38Disclaimer: See first Chapter
Authors Note: Alright, the second chapter. We get to meet the crew this chapter and find a bit more about how Potter got into this situation. I am glad that people are already enjoying this as I have seen from the few reviews the first chapter has received. And while I know this was an expedient second chapter, don't expect the third for a few weeks at least. When I posted the first chapter, I had this about half written, which helped contribute to the fast release. As I said before I am in college currently and my finals are coming up in the next two weeks so don't expect a new chapter until after then. Reviews are wanted! Any creative criticism or even complements are helpful!
UPDATE: For some reason I thought that the Triwizard tournament happened in 1996 instead of 94. Thats been fixed along with a few grammatical errors I noticed after reading through it again.
Trek Through Magical Stars
Ch 1: Why did it have to be 20th Century Earth?
The captain who had resigned himself to a very uncomfortable conversation with the strangely clothed elderly man suddenly found himself in a very familiar room with a familiar face looking at him in worry.
Although he soon found himself again on the floor looking up at the top of the transporter after being pounced upon by his first officer. She was currently trying to crush his ribs or hug him it was hard to tell.
"Harry! Thank the prophets that you are ok! We couldn't get through the interference to contact you on your com badge, but the transporter beam was able to slice through whatever strange shields are set up down there."
"M'Rala, can't breathe!", replies the Captain in a strangled voice.
"Oh", she released him from her death hold. "Sorry about that", she replies sheepishly, "I was just worried about you is all. It's not every day that the Captain just vanishes off the bridge!"
Both then stood up, still standing on the transporter pad. Potter than gave the still distressed Caitian, whose tail was waving erratically behind her, a peck on the lips. "I know honey, I understand. Thanks for the prompt rescue, I was just about to be interrogated by perhaps the oldest human I have ever seen before".
"Not a problem Captain, I hope the fact that you just de-materialized in a room full of humans isn't too much of a problem", says M'Rala sheepishly.
"Honestly Number One, it probably was the easier option", says Potter as he begins to walk out of the room. The door whooshing open in front of him. The pair made their way out of the transporter room and stopped in front of a turbolift. As a car opened in front of them, they entered and Potter commanded, "Bridge".
"Really?", asks M'Rala in a patronizing voice, "You don't think we should go to sickbay first?"
"Of course not, I'm not injured, am I?", asks Potter in a rhetorical manner, "anyways if I step even one toe in sickbay you know that Doctor Neevou won't let me out of her sight for hours, or at least until she runs every test in the Starfleet Medical database on me".
Before M'Rala can argue that Doctor Neevou wasn't that bad and that she wanted her husband to be checked over for any anomalous readings Potter says, "So, were over Earth right M'Rala? And I would guess that there are no Starfleet signals on any of the usual channels?"
Looking at the face she knew so well very carefully the Caitain asks, "Just what were you doing down there? I was just about to break the news that it looked like we were in the late 20th century to you, but it seems like you already knew that somehow".
At that little tidbit of information Potters face morphed into a puzzled expression, "Well based on the responses to a few of my questions I assumed that I was on Earth, but not our time. Although I have to say I was thinking more along the lines of 17th or 18th century based on what the building I found myself in and what the people around me were wearing".
"Nope, Lieutenant Shrom hacked into a primitive satellite networked and confirmed that the date is October 31st, 1994, in the old earth calendar. I took the liberty of moving the ship out of possible detection range", responds M'Rala.
Massaging his temple Potter says, "Of course it had to be the 20th century. Is it even a Starfleet ship without an escapade to this century? And good job as always M'Rala". The turbolift car then arrived at the Bridge. As they walked out of the lift and into the room Potter commanded in his authoritative tone, "Meeting in the conference room right now, and someone get Lieutenant Commander Tor up here".
As the Andorian walked into the conference room he noticed the rest of the staff was already at their seats. He quickly moved through the room and took his before the captain, who looked deep in thought began to speak, "Alright, so what happened here after the Graviton Pulse went off?".
