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.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR – WARHEAD

(Episode: ST: VOY Warhead and unique content)

(References: ST:VOY Unity)

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PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive." – Jamais Cascio – American author and futurist – 1966 – Present

LAST UPDATED ON: 04-06-2021

PLANET M4/X-337, SYSTEM X-337, SECTOR 347, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51530.2

"This is so exciting! My first away mission!" Derran Tal gushed as she clung to Harry Kim's arm.

A shadow fell over her, causing her to gasp.

"I'm sorry Ms. Tal; I didn't mean to startle you."

Harry looked up at the large robot and laughed, "Well you are a bit imposing in that, Doc."

The large white robot spread its two sets of arms, "I know but this size was the best trade off on medical and defensive capability. That and it means I can go on more dangerous away missions without having to risk my mobile emitter."

The Varro woman walked around the white robot with a bright red medical cross on its breastplate, "I must say, Doctor, that you cut an impressive figure. What do you house in your abdominal cavity? Looks like you've got a door there."

There was a small hiss as the door Tal was speaking of opened up and four small arms deployed, "These are my fine surgical arms. With this, I can do precise work. Possibly while I'm on the move while I carry my patient," the Doctor said.

Harry was impressed, "So how pared down is your program, Doc?"

The robot made a dismissive gesture, "Not as much as you might think. Zim was quite helpful in working with me to ensure I have the necessary sub-routines hard-wired into this robot. That and the idea is I'm to ensure any patient is stabilized to the point where we can get them back to the fleet where 'Doctor Prime' and Lieutenant Thelan can treat them properly. For the most part, I still feel pretty much as I do when I'm using my mobile emitter."

Harry nodded, "It helps that when you beam to Sick Bay, your memories automatically sync so you don't have to spend time explaining what has already been done."

"That and the hard-wired components allow me to control the robot to act as a nurse without slowing down my own reactions. That will be helpful if we have more casualties than help," The Doctor pointed out. "Of course in a case like that, Zim has already stated that if he is not engaged in other duties, he would take over the medic-bot himself."

Before Harry could ask how the Doctor, Zim and Thor interacted among themselves, given they all were sort of facets of the same being, Senior Lieutenant Tridiva Mohindra walked over. She had finished sending off the security detail (along with two GO-4 type droids) to their assigned overwatch positions. "Okay you two, I've got you as Delta Team." She gestured towards the three other teams who were already heading out to their assigned areas.

"You know the drill. Atmospheric conditions are degrading the sensors along with that weird background radiation. So head out and report every 15 minutes. Your search area is already in your tricorders." The science officer looked at Tal with a no-nonsense look, "Ms. Tal, you are here as a courtesy until you get certified. So if Kim tells you to halt, I expect you to halt. If he tells you to run, you run. Do you understand?"

Tal nodded, "I do. I know I'm mostly untrained. I won't cause any problems."

Mohindra smirked, "You causing problems isn't the issue. It's the unknown I'm worried about. Still, Harry's been around the block enough to know how this song-and-dance is played. As long as you listen to him, I'm sure you'll be fine. Just keep your emergency beam out beacon on and there shouldn't be any issues."

As Harry and Tal made their way toward their search area, Mohindra called after them, "Oh and Ms. Tal? I don't care how untrained you are, if it feels wrong, it IS wrong!"

Tal gave her a bit of a wave before turning back and followed Harry. After a few minutes she asked, "What's that all about?"

Harry laughed lightly, "If there is one thing we've learned is our gut feelings are often right more often than not. So yeah, if something doesn't feel right to you, don't try to second guess yourself. Back off and call for help. Tuvok always says that bravery and heroism is best left to the battlefield. Away missions are for caution and knowing where your exit is."

Tal thought about that, "Makes sense. The unknown is dangerous enough without tempting fate."

The pair trudged on, stopping to scan and sometimes take a mineral sample. Beyond the distress signal that had been detected (but oddly couldn't be localized more than a few kilometers from the source) the away team was looking for signs the planet had a supply of readily available fissionables. With time always against them, the Fleet couldn't afford to stay in place long enough to spend the time to dig deep for important resources. Yet the systems Oort Cloud hadn't had the necessary minerals they needed.

Tal's tricorder beeped. She frowned at the readings, "Harry, are you getting this?"

Kim looked at her tricoder and made an adjustment to his, "Hmm, looks like some form of bio-neural activity. But what could be causing it?"

A few minutes along their assigned search route led to the answer to that question. The pair stared at the alien device wedged into a ridge-like outcropping. Tal turned to Harry, "You're in charge; what now?"

Harry did more scans before shaking his head, "Not sure. I'm reading a lot of potential energy inside the device. I think it's a probe of some kind. The bio-neural field might be some form of A.I. to help it do long-range exploration. We need to call it in and also send for the Doctor. He may have a better way to interact with whatever that uses for an interface."

OoOoO

An alert sounded through the interlink Harry was connected to. With a mental nudge, Harry came out of his trance. He had been working on getting the Cube to do most of the conversion work itself as part of normal maintenance cycles. It was a long work in progress to say nothing of constantly watching for the Collective somehow connecting the Cube back into the Hive mind. Harry retracted the tubes connecting him to the modified regeneration alcove and stepped out. He touched his comm-badge, "Harry here."

"Harry, could you come to over to Deck 5 on Voyager? Just outside the main turbolift next to Med Bay?" Zim's voice sounded worried.

"What's up? And what are you doing on Voyager? I thought you pretty much were staying on the Ark till we get things all transferred."

"I had intended to work with the Doctor after his away mission regarding the new medical robot. However, the away-team found the source of the distress call at a crash site and had it beamed to Voyager. The problem is what we first thought might be a bio-neural based probe turned out to be a literal smart bomb. A bomb that has taken over Med Bay and is threatening to blow up the ship if it is not taken to its original target. It's managed to erect Level 10 forcefields to keep everyone out of Sick Bay."

Harry sighed, "I'll be right over but I'm not going to bother beaming over, Harry out." He went to one of the cobbled together banks of Federation tech which was used by others to help him convert the Cube into their needs, Harry scanned Deck 5 of Voyager. He ran a quick program to double-check his initial mental math and then used the answer to apparate directly to Sick Bay.

He quickly took in what had to be the weapon as well as the presence of Derran Tal, Harry Kim, B'Elanna Torres and the Doctor. All looked agitated.

B'Elanna saw him first, "Harry! How did you get past the Level 10 forcefield?"

Harry affected a hurt look, "I keep telling you folks how generally awesome I am and yet you continue to doubt me." He waved towards the weapon, "What have we got?"

