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

XxXxX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN – RELICS

(Episodes: ST:VOY One Small Step)

(References: ST:TOS Space Seed and By Any Other Name)

(References: ST:VOY Juggernaut, Riddles & The Fight )

XxXxX

PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "Archeology is like a jigsaw puzzle, except you can't cheat and look at the box, and not all the pieces are there."– Steven Dean – British archeologist, Principal Archaeologist at Staffordshire County Council – ?-Present

LAST UPDATED ON: 05-20-2021

SICK BAY, USS VOYAGER, , SECTOR 340, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51615.2

Harry walked into sick bay hoping B'Elanna wasn't hurt or had come down with some weird radiation poisoning. The message to come to sick bay to see her hadn't given a hint of why he was needed. So he was surprised to see her just sitting on a medical bed with the Doctor sitting at the console nearest to the bed reviewing something. The glare she gave him might have given a basilisk pause.

"You knocked me up, you bastard," B'Elanna said flatly.

Harry skidded to a halt, "Wait! I've been using condoms and the contraception spell! I also turned my sperm off again!" He turned to the Doctor who gave a small shrug as if to say, 'don't look at me' and went back to looking at the data Harry was sure was about the baby.

Harry came over to B'Elanna and nervously asked, "Are you okay?"

She continued with the death glare before she suddenly grinned and hugged him. "Of course I am, you idiot. Sure, this isn't something I wanted right now but a lot of people are coming down with a case of the babies. So our kid will have plenty of company."

Harry just hugged her back before letting her go and turning to the Doctor, "Okay, am I going to have to put some sort of forcefield around my nuts or something?"

"I do not believe such drastic actions will be needed, Captain Potter," came a smooth voice from behind him.

Harry turned to see Dr. Muroc coming out from the CMO's office. Harry gave a slight bow, "Doctor Muroc. Settling in, I see?" Harry knew Lieutenant Thelan had transferred over to the Defiant as part of the exchange. Thelan's knowledge base was much more in line with the technology of the Defiant so it was a good move.

"I am. Thank you for asking," The Vulcan said in that polite geniality which many Vulcans sadly did not bother with. Harry knew this was one of the reasons many didn't like Vulcans given too many of them felt such social niceties were beneath them. Harry couldn't understand that. Politeness and even simple courtesy banter was the social oil which lubricated society. It seemed illogical to Harry not to use them and he felt it odd too many Vulcans didn't see it that way.

"You have a theory, I take it?" Harry asked.

"I do. From reviewing your previous instances of unintended pregnancies, I would say that there is an emotional component involved. I theorize if you were to have sexual relations purely for recreation, your protocols to prevent pregnancy would work. In Commander Torres' case, however, you have had a growing emotional attachment which has been reciprocated. I believe that once again your magic may be acting on sub-conscious desires. Your psychological profile has a strong thread of fear of abandonment running through it. A bond via children might help negate that possibility."

"It also appears to be a one-time affair given you have obviously not impregnated others like Mrs. Paris, V'Lana or Lieutenant Hommein when you had plenty of opportunity after initially siring children with them," The Doctor pointed out.

Harry rubbed his chin, "Makes sense. Also, even with all the kids I have, I can't help but think perhaps a bit of family magicks are at work here." He turned to B'Elanna, "If your kid is anything like you, they'd make a great Potter. We're sort of the 'scream and leap' Gryffindor types going way back in our family history."

B'Elanna quirked her lip, "Here I would have thought, from your stories, it would be House Black."

Harry chuckled, "Nope! Sorry honey but you need a lot more cunning and calculation for that. No, if anything House Black would fall to V'Lana's kids. Still if the Doctor is right, hopefully this one 'whoops baby' means you'll be safe from me afterwards." He turned to the Doctor in question, "Have you checked Seven? She's sort of a package deal when it comes to affection with me and B'Elanna."

The Doctor nodded, "I will check again but I am much more involved with Seven's health then I am with Commander Torres. Seven was not pregnant as of last week when she was in for her monthly check of her Borg components. I believe it is very possible your magicks will not activate in this case as I believe you consciously and subconsciously worry how a pregnancy would affect her at this time."

Harry looked at Dr. Muroc who nodded, "I am sure at a future date this might change but I am in agreement with the Doctor your magicks would not activate if you feel, even subconsciously, there was a risk to Seven and the unborn child."

Harry cocked his head to the side and made a face, "Can't argue with that. I know I ran some numbers on Seven early on regarding how the maturation process worked on her. I felt it best to let the Doctor here continue with his procedures and let Seven come to grips with her returning to humanity at her own pace."

He looked at B'Elanna, "Do you want to be part of the birthing protocols? I know Ben has been itching to work with your genome."

B'Elanna merely smirked as the Doctor coughed uncomfortably, "Commander Torres is already having twins."

Harry blinked at this before grinning, "Well look at you! Over-achieve much?"

B'Elanna laughed and punched him in the arm, "You had better believe it!"

XxXxX

Captain's Personal Log, Star Date 51701.3. It has been an interesting three months to say the least. From invisible aliens attacking the Earhart which led to many very embarrassing moments for V'Lana to an out-of-control Malon waste barge. Then there was the whole bit about being trapped in chaotic space which, thankfully, Chakotay got us out of. I'm rather chilled to find from speaking with many in the Fleet Council that these sort of things are tame compared to other issues both the Equinox and Voyager had previously dealt with in the Delta Quadrant!

I am pleased the Fleet Council realized that Commander Chakotay was a better fit for being Voyager's XO then helping me play catch up. Especially given he will be Voyager's de facto captain given how busy the Commodore is as the over-all fleet commander. I'm also gratified they accepted Commander Amina Assad as my number one. While Amina and I might throw down on the racquetball court like Klingons under a blood-feud, we have always worked well together. Her love of delving into history has already been an asset. Of course, it's only history to the rest of the fleet. It's odd to read of historical events which hadn't happened yet from our frame of temporal reference. The crew's morale has had many ups and downs due to this. Many have found friends and family went on to do great things. Too many learned of tragedy and heartbreak.

