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.

26. Conspiracy

KelionininkasPRIME 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-SIX – CONSPIRACY

(Episode: ST:VOY Alice)

(References: ST:TOS The Doomsday Device and ST: TNG Timescape )

XxXxX

PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizard, for they are subtle and quick to anger." (The Fellowship of the Ring) – John Ronald Reul Tolkien – English writer, poet, philologist, and academic – 1892-1973

LAST UPDATED ON: 05-17-2021

Commodore's Log, Star Date 51585.4. We have resumed our base course towards the Alpha Quadrant now that we have gotten all the Skurk loaded onto the Kelionininkas. Gazali was shocked at the conditions we found his fellow Skurk in. While life on Tartarus had been rough, it was nothing to the squalor the 215 Skurk working as serfs on a mining colony were living in. Of course serfs is a polite way of saying one step away from being outright slaves. The Way-Yun Amalgamated security team gave Captain Tahl a bit of trouble until the rest of the Fleet warped in. Not that Tahl couldn't have vaporized any opposition but he wasn't going to kill a bunch of corporate security-types whose boss was trying to bluster his way out of a PR disaster.

With the new Skurk settling in on the Kelionininkas, we once again turn towards home. While the ships liberated from interphasic space await future crews, we have launched the new additions to our advanced scouts. The captured Hazari corvettes, newly christened Seeker and Searcher will replace Hugin and Munin during our next scout deployment. At present, we aren't sure if using all four at once is best or use two while the others undergo a maintenance cycle to recalibrate their delicate sensors and flush their nacelles. The two Orion scout ships we had hoped to upgrade to a similar design ended up being too badly damaged and so are being fed into the Cube's reclamation system to become new components for the other ships.

Currently this applies to only one ship as work proceeds on schedule for the former ChR Tovarek being worked on in the new shipyard berth in the Cube. Its small size will make it easier to staff and its powerful weapon system and cloaking device will be a formidable addition to the fleet. Commander Dhael will take command of her when the Warbird is ready.

With the Fleet fully provisioned and a fine time of shore-leave only a month behind us, I still am concerned over the undercurrents in the Fleet. There is a tension among the crew and the touchy nature of the Varro and Skurk do not help. Likewise, the Talaxians, for the most part, do not seem to be in any hurry to learn modern systems. If anything, they continue to push for the Fleet to obtained another asteroid which they can work on. For that they are willing to learn things like EVA and the modern tools necessary. Trying to get them into potentially flying one of our empty ships has not gone well. I remind myself that they are an unassuming people who are happy living simple lives. Not everyone wants to jump on the high-tech, fast pace galactic life shuttle. My own maternal grandmother was proof of that.

Some of this tension centers around Captain Potter. The crew has been pleased with the birth of all the chamber born created back on the Garage but also brings our resident wizard back into the spotlight. The long shadow of the Galaron III disaster still looms large over the Fleet. I worry that Arturis' vocal spell wasn't so easily shaken off by many of the crew.

Worse, it very well be that many of the crew can't get over their fear of his power. I can only hope Harry's continued good works will ameliorate this fear in time.

ATHLETIC ROOM #5, USS VOYAGER, SECTOR 342, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51586.3

"Whew! I really need to get down here more!" Janeway said as she wiped her brow. The last seven rounds of Velocity had her winded like it hadn't done in a long, long time.

"Your reaction time is markedly slower. However, your responsibilities have increased dramatically since our last round of weekly bouts," Seven said as she handed Janeway a towel.

Janeway nodded at this as she toweled her face dry, slightly envious that except for a slight sheen on her forehead, Seven looked like she could walk right onto her duty shift.

"You should look after yourself better, Commodore," Seven said primly.

Janeway laughed, "That's funny coming from you. You give overwork a bad name. Still, you're right. There is just so much going on and only so much I can delegate."

Seven moved behind Janeway and without asking began to knead the woman's shoulders, "Very true but you do the Fleet no good if you do not make the time to ensure you are operating at optimal efficiency."

Janeway couldn't help but moan as Seven's fingers worked out the kinks. Seven was right about one thing, she was sitting at her desk pouring over reports or her screen far too much these days. When everyone else was enjoying shore leave, she'd been working. She dreaded what the Doctor would say during her next physical. If it weren't for modern medicine, Janeway was certain that not only would she have ulcers, her ulcers would have ulcers.

Even so Janeway just let Seven work her magic. If she were a cat, she would have started purring. Suddenly, however, Seven stopped and flipped her around. The former drone had an oddly unsure look on her face.

"Kathryn, we both have some time before we are expected elsewhere. Perhaps you could find the time to engage in more pleasant activities?" Seven said softly.

On one level Janeway cringed. This was so wrong. Seven was in many ways a child and the Commodore felt like she was taking advantage of her. On the other hand, Seven was obviously not a child and with her so close, smelling that pleasant earthy smell, it made Janeway want to give in again even though the last two times she swore to herself that she wouldn't ever do it again.

Seven leaned in, "Kathryn, there is no need to resist. It is a simple, pleasurable transaction." She leaned closer, her lips nearing Janeway's own as she grasped both of Janeway's arms gently.

Before Janeway gave into the inevitable, there was a flash of light. "Rejoice for you are once again in my illustrious presence!"

Even though Seven still held her firm, Janeway turned to see Q smiling at her, his Federation uniform as impeccable as ever.

Q's happy looked turned serious, "Were you about to kiss her? Do you know where most drones have been?" He tut-tutted at that thought before conjuring an ornate plush chair and sat down in it. Identical (if less ornate and comfortable chairs appeared next to the pair of women.

Janeway sighed as she sat down while motioning Seven to do the same. While she knew Picard had to deal with Q on more occasions, she also had a wizard to deal with. "And what brings you to our neck of the galaxy Q? Did the wife kick you to the couch?"

Q chuckled before turning serious, "No although in a manner of speaking that might happen. Our child was supposed to bring peace and order to the Continuum but so far all ze(*) has brought is nothing but chaos and pandemonium."

"It would seem the fruit has not fallen far from the tree then," Seven said dryly.

Q glared at Seven even as Janeway chuckled at the kettle very obviously calling the pot black. "So not all is well domestically. Still, I doubt we're much entertainment these days," Janeway commented. She hoped, at least, this was true.

Q smiled, "Oh you've been quite interesting of late. But for various reasons your tiny minds can't comprehend, I need to be elsewhere in the galaxy at the moment. I normally would drop in on Picard. Sadly, mon capitaine is boringly flying a desk in the diplomatic corps back on Earth. He's all 'oh dear; the Federation!' this and 'oh dear; the Federation!' that. Quite pathetic actually. Probably why they booted him away from the Enterprise."

"That he is an accomplish diplomat, I'm sure, had nothing to do with it," Janeway snarked.

"Nor his being assimilated by the Borg being a security risk to Starfleet and the Federation," Seven said acerbically.

The sarcasm sailed over Q's head (or he simply ignored it), "Then there is Riker! Out of all those on the old 'Big D' he's the one off doing fun stuff and not getting chased around by the Dominion. So I pop in, expecting to be entertained. What do I get? Moping! Depression!"

"I would think interstellar war could easily cause such reactions," Seven said guardedly.

Q laughed, "You'd think that! But no! Riker is moping around his new ship because his demi-clone has the girl he couldn't have! Bad enough he lost the other girl to Worf who in turn couldn't keep her satisfied enough to stick around. Of course, if Worf's aim in bed is as bad as his phaser skills, I can see why!"

Both Janeway and Seven exchanged confused glances, "So…Riker isn't entertaining you? What has that got to do with us?" Janeway asked; sure she wasn't going to like the answer.

Q laughed, "It has to do with me fixing the problem!" He snapped his fingers and in a flash of light Ensign Ro appeared dressed in a sexy negligee type outfit alongside two suitcases.

"By the Prophets!" Ro exclaimed when she grasped that she wasn't on the Equinox anymore.

Q pointed, "She's why I'm here. Now, off you go. Do try and lift Riker's spirits a bit, won't you?"

Another gesture and Ro and her luggage disappeared in a flash of light.

