Disclaimer: This is fanfiction. Anything you recognize is not mine. All characters and events in this story are entirely fictional.
-=oOo=-
Captain Shras sat in one of the back seats aboard the Liberator. "Please contact the station and request clearance for departure."
"I am doing so now," said Cally.
"Liberator, this is Starfleet Command. You are cleared to proceed on your mission. Good Journey."
"Thank you Starfleet Command," said Cally.
"You may proceed when ready," said Shras.
"Zen time to Meras Five at standard by six?" asked Avon.
"The trip will exhaust energy banks in sixteen point one hours, and require an additional six hours to recharge, before completing in an additional fourteen point seven hours."
"What speed gets us there with at least half full energy banks?" asked Avon.
"Standard by four will complete the requested route in fifty two hours and have the energy banks at fifty nine percent."
"Zen set course to Meras Five and execute at Standard by four."
"Confirmed."
"We could probably run a power feed from the runabout to further reduce that, though I'm not sure it is necessary. Such changes on the fly are apt to cause issues, given the completely different technology base," said Shras.
"We have more than two days. I figure we might as well figure it out, even if we don't do it. The biggest limitation Liberator had was that it couldn't sustain its highest velocities," said Avon.
"Fair enough. I'll walk with you to the runabout."
-=oOo=-
Twelve hours into the trip they got a communication from the runabout that was sent out ahead of time. Shras was back on the bridge. Avon was still working with his engineers to come up with a sane way to interface the two power systems. They were making some progress.
"Open the connection," asked Shras.
"Captain, the situation here is worse than we feared. The communications blackout was just minor technical issues, but we have nearly three thousand cases of Andorian shingles that we are not equipped to treat. Several hundred need to be at a Starbase or a properly equipped hospital ship within a week or they may suffer long term complications. A small number may die. We have already requested a hospital ship, but they are nearly two weeks out."
"Contact Avon, ask how long it would be before they can test the interface," said Shras.
Cally did so.
"Thirty minutes if it is an emergency, but we need to ramp power slowly, emergency or not," said Avon.
"Can we increase speed before then? Also can we cut off the flight deck from the rest of the ship? We have a disease pathogen to deal with. It is generally not fatal if treated, but it is more than they can deal with there and we need to move at least several hundred."
"Ask Zen."
"I'll have to. Zen doesn't recognize your voice. Zen, answer the question," said Jenna.
"Emergency seals and isolated environmental systems are designed for such situations. Flight crew would be limited to the command module until decontamination is complete."
"As to velocity, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't increase power draw before we got this hooked up. In fact we really need to shut down the main drive, though that won't stop our forward motion," said Avon.
"Agreed. Get the job done right. Worst case we are charging your reserves," said Shras.
"Zen discontinue main drives. Let us coast," said Jenna.
"Main drives are discontinued."
"We will get on it right now," said Avon.
"Thanks. Keep us posted."
"We will."
-=oOo=-
Avon was back on the main bridge nearly half an hour later.
"Zen report status of secondary connection to Federation runabout."
"Diagnostics reveal no issues, though analysis is limited while power flow remains minimal."
"Increase to standard speed."
"Now accelerating to standard speed. Standard speed is now established. Interface remains within specifications. Variance is 1%. Forty percent targeted power split is achieved."
Avon pressed a button. "Are there any problems back there?"
"None here. We are ready for a further speed increase."
"Zen, Increase speed to standard by two."
"Speed is now standard by two. Interface remains within specified limits."
Avon pressed the button again. "Again, are we good?"
"Give us five minutes to verify. You are now getting to interesting levels of power."
"Okay, you tell me when to increase or to cut power," said Avon.
"Will do."
"Out of curiosity, why forty percent split?" asked Shras.
"It worked out well. That is the about the limit of the power tap we used, and that is enough power to sustain standard by six which is about our max sustained safe speed," said Avon.
"So we could go faster for brief durations?"
"Standard by twenty is technically the max speed of the Liberator, but it burns through the energy banks in no time, and would eventually cause drive damage if it did not. The problem with going faster than standard by six is the flight computers might miss something and the ship be destroyed or badly damaged. The force wall is too expensive to run at the same time. I suppose we might manage a second power tap and sustain more, but we would have to first run the force wall," said Avon.
"You probably need a better reactor in general then," said Shras.
"Probably," agreed Avon.
"This is Michaels. We are ready for the next step."
"Zen increase to standard by three and report on the update."
"Confirmed. Speed is now standard by three. Interface remains within specifications."
"It looks good from what I can tell," said Jenna.
Avon again sent his voice ship wide. "Let me know when you are ready for the rest."
"You can do four now."
"Zen increase to standard by four."
"Confirmed."
Five and six were delayed by around twenty minutes as Michaels worked to work out some minor issues, but they were soon on their way.
-=oOo=-
They had close to five hundred people aboard Liberator when Falcon caught up with them. Riker appeared on screen.
"Want some help?"
"We would greatly appreciate getting back to the Starbase One with alacrity. People need treatment," said Shras.
"Understood. What were the readings before. Would your shield have protected you in hyperspace?" asked Riker.
"Of course it would. This was, after all, a prototype vessel for hyperdrive development. They had several things wrong, which I understand now, but the force wall can certainly protect against that," said Orac.
"Well then Zen, activate the force wall," said Avon
"Force wall activated."
"Jenna, do you want to manually follow or use the automatics?"
"I'll take her on manual. One can't learn, if everything is done for them."
"Good, we are opening the window now. Follow us in," said Riker.
Falcon opened the way and Jenna smoothly followed them in. They exited near Starbase One and flew the rest of the way. The Starbase quickly beamed all the patients off before beaming in a suited team and coating everything in a light layer of decontamination spray. With some additional work the crew of the Liberator vented the rest of the ship to hard vacuum. Once Liberator was resealed the Starbase beamed up new supplies of fresh air. After that they beamed up a final decontamination crew that verified the rest of the ship was good. Those on the flight deck went to a separate medical facility which verified they weren't contaminated and then the ship was returned to normal.
-=oOo=-
Cally awoke the next morning when the door chimed. They were again in their borrowed quarters. She was the one that was up late in the living room area this time.
She glanced at herself before getting up and saying, "Enter."
Lafiel walked in.
"Are you ready to go then?" asked Cally.
"If you want. We can also take you to Babylon 5 or anywhere really. I know my own government would love to have your ship and crew, but the Federation would probably not risk the technology transfer, not while we are still dealing with the United Mankind situation."
"Will we visit there?" asked Cally.
