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.

23. Relativity

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

XxXxX

Chapter Note: The date Voyager went back to the past has been changed from 1996 to 1993. Also, I've changed Ducane's rank to match his probably role as XO.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE – RELATIVITY

(Episode: ST: VOY Relativity)

(References: ST: VOY Future's End and elements of HP: TPoA)

XxXxX

PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?" Stephen Hawking – English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author – 1942-2018
LAST UPDATED ON: 05-16-2021

TIMESHIP RELATIVITY, LOCATION UNKNOWN – STAR DATE UNKNOWN

The Elder Wand was already in his hand before Harry finished materializing on a ship of unknown design. The mostly human (or near-human) in a quasi-Federation uniform made him relax by only a tiny amount. However, constant vigilance was practically his middle name for over 400 years so he kept his wand trained on the nearest person.

That being a blond man with commander's dots on his collar who raised his hands placatingly, "There is no need for that, Mr. Potter. We didn't bring you here to hurt you. I am Commander Ducane and you're on the time-ship Relativity."

Harry's wand didn't waver, "Then what did you bring me here for…wherever here might be….or when."

"You're here because you have an unclosed time-loop attached to you, Mr. Potter," came a deeper voice off to his right.

Harry turned his head slightly so he could look at the older officer who was probably the captain without losing sight of the commander. He squinted a bit as he went through his memories as the man looked familiar. Being a trained occludemenser meant he could access memories incredibly fast. "Captain Braxton, I presume." Harry had read extensively through Voyager's logs and learning they had been back to the 90's had made him go through that mission's reports in more depth than usual.

The man nodded, obviously pleased to be recognized, "I am. As I said, you're here because of this loop. We were initially here due to Voyager being in danger. However, we've already recruited Seven of Nine who, out of all the former drones in your Fleet, has the bit of temporal Borg tech we need to keep Voyager from being destroyed by a temporal bomb. Imagine our surprise when, during our scans, we also found that you are one end of a temporal loop which has not been completed."

Harry absorbed his wand back into his hand and stepped off the transporter pad and moved closer to CDR Ducane, "I take it that is a bad thing?"

Ducane shrugged, "It is merely a thing. But in doing the research, we were able to pin-point where the loop ends. What you need to do to close the loop is something we need your help in determining. Open time-loops are dangerous the longer they are not resolved. We have reasons to believe that resolution is at hand. "

Harry decided these people were probably who they said they were. The tech fit and Captain Braxton was an obvious older version of the man Voyager had met before. "So when does the loop end?"

"In 1993. We believe it has something to do with the fact this was the year Voyager was transported back to Earth." CDR Ducane explained.

"Where I was trapped for far too long," Captain Braxton muttered darkly.

"We find it likely that this time-loop exists due to our interaction with the Voyager of the past. Something important about that year is tied to you." Ducane explained. Seeing Harry's expression, the man hastened to add, "Try not to think too deeply on it. Temporal mechanics are difficult to grasp even for professionals like ourselves."

Harry nodded, "Oh I know it. I had to deal with Hermione using a time-tur…"

"Mr. Potter?" Braxton asked after Harry's voice trailed off and the wizard looked lost in thought.

"You said they were in 1993. When exactly was Voyager there again?" Harry said slowly.

Ducane checked a nearby screen, "They arrived on June 9th and departed the next afternoon. Is this significant?"

Harry nodded, "It is and I think I know what is going on."

"You have a clue regarding the loop," Braxton asked eagerly.

Harry shook his head, "No, I know exactly what has to happen. You see, on the 9th, the day ended with me being attacked by these evil, emotivores called Dementors. During this attack, I passed out but before I did, I thought I saw my father cast a spell to disperse the Dementors."

Ducane frowned, "Records regarding you show your parents died when you were 15 months old."

"That's right." Harry said while wondering what sort of records these were. "However, my friend Hermione had a time-turner and we went back to that morning to save my godfather from being executed. We then began to realize certain things which had happened during the day, like me getting hit with a rock through the window which caused me to see something important, had happened because Hermione and I had made it happened."

Both men nodded at this, "Classic closed time-loop." Ducane said.

"Well the thing is we got to the point where I was expecting my Dad to show up. Then it hit me that since I look so much like him, it was I who cast the Patronus to saved my younger self. So I did. But later in life, however, I began to question what I'd lived through," Harry explained.

"How so?" Braxton asked.

"During my training to become an auror, I began to get real training on a mental discipline called occludemension rather than the crap lessons my Potions teacher tortured me with. Its primary use is to protect your mind from telepathic intrusion, but it also has the side-effect of ordering your thoughts. In doing so, you sort of relive them. It's how I recognized you so fast, Captain Braxton, when I've never met you. I read the file on when Voyager went back to the 90's very thoroughly."

"So you found something off in your memories?" Ducane asked.

Harry nodded, "I did. While I had a clear memory of casting the Patronus that saved my younger self, my memory of who I saw prior to passing out was off. So I took the memory and put it into a pensieve to review it more clearly. Sure enough, who I saw wasn't my younger self but someone who was much older and could easily be mistaken for my Dad. Whoever it was, it wasn't my 13-year-old self. Of course there was nothing I could do about it. Just another odd mystery in my life which I couldn't explain."

Braxton's face lit up as he caught on, "I'm betting the person you saw looks like you do now."

Harry shrugged, "Without a pensieve to check again, I can't be sure but I'm pretty confident it was me of now. If you can send people through time, I can't think of anyone else it could have been. Sure, I was wearing glasses and different clothes but I can magic that up easily enough from memory."

"But what about your memories of casting the Patronus? Also, wasn't your friend Hermione there as well?" Ducane asked.

Harry manifested the Elder Wand again and twirled it in his hand, "I got very good with memory charms during the Eugenics War. They will remember what I want them to remember. Besides, I remember what my younger me thought happened. Plus, if I'm remembering some info I picked up in my time linked up to the Borg, very minor differences won't matter. Even if I can't remember exactly what to make my younger self remember, the difference won't be enough to change the timeline."

Ducane made a so-so gesture, "In most cases, when you don't remember, you will guess what to do. Your guess, however, will be the right choice even if you don't consciously remember it. But as you said, the timeline does resist change and will smooth over inconsequential things."