XxXxX

BRIDGE, USS SACAJAWEA , SECTOR 528, ALPHA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51586.3

Captain William Riker stifled a yawn when the red alert sounded. He turned to the tactical station, "Democles! What've you got?"

The Troyan looked grim, "Internal sensors indicate an energy signature matching the Q appearing in your quarters. Sensors in that section have subsequently gone off line."

Riker swore, stood and turned to his XO, "Telens; you have the bridge. I'm going to go find out what Q wants this time."

The Andorian woman frowned, "At least take a security detail with you!"

Riker laughed, "There is nothing they could do but become a target. Relax. Q is easily bored. I think I can get him to leave."

After a quick turbolift trip to his quarters, he found a security detail around his cabin. No doubt brought due to the energy pulse, "Stand down. There isn't anything you can do against a Q."

Riker took a deep breath to steady himself and entered his quarters. He found them dark, lit only by a plethora of candles he knew hadn't been there before. Also not previously there were two large suitcases. He shook his head and headed to his bedroom. He dreaded what he'd find there.

That dread turned to shocked surprise when he saw a sexily clad Ro on his bed.

The Bajoran rolled her eyes (and yet still managed to look sexy doing it) "Will, please come to bed now. Q seems to think you're boring and mopey so he kidnapped me off Voyager to cheer you up. He's done something to me. I want to rip your clothes off and have my way with you so badly. Let's just play along for now, shall we?"

Riker just stood there before breaking down, "What the frak? He took you from the Delta Quadrant to sex me up so I'd be more entertaining to him?"

Ro nodded and patted the bed, "Yes, Will, yes he did. Now are you going to come to bed or am I going to have to stun you, tie you up so I can have my wicked ways with you?"

Will struggled with what he should do and what he wanted to do. After seeing Ro lick her lips sensually and beginning to play with one nipple with a finger, he decided for once he'd do what he wanted to do as he began to practically ripped off his uniform.

OoOoO

"Where did you send her? Wait, let me guess! You sent her to William Riker's bed! Is there no end to your playing us like puppets, Q?" Janeway thundered.

Q smirked, "No end that I can see, no."

Before Janeway could further voice her irritation, Q looked thoughtful, "Okay, well since you're so upset about it…and you look quite ravishing when you're angry, let me make amends. You were instrumental in Junior's coming into being so I guess a small gift won't be an issue. Then again, if it is, I don't care!"

Q snapped his fingers again and both Janeway and Seven flinched. Yet nothing seemed to happen.

"There, that should be enough compensation. Now, au revoir, ma belle commodore, I shall see you anon," Q said with an obviously fake look of seriousness on his face before throwing her a kiss and then flashing away.

Both Janeway and Seven yelped as they both fell on their rumps as the three chairs Q had created disappeared as well.

Janeway got to her feet muttering vile curses in Andorian she'd picked up from one of her Academy dorm mates. These curses were cut off as her comm badge beeped. She tapped it, "Janeway here."

"Commodore! We have multiple readings of Q energy in the Fleet!" SLT Mohindra reported.

"Stand down Tridiva, Seven and are okay as Q has wandered off to torment someone else. I take it the other incident of energy was on the Equinox? He kidnapped Ensign Ro and sent her back to the Alpha Quadrant."

The voice of her Tactical officer broke in, "That was the one of the other areas yes. But commodore, the biggest reading was on the Defiant! The entire ship lit up and now we're reading over 400 life signs on board!"

Janeway's eyes went wide. "Computer! Activate site-to-site transport to the bridge! Commodore's override Alpha Pi Two Zero Beta!"

"Override accepted!" the computer replied as Janeway disappeared leaving Seven alone.

The bridge crew barely blinked as Janeway appeared next to the counselor's chair, "Report!" she ordered.

Before anyone could respond, Mohindra called out, "Commodore! We're being hailed by the Defiant!"

Janeway wished she weren't wearing her sweaty athletic clothes but there wasn't any time to do anything about it. "Onscreen!"

The screen swirled into a bridge filled with Starfleet personnel, all wearing old style, mid-23rd century uniforms. A woman with slight sleeks of grey in her hair was standing in front of the captain's chair. "This is Commander Marel Hudec of the USS Constellation. Who are you and why have you brought us here?"

Janeway looked at Riker who looked as confused as she was. She turned back to the viewscreen, "I am Commodore Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. We didn't bring you here but we know the cosmic entity who did. Can you tell me what was the last thing you remember? If memory serves, the crew of the USS Constellation was killed when the planet they had been evacuated to was destroyed by a renegade berserker."

Like Janeway, CDR Hudec looked to someone off screen before turning back, "Yes, that was where we were. Commodore Decker had stayed behind with the ship and we were on the planet when that…thing began to destroy the planet. Then there was a flash and here we are. Where are we? When are we?"

Janeway sighed, her heart going out to the woman. "You are all currently on the USS Defiant which was lost to an interphasic rift with all hands a year after you were supposedly killed. We only recently found it and salvaged it. As to where and when you are, you are in the Delta Quadrant, over 60 years travel away from home. As to when, well there is no easy way to say this. It's the year 2374. You've been brought over a century forward in time."

The woman looked at her for a moment as excited murmurings could be heard from around her. Finally she nodded, "Well I guess being cast into the future beats dying from an evil planet-killer. I'm sure there is so much more to tell."

Janeway smiled sadly, "Commander, truer words have not been spoken. I will beam over a team to see if our resident cosmic prankster did anything to the ship. Then you and any other senior officers can beam over to Voyager and speak with the Fleet council. Things are…not Federation standard here."

XxXxX

COMMON ROOM GAMMA, KELIONININKAS, SECTOR 342, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51589.6

"So, as you can see Commander, this program should be sufficient to manage the bulk of translations from the Varro systems to Federation standard systems. The Borg systems, of course, will require more work and will be done more via Harry Potter and the Cy-Dru," Arturis said as he went over his latest work with CDR Riker. Around them, many of the Fleet who had moved their quarters to the Kelionininkas either were engaged in social activities or were studying.

Bill Riker scowled, "The wizard again! No matter where I go in the fleet, he's popping up. I still am suspicious of how the other day I made a crack about the wizard during the Fleet Council meeting. Then, bang, the very next day Q shows and takes my woman away! No one else seems to find this suspicious!"

Arturis cocked his head to the side, "Causality is not correlation. However, it is also not outside the realm of possibility that Harry Potter is either a young Q or perhaps just a form 'your' Q uses to amuse himself."

Riker pointed at Arturis, "Exactly! They've never been seen together either!"

Arturis shook his head, "The power of the Q could easily deal with that issue. That Mr. Potter has not been around is not much of a surprise. Few in the Fleet have encountered this Q directly."

Riker scowled and took a drink. He shouldn't be drinking on duty but he was in a foul mood. "I still think there is a connection. In all the galaxy, there has never been a race using this so-called magic as Harry does. Awfully convenient his excuse of sending his people away. Makes us feel sorry for him while hiding he's probably not what he seems."

Arturis spread his hands, "When dealing with ascendent beings, it has always been difficult to determine the 'why' of their actions. I would say, however, that ascendent beings rarely take direct actions. Even this Q of yours has been seen as a renegade for its actions. Perhaps Harry Potter is merely a stand-in for this Q to take more overt actions and hide its culpability?"

Riker nodded at this but then looked at Arturis curiously, "I thought the wizard magicked you so you couldn't talk bad about him?"

Arturis chuckled, "Most people believe this yes. No, Mr. Potter worked his magic so that I could not plot against him or otherwise work at cross-purposes to him and the Fleet. You are asking questions and I'm providing honest answers. Is Mr. Potter a danger to the Fleet? Of course he could potentially be as the events on Galaron III show. Is Mr. Potter a potential asset to the Fleet? Of course he is. The trick is to weigh such things. These are not points of view that are for or against, they simply are."

Riker took another drink, "I would have expected you to be more irritated with him."

Arturis shrugged, "He could have killed me or he could have let me stay in confinement till I went insane. Instead he chose an elegant solution which benefited the Fleet. For my part, I have enjoyed the work since. However, being angry at my fate is moot for we shall all be assimilated soon."

