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.

31. Prophecy - Part 2

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

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CHAPTER THIRTY ONE – PROPHECY – PART TWO

(Episode: ST: VOY Prophecy and elements of Tinker, Tenor, Doctor Spy)

(References: ST: VOY episodes Fair Haven, The Voyager Conspiracy, Unity & Blood Fever)

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PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed." – Paulo Coelho de Souza – Brazilian novelist and lyricist – 1974 – Present

LAST UPDATED ON: 05-27-2021

Commodore's Log, Star Date 51789.3 – Supplemental. For once my advisors and I are in agreement regarding a complex situation. This being we have all agreed to wait and not push the Klingons as they hash things out. Other than them accepting being docked to the Kelionininkas and allowing a few engineering teams to inspect their warp drives, our wayward fellows from the Alpha Quadrant have kept mostly to themselves while in conclave to determine their next course of action.

Captain Beth states that for the short-term, the Kelionininkas has room enough for the Klingons so the community pods the Kalday is carrying could be renovated one at a time. The Klingons may well leave but the Fleet wishes to help them and fixing their ship is the way to go about it. If they end up staying, those two community pods would be renovated anyway and kept as emergency housing or transport. This is possible due to the Klingons being very impressed with the housing pods of the Kelionininkas. Not surprising given the community pods were designed to bring colonists to their new colony and not for long term travel. Conditions on those pods would be difficult even for a race like the Klingons who thrive on harsh living.

Of course, until we can start on recreating the industrial component the Aušrininkas used to lengthen the ship, we'd be forced to attach any new housing pods to the Cube, something that even now, Captain Potter and others feel is a last resort option. That and as yet we don't have the capability to readily replicate the housing pods either.

If they do stay, then the Kalday would be a great asset in going back to its original mission as a fleet tug. While not replacing the Jules Verne, the Kalday with the appropriate new pods could expand the Fleet's ability to mine, store and even sell refined ores and gasses. Even better is if the Klingons choose to join us, we gain not one, but two warships. I've already spoken with Commander T'Greth who said they easily have the personnel to crew the Thunderchild. This, of course, would be after it's upgraded to a more modern standard and thus not needing as many crew as it originally required. Fortunately for us, this modernization is more on a component-by-component basis. Therefore, it won't impact our larger scale project of creating a new saucer section for the USS Goshawk. That being said, even our future strike-carrier will need to be delay slightly as we still need to upgrade both the Thunderchild and Tovarek's engines to use dilithium. Combat ships or not, the more ships we have to create our warp bubble, the faster we can outrun problems. This goes double for staying out of Borg space.

Now we just have to wait to see what the Klingons will do. I'm not sure which way they will go. My read is the majority of the Klingons are in favor of staying as their journey thus far has been hard and getting worse. Yet Captain Kohlar is very much a person of faith with a big pull on his people. His decisions will be key to this, I'm sure of it.

COMMUNAL PARK, HABITATION POD 35, KELIONININKAS, SECTOR 321, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51790.4

Harry looked at the various groups and had to shake his head. Growing up, he'd often dreamed of having a real family. He had had that, for a bit, with Ginny before he realized he had been living the life everyone expected of him and not the one he actually wanted. Yet he knew that his younger self could never had imagined the scene before him now.

The family outing was being held in one of the wooded parks most of the habitation pods had. It had come about due to Will Fry commenting how much he missed his family's BBQ picnics. The Eugenics War hadn't been conducive to that but Tom and Maria's belated wedding reception had made him think back to those happy times of his childhood. This in turn had reminded Harry of the many festivals back on Tartarus which all had been good times. So he and his various partners had arranged to have a gathering of selected friends and their families.

Harry looked over to where Cedric and the other magical children were moving rocks around for some of the adults. Most of those being from V'Lana's team like Shreen. Then there was Seven off with Uriash, Veer, Yin and Ventris, no doubt discussing something Borg related. While he wished they were doing something fun, Harry also knew that Tom had had some interesting ideas in how to speed up production coming out of the Cube. Not only that but get more of the specialized Borg sensors and weapons back online. So far, only the very basic defensive weapons were working and no one was sure how well they'd actually do in combat.

Harry frowned at that. The Cube's main issue was the one the Fleet continued to have. They either had the capability but didn't have the people or they had the people but not the means to use them properly. While much smaller than a normal Cube, the tactical cube had a crew compliment similar to a Borg Sphere. That could mean anywhere from 6,000 to 11,000 drones manning (if one could call it that) the ship. Their Cube had had a little over 9,000 drones when it was disabled by Species 8472. Even with the Cy-Druoda, Zimbots and using automated features, the truth was they could barely scratch the surface of what the Cube could do.

Tom's plan came about as he had been comparing a holo-novel to the simulated realities Cy-Druoda like Omotayo 'lived' in. It was from this that Tom realized they might be able to marry up various holo-novel characters with a scenario where they had a script they'd follow, adapting as their program dictated. However while these characters might think they were doing one thing, these simulated action would translate to actual actions in the Cube. The idea had sounded daft to Harry at first. However, Harry had long learned not to ignore what he couldn't understand. So he went and talked with those who used the holo-deck to its fullest potential as well as got the Doctor's (and his brothers) opinion on the matter.

They had all agreed that it was the adaptive nature of best holo-novels which was the key. This function would allow those characters in the simulated reality to learn and grow better at their tasks. He had to admit that how Tom explained it to him made more sense. Captain Proton's retro-tech made it easy to write a novel using the frame-work Tom had brought with him when he was posted to Voyager. The original author had been a bit eccentric and had gone above and beyond when recreating the old 20th Century serial into a holo-series. If he hadn't, the plan wouldn't work. That the author had done so meant that Tom and the Cy-Druoda could create a scenario to meet their needs to bring more of the Cube's capabilities online.

As with his back-story for the Voyager vs. Equinox training mission, Tom's flair for such things was impressive. He'd outlined a scenario where the good Captain and his mates had managed to awaken the Battle Star. This being an ancient moon-sized vessel created by the now extinct Galacticons. Harry had laughed at this given he had wondered when he had watched the episode with the Battle Star how much this old serial had been used as a basis for the Death Star four decades later. The scenario would then have Proton and his crew be in a desperate race to learn its secrets so they could use it to rescue Earth from certain destruction from Doctor Chaotica's fleet. The Cy-Druoda could tweak the simulation to fit the needs of the Fleet and the characters would adapt to the new problems as well.

