bother you?" Ryn asked curiously.

Alars fiddled with his pen for a bit before making it spin on the table they all were sitting around. "It worries me because of the work Warg was watching. We have plenty of labor camps in Cardassia. From what Commander Riker told me, these have only grown in number in the time since I was assimilated given he was in one for two years. The point, however, is while you might get worked to death in one of these, it wasn't the purpose of the camps. Mostly it was just a place to put people and get some use out of them. They'd either stay there till released or sent to another facility to be executed away from view. Commander Riker was in route to such a facility when V'Lana rescued him. Now take this facility; it's not a labor camp. In fact, it's not much of anything. Oh sure, to anyone inspecting it, it looks like you'd expect. Classrooms, work areas and the like but none of those are at the level you'd expect if you wanted to achieve those goals."

Harry sighed, "Right. The facility is just in a holding pattern."

Alars nodded, "Exactly. These people are just being held with just enough of a veneer that they can convince themselves they aren't just counting the days till they are executed. In fact, I'm worried that the work area Warg was watching will be where the mass graves will go."

"So, do you think those bunkers off to the side we can't get a good look at will be where they will be killed?" Shreen asked, a look of disgust on her blue Bolian face.

Harry nodded, "I certainly think so. Earth has a long history of such death camps. We had a particular nasty set of them during our Second World War my grandfather fought in. Also, I agree with Alars in regard to the camp being not one thing or another. During the Eugenics War, I saw plenty of labor camps where they might not care if they worked you to death but that wasn't the goal of the camp. I also saw actual re-education camps and there would be a lot more propaganda and the like. I remember this one camp had loudspeakers blaring out approved text that the people had to memorize. So yeah, this camp is just waiting for the word to transition to its actual mission."

"One we may have inadvertently given the Devore," Cassia said with a frown. "I agreed with Captain Tahl about it being a mistake to bring in the Brenari into Devorian space." The Romulan turned to Ryn, "No offense to your people, but what we did could easily be considered an act of war. If the Federation had done something similar to the Romulan Empire, we certainly would have seen it that way."

Ryn's weathered face broke into a tired smile, "None taken. We knew it was a huge risk for your people but as you can see, time is running out for my people as well as those Devorians who speak out against their government. You are correct, though. With the Imperium's enemies probing the border, the Devore Triumvirate might decide to liquidate enemies of the state rather than divert resources. That you brought actual, trained insurgents into the Imperium with the stated goal of training more…" Ryn trail off. It was obvious to the team that their previous mission to help the Brenari might now be used as the pretext to exterminate those they had been hoping to help.

Finally, Harry stood up, "Well it's looking like this mission is mostly a bust. Without going completely and utterly over the top, which we don't have the resources for, we're left with just getting as much info we can. Hopefully, enemies of the Devore, their own internal opposition parties and the likes of the Terkellians and Krenim can use what we find to keep extermination orders from going through. With all the security, I'm going in alone. As nasty as the security here is, I've snuck into similar places before."

"What are we going to do," Alars asked.

Harry pointed a figure at one of the maps on the table. "You all are going to pack up and do recon of this city. After that Second World War on Earth, troops liberating the death camps went around to the surrounding towns and found a lot of willful ignorance going on. Still, there were plenty of people who knew enough to know they didn't want to find out more. However, they still were able to fill in a lot of blanks like how the camps were staffed and supplied. As you said, Alars, this camp doesn't fit the model so what are they shipping in? Who is staffing it? Find out what you can while I do more direct digging."

There were nods around the table. Except for Ryn, they all knew that Harry could get into and out of places without detection but he'd have to do it alone.

Harry looked at Ryn, "While I'd prefer to just get in and out without disturbing anything, I might be able to take one, maybe two people with me. If you have a list of people who really need to be recovered that you think are in this camp, I'm willing to look for them. It's not much but the beauty is the camp commander isn't about to let it get out that some VIP prisoners escaped under their watch so it shouldn't make the situation worse."

Ryn nodded and began to scroll through her handheld unit which held her files on the camp.

Harry looked at his wrist unit, "Okay people, we have about 3 days till extraction. Let's get our camp shifted and then I'll jump back into the camp."

Warg frowned, "Are you sure your illusion rings will work?" Harry had made up charmed rings for all his team which made them appear to be Devore.

"Prax and his teams never spotted anyone wearing them. They won't stand up to those dedicated sensors they were sticking into every hidey-hole in the fleet but for carousing a town for gossip?

You should be fine."

"Warg just doesn't like the fact he might have to portkey away from a fight if we're detected," Alars smirked.

"Give me a straight up fight to all this sneaking around," Warg said with a grin. It was becoming a standard joke about Warg was going to be the one to get them detected due to the touchiness Klingons were known for. However, B'Elanna had told him when Harry asked her about it that while Klingons barked a lot, their military discipline was such that Warg would chew his own leg off rather than botch a mission over his honor.

"Don't worry Warg. We've got a long road back to the Alpha Quadrant. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to kill our way through some enemies. Right now, I'm totally okay with sneaking out and forgetting we ever met the Devore," Harry said.

Many of his team would remember this statement later and realize how true Harry's words would turn out to be.