Avon walked in, and replicated a cup of coffee that he silently started drinking.
Lafiel replied, "We probably will at some point, though we don't actually have plans for today yet. Was their someplace you wanted to go?"
"I'd like to see another planet of telepaths," said Cally hopefully.
"I haven't been to Betazed either and would also like to see it. Let's see if the Captain agrees. Do you have any luggage?"
"Yes, I am packed. Let me go get it."
Villa walked out handing it to her. Jenna was just behind.
"Thanks Villa."
"You will come back, won't you?" asked Avon.
"I intend to. We have work yet to do, don't we?" asked Cally softly.
Avon nodded.
"Thank you Avon. I mean that," said Cally.
"I know."
"I suppose I can do my bit, as long as we have backup," said Villa.
"Avon was never as cruel as he pretended, nor Villa as cowardly or unobservant, nor Jenna as aloof. I shall miss you all," said Cally.
-=oOo=-
"Welcome to Falcon. I'm not sure if we have formally told you but we are a fast response ship normally. Anywhere, anytime, for any valid reason and we go," said Riker.
"It is good to be here. Lafiel mentioned we might be able to visit Betazed?"
"That seems as good a destination as any. Does anyone have any objections?" asked Riker. There were none. "In that case Ekuryua, could you take us there?"
"With warp drive or hyperspace?" asked Ekuryua.
"It's not that far. I suggest warp drive. Our constant cycling isn't ideal, but by using it periodically we make sure to keep things ready when we need them," said Neela.
"Sounds good to me. Take us there. Warp six should be fine. Engage when ready," said Riker.
"Engaging at warp six. ETA is four point three hours," said Ekuryua.
-=oOo=-
Cally gasped when they entered orbit around Betazed. "It's like they are calling me home."
"I feel it too. Piper as well," said Celeste.
"Even I can feel it a bit," said Riker.
"I wonder if we should consider bringing at least some of my people here. They have been largely left alone by the Federation, but I wonder for how long. They seem so vulnerable," said Cally.
"That's an idea. Why don't we go ask?" asked Riker.
"Could we really?"
"If they are in danger, sure. Probably if they just ask. They have to want to come of course."
"We should go down and explain," said Piper.
Cally nodded.
-=oOo=-
The bridge crew, save Neela and Ekuryua beamed down to a large assembly hall. It had beautiful blue stained glass windows, of ever shade of blue imaginable. It seemed to be otherwise made of granite, and looked more like an old church than anything else. Piper was the first to speak.
"Hold on. We aren't usually the ones that do the mass merges," she said out loud to the several hundred that attended.
"Yes, we can do it. Give us a moment to prepare," said Celeste before turning to Cally. "Do you want to be a part?"
"With all my heart," said Cally.
Celeste held out her hand to Cally. The two smiled as they merged and then Piper joined them before one by one a circle consisting of three hundred and thirty four people formed. It wasn't really a circle, since it wound back and forth, but that didn't matter in the slightest.
-=oOo=-
Cally was surprised for their mind to suddenly rise above the cathedral and into the air as it flew around Betazed lightly touching and brushing countless welcoming minds as they did. Often times the minds would join in, flying with them until there was close to four thousand.
They weren't here for a purpose. They were here for simply being together. One surprise that Cally got was that the children of Auron were welcome to come, if they wanted to. That was a welcome surprise. She had not even asked yet. How long Auron could remain independent from their Federation was questionable. They were welcome here or on any of the three settlement worlds linked to Betazed, as they pleased.
They went higher, drawn by some nebulous call they couldn't understand.
The part that was Piper thought, "Caution, there is danger if we move too far from our bodies for too long, particular to the weaker of us."
"Help. A world needs help, off in the distance. Children dying," they thought.
"We sense it. We will go and help. We have done enough as one," thought Celeste.
They regretfully moved back to the planet reversing their course, gently and with gratitude parting as they did so till the original link was dissolved.
Riker touched his com badge, "Riker to Falcon. Beam up landing party and prepare to enter hyperspace."
-=oOo=-
"Where are we going?" was Riker's first sentence after they materialized onboard.
"It's far. Very very far. We only got a general direction. It is clearly beyond this galaxy and the next. We probably wouldn't have felt it if it wasn't for so many telepaths," said Piper.
"We can get Ekuryua on course, but we are going to have to try to sense it again after about two days travel," said Celeste.
"Okay, connect me to Starfleet. If we are going way off the grid, they need to know. I also need a flight plan filed, best you can do," said Riker.,
"We will get it done," said Piper.
-=oOo=-
They had traveled for close to two weeks, which in hyperspace at their velocities was a ridiculous distance, well beyond this galaxy and two others, when they finally approached the planet.
Q appeared beside Riker on Falcon.
"I was surprised when I glanced to see what your doing that I couldn't find you, at least till I cheated by skipping back in time to see where you went."
"Got any advice on this one?" asked Riker.
"I honestly haven't peeked. I wanted it to be a surprise for me as well," said Q.
"Fair enough."
"We are now in a precautionary extended orbit," said Lafiel.
"What can you tell me Sobaash? Start passive," said Riker.
"It's an ocean planet. Only ten percent land masses. That is really hurting our sensor resolution passively. If there is a civilization down there, they are not emitting much of anything. The temperature of the water is consistent with most forms of life we are familiar with, though a touch on the warm side," said Sobaash.
"Get closer. Do what you have to do to get us some readings that tell us something," said Riker.
"Approaching," said Lafiel. Jinto beside her was just as focused.
"It won't work, at least not well. We need to build probes of some kind," said L'Nea.
"Something we can materialize just over the ocean and drop in to begin mapping?" suggested Neela.
"Yes, I'm looking through the Federation database to find something we can replicate without having to design it from scratch. I'm sending my search results over to you, and some to Jadzia as well. Can you begin review?" asked L'Nea.
"On it."
"We are beginning to get some readings. Fish, but not as many as I'd expect in an ocean. We are reading down to twenty feet with our existing sensors from orbit," said Sobaash.
Samson added, "I found an Abh design in my own search. I'll forward it."
"It's a decent design for this situation, but it doesn't have replication instructions. I'd pick it if it did. I think the one Neela flagged is our best bet for now. Why don't we start with that, and then we will work on a better one," said L'Nea.
"This is going to take some time. I have to wonder if Celeste, Piper, and Cally can narrow where to put the first copies?" asked Neela.
"We will give it a try," said Celeste, who reached her hands out to Piper and Cally.