*Flashback*
The Valkyrie was hot on the tail of a Breen Ship. They had responded to a distress call from a Federation colony that was near the Breen border they had been patrolling. Ever since the end of the Dominion War the mysterious Breen Confederacy had become more antagonistic against the Federation. While the Breen would not explicitly send their military across the de-militarized zone, as that would most certainly start a war, they had no problem letting 'pirates' cross the border to raid and terrorize federation colonies.
It had been happening so often that Starfleet had assigned numerous ships to continuously patrol the border. This happened to include the Valkyrie who was on border patrol duty for another 3 months. It was just Captain Potters luck that he would happen to be in command of the nearest ship to the first intrusion since the increase in patrols.
"Do you have a target lock Shaxs?", asks Captain Potter.
"Affirmative captain!", exclaims Lieutenant Shaxs.
"Fire phasers, get their engines!", responds Potter.
While Shaxs didn't say anything his response to the captain's order could be seen when two crimson particle beams lanced out from the front of the Sovereign class cruiser smashing into the Breen ships shields. They held for a few seconds before shimmering out of existence enabling the beams to slice right into the engines, vaporizing a majority of the impulse assembly and severely damaging the ships power plant.
Knowing escape was now impossible, the Breen privateers fired their rear facing disruptor array in a feeble attempt to ward off the approaching Federation starship. This however overloaded their EPS system and the ship lost main power. The disruptor beam was absorbed harmlessly by the Valkyries impressive shield array.
"Captain the other Breen ship has gone to warp, they are posed to cross the border in 10 minutes", states Lieutenant Shrom impassionately.
"Shaxs, arm a photon torpedo and target the Breen pirates."
M'Rala who had been silent until now asks, "Are you sure that is necessary Captain? They are already disabled."
"Number One we have an escaping Breen ship, we can't waste time with this one. Shaxs prepare to fire on my command", responds Potter in an icy voice with barely contained hatred behind it.
"Ready to fire captain", says Shaxs with an excited tone in his voice. After all it wasn't every day that he got permission to fire off multi-megaton weapons.
"Fire, now get us to warp and caught up with that second ship. They won't be making back to Breen space under my watch".
The sound of a torpedo firing was audible throughout the ship as the helmsman swung the ship around to follow the second Breen ship. Just before the ship jumped to warp, the angry red torpedo slammed into the shield less Breen ship penetrating the middle of the hull before its matter/Anti-Matter warhead detonated, vaporizing the entire frigate.
As the Valkyrie jumped to warp, her engines strained as the ship quickly accelerated to warp 9.9 to catch the pirates before they could cross the border and slip out of the Federations grasp. On the viewscreen a map of the sector popped up with the position of the Valkyrie and the Breen ship in relation to the border.
"Shaxs arm a quantum torpedo and be prepared to launch when we get in range", orders Potter.
"Aye captain", responds Shaxs barely containing his anticipation. The Bajoran sure did love to blow things up.
Potter stared dispassionately at the screen, waiting for the Valkyrie to get into range. The Breen on the frigate were no doubt panicking as their top speed was only about warp 8.7 and one of the Federations largest ships were catching up to them.
M'Rala looked at the captain, frowning. She didn't like to see him like this, while she wouldn't tell him, it frightened her when he became like this. A loving, funny man turned into a cold and brutal commander.
"Now in range captain", relays Shaxs.
Talking to the Breen who could certainly not hear him Harry says, "Looks like you just weren't fast enough this time. Shaxs fire".
And at that prompt a bright blue orb shot out of the ship, powered by its own warp field the torpedo careened into the Breen ships warp bubble, punching through it along with the ships shields before imbedding itself into the hull and detonating in an explosive burst of zero-point energy. A few seconds later all that was left of the Breen were microscopic particles smeared across billions of kilometers.