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AUXILIARY COMMUNICATIONS STATION, DECK 6, KASDEYA BATTLE STATION, IN ORBIT OVER CIDERRON III, SECTOR 368, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51334.1

Uriash gave out a long hiss of frustration as his tail twitched back and forth.

"Problems?" V'Lana said without looking up from the workstation she'd hacked into to monitor the base's security grid. The rest of Alpha Team except for Tamal, were likewise engaged in their various tasks of espionage.

"This encryption is dense. It's taking more time than I like. I didn't want to do this but it seems time is against us," Uriash growled as he moved from where he had been working to the panel he'd first opened to begin his infiltration of the battle stations main data base.

The rest of the team all stopped what they were doing and watched as Uriash's left arm morphed from mimicking his lost arm back into something closer to its original Borg form. From it, multiple Borg assimilation type tubules snaked out and integrated into the exposed communications equipment.

V'Lana continue to watch as the rest of the team went back to work. Uriash was the only former drone in her team for this mission. She figured it was disconcerting to the rest to be reminded at what Uriash had been for so long. It probably didn't help that as a Gorn, he was physically the most unique of the team.

Still, his skills wouldn't have been as useful to be on Beta Team which was mostly made up of former drones. Not that the teams were set in stone. Except for Damir, Tom and Yin on the Earhart, she'd change who went where and into as many teams as needed. Currently, her team was geared to data extraction as well as being nasty enough to fight their way off a hostile station if they were detected.

V'Lana's comm badge vibrated. She touched it lightly while she glanced at the screen for any hint of trouble, "Go ahead, Tamal." They'd already hidden their comm-badge frequency from the internal sensors.

The Capellan's voice was hurried but didn't sound too stressed, "There has been an incident in the bay. Looks to me like one of the repair crews accidentally punctured something filled with noxious gas. Things are hoping down here but everything looks like you'd expect from an accident like this. Still, I can't tell if this will make extraction easier or harder from this location."

V'Lana fiddled with her workstation. Beyond a hazmat team being dispatched, it didn't look out of the ordinary, "Abort to the secondary site, Tamal. I'm reading a hazmat team in route. I'm betting they're going to clear all but essential personnel so our primary is out. Contact me once you get there and have scanned the area."

"Understood. Tamal out," came the curt reply.

"The Devore are idiots," came Jondra's soft voice from the other side of the room. "They're using eridon gas to help stabilize their sub-light engines. Works great but is seriously toxic and causes way too much degradation in the cooling system. Even the Ferengi stopped using them in cheap missiles because of their habit of exploding if you skimped on maintenance."

While Jondra was an Angosian super-soldier, V'Lana knew her station in Voyager's life-science division was earned and so she knew what she was talking about. Of course, V'Lana had used eridon gas in ways no navy would dream of using it. Such was the life of a rogue-for-hire; you used what the universe saw fit to give you.

Formax chuckled from where he was rewiring parts of the security camera system to show what they wanted it to show. "Skimping on maintenance is practically an unwritten Rule of Acquisition to most Ferengi that I've met over the years. Even the Orion pirate clans thought eridon gas wasn't worth the trouble no matter how easy it was to get."

Jondra raised an eyebrow, "Speaking from a family perspective Pax?"

The Orion affected a hurt look, "You wound me! My family has been smugglers for generations. Any brute with a ship with a halfway decent weapons array can be a pirate. Smuggling takes style!"

V'Lana chuckled, "Agree with you there. How we looking Uriash?"

The Gorn responded in a flat voice that V'Lana interpreted to him using more of his remaining Borg technology than usual, "I'm in the processing of downloading the needed data. Three minutes to minimum data collection. Five minutes for full extraction."

The team continued on in silence. This was broken after a bit with Tamal reporting in from the secondary extraction zone they had chosen when they had first snuck on board. As V'Lana had expected, the Devore were no different than races back in the Alpha Quadrant. If you had a way to avoid your ship being detected or had a good reason to be there, moving through space to gain entry through maintenance ports was surprisingly easy. It never failed to amaze her how even the most powerful sensors on a ship or base, you could just float up with some minimal stealth and get away with it. That and how so many maintenance ports had terrible security compared to something like a shuttle bay.

V'Lana smiled to herself. Even some of the times she'd tripped such lax security, she'd always been able to play it off as a work detail accidentally setting of the alarm. In almost all cases it turned out that this actually happened enough that the security detail felt it routine enough to be grouchy for being disturbed. For all their paranoia, it seemed the Devore weren't immune from allowing holes in their security to smooth out certain routine activities like maintenance.

An angry hiss startled everyone in the room except for the two Devore techs who were still very much unconscious in a storage locker.

"That didn't sound good," V'Lana said in a calm voice. She'd long learned that no matter how bad an op might go, she had to remain calm no matter what. She'd been on too many missions under someone else who didn't to know how fear was contagious.

Uriash retracted from the communications panel and reformed his arm back to mimicking his real arm. He turned towards V'Lana but didn't say anything at first. V'Lana wished that Gorns didn't lack so many features which made reading an expression easier.

"I have discovered some…disturbing news related to the fight we had with the Devore," the Gorn finally said.