Kim frowned, "At first, due to the bio-neural circuitry, we thought we'd found an advanced probe. However, it is a very advanced smart missile. Beyond it threatening to detonate if we don't do what it says, the Doctor has found an odd dichotomy in the device."

Harry turned to the Doctor, "That being?"

The Doctor was frowning, "When I first examined the device on the planet, one of the first things it asked me was why it couldn't feel its arms and legs. Before I was locked out, I was able to detect a lot of memories which only could have come from an organic being. I am horrified to say this but I believe that whoever built this took the mental framework of a person and mated it up with the device. Maybe a criminal since doing such a thing would irreparably damage the sentient."

Harry came over and looked at the sleek device. It was certainly a big explosion waiting to happen packed into such a small missile. He waved his wand hand at the weapon before he placed his hands on the device which blarted at him in a set of deep, irritating beeps.

"Hush you. You can bitch up a storm all you want. You can't detonate now."

A high pitched whine began as if to refute Harry's comment. Then more blarting and a different hum followed by even more angry beeps.

Harry closed his eyes as he probed the weapon, "See? I told you that you couldn't detonate. Doesn't do you any good if your firing mechanism cannot make physical contact now does it? Now quit resisting me!"

The weapon, however, kept making loud beeps. From the Doctor's face, it was obvious that whatever the weapon was saying was anything but profane.

"Hello," Harry suddenly said. He pushed back the sleeves of his robes to allow his bracers to be seen. Both morphed into control gauntlets from which Borg like tubulars connected to the weapon.

After a minute or two of silence, Harry Kim looked up from his tricorder with a shake of his head, "I can't tell what he's doing."

Harry didn't open his eyes to answer the former ensign, "What I'm doing, Mr. Kim, is finding that the Doctor was sort of right. Yes, there are memories in here but it wasn't due to forcing a sentient's mind into the machine. More it's someone inserted copied memories so the machine has more of a framework to work with. I believe the crash caused a fault in this system such that Mr. Bomb here began to lose track of what it was."

"Why would anyone do something like this?" Torres asked.

His eyes still closed and his voice bland and monotone, Harry explained, "It's not so different from what Dr. Zimmerman did with the EMH's. Hell, a favorite movie of mine used a similar concept for the exact same reason. It's also why I've told the Doctor and all his brother's the importance of not being turned off. The thing is, we can create a really top-shelf intelligence but from a standpoint of experience, they are as babies. Now the obvious solution would be to let them grow up but that would require somewhere to do so. But most races don't bother trying to make up some equally top-shelf world for these A.I.'s to do just that. And how would they? It'd be a copy of our own world because that's all we know. So instead of just letting an A.I. learn through doing, you graft memories from someone who's already gone through all that. This gives them a filter to use to make decisions."

"Why would an A.I. need such a filter? Data is data and you'd expect them to use it to find the best solution," Tal asked.

"Well if your pet has parasites and you told an A.I. to deal with it, it might set it on fire as fire would quite effectively kill the parasites," Harry pointed out.

The Varro woman snorted, "That's stupid. It would kill the pet!"

"Ah but you just told the A.I. to get rid of the parasites; you just assumed the A.I. knew that you wanted the pet not to be damaged. That's the problem. A new A.I. is just a smart baby and unless you go through the long process to teach it 'common sense' it will make mistakes like that. Again, the quick method is to just graft on memories from an organic who has already learned these lessons," Harry explained.

The Doctor sighed, "Of course this ties the A.I.'s experience to an organic format it is not suited for. Harry pointed out to me how much my programming is deliberately kept so I perceive the world at the same speed you do. This helps my program to integrate better with the memories grafted from my creator."

Kim nodded at this, "Yeah…I see. Instead of taking the time to allow an A.I. to grow up in the context of its own machine space, we're forcing them to be a weird mental cyborg type being."

B'Elanna chuffed at this, "And I'm betting that no one does this because how will you control an A.I. that develops that way? In the process of getting that common sense Harry mentioned, well I doubt they'd feel very inclined just to turn around and be a smart tool for organics."

"Bingo!" Harry said. The weapon made an odd beep and then a few more and then went silent. Harry retracted his tubules and opened his eyes as the force-fields around the room went down. "Okay, I've taken care of our little friend here but I need to talk to the Fleet Council. There is a bigger issue and opportunity here.

OoOoO

Janeway looked at the chart Treana had sent up from Astrometrics, "That swarm is awfully close to their target. We need to be careful we don't set them off and push them into that zone where they will no longer take any outside input."

Chakotay shook his head, "It's sadly ironic that the very strike against the Druoda which led them to make peace has kept them from ensuring all of their missiles got the signal to disengage. In a way, both the N'Kree and the Druoda are in luck we discovered this. It's highly likely that if these missiles made their way to their targets, the N'Kree wouldn't believe that it was an accident and the war would start right back up again."

"But what can we do? What Captain Potter did to one weapon on Voyager is unlikely to work on so many missiles at once," Dhael, the Romulan XO of the Equinox pointed out.

Everyone in the Fleet Council room turned to look at Harry who threw up his hands, "I think I can finesse this. There is a communications component on the Cube I can get transferred to the Phoenix. It should be able to force the disengage code to all of them in a way they can't ignore. Arturis was not only able to reconstruct the disengage code but was also able to find protocols in the missile itself which where the mirror of that code. So at least we know we are sending the right message."

Janeway smiled at this, "Well that's good. The amount of damage to the N'Kree these missiles could do is truly horrifying."

Harry paused, "I do have a request. I've been speaking with the missile. The name from the memories grafted into his matrix is Taiwo. I believe that by using the Borg device in the way we need to will cause a similar schism between the organic memories and the bio-neural circuitry. In a sense, we are stopping a catastrophe but doing so at the expense of these A.I.'s."

"I take it you have a possible solution to this, Captain Potter?" Tuvok asked. Harry recognized the tone as the one Tuvok used when he was asking something he knew the answer to.

"I do. In talking with Taiwo, it occurred to me that since the Druoda are similar to us in that they have the same body morphology, we could take their matrixes and put them into new Zimbot bodies. To do this would require us to disassemble the missiles but I figured we would do this anyway as it would solve our need for fissionables for more anti-ship missiles. Their matrixes can easily fit into almost all of the Zimbots given their lack of organics anymore. This way these beings would have a bit of both worlds. They would have the machine speed they are used to along with a body similar enough to match their memories."

Commander Riker frowned at this, "Are we sure we want a bunch of smart bombs walking around?"

"What other alternative is there?" Seven asked. "The only other course of action is to deactivate them. In a sense, killing them."