Thus it has been helpful that the current fate of the Defiant has focused the crew on the day-to-day decisions which have to be made. Between the Maw and the amazing industrial replicators on Voyager and their Borg counterparts on the Cube, it seemed self-evident we'd simply upgrade the Defiant's systems and that would be that. However, after the incident in chaotic space halted work on the ship for a bit, I was approached by Lieutenant Sternbach, the Red Squadron leader. He proposed having the Defiant be converted into a Hōshō class strike-carrier. Apparently most of the surviving Constitution class ships were converted to this class or the Byrd class Galactic Survey Cruiser after the Camp Khitomer Accords. With my blessings, he brought this proposal up to the Fleet Council where it was well received. I believe much of this was due to the Fleet's already heavy use of fighters as a force multiplier.

However, before this plan could be signed off on, my XO's thirst for history offered an interesting counter-proposal. Amina pointed out the conversion would take time and leave a lot of the crew with little to do. She pointed out that the Saladin class destroyer was functionally identical to the saucer and neck section of a Constitution class ship. This conversion would take much less time and then allow the secondary hull of the Defiant to undergo its conversion while a new command section, one closer to one used on the modern Intrepid or Sovereign classes, be created from scratch. The fighters for this eventual strike cruiser could be fielded and flown off the Kelionininkas so the ship would launch with trained pilots.

Both proposals have merit. Still, the second option seems to be gaining traction now that the Tovarek has launched under Captain Dhael. While I would have liked to captain a ship with the capabilities of a strike-carrier, it is true flying a destroyer class ship is more in line with the crew's training. Right now one of the questions to be answered is whether to take the Defiant's engines and attach both to the neck section or to attach one above the impulse engines using the 'Kelvin' conversion. Amina told me that this was the original retrofit considered for the older one-engine ships when it was found having two warp nacelles allowed for a more stable warp bubble. However, the design which would eventually become the Miranda class was selected instead to allow for the ability to modify ships quickly in war-time.

For our purposes and resources, the Kelvin conversion looks to be the best option. Certainly, the ship will be out-of-date compared to the rest of the fleet but not enough to be an issue. Once the strike-carrier is complete, the destroyer could go through the full conversion especially since components like the engines could be constructed beforehand. It truly amazes me what can be done outside a shipyard these days!

On a more personal note, even with all the meetings on this, I have found the time to date as have many of the crew. It has been of an adjustment in being able to have 'shore-leave' after a shift simply by beaming over to the Kelionininkas. Yet it seems to be working thanks to the tireless work of Commissioner Ransom, Tuvok and Mr. Paris to a degree.

XxXxX

RESIDENTIAL AREA CASCADIA, KELIONININKAS, SECTOR 331, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51703.5

Tom watched the man raised the trombone to his lips and give it an experimental blow. Then the man sighed out, "Here we go!" before going into a decent sounding jazz tune. At the end, Tom clapped along with Maria and B'Elanna as well as quite a few of the others who had stopped to listen.

"That sounded pretty good for it being your first time on a trombone," Tom said to the man.

The man in question, Cristian McBain, smiled in a way which emphasized there was a new person in charge of the body. Even though there had been a lot of work to make McBain to look different than Thomas Riker, Tom could still see it easily enough. Although he agreed with Maria that just shaving the beard had helped.

"Yeah, well I might not have ever played one, you can't do jazz as long as I had without hearing plenty of it from some folks who could really blow their horn right. The muscle memory is all there though," Cristian said as he put the trombone back on its stand and sat back down behind the piano. "I'll fiddle with it a bit more later but I'm just happy to be tinkling the old ivories once more."

"I bet. I can't even imagine the horror of being yanked out of stasis by the Borg when you were expecting to end up some place to start fresh," B'Elanna said to which Maria nodded earnestly.

Cristian shrugged, "Luckily we were all still groggy. I'm betting it's far worse for most folks who knew what was coming. I think waking up in this white boy's body was more of a shock for me. Worse, is I can't even take advantage of it given you folks seem to be past all that racist crap."

Tom harrumphed at that, "Oh don't worry. We found new ways to hate people. Still, kind of hard to care about what color a fellow human's skin is when your surrounded by aliens at every turn."

Cristian started to play a rather lively tune and grinned, "I guess so. Well I'll take it."

Maria looked at Tom and then at the newly resurrected jazz musician, "When you're more settled in, perhaps you might play for us? Tom and I didn't have much of a ceremony when we got married and so we were thinking of a belated reception. Just listening to the small sample you've done today makes it obvious you'd really make any such a party really pop."

Cristian smiled broadly, "Why thank you. I certainly would love to. I guess playing at parties and teaching music is how I'm going to make a living in this brave, new world."

"One of the most accomplished musicians of the 21st Century isn't going to be allowed to waste away, trust me on that" Tom told him. "While a lot of recordings and the like survived the war, so few of the people who actually did things like the music, theater and other arts did likewise. Listening to you, I can see why Harry was willing to make a deal with Khan to do what he did."

Cristian frowned and even the music he was playing shifted into a darker, more soulful sound, "Bad days, those were. The water was killing us. The air was killing us. The food we were eating was poisoning us and if none of that got you…well there were plenty of types willing to kill you for this or that. And the worst of it? We all did it. You had too to survive. I never would have thought myself up to killing another soul and yet I sent quite a few people to hell. Towards the end we were all killers just to survive. It was why Harry worked so hard to salvage us before we tainted that very thing which made us worth saving."

There was silence, broken only by the sad piano melody the man was playing. Suddenly Maria laughed, "Look at us! Being sad when we got three of some of the best of that era back. Hopefully, Harry will be able to free the rest. We should be celebrating!"

The jazz musician smiled broadly again. (in a way Thomas Riker never did) "I'll drink to that…if you'd be so kind to fetch me one of those fancy mead drinks Tom here likes so much!"

Tom smiled as well. Maria was right; it was easy to fall back into melancholy when faced with the ghoulish reality of the rebirth of this famous person came with the erasure of what was Thomas Riker. Riker had threatened some of his own kids by agreeing to Samantha's mad scheme. He should be focusing on getting to know the man and helping him look forward and not back the dark event which made his resurrection possible.