Riker sputtered at this, "How do you figure?"

Arturis smiled in a disarming manner, "While I did use my talents to manipulate you all, much of what I did was already there. My belief in the Borg assimilating the Fleet is not a hope but a rational expectation given their assimilation of my people's quantum slip-stream technology. Soon, there will be nowhere in the galaxy the Borg can't go. Because of this, the Collective will then look to outside our own galaxy and to do that will require more drones. Thus the Borg will begin to assimilate everyone to provide the needed man-power. All will be Borg and they shall send their Cubes to the closest galaxies and assimilate them. This they will continue till at some point; the Collective will encompass as much of the known universe as possible before the end comes."

Riker stared in disbelief, "If you feel that way, well why do you even get out of bed in the morning?"

Arturis shrugged, "Because regardless of what I believe, I also know there are other actors on this stage. I said earlier that beings like the Q rarely intervene in mortal affairs. That does not mean they cannot. Would someone like your Q like having its playthings turned into drones? One day the Q or some other ascendent race might take offense to the Borg and blink them out of existence. Likewise, Harry Potter might lose his temper and obliterate the Fleet. Then again, we might hit some gravitic anomaly and be destroyed in an accident. Life is uncertain even when the inevitable doesn't seem that way."

Arturis rose, "I must take my leave commander. As for your concerns, there are others who share them. If you believe the Fleet is in danger from beings it cannot control, then do you not have a duty to pursue possible contingencies? You do your rank a disservice if you blindly accept your commander's orders without at least giving her a viable alternative to consider."

Riker watch the alien leave the room. He mulled the words as he thought about the threat Harry Potter represented. It galled him that all of the Fleet was as much at the wizard's mercy as they were of Q. A being who while may have saved an entire Federation crew, it had done so simply to make one of its playthings happy. That that plaything was a version of himself didn't sit well with Riker. Not at all.

Unnoticed to the commander, his conversation had been noted by others watching nearby.

XxXxX

Captain's Personal Log, Star Date 51590.5. Less advanced cultures often speak of miracles. In times of extreme danger, it is common for sentients to put out a call to deities or the universe in general for help. I'm sure as the planet-killer made our survival moot, many of the crew might have done this. Called out to be saved from death. Amazingly, in a flash of light, there was a miracle and we were saved.

Yet the concept of a miracle covers up a basic fact of the universe which is rarely acknowledged. Something I was first exposed to when one of my cosmology instructors lectured on the subject back at the Academy. She said, "It is hard to comprehend how old the Universe already is and will be before the end. Or how truly vast the Universe is. So vast that anything is possible due to this vastness breaking down probability. If there are two trillion galaxies, all with trillions of systems, then somewhere there will always be something happening which was felt to be statistically impossible." This was the sort of lesson we all nodded at but didn't really think much more on. Yet here I am, 106 years after my recorded death on the other side of our galaxy in a ship whose crew died of madness. A ship docked to a generation ship filled with aliens Starfleet could only dream of when I was a cadet. Regardless of how minuscule the odds were, that fact remains that it happened anyway. There was no miracle; simply the vastness of space and time making almost any possibility almost a certainty at some point in the overall history of the Universe.

Still for all our shock, the crew has been performing admirably. It helps that there isn't much difference between a command cruiser like the Constellation and the Defiant. Now that we've been brought to this future, the Fleet Council is working to upgrade the Defiant earlier than they had planned. The gap in time before this can happen works in our favor as it will give myself and the crew time to come to grips with the changes in technology. Luckily for us, the galaxy is still one which uses phasers, torpedoes, shields and warp drive. While they all are better, we still find ourselves in a galaxy we still can recognize.

I must say I have been enjoying working with Commander Chakotay who has relinquished his command of the Marianne to be my XO. While the former XO of the Equinox had been a possibility, it was felt Chakotay's time in the Maquis would make it easier for him to adjust to the Defiant's older tech as the Maquis often used outdated ships and technology.

While this was not the way I wish to become captain, I am not going to let my crew down. We've been given a second chance. In more ways than one. I had struggled with my career and my desire for a family. In this new fleet, I can do both. It seems bizarre to so many of the crew but we all need to adjust to the fact we all will be very old or dead by the time the Fleet crosses once again into Federation territory. This is our home now and we should make it one.

XxXxX

FLEET COUNCIL ROOM, USS VOYAGER, ABADDON'S REPOSITORY OF LOST TREASURES, SECTOR 341, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51595.4

"Oh he's a grifter alright. After so many years chasing after the Beast, I can practically smell them after all this time," Qatai said confidently as he stood before the assembled captains and a smattering of others from the Fleet Council. "Most of his treasures are bits of junk he expects rubes not to catch onto till they are light-years away."

The new captain of the Defiant, Captain Hudec, leaned forward, "But most of these ships are made of salvageable items or base material, correct?"

Qatai looked over to Seven who stood next to the viewscreen and replied, "Yes they are and almost all of them filled with many materials we need."

"So this junk is useful but how are we going to pay for it?" Ransom asked.

Qatai laughed, "That's the beauty of it. Abaddon expects his buyers to not know what he has at the very time he doesn't know what he has either." The former monster-hunter gestured to Seven.

She nodded and brought up a scan of one of the ships, "Using a targeting algorithm Captain Qatai provided, Lieutenant Mohindra was able to do a deep scan of the available items. In this ship, a beryllium sphere was detected. It is heavily encrusted and there is no doubt Mr. Abaddon has no idea he has it. These spheres are used as the primary currency in spatial Grid 539. Just one of them could by quite a few ships right out of the construction yard."

Qatai laughed again and turned to Ransom, "And that's how we're going to pay. We buy that one ship. It's barely more than a derelict so it should be cheap. We then offer the sphere and buy everything else. Even then, we're buying at a loss. However, given we need those materials now…well I believe it is still the best deal."

This got the assembled captains and their XO's murmuring. Janeway finally raised a hand for quiet. "Can we transport so many ships, though?"

Hylan Beth, the 'captain' of the Kelionininkas stood, "While I'm not sure about the ships, almost all what could be likened to space debris can be held in a containment beam between the aft portions of the Kelionininkas and the new struts being extruded from the Cube."

As Beth sat down, Harry stood up, "The rest shouldn't be an issue either. The question is whether or not we're going to use any of these ships. Given what we have and can't crew, I'm suspecting that except for some of those small shuttle type ships, were just going to chop them all up and feed them through the Maw."

This was met with nods. The Maw was the name for a section of the Cube which was used by the Borg to process raw materials into their component parts. This allowed these refined elements to be fed into the Fleet's various industrial replicators. Most battle involving the Borg didn't last long so to races fighting them it appeared as if a damaged Cube would magically repair itself. This was only possible because each Cube had a lot of refined material onboard which could be rapidly repurposed into repair parts. The Maw component gave them the ability to do this as well.

Harry went on, "Since we're not going to use them, we can easily create a gravitic generator to hold the ships together until they are processed. They can be physically attached to the Cube. I don't think this will affect our warp bubble calculations that much especially now that we have the Defiant added to the mix."

Chakotay looked thoughtful, "While there is a lot out there, most of the ships are rather small. Do we have an estimate on what we'd get on the back end of all this?"

Seven looked to the still standing Harry, "Well after we process everything, I'm confident we'll have more than enough to upgrade the Defiant and the Thunderchild. Beyond that, we'll have plenty for spares as well as replace components the Kelionininkas had to give up. It'll take time but it will go a lot faster than if we just processed various asteroids and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying the more rare elements from traders."

Tuvok nodded at this as Harry sat back down, "This will please the Talaxian contingent. With these supplies, it will free up resources to capture another asteroid or similar body to increase the amount of area for them to live. As Captain Potter said, with the addition of the Defiant, we can create the necessary warp bubble big enough to keep the fleet capable of high warp travel."

Janeway stood, "Do we have an agreement with Captain Qatai's plan?" Her question was met with nods all around. She nodded in return, "Then let us make it so. Maybe we can have Mr. Paris lead a combined team to see how many of the smaller ships are worth adapting to our needs. If there is nothing else, dismissed."