V'Lana frowned. She knew from long experience of how a subordinate worded things they knew their boss wouldn't want to hear. However, now was not the time for such things. "Well save it. If you got the info then we can activate the sabotage protocols. From what I've seen, we should be able to cripple the navigation systems of at least half of the ships or more in orbit. That corruption should slow them down enough for Voyager and the rest to finish repairs and get us out of here. So, pack up and let's get going. We still need to extract Beta Team and we're running behind schedule enough as it is."

Her team quickly bent to the task of finishing up their mission. Even so, V'Lana was concerned that Uriash just stood there for a minute before finally beginning to activate the sabotage virus he had worked with Seven on before the mission. V'Lana had to wonder what was bad enough to worry the usually steadfast Gorn?

V'Lana shook her head as she bent to her own tasks. There would be plenty of time to dig into the data on the way back to Voyager.

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FLEET COUNCIL ROOM, USS VOYAGER, DERIBE SYSTEM, SECTOR 367, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51338.7

V'Lana completed her briefing and sat down. She was met with grim silence and shocked faces. Only Seven of Nine in the room of the captain and certain senior staff members remained unperturbed.

Finally, Janeway spoke, unknowingly mimicking Uriash's thoughts, "This is…disturbing news."

Next to her, Riker slapped the table, "Disturbing? You call mass murder disturbing? He destroyed an entire planet! He makes Kodos the Executioner look like a rank amateur!"

"You are assuming Captain Potter intended for Galaron III to be destroyed," Tuvok said rather dispassionately from his seat on the other side of Janeway. "Nothing in V'Lana's report gives any indication this was the intended outcome of his actions. For all his time tied to the Borg Collective, Harry Potter is a man out of time. He is essentially a 20th Century man trapped in the future. A future with technology which was the stuff of fiction in his time. Taking this into account with the unpredictability of his magic, I believe we cannot jump to conclusions."

Chakotay's eyes narrowed, "So you are okay with the deaths of almost four billion sentients, Tuvok? That's cold even for a Vulcan."

"I am certainly not 'okay' with the tragic deaths of so many. I am merely stating that it is predictable that emotions will cloud this issue and we should be cautious in our deliberations," Tuvok explained.

"Oh, so one death is a tragedy but a million, excuse me 3.7 billion, are merely a statistic?" Riker scoffed.

Janeway made a gesture towards Riker to cut him off from remarking further, "I understand how you feel Bill; I feel the same way. Harry Potter once lectured me on interfering and not thinking of the consequences and yet I didn't doom an entire planet to extinction. He cannot have it both ways."

"You are continuing to speak as if Captain Potter intended this tragedy. Perhaps we should ask him what he intended?" Commander Dhael said archly from beside Captain Tahl. Both Romulans obviously did not like how the conversation seemed to be going so far.

"So, we ask the wolf if he meant to have eaten the sheep?" Chakotay asked. "Not a conversation I would recommend. We might be next."

Tahl snorted in disgust, "We've known Captain Potter could be a threat to the fleet this entire time. You yourself, Commander Riker, said as much to his face as did many of the rest of you. You can't all just claim it was Arturis making you say those things. You had to have been thinking them even if you might not admit it, even to yourself. How has anything changed? Captain Potter has done nothing but work to help this fleet, we former drones especially, to get back home. I doubt this incident will change that."

"I think causing the death of an entire planet, right down to cellular level is hardly nothing, Tahl. If anything, we have been changed because of this knowledge. We certainly knew Potter was dangerous but not at this grand of a scale," Janeway said in firm voice.

Counselor Ransom shook his head, "While I agree with Tahl in principle, it's not that simple. Harry Potter is now, intentionally or through negligence, a mass murderer on an enormous scale. We can't just let that slide. He's made a mockery of the ideals of Starfleet and the Federation stand for. We, as the standard-bearers of those ideals can't stand by idly and ignore what he has done."

To the surprise of almost all at the table, Sakonna (a Vulcan!) gave out a bitter laugh, "I knew we'd get around to the rank hypocrisy of the Federation sooner rather than later. Do you think we Maquis rebelled out of a need for adventure? To put our lives and honor on the line because we had a minor disagreement with how the Federation was run? No! We rebelled because the Federation and its Starfleet continues to play by the rules only when it suits them. And yet here we are, two quadrants away and you all continue to spew out the same propaganda to cover up how you continue to do the same."

Chakotay looked troubled, "Sakonna…"

The former Maquis cut him off with a hand gesture, "You can pretty it up all you want. As a Vulcan, I do not allow myself such delusions. Where were the Federation ideals when the Cardassians began to slaughter colonists throughout the disputed regions? 'Oh, we cannot interfere with a foreign government' they said! Against solitary planets or the like, suddenly the Federation has no trouble bending their precious Prime Directive when it suits them. The Devore are no different than the Cardassians and V'Lana's report makes that clear. The Brenari are slowly being exterminated. If their Imperium bordered the Federation, would the Federation Council risk war to save them? We Maquis already know the answer to that question."

"I fail to follow your logic, Sakonna," Tuvok said in a calm, even tone.

Sakonna gave her fellow Vulcan a cool look, "I am sure you do no not. Because you are as much a product of the Federation as the rest. Like the Vulcan High Council, you refuse to step up and put a stop to the hypocrisy and are content to remain on Vulcan and debate logic and ignore moral issues that logic demands action of. But such action goes against the paradigm, does it not? Easier just to let the humans run things and ignore the ramifications of doing such."