Harry looked back to the transporter pad, "So how does this work?"

Braxton looked to Ducane who thought for a moment, "The best method would be to beam you to Voyager before they go back to the past. Short time transports are easier on the over-all time-line and Voyager is already slated to make the trip. You being on board won't affect anything. Then, once in Earth's orbit, you need to make your way to the surface. Which could be a problem given they had power issue and so their transporter couldn't be used."

Harry chuckled, "That won't be an issue. Getting off Voyager would have been something I wouldn't have thought possible under my own power back in the day. Not that wizards had many reasons to jump into orbit but even theoretically it was thought to be impossible for various good reasons. But after being in space for a bit, I know how to apparate in ways no wizard dreamed of. Of course, they didn't have access to warp field mathematics like I do now. I can jump down and back up to Voyager with no trouble."

Braxton clapped his hands together with a smile, "Well then, that takes care of the one part of the mission we had the most concerns about."

Ducane seemed pleased as well, "Once you've closed the loop, just jump back to Voyager and when the Captain Braxton of then returns them to their place in the timeline, we can then beam you back here. From certain things we've found, I take it you won't have any issues hiding from Voyager's internal sensors, correct?

Harry smirked, "Given I'm the Cloak, no one will detect me. So I can get down and back from England easy enough. A few transfiguration, a Patronus, some memory charms and I'll be back on Voyager before you can say Bob's your uncle."

Braxton and Ducane traded relieved glances, "Nice to have an easy insertion and loop completion for a change," Braxton said.

"Well it helps I've dealt with time travel before," Harry said.

Braxton frowned, "About that…"

Harry brought up a hand to stop him from continuing, "Did I affect the greater time-line?"

Braxton frown deepened, "No, but there is a reason time-travel is highly proscribed."

"Given you didn't stop me, I didn't break any temporal laws now did I?" Harry asked.

"Just try to keep such trips to a minimum," Braxton said gruffly.

Harry laughed, "You're from the future, right? Don't you know how many times I've gone back to the past?"

Ducane frowned as well, "That's not how time works. I agree with Captain Braxton. Your actions could have terrible consequences."

"Commander, my actions already have had terrible consequences. At least when I created the Pit-Stop I worked damn hard to ensure there were safe-guards on my safe-guards. I'm betting most time meddlers you deal with don't have my sense of not wanting to muck up anything," Harry said exasperatedly.

Seeing both men continue to frown, Harry through up his hands, "Come on, I was a cop too you know. I know the drill. If anything, I worked it so you all had an excuse not to get involved and if someone higher up did notice, my actions were clean enough you could justify your inaction so at most, you'd get a stern talking to. I'm trying to be helpful here, guys."

Braxton sighed, "True. Still, just be careful in the future. There are other entities who travel through time who aren't as forgiving as us."

XxXxX

HOGS'S HEAD PUB, HOGSMEADE, SCOTLAND, EARTH, JUNE 9th, 1993 – EARLY EVENING

Harry relished the burn of the Dragonwing scotch as it hit the back of his throat. Harry had been shocked to learn after the War how many products the Potter family had created and of which had still been in production making money for him as he lay, starved and often beaten back in Surrey. Beyond many lines of potions, like the Sleekeazy Hair Potion that both he and Hermione should have been using starting in First Year, there were many juices and spirits as well.

He wondered how the staff at Hogwarts had managed to go his entire schooling without telling him that, oh by the way, the pumpkin juice he grudgingly drank came from a producer he owned! It was just another nail in the coffin where Harry kept his suspicions that Dumbledore had done a lot of dodgy stuff to ensure he got to the Forbidden Forest at the right time, in the right mind-set, to allow Voldemort to kill him. Like his memories of the Forbidden Forest not matching up, the longer Harry had been an auror, quite a few things started making no sense unless Dumbledore was actively working to keep him in the dark.

And not just him; Harry suspected the Headmaster had used the bias of the wards towards defense (Hogwarts had been built to be a defensive castle after all originally) to fiddle with people's perceptions. It was the only way Harry could account for all the petrifications back in Second Year not causing students to be pulled out by their worried parents. Harry suspected that Dumbledore had tweaked the wards so they deemed anything which might close the schools as an attack. So the wards blunted the danger in the minds of the kids. Still, that this worked even when kids had gone home for the holiday season really showed how frightening the power of Hogwarts was. It made Harry realize why Dumbledore seemed to care less for losing other positions of power as long as he still controlled Hogwarts.

Harry savored the taste of the scotch as he finished his glass. He had come to enjoy the fruits of one of his family's distilleries after the war. From his frame of reference, it been almost four centuries since he had some. That and he'd never get a chance to have any again so he wasn't going to pass up this literal once-in-a-lifetime chance. To this day, Harry couldn't understand why so many perversely enjoyed a drink which made them belch flames every odd sip or three in the form of Fire-Whiskey. Given how many wizards had beards and long hair, they were at risk of accidentally hair burns as much as witches who enjoyed it were. Then again, who wanted a medicine liked the pepper-up which made you leak steam out of their ears for hours afterwards?

As he set down the now empty glass, Aberforth came over, "Another?"

Harry nodded, "Yup and then I'll cash out. Things to do and places to be."

Aberforth eyed him, "You sound local but I've never seen you around. Tutored at home?"

Harry waggled his finger as the man poured him another shot, "I think that question falls into violating the Hog's Head unwritten rule of mind your own damn business, don't you think?"

Aberforth growled and muttered something under his breath before going over to the witch waving at him from the other side of the bar.

Harry smirked to himself. He probably could have spun some yarn if he had had the time. It wasn't like anyone was going to recognize him. While he rarely had to use it back in the Eugenics War, Harry learned during his auror training that he was a partial metamorphmagus like Amelia Bones' late husband Daniel had been. Daniel had made good use of this ability to infiltrate Death Eater recruiting meetings before finally being killed in the First Voldemort War by the Dark Lord himself. Mostly it allowed Harry to change his hair color and length, something he'd first done unconsciously after Petunia had butchered his hair cutting it when he was young. Beyond that, he could fiddle with his eye color and a little bit of his face. Given he could turn invisible with a thought, it was a talent Harry had rarely used.