The meeting broke up leaving Janeway to stare out the viewport at the mass of ships which soon would be fed into the Maw and helping strengthen their home.

OoOoO

"Harry! You have a visitor!"

Harry looked down from where he was working on a system which wasn't accepting retrofit orders from the central command section of the Cube. Below on the walkway was Ekong. One of the few former smart weapons which had accepted a body. Luckily for him and the others, the Cube had a few assimilated Druoda which Ben Spock had been able to salvage enough DNA to grow bodies for them. So far, according to the Stone, none of them had souls but Harry wondered if that would change the longer they were in the body.

"I'm kind of busy at the moment, Ekong. Can they wait an hour or so?" Harry asked as he internally cursed the balky tetrion flow adaptor he was trying to repair. None of the repair-bots had had any luck and Harry was worried he might just have to rip the whole thing out and have a new one fabricated even though that would delay a lot of other tasks for days.

Ekong threw up his hands, "I don't think so. She says it's urgent and that you'd speak to her given it's about Tom. Says her name is Maria Gilmore. Wasn't she one of those Exiles with you?"

Harry blinked at this and immediately stopped what he was doing. Ekong was right. He would talk with her. He apparated down to the walkway, "Lead on, my friend."

After a long walk, Harry found Maria sitting in one of the break areas which had been created to give personnel a more agreeable area which wasn't all Borg tech. Maria looked very uncomfortable but smiled and jumped to her feet and took Harry's hand when he entered. "Harry! Thank you for seeing me. I know we don't always get along and..."

Harry held up his other hand as he gave her hand a squeeze, "Stop. Maria, we're fine. You wouldn't be here if there wasn't a problem. So what is the problem?"

"It's Tom. He's obsessing over that new ship he's been working on. He spends every free moment on it."

"The Alice?" Harry asked to which Maria nodded.

"He talks about the ship like she was a real woman. It's almost like he's having an affair with it as I've found that he often gets up in the middle of the night to work on it before coming back to bed," Maria said worriedly.

Harry was surprised at this. The ship hadn't seen special to him when it had been pulled into the Cube a week ago. While it was a smart ship, he didn't think Tom would be so excited over it compared to something like the Earhart. He turned to Ekong who was standing just outside the doorway, "Where is this ship now? Is it still in Area 14?"

Ekong shook his head, "No. Mr. Paris had it moved to Cargo Bay 2 on the Equinox so he could work on it."

Harry pursed his lips and looked back to Maria, "Has been Tom been doing anything else differently other than making you a garage widow?"

Maria shook her head, "Not exactly. He just is quiet and doesn't talk much. Like he's just marking time till he can go work on the ship again. He didn't even stick around when Samantha visited the other day."

This worried Harry, "Really? That is odd."

Maria nodded, "Especially since Samantha has been acting a bit odd as well…well odd for her that is."

Harry sighed, "What is she doing now? She still stirring up trouble over the kid's curriculum again?" Samantha had been creating a stir by arguing the kids weren't getting enough Federation-centric of an education. This had not gone over well with many in the fleet, the Varro especially.

Maria shook her head, "Just the opposite. She's just gone quiet. When she was just over, well we just talked about mundane things like how she's adjusted to living mostly among the Varro. She didn't even bring your name up once!"

As worried as Harry was about Tom, he wondered what Samantha was up to, "What do you think? The last time she got all quiet she ended up beaming up from Tartarus, risking both her life and Anthea's."

Maria laughed nervously, "No…nothing that weird. It's just…well she just seems to have walled off all the stuff she used to be passionate about. She barely even blinked when Tom rushed off to go work on the ship even though he was one of the main reasons she had come over in the first place!"

Harry frowned at this. He knew enough to read between the lines that Samantha's visit was probably meant to be a conjugal one with her and Tom and maybe Maria as well. It wasn't like Tom to put tinkering in the garage over sex especially since Tom still felt it necessary to keep a close eye on Samantha if only for the sake of their kids they had had together.

Maria was right. Something was wrong.

XxXxX

CARGO BAY 2, USS EQUINOX, SECTOR 340, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51602.8

"You've done so much in such a short time, Tom. I'm so proud of you!" Alice purred from where she leaned against one of the consoles.

"Thanks Alice. It's been rough but it's been worth it. Getting Harry off my back was tough but luckily he's really busy working on processing all the ships we got from Abaddon's dump," Tom said as he finished on the wiring and slapped the panel shut. With a grin, he got up and moved to the command chair and sat down. It felt so right he couldn't help but laugh happily.

"I'm so glad you're happy, Tom. I think it's time to try out the neural interface again. That way you won't be flying the ship. No, you'll be the ship. An experience like no other!" Alice all but cooed as she played with the long hair he'd kept from his time on Tartarus.

Tom nodded and rubbed his hands together. While a tactile feel to a ship was great, he couldn't wait to feel the neural interface again. Harry had described how it had felt when he'd use something similar on the old Phoenix and even the Ark during the escape from Tartarus. It was a feeling he himself wanted to taste for real and not copies of previous flights.

His daydreaming of how that would probably feel was interrupted by Alice hissing, "Tom!"

He looked up and saw Harry standing in front of the ship, arms folded and looking stern. "Tom! You can't let him get in your way of what you want. He's just jealous you are going to get a taste of what he's already had. Now it's your turn! Don't let him take that away from you!"

Before Tom could speak, Harry called out, "Give it up, Tom. I know what's going on. You're under a neurogenic field which is warping your perceptions. I don't know what you think is happening but you're being duped."

"Tom, we're ready to go. Stun him and use the override. We can be free and fly to places you've never dreamed of!" Alice said into his ear.

Tom hesitated but felt the ship interface engage. A sexual thrill went through him and he almost moaned. She was right; Harry didn't want to share what he already had. He flicked a switch and activated the weapons array."

"Do it!" Alice said like a lover asking to be penetrated deeply.

"Tom, I don't know what you're thinking you can accom…"

Harry was cut off as Tom fired, heedless of what setting the weapon was on. He didn't even give more than a passing glance to Harry being blown into the bulkhead and falling among some shipping containers. The ship rose off the deck slightly and began to rotate towards the bay door. Tom activated the worm which would throw the Equinox's systems into chaos. Enough that he would be able to get out of tractor beam range and go to high warp.

However as Tom waited the few seconds needed for this to work enough for him to override the bay doors, he cried out in surprise as Harry appeared in front of the ship. He was unharmed and looked angry.

Tom fired again and again but each time the fire was seemingly absorbed into a blueish-white shield of some kind.

"Tom! Something's happening! Something's wrong!" Alice cried out. Fear evident in her voice.

Tom looked at his console as the interface was starting to degrade. All the screens showed all systems were slowly failing.

Alice hissed in anger and pain, "I've been…penetrated! From below! There is…" Her image faded out. As Tom continued to fire at Harry (with little effect) he flipped on the hull camera and swore at what he saw. Uriash was on his back under the ship, his left arm in full Borg mode and connected to the underside of the ship. A loud bang from the back of the ship had Tom swiveling his chair in time to see Tamal enter and throw an object which struck Tom in the chest. In a burst of energy and pain, Tom lost consciousness.

OoOoO

Commodore Janeway, Captain Tahl and CDR Dhael entered the bay to see Harry, V'Lana and the rest of her Alpha team going over 'Alice' with the help of one of the Equinox's engineering teams.

As they approached, V'Lana turned and gave a slight bow, "Commodore, Captain, we seem to have things in hand here."

"How is Mr. Paris?" Tahl asked.

Harry fielded that question, "The Doctor is looking him over now. He's confident he can reverse the damages easily enough. A lot of the protocols we adapted from Captain Qatai seem to be the key in this case." He rubbed his back, "I, on the other hand, am going to be sore for days. Dissipating the ships weapons was one thing. Bouncing off a bulkhead is another. Luckily for me wizards, like Bumbles, bounce."

Janeway gestured to the ship, "And this Alice? What is her status?"

V'Lana motioned for Uriash to come closer. The Gorn nodded and came forward, "I've trapped the entity into an inverted logic-loop. This will prevent the ship from being able to respond to anything the entity tries."