OoOoO

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Harry asked. Even as altered as she was, Harry could still easily see Samantha Wildman. Then again, he'd sort of been married to her for years. However, he could also see that regardless of the body, she was not Samantha. Miranda Lawless held herself very differently than Samantha. Even sitting, Miranda tended to lean forward, a look which invited someone to speak because she was obviously ready to listen.

"No. I don't think there is much of a play book for something like this. Still, as a writer, I know dragging things out will just allow weird issues to creep in. I've done it enough to my own characters that I'd rather not have it done to me."

Harry grinned, "I know what you mean. I feel I'm in a story with a really bad writer. Either that or I'm based off of someone the writer hates and so loves to torment me."

Miranda chuckled at that and took a deep breath and gesture towards the door, "Let's get this over with."

Harry and Miranda went through the door into the rec area. Both could see Tom, Maria and B'Elanna hovering around Cristian who was playing a rather snappy tune on the piano. Harry looked around for William 'Call me Will' Fry but didn't see him. He figured the former cutting-edge physicist was probably in one of the science labs. He hoped the 'blue shirts' could handle having their former boss being replaced like he had. So far, there hadn't been much in the way of push-back. Then again, most people weren't related to the people involved."

A wave from the back caught Harry's attention so he motioned for Miranda to follow him. As he approached, he could tell that all five kids were nervous but putting on a brave face. Luckily for this case, Samantha's refusal to be part of the 'Baby Factory' meant fewer children directly tied to her by birth. Still, depending how well this meeting went, Miranda would be introduced to all the Exile children as many had fond memories of Wildman before she beamed away.

As the oldest, Cedric rose and gave a slight bow, "Ms. Lawless, I am Cedric Potter. These are my siblings, Naomi & Anthea Wildman along with Victoria & Richard Paris."

Lawless smiled and bowed a bit in return, "Thank you, Cedric. Please call me Miranda. For regardless of how things go, we will be connected for a long time." She turned to Harry, "Do you mind if I talk with them alone for a bit?"

Harry looked to Cedric and then to Naomi who both seemed okay with it. He nodded, "I'll go get a drink and see how Cristian is fitting in."

Harry got a glass of mead and went and chatted with B'Elanna for a bit. While early in the pregnancy, her mixed genome could present some issues. However, Harry's magical nature might negate some of the potential issues if their children inherited it. For now, both agreed to let the Doctor and Dr. Muroc monitor things as they had time before any in-utero procedures or gene therapy might be needed.

Harry finally wandered back to the kids. He'd kept an eye on them and while things were tense, Harry felt it seemed to be going all right.

As he got close, he heard Miranda say, "So the thing is, I'm not your mother. I cannot replace her. You five also aren't the children I lost to the war. Nothing could replace that hole in my life from their loss. But maybe we can help each other fill the void in our lives due to our separate losses."

All the children nodded at this before they noticed Harry hanging back. Miranda turned and smiled guardedly.

"Sounds like things are going alright here," Harry said.

"It was weird at first but Miranda is…well she's really different from Mum," Cedric said to which the other kids nodded in agreement.

Harry looked at the rest of the children, "So you all okay with Miranda taking over as a de facto guardian?"

Cedric shrugged, "As she said, we're not her kids and she's not our Mum but you've got a lot going on and she's got the time."

"And she's going to help me with my stories!" Anthea piped up.

Harry grinned at his little girl. Anthea sort of reminded Harry of Luna at times. She loved to write fancible stories. As a noted novelist and feminist advocate, Miranda Lawless had been one of the most sought after writers of her day so Harry couldn't think of anyone better to help Anthea along that road.

Miranda laid a hand on Anthea's shoulder, "She also wants to change her name to Potter if that's alright with you."

Harry looked surprised at this. He turned to Naomi who didn't seem put out at about it, "Are you okay with that, Naomi?"

Naomi shrugged but smiled slightly, "Wildman is my Dad's name. I'm the only one here of his line. Anthea will still be my sister even as a Potter. Plus, I think it will make it easier not to have to explain why Cedric's sister has a different last name."

Harry looked at her for a moment before shrugging as well, "If you're okay with it, then I don't see any issues."

Before anyone could say anything, the red alert klaxon went off and was quickly followed by Captain Beth's voice coming over the PA, "All hands, rig for possible violent maneuvers!"

Harry's comm-badge barely began to beep before he apparated away.

XxXxX

AFT SECTION, THE EARHART, SECTOR 331, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51703.8

"This is an ill-conceived mission," Seven said flatly to Chakotay's back as he worked the terminal in front of him. "Even the Borg keep away from Spatial Anomaly 521."

"So you've said numerous times. Your continual disapproval isn't going to change anything, Seven," Chakotay said mildly, thankful he was turned away from the former drone so she couldn't see his smirk. "Also, I think by now you'd realize that just maybe the Borg aren't this perfect engine of wisdom given how they poked into Fluidic Space. So forgive me if I don't run my life by what the Borg do or do not do."

Seven scowled. "I do not see the logic of having so many senior officers on this mission. There are plenty of low level officers capable of risking entering into the graviton ellipse," Seven said, unwilling to let go of her disproval of what she felt was a frivolous mission compared to the risk.

Both Harry's snorted at this in almost an identical fashion. It made Derran Tal giggle before she covered her mouth in embarrassment. Chakotay, however, just turned with a widening smile, "I'm sure there are. I'm also sure they are all gnashing their teeth that 'rank hath its privileges' when it comes to missions. Most of us joined to do exactly what we're about to do. I'm one step away from being chained to a command chair. I'm not going to pass this chance up. The others can have at it when I'm too valuable, as you say, to risk."

"You know Seven, you really should be careful how you talk about the lower ranks. They aren't drones and they wouldn't appreciate you thinking them as expendable," Harry Kim said from the station where he and his mate Derran were realigning the sensors. The same technology which had helped get the Ark out of the Anomaly would be used again. All was needed was to tweak the system from when it had been last used to deal with being in interphasic space.