With the destruction of the second ship the bridge crew all let out a small sigh of relief they didn't know they were holding in. "Getting a transmission from the colony, they are sending their thanks. The planetary shields held against the disruptor shots that they got in. Although they are saying that they are thankful for our timely arrival as they wouldn't have held for much longer", relays the ensign sitting at the com station.
"Alright, good job everyone. Helm get us back to the colony, we need to get an accurate report of the damage, even if it is negligible for Starfleet", declares Potter.
"Aye sir", responds Ensign Dilum Lamaud taking the ship out of warp and flipping her around.
Unfortunately for the crew of the USS Valkyrie the excitement of the day was not over. "Captain I am detecting a buildup of unknown energy along our outer hull", announces Shrom with a hint of worry in his usually calm and collected voice.
"Is it a new Breen energy weapon?", questions Potter.
"I do not believe so Captain, its energy signature is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Additionally, our shields are still up and I am not detecting any noticeable drain on them. The energy is beginning to build up directly on our outer hull", claims Shrom.
"Are there any new contacts on the sensors Shaxs? This smells like a trap to me", asserts Potter.
"Captain there are no contacts cloaked or otherwise within our detection range", says Shaxs as he frowns at the tactical console. "Although the hull is beginning to show stress in a few areas due to the energy buildup".
"The buildup is continuing, I am trying to compensate by rotating hull polarization", reports Shrom. After a few seconds the Vulcan states, "No effect captain, it appears like the energy is trying to get past the hull, structural integrity is beginning to fail in a few areas that would offer the path of least resistance".
"Shrom, are you telling me that the energy is targeting the weakest areas of the hull? Could it be sentient? A lifeform of some kind?", asks the Captain who then turns to his tactical officer, "Shaxs coordinate the evacuation of the affected areas. Everyone else, anyone have any good ideas?".
"I do not believe it is a lifeform captain, or if it is it is nothing like what Starfleet has encountered before", relays Shrom with a frown marring his usually indifferent face.
M'Rala who had been studying her terminal speaks up, "Captain I believe that a graviton pulse with our main deflector could theoretically pull the energy off the hull. If we could pull it hard enough, we might get it past our shields, that might buy us more time to figure out what is happening or possibly disperse it entirely".
Speaking up after thinking for a few moments Shrom says, "The Commander's idea has merit Captain".
"Ha, that's high praise Shrom. Number One get on it, might as well try something before this energy tears the ship apart", declares Potter.
"Structural integrity is down to 30% in affected areas captain!", barks Shaxs, "The afflicted zones have been evacuated of all personnel and I will attempt to strengthen the structural integrity fields of the afflicted areas".
About half a minute later of furious typing on her console M'Rala claims, "The deflector has been modified captain, the graviton pulse is ready".
"Alright, Number One, activate the pulse", orders Potter.
As M'Rala pressed the console to activate the pulse Harry under his voice says, "Hope this works". And the next second later the entire ship was engulfed in a bright light and a second after that there was just empty space.
The bridge was quiet for a few seconds before a chorus of moans accompanied by many rubbing their heads filled it. Soon everyone was scraping themselves up off the floor or from on top of their consoles after having been violently shaken. Many then looked around to inspect for any damage that could have been sustained by the shock. M'Rala was the first to notice what was missing and quickly alerted the rest of the bridge crew when she yelled out, "WHERE DID THE CAPTAIN GO?".
Lieutenant Shrom spoke up a second later after studying his science console, "Curious, the ship reports that the captain is the only crew member missing, everyone else is accounted for."
Calming herself down M'Rala asks, "Shaxs damage report. Helmsman where are we? Are we still near the Breen border?".
Looking frantically at his console ensign Lamaud stutters, "N n no ma'am the computer says that we are in orbit over Earth".
"What? How? We were weeks from Earth a second ago! Can you get through to Starfleet headquarters or Earth Spacedock?", orders M'Rala taking command of the situation like a good first officer should when their captain mysteriously vanishes.
After a second the ensign at the com station responds, "Umm no ma'am, there is nothing on the subspace channels, although weirdly enough there is a lot of chatter on the lower band of the electromagnetic spectrum".