"So this isn't some form of A.I. gone rogue? It's an actual energy being or some other form of life?" Janeway asked.

V'Lana nodded, "Looks like it and I think I know what the entity is." She turned to Tahl, "You got assimilated before it happened but there was an incident in 2369 when the Enterprise came to the aid of a Romulan ship whose engines were going critical. Both ships were temporarily trapped in a time loop before a group who had been away at the time returned and broke them out. It seems the Romulan's artificial singularity had been mistaken by a race of energy beings outside of our dimension for the real thing. They ended up laying their eggs, if you will, in the singularity."

Tahl's eyebrows went up, "That can't have ended well. I'm shocked the engines didn't go critical immediately."

"They almost did but the engineers were able to keep things stable till the Enterprise arrived." She turned to Janeway, "I believe something similar is at work here. In this case, this being has grafted itself to this ship and has been trying to get a compatible pilot so it can get itself back through a particle fountain. I asked Seven and she says there is one within a few hours travel."

"So do we just dump the ship into the fountain and call it a day?" Janeway asked.

Uriash rumbled deeply in his chest a sound Gorn's used to show a strong negative. "I do not believe that would work. While the entity wants to do this, I believe it will be destroyed as its energy, while similar, is not as in synch with the forces in the particle fountain as it might think. I believe the being will die if we push the ship into the fountain."

"So what are our options? Surely we could simply dump the shuttle and destroy it but that hardly seems to be any different than letting the Species 8472 pilot die because we could not house it," Tahl pointed out.

"There might be a way to get it home," Dhael said thoughtfully as if trying to work out a problem in her head.

"How?" Janeway asked.

Dhael looked at V'Lana, "You said that similar, if not the same, entities took up in a Romulan engine. Why not provide the same here? The Tovarek has a similar, if older, version of the artificial singularity generator even if it's offline. The current plan has always been to replace it to help standardize technology throughout the fleet. Why not do this early and move the entity into it?"

Tahl nodded at this, "Yes. With some minor repairs, it would be easy to restart the generator and create a new artificial singularity. Perhaps one tuned to the more modern frequency." He turned to Janeway, "I take it you have copies of all the logs from the Enterprise? They might have more data to use to configure the singularity better."

Janeway nodded, "We do." She looked bat at Dhael, "Continue, please."

Dhael nodded as well, "Once the singularity is formed, the entity should have a better chance to then move back to its home dimension. If those beings could enter an artificial singularity to breed and return home, it stands to reason that this being could do the same."

V'Lana rubbed her chin, "While doing this is obviously the right thing to do, we know that Species 8472 is watching us. Might help score some more points with them if we show them our compassion to their pilot wasn't a one-off fluke."

Janeway nodded, "It's definitely worth a shot. If anything, with that component removed, there won't be any way the being could affect anything." She looked at Harry, "Can this be done?"

Harry thought about it, "Let me run it by the Cy-Dru but I don't think it will be much of an issue. The Cube has various areas we can reinforce. It'll change the work order on what we're doing to the Tovarek though. This won't allow us to launch it again till almost the end."

Dhael made a dismissive gesture, "It would have been a risk to use, even in an emergency, otherwise."

Janeway nodded, "Agreed. Plus with the Defiant crewed properly, the need for the Tovarek isn't as important. Well then, make it so!"

XxXxX

COMMON ROOM GAMMA, KELIONININKAS, SECTOR 340, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51604.8

Commander Braga sat down at the table indicated by the message he'd found in his personal logs. Whoever had left it either was an exceptional hacker or had high-level security access. Still, the message intrigued him enough to go along.

He ordered a drink from the table screen and waited. He cautiously looked around the room to see if anyone was watching but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The room was a mixture of dining hall and general recreation room and sort of a poor man's Ten Forward.

Braga simply indulged in a bit of people watching before a teen Talaxian brought his drink over. Quite a few Talaxians had taken up being bartenders to create drinks by hand instead of letting replicators do it. It saved power and Braga felt the drinks tasted better. The waitress was probably the daughter of the Talaxian making the drinks. Other Talaxians had begun to work with Neelix and becoming cooks throughout the Fleet. There had been a serious boost in morale as the quality of food got better. Like Neelix, these Talaxians added their own brand of exuberant cheer to the various dining places in the Fleet. Made them feel more homey and less like just a place to eat between shifts.

"Brandon; do you mind if I could speak to you for a moment?"

Braga turned from where he'd been watching two Brenari play chess-like game from their homeworld to see Samantha Wildman, wearing Federation style civilian clothes looking down at him.

"Is this work related? I have slots time slots of such things," Braga said in what he hoped was a neutral voice.

Samantha smiled, "No, nothing work related. Regardless of what has happened, I find myself missing your company. Your lectures were always the high-point of a cycle when you gave them. With all the changes, I'm wondering if you'll have time to do them again?"

Braga gestured for Samantha to sit, "Hopefully. While a century out of date, the new crew of the Defiant does give the Fleet more people to work with. After the upgrades to the ship we've got planned are done, she can shed 50 to 100 of her crew we can absorb elsewhere. Voyager will finally get crewed up to something like it was supposed to ship out with."

Samantha smiled, "That's wonderful!" As the Talaxian waitress walked by, Samantha turned and spoke in what Braga knew was probably Paroli. The teen smiled and nodded and moved towards the bar. "So, does this mean you'll finally get your job back as head of Sciences? For that matter, is there a plan to have some form of over-all science lead? I know the Varro I've been working with are either totally for keeping their work separate or being fully committed to joint science operations."

Braga shrugged, "I believe it's too early to tell. I'm sure you've seen first-hand what Hylan told the Commodore about they not really having people free to do much else but keep this ship running."

Wildman nodded, "Yes I have. Although if we do get the replacement systems from all those ships we bought, that could change very quickly."

The image of all those ships reminded Braga of something, "So, how is Tom doing? I missed the last briefing due to being over on the Defiant working out the kinks in the science labs."

Samantha smiled, "Mostly embarrassed. He's responding well to treatment for neurogenic shock. The Doctor says that running into Captain Qatai's monster was a good thing in that we all got a run through on how to deal with neurogenic emergencies. He's on light diplomatic duty for now. He'll probably be ready to return to piloting the Earhart if any missions come up in a month or so."

Braga smiled, "Well that's good to hear." The teen came back and brought a steaming mug of dark liquid shot through with red streaks and set it in front of Samantha. Braga gestured to it, "That looks rather nasty, if I may say so."

Samantha chuckled before sipping it carefully, "It's an acquired taste. It's something we picked up on Tartarus from Talax Town. It was our coffee substitute. They were able to bring enough beans to last for quite a while till the plant starts are up and ready to be harvested."

The pair chatted over their drinks about Samantha's new work in the Varro's hydroponics. Her time on Tartarus had already helped her refine water conservation in numerous areas.

Finally though, Braga felt that enough of the other patrons had left to broach what had been on his mind since Samantha came up. "So, I have to ask, might you know of a message I got in my personal system the other day?"

Samantha showed no sign of surprise. She simply drained the last of her Talaxian coffee, "I am aware of it yes."

Braga narrowed his eyes, "Make your pitch. I don't have time to play word games, Sam."

Samantha smiled instead of being intimidated, "Very well. There is an individual among us who does not belong. I am part of a small but dedicated group who wish to ensure the safety of the Fleet by ensuring this individual is removed permanently."

Braga nodded. He had guessed from the subtext of the message that it would be something like this. Still, he pushed a bit, "I believe that individual recently helped save Tom's life."

A glint of anger flashed in Samantha's eyes but her voice was steady, "Only because Maria went to him instead of Tuvok. I'm sure V'Lana would have easily been able to deal with the issue without any need to involve that freak."

The woman waggled a finger at Braga, "If anything, the incident showed how he could take a full disruptor blast at close range, be thrown into a bulkhead and not only survive, but get up and took even stronger blasts. Think about that. Now he's running around in a Borg Cube. With his…powers…and knowledge of how to work the machines of those Borg abominations, can anyone be truly sure what he is doing? He has control of the most dangerous part of the Fleet and is seeding his freakish children throughout the Fleet. It's only a matter of time to where either he takes over or the foolish create him their immortal God-King. The Talaxians are half-way there already."