They dove with their combined mind down nearly thirty meters till they found the first city. In the middle of the town square a young brunette was tied to a pole. She was dying.
"She's human. No that can't be right. Humans can't live under water like this," they thought.
Their combined mind gently brushed the young woman's thoughts. They heard, "Neri must die. She is abnormal."
"For what, being a telepath?" they thought.
"Not natural. Village decided."
"Come with us?"
"Miss village."
"Can we make a room with water? Is there a way she can breathe air temporarily?" they thought.
"I've been to the surface many times. They don't like that. Can breathe air, but must return in few days."
Back on Falcon Celeste said, "We need a room filed with the water like one thirty meters down. It seems they are killing emergent telepaths. Neri isn't the only one. She can breathe air, but can't stay out of the water for more than a few days. We want to pull her out of there, but we need to bring her to the surface slowly. She is weak."
"Proceed. Doctor Bashir, please stand by for a patient. Neela, L'Nea begin work on that."
The gestalt mentally looked around. It was night out and no one was guarding her. They snapped her bonds and floated her gently up slowly, giving her a bit of time to adjust. Once they lifted her free of the ocean, they gently held her in the air as the transporter beamed her to the sick bay bed Doctor Bashir was waiting by.
"Fools," said Q on the main bridge.
"The real question, beyond rescuing every single one we can, is what we do about it? They are pre FTL. We try to leave those alone," said Riker.
"Look again. There is one advanced city left. They have regressed," said Q.
"Oh boy. Okay first things first. Let's save those we can, talk with them, and see what we can do. I don't suppose there is any nearby ocean worlds?" asked Riker.
Q smiled. "I'm not doing your work for you."
"Worth a try," said Riker.
"We are searching for others. There are several, but none urgent like Neri," said Cally.
"Good. We aren't leaving anyone here to die. How much we interfere, well I do have people I have to report to, and I'm not sure they will care they were once an advanced species. That being said. Find us a solution and I'll find some way to sell it," said Riker.
"The probes may not be necessary. The people in trouble seem to call to us," said Celeste absently.
"Find that advanced city. I want intel on that, at minimum," said Riker.
"We are looking."
"Good, I'm going to go talk to our new friend," said Riker.
-=oOo=-
Doctor Bashir looked up as Riker and Q walked in.
"I gave her something to help her sleep. I had to give her IV nutrition. They were starving her. As near as I can tell she is about age nineteen," said Doctor Bashir.
"Did she say anything?" asked Riker.
"Very little. She doesn't want to leave, not really. They were starving her and she didn't see a choice."
"How long can she be out of water?"
"To be honest, I'd like to get her back in within twelve hours. She can no doubt tolerate longer periods when healthy. She is anything but that."
Q snapped his fingers. "I adapted your cargo bay. It is as close as I can make it, but feel free to check my work."
"Thanks. That saves us a lot of time."
Julian went to his computer and began a remote scan of the cargo bay. "It looks right to me. The contents, oxygen, everything, looks right, and I see you've added some equipment to replenish it. A big tank basically with easy ways in and out, though you have to crawl to get in and out, but given the space I can't see how you could do better."
"Not until you build a bigger ship at least. There are technologies that can make expanded spaces. None of them are compatible with dimension crossing," said Q.
"Should we move her there, at least after she finishes the nutrition?" asked Riker.
"I want her alert first. I can replicate a wheel chair and take her there. We need to replicate some breathing apparatus so others can be in there with her," said Julian.
"I'll go do that, then head back to the bridge," said Riker.
-=oOo=-
Neri woke and looked into the eyes of a kind man. A woman was to his side.
"My name is Julian. This is Jadzia. You are Neri right?"
"Yes."
"How do you feel?"
"Better, but weak."
"Are you familiar with IV nutrition?" asked Julian.
"I think I read it in a book once. We have lost so much. Liquid into the blood, right?"
"Yes. I gave you that. We want to be careful what you eat. I have scanned some of your fish. Do you eat fish?"
"Often, but vegetables too. What is this place?"
"It is our ship. Don't worry about the details. All will be explained in time," said Jadzia.
"If you can look over here I can scan through the different fish and plants we have scanned. If you can tell us what you want to eat, I'll try to create it for you," said Julian.
They soon had a meal that she hated, but she eat it anyway. Jadzia left while they eat and returned in a two piece silver swimsuit and a white robe she wore over it.
"We made a temporary place for you to live till we can come up with a better one. We have found six others in your place, that we are going to fetch soon. Our first concern is to make sure no one dies or is permanently harmed, but we need your help beyond that too," said Jadzia.
"How? They think we are evil. They think we are making the ocean warmer. I hid it as long as I could," said Neri.
"Trust me, you are not making the ocean warmer," said Julian.
"How long has this been going on?" asked Jadzia.
"Since my grandmother's time."
Jadzia tapped her com badge. "Jadzia to bridge."
"Riker here."
"Can you look into why their water is getting warmer? Neri thinks it started in her grandmother's time. Apparently they are blaming telepaths in some bit of divine insanity," said Jadzia in annoyance.
"Will do. Once Neri is settled and has what she needs we will bring the others. Jadzia, are you good with spending a lot of time under water? Samson and Jinto have also volunteered. The Abh haven't. They don't seem to think being underwater is natural," said Riker with amusement.
"Why would it not be natural?" asked Neri puzzled.
"We don't know many water breathing species that are sentient. That does not, however, make it unnatural," said Jadzia.
"Basically, they don't want to, but we will probably talk them into it anyway," said Jadzia.
"Okay," said Neri uncertainly. She then added, "Can we see this place now? I want to save the others."
"Sure thing. Do you think you can walk with help? I have slippers to protect your feet," said Jadzia.
"Some wear those. I never have."
"They are simple enough."
Neri looked at them dubiously with warm brown eyes. Her clothing was basically just simple home spun brown pants and blouse that was very frayed and worn. She slipped into them and needed help from Jadzia to walk as they slowly walked to the cargo bay. Julian palmed the double doors open.
A stair case made of wood of all things went up off to the side where there was a long walkway and then it transitioned to what looked like a solid rock pool the size of the cargo bay. Unfortunately, the walkway only had a little over a meter of height above it. Looking further on, the wooden walkway eventually changed to rock and then to well worn steps into the water to provide a comfortable path into the deeper water. There were additional well worn hand holds on the side. There was enough roughness not to slip, but it wasn't abrasive more than needed for that.
Jadzia handed her mask to Julian as she near the top of the stairs. She then took off her robe and shoes before suddenly finding out the top was a micro gravity region. She grinned and used the hand holds to pull herself down to where the steps into the pool were as gravity slowly reasserted itself. She dove in and went for a swim.