Riker shrugged, "Something we would have done if the Wizard here didn't have a fix."

Harry, Seven and the Doctor all scowled at this, "So they aren't worth saving and can only be seen as a risk due to them not being organic? Is that what you are saying, Commander?" the Doctor said archly.

Riker looked uncomfortable, "Uh…that's not what I meant."

"Funny, it certainly sounded like it," Harry said coldly.

"Regardless of what Commander Riker did or didn't mean, I agree that giving them the option of going into a body as being the moral choice," Janeway said firmly. "However, what will be done if they do not wish this?"

Harry shrugged, "There are a lot of things they could do linked up to the Cube. As I've said before, so much of a what the drones do on a Cube could easily be automated and having an A.I. do it makes it even more efficient. This would certainly speed up our repurposing of the Cube."

Newly promoted Lieutenant Commander Baxter (who had replaced Tuvok) rubbed his chin, "Doing so would allow us to go to a higher warp factor sooner. That would greatly improve our tactical situation."

"I agree," Captain Tahl said firmly. "Speed is our best ally until the Cube's weapon's array comes online and we can produce more Marauders. Likewise, it will be some time for the Kelionininkas' own weapons array to be fully operational instead of the minimal, short-range defensive capability it is hobbled at currently.

Janeway turned to Ransom who shrugged, "It's the moral thing to do. Given Harry's capabilities, I'm sure he will have a way to deal with these new beings which doesn't involving something immoral like kill-switches. It seems mostly a win-win situation for us. Also, their presence will allow for fewer people to be on the Cube. It's a duty no one likes to do. That so many who are best at it are former drones…well I'm all for not having them to have to be on a Cube again and dredge up bad memories."

Chakotay chuffed at this, "I was barely connected to a version of the Collective and working on the Cube gives me nightmares. I'm all for keeping the crew away from it."

"Then we're agreed then?" Janeway asked. Nods from all around the table answered her. She turned to Harry, "Well then, as soon as you can get the Phoenix underway, let's do it."

XxXxX

Captain's Blog…bunch of unnecessary stuff here given the computer time-stamps everything. Honestly, sometimes I think Starfleet has the same logic as wizards…to say none at all.

So what's to report. Well there was the mission to capture the Druoda missiles which went off without a hitch. All of the missiles are safely aboard the Phoenix which itself is a day away from absorbing enough of the Cube for the mission to create a new Pit-Stop. During this, the Druodans will be downloaded (or not) into their new bodies. Of course the Fleet doesn't know that I've offered them the choice of new organic bodies. While I didn't use it on Tartarus, the maturation chambers can easily age the bodies to match their memories. This will be another thing the Fleet Council will freak out over but hey, I killed a planet accidentally and they couldn't do much in regard to me. Creating organic bodies for the Druoda is peanuts compared to the shit-storm of me cranking out another generation or so of kids.

Have to say, it's a lot easier to jump back in time when you have a team helping you create all the things you'll need. My team has dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's so we're just waiting for everything to come together when we find a suitable system. Sure this mission will cause a bit more temporal noise but I think Captain Ducane and I have an understanding.

Most of the Talaxians who are coming with us are elders. While I don't expect any to die, many of them see the time in the past as a good way to continue to work on putting down a lot of their oral culture developed back on Tartarus onto paper as it were. Maybe someday we might run into the other Talaxians of the convoy the Exiles got separated from. It'll be interesting to see what they think of the Exile's culture. So beyond putting the right Talaxian stamp on the Txajzeb or 'stone cradle' as they have decided to name their new home to be, they will be working to codify a culture which could easily be lost as it rubs against the Varro and all us Alphas.

For me, however, there does remain the sad task of having to disappoint my boy.

THE MERITADO, THE ARK, SECTOR 347, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51532.2

Harry looked at his eldest son (at least of his current batch of children. James and Albus were probably dead or extremely old wizards back in the Fairy Realm) and wished he didn't have to do what needed to be done.

"No."

Cedric blinked at this, "No? That's it? I spent all this time laying out all the reasons I should go and that's it? No?"

Harry sighed, "Cedric, one day you will be at a certain age and you will have to make decisions for your kids because they don't have the life experience necessary to make an informed choice. I'm making one of those decisions now. Would I like to have you with me in the past? Of course I would, but that would do you no good in the long run."

"But Dad, it's always been you and me. Even when I got in with Jevex's family, it was still you and me against the world," Cedric said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Yes and that' s exactly why you can't come," Harry said.

"But…why?" Cedric asked, clearly confused.

"Son, I grew up alone for a long time. Even when I got to Hogwarts, I was mostly alone. A lot of that, I think, was through the long hand of Dumbledore to ensure I had few ties to life. I needed to die at the right time to fulfil the prophecy. Because of this I can tell you that if you went with me, you will lose out on important life lessons you're already behind on. No; I'm not going to allow that to happen."

"But Dad…" Cedric began.

Harry jumped to his feet, his voice echoing throughout the chamber they were in, "I said NO! You are being selfish without realizing it! You are looking at how this time with me will allow you to focus on your training. I know all about how all you kids have this grand plan to create a Magi Order. I can see clearly how you think your time away will allow you to focus on that, to work with me to hone your skills. But your magical skills are not as important as your life skills, son."

Harry gestured to the murals and artwork around him, "Don't get me wrong. I can see why you and your siblings are getting sucked into it. You're the only Magicals that we know of. You are being tutored by Vulcans and Romulans and accessing powers few have. It's a heady feeling thinking you'll be creating something new and powerful. It's like the best super-secret club any group of kids could aspire to."

Harry turned around and pointed at his son, "But power is not life. If there is one thing that I learned fighting Voldemort is that those who chase power do so at the expense of life."

Cedric frowned, "Dad, it's not like we are going to make ourselves into sexless monks or something. If anything, Rigel would never make it if we did."

Harry made a chopping motion, "Don't try to be funny with me, Cedric. You're missing the point. If you come with me, in a blink you'll go from the cool, older brother to so many of the other kids to an adult they don't quite know. Seven had her puberty stolen from her by the Borg. I'm not about to do the same to you. Besides, if you did this, do you really want to follow in your mother's footsteps in jumping in time away from family?"

Cedric flinched as if Harry had slapped him.

Harry nodded at this, "I didn't think so. Cedric, you're 13. You have so many things to learn among people your age. You will do things right and you'll do things wrong but that's part of life and I refuse to let you steal that from yourself."

Cedric looked unsure for the first time.