Harry Potter laughed, "That and in a way, the fact they are junior officers means they probably don't have the skills we need. This is a time sensitive mission. Sure it's risky but we've got the best in the fleet onboard. This will cut down the amount of time we need to stay inside. Although it might have been fun if we had the time to have some sort of tournament to win the right to come."

It was Harry Kim's time to laugh, "Chakotay would easily box everyone in the sciences into submission." He inputted a few more commands and an entire panel behind Seven lit up green.

Seven glowered at the frivolity she knew was probably aimed at tweaking her nose a bit but V'Lana's voice came over the intercom, "Okay back there, we're a go. Insertion into the graviton ellipse in one minute. Strap in folks!"

OoOoO

"It's filled with incredible stuff, Commodore," Chakotay said as he leaned over Shreen's chair to get closer to the science station's microphone. "There are probes from all sorts of civilization and even the debris is interesting. Kim has located at least two vessels so far which seem intact and Captain Potter is over on the Ares IV right now. He reports that other than a very well preserved body of Lieutenant John Kelly, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of interior damage."

"Do you believe we can salvage the ships, probes and the various debris? We don't have much time and Voyager already had to lure the ellipse away from a dark matter asteroid in conjunction with the Equinox and Defiant. The consensus is it won't be too long before the graviton ellipse returns to subspace," Janeway said from the bridge of Voyager.

Chakotay looked over at V'Lana who was swiveled to face him. She nodded, "Yes we believe it's possible. The trick is we will need to act as a guide to bring in the Burton and the Phoenix first and then bring in the Marianne. We do need to see if we can bring in Hugin and Munin mated up with the first pair. If we can, we'll need a crew for each as Captain Potter doesn't think the interlink will work through the ellipse and he's worried of a possible overload of the droids on board if something goes wrong."

Chakotay could almost hear Janeway nod, "Understood. We'll get things moving on our end. As soon as Captain Potter's back on board, move towards the boundary."

"Acknowledged, Earhart out," Chakotay said. He nodded to Shreen who fiddled with her station before nodding. "Harry? Chakotay here. We need you back so we can get ready to pull in more ships. The Commodore is getting everything we need in position as we speak."

"On my way," Potter replied.

A moment later there was a pop of displaced air and Harry appeared in the corridor leading back to the aft compartment. "Well that was interesting. So weird to see that old tech again," the wizard said with a shake of his head.

V'Lana swiveled her chair back as Harry moved to stand behind Tsmirci at Tactical, "Take us out Tom."

"Aye-aye, Ma'am!" Tom said with his typical jaunty air as he knew V'Lana didn't like to be referred to as Ma'am. She proved this once again as she reached over and flicked Tom's ear with a finger.

As the ship began to cautiously return to the edge of the graviton ellipse, Tom finally asked, "So, Harry; did you ever get a chance to be in any of the old NASA ships?"

Harry shook his head, "No but we ended up using a lot of stolen data and technology in building those old sleeper ships. In fact, I did quite a bit of that thievery as America was firmly Green's territory at the time. I remember watching the live-stream of the Ares IV mission though…huh."

Tom looked over his shoulder at the last bit, "Huh, what?"

Harry was lost in thought for a bit before he shook his head as if to clear it, "Oh just an odd memory. It's funny what you remember. I was recalling a rather interesting incident I had with some of Khan's more fanatical people. There was an old poster on the wall about the Ares IV. NASA and the U.N. had really been pushing the Mars missions as a unifying thing even as the planet was falling into war everywhere. So there was a lot of merch floating around before the end."

Chakotay made a face, "Khan's fanatics had a poor reputation, historically that is. I'm wondering how you saw them."

Harry laughed, "Oh they were pretty professional for the most part. Well they were until they tried to kill me."

XxXxX

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHIVA, 25km OUTSIDE OSLO, EARTH, SECTOR 725 – 01/21/2058

Harry finally sighed and looked up to the man he was playing chess with. "Okay Fatehbir, what gives? Don't think for a minute I haven't notice all the people who've been seemingly showing up at random. That and they're far too heavily armed this far into the base."

The Punjabi Augment quirked a smile, "Karen said you would not notice. I told her she was a fool. Still, it does not matter if the prey sees the trap as long as they step foot into it."

Harry leaned back from the board and back into the plush seat which had seen better days. The current forward HQ for this front had once been the Oslo Winter Club. Now it was, like so much of Earth, a ruin but one which at least kept the elements out. Harry noticed all the other in the area were Augments as well. You could always tell by their eyes and sense of coiled energy in their movements.

"Well far be it for me to mess up a trap," Harry finally said. "So, how about you start your prepared speech and we can get on with you all making me rue the day I did whatever has brassed you all off."

There was a general muttering at this even as one of the women hissed in anger in such a way which almost made Harry crack up given it sounded like the word for copulation in Parseltongue.

Fatehbir smile simply deepened, "No, no. No speeches. You are to die simply to remove you from bewitching the Great Khan any further."

Harry laughed at this, "Oh really? I rarely see Khan these days and I certainly don't make a point of giving advice how he fights his battles. By the way, will you stop calling him the Great Khan? Khan is his name, not a title, you twit! It bugs the hell out of me that even his own people make this mistake! Anyway, so what I'm supposedly bewitching him to do?"

"Lying infidel! You know of your crimes! It is because of you the Khan is giving up his great and worthy crusade!" The 'hissing' augment woman said with obvious fanatical heat in her voice.

A light went off in Harry's brain, "Ah, okay. Now I get it. You all found out about the Botany Bay. Well before you kill me, did you ask your Dear Leader about it? Or did you just jump to conclusions?"

"Why should we bother the Great Khan when it is obvious he is not in his right mind?" Fatehbir said as if discussing the weather. "We are fighting God's fight. A fight to restore the strong and faithful over the weak. You have worked your sorcery to keep the ordained champion from his mission."