He'd asked Uriash why they just couldn't have an automated program do the same thing. The Gorn had said they could but inevitably the inherent programming in the Borg tech would begin to override the program to reverse it back to Borg standards. This, of course, was the last thing any of them wanted. More than half their current efforts on the Cube was constantly watching for just this sort of thing. There was only so much his own brand of nanites could blunt and it would be years before the entire Cube had been fully swept enough to breathe a bit easier. Even then, constant vigilance would still be in effect.

Using holo-novel characters would allow the Cy-Druoda to liken such Borg reversions to show up as sickness. Again, this would allow the characters themselves to recognize the problem better than an automated system since it was based on real life concerns. This would piggy-back on the general awareness regarding a threat to one's life all living creatures had but was lacking in pure computer code.

Harry hadn't realized how much holo-technology was based on memory engrams from real people. He shouldn't have been surprised given how organic the Doctor and his brothers could be. They all had a core engram from the very real Dr. Zimmerman. Tom had walked him through how most holo-novels used more of an A.I. algorithm to react to the reader. The issue was that this meant one couldn't deviate very far from the script. The better holo-novels, however, took this a step further with major characters having memory engrams so that character would react more realistically and give the algorithm more to work with. The better the holo-novels, the more characters had such engrams.

Due to its mission as a deep-space science vessel, Voyager had a lot of these programs. Harry had wondered about that given he would expect such programs to be huge. Tom had laughed and reminded him that digital storage was one of the technologies which had continued to get better over the decades. Even so, holo-novels were streamed from libraries planet-side as most homes lacked the huge data storage capability a ship like Voyager had. Beyond crew morale, these holo-novels served another purpose of being one part entertainment and one part psycho-therapy.

A prime example of this was the Fair Haven program. Less of a holo-novel and more of a fleshed-out place where the crew could go to unwind. The open-ended aspect mandated all the characters to have a degree of autonomy which required memory engrams to make work. The Doctor had told him how sentient's social skills, honed after centuries of use, made it difficult for a computer to trick. While computers back in Harry's day could fake a person briefly online, that same sort of program quickly broke down in a holo-deck environment as all sorts of clues quickly made it apparent that one wasn't interacting with a real person.

Harry shook his head ruefully. Here he'd been wishing Seven and the others would give work a rest and here he was still working in his head on the very same issue! Still, if Tom's idea worked, it could really speed up things like recreating the industrial annex the Kelionininkas would need to grow.

And that growth would be needed. The loud laughter of children at play all around Harry was proof of that. Even more so when the children here were almost all natural borns. They would need a lot more room for a picnic if they had all the chamber-borns and their adoptive families here as well. Harry had to admit he'd been surprised that Dr. Sokolov had suggested that donor parents give a lot of space to their chamber-born offspring so as to let them better bond with their caregivers or adopted parents. Still, it seemed to be working and even a new bit of lingo had cropped up to accommodate this. Even though the bulk of the children had been born on Tartarus amid the sounds of Paroli and Talaxian, it surprisingly had been the Federation term, pushed by Samantha and Maria, which had come to dominate.

These terms had been used throughout the Federation for decades on planets which used similar methods as the Baby Factory to pump up a population. Thus the biological father and mother were usually referred to by their children who grew up with other parents as geneda (or genepa) and genema which was just a corruption of gene father or mother. It had taken Harry awhile to get used to a child called out 'Jean da' and to realize they meant him. Given the nature of the Baby Factory and how many kids with his DNA which had been born from it, it was now second nature to him.

There were some chamber-born present given how some children were not possible otherwise. All of his children using his DNA married up with Tom's or Tuvok's (or those two together) were here. Although most of the more Vulcan trending children were hanging off to one side along with Noss and T'Pev. All in all, it was a riot of various children with the most prominent linking trait being the pointed ears so many sported.

Harry noticed V'Lana was off under a tree and was amazingly alone. Still, he figured it was the look on her face which was keeping people away but Harry was nothing if not a Gryffindor. So he went over and sat down next to her.

They sat in silence before finally Harry asked, "So, by your expression, you seem to be wrestling with a question. One whose apparent answer is bothering you."

V'Lana turned to him and her lips quirked slightly, "How do you figure? I mean it's not like you and I lived together in a small space for years at a time…oh wait!"

Harry chuckled at that. V'Lana had once told him that while the situation sort of forced it, Harry was the one person (man or woman) who V'Lana had been with the longest. So sometimes his ability to read her moods would surprise her. "So what's eating you?"

V'Lana gestured to the various groups having a good time, "Well you'd think I'd be happy on a day like this. And it is a good day. I never saw myself as a mother. I was content with my life as a rogue and I still am."

"…buuuuuuut," Harry prompted.

V'Lana laughed, "I think I am going through what all parents do at some point. When it's me alone, I can do crazy risks. I do the same, to an extent, with my crew because I know they are with me because they are just as crazy as I am. Still, you know how it is; you have a responsibility to them so there are things you just won't do. Now with the kids…well the stakes are just so much higher now."

Harry nodded, "Okay, that makes complete sense. I've made a name for myself for doing crazy things either to protect people or because I felt my life was worth risking as it didn't have much value. Hard to do that when I have so many kids who need their dad in their life even if it's only as time permits."

V'Lana nodded in return, "Exactly. So, the whole thing with the Klingons bothers me. It's just too pat. Too convenient. In fact, a lot of things are beginning to smell to me and looking through Voyager's logs hasn't helped. We keep getting these problems and then, pardon the phrase, we get some sort of magical solution. Something is going on here."

Harry frowned, "I think I know what you mean but can you give me an example?"

"Well the Cube could be one but I agree with you and the rest of the Fleet heads that it was not about us but the 8472's needs. I think you were totally spot on in that they weren't going to destroy the Cube in their own space so if they were going to dump it in our reality, why not get something for it?" V'Lana explained. "But again, it's like with the Klingons. My team finds some empty ships and it'll be years before we crew it. Then Q pops up and suddenly we have a crew for the Defiant. Now, another group of people, just the one's we need mind you, show up and how did they get here? Apparently via the Q civil war! Color me suspicious especially with a lot of the other things you folks have gone through."