Braga leaned back and thought about things for a bit. Finally, he took a deep breath, "What you say has merit but what is the point? What can we do? Without any hope, why bother?"

Samantha's face broke into an evil smile that sent a shiver down Braga's spine, "Oh we have a plan. A plan we believe is going to work. Yet we need your expertise in interphasic fields to make it work."

Braga's eyes narrowed at that, "Promising but it won't work. I don't have the clearance to create such fields."

"Ah but our group already has someone with that clearance," Samantha replied.

Braga was surprised by this. That clearance had to come from the top and even as Beta Shift commander he didn't have it. The only ones who did were the various captains and their XO's. Suddenly it hit him. "Riker; you have Riker on your side."

She simply nodded.

Braga mulled this briefly before nodding, "I'm in."

XxXxX

TERTIARY ENGINEERING, DECK 18 , USS DEFIANT, SECTOR 340, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51610.3

"If I didn't watch you do it, I wouldn't believe it," Senior Lieutenant Cristóbal Rojas said. Many in his work party nodded in agreement.

Harry set aside the shrunken component and turned back to the next. With a flick of his wand, there was the sounds of various clicks. Harry did a swirl followed by a slow pull-back towards him and the two meter component floated out from the bulkhead. Another series of swishes and this component shrank as well.

Harry set this one next to the others, "Well Lieutenant Rojas, it's made easier that I'm not affecting the tech that much when I disconnect and then pull it out. Still, if we weren't just going to toss these into the Maw, I wouldn't shrink them for transport. Shrinking it would most assuredly whack a lot of the more sensitive components."

SLT Rojas shook his head in wonder, "I'm torn being more amazed by your magic or that this whole bank is going to be replaced with something the size of a transporter console."

Harry shrugged, "Well I can't say too much about that. Still, I saw it happen when I was young. Back in the late 20th Century, we went from these big clunky computers with a minuscule amount of capability to carrying around a multipurpose tool with an amazing number of functions in under a quarter of a century. Hell, for that matter we went from our first powered flight to landing on the moon in just 66 years."

"Can't argue with that," Rojas pointed out as his team began to dismantle the rest of what used to be part of the ship's auxiliary battery system. "With so many systems going to be so much smaller, I wonder what we'll do with all the room?"

Harry checked his tricorder to ensure his shrinking charms were indeed stable. He found out on his original Cube that some materials in galactic use did not react well to being shrunk. Luckily, the explosion when he learned this had been small and the drones hadn't seen it as anything more than an anomaly to be repaired.

He looked back up at where the men were beginning to strip out the various linkages and power conduits. "Well don't think you're going to be able to put in a football pitch. Chances are this whole section is going to house a new set of industrial replicators. I've already discussed it with the Commodore and Captain Hudec that we might want to have the Defiant be the one dedicated to producing parts for the smaller ships like the Delta Flyers and Marauder fighters. With morphing the Cube as we are to create more room for general industry on the Kelionininkas, we're going to eventually lose some capability for a bit. Best get a jump on it now."

Before Rojas could respond, Harry's comm badge made a strident, alarming beep. Harry instantly went tense and tapped his badge, "What is the emergency?"

Commander Braga's worried voice was rushed, "Captain Potter! We've had an experiment go badly here on the Kelionininkas! If the protective shields fail, we could either have a huge explosion or a significant section of this ship disappear into interphasic space. I think our best bet is for you to encase the failing generator and then jumping it away. A quick jump to warp will easily get us far enough away before….shit! No! That's not working! Switch to a tetrion pulse at 29 micro-pulses a second. Frak! This is getting out of hand!"

"Where are you Commander?" Harry asked quickly as he tapped the bracer on his left wrist. While he normally wore Vulcan diplomatic robes, when doing engineering work, he wore a black outfit not to dissimilar to his old Reaper uniform. However, the entire set of clothing, right down to the boots were actually made up of tamed Borg nanites. With a command, his clothing morphed into a full, one-piece which also grew around his head to create a form-fitting environmental suit. It was something only he could use as it was powered by his own magical aura. It tired him out quickly but it was only for emergencies and this certainly counted as one.

"We're in Science Lab Green 5 on Deck 23!" Braga cried out with other panic cries being heard in the background.

"On my way!" Harry said and gave a quick salute to SLT Rojas before apparating away.

OoOoO

Harry had learned long ago that while having your enemies gloat over you either gave you critical pieces of information or allowed the cavalry to arrive, it could also be downright irritating. Even more so when the 'villain' ranting was a woman he'd sort of been married to for a few years.

As Samantha and Bill Riker took turns telling him how they had planned this trap, a trap that was for the most part pretty good for what it was, Harry finally lost patience. "Okay, I get it. I'm a danger. I am a killer. Boo-Hoo for Galaron III. Can we get to the point of how you're thinking you're going to get away with this?"

Braga laughed, "We're going to get away with this because the field you're in prevents you from using your magic through it or teleporting away. So with a flip of a switch, we're going to send you and the field directly into a temporary, interphasic rift. You'll be off the ship and out of our lives."

Riker smirked from behind the science console from which he was monitoring the force bubble that Harry was trapped in. "Better yet, that temporary nature means once it collapses, you'll basically cease to exist. All those you've murdered, will have finally have justice."

The three crewmembers who Harry didn't know who were working to keep power to the trap steady, all dutifully cheered at this. Samantha, however, gave Harry a look which reminded him far too much of Bellatrix LeStrange. Her cackling laughter didn't help this, "We won't stop there. We'll ensure every one of your freaks is similarly dealt with. A terrible thing to do but it must be done to ensure your demon seed is eradicated once and for all."

Harry glowered at her before turning to Riker, "You know, I'm going to get out of this. Last chance to give up before I get really pissed and turn you all into Corgis."

"Bluster all you want, Potter. Or should I call you Q? No matter, we took every precaution to ensure this field will deflect your attempts to jump out. You've teleported enough that we have plenty of scans to work from."

"Good-bye, Harry Potter," Samantha said. "I'll tell Anthea how brave you were going to your death to save us all!" She made a gesture to Riker who flipped a switch which started to make the field collapse.

Braga snickered, "Oh, did we forget to tell you that to go with the cover story, the field must be collapsed by half before inter-phase? I'm afraid you'll be well and truly crushed to death before the jump. Sort of a fail-safe so you can't have any chance to escape once away from us in interphasic space."

The rest laughed at this. Harry had enough. The laughs brought home the memory of Death Eaters laughing at him as Voldemort tortured him in the Graveyard. So he crouched into a ball and began to generate a field of intense light. A 360 degree lumos type spell he still hadn't figured out what the purpose was for. Still, in this case, it would keep the conspirators from seeing him. He mentally commanded part of his suit to detach. He then transfigured it into a simple ball and then charmed it to give off the same light.

"Give it up, freak! You're trapped!" Samantha called out. "There is nothing you can do!"

This was born out as the field shrank to the size of a basketball before there was a sharp smell of ozone and the still brightly lit field fell into interphasic space.

Braga turned to Riker and gave him a high-five while Samantha looked at where the field had been and said, "Finally!"

She then turned with a serious look, "Stop frakking around! We can't pull this off as a disaster if you're acting like your Velocity team just won the championships! We have to sell this to everyone!"

"I thought all those nights reading old literature back on Tartarus would have taught you not to interfere in the affairs of wizards, Samantha."

Samantha spun around to find Harry Potter standing there with a look of menace on his face which chilled her to the bone. Her cry of warning turned into a bark of surprise as vertigo hit her and her perceptions went wild. Her confused barks were soon joined by five other yapping Corgis.

OoOoO

A small beep from the console at his work station made Arturis smile. He got up from his bed where he had been reading and double-checked to be sure. Seeing the readings, Arturis' smile broadened.

It was done.