Neri quickly joined her, obviously already missing the water.
Julian sat her rebreather where she could reach it when she wanted it. "I'm going to go check on the others as we get them in. I'll bring them here when we do, alright?"
"Sure thing Julian," said Jadzia.
-=oOo=-
Neri looked around this mini ocean. She didn't have another term for it, but it felt wrong to call it that. She suddenly looked at Jadzia, and even though her lips didn't move she heard, "Can you hear me? My telepathy isn't as strong as some of the others, but I thought I could do this."
"I can hear you, I think," said Neri.
"You can speak with your mind if you want," said Jadzia.
"They say it is bad."
"They are wrong, but it is up to you. Underwater, I won't be able to speak in another way you will understand."
"We can understand underwater, but it is different," said Neri.
"Unfortunately, I don't have whatever adaptation you have that makes that work, so telepathy is it for me underwater," said Jadzia.
"I will try then," said Neri.
Jadzia suddenly heard in her mind, "Like this?"
Jadzia smiled and said, "Just like that."
"When will the others come?" thought Neri.
"Probably a couple hours or so, at least for one," though Jadzia.
Neri dove underwater. Jadzia grabbed her rebreather and did the same.
-=oOo=-
A week later they had a total of seven people in their pool. The main bridge staff were all there as well, including Lafiel, Sobaash and L'Nea.
"We are here today to figure out next steps. L'Nea, will you bring us up to date on what is causing the planet to warm?" sent Riker.
"There are two warming sources. First their is an ancient reactor that is malfunctioning. That is what is supposed to be maintaining the temperature of the planet. Second, there is evidence of a large asteroid striking the next planet and affecting its trajectory, which is indirectly causing an minor orbit shift of this planet. That will reestablish itself in time, for the most part, though it will take another hundred or so years."
"What can we do about it? Can we fix the reactor?" sent Riker.
"I'm not certain it truly is broken. It may not have been setup to idle down enough to account for the orbital change."
"We are going to need to go there to see if we can adjust or fix it," sent Neela.
"Will they stop blaming us then?" thought Neri.
"We don't know, but we are going to fix it anyway, and your certainly welcome to come with us, either way," said Riker.
"We will help and at least try to talk to the others and delay them while you work," sent Neri.
"We actually planned to just divert people away from those working on it, and for them to work on it when everyone is asleep," thought Celeste.
"Not that you can't be there, but our goal is to fix it and then talk to them," sent Cally.
"When?" thought Neri.
"Tonight," sent Jadzia.
-=oOo=-
The first two weeks of secret night work was a lot of frustration in both working underwater and understanding what was a fairly advanced reactor design based on a completely alien technology. They were making progress though and over the next two weeks they managed to repair and modify the systems to adapt the reactor to the planets current needs, both now and in the foreseeable future. A week after that the planet had cooled nearly five degrees Celsius.
A day after that Neri, Jadzia, Cally, and Piper beamed down to a row boat they had replicated and then dove into the water. Jadzia was wearing combat knife at her side. Jadzia, Cally, and Piper were also wearing breath masks. They soon swam down to the town Neri grew up in and were soon confronted with town guards holding tridents.
"Halt," they demanded. The updated com badges they wore were managing to translate.
They halted.
"Move." They pointed. The moved in the direction indicated and soon found themselves before the village leader.
"Why have you returned? The temperatures will rise again. Who are these people?"
"These are some friends I met that saved my life. They repaired the great machine that heats our world. There will be no more hot days. It was never us," said Neri in their own way.
"And yet, when you left, the problem went away."
Jadzia visibly sighed.
Light seemed to flare in Piper's eyes, as her well flared visibly into existence, as she suddenly sent not to just those around her but to everyone on the planet.
"I am far more powerful than Neri ever was. You harm that which you do not understand. It will end. I will not see your silliness cause harm. The reactor is repaired. The temperature will no longer fluctuate. We will stop by from time to time to maintain it, since you have, apparently forgotten how to. Do not harm the telepaths or you will make me and many others like me very angry."
"You will not accept us back?" asked Neri softly.
"You must go."
"Fine, if that is your gratitude, then we will take all you do not wish to have and cherish each of them. They will be our brothers and sisters. Your loss shall be our gain," sent Piper in a world wide psychic shout.
Somehow you could tell that Neri was crying, even under the water.
"I'm sorry," sent Piper.
"It would not have mattered," sent back Neri sadly.
"You will not reconsider?" send Jadzia angrily.
"Do not use the cursed power on me," he said.
"Let's go," sent Neri.
-=oOo=-
Several of the regular Abh crew members agreed to take a runabout and monitor the situation and try to save any others that were endangered, mostly by using transporters to free them and place them in cities that did not know them. This was to be a stop gap solution until a longer term team could come out here. Falcon returned to Betazed. They instantly agreed to accept them. Their oceans were also compatible.
They also requested of the Federation a ship that could make the journey on a regular basis. It turned out they were working on converting a series of freighters that had been sitting in the salvage yards needing refit with hyperdrives. These could be converted to contain the required environments. It would take a few months to finish the rest of the work required. A copy of a Defiant class vessel modified with a hyperdrive would further go with them to keep them secure.
Cally learned that Liberator was out on another mission after they finished this one. She sent them a video message and wished them well. The Federation was still trying to finish up in the universe that had Babylon 5. That was the main prerequisite to trying to do something with their universe.
They were, however given the go ahead to return and talk to Cally's people, if they wished it, and even to offer refuge. Finding out about the mission Deanna Troi requested to go as well. They stopped by Lakfakalle to pick her up.
-=oOo=-
"We are coming out of hyperspace near Auron," said Ekuryua.
"There is an Federation ship in proximity, though far enough away Auron may not notice," said Sobaash.
Deanna suddenly gasped in pain. "They are dying. My god they are all dying."
"Deanna, I need to know if that ship is responsible. We need to know what they know, particularly if there is a cure, or even just what they know about the disease. This isn't the time to be picky," said Riker.
Deanna took Celeste and Pipers hands and launched their minds across the gulf. They were back several minutes later.
"They infected them. We knocked them all out. More of the virus is over there in sealed containers. The ship is clean. They have no cure," said Deanna.
"Riker to security. Beam over and secure that ship. Deanna and the others knocked them out so don't waste time. Strip away weapons. Lock everyone up preferably there. Deanna reports they are guilty of attempted genocide. Take no chances. There is a lethal virus over there in a sealed container. Deanna is going to give you information as to where. We will likely be obtaining it as a sample. Do not disturb it."