M'Rala's blood chilled at those words. 'Oh no, no no no. This had better not be happening to us right now!'.
Shaxs took this moment to speak up with a little good news, "No damage commander, no casualties reported either".
"Shrom, can you find any other starships or stations in system?", she asks as she looked over to his station. He looked deeply troubled with one eyebrow raised in a perplexed expression.
"Negative Commander, I am not detecting any other ships in system or any of the normal artificial structures. There are also no warp trails within a few light years of here. Strange, there seems to be numerous primitive satellites in orbit along with a very small, inhabited station. There is also a somewhat large band of space debris in orbit".
"Shrom, can you get the computer to interface with one of those satellites? I need to know what its internal chronometer says", orders M'Rala.
"Affirmative Commander, attempting to interface, connection established. Getting data now", at this he momentarily paused absorbing what the computer was telling him. "This is perplexing. The internal chronometer of the satellite says that it is currently the year 1994 in the old earth standard. It seems as if we have traveled through time", says Shrom in an intrigued tone.
"Get Stellar cartography to confirm that Shrom", orders M'Rala turning her focus to the main viewscreen, "now helm move us away from the planet, we are a little too close for my tastes. If you can find the detection range for Earth in 1994 move us just out of that range, I don't want to be spotted".
"Aye Commander", replies Dilum, the Trill quickly searching through the ships extensive database for the relevant information.
A few seconds later a sound that no one on the bridge expected sounded through the speakers, a chirp of a combadge trying to contact the ship followed by, "Potter to Valkyrie, come in Valkyrie".
M'Rala who was astounded orders, "Trace that signal! Get a fix on his position." Tapping her own badge, "Captain what happened?" Hearing a strange static on the line she looks at her console and says, "The connection is bad, were having trouble locking onto you. Trying to compensate for", and at that the signal cuts out.
"GET HIM BACK!", orders M'Rala in an authoritative voice.
"I have his position, Commander; he is located in the north of Scotland. There is a puzzling energy field covering his location, it is scattering the targeting scanners along with the communicator. Attempting to compensate", reports Shrom.
"Alright keep trying to get a lock, I am going down to the transporter room to try a few things myself." And with that M'Rala rushed out of the bridge and ordered the turbolift to the nearest transporter room. While some might question her sudden departure from the bridge, the officers on the bridge understood why she was so concerned for Captain Potter. When she arrived in the transporter room, she contacted Shrom who informed her that he had isolated the frequency of the energy field covering the captain. "Alright Lieutenant Shrom, I have the frequency. The targeting scanners are penetrating the energy field, they have isolated the captain's com badge". In a somewhat surprised voice she says, "Wow, there are a lot of other people around him, I better get him out of there", as she reads the number of life signs surrounding the captain.
"Commander while I understand that you want to retrieve your mate it would be more opper", says Shrom as M'Rala terminated the com link. She didn't want to hear all the reasons that she should wait to beam her husband back up to the ship.
As she locked the targeting scanners onto the captain and placed her fingers on the controls, to no one in particular she said, "Energizing".
*Flashback end*
"While I can understand your concern about beaming me up Lieutenant Shrom, I do agree with my Number One's decision", says Potter.
"Perhaps I would be more convinced about that if I knew exactly what occurred while you were on the planet Captain? How could being visibly transported in front of hundreds of people have been the more logical choice compared to waiting until you were more isolated", inquires the Vulcan.
"Well, the fact that I was in a stone castle being lit by torches in 1994 and surrounded by people wearing robes that looked as if they were out of a fairy tale book would be one reason. Although the more pressing issue was the fact that the elderly man who I assumed to be in charge somehow knew who I was", replies Potter.
"Captain not to appear rude, but how the hell did an elderly man in 1994 know who you were?", asks Kimi Taakir the ships Betazoid councilor.