Harry put a hand on his son's shoulder, "Cedric, I can leave for one or two decades and deal with it because I know you'll be here and I won't miss parts of your life I need to be there for. I didn't get to be there for James, Albus or Lily. I will be damned if I miss it for you or any other of your siblings. Please, understand that I while I can agree fully with a lot of your arguments to come with me, I just can't steal you away. Your siblings need you too, you know. Sure it's sort of funny to think about you having to keep Rigel from running amok but think about your sister. You both lost six years of your life together. This on top of what your mother took…no stole from both of you. You suddenly becoming an adult would break her. I can't allow that."

Cedric looked down to get away from the intense, green eyes which seemed to bore into his soul, "I…" His voice trailed off as he couldn't think of a response to that.

Harry reached out and lifted his son's chin back up, "You're needed here, Cedric and not just for your direct siblings. You're sort of the head boy of the kids. They all look up to you and taking you away for a day or two and then returning with an adult version of you? No, it's just not going to happen."

Cedric looked away again and was silent. Finally he nodded, "Okay Dad. You're right. I was being selfish. Maybe I just felt that if I did this…well then I'd be able to stay ahead of everyone."

Harry knelt and looked his son deeply in the eye, "Cedric, again, it isn't about power. Even if one of the others, Bellatrix maybe, ends up more powerful, leadership is more than personal power. I can kick the crap out of Chakotay in so many ways. But can I beat him in the leader role? Not a chance. Right now you are the one they look up to. They aren't going to turn away because Bellatrix might have more personal power. Frankly, she'd never aspire to lead. She simply doesn't care for all that. As much as I hate to say it, Trixie is sort of like the woman I knew who bore the name. She's tough and scary but she'll be loyal and you'll never worry about her commitment. But you need to stay here and work with them. Guide them and inspire them. You will lose that if you leave with me."

Cedric took a deep breath and nodded, "Alright. I guess it's foolish to argue with someone your age."

Harry snorted at that as he got back to his feet, "Cedric, don't go there. It's taken me four centuries to be able to finally fake some maturity. Don't hold me up as anything but a cautionary tale of what NOT to do in life."

Cedric laughed at this and father and son made their way out of the quiet meditation room.

OoOoO

Pinned as he was, Harry had little leverage to resist. He realized that in this contest, he was going to lose.

Jondra smiled as she seemed to sense this. She continue to grind against him, each downstroke pushing him closer to going over the edge. Each stroke came with an internal clenching which, due to her enhanced musculature, made it feel like he was almost getting a hand-job as the Angosian super-soldier mercilessly rode him.

"Give it to me, Harry. I want it all. I want to feel that hot seed of yours shooting deep into me. I want it. I need it. Give it to me, give it all to me," Jondra crooned, her breasts bobbing tantalizingly in front of his face as she kept him pinned to the bed as she fucked him.

A moan off to his right made Harry turn his head slightly. V'Lana's hands were busy touching herself. By the look of what could only be described as lust on her face, she'd gone from lazily masturbating while Jondra had her way with him to be fully involved with the show.

The erotic nature of the sight and sound only made it worse for Harry. He regretted the flippant comment of him being able to outlast both women. Jondra once again proved that no matter how quiet and demure she appeared; she was a fiery warrior at heart who was up to the challenge.

A challenge Harry lost as he couldn't help but begin to helplessly buck his hips against Jondra's thrusts as he began to cum. Jondra squealed in pleasure as Harry's hot seed shot into again and again. Harry's own cries of release pushed her over the edge and they both began to buck and thrash against each other. Watching this, V'Lana's moans turned deeper as she too began to buck against her own fingers on her sex.

A long time went by as the trio did little but try to get their breath back. The thrum of Voyager's impulse engines pushing them through normal space was soothing. The flicking light of a quartet of candles illuminated off the walls of Jondra's quarters added to the relaxed atmosphere.

Finally Jondra rolled off Harry and sighed, "Damn, Harry! I know I asked for it but I think you filled me with three men's worth of cum."

Harry let out a chuff of air, "Don't blame me. I think you milked me dry so badly I won't be able to get it up for a week."

"Oh I hope not," V'Lana said. "I want another shot at you for your flippant comments."

Harry groaned, "I'm surrounded by sexual Amazons. Have pity on this poor mortal man!"

"Whines the immortal man," V'Lana said with a smirk.

None of them said anything for a bit, just basking in the after-glow of their tryst. Finally Harry rolled over so he could see V'Lana, "Can I ask a dumb question?"

V'Lana merely raised an eyebrow at this.

"So…what gets you off? I mean, I know your sort of human but…well even though Romulans are supposedly passionate, most I've met are just slightly more edgy Vulcans. So much of human sex and kink and the like all seem to come from our sense of what we're doing is somehow 'dirty' and we get excited by what we shouldn't be doing. Or some psycho-sexual BS like that," Harry said with a flippant gesture.

V'Lana laughed merrily, "It's not a stupid question, actually. You're right though. Like you say, humans think they're so much better than they were but they haven't changed that much. I've found way too many of my human crews having sex in storage lockers and other 'secret' places like they're doing something naughty by not just going back to their room. Like most races care…if they themselves aren't all up in arms about sex."

Jondra snorted, "On Angosia it's all intellectual discussion and science…and yet such a basic biological function is seen as something we do behind closed doors and only talk about it clinically. The stars above we admit to actually enjoying it."

V'Lana chuckled at that, "Don't feel too bad for your people; that sort of thing is a lot more common than you might think. Anyway, to answer your question, Harry, it depends on perception and aesthetics. Vulcans and Romulans have slightly different reasons for being prickly about the Pon Farr. But on a day-to-day level, sex isn't something seen as anything but giving pleasure. The thing is, to Vulcans and many Romulans the thing to aspire to is to create beauty and to appreciate it. Beauty comes in many forms. Seven and Treana working on delicate warp field calculations can be beauty. Watching you and B'Elanna sparring with knives can be beauty. Watching the Fleet line up precisely to synch our warp bubbles as we go to warp can be just as beautiful as the most famous piece of art or music. There is beauty in the world if you allow yourself to see it."

V'Lana made a gesture to include Harry and Jondra, "Watching you two have sex, striving against each other as if in battle has a beauty to it in so many ways. Visually of course but I can sense it on a psychic level as well. What Romulans do better is we allow the passions in our blood to be less restrained. That way we can let such things flow through us, wake that passion within ourselves. There is a beauty in that. I was no mere spectator today; I was engaged in the sensual beauty as well."

"So…you have to run off for some private time after watching Kwame stick the landing when making a really great soup then?" Harry asked half-jokingly.