"Confirmed. We are deploying in two minutes."
Deanna began typing notes on her console as to the details of what she scanned.
"Riker to Bashir. I need you, Jadzia, and maybe L'Nea to go over and investigate this virus. Deanna is typing details, or she can field questions. Take whatever you need. I don't care if that ship works when your done. The only priority is finding a means to stop the death on Auron."
"I'll go, but I need Neela and others to start replicating what we are going to need to survive on the planet. We will also need to be able to replicate a cure quickly. Finally, if you can get more help here, do it. This is planet wide," said L'Nea.
"Agreed. I'll ask for everyone who can come. Samson, send the message. Planetary outbreak, lethal. Need help. Don't forget Shion's group."
"We must secure the cloning facility. It should be clean. I have a sister there, or should. That must remain disease free," said Cally.
"Can you contact her?" asked Riker.
"I have been trying."
"Let us help," said Deanna.
She nodded and took Deanna and Celeste hands. Piper finished the circle.
-=oOo=-
"Zelda, we are here. We are coming to help," thought the merge.
"Cally? Is that you Cally? So many are sick and dying, but we are secure here."
"We have disabled the ship that infected you. They will be dealt with. Do not leave the area. We will provide anything you need. Your facility must remain secure. Repeat. Do not break quarantine for any reason."
"I understand. I miss you Cally."
"I miss you too."
"There are others with you?" thought Zelda in wonder.
"Yes, talking with you from so far required some help, but do not worry, I can come very quickly if needed. Do you know of any Federation personnel on the planet? We believe we have them all."
"I do not."
"Stay well Zelda. We will get you a means to communicate soon."
"You as well Cally."
After they separated Deanna said, "I'm going to go replicate a communicator and beam it down to Cally's sister. They future of Auron seems safe, for now. It isn't much, but it is something."
RIker nodded.
-=oOo=-
Everyone that beamed over wore full bio suits.
Julian quickly looked through the still unlocked computers while Jadzia jury rigged a tricorder to download everything they could get. L'Nea carefully identified each sample of pathogen, but did not touch them. She instead pulled out a tricorder and began scanning.
"I plan to return and then beam back the molecular scanner here we need to analyze this piece of nastiness," said L'Nea.
"Agreed. Under no circumstances, is any active virus to be returned to Falcon. These people are insane releasing this," said Bashir.
"It's curable I think. The real problem is part of the reason they targeted this world. Their sterile environment makes them particularly vulnerable," said L'Nea.
"I know. I don't have an answer yet. Go get the scanner."
-=oOo=-
Shion raced the Athena and six other ships through the dimensional sea to where Falcon needed help. She already knew the Federation was returning with three of the ships from the other universe they were working in as well as a dedicated medical ship that was recently fitted with a hyperdrive. They were coming with all they could, but all they could wasn't much yet. An additional ten Romulan ships would come once one of their other ships opened the way. They would take several days to get there, but where, nonetheless, welcome.
They were at the planet within four hours of when Falcon sent the signal.
"Incoming com," said Allen.
"On screen."
"I won't waste time. Please set your computers to receive the current situation, and the medical work we have done so far," said RIker.
Momo gave a thumbs up.
"Proceed."
"Data is incoming. We need to evaluate it. We will contact you soon," said Shion.
"Understood. Riker out."
"What do you have Momo?"
"A rather nasty piece of work. The doctor seems to be onto the right path, but he notes a lot of this is the result of the automated vaccine design software, which he doesn't fully trust. I am running through our equivalent. Given they are created independently, there is a good chance for refinement. That will take about thirty minutes. At that point I recommend we create the vaccine using available replicators and begin testing it. If it saves ten percent, then it is better than what we have now," said Momo.
"Understood. Reconnect me. All ships."
Riker stood waiting for Shion to speak.
"We are running Doctor Bashir's work through our own automated vaccine designer to look for issues. After that, given the situation, we recommend all ships start replicating whatever we come up with. It's risky, but at this point we have to start taking risks," said Shion.
"L'Nea and Jadzia are almost done with a transporter program to filter it. The problem is it doesn't prevent reinfection. We are going to try to focus on the sparsely populated areas, and try to zero the number of infections there as another measure," said Riker.
"Sounds good. We will give you remote control of our own. I believe the same modifications can be loaded," said Shion.
"Thanks. We will be in touch," said Riker.
-=oOo=-
Their first vaccine was only seventy percent effective. They still spread it as fast as they possibly could. Three days later they developed a better one and then began spreading it instead. A month later the virus was effectively defeated, but not before killing half of the population of Auron.
Shion met over on Falcon with Admiral T'Lara, Captain Picard, and Riker. She spoke first.
"The way I see it, they are guilty of genocide. They weren't at war. They were no threat. We have only one punishment for such. Death," said Shion grimly.
"I agree. The Federation reserves the death sentence for few crimes. This is one of them," said Admiral T'Lara.
"Servalan is there. She is the one that hunted us most. She is the Federation president."
"Is there any evidence that those beyond this ship are involved?" asked Shion.
"No," said Riker.
"Just kill them. I considered speaking to her first, but she isn't worth it," said Cally.
"If the decision is final, then we will do the job. It should not be done by the crew that has an emotional connection to the place," said Shion.
Admiral T'Lara nodded as did the others.
Shion called in the order and they watched as Athena vaporized the craft, virus, people, and all.
"I just wish we could have gotten here sooner, but we had no idea this was happening," said Riker.
"Half the planet and all of their future children are saved. It is still sad beyond measure, but it could have been a lot worse," said Picard grimly.
"I am grateful. Never doubt that. The people of Betazed expressed an interest in my people. I know it is a large ask, but can those of my people who wish moved still be moved, if not there, then at least somewhere not here... Somewhere safer," said Cally.
"We would provide them with a new world, or they could move to one of our existing, if they wished it," said Shion.
"I'll talk to them."
"We can build dimensional gates between these dimensions. We will have to guard them for security sake, but that will facilitate the movement, well that and I think Deanna's family," asid Shion.
"You mean port them between dimensions?" asked Deanna.
"If you created pods that were designed for people transport, you could move what several hundred at a time with a group?" asked Shion.
"Well several hundred to the portal I guess, then they would need people on the other side. If the portal can be close enough, say in orbit or on the planet we could potentially move several hundred per minute, that is assuming we could keep rotating through people as they got exhausted. it would definitely be an all hands effort," said Deanna.