Harry sighed, "Okay V'Lana, let me stop you right there. You're about to fall down a dark well which Seven already fell into. You know her and her mad-on for efficiency right? Well a little before you got shunted to the Delta Quadrant, Seven hadn't learned that perhaps the Voyager crew knew what they were doing so she designed this process where she'd download all sorts of information through her alcove. The purpose was to see patterns and do better at predicting how things should proceed. She was like my old friend Hermione on steroids, lecturing everyone how to do things better via the information she had analyzed."

V'Lana looked interested, "That's sounds like a good idea, actually." She then frowned, "However from your general tone, I'm guessing it didn't go well?"

Harry shook his head even as he waved back to L'Lin, a daughter of his via V'Lana who was waving at him from where she was playing with some of Tom's kids. After the six-year old turned back to her game, Harry went on, "No it didn't. Oh from what B'Elanna told me it worked at first. But then as she took in more and more data, things got weird. She became frighteningly paranoid and started to see connections that weren't there. She went so far as to steal a shuttle to escape the plot her mind had created before Janeway talked her down."

V'Lana frowned, "You think I'm being paranoid?"

Harry held up his hands as if in surrender, "Not at all. I'm just saying from deep, personal experience that if you begin to look at data with the mind-set of there being some form of conspiracy…well you'll find one whether it's there or not. Everything is suspicious if you come at it from a suspicious mind-set."

Something in Harry's voice got V'Lana thinking, "Let me guess, you're 'constant vigilance' has gotten the better of you a few times."

Harry laughed bitterly, "Yes but for the most part I've done alright. Mostly because a huge part of my life people have been out to get me. But let me give you an example. I had a lot of time to think when I was trapped on the Cube. Now I already had my life meddled with and when you're the subject of a prophecy, you know Higher Powers have it in for you. So partly out of despair, I think I wanted there to be some nefarious reason why the Phoenix got assimilated. I mean what are the odds that our ship would hit a micro-wormhole and pop out right where a Borg Cube was?"

V'Lana nodded, "I could see how one could think that suspicious given the vastness of space."

Harry jabbed his index finger towards her, "Exactly! This even more so given the Borg are from the Delta Quadrant. For decades I was sure there was some conspiracy at work. Those Higher Forces that had been meddling with my life were at it again. I desperately wanted there to be a reason, not just some random fluke, to be at fault. I wanted someone to pin the blame on because if there was no one to blame then it meant Life was really just one big crap-shoot. While that is probably truer than not, it's not a comforting thought."

V'Lana pursed her lips, "So what did you finally conclude? You obviously had a change of heart."

Harry sighed, "Well I was obsessed so I kept digging in the Borg records till another event happened. Now this event is tangentially linked to Voyager. So don't get me wrong, it is easy to start wondering about things. Anyway, you know Chakotay had a run-in with some Borg a while back, right?"

V'Lana nodded. It was that encounter which had enabled him to do so well orchestrating the former drones in working with the Cube.

"Well that ship ended up messed up as it was, to the point the Borg lost contact with it, due to the Borg working to try and create a way to artificially reactivate a wormhole which a previous Borg Cube had fallen into accidentally. That Cube was heavily damaged and only managed to send out a signal of where it was in the galaxy before it exploded. That being, of course, the Alpha Quadrant."

"Makes sense. I know Starfleet always wondered why we only saw single Borg Cubes at any given time. I mean you'd expect them to either show up with a large fleet or they'd stay hidden till they could assimilate a bridge-head. Then they could send multiple Cubes towards more target planets," V'Lana said musingly.

Harry snorted at that, "Well they would do such things but more often than not the Borg ships coming through the wormhole were damaged. And yes, you'd think the Borg would try to stay off the radar till they had gotten a foothold. From what I saw in the records, staying off the radar just isn't part of the Borg's inherent nature. It's almost like they have some bit of Doctor Chaotica which makes them act like a bad B-movie villain. You know, having this one flaw which makes them vulnerable. If there is a good reason for why they act like this, I never found it."

Harry conjured himself a glass of water and took a drink before continuing, "In researching the Borg's wormhole project, I found it destabilized space around the exit point. The micro-wormhole the Phoenix fell into was one of many which were generated completely accidentally by the process the Cube I ended up on used to successfully travelled to the Alpha Quadrant. The Phoenix just happened to be the only ship close enough to one of these wormholes to be sucked in. The system had lots of flaws even if the Cube I got stuck on made it back to the Alpha Quadrant safely. More's the pity," Harry said with a sad look.

He shook his head as if to clear it of those bad memories, "Like I said earlier, the Cube Chakotay encountered managed to get to the Alpha Quadrant but was almost destroyed on the return trip. The hit-or-miss aspect of this technology is the major reason why the Alpha Quadrant only sees single Cubes at any given time. The whole process is unstable and can only be used intermittently. So, again, when I finally got access to this info, I realized that while it was bad luck the Phoenix was close enough to the wormhole to fall in, the destination was just an aspect of the way it was created. As you said, space is vast but the truth of space travel is somehow that doesn't seem to matter. Well hell, look how often ships with the name Enterprise kept running into wormholes, rifts in space and other whatnot. Either it's a vast conspiracy or space is filled with things like that and ships which boldly go where no one has gone before are going to keep running into them. You being catapulted to the Delta Quadrant is just another example of that."

V'Lana didn't look convinced, "I still think there is something at work here. Someone pulling strings."

Harry laughed, "Maybe someone is. On the other hand, there may be ships from the Alpha Quadrant all over the galaxy with crews thinking the same thing you are. The fact of the matter is, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, really. Remember after I accidentally torched Galaron III when I asked you about your thoughts on Fate? That you said you lived your life the way you want because that's all you could be sure of, even if that surety might actually be an illusion?"

V'Lana sighed, seeing where Harry was going, "Yes. You're saying I should follow my own advice?"