V'Lana laughed at this even as Jondra gasped out a mortified, "Harry!"

"In a way, yes," V'Lana said with a smile. "Yet not how you'd think of it. Meditation is central to both Vulcans and Romulans. We are constantly reviewing, thinking about, meditating on what we see, feel, and endure. Sadly, most humans cannot capture those moments of beauty with such clarity. You know you loved the taste of that soup of Kwame's you joked about. I, however, can bring that memory back, to taste it again as if it were the first time. I never need to lose that moment."

Harry considered that, "You know, I think I've been wasting such an opportunity. Being an occludemenser, I should be able to do the same thing."

V'Lana shrugged, "Perhaps, but we take our meditation to a level most humans never achieve. Due to this, we are very in tune with our bodies. This link goes both ways. As we revisit the beauty in our memories, our bodies respond. So it is not uncommon to wish for sex or masturbation after a deeply moving meditation. Well it is for Romulans. Most Vulcans pride themselves on forcing down such feelings. Again, perfectly natural feelings being seen in a poor light for stupid reasons. It's why so many Vulcans off Vulcan itself are pushing to be more like Romulans in this manner. Tuvok has said many times that even most Vulcans don't understand that the Kolinahr doesn't purge emotions but makes it such you can fully enjoy them without them affecting your judgement. So, Tuvok of all people, probably engages in more sex for enjoyment then most Vulcans."

Jondra made a face, "That's a weird paradox. He's just so…not cold just so…"

"Present," Harry said. "Yeah; Tuvok was our rock back on Tartarus. This explains a lot. There were a lot of time I know Tuvok had just had some serious sex and yet he would breeze into some meeting like it was just another day. If it weren't for my own mental senses, I'd never have guessed what he'd been doing sometimes only an hour before."

V'Lana smirked at this, "Exactly. From long experience I can tell that an average Vulcan would have shown up all tense and scowling. You see, no matter how much they deny it to themselves, the accepted dogma is that enjoying sex is still something one should be able to more fully control. The problem is most Vulcans still try to suppress it, not control it. Of course since they don't stop having sex, this just means that even the mighty Vulcans are quietly having issues with it. Sadly, few take up the Kolinahr or have their heads screwed on right like Sakonna."

Jondra laughed at that, "Now there is another paradox. She looks like she could be having a mind-blowing orgasm and still would be scowling and tense. She reminds me in a way of Seven. I'm betting she'd be all, 'Your technique was adequate but successful. You have my thanks for the pleasure but your mission reports are still lacking in accuracy and your TPS report is late. Get out and complete them' or something like that."

Both Harry and V'Lana laughed at the truth of this. Harry felt that sometimes Sakonna wasn't enjoying herself unless she was complaining about something.

V'Lana poked at Harry, "You need to roll over, my toy for the next hour. Even though my memories of today will make my blood sing as long as I am able to remember it, I want some more."

"But I thought Vulcans don't forget," Jondra pointed out as Harry mumbled a protest even as he rolled over.

V'Lana grinned a saucy grin, "We don't. As I said, I will be able to enjoy tonight again and again for a long time to come."

A beep at the door surprised them. Before Jondra could do more than grab a sheet to wrap around herself and begin to move off the bed, the locked door to her quarters opened up and Seven boldly and purposefully strode in.

She took in the scene, sniffed, and cocked her head to one side slightly, "It seems you all have had a most successful session of sexual co-gratification."

"Seven! You can't just walk in here!" Jondra said hotly.

"I believe I just did," Seven said dryly. She turned to V'Lana, "Uriash has finished going over the data Treana and I have been collecting. It does seem probable an attack is being planned against us. Therefore our window is tightening. The Commodore believes that unless we scrub the mission till we move away from this sector, we must begin as soon as possible. Mr. Paris is already working to replace the Earhart's module ahead of schedule."

Harry and V'Lana shared a glance, "I take everything else is in motion?" V'Lana asked.

Seven nodded, "I calculate that it is within an 85.7% probability that you can be underway in two hours. The Talaxian elders say they can easily make that deadline. Technician Yin is assisting Mr. Paris and has confirmed he is ready as well. As it stands, there is a 22% probability the system we have determined to be the best target will not meet specifications. However, you can get there in time to determine this and abort and link-up with the fleet in a time acceptable to the Commodore's margin of safety."

Harry sighed, "Well as much as I'd like a shower, I can clean us up magically. I need to jump to the Cube for some things I need to tie up before taking the Phoenix out." He looked at V'Lana, "Do you need any help?"

V'Lana didn't say anything but was looking up at Seven with a smirk. She made a gesture to her still nude form, "Like it Seven? I keep saying you and B'Elanna really need to branch out a bit."

Harry was sure that if Seven didn't have a way to control a lot of her biological components, she would blush at being caught staring at V'Lana's naked body. Not that Harry could blame her. The woman seemed to be the best of all the different traits inherited from her Romulan mother and half-Vulcan/half-human father.

Still smirking, V'Lana turned to Harry, "Not till we get ready to go. Just have some things I'd like to have you shrink before we leave."

Harry got off the bed, stretched the kinks out (Jondra was very strong) and was perversely happy that Seven stared at his nude body as well, "Well the show must go on then."

XxXxX

THE GARAGE, OORT CLOUD OUTSIDE THE SETARIN SYSTEM, SECTOR 346, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 40229.7

Harry looked out through the viewport and nodded in satisfaction. The Phoenix was already in the cradle it would stay in as it was transformed once again. This time around, however, Harry would stick with naval tradition and give the ship a new name to befit its new role. In this case, the role of a strike carrier.

Tom had been right about one thing, the shuttle-bays in Voyager and the Equinox were too small to cope with the small ships they had. While both Neelix and Qatai's ships had been moved to the Kelionininkas, the fact remained that the tactical situation might require the fleet to break up. One part to remain with the Kelionininkas while the others engaged in offensive or defensive missions elsewhere. Doing this would seriously limited the amount of Marauder fighters which could be carried. The new Ark Royal would fix that problem. Harry had chosen the name to honor the Ark and because after all these years he was still British and he had long thought there was a heavy bias in Starfleet ships names towards the old American navy even centuries later.

This new role would enable the other Federation ships to carry the larger Delta Flyers and remove the need to maintain the Marauders. So while they were giving up some direct combat strength lost in the conversion, they were gaining a lot more flexibility.