Sakonna gestured toward the part of the table filled with the most Federation personnel, "You are all so proud how peaceful and benevolent the Federation is. Yet if you take an unbiased view of Federation history, the type not taught at Starfleet Academy, you see the hand holding the knife behind the back even as the other hand is used to give a hand-shake of peace. How even with the Klingons being an ally, current teaching still paints them as relentlessly aggressive and barely civilized. Yet prior to the Organians intervening, the Klingons were willing to go to war, not for glory or honor, but because the Federation continued to use its superior economy to entice worlds under the Empire's umbrella out from under them! War by economic means is still war."

"The Klingons are hardly angels, Sakonna," Ransom pointed out.

"Of course, they are not. That, however, is not the issue. No, the issue was the Federation was waging an economic cold war against the Klingon Empire all while touting how peaceful they were in relation to the Klingons. If the Organians had not intervened, I'm sure the Federation would have said the war was started due to Klingon aggression. Chakotay! Your own ancestors had this happen to them again and again. Be goaded into finally taking violent action which gives a pretext for being for oppressors to be seen as the aggrieved party and not the real instigator of it all. I would have thought you would remember that as you told me it was another reason to join the Maquis."

Chakotay looked uncomfortable at this but before anyone could say anything, Sakonna turned back to Ransom, "Look how Starfleet venerates the likes of Kirk even as he is known to have broken the Prime Directive badly on numerous occasions throughout his long career. For these crimes, he was rewarded enough to make admiral! Time after time the ends justified the means as if the Prime Directive didn't exist. And here we are, on the other side of the galaxy ignoring that we are doing the exact same thing by helping the Brenari! While the Devore are not some pre-warp civilization, Federation law still would have required many Starfleet and civilian bodies to sign off on something similar to our mission with the Brenari. Or is it routine for Starfleet officers to cross into the Neutral Zone and insert commando teams into the Romulan Empire?"

The look on many of the Starfleet officers in the room could have curdled milk.

Sakonna gestured first towards Janeway and then back to Ransom, "You might not see it but I reviewed both your logs while we were in port with the Terkellians. Under a reasonable interpretation of Starfleet regulations, you both have violated the Prime Directive numerous times. You might not believe so, but again, as Vulcan I am not hindered by wishful thinking. If we are going to condemn Harry Potter for actions taken in combat, actions that saved us all, then you had better be there with him as he is sentenced."

Ransom scowled, "We're not talking about my actions or the Commodore's actions. Were we to return home tomorrow, I would fully be onboard with answering for decisions and actions and accept the praise or condemnation for the same. I'm sure the Commodore feels the same way. But who does Harry Potter answer to? He is a member of this fleet and thus we are just as culpable in his crimes. Therefore, it is our moral duty to deal with this, no matter how much we may not like it."

V'Lana chuckled mirthlessly, "I think you are missing the point that we can condemn Harry all we want. Any punishment is going to be incumbent on him accepting it. Arturis had us in the palm of his hand and yet still couldn't stop Harry. The only way the wizard is going to hang for the crimes you believe he has done is if he puts his own head into the noose. Surprisingly, I think he'd go along with that. Harry is not a monster."

"His actions tell a different story," Janeway said with a tired sigh.

"I agree with Commander Dhael. This conversation is meaningless without knowing Harry Potter's intentions at that time," Seven stated. "I was there with him when it appears he used the same magical fire on the Bevvox Consortium. It effectively destroyed them even as it gave us time to escape. I believe had he used this same tactic to affect the same goal; to have enough time to escape. Had he destabilized the warp cores of the Devorian vessels as he did against the Hirogen, the resulting explosions would have killed him and could have caused critical damage to the fleet. While it did not come to pass, his method did give the crew of the Devore ships ample time to abandon ship. That Harry gave them this opportunity is hardly the actions of a monster. That they did not avail themselves to this opportunity of mercy should not be used against him."

"So, because he may not have meant it and that we also benefited from it, we should just ignore it?" Riker said with a frown. He looked at Sakonna, "I was Maquis just like you. But I did what I did not because I was against the Federation. I fought because the Federation wouldn't do the right thing. You say the Federation is hypocritical, but how is ignoring what Potter did any less a betrayal? Using Federation mistakes does not give Harry Potter a pass. You can't point to flaws in the Federation and then take us to task when we do try to uphold its ideals. Right now, letting a mass murderer on a planetary scale get off with a nod and a wink is inconceivable. The dead deserve justice. I'd believe this even if I never had donned a Starfleet uniform and took the oath."

"Can those dead be justice for others, Bill?" V'Lana asked. "Because you weren't there with us. You didn't see the so-called education camps for the death camps they are planned to be. Already thousands of Brenari are dead through willful neglect as well as discriminatory policies. We found plenty of documents showing the Devore are on the same path as so many of your despots back on Earth. It's the same old story; segregation first and extermination to follow. "

V'Lana turned and looked around the table, "Let me remind you, the reason we decided to take on this mission, and potential flouting the Prime Directive, is we felt the immediate danger to the Brenari and Devorian dissidents. A threat we decided we could not turn away from on moral grounds. And yes, Sakonna, I'm sure the feelings of many of the Maquis helped us make this decision. So, while Galaron III is a disaster the likes that is hard to contemplate, let us remember that there are an estimated seven billion Brenari in Devore space along with other races who could easily become swept into death camps if the Imperium gets serious about ensuring the only race inside their borders are Devore.