Harry just looked at Fatehbir for a bit as the other Augments grew more edgy and seemed eager to start using their weapons, orders or no. Finally Harry sighed, "Really? You honestly think you folks are on some holy crusade for God? The Strong? You're strong through science. Your 'ordained' champion is a pragmatic leader who doesn't give a damn for dogma. He will impose order because he feels he is the best one who can. It's you all who keep trying to drape his naked ambition with theology and legends. As to me using any sorcery on him, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. You want to hear it? Or shall we just skip to the ultra-violence?"

The muttering grew ugly but Fatehbir raised a hand, "Speak. It will be amusing to hear your lies."

Harry shook his head as he chuckled, "I can see why Khan likes it when he's away from you all. I'm about to give you truth but you already have decided they are lies. No matter, here we go. I have not used any sorcery on your supposed holy champion. All I did was tell him of the real reason I sent my people away. You see originally I had told Khan it was simply because the coming war would ravage our magical enclaves. While this was true in one sense, the actual truth is much worse."

Harry gestured to a faded poster on the wall which had promoted the live-streaming of the Ares IV landings on Mars. "I have been saving people and working to keep them safe from what is to come. But that was always going to be a dicey thing. Then a different choice was suddenly possible with the finding of that meteorite in Australia. If we're going to talk about divine plans, I'd say this smacked of it. Of course, my life has been filled with such serendipity so I just sort of roll with it now."

Fatehbir's eyes narrowed and his smile disappeared, "What do you mean?"

Harry reached out and drained his glass of the last of the warm, mulled wine left in it. "I mean suddenly my plan of riding out the coming storm was the worse option. You see, once the meteorite was found, I realized there was now enough ore that ships could be made to get the people I've been saving off the planet. Why get them off the planet? Because my people, years before I sent them away, had predicted that in two to three years from now, four tops, the nukes start flying in earnest. So after all the fighting, all the bio-weapons, humanity will unleash the only weapons which they hadn't used yet. So you can talk up your grand crusade all you want. The thing is, there will be no winners in this war. Everybody will lose and there will only be a pitiful few left afterwards. You want to talk destiny? Fine, the endgame has already been prophesied and the only winner is Death. But hey, I'm just an infidel sorcerer; what could I know about such things?"

The muttering all around him silenced. Finally, predictably, the 'hissing' woman snarled, "You lie."

Harry threw up his hands, "Have it your way. But here's the fact. I couldn't get to the meteorite myself nor could I get the ore process properly. I certainly couldn't build a ship with my own resources. Khan, however, quickly picked up on my desperation to make it work. In order to get the Phoenix built, I had to clue him into what is coming. For I had no intention of telling him previously. If Khan survived the holocaust to come, well mad props to him. The only thing I was going to try and ensure was Green didn't make it. That bastard deserves nothing but a slow and painful death. Nuclear fire is too good and far too quick for the likes of him."

Fatehbir sneered, "So you expect us to believe the Great Khan would run? To take the coward's way out?" Many of the surrounding Augments jeered at this.

Harry shook his head, "No. I expect you to believe your leader is smart enough to look at the state of the world and know which way the wind is blowing. You've been fighting for years now and yet how much ground have you gained recently? The war grinds on but you are stalemated. As the situation gets worse, it's only a matter of time before one side decides that the unthinkable is the only option. Khan may be a tyrant but he isn't stupid. He had seen the power of the magical world I sent away. So he knew to listen to my take on what the seers of my world said. He weighed it with what is going on. You think he's a coward? No! He's doing the only smart thing he can do. Leave and return later to claim the Earth. I would think you all would be behind such a plan. All you Augments pick up, create some utopia somewhere and then return to save the shattered remnants of Earth. Yet here you are, still acting like you're on some mission from God to take over a land you've already poisoned and bled dry. Well the only way to win this game is not to play. Khan is making that choice and I recommend you follow him if you want to live."

Fatehbir was silent, simply glaring at him for over a minute. Finally he said, "This serves no purpose. Kill him."

The Augments moved faster than any human could possibly hope to do and blasted the chair Harry had been sitting in.

Unfortunately for them, Harry could apparate out faster than they could shoot.

As the Augments cursed at the ruins of the chair, Harry's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, "You guys need to work on augmenting your brains more. I've been doing stuff like this long enough for at least some of you to know you had no chance against me. Lucky for you I think you're not worth killing. But rest assured I'll be telling your 'Great' Khan. I know for a fact he's not going to be happy with you all. Ta!"

XxXxX

BRIDGE, THE EARHART, GRAVITON ELLIPSE, SECTOR 331, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51703.9

"So what happened to them?" Tom asked.

Harry shrugged, "I don't know exactly. I did find a small reference in the database which leads me to believe Fatehbir ended up being on the ruling group of three which took over after Khan left. Other information shows it was Supremacy forces which fired the initial large volley of nukes. So the guy I specifically told what was coming just up and made it come true. Of course, that's a staple of prophecies, people making them self-fulfilling. Not that Fatehbir and his people needed my help. They would have used the nukes regardless of my warning. They had a holy mission and nothing would stop them."

"Sad," Sahreen said from her science station.

Harry nodded, "Still, his group's fanaticism is why I can answer a question many historians had regarding the small number of Augments Khan actually took with him. He could have taken more given he had the ships for it. From the records I looked at while attached to the Borg, I think the other two ships got used by some of Khan's normal allies. I'm guessing the Augments dangled the lure of getting away from Earth to the elites to consolidate power without Khan. To me it looks like two of the planets found during that initial big five year mission of the Enterprise were from the descendants of those ships and not just humans previously seeded throughout the Alpha Quadrant by the Ancients."

Tsmirci scowled, "That they turned against their leader showed their faith in Khan was simply them waiting for their own opportunity to take his place. Disgraceful!" To the war-like Elasians, such conduct was bordering on sinful.

Harry shrugged, "Wouldn't surprise me. Still, in the end, I believe that the lure of fighting in what they thought was God's war was something the bulk of his troops could not turn away from. War was all they knew. So they charged gleefully to their deaths, all the time thinking Khan was the one being irrational and a coward."