Sighing Potter began to pull up the relevant files on his PADD, "I am about to show you information that Starfleet deems Top Secret. They will probably have my ass for this if we ever get back to our time, but it is important to know in order to explain my past". Everyone in the room picked up their pads as information popped up on the screen.
Transferring what was on his PADD to the conference room's large screen Potter began to explain, "Only M'Rala knows this about me but I was not born in the 24th century. I was in fact born in the 20th century, July 31st, 1980, to be exact".
Looking over at his first officer and wife Potter continues, "And even M'Rala doesn't know much about my early childhood. I don't particularly like to talk about it, but I suppose it's rather important due to the situation that I find myself in". Looking his first officer right in the eye and with a dry humor he says, "M'Rala it's your lucky day, you get to hear more about my early childhood".
Shifting his gaze to the window and Earth that lye past its Potter begins with a sigh, "I did not have a good childhood. I was orphaned at the age of one when my parents died in a car crash and given to my only other relatives. Those were my Aunt and Uncle along with their kid." The captain shuddered as he remembered the confined space under the stairs and a few of Uncle Vernon's more memorable beatings. "My relatives all hated me for some reason, I honestly thought my name was freak until I started primary school because that was all they ever called me. Looking back on it I was their slave. I did virtually all of the chores in the house, even things like cooking which a small child should never do. They hardly fed me and when they did it was leftovers and table scraps. My Uncle had a fond habit for beating me and coming up with creative punishments for things that my cousin Dudley blamed on me. On top of that my room consisted of the small boot cupboard under the stairs." Harry paused again, the process of remembering his early childhood years was painful.
M'Rala looked at her husband with a slight shock on her face, she had known that Harry had not had a very good early life, but she never knew it was this bad. It took all of her willpower not to get up and launch herself at her husband in an attempt to comfort him.
Potter continued, "This is important because when I was seven years old, I really hated my life. Honestly there were a few times when I debated killing myself, but I didn't follow through with it. I'm telling you all this because it all culminates on a summer day in 1987. My cousin Dudley had a game he would play, called it 'harry hunting' where he and his friends would chase after me and when they caught me beat me into the ground. So, I found myself running from him like usual one summer day and on this day, I happened to be chased into a patch of woods near our house in Surry. I eventually lost Dudley but also found myself somewhat lost in the woods. That is until I found a very strange stone archway in a clearing. While that may have been strange enough on its own the stone archway proceeded to speak to me".
"Spoke to you captain?", asks Shrom with a small amount of disbelief in his voice.
"Yes, spoke to me, in a rather imposing voice as well. It called itself the Guardian and offered to take me to somewhere where I could be safe and happy, somewhere where I could have a prosperous future", replies Potter who then gestures to the main screen. "This is a mission report from Captain Kirk of the original Enterprise from 2267". On the screen was a picture of a stone arch with Kirk standing in front of it appearing to be conversing with it, "The Enterprise discovered the 'Guardian of forever' while on a mission that in the grand scheme of things isn't important to understanding this. The important takeaway of that mission was the discovery of the Guardian itself. You see the Guardian literally sees through time. The Federation isn't sure if it's a machine or being as the guardian itself has called itself both and neither. The Guardian also has the power to transport people through time as Dr. McCoy, Kirk, and Spock found out in 2267. We theorize that the Guardian is a sort of protector of the timeline and has some vested interest in making sure things go a certain way but were not sure. I know for one it has never answered any of my questions on that subject".
"You have talked to this 'thing' captain?", asks Tor Th'achyrrath the Chief Engineer of the Valkyrie.
"Sure, have Tor, I have probably spoken more with the Guardian than anyone else in Starfleet. As I was saying before this stone arch, who obviously was the Guardian, spoke with me. The Guardian offered to take me away from my relatives to a place where I would be safe and cared for. Somewhere where I would be able to grow and thrive and eventually play my part in history. While I was a bit suspicious to what it was offering, I didn't think that it would actually be able to help me, I told the Guardian that I accepted. Honestly my life was so shitty at that time that it could have offered me pretty much any marginal improvement and I would have jumped at the chance. Anyways it's not like I had all that much to lose by trusting a strange talking piece of stone".