"Several hundred a minute is far above what we are going to manage with ships. We can help setup a factory to produce the pods. They only need what ten minutes air? That is easy," said Shion.
"We will need ships standing by just in case any of the ports go wrong," said Deanna.
"Agreed. Assuming all this works and we can go continuous that would be about 3 million moved per day. You have what around a hundred times that many?" asked Shion.
"One hundred and twenty million left I think, assuming they all want to go," said Cally sadly.
"So potentially four standard months to transport a population. It will take longer than that," said Shion.
"We also have to make sure they have what they need on Betazed and wherever they are going. Let's see what they want. Most likely Betazed can just take all the ones coming into our universe for the short term, and then we can setup an additional colony world or facilitate travel. I assume Shion, you would be similar, correct?" asked Picard.
"Agreed. Short term we can send all that wish to go to Second Miltia. I doubt most would stay, but we can handle the inflow till a longer term choice is made. I tend to suspect they will pick only one destination though, and it will probably be Betazed, though we would greatly appreciate some choosing to come to our universe, if not now, then at some future time," said Shion.
"That seems perfectly reasonable. Many may wish to spread to more worlds after this, but I agree, that if they decide to leave, they will likely want to be together for now," said Cally.
"I believe most Federation ships should withdraw. I will have to coordinate with Starfleet command and Betazed to prepare on our end, so do let me know when you have the answers we seek. We may need to inoculate the population of the target world first as well, just in case. I assume you will have no trouble securing this world while the process continues?" finished Admiral T'Lara.
"No. Their ships are no match for our own. Kosmos could destroy one of their fleets by herself, if need be. We have this end of things, though we don't have your telepaths. We can beam the pods to the entrance of the gate, which would make all the telepath work on the other side. We need only agree on the size of the pods," said Shion.
"Let's start with the designs we already have in the Starfleet database. I understand we will have to maximize the throughput which means compromises we don't want, but we can at least start there," said Deanna.
"Agreed. Falcon should remain till we sort out what we are using," said Shion.
-=oOo=-
Deanna was made the primary on the largest Betazed colonies impromptu tower that was catching the pods, if you could call them that. They were basically Auron people transports where transporters had left off the engine and reshaped them to seal all the cracks. Air would be sufficient for the nearly eight minute trip to the new world. A cylinder containing pure oxygen with a regulator was provided regardless which gave them an extra ninety minutes of air.
Rowan was handling a second colony, while Celeste was taking Betazed itself. Each had two backups. Everyone else, including Lal and Jeff Raven were at the impromptu space station that was built with the terminus end of the dimensional gate. There they worked in pairs to keep the traffic flowing. It was a prodigious undertaking but they did end up moving closer to seven hundred people a minute, on average. Kosh thankfully was being a patient baby and not being too greedy for her energy when she needed it.
In order to make this whole endeavor somewhat safer a line of one hundred ships was scattered along the way, just in case a port would fail, in the hope to recover recover the passengers before their crude transport killed them. In the two and a half months they ran the transport line there were three failed ports, which is an absurdly low number compared to the total and the speed they were doing them. A ship was near enough the first two. They almost lost the third but Piper scrambled into a pressure suit before porting herself directly at the final, which was nearest her anyway. Once she was onboard she managed to get them to the next starship. One almost died of oxygen starvation, but thankfully recovered. Piper's suit also used up all of its two hours of oxygen over the course of that hour, due to how fast she was consuming energy. She was unconscious for almost a day afterward, but did did fully recover.
-=oOo=-
Liberator was over Betazed. They had been doing a lot of trips to sort people better where they wanted to be. In gratitude for their help saving a people the Romulans installed a quantum singularity reactor in Liberator's core in place of its original fusion reactor. The Federation and they had further promised to supply the engineers and needed maintenance. That plus the installation of a main deflector in the core module made standard by ten Liberators new default speed.
A few days later Cally beamed over from Falcon and gave first Jenna, then Villa, and then a slightly reluctant Avon a hug. She said, "Thank you all for doing this work."
"The logistics of moving a planets worth of people was supposed to be impossible, even if Auron was not a densely populated planet," said Avon.
"I have searched for similar records and found none," said Orac.
"What your doing is important too. We tried to put people where they wanted to go, but they didn't really know where they wanted to go, so have to do all this manual movement," said Cally.
"I know we are one of a half dozen doing it. Thankfully most are content, or they would probably have to ask the telepaths again," said Jenna.
"For standard by ten as a normal speed and standard by fifteen being a reasonable emergency speed now, I'd have done a lot more work," said Avon.
"No kidding. Most of the times the Federation almost got us was when our energy banks were exhausted. Now we can go standard by fifteen with the force wall at maximum," said Villa.
"You'll get no complaints from me there," said Jenna.
Avon turned to Cally. "Are you returning to Falcon?"
"Unfortunately yes. The enemies they were stopping started again after we thinned out in their universe. They had to return back there. They are winning again, but they don't know how to end it permanently. These Shadows are very strong. They don't want to back them into a wall where it becomes a battle of attrition. Both are going to lose that."
"What are they even fighting for?" asked Jenna.
"It's stupid. There are two very powerful, very ancient races out there. One of them we semi bribed with something they wanted. They value order above all. The other, these Shadows, value growth through chaos and war. They find that the most important thing. They started a bunch of wars, that we stopped. They don't even really want to kill the other side."
"They want to stop the message then," said Avon.
"That's basically it. The Vorlons are on the side of order. They started eliminating the Shadow infected cultures, before we bribed them and basically started just targeting the actual ones involved and their ships. Rowan, Deanna's wife, has a child that was conceived with the fragment of one of the Vorlons that survived. That was the bribe. It is her and L'Nea's child technically, but it contain's Kosh's energy, and was the only way for him to survive. They are energy based lifeforms. Over half of him died when the Shadows got angry at him and organizing an attack on him, but a fragment was stored in a person. It's a bit of a mess," said Cally.
"So basically their doing what the Vorlons want, more or less, which makes sense. If you have to choose between endless war and not, well not usually wins, since the endless war will kill you eventually. Either way, that means they don't also get involved, not that they are helping much. They are watching like proud parents as the Alliance does their work for them," said Avon.
"Yes, well that, plus a lot of a push for the Alliance to give out better weapons so others can fight. So far they have mostly limited that to the Rangers. They are the group that was built of originally Minbari and Humans, but now a lot of different races are joining to help in the mess."
"So the Vorlons get to prove they are right, without even really trying to help," said Jenna.