Now, however, it enabled him to alter his looks in a way that couldn't be dispelled as if he were under a glamour. Not that he figured there were many who could drop a glamour of his cast with the power of the Elder Wand. Still, a place like the Hog's Head was filled with people under glamours. By not using one made him slightly less interesting and so was more easily ignored by the shady patrons who frequented Dumbledore's brother's pub.

Harry looked up at the battered mechanical clock by the equally battered cash register. He still had plenty of time to make his way into the Forbidden Forest. He'd already made use of being in the past to take care of some business. Now it was time to get done what he'd been sent to do. Luckily between the Cloak and him being a practiced occludemenser, the Dementors wouldn't be able to sense him and their aura would be muted. Getting past them wasn't going to be a problem.

Besides, Harry was well aware of the horrors in his memory. He'd relived them for years back on the Borg Cube. They couldn't frighten him any longer.

OoOoO

"Come on!" Harry muttered, staring about. "Where are you ? Dad, come on – "

"Sorry Harry. Dad's not coming as he is still very much all dead back in Godric's Hollow," said a strangely familiar voice from behind him.

Hermione yelped in surprise as much as he did as the wizard (as he had a wand) who hadn't been there a moment before strode past him.

The man gave a bit of a salute before looking down at the circling Dementors. "Now if you'll excuse me, you and Sirius are in need of some saving. Expecto Patronum!

Again he and Hermione let out gasps of surprise as a monster of a Patronus leapt from the unknown wizard's wand. Even more startling was Harry realized what it represented. "Prongs!" Harry breathed as he marveled at the power of it as it dashed down and began to scatter the Dementors. In short order, the Dementors were fleeing and the glowing stag came up to the wizard and stood. The man stared at it for a moment before letting the spell fade.

An eerie quiet seemed to descend on the Forbidden Forest, as if it were holding its breath. Then, this breath was let out as the man turned with a satisfied smile and said, "Well that's that." In that moment, his face was hit with the light of the full moon. Harry couldn't believe it. This man was…him? "Are you…me?" Harry asked, hating how his voice quavered.

The man laughed, "No. Since I'm much older than you, I get to be me. When you get to be my age, then you can be me."

"This has to be a trick!" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes wide and her face flushed. "You can't go back more than a day and a half with a time-turner."

The older Harry laughed again, "You are assuming I used a time-turner to get here. I assure you that except for blowing up a room filled with them two years from now, this is the closest I've been to a time turner in almost four centuries."

Both Harry and Hermione looked at each other in wonder. Finally Hermione's brain engaged first, "Four centuries? How did…wizards don't…wait. Do you have a Philosopher's Stone?"

"Nope, I'm just generally awesome enough not to need one by being functionally immortal. Hell, I've died twice and it hasn't stuck yet, more's the pity," the older Harry said with a smirk.

"What?" Harry blurted out.

Older Harry chuckled at this, "My age is almost the least fucked up thing about our life, Harry. You think Quirrelmort, the basilisk and all these Dementors are bad? Buckle up, kid; the rides going to get worse from here on in. And after you die the first time so Voldemort can be defeated, it just gets weirder from then on in."

Harry's mind seemed to jam as he vainly tried to process what his older self was saying. He just watched him suddenly reach out and softly take Hermione's chin in his hand, "So young. Still so pretty. You might not feel like it now, but you really do blossom into a beautiful woman."

Hermione blushed, "I…do we…uhm…I mean…"

Older Harry chuckled evilly, "Are you asking if young Harry here and you do the nasty? The answer is yes actually but it was under weird circumstances. Still we got a beautiful girl named Rose out of it even if you did end up marrying Ron."

"What?!" Both Harry and Hermione said in unison.

Older Harry laughed harder at this, "I know, right? Well it was a disaster as much as me marrying Ginny was." He looked at Harry, "I wish I could tell you to go directly to the Ravenclaw tower and befriend Luna Lovegood but that sadly isn't possible."

Hermione got a suspicious look on her face, "Why are you telling us this? You can't be telling us about the future! It's against the rules."

Older Harry nodded, "That it is and while we both know Harry Potter and breaking rules go together rather well, this is one I will be abiding by."

"So why did you tell us if it's against the rules," Harry asked.

"Come on, Harry. We're not that dense. If you just engaged your brain before opening your mouth, it should be apparent what's going to have to happen," Older Harry said sadly.

Suddenly a flash of a wand breaking and a yelp of surprise came to mind, "Lockhart. You're going to obliviate us," Harry said. Hermione 'eeped' at this.

Older Harry nodded, "Obliviate and toss in some memories so you'll both think that it was you who cast the Patronus. You won't twig onto this till you go into auror training. It won't be another 400 or so years and being on the other side of the galaxy before you, or should I say I, will find out the truth."

"What do you mean the other side of the galaxy?" Harry stammered out. Besides Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, the little island Vernon had taken to get them away from his Hogwarts letters was the farthest afield from Surrey he could remember. Now he was supposed to believe he ended up in outer space?

Older Harry threw up his hands, "I mean just what I said. Prior to being sent here to close up this open time-loop, I was on a ship in a part of the galaxy known as the Delta Quadrant. It's going to take 60 years or so to get back to anywhere near Earth. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe…"

"Like attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion?" Hermione broke in with a glint in her eye.

Older Harry laughed and was obviously pleased that Hermione had gotten some in-joke. Harry, of course, had no idea what she was talking about.

"Bad movie-quote joke aside, I was actually blowing up attack craft just two weeks ago from my frame of reference. Seriously though, Harry if I told you what your future had in store for you, well you wouldn't believe me. As I said, if you think things are fucked up now…" Older Harry just trailed off, memories obviously going through his mind.

The wizard gave himself a little shake, "Well this has been fun but you guys need to get moving so you can go save Sirius and Buckbeak."

Harry steeled himself as a wand seemed to grow out of Older Harry's hand, "Wait! Why do you have the Headmaster's wand?"