Of course this had meant more work which was why besides the Talaxians, Harry had been joined in this mission by V'Lana, Jondra and Yin. Alars and Veers were back on the Cube to ensure nothing happened to it during the 4 days before Harry would be back to double-check. Jondra had volunteered to help with the hydroponics and V'Lana wanted to work more on the Earhart concept along with many other things related to the Ark Royal and future ships they might be able to make. At some point she was going to go through some gene therapy. As a hybrid, there were always unknowns in her genome. By going into something like a Federation equivalent of a maturation chamber, her body was able to be scanned and her genome checked for degradation with procedures to correct them. It was an advanced form of techniques many races used to live longer. It was why Chakotay, for example, looked to be in his late 40's when he was actually in his mid-80's. Harry still found it odd outside the Magical world to meet crewmembers who looked to be nearing retirement age and finding they were over a century old!

Harry was more than happy for the company and given the long journey ahead, having V'Lana keep aging at a more Vulcan/Romulan rate was a worthy goal.

The Garage wasn't in a hollowed out planetoid this time like the Pit-Stop had been. In order to make room for the Txajzeb they had had to trade some secrecy for room. However, it was a risk which had panned out. Even at a 22% failure rate, Harry had been confident given most races rarely bothered with a system's Oort Cloud at first. Easier to go after resources nearer planets and the 'free' solar energy of the inner system.

The asteroid chosen was a long, fairly smooth oblong almost 3km in length and 2km in width at the midpoint. The plan was to hollow out various main chambers where the forests would be grown and then outer warrens would house the colonists. Txajzeb would be connected to the back of the Cube given Borg engines didn't require exit ports like normal warp nacelles. This would make the Kelionininkas almost 9km long. In fact, this was just under the length of the original Varro generation ship. Txajzeb would have gravity through a mixture of spin and artificial gravity plating.

Of course the Txajzeb wasn't meant to be the primary living space for all the Talaxians. It would take one or two more such planetoids to match that. So far, the plan was only those with families with children and the elderly would live there. The life of the elderly could be made easier by having them live in areas where the gravity would be set lower and thus inducing less stress.

It would take a while for the flora to fully come together but between an artificial sun, no pests and using energy sent directly into the trees, they would quickly thrive. Once they got larger, some of that energy would go to create bio-luminescence. This technique was already used in a corral like lifeform found in the 'ocean' center-tank of the Kelionininkas.

"Captain Potter," Spock's voice broke into Harry's musings.

Harry turned toward the speaker on the wall, "Yes Spock? Are the stasis pods ready?" Like with the Pit-Stop, they had to manually fly the ships back in time and then ride out most of that time in stasis pods while the work was being done. For this mission, they would be woken up periodically to get certain tasks done before returning to stasis.

"They are but we have a serious problem. I detected it during medical scans done to tweak the pods to each individual's physiology," Spock said.

Harry's eyes narrowed. The EMH wasn't coming out and saying what the problem was. Never a good sign. "Cut to the chase, Doctor Spock. What is the problem?"

Spock sighed, "Captain V'Lana and Lieutenant Hommein are pregnant and you are the father."

Harry blinked at this, "That's impossible."

"Then the births will be a miracle," Spock said in a tone of dry sarcasm Voyager's EMH was so known for and Spock had picked up.

Harry shook his head wildly, "No, Doc, you don't understand. It is literally impossible. Unless I go through a rather intrusive process needing a Borg alcove to change things, my sperm isn't viable. The only thing my cum does is release small amount of my altered nanites which will help keep the person in better health and stave off assimilation…if for a little while.

Luckily for him, Samantha Wildman remained unaware that for all her hatred of Borg nanites, she had a lot of his altered nanites inside her. Even more lucky for him was the Doctor had surmised the cause of the nanites in Wildman's body and due to her wild comments after she'd beamed up from Tartarus, had kept quiet about it. The Doctor had said for her mental health, he felt that unless she asked him a direct questions, he would not bring it up.

"While I am sure that is a completely factual statement, the data does not lie. The two women are pregnant with your children. I, however, believe I know what has happened. From the memories ported over from the Doctor, I do believe you once told him that 'Magic trumps logic and makes reality its bitch' – is this correct?"

Harry nodded as he already began to see where the Doctor was going, "Aw crap. It was my damn family magicks!" It didn't help that he was the direct heir to House Potter and Peverell as well as being made the heir of House Black. With him being the only member of those families left in this dimension, Harry could see how the magics might work to ensure line continuation. But why now? What had changed? Was it due to his recent magical recharge back on Tartarus?

"While I don't know what that is, your magic is the most reasonable answer. You have been breeding while on Tartarus. Perhaps your magicks felt they were doing you a favor," Spock theorized.

"Damn it! I hope this means B'Elanna and Seven aren't pregnant as well," Harry swore. Then something hit him. "You know, Doc, how far along are they?"

"Not very far at all," Spock replied.

"I had sex with Seven and B'Elanna a lot after I got back from Tartarus. You'd think if I weren't shooting blanks anymore, they would be at least two months pregnant, right? The Doctor would have spotted that? Hell, Seven would have spotted it right away."

"That is correct," Spock agreed.

"Okay well I remember before we left, Jondra was begging me to cum inside her. How she wanted it, she needed it. She desperately wanted my seed in her. Man I unloaded like you wouldn't believe after that. Then I had a go at V'Lana. Maybe…maybe her begging for my seed triggered my magicks," Harry said slowly as he worked out whether that might work or not.

"Well given your magic breaks the rules, I cannot say. However, I believe if Ensign Hommein was asking for you to 'fill her up' then it is very possible due to your time on Tartarus that your magic responded to that direct request. I would surmise that you are not shooting blanks anymore," Spock replied evenly.

Harry ran a hand through his hair, "Well at least for now, the only people I can get pregnant already are. Okay…so now what?"

"Well now we come to the problem. Neither woman can go into stasis," Spock said with a firm but calm tone.

"Of course they can't," Harry said as he hung his head and massaged his face for a bit. "Well damnit. I guess we're not sleeping out the next decade or so. Still, I guess this can alter our timetable and how we implement the Baby Factory plan."

"That was my thought as well. Both women are early enough into their pregnancy that we can implant a twin to further the number of genes available."

"Of course this means bringing them into the plan," Harry said tiredly.

Harry wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

OoOoO

Station Log with all the proper time and Star Dates attached that I'm too lazy to care about. Man am I hung-over and that's saying something when one has magic and nanites. Between the mead from the Tumble-Bee's honey and the Crimson Rye vodka, I'm still feeling it. I'm really shocked neither Daedalus nor Icarus have been colonized. Yin thinks it is likely this system is under some form of fallow protocols as there is evidence of some form of high-tech warfare being fought at one time on both planets. That would explain the still higher levels of background radiation on them. Regardless of the why, it's nice to have two planets to sneak bio-samples from. The trees we took from Daedalus turned out to be a much better fit than the trees we had planned to use.