V'Lana shrugged, "For all their supposed augmentations, they were downright stupid. Why bother taking sleeper ships out of the solar system when they could have created colonies in orbit? Or for that matter, on or around Luna, in floating cities on Venus or any of the other possibilities available in the Sol system? Obviously, they spent too much time augmenting the muscles and not realizing the brain is your most important weapon."

There was a general agreement to this before alarms at the helm and sciences brought them back to the matter at hand.

OoOoO

Harry Kim maneuvered the Munin to the point indicated on his starboard screen. It felt good to be at the helm again. While he had worked in Ops on the bridge, he always enjoyed flying a shuttle. The Munin might not be a Delta Flyer but it was much more responsive than a Class 9 shuttle.

"We are in position, Commander," Harry said as he cut thrust.

"Good work, Mr. Kim," Korath said. He turned to Derran Tal who was operating the science station. "Time to interlink?"

The Varro woman's hands danced over the controls. "Looks like two minutes after the Hugin gets into position…which it just did."

Korath nodded, "Very well." He hit a button on his command chair. "This is Korath. We are ready."

"Very good, Korath; stand by," V'Lana's voice answered in return.

Korath leaned back in the chair. While not normally used, all the former Hazari ships were still designed to allow for organics to crew them. The bridge was almost identical to that of the Delta Flyer except using mostly Hazari equipment wherever possible. The humanoid droids which normally crewed the ship via a modified A.I. were in a type of maintenance cubicle not to dissimilar to a Borg regeneration alcove in the aft area.

Korath watched as the Phoenix moved into the dispersed formation tractoring an alien scout type vessel. It was a bit larger than the Phoenix itself. It joined the Ares IV, various probes and assorted debris the other vessels had towed there already.

Harry pointed to the vessel being brought in before turning to the Klingon, "Chakotay thinks that might be a Kelvan scout ship. If so, it's an incredible find."

"That means nothing to me, Mr. Kim," Korath pointed out.

Kim had the good sense to blush even as he glared as if to say 'don't you even dare' at Derran Tal. "The Kelvans are a race of extra-galactics which Admiral Kirk ran into back when he was captain of the Enterprise. I think this was back around 2268. Anyway, these Kelvans had some real serious tech and they tried to force the Enterprise to rescue them given their own ship had met some sort of accident. Kirk outwitted them but it was only because they were wearing human forms. They were advance scouts from the Andromeda Galaxy to see if they could invade us. Their unique energy signature of their tech was captured by the Enterprise's sensors and it seems to match the resonances from that ship."

Korath stroked his beard, "How long did it take them to get here?"

Kim shrugged, "They were in a multi-generation ship. They said it took them 300 years which is amazing given at a constant speed of Warp 6, it would take over 600 years to get here."

Korath grunted at that, "And has Starfleet shared this information with the other Empires? I would think an invasion from another galaxy would be something that one doesn't keep to yourself."

Kim frowned, "I hope so?"

A beeping alarm sounded before Janeway's voice came over the speakers, "All ships, this is Janeway. We're reading an increase in energy fluctuations. We estimate you have less than two hours remaining before you need to return."

Korath grunted, "Mr. Kim, I don't trust Voyager's sensors as they are not in the ellipse. I want you to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. Understood?"

Kim nodded, "I do, sir." He signaled to Tal who relieved him at the helm as he went to hit the fresher to relieve himself of all the coffee he'd been drinking.

Korath simply watched as the Phoenix moved off to grab more before their time limit was up even as the Marianne was approaching towing another small, alien craft. He wondered if what they collected today might be used to get the Thunderchild up and running. While there were only three Klingons in the fleet, all hoped to serve on a ship of their own Empire again.

XxXxX

THE CITADEL, COLORADO SPRINGS, EARTH, SECTOR 725 – 07/04/2061

For all the he still used the rank of Colonel, Phillip Green might as well been Emperor. His forces controlled at least 40% of Earth and was able to contest much of what bordered his territories. Certainly, he paid lip service to the various governments who continued to act like they mattered but in the end, he was calling the shots.

His headquarters was testament to that. Green had taken over the old NORAD facility at Crystal Mountain after he transitioned from a hated eco-terrorist to the hero who would save the world from Khan and his Augments. Various religious groups hailed him as God's Chosen to save the faithful and keep humanity pure. A charge he gleefully took up, but not in the way their holy books entailed.

Green smiled to himself, as much as it pained him to see the Earth be so badly damaged, he had certainly purified much of it. Few realized his 'overwhelm and devastate' doctrine was less about winning but more of maximizing casualties. After he had won, Green would ensure humanity wouldn't breed the world to the brink of ruin again. He would make it the Eden that humanity had been thrown out of. Green would force humanity to be the stewards of the Earth that God had intended them to be.

He turned away from looking down at the busy command staff working on planning their next offensive or reviewing the information coming in from all over the globe. He stepped into his private office to find Bobby White, his body double, waiting for him. "I need you to prepare to fly to Dublin. The front there is wavering with all the attacks coming in from Scandinavia. I think a pep-talk is in order to keep morale up."

White smirked, "You got it. Only so much you can do with the propaganda and drugs. The masses still eat up a good rousing speech."

Green laughed, "Exactly! We need to press our advantage. I'm not sure what is going on with Khan but if he's going to go missing, I'm going to take advantage of it."

White tapped his forehead in a sloppy salute before going out the secret exit to his own quarters. White was the best of Green's doubles. Sadly his other two were useless to him as one was down with radiation poisoning while the other had lost a leg during an attack on Buenos Aires. Still, he had been fortunate that in both cases, no one had seen either double be injured. Green's seeming invincibility was one of his best weapons so far in the war. Even the fabled Reaper had not been able to touch him.

Green sat down at his desk and called up a list of his previous speeches to review on his computer. He liked to read what he (or his doubles) had given before to help craft a new speech. Each needed to hit the right metrics but Green knew history's eyes were on him and each speech needed to be fresh and filled with the right amount of gravitas which would resonate down the ages to come."

He did this before a slight pop and a breath of air startled him. Green looked up but didn't see anything amiss. However, he hadn't gotten where he was by just ignoring his gut feeling. So he went back to reviewing what was on his screen even as he opened a drawer to get the weapon it held.