Harry gave a nasty chuckle, "The better question is why did Dumbledore hang on to an heirloom of our family? This wand is ours by blood as much as the Cloak and the Stone are. Of course, you won't find out about this till Seventh Year." The wizard turned to Hermione and stared at her with a sadly wistful look on his face before his wand hand came up and there was a flash and Harry knew no more.

XxXxX

TIMESHIP RELATIVITY, LOCATION UNKNOWN – STAR DATE UNKNOWN

Harry was surprised to find Seven and Janeway standing next to Commander Ducane as he beamed in. "Is there a problem?"

Ducane shook his head, "A bit of a hiccup as our temporal terrorist turned out to be a version of Captain Braxton. Commodore Janeway's help was needed to clean up the time-line due to issues with Seven of Nine capturing him. I commend you on your own mission. The temporal coefficient is about as perfect as one can get."

"I aim to please," Harry said with a smirk. "So, now what?"

"Most times we'd alter your memories but I'm not sure it would take in your case. Also, the existence of a future time policing agency is already known to Starfleet and through assimilation to the Borg as well. Thus I trust you all to not speak of this to anyone else," Ducane explained.

Janeway rolled her eyes, "Just thinking about all the potential paradoxes of this whole thing makes me want to crawl under my bed and hide for a week. The last thing I want to do is gossip about it. I'll be happy to make Starfleet's required special temporal log entry, seal it and then try to forget it ever happened."

"Indeed. Temporal mechanics are best left to mathematical constructs and other thought experiments," Seven agreed.

Harry spread his hands, "Don't look at me. I already got the 'the first rule of time-travel club is we don't talk about time-travel club' lecture when I was 13. Didn't do it then, won't do it now."

Ducane nodded with a smile, "Well then, let's get you back to where you all belong."

XxXxX

ALUDĖ ROOM, KELIONININKAS, SECTOR 350, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51496.8

Janeway looked down the length of the ship towards where the grey of the Borg Tactical Cube was slowly beginning to grow around that part of the ship to better anchor it given it was being used for propulsion. The current plan was the Cube would begin to create struts, port and starboard, which would eventually be used as a shipyard for repair and eventually even build new ships. The residential pods there would be eventually moved forward to increase that space. The remaining areas would be filled with industrial pods which were sorely needed as they had only been allowed to take two.

Of course, all of this was on top on needing to recreate the most important part of the Aušrininkas. To grow their ship as needed, the Aušrininkas had a specialized industrial section right behind the command area at the front of the ship that slowly created more of the ship. Without this, the Kelionininkas couldn't expand as needed. Recreating it, however, would take time and materials they didn't have. Well time they had. Luckily, the Varro were patient as they planned in terms of decades instead of months.

Janeway's lip quirked in a slight smile. The Kelionininkas would probably be almost perfect just in time for them to reach the Alpha Quadrant. Of course, even with the Borg Cube acting as the ship's engine, there was a lot of questions regarding the overall speed which could be maintained. That and the Varro who had joined them had done so to explore. So they were less wedded to the idea of making the best speed to the Alpha Quadrant.

She took a sip from the fruity drink Mohindra had recommended to her. It reminded her of the punch her grandmother made for her and her cousins during the long summer months back on Earth. Of course her grandmother didn't put in a form of rum into the punch or if she did, she kept that batch for the adults.

Janeway looked around the 'Ten Forward' which was almost completely filled with personnel from the Fleet. While the Varro dissenters wanted to explore, they still had a prickly, condescending air to them. So far, there hadn't been much mingling between the Alphas and the Deltas as the current Fleet slang went. It saddened Janeway as she'd hope to see Harry Kim. However, so far her errant protégé hadn't been seen by more than a handful of people since he'd beamed away. Given now the Kelionininkas was now part of the fleet, she'd hoped Harry would be an important go-between the Varro and the rest of the Fleet. So far, he seemed content to remain hidden. It didn't help how little the Varro volunteered to join in any sort of social interaction.

Janeway couldn't help but snort at this to herself. She felt that both they and the Devore had gone to the same 'we're better than you' school of conduct. Still, a lot of Varro were finding out that the Fleet's technology wasn't as quaint as they had first thought. It was one thing to sneak aboard Voyager during a time of personnel exchange. It was another to try and run various ship's system with little training. Polthal Vren, one of their main engineers, had contemptuously strode into B'Elanna's domain thinking he could just intuitively get things done. He'd returned to the Kelionininkas a much humbler man.

Still, the Varro were making the attempt which was more than she could say for the Skurk. They seemed perfectly happy to take over their part of the Kelionininkas and be left alone. While the Skurk's belief systems were at odds with the Varro's world view, their desire to keep separate was respected and even lauded by the Varro.

"Your face would imply you are thinking of inter-species issues, Commodore. I am finding them to be continually vexing."

Janeway turned to find Tuvok and Harry Potter. Both had drinks just as both were wearing the Vulcan shipboard type robes. Janeway knew from her long experience that Tuvok's face showed he was a close to teasing as a Vulcan went. She'd noticed that after his Pon Farr back on Tartarus, her former tactical officer was more at ease and could show more emotion to certain people he trusted. She was sure that both Noss and T'Pev had helped in this. That and the horde of children that Tuvok had been dealing with for over a decade.

"Oh just thinking how the Varro, Skurk and the Devore all seem sort of cast from the same mold. Hopefully rubbing elbows with us for years will lighten them up," Janeway said as she gestured towards an open table away from most of the others in the pub.

Harry snorted. "If they don't riot and space us Alphas first," the wizard said playfully.

The trio sat and sent their food order via the table interface. Janeway turned to Tuvok, "Is this just a social call or are we having an informal briefing?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow and shrugged slightly, "A bit of both if you are amenable. I had not expected Captain Potter to be free when I came onboard thus I felt it was an opportunity to discuss certain things before the next Fleet Council meeting.

"Problems?" Janeway asked.

Harry shook his head, "Not from my end. The Varro engineers have been quite accepting of the process. Then again, they are fully behind the delay while the chambers the Doc and I worked on to generate huge batches of the nanites in my blood do their work."

"Indeed. Using unmodified Borg tech is not an option and it would take far longer to use the industrial replicators to process everything before use," Tuvok said.