Harry made a throw-away gesture, "Yes and no. My point is that it is quite possible that all sorts of high level shenanigans are going on for reasons we may never know and probably at our level never could even understand even if we got a peek at it. Here's an example; one I have been thinking about because of our Klingon guests and that's how the General War started and ended."

V'Lana made a face, "How so? The forces pushing for war had been brewing for a long, long time."

Harry waggled a finger at her, "Yes but the Organians' imposed peace kept war from breaking out. It was only after they supposedly left did the fighting start. And at the end? Sure peace was likely but why did the Organians wait till Remus got devastated? Did the Romulans really need to see one of their main planets plastered into a nuclear winter to learn some lesson? And after seventeen years of war, trillions of lives lost, whole planets wrecked and poor economic conditions for decades to come, did anyone truly learn 'the futility of war' as the Organians had hoped? Obviously not and I have trouble thinking beings that advanced would have thought it might in the first place. Plus, where are the Organians now with the Dominion rampaging around?"

V'Lana blinked at that, "Huh. I never even thought of that. It's not like the Organians ever did much after that. They were silent through a lot of smaller conflicts or the likes of the Klingon civil war which did a lot of damage."

Harry nodded, "My point exactly! So maybe there was something else the Organians were doing for reasons of their own back during the General War. Something that had nothing to do with what they told the rest of us so-called lesser beings."

V'Lana sighed, "I know Jean-Luc Picard wondered if Q did the Federation a favor in forcing a confrontation with the Borg early. But you're right. It would be easy to say there was some Continuum plan but the Occam's Razor answer is Q likes to play with people like Jean-Luc and Kathryn and the whole bit with the Borg was a happy coincidence. But as you said, how would we know one way or another?"

Harry ran his hand through his hair, "And that's what I'm getting at. Anything any Q or beings like them do can only be inferred by what we see. Yet they are beings who move through all time and space, why did they pick that specific time and place? Did Q pick the Enterprise because a ship with that name had already been involved with the Organians or that weird ascendant being Trelane? I mean come on, V'Lana, your Dad and Kirk ended up in some weird places and met a lot of weird beings. I could see that being something that might get it noticed by the Q even centuries after the fact. But the fact remains we can't know and we can spin all sorts of theories but again, at the end of the day, we can't know. So while be wary, don't lose any sleep over it."

V'Lana thought about it. Maybe there had been no accident and she'd been cast into the path of Voyager because of her being her father's daughter and knew Jean-Luc. At one level, Q seemed to act like that sort of minor thing could be driving his actions. His taking Laren just to cheer Riker up so he'd be a better show for Q certainly implied it. Yet Harry was right; they could never be sure and how do you ascribe motives to beings who could see through time and space?

Finally she sighed, "I see your point." She suddenly laughed bitterly.

Harry looked confused, "What is it?"

V'Lana gestured towards where Janeway was sitting and telling Cedric and some of the older children some story. From her hand gestures, it involved flying. "You scolded Janeway for thinking we've moved past outmoded thinking. Yet for all our history and technology, out in the greater universe we are still like primitives wondering if that storm was the work of an angry god. Or whether we have pleased or displeased the Gods because of what is happening to us. For all our advances, we are right back where we started."

Harry was silent for a bit before he shrugged, "I think it is the, if you'll excuse the phrase, part of the human condition. Until we evolve past it, that sort of anthropomorphic thinking regarding things may just be the albatross around our neck. Like I said to Katie, ignoring it isn't going to do any good."

V'Lana nodded before grinning, "Well that was depressing. How about we forget about this and just go play with the kids?"

Harry beamed, "Sounds like a wonderful plan. Besides, we probably need to check on Bobby and Yorik. If I know them, they've hooked up with Naomi and are plotting to steal the Aeroshuttle or something. I dread when they are all teenagers and actually have some skills. We'll probably have graffiti on the hull in a few years or something."

V'Lana laughed, "I'm sure it's your penance for all the grey hairs I'm sure you caused the adults in your life."

Harry laughed, "I'm sure I shortened Professor McGonagall's life by at least 20 years just from how I played Quidditch." He offered an arm which V'Lana took in her own. Arm in arm, the two dove back into the mundane joy of a family gathering.

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BRIDGE, HEIRARCHY SURVEY VESSEL, SECTOR 321, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51791.2

Administrator Forn frowned as he looked at the report his second had given him. He looked up and saw that Manager Devro was obviously nervous. As he should be, Forn thought to himself. His team had so far come up empty and had already lost Technician Pylos.

"Every cycle that passes, this fleet of theirs continues to grow. Even though these new ships are outdated, it gives them the ability to field another of those other ships to say nothing of more of those damnable fighters! I understand the constraints your technicians are operating against but the Hierarchy is breathing down my neck and I'm tired of listening to the Devore whine about when they can attack. So, let me make this perfectly clear, Manager Devro; you are running out of time. While I will certainly suffer for your failure, I primarily administer this ship. It is you who are in charge of the team trying to crack the Federation system. Therefore the worst fallout will be upon you if you continue to fail. Now, I suggest you find a way to motivate your technicians because it the fate of Technician Pylos might be preferable to what the Hierarchy may come up with in punishment for all this energy used with nothing to show for it. While I am confident the ship can evade the Devore, I cannot say that for certain. I do know that if we cannot uphold our contract, it is in the nature of the Devore renegades that they will attempt to take their anger out upon us. Therefore it is imperative you redouble your efforts. Do I make myself clear?"

Manager Devro audibly gulped and nodded vigorously, "Yes, Administrator! I understand completely!"

Forn leaned back in his command chair, "Do you really? Because right now I'm thinking that for the safety of the crew, I could have Engineer Nolux send a pulse and fry all your technicians in their alcoves. We can then blame their deaths on the Federation security protocols which previously claim Technician Pylos' life. Tragically their deaths push you to kill yourself out of remorse. Then all that remains is to sneak away from the Devore. Deceiving the Devore is a risk I'm confident in taking. So if you cannot…encourage your team properly, well the safety of this ship and its crew is my primary mission. Now do you understand the stakes?"

Manager Devro blabbered something Forn couldn't understand but the fervent nodding was enough for him. Forn dismissed him with a gesture and smiled evilly as he watched as his second hurried out, already sweating in fear. Good. He needed to be afraid. Nothing Forn had said had been hyperbole. The stakes were too high for failure to be an option now.