He sat down but instead of calling up the needed ship systems, he just sat there and basked in his achievement. Harry Potter was powerful but at heart merely a barbarian. He had no idea of what Arturis' people were capable of. Potter himself had told him of some of his people being able to speak up to 200 magical languages. Yet this was just a 'magical thing' which was accepted. Potter hadn't begun to grasp the system of Arturis' brain which made him capable of being a living translator.

This same brain which he had been able to compartmentalize. To shift certain thoughts to when working on the cabal who were his catspaws. It helped what he had told Commander Riker was true. As long as Arturis hid his main thoughts and never volunteered information, questions put to him he could answer in ways that suited his purposes. This bifurcation was further enabled by feeding the idea that the cabal was working to protect the Fleet. Thus his help flew under the magical oath not to work against the Fleet.

He had worked to get the right people in the right place. Truly he had had to do little. Again, his powers worked best with working with materials strongly felt. Or able to be misdirected. The only reason he had had the control over the half-Klingon as he'd been able to manage was due to a combination of long-standing issues she had. Once Torres had gotten drunk enough, he'd been able to tie all those long-standing hurts and anger towards Harry. He'd been amazed how well it had worked. Sadly, to no avail. No matter, the work was done. Harry Potter had been defeated by Samantha and her co-conspirators.

Now there was nothing left to do but access Voyager's systems and begin his initial quest again. He'd already done the research on how to create a multi-phasic beacon. Powered properly, it would send a beacon through numerous layers of reality. The Borg would investigate and that would be that. Luckily for him, Commander Braga's need to create the interphasic trap had him asking Arturis to look over some things which gave him enough excuse to look at what he needed. Since he was merely looking, and his more core thoughts locked away, he once again had foiled Potter's magical contract.

Now all he had to do was hack the Equinox's systems, insert a priority work order and be sure to be on hand to pick it up. With Potter dead, the damnable contract died with him and Arturis could easily spin a tale which would allow him to make off with the beacon. If anything, the idea that Arturis couldn't hurt the Fleet worked in his favor.

He knew Potter had done something to Voyager's computer so he felt it prudent to use the Equinox. Another small hack and the Equinox's engines would power the beacon. Before the Fleet could do more than figure out what had happened, the Borg would be among them and his revenge would be complete. While what he had said to Braga was true, Arturis wanted Janeway and the rest to know their assimilation came at his hands and not part of some overall Borg push.

He leaned forward and began to call up the necessary files. Yet as he called up the production system, he suddenly felt an odd feeling in his hands. He tried to type in the commands but his hands didn't want to work. He frowned, "Computer, open file…" Arturis' eyes went wide as he choked a bit and couldn't continue.

"The contract keeps you from harming the Fleet. Whatever trick you used before won't work when you are overtly trying to get us all assimilated."

Arturis stiffened and slowly turned to find Harry Potter in an all-black outfit staring at him. The comm badge on his right breast was in the form of a stylized red bird Arturis knew to be a phoenix.

Arturis simply stared before croaking out, "How?"

Harry scowled, "Because of the contract, I know your thoughts. I don't even have to look you in the eye to read them now that I'm concentrating. You feel I'm some stupid barbarian. And maybe I am. But what you missed was that I am just one wizard. Sure I'm an insanely powerful wizard with traits and powers few wizards had or ever had. But still I am only one wizard. My people had been doing magic for centuries, crafting magics going from the down-right silly of having eggplants tango to magicks soul-crushingly evil. You all have seen only a fraction of what my people could do. Boring day-to-day things all the way up to the rarely used."

Harry gestured and transfigured a utilitarian chair in the room to a far more ornate one. He sat down, "You and this cabal you were helping just focused on what they had seen me do. It obviously never occurred to you that there are plenty of things I haven't used. One of them is what we call portkeys. To use terms you'd understand, they are a single-use, site-to-site transport tied to an item. Activate the portkey and you're sent to a predetermined place. They have many uses but I use them has an emergency exit. Handy if I'm too wounded or tired to apparate. The thing is, using a portkey is a very different magical transport system than apparating. Their little interphasic trap was next to useless.

Arturis simply stared at the wizard. He knew he was in trouble and was desperately trying to figure a way to finesse his way out of it.

Harry seemed to read his mind as he smiled with absolutely no warmth, "Oh you can just stop right there, my brainy friend. No amount of verbal waffle is going to get you out of what is coming to you."

Harry gestured and Arturis felt his body stiffen into immobility. Harry stood up, "I could have jumped away from the trap any time after it went up. I played along to find out what was going on. Riker said something which made me realize you were helping pull their strings. So I created a light which kept them seeing me portkey away. Now they're back on the Phoenix, probably yapping up a storm and shitting all over the floor."

Arturis couldn't move but his face was still free so he couldn't help but sneer, "So you're going to turn me into an animal? Not much different from being made into a drone."

Harry laughed, a cold and chilling laugh, "You'd think so. But turning you into an animal would slowly kill you in the sense you'd end up being an animal. You seem blasé about being assimilated because you know drones mostly cease to be themselves anymore. That is by design, but it doesn't have to be that way."

Harry stood and moved towards the immobile alien. He touched the bracer on his right wrist which manifested into his control glove. He thrust it out and two Borg assimilation tubules came out and pierced Arturis in the neck.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Arturis asked in a panicked voice.

"You are so dead set on your revenge that you've accepted being assimilated. Well I'm going to give you that early. The difference is these nanoprobes are under my control. By the end of the day, you're going to be a happy little drone. Well, okay that's a bit of a fib. You're going to be a drone but you're not going to be happy. You see, your consciousness will still be there. You'll hear and see everything. But that big brain of yours is going to be locked away. Helpless. Cut off and nothing in that big brain of yours is going to be able to circumvent this technology. The best thing is, you'll still be able to use those gifts of yours to translate. We'll keep you busy so you don't go insane. Oh no; you'll be a good, busy little drone on the outside. I'm sure you'll be screaming most days on the inside. And drones can live a long, long time. I'll make sure of it in your case!

"Noooooo!" Arturis screamed as he could see Borg technology already creeping under the skin of his hands.

XxXxX

FLEET COUNCIL ROOM, USS VOYAGER, , SECTOR 340, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51610.8

The various members waited as Janeway sat with her eyes closed. She'd been silent for almost a minute after LCDR Baxter finished his report. Instead of sitting in his normal chair, Harry Potter stood silent and grim in his black outfit.

The empty seat to the right of Janeway seemed to be a part of the room no one wanted to look at.

Finally Janeway sighed and opened her eyes, "Well now, we have a situation." She looked to Hylan Beth, "This happened on your ship. Members of my crew abused your hospitality badly. I feel your thoughts should be heard first."

The Varro shrugged, "We have long simplified criminal matters. After a certain level, they are executed via the reclamation system. Their crimes do not abrogate their debt to the ship and thus we claim their bodies for the good of the ship."

Janeway's face might have well been carved out of stone. She gestured to Tuvok as she then turned to Commissioner Ransom, "Rudy, Samantha was a civilian. Your thoughts?"

Ransom frown and turned shook his head, "This was a straight up murder attempt. That and the Starfleet personnel abused their rank and access. Then they would have covered it up and gone back to duty with a smile."

Tuvok nodded, "While they might not have known it, they still made use of Arturis. Even with Captain Potter's work, the risk of dealing with an entity who had previously tried to have us all assimilated should have warned them off. That they did not is damning. Their success would have not saved the Fleet from a potential danger but brought about our assimilation."

Janeway looked the Doctor who was present due to his previous work on dealing with the effects of Arturis' voice. "Doctor? How culpable are they?"

The Doctor sighed, "In the case of Technician Crichton, Staff Sergeant Martinez and Ensign Nguyen, I think a strong case could be made that they were the most effect by Arturis given what Commander Baxter has found of their encounters. I cannot make that same claim for Ms. Wildman and Commanders Braga and Riker."

"Why not?" Captain Beth asked. "Surely Arturis spoke with them."

The Doctor shook his head, "He did but his vocal trickery works best when the material is already there. The more he has to do, the more the hippocampus becomes stimulated. In the case of the latter, he wasn't leading them anywhere they didn't want to already go. He might have given a nudge but the those three were already willing to act on that nudge."