Shaxs who was rather invested in the story and was on the edge of the seat asks, "What happened then? It sounds like this Guardian is incredibly powerful in a way similar to the prophets of Bajor".
"I would guess that the Guardian pulled you through time as well as space like it did Dr. McCoy?", asks Shrom as he read the original enterprises mission report.
"Indeed, it did Shrom, the Guardian took me from 1987 to 2345. At first, I was a bit scared and wanted to go back to the woods, but the portal closed behind me. The Guardian calmed me down by explaining what had happened and that it had pulled me through time. I asked why it did and why it even cared about me, all it had to say was that I was very important to certain events that needed to come to pass." The captain paused thinking about something as he stared out the window looking at Earth.
Councilor Taakir felt the emotions rolling off the captain, he had evidently not talked about this in a long time and still had many bottled-up emotions about the event. "Captain I can sense that you are extremely emotional right now, keeping those to yourself will not help anyone, especially yourself. You are among friends; you can talk to us about it".
The captain sighed and then spoke, "Your right Kimi, I just haven't thought about this in a while. I'm trying to find out why I trusted the Guardian in the first place, and I think I've realized it's because the Guardian was the first thing to ever really show that it cared about me. Not my guardians or any of the other adults in my life, but a stone arch. My Guardians told me for years that I was worthless and nobody but a peice of masonry challenged that. And now I'm back in the same time period that scared my childhood and stunted my development for years".
At this confession M'Rala who had been sitting next to the captain stood up and made her way over to him. "I hope you don't mind this breach of conduct Captain, but I think you need this", she said as she hugged him.
After embracing each other for a while they parted, the captain having a much-improved expression on his face. "Thanks, M'rala I needed that".
"So, what do we do now captain? I would presume that the Temporal prime directive is now in effect?", asks Shrom.
Scratching the back of his head Potter sighs, "Well, not really Shrom. Due to the Guardian's interest in me, Starfleet command has authorized me to 'ignore' the temporal prime directive at my discretion. The reason being Starfleet reasoned that what the destiny the Guardian wanted me to fulfill could have been in the past, present, or future".
"So, we have a blank check to do whatever we want?", asks Shaxs somewhat excitedly.
"No, definitely not. I will not be changing any established Federation history. Additionally, if the 'time cops' as I know everyone like to call them show up, we will immediately cease whatever we were doing", looking at Shrom Potter frowns. "What was the exact date again Shrom?".
"The date on Earth in the time zone we are currently over is October 31st, 1994, in the Earth calendar", responds Shrom without looking up from the mission report.
Turning to M'Rala Potter asks, "Didn't USS Voyager travel in time to 1990's?".
M'Rala's face twisted into an expression displaying her deep thought, "I believe that they did Captain, something to do with a 29th century timeship and someone's ego I think?".
Frowning Potter says, "See if you could pull up that mission report, if they arrived before us and are already gone then that's fine. If they are scheduled to show up soon work with Shrom to shield us from their scanners. I don't remember reading about us in their mission report so we should attempt to remain hidden".
Looking back out the window Potter quips, "Can't even travel back to Earth's past without running into someone else these days". That comment brought a chuckle to the room and helped break the somewhat depressing atmosphere that had settled over the room ever since Potter talked about his experience with this time.
"So, Captain what are we going to do?", asks Tor. "I hope nothing reckless, I just got Engineering back in top shape after your last escapade".
"Nothing that should affect Engineering Tor", says Potter with his signature smirk on his face. "What I am going to do is head back down to where you beamed me up".
At that comment the room went deathly silent, M'Rala was the first to speak up, "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?" She was rather angry at that idea, "You just dematerialized in front of those people if it happens once, it's possible that they will write it off. If you go back down, there and re-materialize in front of a hundred people again I think it's going to be harder for them to ignore".