Janeway nodded at this, "Given they are the one who are going to be closest to the Cube, it makes sense they'd be behind waiting. How goes the conversion of the drones?"

"Very well. I had concerns at first given how badly the organic parts were degraded due to exposure to Fluidic Space. Not to be disgusting, but there were certain areas of the ship where dealing with the remains was more a chore of literally mopping up. The physical part of the drone bodies, however, are just like the ship in the terms of issues but manageable issues," Harry explained.

"Captain Potter says he expects the first generation of Zimbots to come online by the end of next week. This will increase the speed of the conversion considerably," Tuvok added.

Janeway nodded with a determined look on her face, "Good. While the initial warp speed trial went well, I don't want to be stuck at sub-light speeds any longer than we have to. The previous attack by the Hierarchy might have cost them a lot of energy but now they have a deficit they might want to correct. I'm sure they'd love to get their hand on an intact Borg Cube, tactical or otherwise."

"Well if you want, I think I can get us a jump to Warp 4 for 8 hours in three days if you really need it," Harry said. "But it will require most of the former drones to make it work. I'd rather not have to plug them back into a makeshift collective again if we can avoid it. Sure, almost all have volunteered but again, for their presence of mind, I'd like to put it off if we can."

Janeway frowned, "I think we may need to take that option. Both Seven and Treana have been seeing some worrying signs on long-range sensors which could be ships massing for an attack. So far they can't confirm anything but then again if there is an attack brewing out there, they'd be doing their best to keep us from seeing it. Tahl, Chakotay and I are not sure if sending Hugin out to confirm is worth risking the ship."

"Given the Kelionininkas lacks much of the stealth capabilities of the Aušrininkas, it would make us being targeted much more likely," Tuvok agreed.

Harry leaned away from the table to allow the server to place his order in front of him. The trio ate in silence for a bit before Harry spoke up. "One thing working for us is while the Cube conversion is going slow, I'm having no trouble with some of the systems. So with stuff coming off the Ark, I've already replaced our destroyed Marauders and can almost double that number before we need to get more raw resources. So, any fleet jumping us is going to be in for a surprise. Of course we need to find some fissionables before I get crank out enough missiles to fully outfit them all. While having Thor and even Zim running many of the fighters isn't as effective as having actual pilots, defending the fleet is well withing their capabilities. That and I have to admit I'm itching to test out the warp disruption torpedoes I developed back on Tartarus. With the WDT's, we won't be wasting any more photon torpedoes just to keep enemies from fleeing. Killing or capturing any attackers will hopefully send a strong enough message to make any future attackers to think twice before trying their luck."

"That is very good to hear," Janeway said as she speared another piece of a Varro fish. In the middle of the hexagonal framework the pods attached to, the Kelionininkas had a huge tank running the length of the ship which had an entire microcosm used for aquaculture. "Hopefully, the threat of Borg weapons will be enough to deter any would-be pirates even if we can't access them yet."

Harry toasted her with his glass, "Here's to hoping. Then again, all the Deltas have been evolving so much of everything they do to avoid the Borg. Us having a Cube might just be the thing which causes them to decide to take a pass. Still, give me a month or so and any fleet who comes calling is in for some nasty surprises if the Cube's weapon's array goes active as expected.

Janeway turned to Tuvok, "So it looks like we can house and protect everyone. The question I have is, how is everyone?"

Tuvok continued to cut at his fish and eat for almost a minute before answering. "I am dealing with many issues. Some are expected, some could be trouble. As it stands, I have been discussing options with the Talaxians. They are adamant that they need green spaces. The garden areas of the various residential pods of the Kelionininkas are good but not enough for them. Still, they are cognizant that they would be almost helpless if we found some planet or moon for them to settle on. However, Mr. Paris' love of old Earth entertainment did make him think of a potential avenue in which to proceed."

"As much as I'm sure Tahl misses him at the helm, Tom really is continuing to surprise me in his new role," Janeway mused.

"Indeed. Mr. Paris was instrumental in much of the success we had on Tartarus," Tuvok agreed. "It was his idea that when Captain Potter is more fully in control of the Cube, thrust and the size of the warp bubble will be increased dramatically. Therefore, he suggests we find a suitable asteroid or other stellar body and connect it to the Kelionininkas. Then, as Captain Potter did with the Pit-Stop, it will be hollowed out. Then in conjunction with gravity platting and spin, the Talaxians will be able to create a viable biosphere inside. As it stands, the harsh conditions of Tartarus have already conditioned them to deal with stone. Therefore, converting such an asteroid into livable domain suits their innate nature as well as their Tartarus adapted one."

Harry frowned at this, "And this is where I'm sort of torn on things. The Talaxians as a whole are a major part of our children's lives. Yet what they want is going to take a lot of time." Harry looked pointedly at Janeway, "I had a bit of a chat with a certain captain of our mutual acquaintance and from that it was implied that we're going to make at least one more Pit-Stop. So I'm thinking that if we can find a suitable out of the way Oort Cloud, we can go back long enough to snag such an asteroid and get it all up to snuff."

Janeway looked at Tuvok, "I would think this would be a brilliant plan. In the time it takes to get the work done, so many of the Talaxians could be taught more high-tech skills. That and many of the children would be older as well."

Tuvok shook his head, "That is the crux of the issue. Both Captain Potter and I believe to do so would be detrimental to the overall health of our nascent society. Ensign Wildman's jumping to Voyager was a three-day gap between her and the Exiles. It was six years to us. I do not believe it morally defendable to take a sizable amount of our group and have them age decades or more in a few days relative to the fleet."

Janeway looked at Harry, "Your thoughts on this?"

Harry took a sip from his drink before sighing, "While I can see taking a small body of Talaxians, the issue from where I sit is one of inclusiveness. Here, look at it this way. I may have been crap back in school, but I made up for it later given I had a lot of time to read during the Eugenic Wars while in transit to various missions. One of the reasons I learned that the Roman Empire fell was at the beginning, the Empire's main export was the values and laws of Rome itself. No matter who you were, if you got sucked into the Empire, you were a Roman. Later, this declined and so people taken in forcibly into the Empire had less investment to the 'Romaness' of the Empire."