Chakotay shook his head, "V'Lana, it's not that simple! The enemies of the Devore are already scrambling to take advantage of this! You're the one who brought us this information! Good or bad, our actions through Harry may very well instigated a war involving hundreds of words and over a trillion sentients. That can't go unanswered."

V'Lana shrugged, "Certainly, this event might trigger war in this part of space but I think it was a war that was coming. At least now, the Brenari and others might have more breathing room to survive it. Look, Sakonna is right about one thing. We knew the risks of this action when we took it. Well, now we have to own the result."

Tahl leaned forward and gestured to V'Lana, "Given the similarities between the Devore and Romulan governments, I feel that such a war was inevitable, regardless of our actions. With the Devore's expansionist policy, as shown in the histories we copied from the Zahl and Terkellians, I feel the only difference now is that the Devore aren't the ones starting the war sometime in the future. The Terkellians certainly were worried enough to have already begun looking to the Krenim for support. Perhaps we should be spending less time casting blame and working on how we are going to get out of Devore space." Scorn dripped from Tahl's voice.

"Enough!" Janeway said. "We obviously are going to be at an impasse here. The why is disputed but the action itself is undeniable. A world is dead and one of our own did it. We already have been put under suspicion due to my actions involving Species 8472. Can we outrun the news of this disaster? How will the governments on the other side of Devore space react? I doubt they will believe our story of just passing through while we harbor a planet-killer."

"We cannot shoulder the entire blame for this, Commodore. Kurros and the rest of the Bevvox Consortium set us up. If not for them and their facilitating the Brenari resistance contacting us, it is probable that we would have been able to traverse Devore space without incident," Seven said with a bit of heat. "We know now that the Bevvox Consortium preyed upon the desperate and while I cannot prove it, Kurros' actions in regard to our situation shows they were not above creating the need for their services in the first place. I believe that their reputation was not as sterling as Kurros led us to believe Therefore, while it might not be a perfect solution, their involvement set in motion events we had little control over may smooth over future worries about the fleet."

V'Lana nodded, "I agree there. On the way back to the fleet, Uriash dug through the records we took and found the Devore were very critical of Kurros and his bunch. I think Seven is right because they certainly believed that much of the problems the Consortium solved were ones they had a hand in either creating or making them worse. Doesn't excuse what Harry did, but it does show that we didn't come in with the intent of wrecking the Imperium."

"You're still making excuses for an almost genocidal event," Chakotay said with a scowl.

"Well then let us look at our role in this," Dhael said as she leaned forward with a cold look. "This council voted to accept the Brenari agents and their mission. Regardless of the Bevvox Consortium's machination, we accepted the mission. Sakonna is right in reminding us of this. The risks were evident back then when the decision was made. Neither I nor Captain Tahl were for this and we voted against it. Do you remember why? Because we felt that regardless of the humanitarian good which could come out of it, we were essentially committing an act of war against the Devore Imperium by knowingly helping enemies of theirs into their space to actively work against them."

Tahl turned to Riker and said with dry sarcasm, "I seem to recall you felt we were just being, what was it? 'Paranoid Romulans'? It is because my people are known to be paranoid as you say that I had no trouble guessing how the Devore would react if we were found out. My people would have retaliated in the exact same manner."

Riker turned red but said nothing.

"So now we're dealing with how this event happened. We know what Harry did was a tragedy and horrible in the extreme. However, we don't know if it was intentional and I highly doubt it was," Dhael went said as she made eye-contact with the others in the room. "The same can't be said about us carrying insurgent agents into the Imperium even as we said we merely wanted safe passage through their space. Hiding our own telepaths is one thing. What we did was another thing entirely and, as Sakonna rightfully pointed out, against both Federation law and Starfleet policy."

Dhael looked at Janeway, "You asked, Commodore, what other governments will think? I think they will rightfully not trust us at our word because in trying to do 'the right and moral' thing, we once again flouted the very rules you are so worried about. I agree with Sakonna; if we are to condemn Harry Potter for his actions, we should be there with him to answer for ours."

Silence descended on the room.

Finally, Tuvok spoke up, "As the Commodore said; we are at an impasse. I believe before we go further, we must broach this subject with Captain Potter. If he did indeed intend to cause such a large-scale calamity, we need to know and then act accordingly. If it was not his intention, he still needs to know of his role. We cannot condemn him without him knowing what he is supposedly guilty of. As Sakonna rightfully said, we cannot choose not to follow the rules we hold others too simply because it suits our situation, his great power notwithstanding."

V'Lana stood up, "I'll tell him. He and get along well. As I'm as much as an outsider as he is, I believe he will take it better from me. Besides, if there is anyone in the fleet who might be able to kill him before he could react, it's me!"

Silence followed V'Lana out of the council chamber.

OoOoO

"3.7 billion? As in billion with a B?" Harry asked in shock.

"That and the crews of all the ships in the 10th Fleet, the Starbase itself and the various civilian ships which got caught up," V'Lana confirmed as she leaned back in the padded chair of Harry's room on the Phoenix. The ship had finally been repaired enough for Harry and his crew to return to it on the day before.