Holding his hands up in a pose of surrender Potter begins to say, "M'Rala I wasn't going to beam back down in front of everyone again. But I do need to go back down there. While I wasn't on the planet long, my short escapade on 20th century Earth drew up some important questions that I need to answer before we can head back to the 24th century".
At this M'Rala just crossed her arms and let out a huff, obviously disagreeing with her Husband's idea. It was also an invitation for the Captain to further explain his reasoning, "The last time I spoke with the Guardian of Forever it said to me, 'You have grown, your present is satisfactory to overcome your past'. While at the time I thought that the thing was speaking rhetorically, something more along the lines of me having finally overcome my troublesome childhood. But now I am beginning to think the Guardian was being more literal, perhaps there is something that I need to do in the past that I could only have dealt with due to my experiences in the future".
"And what makes you think that Captain?", asks Kimi with a look of confusion on her face.
"Well, the fact that the old man knew my name and seemed to have a personal connection to me somehow even though I don't ever remember meeting someone that fits his description makes me think that there is something more going on here and we are currently missing it", responds the Captain. "Additionally, the fact that I thought I was in the 17th or 18th century when I was on Earth means that something funny is going on".
Looking somewhat satisfied with that explanation M'Rala states, "Alright Potter I can get behind that. So how are we going to go about doing this without screwing over the timeline?".
At that Potters grin became feral, "Oh I have a few ideas".
*10 minutes later*
As people began to leave the room Potter kicks his feet up onto the conference table and leans back in his chair, "I do love it when a plan comes together".
M'Rala let him bask in his glory for a few seconds before whacking the back of his head with her paw. "I thought we talked about you and corny 20th century Earth TV quotes?". This had the effect of unbalancing Potter and he fell to the floor.
Looking up at his bemused wife Potter responds with a grin, "I just can't help myself Honey".
Just as M'Rala was about to spit back a remark about 20th century cavemen a very angry looking Doctor Neevou burst through the door. "Where is he M'Rala?", barks the enraged Orion doctor.
Not wanting to be in-between a very angry Orion woman and her mate M'Rala just pointed at the ground next to her. Neevou looked unconvinced for a few seconds before Potter's voice spoke up, "Wow thanks for selling me out Hon". At that Potter shot up and used the temporary confusion to rush past the good doctor.
Neevou, realizing that her quandary had just escaped spun around and began shouting, "POTTER GET YOUR GOOD FOR NOTHING ASS BACK HERE BEFORE YOU SPREAD SOME 20th CENTURY DISEASE TO HALF THE CREW!" And at that the case began, with the rest of the bridge crew who were back at their stations observing the somewhat regular chase between the Captain and the doctor begin. On the bridge ensign Lamaud just chuckles and claims, "Potter should count himself lucky, there are a lot of guys who would kill to have an Orion lady chasing after them".
M'Rala walking back onto the bridge took a seat in the captain's chair before opening a ship wide announcement, "Attention everyone, the Doctor and Captain are at it again. No heroics this time, we don't need any unnecessary injuries. The captain will get tired eventually". As the announcement ended M'Rala sighed and said, "I can't believe I deal with this sometimes". And at that she began to work on figuring out if the USS Voyager was going to suddenly appear in front of them.
Author's Note 2: So, I hope everyone enjoyed. If you want a visual aid for M'Rala I imagine a blend of the Star Trek Online Caitain with M'Ress's longer hair from the animated series. Shaxs is shamelessly copied from Lower Decks as I love his character. Chief Medical Officer Doctor Neevou is based on the appearance of Tendi from the Lower Decks with a more abrasive personality more similar to T'ana and Doctor McCoy.
Reviews:
Chi Vayne: Thanks, I hope to write more!
Warehouse1: Answered in this chapter! Thanks for the reminder I had almost forgotten about that little rule, just like most of the Starfleet Captains we have seen.
Darthjosh2112: Also answered in this chapter. We will see more about Harry's and M'Rala's relationship in later chapters if the dose in this chapter wasn't enough.