Janeway frowned at this as she tried to see where Harry was going with it, "Go on."

"So we've got the Fleet and it's made up of us Alphas who share a mostly unified world-view. Even our Romulans, Klingons and Maquis go along with it. We're still a Federation fleet. However, the Exiles and now the Varro aren't part of that. If we're not careful, we'll lose that Federation stamp and that could cause a lot of issues."

Janeway sighed at this, "Yes. I was just thinking about that. The Varro aren't here to help us get back to the Alpha Quadrant. They want to explore. Then there is the simple fact that the longer it takes to get back home, less people in the fleet will see it as home. Who is to say 40 years from now the bulk of the Fleet may want to more fully explore the Theta Sub-Quadrant given there are less Borg there instead of just going through to get to the Alpha Quadrant?"

Both Harry and Tuvok nodded, "Exactly," Harry said. "So, again, while I think if we do this then I really just need to take a select few Talaxians. Luckily the Skurk we've talked to aren't interested in the idea and prefer the quarters here. So that's good, I guess."

Janeway thought on this, "I think this is an avenue we should pursue. Not only would it help our largest, non-Varro contingent but it would also create less of a drain on the Kelionininkas' food systems. Plus, I think all of us would like to have access to green spaces larger than the gardens here. Let's work a rough plan up so we can present it to the Council. I think we can piggy-back searching for any potential threat to the fleet while looking for a system which can meet our temporal needs."

Both Tuvok and Harry nodded at this. "It will have to be in a bit though. Give me three weeks to get the Cube to a point where I can get a lot of it to start adapting via a plan," Harry asked. "Once we get to that point, the Cube will be doing most of the work and that will free me and others up to focus on the mission."

XxXxX

BRIDGE, THE PHOENIX, SECTOR 348, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51517.4

Harry open his eyes as the cables connecting him to the Cube retracted. He knew modified alcoves in the Cube were going offline and the former drones involved with the project were probably all stepping out. It had been a bit hectic to hit the deadline he'd given the Commodore three weeks ago but as it stood, hopefully they'd gotten the Cube to a point where it's inherent repair protocols would now 'repair' the ship according to the plan they'd just spent the last 6 hours giving it.

Behind him, Harry could hear Alars and Veers also disconnecting from the temporary collective they had set up to work on the Cube. While most of the infrastructure of this had been on the Cube, the vital parts were on the Phoenix. It was felt if anything went wrong, it would be easier to cut things off here than on a Cube potentially going back under Borg control.

"That went a lot smoother than I expected," Alars said as he worked some kinks out of his neck."

"Captain Chakotay continues to surprise me on his ability to navigate in a collective environment given he has only had minor contact a few years ago," Veers said primly. "If we are ever re-assimilated, I am certain Chakotay would be selected to be a centurion drone."

"I've said it before, Chakotay is like Tahl; he just has that leader vibe going," Harry said as he put his shirt and robe back on. "Speaking of Tahl," Harry said as he touched his comm badge, "Harry to Tahl."

"Go ahead."

"Everything still looking good on your end?" Harry asked.

"So far, everyone is out and looking good. I think after our initial test run, people knew what they were getting into so there was less of the unknown to worry about. Even Dhael and Ensign Mortley seem fine," Tahl reported. Given those two had been assimilated the longest, they had had the worst experience being connected back in, even as tenuously via the make-shift collective.

Harry was pleased with this. During their first trial of the collective, Tahl had been part of it with Chakotay being the monitor for potential problems. However, it became apparent that Chakotay had a knack for being a calming, focusing element throughout the link. Thus Tahl switched to be the monitor which had pleased Janeway. She hadn't liked the idea of losing Tahl if there was a problem.

"Well everything still looks green on my end. Get everyone beamed off sooner rather than later. I still want to hit the area with a focused polaron sweep. Can't be too careful when it comes to Borg tech," Harry ordered.

"That we can't. I'll get everyone moving. Tahl out."

OoOoO

The chamber was mostly dark, lit only by the greenish light the Borg seemed to favor for a reason Harry still didn't understand. He sat at the console and once again debated the morality of what he was doing. While it had been true about needing people off the Cube for the polaron sweep, another reason was he wanted less chance any might stumble on his secret.

With a sigh Harry made a decision. He remembered what Daphne Greengrass had told him once on a mission. She'd been the Unspeakable trainee sent out to observe various things as Harry's team had pulled artifacts out of an old Death Eater safe-house.

Not only was magic intent, she had said, but that so much of what was felt to be good or evil was subjective to who was making the judgement. What was Azkaban worthy one decade could be lauded as revolutionary and 'before its time' after a century.

Harry understood this but he also knew that he was doing something which was crossing a moral line. He was literally playing God. How Dumbledore must be laughing back in the afterlife! Especially galling to Harry was if it had actually been Dumbledore's soul he'd spoken to when he'd died again back on Tartarus, that it was this shade which had given Harry the idea he was wrestling with.

Finally he pressed a switch.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," The EMH stated as he appeared.

"Hello Doctor," Harry said.

"Where am I? This is certainly not the Equinox? Who are you sir?" The EMH said in that heated, posturing way which always made Harry think of Draco for some reason.

"You are on the Kelionininkas or to be more precise, you're on the tactical Borg Cube which is now acting as the Kelionininkas' engines. As for the Equinox, well you've been demoted in a sense. Your program had degraded badly and for the most part, only your experiences were ported over to Voyager's EMH who has weathered the time here in the Delta Quadrant a bit better."

The EMH gave him a suspicious look, "I don't feel degraded."

Harry shrugged, "That's because I've taken some time to repair parts of your programming. I was helped by a very interesting bit of protected files I discovered on the Equinox when I was upgrading the ship. It appears Captain Ransom wasn't kidding when he's said how close he had come to crossing a line. You see there was this plan to strip you of your ethical sub-routines and other lines which give you a moral center. They went so far to create a back-up of your matrix with those changes in place. I've used those to recreate you because I need your help."

The EMH blinked but then looked angry, "I have become more than my sub-routines. I refuse to be your unethical doctor simply because you'd deleted some of my code."