Harry was silent for a moment. Finally, he shook his head, "I can't wrap my head around that number. I killed what would have been half the population on Earth when I was a kid. I've killed a lot of people in my day, most of them certainly deserved it. The Devore are a bunch of fascist wankers but destroying an entire planet? No, there can be no justification for that."

"No there isn't," V'Lana agreed. "So, the question is, what did you mean to happen?"

Harry was obviously still processing as he stared at the info on the PADD V'Lana had given him without seeing it. "What did I mean to happen?" Harry said after a bit before looking away. "I'm not sure. Fiendfyre burns through most things. Certainly, nothing on a spaceship could withstand it. I set the fire away from the engines but I guess I thought that the fire would eventually take down enough systems that the crews would have to evacuate. I can't believe they managed to get to that planet. I only made reference that they should try to get them to break contact as quickly as possible. I was worried that Voyager wouldn't be able to shield the Marianne for much longer."

V'Lana snorted, "Harry, it wasn't even a light year away. Even at something like Warp 5 or so they could easily make it in a few hours. If they were in a race for their life, they'd go as fast as they could go without the ships coming apart. Sadly for you, spacers are loathed to abandon ship even when in easy reach of help."

Harry scowled, "Well forgive this barbarian for continuing to hear the term light year and thinking that it takes a long time to traverse that distance. I know I was hooked up to the Borg but it's not like I'm Seven with her mental encyclopedia! The original Phoenix I left Earth on would have to travel for 26 years to go that far. People keep forgetting I didn't grow up with this tech. No matter how much it looks otherwise, I'm mostly winging it unless I can prep myself first or be in my armor which can link me to the database. Even so, I dump a lot of things on Alars and Veer given they did grow up with all of this. Because the more I tap into what I knew when I was hiding from the Borg the less I'm Harry Potter and more…and more like…One of One," Harry gulped. "I may not have been assimilated but in a way, I had to almost do something almost as bad to myself to stay alive. That I wall that part of myself off as much as possible shouldn't come as any big surprise."

V'Lana raised her hands in a placating gesture, "I'm on your side, Harry. I'm just saying most aren't going to think much of that excuse."

Harry's face went slack and then almost feral, "They can think what they like. What are they going to do about it?" his green eyes seemed to glow with menace.

V'Lana took a deep breath. As much as she'd been around a lot of nasty places filled with just as nasty people, it chilled her how Harry could go from an adorkable sort of guy to a full-on, runaway screaming in sheer terror sort of threat. "Well that's the problem isn't it? Many in the council would probably feel it justified to have you put to death or imprisoned for life for what you did, even unintentionally, to Galaron III. The problem is that only works if you allow it."

Harry snorted, "Of course life in prison only works on people who die of old age. Not something I have to worry about. Of course, for 3.7 billion people and an entire planet to boot, I could see it." Harry looked away and then sighed, "I did the crime, I guess I should do the time?"

V'Lana was silent, "I am unsure as are many in the council. I may not be onboard with Vulcan logic but I can say that an accident is an accident. The scale, in some degree, should not matter."

"Yeah well one death is a tragedy but a million is a statistic," Harry quipped.

V'Lana chuckled, "Bill Riker actually brought that up. Yes, killing someone in a speeder crash accidentally is a tragedy. It is difficult to liken that to killing 3.7 billion people just as accidentally as just a simple tragedy. However, as I said, there are many factors in play. You acted under pressure of the moment with little time to think on the possible outcomes. We all were manipulated by the Bevvox Consortium. Seven echoed your comment about them having time to abandon ship. She also rightfully pointed out that without their interference, we wouldn't have been contacted by the Brenari and we would have likely made it through Devorian space without a hitch."

"True…but then I wouldn't have gotten the chance to turn that prat Prax into a corgi," Harry said almost to himself.

"Then there is the issue that the Devorians are in the process of slowly wiping out the Brenari. You were there; you saw how their re-education camps are but one memorandum away from becoming death camps. One could argue that by accepting the Brenari agents and taking them into Devorian space, we essentially declared war on the Imperium. Dhael certainly stated this in council," V'Lana explained.

"Killing an entire planet is hardly something you do in war," Harry said sourly.

V'Lana sighed, "You'd think so, wouldn't you? While destroying planets is considered a horrific thing to even contemplate, I can assure you, however, that there are quite a few dead planets back in the Alpha Quadrant due to war. Some of those can be found in Federation space. Given the shapeshifting powers of the Changelings of the Dominion, I wouldn't put it past either the Empire or the Federation to use excessive force to ensure that any planet they take is truly devoid of Changeling life. I also saw firsthand how many of the Federation principles were cast aside because of the threat of those Changelings. So again, it is difficult just to say you are guilty of a crime that the Federation itself, like so many other governments, will do when the situation warrants it. At least you destroyed Galaron III unintentionally. The same can't be said for the dead planets back home."

"But what about me? I've got to live with it!" Harry all but shouted.

"Can you live it? You said yourself you're functionally immortal. However, you're not unkillable. I'm sure tossing you into a torpedo and shooting you into a star would certainly do the trick," V'Lana asked.