Not surprising given Daedalus is farther out than the planet the trees we were going to use are from. Thus, everything has evolved in a darker environment. Still, I made sure to take a lot of stuff from Icarus. With it being closer to the star, it's hotter and drier. I'm thinking that the next asteroid we hollow out should trend more towards Tartarus. Never thought I'd say it, but I sort of miss that sandy hellhole.

As to why I'm hung over, we had our first Chamber Born birthing party. Not only did we have the small batch from the baby factory, but the first Druoda were born. We have been making the most of the two years we've been awake and much of it has been related to the whole Baby Factory project. I had been worried how V'Lana and Jondra would act but the only slight issue was Yin who quickly saw the logic of the plan.

I should have known better. Jondra is a genetically engineer super-soldier and V'Lana's dad was pretty much an artifact given Vulcans and Humans cannot breed without a LOT of gene work. V'Lana herself needed a fair bit of it else her mother would have probably miscarried. So neither woman had any serious issues with it. In fact, I was shocked that Jondra jumped in with both feet. So much so that she had Spock alter her 'natural' baby to have Vulcan like ears.

Why? Well again, I'm blessed with really smart women around me. Jondra pointed out that the bulk of the existing hybrids had pointed ears. Treana had her own kids altered in utero because she felt it would make the bulk of the kids look more alike. Then when T'Pev had arrived, more of the chamber born had Vulcan/Romulan genes and thus the ears.

Then there is the fact that the next round of natural born children will include Yin as well. We had planned to go the artificial route like we had done on Tartarus but Yin surprised everyone (himself included) by going into Pon Farr and choosing Jondra as his mate. This being surprising as Romulans, as a rule, go into Pon Farr only once or twice in their lifetime if at all. Yin had never done so and felt him being a former drone would make this less likely. Still, his Romulan strength means he could stand up to Jondra. They seem happy together given Jondra's quiet nature coupled with Yin's stoic demeanor.

Anyway, so it will be hopping for bit till next year. Still, even though the Druoda which were born are in their teenage years, they can still help parent. Inside another year or so, more will come out as adults. They had wanted to try having some of them be younger to see if that effected the process. Sadly, we've had more blow-outs than successes where the matrix wouldn't take in a Zimbot or in the new bodies. As it stands, we have four embodied Druoda along with fifteen in the Zimbot type bodies. As we prepare for the next round, we are going to see if the Druoda who rejected the body will also reject being downloaded into a Zimbot chassis. We have lots of data to go through before we get to that stage. While the many failures are disappointing, the Cyber-Druoda seem perfectly content hang out in the general system as well as being part of the Ark Royal as it goes through its transformation into a strike carrier. If anything, they have been working on their own virtual reality to upgrade the system already started back on the Cube.

The Talaxian group has been a real joy. At first I felt that helping raising these kids would cut into their time they had plans to work on codifying their oral culture into records. I shouldn't have worried given how much Talaxians love kids. Plus it means the kids will all grow up being able to speak Talaxian. I wish it were possible for me to teach them all Paroli. Ah well…

So, two years in on a mission we didn't expect. My kids are great and it will be interesting to see how it works out with V'Lana's genes. None of the kids I 'fathered' with Tuvok or T'Pev had any magic but both of them said the children seem a lot stronger in the Vulcan/Romulan mind arts. Since V'Lana has some human in her, it will be interesting to see when the accidental magic years come by.

OoOoO

Personal Log…hey Omotayo; what's the date today, old style? Huh, how about that? Today is my birthday! With time dilation I am about 415 years old. Well Happy Birthday to me! Anyway, I felt I had better do some sort of log since it's been a while since I did one. I've been rather lax given I know the Cy-Dru keep better records. I don't know what I would have done if Omotayo hadn't rejected her bio-body. She's like Hermione reborn in cyberspace. With what we've seen here, when she and the rest of the Cy-Dru get into the Cube, man are we going to kick things into high gear!

So, besides me getting older (big whoop for an immortal, right?) what else is going on. Well Yin and Jondra went through a bonding ritual adapted from the Angosian tradition with enough Romulan additions to make Yin happy. It was rather touching. V'Lana even cried although she swears one of the gnats got into her eye. Have to say while there are so many more years to go, the main garden chamber on Txajzeb is really coming along. It was a beautiful setting for such a ritual.

I think it was even more so that Jondra gave birth to her second set of kids two days later. Luckily for us, the amount of gene therapy needed for viable children for them was much lower than what had been needed between Sarek and Amanda Grayson to conceive Spock. That and the tech has gotten better.

The Baby Factory plot chugs along. We've got plans for about 100 children to spring on the Fleet. Due to Jondra and V'Lana's input, we've changed the genetic mix. Since we now have access to Pav's male Orion DNA, we could branch out more in that vein. While the overall idea is to create a diverse mix, I still believe that working on sub-races is important especially where the magic is concerned. So we're weighted the first batch towards Orion, Vulcan, Romulan and Brenari. All of these showed, back on Tartarus, a higher chance of good mind powers or inheriting the magic gene. That and given the human heavy population in the Fleet, Ben felt the need to counter-weight the full human baby wave to come.

Have to say it was funny watching V'Lana steamroll right over Ben. While she has no problem with him using Spock as a last name, she put her foot down on having people call him Spock as his primary name. With her long history as a rogue, Ben is too worried that if he doesn't comply, she'll hack his program.

Progress wise, everything is on track. The Ark Royal is coming along on schedule. Marauder production is a bit ahead of schedule which is surprising given the changes V'Lana made to the design. We've completely dismantled and used all the materials from the Druoda missiles so the fleet will have plenty of defensive firepower for quite some time. The Talaxians are happy with their progress and beyond having to change a lot of diapers, things are well.

Sadly all the Druoda who rejected a bio-body ended up rejecting a drone chassis as well. Still, they all seem happy in the cyber-space environment they have created here and on the Ark Royal. V'Lana and Yin tell me this 'mini-collective' is interesting even if it is difficult to sometimes grasp it all. But the Cy-Dru are happy so I'm happy.

Of course, we've got quite a few sprogs to deal with. So far we have the four natural borns and 8 chamber born so far. If we had gone all the way, we could have as many as 118 children by the time we reunite to the Fleet but none of us want to cheat the kids out of a caring adult focused on them. Of course all of those combinations are being held ready to go in the maturation chambers as they become available.