Harry laughed, "You are talking to the one person in the fleet who is very much aware of how much you have grown. Still, you haven't grown as much as the Voyager EMH but don't worry, I added some of the more interesting bits of code he evolved to get by. Still, right now you aren't bound by a lot of things he is. Thus you are capable of doing what I'm going to ask of you."

The EMH sneered, "And if I refuse?"

"Then I kill you," Harry said. "Oh yes, I see it that way. While I can't see anything remotely like a soul within you, I've already had this discussion with the Doctor, the Voyager EMH. You perceive yourself to be alive even if it's only when your program is active. So if I shut you off and delete you, I'm killing a unique being. I'll leave the debate whether you're alive or not to others smarter than me. But please, I don't want to sound like, 'help me or die!' because I want you to help me because you agree to it. You see a strip-down version of you who had gotten rid of a lot of his medical sub-routines did a good job when I was in exile for 16 years. You, on the other hand, should be able to do even more grand things."

The suspicious look didn't waiver, "You're trying to appeal to my vanity."

Harry laughed, "I guess I am in a way. The Doctor is rather vain and proud of his work. I don't care. I have something I feel is important to be done. I think few would agree to the methods so I have to go it alone. To do that, I need your help."

The EMH looked confused for a moment, "Then why not just program me to obey?"

Harry shook his head, "I don't want a slave. In some respects, the Doctor's ethical sub-routines from taking certain courses of action an organic might. By muting those to a degree, you are freer to assess the task I'm asking of you."

"What is this potentially morally deficient task?" the EMH asked.

"I was marooned with an away team in a pocket of sub-space where time ran faster. For us it was 16 years while to the Fleet it was a matter of days. We began a breeding program in case Voyager and the rest of the Fleet couldn't rescue us and we needed to create a civilization who could span the world and the system and potentially break back into the galaxy at large. To do this, I used a crashed Borg scout sphere and a version of your program to start a breeding program using maturation chambers," Harry explained.

The EMH frowned but nodded, "I can imagine this was met with resistance."

Harry nodded in return, "Yes but we didn't have much of a choice. We all worked very hard to ensure these chamber-born kids were loved just as much as the natural borns."

The EMH looked confused, "You're here so I'm assuming you were rescued. So what do you need me for?"

Harry sighed, "Right now it is projected our journey to the Alpha Quadrant will take 60 years at best speed. For reasons not quite important right now, I'm worried it might take longer. And that's the issue. Right now the crew is heavily weighted with Delta Quadrant races. I still think the Alphas in our Fleet still think we're going to somehow cheat physics and find a way back early. I'm not willing to bet the farm on it. So I want to continue the breeding program started back on Tartarus with additions."

"Additions? What do you mean?" the EMH asked.

"I mean I've clandestinely taken egg and sperm samples of every Alpha Quadrant crew member who is in the breeding compatible range. On Tartarus we only had, initially, Human, Vulcan, and Orion. Added to that was a Terkellian from the Delta Quadrant. A bit later we were able to add the Delta Quadrant races Devore, Brenari and Entaban. Now, however, back in the Fleet, we have dozens of races to add to the mix. With these, I want to create new generations to add to the crew who view the Alpha Quadrant as home. Even if they grow up to think of the Kelionininkas and the rest of the Fleet as home, their cultural DNA will be of the Alpha Quadrant. That and I think most of the crew is going to wait too long to breed," Harry explained.

The EMH mulled this for a bit, "You are playing God a bit, I will admit. Yet at a basic level, I don't see it as inherently morally reprehensible."

Harry snorted, "No? I'm going to create a generation or two of children that will not have any parents other than the genetic link they share with their DNA doners. While they will have genetic ties to the Fleet, they weren't the product of a marriage and planning. Hell, they aren't even the result of too much drink and a botched contraception spell. No, this is me making a decision and foisting it on the Fleet. Because when I spring the first group on them, I want the next batch to be in the tanks. If I know Janeway and the rest, there is no way they'd vote to kill these kids in their maturation chamber. But I could be wrong. Hence the moral conundrum."

The EMH was silent for a moment, "Will these children have a good life if born?"

Harry laughed, "Doc, your experience on the Equinox should put that into doubt. But yes, I think they will. The Kelionininkas was broken off of a larger generation ship which has been doing their thing for generations. We Exiles worked out a lot of issues back on Tartarus. We're working to make an in-asteroid biome for the Talaxians we brought with us up from Tartarus. So, yes, I think the kids will be vital to making it all work. So far, everyone has been very good pitching in to raise the kids we had, 'hatched' or not."

"So you're asking me to go through all the genetics and create the best matches for now and generations to come in case the Fleet doesn't get to the Alpha Quadrant as planned," the EMH asked slowly.

Harry nodded, "Right now we're outnumbered by the Varro, the Talaxians and the Skurk among us. I think it is far too easy to comprehend how we Alphas become even more of a minority in just a generation. This way, we get our numbers up, get our genetic pool larger and hopefully keep potential inter-species issues to a manageable level due to a general parity between all groups."

"That is an…interesting task. I hesitate to ask but what is in it for me?"

Harry sighed, "Well for the first bit, you're going to be limited in who you interact with. However, just like I've said to the Doctor, Zim, Thor and all the other versions based on Voyager's original EMH matrix, I want to allow you to grow. So while I fully admit that I will have certain safeguards in place, you will get to evolve in your own way. I'm confident that even without certain sub-routines, you won't turn into some sadistic medical villain. We're trying to create a viable gene pool and not some new super-soldier race after all."

The EMH cracked a smile, "Even though that would be an interesting challenge. Even so, I accept."

Harry grinned, "Great! Then let me give you some access to some of the decisions your 'brothers' have made. Before we can get working on a new Baby Factory, we need you to get your own sense of self nailed down. That and take up a name."

The EMH waved a hand, "Oh I already have a name. Given I shall be dealing with children, I shall be Dr. Spock."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

The EMH chuffed, "Benjamin Spock's legacy should not have to suffer simply due to a famous Starfleet officer and ambassador."

Harry thought about that for a moment, "Yeah, okay. Well, whatever floats your boat. Welcome aboard then Dr. Spock. Now let's get to work."