Harry was silent for a long time. Finally, he sighed, "I think you're Vulcan enough that maybe you won't dismiss this out of hand as ego or trying to weasel out of the blood on my hands. Yes, you could kill me. Maybe power like mine should be running around loose. At least my people are in another dimension now."

"I'm hearing a 'but' coming on," V'Lana said with a slight smile to show she wasn't being judgmental.

Harry was silent for another long moment, "V'Lana…what do you think of fate?"

The Earhart captain blinked at this, "Fate? What do you mean?"

"I mean for most people, at least back on Earth, we could talk about our fate. Whether we had one, was fate something we made or was there some script written out for us?"

V'Lana nodded, "A common concept throughout the galaxy. I don't give much thought to it. I'm too busy living my life to worry whether or not I'm doing so on my own volition or not. I don't feel any puppeteer strings so for me, I am master of my own destiny."

"Good for you. But the problem is we Magicals know better. We believe that most people are in your position. You get to decide where your life goes. For some of us, however, some of us have much of their destiny written out for them."

"How so?" V'Lana asked. She loved to learn more about the Magical world that had been hidden for so long and now was banished forever with only Harry left to tell the tales.

"A prophecy was made before I was born. Just in the region I was born in, we had enough prophecies to fill a hall you could park quite a few shuttles in. Some prophecies didn't come to pass but most did. Often due to people trying to avoid the prophesy and then inadvertently making it come true. The prophecy regarding me might have fallen into that category given Voldemort heard part of it and acted on it. Still, I was fated to defeat him and my family and I would never have stood for his tyranny so while things played out because of him acting against me, well…I'd have fought him and his Death Eaters anyway."

"When did you learn of this?" V'Lana asked gently.

"Right after I watch my godfather die due to my stupidity," Harry said bitterly. "I was 15 and had three run-ins with Voldemort by that time if one counts the shade of his teenage self. Which I do since it meant I had to fight off his pet basilisk. So yeah, I wasn't in a good head space. But my point is I had a destiny. One predicted before I was born and it came true. I know that there are forces out there pulling strings. What those forces are, I can't say. What I can say is I know, deep down, they aren't done with me."

Harry was silent for another long moment. V'Lana watched him as he was obviously wrestling with how to put his thoughts into words. "So yes, I could climb into a torpedo and let that be that. I don't know, though, if that would be allowed. I survived through sometimes the most ludicrous of happenstance. Things always seemed to break my way. Just when I thought I was screwed, something always happened. It was like having a fairy godmother hanging around, ensuring I survived. That literally happened in the Tri-Wizard Tournament where an evil wizard wanted to ensure I got through a maze so I could be kidnapped. Yet things like that happened all the time to me without any such overt help being evident. I really wasn't kidding when I told the Commodore how being lucky was my superpower. Sometimes it seems to be the only explanation of how I'm still alive today."

"So, you don't want to literally tempt Fate?" V'Lana asked. Not the argument she was expecting, that was for sure.

"No. I know that sounds self-serving," Harry said with a growl. "But there is also this. What would me going to my death solve? It's not going to bring back those that have died. I should know. Like with fate, I can say due to direct experience how there is a lot more to death then just having the body die. I was tagged with the title of Master of Death. More like slave to Death as it seems all I do is fight and kill. I try to save people. To do the right thing but death is always around me. I killed my first person when I was eleven. Just like with Galaron III, I didn't mean for it to happen. Sure, there were all sorts of extenuating circumstances to boot. But the fact remained Professor Quirrell died because of me. Now I've sent an entire planet into Death's realm. But we're all born to die, right? No matter how bad I might be at it, I'm not going to stop trying to help people. Stop trying to make things better. I can't do that if I'm dead. My death won't allow me to at least try to atone for the deaths I caused."

Harry got up and began to pace, "Also, I made a promise that I'd help get everyone home. Can't do that as a corpse. If the price of being able to do that is to lock myself away here on the Phoenix, well that's up to the fleet council and the rest of the crew to accept or not. As you said, I'm only going to go to my death if I accept it. So, either people accept I'm going to stay and help or they're going to have to somehow learn to live with it."

Harry stopped pacing and looked at V'Lana, "What do you think?"

V'Lana shrugged, "I think people are going to piss and moan about it for quite some time. However, Sakonna is right about one thing. Federation types are really good at conveniently ignoring things when it suits them. While I got a pass on many things due to my famous father, I also got away with a lot of things because I was useful to the Federation when they needed certain off the books sort of jobs done. Likewise, I'm sure there will be a lot of posturing, moralizing and even saber-rattling but somehow nothing will ever come of it. I'm sure you'll do something amazing in our future and suddenly you'll be the hero again instead of the mass-murdering pariah."

Harry laughed bitterly, "Story of my fucking life. Hero one moment; bloody villain the next and then back to Hero by the end of the year. Some days it feels like I never left Hogwarts. Same stupid crap drama no matter where I go."

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: A few reviewers throughout this fic feel I'm being too hard on Janeway and the Federation in general. However, the episode Counterpoint is another example of Janeway saying she's upholding Starfleet and the Federation ideals but then turning around and violating those same rules. As mentioned in this chapter, hiding their own telepaths is one thing, but they agreed to help those the Devore felt were enemies. While this chapter makes those Brenari actual insurgents, the canon episode's refugees would still be bad in the eyes of the Devore. Given the great lengths they went to inspect Voyager, 'just refugees' isn't going to be something they care about; enemies are enemies.