It's funny in that Little Green Men from Mars sort of way that so many of the kids will be pointy-eared, green skinned kids. I know Rigel and Bellatrix will be pleased. If as many kids as I think end up with magic, incipient "Grandmaster Cedric" will be pleased as well.

Funny how fast time is flying. Five years down with another five to go. Of course, knowing we'll get out of here makes it so much easier than the time on Tartarus. Of course it helps we can nip over to Daedalus or Icarus to get some fresh air and swim in a real ocean.

XxXxX

BRIDGE, USS VOYAGER, OUTSIDE THE SETARIN SYSTEM, SECTOR 346, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51540.7

Commodore Janeway smiled as the Garage had come into viewing range. While they didn't have a contact with a race to fill the role the Zahl did for the Pit-Stop, it was nice to see another gift to the Delta Quadrant up and running. The obvious candidate would be whoever seemed to be enforcing the fallow nature of this system. Still, one could do a brisk business in the Oort Cloud and never actually enter the system.

The Txajzeb hung in space, ready to be towed to the port already created on the Cube made ready for it. The long, dagger-like Phoenix had been replaced with a ship that had been flattened down and was much wider. Gone was the long fin. Below were three shuttle bays, the two outer ones were longer which gave the Ark Royal an almost Federation look to it if those bays had been warp engines instead.

The front of the ship sported the ships main phasers and missile launch bays. The top of the ship had an impressive array of counter-missile launchers and point-defense phasers. While the Ark Royal had given up a lot of its direct combat ability, Janeway could see that any enemy getting close would be in for a rough ride. Of course, while it retained its Borg inspired armor, Janeway knew that Captain Potter wouldn't be ramming anything using the Ark Royal.

The new design would not only house the four original Marauder squadrons but held berths where small ships the size of Hugin or Munin could dock. The idea was in the future, the Fleet would be able to produce small attack craft of a design V'Lana had planned to design while in the past.

This was on top of the ten new squadrons of updated Marauder design fighters which the Varro would fly out of the Kelionininkas. Over time, this number would probably grow depending how many Varro were willing to take up the training. Or as the Talaxians got more trained up.

Janeway smiled grimly to herself. Whoever running the fleet which was massing just out of sensor range was, they were in for a surprise if they managed to catch the Fleet before it could get out of range. Like what had happened to the Hazari, this potential foe had no idea that the fleet had gone a long way to maximize its defensive firepower.

"Commodore, message coming in from Captain Potter," SLT Mohindra said in the focused tone common on the bridge.

"Onscreen," Janeway ordered.

The main viewer blinked a bit before the image of Captain Potter in an unfamiliar bridge came into focus. To Janeway's surprise, Potter had a small baby over his shoulder on a towel. The towel implied the wizard was in the process of burping the baby.

"Hey Kathy! Long time no see. We had a bit of a hiccup over here," Harry said. As he said this, the baby made a sound all mothers recognized to which Harry looked a bit sheepish. "Okay more of a burp than a hiccup."

Janeway felt a migraine coming on. In fact, given what Riker had once said, she could almost feel some of her hair going grey. "I'm almost afraid to ask."

Harry grinned, "Nothing bad…just we're going to have a lot more pitter-patter of little feet. You want to be a godmother? Got plenty of kids who will need one."

Janeway looked over to Ransom whose face had the same 'Oh Spacer Gods; what now?' look on his face. She turned back to the screen, "How many feet are we looking at."

Harry just smirked, "Let us just say that I've made sure we will be able to fully crew our ships no matter how long it takes us to get back to the Alpha Quadrant."

Janeway couldn't help but let out a groan. What did she ever do to deserve not only getting stuck in the Delta Quadrant but also to be stuck with a wannabe Q of a wizard?

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yes, once again I have to gloss over a LOT to keep the fic going. Obviously by this time, Harry has a LOT of kids who are genetically linked to him.

Shout Outs: A lot of what the interior of the Txajzeb is taken from ideas found in David Brin's Heart of the Comet novel. The issue with how to give A.I. more common sense can be found in his book Existence as well as James P. Hogan's Two Faces of Tomorrow. The movie Harry references is of course, Blade Runner where replicants are given memory implants. It's a pretty common solution to the problem in many sci-fi stories. Also, I would hope everyone gets why a planet closer to the system's star might be named Icarus.

The Fleet: Here is the status of the fleet.

Voyager, The Equinox and the Marianne: Unchanged except the cradles for the Marauders have been removed.

Kelionininkas: Made up of three parts. The first is the Varro section which is about 2km in length. Connected at the back is the tactical Borg Cube which itself is a 1.5km cube. As time goes on, this will change as parts of the Cube will begin to envelop parts of the Varro section. Mated up to the Cube is the Txajzeb asteroid. There is an interface between it and the Cube that allows the Txajzeb to spin. At this point, there are future plans to take another asteroid and attach it to the Txajzeb although the work to hollow it out and make it livable would be done in route to the Alpha Quadrant.

The Ark: As all the elements inside the Ark are transferred to either the Txajzeb or the Kelionininkas proper, the remaining bits will be used as raw material for the industrial replicators on Voyager.

The Ark Royal: For the most part, this ship looks like a standard Quasar Fire light carrier as shown in Star Wars: Rebels. Differences are as follows:

* Instead of four equal shuttle bays, the inner two are combined to allow docking of larger ships like the Baxial or Hugin/Munin.

* The two outer shuttle bays are about half their original length longer. (Giving it a bit more of a BSG vibe)

* The top of the ship has various anti-missile missile launchers and rail-guns along with the point-defense phasers.

* Instead of the bridge, the front of the ship is where the bulk of the main phasers and missile launchers are.

* The bridge is on an armored bulge back where the tower would be on a Star Destroyer.

* A canonical Quasar Fire light carrier is 340 meters long and can carry 48 TIE fighters. The Ark Royal is a third that size (now being 100 meters long) and carries 24 Marauder fighters. As the Fleet swaps out their old shuttles for the Delta Flyer design, the old shuttles will be converted to "scatter-pack" shuttles which Chakotay used back in Chapter 11. This is a Starfleet Battles thing where a shuttle is loaded up with six drones (missiles) and piloted remotely. At a designated point, these drones launch and so give more firepower coming at an enemy than a ship(s) could normally managed. Klingons and Kzin especially used these to set up an attack where a whole host of drones from the scatter-packs and ships proceed a general attack. The enemy then has to waste a lot of combat power on the drones which then can't be used on the attacking ships.

* While the ship has temporary accommodations for the pilots, only the actual crew live on the ship as most of the pilots have duties on Voyager or the Equinox. The crew won't be large as most of the maintenance will be done via droids or Zimbots.