"More or less," said Cally.
"Can we help?" asked Avon.
"You could help guard Babylon 5 or a key point once you finish here. Liberator doesn't yet have the hyperspace functionality, or at least finished functionality."
"That universe has it then?" asked Avon.
"Yes, it is quite common. Most ships use what they call jump gates to get in and out of hyperspace. Jump gates are fixed installation, but many big ships can generate their own. You could likely use jump gates. What Falcon and the others do is a cut above as well, somehow, but they all have it," said Cally.
"Then I think we have a plan, unless people have objections?" asked Avon.
"A way to run away even faster. Count me in," said Villa.
"I'll certainly take it, if we can make that deal to obtain hyperspace engines," said Jenna.
"You should be clear your not sharing Liberator's teleport tech or something else that would annoy them. I honestly don't think they will care if you get the ability to generate a jump point, though I'm guessing you would get the slower form more common in that universe," said Cally.
Avon nodded thoughtfully.
-=oOo=-
Falcon, at Faile's request, entered the Gamma quadrant through the wormhole. They immediately moved where they were supposed to and within moments of arriving received a communication request.
"On screen," said Riker. Jadzia was on the bridge today.
The Elder appeared on a Jem'Hadar ship.
"Thank you for coming. We received a report from the Galaxy Federation of a world where one of their agents met a true shape shifter who was involved in a war of some kind. She was one of a kind. Faile requested I investigate and consider rendering assistance. I would prefer to bring my own ship, but can also simply come on yours."
"Can you give us any more information?" asked Riker.
"I am sending what information I have. The agent talked about them manipulating a force called magic. We are deeply skeptical of this. If it turns out to be a false report, then this will be a short mission."
"If they need help, then we may help anyway," said Riker.
"From the information I'm getting they are clearly prewarp. That is not to say we can do nothing, but they shouldn't find out about space travel, particularly the whole world," said Jadzia.
"I've been working on a design for a cloaking device. It's not great yet, and there are some materials that are hard to replicate, but with the Founder's assistance procuring a few things we could have it built within a day or two, probably," said L'Nea.
"Would we get a copy of the plans?" asked the Founder.
"Honestly with the design as it is, I have zero objections. It's not very good so far. Any of our sensors will penetrate it, but a prewarp civilization has no chance," said L'Nea.
"So, most likely the answer to that is yes. I'm, however, going to run that up the chain of command. Technically we aren't supposed to develop cloaking technologies since the Klingons still won't sign off on the treaty variance," said Riker.
"I think we have some that will do that much. I'll check. If that is all we are waiting for I will have it delivered," said the Founder.
"That would simplify things. L'Nea is technically not in Starfleet but her adding it to this vessel, well its simpler if a third party cleanly provides it," said Riker.
"Do you have any other requests?" asked the Founder.
"Are you okay with me being nominally in charge? We will certainly make every effort to protect this person, but I'd rather he or she not learn about the greater universe from us, at least without discussing it. I have more freedom to skirt the edges of the prime directive than most, and I'd rather keep it that way," said RIker.
"Provided the changeling's life is protected clearly above your secrecy concerns, no I have no objections."
"Agreed, we will do what is necessary to protect any changelings as the highest priority," said RIker formally.
"Then I will seek to obtain what you need. Stand by." The connection dropped.
-=oOo=-
"Earth?" asked Riker in surprise when they reviewed the information they had been provided.
"Well not our native one obviously, but it is an Earth. That much is clear," said Jadzia.
"What do you make of these recordings of sticks creating effects?" asked Riker.
"Not a clue. It looks like something out of a story," said Jadzia.
Q appeared before them with a glass of wine in his right hand. "It does, doesn't it? You have found something quite interesting, or rather they found something quite interesting."
"I'd take a small glass of whatever your drinking. At least I assume it will be a little while before she gets back with the device," said Riker.
Q snapped his fingers and a glass appeared. "Even if it doesn't, you have a long dimensional flight ahead. Your destination is well away from how most normal realities work. You should consider that."
Riker took a careful sip and then another. "This is the best I've ever had, honestly."
"Of course it is. Does anyone else want a glass?"
"I don't suppose you could make it non toxic?" asked Sobaash hopefully. Lafiel rolled her eyes but looked tempted.
"Hmm, that's a good question." Q seemed to think about it for a moment and then produced a nearly identical glass in front of Lafiel and Sobaash, as well as one in front of Samson.
"Don't swap them. The Abh ones are targeting their physiology. They won't do much to intoxicate, but should not decompose into poison, but if you swap them, well it is not poison but its not something you want," said Q.
Sobaash was the first to drink. He smiled and drank another drink before nodding to Q in thanks.
Lafiel then drank a sip, and then another. She then turn to also express her approval before adding, "I would greatly like to present a bottle of this to the Empress. Would you consider a trade in some fashion?"
"How about you try to keep a kid named Harry and his not quite girlfriend Hermione from dying and I'll call it even?"
A bottle appeared next to her on the table.
"On our current mission?" asked RIker.
Q nodded.
"I will do my best," said Lafiel solemnly.
Q nodded. "That world needs those two to live. I haven't studied it in detail, but I know that much. I wish you luck," said Q before vanishing.
Lafiel, with a sigh, stopped drinking. She turned to Jadzia, "Would it be possible to get this analyzed?"
"You mean to make more?"
"Yes please."
"I agree. I can save some of mine as well, if you want," said Sobaash.
"I'll want to analyze it in any event. I can do the work," said Julian.
She gently handed him the cup. He got up and walked off, but not before Lafiel added, "Just don't change it."
"I'll do my best," promised Julian.
"I have no objection to any of this. We just need to make sure we don't mix them up. I don't want someone sick, well that and no one on this ship is allowed to drink to significant intoxication. We are fast response. We aren't permitted to be intoxicated to the point we cannot handle our responsibilities," said Riker, even as he handed the rest of his to Jadzia.
"You want me to duplicate that one as well?"
"I can't order you to do so. It's frivolous, but please."
"I want a glass myself. I'll do my best."
Samson and Sobaash finished theirs.
-=oOo=-
"Jadzia, how is our loaned cloaking device working?" asked Riker as they approached the Earth in question.
"This is nearly a finished product. While I can't read into the internals since that is locked off, I can tell we will be blocked off from whatever this Earth has. If you want better readings I'll have to take a runabout out and scan from the outside," said Jadzia.
"That is loaned only, for now at least," said the Founder.