OoOoO

Phlox disengaged the crown-like mechanism that allowed him to surf the data stream with a frown. He'd been so close! He thought he'd finally had it only to be called back to the ship. He almost cursed out loud when he saw that all the other technicians were coming out of their alcoves. As he stepped out of his own alcove, he saw that Manager Devro looked like he'd just survived a brush with a Fellerite Swamp Dragon.

Devro's face went from frazzled to angry, "Technicians, I've just come from a talk with Administrator Forn. Things are getting…tense. Pressure from the Devore and the upper echelons of the Hierarchy itself is getting louder every cycle. Worse, the Administrator feels if we fail that the Devore will attempt to destroy us out of revenge. So the rest of the crew are beginning to worry that your inability to accomplish the mission will get us killed. Given what happened to Technician Pylos, I know you are doing your best. However, that best needs to be better or we may find one of our own beaten, airlocked or worse.

Phlox scowled, "They can't do that! We're working as hard as we can. I am close to cracking their system! I was in a tertiary system when we were called back here!"

Devro scowled in return, "Can't do that, you say? You idiot! The Administrator up and threatened to kill all of you and make it look like you all ended up like poor Pylos! Then they'd make it look like I killed myself out of grief before sneaking away from the Devore! That's where we're at people! And even if that doesn't happen, if we can't crack this, the Hierarchy will make an example out of us. Do you want to be remembered in the annals of Energy Wasters and have your bloodline forcibly removed and converted to make up for it?"

The technicians all shuffled uncomfortably. Converting an entire family and their assets to pure energy was one of the worst things which could happen in Overlooker society. Better to die like their comrade via lethal data security than have one's loved ones converted in such a way.

Devro looked at Phlox, "Technician, while it goes against protocol, you will share your current data insertion trace. I will ensure that if it allows one of the others to crack the Federation system that you will be amply compensated from that technician's share."

Phlox almost protested but he realized the rest of the crew weren't about to put their lives at risk over the cyber-team's continued failure. Their lives depended on someone breaking through and into the Federation's system.

"I obey, Manager," Phlox said with a salute.

XxXxX

COMMUNAL AREA, IKV KALDAY, SECTOR 321, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51791.4

As Harry walked into the arena-like space, his sense of a need for constant vigilance went off. The Klingon's reason for him being here had been a bit hazy. He'd previously had been asked over to the ship by Captain Kohlar for a dinner with him and some selected Elders and senior staff. B'Elanna and the other Klingons of the Fleet had also been invited. At first, Harry had thought he was there just to create more blood wine. Yet, in short order, Harry found that his actions as the Phoenix during the Eugenics War were known to the Banished. Unlike most people, the gruesome details they teased out of him were perfectly acceptable dinner conversation.

Harry belatedly realize that his two escorts hadn't come in behind him and that the doors had been closed. Still, if this was a trap, it was a pretty basic one so Harry wasn't worried. As he came out into the greater area, he had a sense of déjà vu of looking up at the Wizengamot when he'd been put on trial for underage magic. Harry saw every seat was filled and there was an air of excitement. He looked around and realized that while this space could be converted to many uses, it had an air of a gladiatorial arena. The fact the deck was covered in sand seemed to confirm this. Given the nature of Klingon culture, Harry felt that's exactly what it was mostly used for.

He thought back to the dinner. He'd surprised his comrades in speaking about his exploits in the War. Harry himself had been a bit surprised himself but he had found it freeing to talk of things he had done grudgingly and instead of horror, be toasted for them. After the drinks, Harry had to admit he got into the Klingon way of boasting one's kills. The other dinner guests certainly enjoyed the tales and he noted quite a few of the women looked at him with interest.

Harry had to chuff at that. B'Elanna was bad enough with the biting and clawing. He shuddered to think what bedding a full-blooded Klingon woman would entail!

Given the sporting arena air to the place, Harry figured he had better play his part. So he made his way to the exact center of the arena and faced what looked to be the head box. Sure enough, the likes of Elder Krang and Captain Kohlar were there.

Harry raised up an arm, "Is this where I say, 'we who are about to die salute you'?"

This caused a general murmuring among the crowd which went silent when Elder Krang turned to Captain Kohlar and nodded. Kohlar rose to his feet. With an obviously enhanced voice (probably via a sub-dermal microphone) he began to speak, "My fellow warriors, comrades and honored elders. Long ago we heard the voice of destiny calling. Steel is forged in fire. A warrior's mettle is tested in battle. Yet what can test our warrior's heart? The nehret is a foe we cannot best with steel in hand. No amount of bravery can defeat it. But our faith was strong. Where others gave into despair, our people heard the call and went forth to prove we could survive till the prophecy was fulfilled. With the birth of the Savior, we would be free once more. Free to return to the Empire which has lost its way. Yet we, forged in fire and with our hearts tested again and again, would lead our people back to what we once were. Back to when…"

To the astonishment of all, Harry interrupted, his own voice magically enhanced, "Back to when you were the Old King's bully boys? Is that the time you're talking about? Hey folks, sorry to rain on your parade here but can we skip to the end where you explain why I'm here? I've already done this prophecy song-and-dance. Let me tell you from experience that prophecies never come to fruition the way you expect and that happily ever after you were expecting doesn't pan out either. So, why did you really ask me to be here?"

The arena erupted in angry shouts. Yet Harry had to admit to being impressed when a chopping motion from Elder Krang cut them off like a switch had been thrown. Again the older Klingon looked to Kohlar who himself looked like he'd just gotten a mouthful of Dumbledore's lemon drops.

"You are here, Harry Potter, to determine if you are the father of our Savior. The prophecy and our own Sacred Scrolls are often filled with hidden meaning and symbolism," Kohlar said with steel in his voice. "In regard to our Savior's father, we had long thought the lines of the prophecy regarding the father were such. Words which fire the imagination but are merely symbolic of the father's abilities as a warrior."

Harry crossed his arms and frowned, "Which is almost every prophecy ever given. Whether they came true or not. So what's got the snake under your armor then?"