"We can debate this all night. A case can be made for so many factors involved," Harry said, speaking for the first time. "Samantha, Riker and Braga all had endured many things which could break most people. The question is where do we go from here? Resource wise the Varro are correct in not wanting to throw precious resources on prisoners. So, can they be rehabilitated?"

"Are you willing to accept the decision to rehabilitate them?" Chakotay said in surprise.

Harry's face was impassive, "Potentially."

The room grew quiet at the threat hidden in that flat answer.

All eyes turned to the Doctor.

The Doctor pursed his lips, "While I am uncomfortable making such a snap diagnosis this early in observing the group, I feel hopeful the junior crew members can be successfully treated. For the rest, I am not comfortable giving them anything but short odds of any change. To be blunt, as I said, their decisions were not influenced unduly by Arturis other than being swayed by words any one of us could have said."

Tahl leaned forward, "So you are saying they are mentally fit enough to stand trial?"

The Doctor looked uncomfortable but nodded, "Barring any further discoveries, yes I feel they are." He turned to Captain Hudec, "However, I would like a second opinion from Dr. Sokolov as she is a licensed counselor before medically releasing them for a trial."

There were a general round of nods and mutters of agreements. A century out of date or not, the former Constellation crew had a full medical compliment. It was widely believed that the Vulcan Dr. Muroc who was their Chief Medical Officer would likely be made the Fleet's lead medical officer.

V'Lana cleared her throat and stood, "While I'm the last one to be a stickler for rules, I'm all for this. However, I do feel we need to discuss how this is going to affect morale. No offense to my friend the wizard here, but there are going to be a lot of people who sympathize with this cabal. We need to think how this might be seen as appeasement to Harry."

"I agree. However, what other choice do we have? If we are anything but scrupulously adhering to protocol, it will generate more talk," Commander Dhael pointed out.

"Then I'll give them something to talk about and a warning," Harry said in a tone which brooked no compromise. "This was an attack on me. They said I was a threat. They felt that the Fleet needed to be rid of me to ensure our safety. No matter what we do, some will continue to think that. Fine. So be it."

"Sounds a bit ominous there, Harry" V'Lana said in a tone many felt was too light for the moment.

Still, Harry's face softened before he turned to Janeway, "Look, as I said earlier, we can debate this all night. The fact remains these folks tried to murder me and in the process would have set us up for assimilation. Fine, fix those we can, and try those we can't. However, I am categorically stating right now that when Samantha Wildman, Brandon Braga and Bill Riker are found guilty, they are mine. I'm going to show the Fleet what it means to tickle a sleeping dragon."

Janeway blanched at this. She remembered the last time Harry had talked of such things. It had not been a pleasant moment for her. "What do you propose to do."

Harry turned to Captain Beth, "While I feel your way is efficient, I have a different way to recycle the bodies." He walked to the area where he could stand in front of the assembled council so all could see the seriousness in his face. "I have many secrets. Some I keep because there is little reason to bring them up. One of them is I have a downloaded copy of the memories of every member of the original crew and passengers of the sleeper-ship the Phoenix which I took from the Borg."

Harry looked at the ceiling for a moment before looking back towards the council, his face sad. "I had hoped to grow some new bodies and download their memories into them. However, whether you believe me or not, I can see souls. So far, when I've done something similar with the Druoda A.I.'s, the results have been that they have no souls. Will they attain them in time? Is it because they were a machine intelligence that they don't have them? I don't know. But I've put off experimenting more…till now."

Harry gestured toward Tuvok, "Your people don't believe in execution in most cases. In my day, science-fiction stories called it Death of Personality. But what was fiction for us, you Vulcans do it on occasion."

Tuvok's face took on a slight look of surprise at the change in the direction of the conversation. Still he quickly caught on, "Ah, I believe I see the thrust of what you propose. Instead of execution, you wish us to wipe their personalities and replace them with these copies. An interesting concept."

Harry nodded, "Memory wiped or not, they'd still have souls."

"Whoa! Whoa! Excuse the newcomer here but what are we talking about?" Captain Hudec asked.

Ransom nodded at this, "I confess I'm confused as well."

"In both Vulcan and Romulan philosophy there are schools of thought who believe that executing a criminal is letting them shirk their debt to society. Yet instead of incarcerating them, risking the possibility of escape or harm to their jailors, a process was developed to wipe their minds in such a way they came out of it capable of being retrained," Tuvok explained.

Sakonna sniffed at this, "While an elegant solution, its use was not fully accepted as Vulcans like myself felt that the need to make this process work meant lying to these former criminals for the rest of their lives. However, regardless for my distaste of this aspect, the process did allow these criminals to help work to pay off their debt to society."

Tahl looked thoughtful, "What Captain Potter is proposing is an interesting take on this process. Like on Vulcan, we Romulans have a specialized area where we keep such criminals away from others. They are told they have been the victim of a pathogen that attacked their memories. We have a fiction that trying to learn about their former lives could cause the pathogen to reawaken. Obviously, this is not something we could do here. However, if it works, the three would have a full on personality. My question is will they accept the new body? You didn't have much luck with the Druoda."

Harry shook his head, "No I didn't. However the way I see it is it will play out like this. We wipe their minds and try my procedure. If it works, well we get three people I felt were worth saving out of the entire Earth population at that time. If it doesn't work, well I still have their memories stored away and we can toss them into the reclamation system Hylan mentioned. Either way, it'll send a message to the rest of the fleet not to brass me off. Killing someone is a statement with little in the way of staying power, message wise. Having three conspirators walking around with new personalities reinforces my commitment to not taking any more shit from people. That and we don't lose more crew in the process."

Janeway sighed, "How do you think your daughter will take to this? Or Cedric and the other children? Executing their mother is one thing, putting a new person into her body is another thing entirely."

Harry nodded, "Well I wanted to run this by the council first to see if you freaked out. However, you are correct. I want to talk to the kids before going through with it. If it's going to be an issues, well I can still try it with Braga and Riker."

The room was deathly silent for a moment. Finally Janeway stood up, "As Captain Potter has said, we need to make a statement. No one wants to execute a member of their crew but in this case it was a premeditated plot which also had potentially fatal consequences for us all. As much as I find myself finding Captain Potter's suggestion to be…distasteful, I am aware that many of the crew come from races which use similar punishments or do things far more severe in such cases. Therefore, I put it forth to you, unless there are medical issues found, that Bill Riker, Brandon Braga and Samantha Wildman will be put on trial. If found guilty, they will be subjected to the Death of Personality if this is accepted by the children involved? Is this something the Council wants to pursue?"

All but the Doctor (who abstained) voted to pursue.

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES

(*) ze = gender neutral pronoun. I use it because I don't like use 'they' as a gender-neutral convention. Your own mileage may vary. And yes, I don't like using 'it' either but for the most part that can be used without confusing how many people we're discussing.

Seven/Janeway: Don't freak out people. This relationship will be explained in later chapters. Plus, let me remind you that no one is married or in an official committed relationship AND this is the 24th Century. So please, don't spam my reviews with "ZOMG! How could she?!" also the game Velocity is shown in ST:VOY Hope and Fear.

Captain Qatai: While he still uses his ship occasionally for trade missions, him being called Captain is mostly honorific as he's mostly retired and amuses himself telling 'space stories' to the kids of the fleet.

Shout-Outs: Beyond all the little in-joke Easter Eggs I'm betting most people missed (So far no one has commented on the Xmas special referenced in this chapter) some fans of The Next Generation might have felt Tahl's explanation of how the Romulans deal with people who have undergone the DoP sentencing as being familiar. That's because they used that same story about a memory-eating pathogen while trying to get CDR Riker to accept a mental deception in the episode Future Imperfect. This is a good example of how authors can "steal" stuff without realizing it. I only realized the connection when making an edit after the fact to this chapter. So it's always a good thing if you feel an author has taken something from another story to ask. I'm betting more often than not they'll go, "Aw crap! I did do that, didn't I? It's one of my favorite fics!" Then they can (hopefully) go back and attribute the scene or acknowledge the similarity.