"Understood. We could possibly get one from the Romulans, or really just develop our own. We may not be actively developing it, but well, its not as if you throw away useful things when you get them," said RIker dryly.
"The treaty then?" asked the Elder.
"Yes, we try to keep to them, even when the reasons grow increasingly thin. I have no problem working with you or the Romulans when we need one, but sometimes we don't have the time," said Riker.
"We should probably approach the Klingons and try to get this issue solved sometime. Asking nicely sometimes is useless with Klingons," said Jadzia.
"Just as long as I don't have to fight any of their strongest warriors one on one. I still remember a few of my practice sessions with Worf," joked Riker.
"I could probably win, at least once I had enough training," said Piper.
Riker smiled. "Interesting. Your own abilities should be fair game, and if they can't match you then perhaps they are not as strong as they say they are?"
Jadzia grinned. "If your willing to take the pounding, and will excuse some time for me to get back into shape with a Bat'leth, then I can certainly teach you. This could be fun."
"You are proposing beating them in a physical match to make then agree to a simple rational decision?" asked the Elder skeptically.
"Sometimes you have to adapt, improvise, and overcome," said Riker seriously.
"I see. Faile could likely also win, if by the simple virtue of being able to choose her form, though she too would have to practice, but she is no stranger to that. She might even enjoy it," said the Elder dubiously.
"I'm beginning to get passive scans from this Earth. So far I have not found anything that we were looking for," said Sobaash.
"We do have coordinates. We may have to just go down and look," said Riker.
"Oh, I remember when you told me a story about all the times you told Captain Picard he needed to stay aboard," said Jadzia with amusement.
"Nah, I'll just make you in command. You have the experience. I think you could have the rank now if you really wanted it, even if you have it in a different way than normal," said Riker.
"Yes, there are perfectly good reasons I don't have that rank. First, I want to earn it as Jadzia. Second, I don't particularly want your job."
"Celeste, Piper, can you do your own scouting at the coordinates in the files?" asked Riker.
"We can," said Piper, even as she leaned back in her chair and took Celeste's hand.
"There is a distortion field, I think," said L'Nea uncertainly.
"That is surprisingly vague from you," said Riker.
Jadzia and Neela walked over and looked at her screen.
"It's vague for a reason Will. This is weird stuff, and before you ask, L'Nea is working on compensating. The real problem is the passive sensors," said Jadzia.
"We could drop a runabout on the dark side of the moon, plus a suite of remote sensors. If we camouflage it to it look like the moon, and use a phased array, I doubt they would notice a thing. Simultaneous viewpoints are a huge help, if you can't go active," said Neela.
"How long would that take?" asked Riker.
"Probably four hours or so to get something working, then several days to refine it and clone enough pieces. The designs exist. It is just replication and integrating it all. We will have to camouflage it as well, but we have a large crew for a reason," said Neela.
"Alright. Go ahead and start on all that."
"There is a boy, a pair of boys in trouble. We need to port them here," said Piper in a distant voice.
"Can you make them safely unconscious first?"
"Yes. One already is."
"Do it."
A rather fat young boy and another dressed in near rags appeared. He was tightly clutching a stick.
"Doctor Bashir to the bridge. Bring a sedative." Riker turned back to them. "Tell me something."
"The one in rags is Harry Potter. We got that much in my brief brush with his mind, before we were repelled, by something," said Celeste.
"He can shield?"
"No. He didn't do it. This is very troubling. This is going to sound insane, but I think there is a second mind, seemingly originating in his scar."
"Jadzia, help Neela with her work. We have a primary responsibility to find the shape shifter, but also a responsibility to Harry here Q gave us. Also, everyone looked for this Hermione whenever they can," said Riker.
"Alright."
"Do you have any ideas what they are referring to?" asked Riker to L'Nea.
"One or two, none good." She reached out a hand to Piper that Piper accepted before reviewing what they learned. After a few minutes she let go and sighed. "I believe there is truly a second soul tied to the boy, though I do not understand how and you really need to understand it to fix it. Whoever it is is a very evil man."
Doctor Bashir walked in and began scanning them. He started with the overweight one. "He is fine, well not fine, but he will be fine, for now at least. His food intake needs radically changed, and much less of it." He moved onto Harry and begin scanning.
"L'Nea thinks there is a separate soul of an evil man tied up, I guess, in his head scar. Celeste and Piper were repelled," said RIker.
Cally walked in and sat in an empty chair.
"I don't know what to make of this. For the most part he is just unconscious. Did you want me to keep them that way?" asked Bashir.
"Make it a light sedative, at least on this one. I don't want to give whatever that is a chance to take a greater foothold," said L'Nea.
"If there is a chance, let's not do it. Find us an empty area a safe distance from where they were and beam them down. Beam Celeste and I down as well I guess. We need some answers," said Riker.
"You should probably change to something native," said Jadzia.
"Okay beam them down first, and we will get down as soon as we can."
-=oOo=-
Harry was the first to wake and look around. He vaguely thought they were in the back of surrey park. How the heck did they get here? Had to be accidental magic. That dementor was dang close. He had been about to cast a patronus but thankfully didn't need to.
He looked over and saw Dudley. He moved over to him and then shook him lightly. He jumped back a bit when Dudley reflexively tried to hit him.
"I'm not your enemy Dudley," said Harry.,
"What the hell was that?"
"Something that should not be there. Something that endangered our very souls. I have to contact someone," said Harry.
A tall bald black man appeared not far from them. Out of sight, Riker and Celeste appeared in a different way.
"Thank Merlin your alright Harry, but how did you get here, and with your cousin?"
"Accidental magic is all I can think of," said Harry.
"Maybe. They didn't get to you, did they? Arabella called it in, but they nearly killed her before we could drive them away. I would give much to learn what two dementors were doing outside of Azkaban. We weren't even able to pin them, but I think they were headed back in that general direction."
"Is she alright?"
"She will be. We need to get you to safety."
"What about Dudley? He has absolutely no defense against them."
"We will leave the house guarded, but I suspect they were after you Harry."
"What? His presence is bringing those things. My dad will throw him out for sure," said Dudley.
Shack raised his wand.
"Don't obliviate him. He has a right to know," said Harry.
"Fine, but Albus is liable to do it anyway. Let's walk back to your house then."
Riker and Celeste walked up.
"We couldn't help but notice the commotion. Perhaps we can help," offered Riker.
"What did you see?" asked Shacklebolt warily.
"We saw him get attacked. We were the ones that saved him," said Celeste.
"Your not like us. I can sense that much. Fine. Come with us. There are questions to be answered," said Shacklebolt.