Kohlar didn't seem to be fazed by Harry's flippant nature. He leaned forward, hands on the railing, "Why not tell me yourself? What would you make of how the prophecy states that '…and the father's voice shall bring destruction down upon his enemies. A Master of Death who's coming is heralded in blood and fire.'?"

Harry couldn't help but blanch at this. Still, he schooled his face before replying, "Okay, I'll give you a pass on thinking it applies to me. It seems I can't shake this Master of Death title even lightyears away from where I got it. But aren't you forgetting something? Something pretty damned obvious? First off, last time I checked, I'm not a Klingon. Secondly, are we about to have some Klingon Dating Game thing to choose who you think I should sex up to crank out your savior?"

This was met with more murmurs and even a few chuckles which were again cut off by Krang. Kohlar straightened up, "No for we believe you have already sired our Savior with B'Elanna Torres."

Harry noted that this was met with more muttering, many of it sounding unhappy. Obviously, the Klingons had been discussing this for some time and many hadn't like the implications. "Okay, again, your Savior isn't going to be much of a Klingon. Isn't that sort of the point for you all? You just said you see yourselves as being the heirs to rebrand the Klingons back to their glory days. Seems a little odd to have this kicked off by a kid who will only be a quarter Klingon."

Elder Krang made a dismissive gesture, "While it is true B'Elanna's father was human, her mother's lineage is not in question. She is descendent from a long and proud line. And while B'Elanna was raised mostly by humans, she herself embraced her Klingon self. Where we all were born Klingon, bound to Sto-Vo-Kor if our deeds be judged worthy, B'Elanna chose to be Klingon. She has fought and survived. She is the daughter of two warring houses."

Harry nodded at this. The elder had a point. B'Elanna could have had elective surgery to make herself look more baseline human. She could have turned her back on her Klingon heritage but chose not to. Chose instead to embrace it more and more as the years went by.

But there was still another matter at hand. Harry turned slowly so he could look at the entire gathering as he spoke, "And myself? Yes, I've killed my way through a lot of people. I cast the flames that killed almost four billion sentients and left an entire planet lifeless. Have you really thought through what it means to embrace a Master of Death? One constant of my life is I leave bodies around me wherever I go, friend and foe alike."

Kohlar dismissed that out of hand, "You lack the warrior's heart. You are driven by mercy and yes, you are merely human. Yet you were marked for your bravery. You were marked for greatness and you overcame death to defeat your foe. Even in the face of the Borg Collective, you survived to fight your enemies once again. Klingon or not, you are a survivor who has yet to meet that which can kill you. A fitting trait for our Savior."

Harry all but could hear the 'but' in that last statement. Sure enough, doors all around him opened. From which came armed and armored Klingons. Harry sighed. He really should have expected this. Just like the Federation humans; you could put them into space ships with fancy doodads and fantastical weapons and yet it all came back to a primitive blood sport.

He looked up at Kohlar who had an evil looking smile on his face, "It is said one does not truly know someone until they fight. How we react in the face of death tells us the nature of one's true character."

Harry laughed loudly to the surprise of many, "If you think I'm in danger of death from your bully-boys here, you've got a screw loose."

Kohlar shook his head and gesture to one side. Harry almost sighed again. This was another thing he should have seen coming. Old Mad-Eye certainly would have. Sure enough, a pod containing a restrained B'Elanna rose up next to Kohlar. "It is not your death that is at stake, but hers. If you cannot fight for her then we were obviously mistaken in our interpretations. So, Harry Potter, prove to us that you are the Master of Death in honorable combat or B'Elanna Torres shall pay the price. As you said, your life is littered with the bodies of friends as well as foes. Shall we add this woman to that list?"

Harry went still. If any of the Klingons had been closer, they would have felt the very air go cold. Harry looked at Kohlar. From this distance he couldn't read his surface thoughts so Harry was unsure of what was going on. Was this actually the test Kohlar said it was? Or was this a set-up to kill B'Elanna in an acceptable way to but an end to speculation she could be the one to bear the Savior? Harry knew that Kohlar had deep reservations about staying with the fleet. Was this his way to ensure they left?

The Klingon warriors all began to advance on him at a gesture by Elder Krang. While many had bat'leths, the rest had an assortment of Klingon melee weapons. As they neared, Harry realized it didn't matter one way or the other. Harry was going to show them what he felt about their 'honorable' trial by combat.

With a cry, one of the larger warriors raised his bat'leth and rushed him. With a gesture, Harry sent a pulse of magic through his clothes. Unlike the Xenylon uniforms the rest of the fleet wore, Harry's was made up of nanites with similar capabilities. In an instant, his Vulcan like robes he had favored since his time on Tartarus flowed into what he liked to think of as his all black 'Skywalker' suit he had usually worn on missions as the Phoenix.

As his clothes morphed around him, Harry was already in motion. While Klingons were stronger and tougher than humans, Harry had sparred enough with Warg to know they weren't any faster. Harry, however, was a wizard who could push his magic into his body. His years of training with Khan's enhanced soldiers meant he knew how to make speed and his enemies inertia work to his own favor.

Thus it was fairly easy for him to catch one of the Klingon's arm before he could bring the blade down and flip him into the sand. The ease of which he did this caused a roar from the crowd and the other Klingon warriors to stop to assess what to do next.

Harry just stood there. He was thinking on how he wanted to handle this. Did he want to go full on magical and wipe the floor with the warriors? Did he want to give the Klingons the show they wanted and cut these warriors to pieces? He had his saber in his Mokeskin pouch around his neck. Or did he want to do something showy using wandless magic to go all Sith on them. He knew Rigel would probably wet himself watching a tape of him doing this. Bellatrix too but she'd never admit it.

One glance up at B'Elanna in the pod, strapped down like an animal, made him decide that he could do all three and make his point. As he made this decision, two Klingons who looked related charged him together. Harry flung out both hands and wandlessly grabbed both warriors and lifted them in the air. Their necks made a sickeningly loud crack as he twisted their necks. He dropped them, heedless of the roar from the crowds. Harry knew that unlike humans, the two Klingons would probably survive long enough for them to be stabilized. He might even heal them.

Maybe.

The shock of his action caused the other warriors to stare which gave Harry plenty of time to get his saber out. Thinking of Tom and his cheesy movies, he called out, "So…who dies next?"