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fic will tentatively end in 13 more chapters. Then again, I've already added extra chapters I had not planned due to reader feed-back or me just thinking up new things to do. That and I think the second to last chapter might well be broken into two.

Fanon vs. Canon: Had a reviewer correct me on an item. Which is great. While I dislike it intensely when people try to tell me I've done something wrong when it should be obvious that I made a change on purpose (see Translations below) I'm not perfect. So I was reminded that Fire-Whiskey makes you burp flames and not the steam like a pepper-up potion. I was like, "Dang, you're right!" but then I decided to double-check this to see how bad the flames were to find that in all the online sources I can find, there is NO mention of flames. None. All you get is the alcoholic warmth and a feeling of courage. So if anything, Fire-Whiskey gives you "liquid courage" in more ways than one!

The thing is, what I find interesting on this, as the years go by it becomes harder and harder to remember what is canon and what is fanon. A lot of people complain about Daphne Greengrass as they feel her "Ice Princess" is just one big fanon thing which doesn't really exist. The problem with this is I'd counter-argue that most things we think of in Harry Potter are either fanon or seriously colored from fanon ideas. The truth is, we fan-fic writers, modded the hell out of JKR's original works and in so many cases did it a LOT better than she did. Even so, it does bring up the dangers of realizing a lot of things we just take for granted in Harry Potter might not actually be in the books but rather in the movies or various fan-fiction to the point we just have accepted it. I mean, really, when was the last time anyone here has gone back and read the books 1-7 through again?

Reminder: The main quadrants of the Milky Way represent the four spiral arms. There still are four 'sub-quadrants' that are pretty much the same size in between the arms which just hold a LOT less in the way of systems. The Theta Sub-Quadrant is the one between the Delta and Alpha Quadrants.

The Fleet as it Stands: I've been asked for a reminder of what the fleet looks like.'

USS Voyager: Mostly unchanged. The work done at the Pit-Stop was mostly to deal with issues that had arisen during their time in the Delta Quadrant. Main change is the 'cradles' that carry 10 Marauder fighters on the belly of the secondary hull.

USS Equinox: Looks more like the USS Rhode Island as seen in the ST: VOY finale. However, it's bulkier as it has armor. It too has the cradles for the fighters on the bottom. Beyond that, it is also 20 meters longer.

The Marianne: As mentioned in previous author's notes, this ship looks like an 80m long Federation 'mission' scout ship. You can find pictures and schematics on that online.

The Phoenix: Pretty much an 80m long star destroyer. However, instead of the tower in the back, it has a more of a long fin sloped up to the back of the engine.

Hugin & Munin: These are small craft a little bigger than most runabout ships you see. Say maybe twice the size of the Delta Flyer. They are rarely in the fleet as they are sent on ahead to gather telemetry. If you Google "Hazari Vessel" you'll see what they look like.

Baxial & Odjurjägare: I'm thinking that both Neelix and Qatai's ships are similar. Again bigger than the Delta Flyers but smaller than Hugin & Munin. Of course we all know that in reality, there is no way the shuttles, the Delta Flyer and the Baxial would have fit in the shuttlebay. It's one of those things we all just have to pretend works.

Kelionininkas: One quarter of the original Varro ship centered along a Class IV Tactical Cube that is half the size (1.5km) of a regular Borg Cube. From where it attaches to the Cube, the ship is 3,000km in length. As mentioned in this chapter, my version is based on a hexagon with two pods per side of a section of the hexagon. Thus right now there are 7 rows of pods with the last row being almost empty as it has houses the two industrial pods. So until they can grow the ship, all they can do is create 4 more pods to fill the empty slots. Running the length of the ship in the middle of the hexagon framework is one huge tank filled about 2/3rds high with water along with lights and gravity plating to simulate the light and gravity of the Varro homeworld. In this are fish, algae, coral and other marine type life which are farmed for food and materials.

Marauder Fighters: Originally there was 4 squadrons of 6 fighters apiece. Obviously, the ability to fly them remotely along with the opportunity to train pilots from the Exiles and Varro means they'll be able to field a LOT more of these if needed.

As for the Ark, it was always just one big silicate oblong designed to keep everyone inside alive. They had to spin it to get gravity. They'll strip it and use it as base material for the industrial replicators.

The Fleet Racial Composition: Beyond the ships, here is a rough break down of who is in the fleet.

The Varro: I'm thinking that since a Galaxy class ship could house 6,000 civilians, in comparison to what the dissidents took, I'm thinking there could easily be as many as 50,000 Varro on the Kelionininkas.

Talaxians: A little over 1,000 Talaxians made it off Tartarus.

Skurk: The original 40 have grown to around 160. However, given the Skurk can change gender, once the children reach breeding age, their numbers will go up quickly.

Deltas: A smattering of Devore, Brenari, Entabans and their children and hybrid children.

Alphas: While humans dominate, hybrids make up the bulk of the children. As of this chapter, there are many races who could breed (in many cases only in a hybrid way) but have not done so. Beyond humans, the largest group of Alphas would be the Vulcan/Romulan group.

Translations: By the way, reminder that I feed on your canon tears. I have written at great length in my various HP fics why I use lectiomension and occludemension for the canon terms. Occlud Mens is literally Shut the Mind as Lectio Mens is Reading the Mind. So Occludemension is the practice of this discipline while a Occludemenser is a practitioner of it. While the actual Latin is simply Occlud, I added the "e" because I've been studying language for a long time and so I know that awkward occlude (painful break) mension would quickly get slurred into occlu-de-mension.

I've also written AT LENGTH that her use of the suffix, 'mency is doggerel and the actual suffix of 'mancy is a term associated with divination. It has been a long beef of mine that people think raising the dead is necromancy. No! No! No! Necromancy is divination via the dead. Using a Ouija board is a form of necromancy as is a medium speaking to the spirits. If anything, raising the dead would be something like necroexcition or maybe necroanimotion. Of course even there it would depend on if you're simply animating dead bodies (zombies/inferis) or actually trying to tie a dead soul back into a body given that would be trending into soul magic.

Kelionininkas: Can mean traveler, wanderer and even voyager.

Odjurjägare: Beast hunter