So, while the Voyager crew might have felt bad for these refugees, they accepted taking them under false pretenses into the Devorian Imperium, which could be seen as an act of war. So again, like with Species 8472, Janeway and crew are taking actions that would get them court-martialed for back home. This isn't bashing them. It's pointing out that they only follow the rules when it pleases them. Doing the "right thing" is often the wrong thing and that's hard to bear but it's been borne out a lot in history.

If anything, it once again shows the Star Trek writers have few (if any) military veterans in their ranks. Imagine if some Navy Captain got caught smuggling people out of say North Korea? Sure, a lot of people would be, "Good for them!" but to the Pentagon and the State Department would NOT be amused. Star Trek loves to show the cowboy captain doing the right thing and usually breaking the rules doing it. In real life, that sort of stuff causes major international incidents and starts wars. That and it gets people court-martialed and sent to Ft. Leavenworth.

(At least in Star Wars, cowboy captain Poe Dameron got ripped a new one by Vice Admiral Holdo and General Leia for his actions. There is a chain of command for a reason.)

The Elephant in the Room: Before you think to write a scathing review, this issue isn't done. I'm not going to have Harry whack an entire planet and hand-wave it in one chapter. Who do you think I am? A Star Trek writer?

Lax Security: Anyone who has had to work around classified information or done IT knows how often people will actively subvert their own security to make their lives easier. Sort of like who people will write their password on a sticky note and leave it under their keyboard…because no one would ever think to look there, right?

Umatilla Re-Education Camp: This is taken from an old joke I've used for a long time. I'm always joking how something I do or saw will get me shipped off to here. Umatilla is an actual town in Eastern Oregon which once housed a facility where they burned old chemical weapons to destroy them. Sadly, what was just a joke about the government repurposing the camp during the Bush years is not as much as a joke it once was.

Characters: (sigh) I understand that OC's can be off-putting. However, I have to say I do grow a bit weary that many reviewers have commented they aren't invested in the characters enough to know who they are even after I've been using them for going on half the fic. Well I feel for you but I have done two sets of author's notes to help people remember who's who. You know, it wouldn't kill some of you to actually refer back to previous chapters or (gasp) use the Google. I do it all the time in, especially in fics like The Gods Among Us (as I'm not as familiar with the new BSG) and especially with Visited by a Doctor since Dr. Who lore is vast. The difference between the level of Star Trek lore readers have shown so far is also pretty vast. For those who haven't seen much more than Enterprise, Voyager and some of DS9 and TNG, well you're going to miss a lot. Again, that's what websites like Memory Alpha are for or fire up your streaming and check out the older titles. At least the remastered the ST:TOS. So, beyond what I've already done, if anyone wants a Dramtis Personae, just PM me and I'll send you a copy.

Scenes: I've had some people complain that there isn't a lot of description of what is going on and scenes can shift with little explanation. That is the peril of writing a fic based on books or shows. As the author, I have to balance telling the story but NOT retelling the story you all should already know. If you've never seen ST:VOY, well I can't help you. Go watch the series and come back. For most of us, we're familiar enough with the series that I don't want to bore you with telling a story you already know. It's why I sometimes only reference an episode in the Captain's log. Some episodes aren't changed enough to feature. For example, even with all the changes, I don't see how an episode like The Omega Directive would have been different enough to write out. Please remember that for every one of you who says, "What is going on here?" there are others going, "Oh come on! I know this already!"

Serial Writing: There are advantages and disadvantages of serial writing. Some things are good and bad like reader feedback. On one hand, I've gotten some great feedback, ideas, corrections or suggestions from fans. On the other hand, I get feedback which sometimes makes me want to give up writing, especially due to readers who seem to think they are owed a certain story. This chapter reminds me of a chapter I did for Paging Dr. Bell. I wrote a chapter which had a major event happen and the reviews went nuts. So much so that the very next day I sat down an wrote an entire 9,575-word chapter in response to the pros, cons and confusion from my readers and the story was better for it. Not that the last chapter garnished anything in the way that my Paging Dr. Bell chapter did.

Still, comments from reviewer made me think and in doing so, I realized I could tell a story which I laid the groundwork for and then haven't done anything with yet. It also allows me remind people that in canon, Harry Potter kept things close to himself. He rarely opened up and talked to anyone about his feelings. By author design or not, this is what one would expect from a kid growing up abused like he was. Again, by design or not, Dumbledore created a situation where Harry would grow up to feel his life was not as important as those of his friends and dying a martyr's death would be similar to what his parents did. The insidious bit of this is he grew up being told how much a burden he was; how much of a freak that wouldn't be missed. You can't grow up with that and expect his insane Hogwarts years to (ahem) magically wipe that away. Harry had a lot of reasons, good and terrible, to go to his death in Book 7. So that Harry sometimes acts erratically or hypocritically shouldn't be a surprise. I alluded to how Harry sort of grew up to be his Uncle because that was what he saw growing up. Likewise, a lot of fics show a Harry later in life realizing he often cuts people off, keeping secrets and acting without consulting others. In short, he acts like his mentor Dumbledore.