As he expected, this caused a few of the Klingons to charge at him. Harry had to smirk; for all their talk of being great warriors, most of the time they seemed to just rush in. Gryffindor must have been an honorary Klingon, Harry thought irreverently as he activated his saber as the closest screaming warrior got into range.

The crowd roared again as his red blade literally cut the warrior off at the knees. The crowd's cheers began to change to that of surprise as Harry seemingly danced between the Klingons, leaving shorn off arms and legs in his wake. Not one blade touched him for even when one might have done so, Harry's protego shield would flash into being and protect him. Soon the area was filled with the cries of the wounded.

In short order, it was done. While good, the Klingons were not the enhanced Harry had trained with and they certainly were not in the same class as the Hirogen. Harry faced down the last warrior and waited to see what she would do. She glared at him before she seemed to come to a decision. She flipped her sword over and drove it into the sandy ground of the arena. She then drew two wicked looking knives and went into a dueler's crouch. She called out, "I am ready to die next!"

Harry smiled and saluted her with his saber before he shut it off and grounded it into the sand. With a flourish, Harry manifested his own knives. He felt a pang of uncertainty. On one hand he respected the woman's determination but to show it to her via her own culture meant killing her.

Harry closed on the warrior. To his surprise, she waited for his first feint before joining in on the deadly dance. The crowd roared with excitement as the knives flashed back and forth. Harry had to admit she was good as he had to put an actual, honest effort into the fight. Whoever this Klingon woman was, she could give V'Lana a run for her money. Still, in the end, Harry's speed made the outcome inevitable. A slash to the wrist got her out of position and Harry was able to ram both knives into two different parts of her mid-section. As she gasped in pain, a spatter of blood coming from her lips, Harry leaned in and whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry; you fought well but I can't let you die for this charade. You deserve a better warrior's death than that."

He then leaned back and let the woman slide off his knives. Unknown to the audience, Harry had already magically bound the wounds so she wouldn't bleed out. He looked up to see Krang and Kohlar looking down at him, the rest of the Klingon elders around them. Harry couldn't tell if they were disappointed or smug they had been right. Either way, Harry was still furious. As he had said, this had been a charade from the beginning. It was time to show them all of that fact.

With another flourish, Harry flicked his knives to clean the purplish blood off them before dispelling them and faced the head box.

Elder Krang rose, "Harry Potter, through honorable combat…"

Harry manifested the Elder Wand, "Crucio!"

Both Krang and Kohlar fell back into their seats as the torture curse wracked their bodies with pain they could never have imagined. "Honorable? You kidnap a pregnant woman, threaten her so I would fight and you have the gall to call it honorable? No! This charade ends now. Your prophecy talked of a Master of Death. Let me show you what that means."

Harry released the spell before roaring out, "IGNIS INFERNALIS!"A fiery basilisk burst forth from his wand and quickly circled the interior of the arena. The crowd screamed in panic as the heat of the flames washed over them.

"Is this what you wanted to see? Is this the proof you needed? That I am truly am the Master of Death and I hold your lives in my hand? I have shed blood. I have shouted to the heavens and brought forth fire. With but a thought I could burn you all. You and this ship and all your dreams and always could have. Your leaders must have known this. So where is the honor in provoking me? Threating one special to me and our unborn children? From where I stand, I see no honor here," Harry spat out, venom in each syllable.

He abruptly cut off the Fiendfyre and turned to where both Krang and Kohlar had managed to get back to their feet. Harry pointed his wand at them, "The only honor here is what these warriors fought with regardless of the futility of it. Bind up their wounds. Send those who are too injured for you to deal with to Voyager. I will heal them myself."

Before anyone could speak, Harry flicked his wand at the pod B'Elanna was in and it sailed over to him. Another round of quick flurries of his wand and B'Elanna was free and standing next to him, rubbing her wrists. "You okay?" Harry asked quietly.

B'Elanna nodded.

"I can kill them all if you like," Harry offered.

B'Elanna shook her head, "No. They are tired, confused and I think being sent to the Delta Quadrant broke them a bit. I'm willing to go with my human side and give them the benefit of the doubt…for now. Besides, I sort of like the thought of being the mother of the Savior of the Banished. It may never happen but there are a lot of Klingons I knew growing up who I'd love for them to learn of this. See if they still think I'd never amount to much!"

Harry nodded and looked up at Krang and Kohlar again. "Remember what I said. You all better pray I don't have to come here in anger again, understood?"

As both Klingons nodded gravely, Harry took B'Elanna's hand and apparated away.

XxXxX

Torres' Personal log, Star Date 51798.8. The look on Tom's face when I broke his wrist for making that damsel in distress comment was well worth the ass chewing I got from Chakotay. Still, I'd do it again if someone else thinks they're a comedian. Surprisingly, Tom genuinely apologized and did so, I think, without being prompted by Maria. For all he can still speak first and think later, it can be startling to realize how much he matured down on Tartarus. I have to admit I am still tempted to jump into bed with him at times. But that boat has sailed and if I'm being honest, I should be happy for it. It's ironic that both of us have matured into the people who could be a better fit for each other only after becoming committed to others.

Although in my case, that is a convoluted thing. From being the loner, the terror of Engineering, like Tom I seem to have blundered into a sort of family. I totally blame Harry. I can't deny, though, that for all the confusion, life is pretty good. I don't know what I have going on with Seven but I'm content to just let it happen. For all that I have tried to embrace my Klingon heritage, I rarely got into that 'blood-wine orgy' phase. Now? More often than not I wake up in a very crowded bed. I guess it helps that V'Lana sort of has the same weird relationship with Harry that I do. It also helps that V'Lana is a demon in bed (shower, Jeffries tube or wherever) and Treana's lack of possessiveness is comforting. The sex is certainly the best I've ever had.

But again, to be honest, I find myself still surprised how things continue to pan out. Never thought I'd find myself in bed with the likes of Jondra and Yin along with Harry and V'Lana. Or that one night with Seven when Korath showed up with Treana. Good thing Harry was able to magically fix the bed. I could do without the rumors which would have started from having to requisition a new one. On the other hand, if Yin's performance is anything to go by, maybe mating with Vorik might not have been that bad. I certainly can see why Noss smiles like she does if her sex life with Tuvok ever comes up.