"That won't do a damned bit of good." A voice from nowhere said in a British accent.

Green couldn't help but feel his heart freeze. He knew the Phoenix, the fabled Reaper, spoke with such an accent. Even so, he still pulled the weapon out, "Forgive me if I don't take your word for that."

To his amazement, a man dressed all in black, with almost knee-high leather boots faded into view. He had piercing green eyes and unruly hair. The only adornment was a stylized red phoenix pin on his right breast. He didn't seem to be carrying any weapon Green could see. "Don't bother yelling for help or pushing any panic buttons; none of that will work."

"Well, well, well," Green said. "I guess that explains a lot of how you got into my facilities with such ease. How are you powering that stealth field? Never mind who developed such a thing." Regardless of what the man had said, Green had surreptitiously pressed two different panic buttons. The lack of alarms at the press of the second button worried him.

The Phoenix merely smirked, "No tech. All me. Of course if you want the truth, it's simply magic. I wonder, as you've moved up the ladder of power, did you find the whispers of the Magical World in the depths of secret files? Given you were a Green before you became a mass-murderer, you might have gotten a sniff. I know Luna said there were quite a few Muggles in the conservation agencies who ended up finding out simply by continuously running into our various animal sanctuaries."

Green could almost feel the blood drain from his face. Of course! How could he have been so stupid not to see it before! All the odd stories which he'd blamed on underlings trying to downplay their own failings made sense now. The Phoenix was right, he had known about the Magical World. He'd even helped locate a dragon who had strayed off a preserve even if he never saw the beast with his own eyes.

"I was told many years ago by a witch I trusted that the Magical World was retreating and their kind would never be seen again," Green finally said.

The Phoenix laughed bitterly, "And she was right. I'm all that's left of that world given I was the one who had to send them away. To send them away from you and Khan."

Green's eyes narrowed at that. There was as much bitterness in the wizard's voice at Khan's name as much as his own, "Yet you work for Khan. What does he have on you?"

The Phoenix made a dismissive gesture, "I work with Khan. Big distinction. He helped me save my people and in return, I helped him out when his interest aligned with mine. You, on the other hand, are almost a caricature of everything I have fought against my entire life. Today is my last mission on Earth and I'm thankful for it."

Green pointed his weapon at the wizard, "Don't expect to get out of here alive do you? Very wise of you."

The wizard laughed. This laugh was filled with nasty humor in it. "Not at all. You see, I've been collecting the best and the brightest of Earth for many years now. Mostly stealing them right out from your clutches. Now my final plans are complete and they and I will leave Earth. If Fate is kind, we will create a new place somewhere out there. A new Florence to keep the best of what Earth had to offer alive. For you see, Colonel Green, time is up for you and everyone else. My people left because we know what was coming. The nuclear fire that will end this war and with it almost all of humanity. Yet before I leave Earth, I'm here to ensure you don't escape the justice the dead cry out for."

Green said nothing for a moment before he smiled cruelly, "You're the reason Khan disappeared. Did he suffer before you killed him?"

The Phoenix seemed surprised by the question, "Ah, I guess you of all people would have noticed his being absent of late. Well I'm sorry to tell you that not only did I not kill Khan, he won't be around for the nukes to kill either. You see he once again helped me as I helped him. His ship will launch with mine. All we need is a big distraction. Khan and I both agreed your death would be a good one."

Green didn't hesitate but fired and kept firing till his magazine was empty. It was as he feared. The bullets did nothing.

The wizard smirked, "Hello, my name is Harold James Potter and I will be your executioner for the evening. However, your crimes are such that I think a Killing Curse would be an insult to the millions who have died in your crusade to purify the Earth."

Green tried to keep his face and voice under control, "What are you going to do?"

Potter smiled evilly as a wand grew into his right hand, "Well I think a bit of an experiment is in order. I once tried this spell on a woman who had just murdered my godfather. It failed because the spell is based on hate and she told me that my righteous fury wasn't enough to fuel it. From what I've seen over the last decade, I think a lack of hatred won't be an issue."

Green tried to get to his feet, maybe to run, maybe to fight. He never made it out of his chair.

"Crucio!"

OoOoO

Bob White looked down at the body of Phillip Green and grimaced. The medical techs weren't sure what killed him but it was obvious to the very few who had been allowed in the office that whatever it was, it had been horrific. White could almost feel pain still radiating off the corpse.

"Now what do we do?" General Forester asked. As Green's chief of staff, it worried White that the man didn't immediately see what needed to be done.

"What we do, General, is continue with God's plan for he has given us a way through this. The Phoenix, in his arrogance, has shown us the path by killing our leader away from the eyes of the world. Therefore no one but we shall know of it. I may not be the man Phillip Green was but at this late stage, we cannot falter. We know our mission; Green's death does not alter that fact. I will take up Green's mantle and you and the others of God's anointed warriors will continue to fight the Good Fight."

Forester looked at him before turning to Green's head of propaganda, Maria Espinoza, "Can he do it? Can he fake being Green well enough?"

Maria smirked, "Bobby has been Green more than Phillip was of late. That and people need their heroes. Anything odd will be glossed over. Frankly, it's not like the Colonel has been in close proximity to many of late. The danger from the Reaper was a big part of that. No, Bobby is right. The Colonel's death cannot sway us from our goals. I'm not a military person but I think we need to make a strike as soon as possible. It is likely that Khan is planning to use the chaos of Green's death to attack us."

"Of course, the Reaper might have already killed Khan given there hasn't been a hint of him for two weeks," White pointed out.

Forrester waved them both off, "Regardless of where Khan is or isn't, I agree with Maria. We must strike hard and strike quickly. He turned to White even as he gestured to Green's desk, "I think 'Colonel' you have a speech to finish?"

White nodded with a look of determination, "Right you are, General. The people need to know that their leader is behind them all the way!"