For all that, I'm wondering about the future. I'm going to be a mother in a few months and even if I don't have any more kids, there are going to be other children from my DNA used in the Baby Factory. While its easy to focus on all the great sex, I've also been finding myself playing babysitter as well. Another thing I never really saw myself doing or that I'd find myself enjoying it. So I've been thinking a lot about what comes next.

Sure, I'm not going to leave engineering any time soon but how long will that last? At some point I'll need to step aside and let someone else like Vorik step into the role. Then what? Command never interested me and I don't think I'd be a very good instructor. So beyond raising my kids, I'm unclear what I will being doing after my time as Chief Engineer is done. Who knows? Maybe I might join V'Lana's team or even head up my own team. That might be fun.

I'm not the only one having such thoughts. The Doctor told me during my last neo-natal checkup that a lot of the crew are finally coming to grips with our reality. Neelix was right all along. We all had thought we'd somehow make it back to the Alpha Quadrant sooner rather than later. So we just kept going on inertia like we could pull into space dock any day. With the coming of the Varro and all the kids from Tartarus and the Garage, well it's finally started to sink in that while possible, it's not likely. I guess it helps that the folks off the Defiant have little to go home to so were more willing to jump into the whole generational fleet paradigm.

A good thing but one which brings up a lot of questions of how are we going to actually make this work? In a way, we're in the same boat as the Banished in having their whole paradigm broken. Although I guess they can't be called that anymore as they have decided to stay with us. Kohlar apparently always harped on omens and that has sort of come back to bite him in the ass. I'm half human, Harry's a wizard and it is from V'Lana, a weird hybrid herself that the cure from nehret looks highly likely to come. While not 100% certain, Dr. Muroc is confident that using work the Doctor did regarding the Phage virus, he can adapt the gene therapy used on V'Lana to stabilize her genome to create a cure. We just have to wait till the twins get a little more developed before harvesting a few stem cells to make it all work. I still chuckle at the face Kohlar made when I pointed out that V'Lana also fits the prophecy given she herself is, in a way, born of two warring houses. The first being that of the Federation and the Imperium and the second being the Vulcans and the Romulans.

So if that isn't an omen that the Banished need to be open to a more open, hybrid lifestyle, I can't think of it. It helps that the Empire itself has changed a lot since the Banished left. If anything, a lot of the traits they venerated were just the sort of things which ended up costing the Klingons in the General War. Watching the fight on the Kalday sort of proved that. Honor is to be cherished but one has to be smart about it. I totally agree with Harry how 'brave but stupid' sort of epitomized the fighting style they used.

Only Ch'Rega had the sense to actually fight with some style. Of course now Harry complains she's stalking him. Ha! Poor Harry. Stabbing a Klingon woman like that is just really active foreplay to a gal like her. As much as I should be jealous, I'm rooting for her to trip Harry into bed. If he thinks my love bites are bad wait till he gets a night with a full-blooded Klingon! Dad survived it only because he was a masochist through and through. That and he was really good with a dermal regenerator. V'Lana and Jondra feel the same way. If anything, I think Treana is conspiring to make it happen so we can all watch.

If so, I'll bring the popcorn and 3D glasses!

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Name Change: I'd like to thank the unknown guest reviewer who pointed out that somehow (I blame Google Translate) that I had the name for the original Varro ship wrong by having an 'r' in the name. So I've gone back and fixed it to the proper Aušrininkas. The reviewer pointed out that Aušrinė is the morning star in Lithuanian. In fact, I can't seem to find out how I got this to work out to Dawn Walker which was my way of giving homage to the Dawn Treader of Narnia fame. Oh well, it's close enough for government work as they say. That and I had to go back and make changes to Captain Hylan Beth of the Kelionininkas as I had mistakenly been using his first name for his last.

Episode Shift: As I mentioned in Chapter One, I reserve the right to fiddle around with episode order and change canon. So in this story, The Voyager Conspiracy happened sometime during Chapter 5 and 6 but before the Marianne came through in the latter.

Holo-Novels Change: Frankly, I find it unbelievable that any old 'modder' could create holo-characters like Moriarty capable of talking over the Enterprise-D or the entire town of Fair Haven on their own. No, I see this as a huge industry given so many different disciplines would be in play. The high-end, top-of-the-line novels are going to be ones which have actual memory engrams to allow the characters to better react to the so-called reader. Because why "read" a holo-novel is you pretty much have to learn all the lines and play out the book almost exactly? What a pain! No, it makes more sense that these novels are more like fan-fiction in that the appeal is the "reader" gets to fiddle with the story via their own actions. However, to make this work, the program would have to be incredibly adaptable to a scary level.

Because, when you think about it, most holo-novels would actually be similar to so many games (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comes to mind) where you, the player, can make choices, but only from the choices available to you. So less of a novel and more of an immersive game. Now THAT makes a lot more sense to me. This sort of thing could be handled pretty well by an advanced algorithm. Better novels might allow the NPC's to have more options but still be constrained by the story. The problem is that all breaks down if you're trying to do a 'free form' play where you want to be able to stray off script.

Well, why reinvent the wheel when you could just use what evolution has already created in the form of sentients and that comes with it. In this case, then it becomes more believable that a program "wakes-up" and I'm sure by Janeway's times, there are more controls to keep that from happening. In fact, the "Dr. Zimmerman" repair program is a good example of it being a good copy of the real Dr. Zimmerman because while I'm sure a lot is pared away, one can't be too sure what makes the real Dr. Z so good at what he does. So in a sense, a good holo-character is like a magical portrait which had a LOT more magic put into it during the imprinting process.

Sort of the difference between needing to simulate a scene with just animals and one with a real (at one time) person. Paris can create his own Captain Proton episodes because the original author made the program robust with the idea that others would tweak it themselves because the overall episodic plot format made it easy.

I figure most really high-end novels would be like this. I mean who would really want to just walk through the Harry Potter novels? No, we'd all want to do things differently and see how they played out…which is 48% of what fan-fiction is! (With the other 52% being papering over all the plot holes JKR left us.)