XxXxX

COCKPIT, ARES IV, GRAVITON ELLIPSE, SECTOR 331, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51704.1

The voice of the long dead Lieutenant Kelly filled the Ares IV while Seven and Chakotay worked to copy all the computer's data. While the ship was already inside the zone to be pulled out of the graviton ellipse, Chakotay had been adamant they made copies in case something went wrong. Harry had apparated them over as the transporter required more calibration after the interference from the temporal shields.

Seven, of course, didn't like the plan any more than she'd liked the mission in the first place.

Finally after a snide comment, Chakotay lost his temper, "Look Seven…or rather listen. Do you hear his words? Listen to the words of a man brave enough to get into a ship which was a deathtrap by our standards. He and his comrades went into the mostly unknown and they did it alone. They were light-minutes away from home and it would take at least 20 minutes for any call of help to reach Earth. Not that they could do anything about it. Listen to how he knows he's doomed and through it all, he's sticking to his mission. The mission to explore and to gather knowledge. At the very least you need to respect that. Or is your devotion to Borg efficiency to assimilate knowledge to move towards perfection only lip service?"

Seven was taken back at the venom in Chakotay's voice. "Commander, I…" Words failed her.

Chakotay wasn't finished, "I know you see this as inefficient and the like. Too bad. There is a lot more to life than efficiency. We're doing this because it is a piece of our shared history. It's a tangible link going back through Starfleet to NASA and early spaceflight under the Soviet Space Program. Starfleet, in a sense, was started on this ship and the others which proceeded it. And maybe the Borg burnt it out of you, but for the rest of us, knowing where we came from is precious to us. It is an honor to be here and even more of an honor to know if we can get back to Earth, John Kelly will be laid to rest at last. Call it superstition or whatever you feel like but I doubt there are few, if any, back in the Fleet who wouldn't jump at the chance to be here. This is almost hallowed ground so please, keep your snide comments to yourself."

Seven blinked at the rebuke but stayed silent. She'd rarely seen Chakotay so passionate about a subject. She'd been told he was a man of deep passions but felt this was an opinion which had no merit. As she watched him work, as the voice of the dead spacer filled the capsule, Seven realized how she had been incredibly selfish in many ways. So much information about the crew she'd discarded as being irrelevant unless it had direct bearing on her. Now, she realized, how much she still held to the Borg concept of anything which did not further a goal was inconsequential. Chakotay had been right in thinking that what the Borg held as an ideal was not something which should rule his life. As tied to the Borg as she was, Seven realized that in a way, she was still acting like a drone more out of choice than anything else.

This revelation disturbed her greatly. Perhaps once this mission was complete, she would review all the logs of this long-dead human. Maybe in his words, she could learn more of what filled Chakotay with such passion. Maybe she'd find some echo of it in herself which the Borg hadn't erased.

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: At the end of this chapter, we're only 3 days off of it being a full year of time! Again, many episodes either never happened or (like in this chapter) happened off camera as it were.

Wisdom of Babylon-5: It was tough learning Mira Furlan died as I started this chapter. When asked the question 'Star Trek or Star Wars?' I always reply with "Babylon-5!"One of my favorite bits from Delenn said before a major battle.

Captain John Sheridan : "What does the candle represent?"

Delenn: "Life."

Captain John Sheridan: "Whose Life?"

Delenn: "All Life. Every Life. We are all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars. Molecules that do not understand politics or policies or differences. Over a billion years, we foolish molecules forget who we are and where we came from. In desperate acts of ego, we give ourselves names, fight over lines on maps, and pretend that our light is better than everyone else's."

"The flame reminds us of the piece of those stars that lives on inside us. The spark that tells us: 'You should know better.' The flame also reminds us that life is precious as each flame is unique. When it goes out, it's gone forever. And there will never be another quite like it. So many candles will go out tonight. I wonder some days if we can see anything at all."

The Miranda Class refit: For those who didn't read my Star Trek essay in Chapter 23 of my Pernicious Story Bunnies, my thought of what the reason the Federation has so many variants of a ship which is mostly just a saucer and engines is it allows for more options. First, it is a basic design where the internal components can vary depending on the mission. However, during war-time, these ships can have a pre-made superstructure (like the one seen on the Reliant) added to either augment the original ship (say with more weapons) or to change the mission to something rarely used in peace-time like a commando destroyer or mine-layer/tender. Obviously, some ships might have this superstructure left on for long periods if operating in dangerous areas.

The point of all this is doing this, the Federation has the capability to have a lot of ships with minimal offensive capability which can be quickly fitted out for a war-time function. This also allows the Federation to not have to build a lot of very single-purpose ships (like a dedicated Fleet scout or escorts) which have little to do in peace time. It also explains why the Federation is often looked down on by the Klingons and Romulans yet still kick their asses in war. All those 'weakling' ships doing science can become destroyers in a week or two at a shipyard.

The Kelvin Refit: This fic uses nothing from the Star Trek reboot. However, I like the design of the USS Kelvin and it makes sense that it would be seen as a quick way to add an engine to the Saladin class destroyer or the Hermes class scout ships. Still the whole point of the Miranda class refit as shown above is standardization and the ability to add a superstructure which the Kelvin design wouldn't allow for. Obviously (or I hope it's obvious) this wouldn't be an exact likeness to what was seen in the reboot. More of just the top engine as well as the second engine being at the bottom of the neck. Of course much of what's in that neck would end up being gutted to make room for shuttle-bays and the new engine room. Easily fixed given the need for less crew so more room being freed up in the saucer.

Colonel Green: While I don't use anything from ST:ENT as canon for this story, I am going with the bit about Green killing thousands of people suffering from radiation poisoning as I believe it was reference way back in the ST:TNG pilot episode. Either way, this chapter shows how Green could die for his crimes and still have 'Colonel Green' continue to do terrible acts after WW III ended.

The Reborn: Each of the reborn is modeled after a real person in terms of looks.

Samantha Wildman to Miranda Lawless: A feminist author based on Amanda Lovelace.

Thomas Riker to Cristian McBain: A jazz artists based on Christian McBride.

Brandon Braga to William 'Will' Fry: A scientists physically based off Bill Nye the Science Guy.