Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2007 16:00:29 -0400 From: ron Subject: Heritage of the Ancients - ch 05 After a long hard day Harry sat alone at his station thinking about what the new day would bring, and wondering how many of the DA would show up in the morning. Closing his eyes and letting his senses wander Harry noticed a slight disturbance near the balcony. Focusing on what he was sensing he called out "Ollivander you might as well show yourself." "I did say we could expect great things from you one day Mr. Potter." Ollivander told him as he became visible. Harry willed his chair to turn and face his guest "The first time I met you I thought there was something strange about you, especially your eyes. Actually you made me more uneasy than your crazy old man persona should have made me." Harry watched the smile grow on Ollivander's face, the type of smile one gets when ones child truly made them proud. "You have partially ascended. Why reveal yourself now?" Harry asked intrigued. Slightly surprised he could not will a seat to appear Ollivander chose instead to cross his legs and lean against the railing "Your mother would be so proud of you. You truly are the Lord Commander as we envisioned returning to us." Seeing the impatient look start on Harry's face he thought he should get to the point, after all he truly bonded with the city and had the power to do some serious harm to those that have ascended. "I came for two things. One to ask you to alter your plans slightly to include the dwindling colony of Brounie Elf's, whose numbers are dwindling due to encroachment by both the normal and magical world, and the other was to release the secret of the construction docks the city is moored to." "Brounie's?" Harry thought out loud as he tried to remember if he had ever heard of that race "Ages past those in the magical world were not satisfied with having free creatures come and go as help in their houses. They wanted to control and order them as servants. They were tired of being abandoned if they offered payment or clothes. So they enslaved them through trickery." Ollivander prompted "House Elves" Sitting up quickly Harry whispered in horror. "NO tell me they were not so arrogant as too..." "Only a few were that evil, and they twisted those they enslaved so they were not recognized as Brounie's any more. They claimed that they were something new they had created, just for the purpose of taking the place of the Brounie's, and unlike Brounie's they would be bound to serve and not disappear if treated harshly" Ollivander sadly told him. Appalled at what a few of wizarding kind had done and passed it off as something else "There is nothing we can do is there, as you are not asking me to reverse the condition of house elves." Harry sadly said "I am afraid not, their magical cores had been twisted in such a way that physical manifestations took place. Even if you would re-sequence their DNA back to the original, their cores would soon corrupt them back to where they were before the procedure." Ollivander told him. "No I am afraid there is nothing that can be done for them. It is a good thing their numbers are few. Hogwarts alone has one fifth the world's entire population." Leaning back in his chair Harry thought for a moment before asking. "How many Brounie's are we talking about, and what type of accommodations do we need to set aside for them?" "They are simple creatures in their needs and for the most part if you give them run of the parks around the city they will thrive. They will build their homes out of materials they bring with them. As for your first question they number in the low three thousands give or take a hundred. They have tightly kept their population growth under control as their living space dwindled so did their population." Ollivander explained. "Aloria what do you know about these people?" Harry asked. "Nothing Harry, I found nothing in the Alteran data banks on this species." Aloria told him apologetically. Producing a long slender red data crystal from his shirt pocket Ollivander handed it over "This is everything there is to know about the Brounie Elf's, their customs eating habits, medical needs, everything." "I assume you will make arrangements for me to get in contact with their leaders." Harry asked as he took the data crystal and levitated it over to a data port in his desk in the next room and had it insert itself. As Aloria was humming happily through their link as she assimilated the data, Harry asked. "And the second part of your visit? I have noticed that the layout of the docks don't make sense, they have none of the fluid snowflake like lines that are common in Alteran space construction." "In fact the central hub seem like it has been chopped off in the middle." Harry told him as he closed his eyes and visualized the building platform. Smiling the old ancient said. "We did that for a reason; most of the structure and surroundings are hidden under an advanced cloaking system that also precludes any ascended being from finding what is there. We did this to safeguard the knowledge that the last of the Alteran's with Royal blood took up residence on the planet below, from those who ascended." Harry looked at the old Alteran shrewdly. "So you also think those who ascended would try to set up rules and tell us how we should live." "Yes" Ollivander told him as he stood up. "It is time to turn over control of the rest of the station to you." Motioning for Harry to join him Ollivander reached out. "I will have to take you through the cloaking shield. Just treat this like side along apparation." Standing up from his chair Harry walked over to where Ollivander was standing and stopped when he was close to his side, almost touching, as Ollivander grabbed a hold of his waist and pulled him in snug and proceeded to expand his magical field to cover Harry, and willed them to appear on the command bridge on the space station. Harry stumbled and felt nauseas and dizzy, he became weak and disoriented and barely made out Ollivander's voice telling him hold on while he was keyed into the computer system. Like a switch being thrown, Harry straightened up and almost swayed with how quickly he went from feeling like he was dying to fine once again. "What the hell was that?" "The security system shutting down your link to your magical core. I did not tell you about it beforehand so that you would not fight it, and make the automated system retaliate." Ollivander told him apologetically. Harry stared hard at the old man trying to decide if he was telling the truth. Harry watched as Ollivander walked over to back wall and his magical energy become visible just like his did when he was exorcising. When he touched the wall it shimmered before fading to show a duplicate of his chair back on the command deck of the city. Pointing to the chair Ollivander told Harry. "Sit in the chair and merge your mind and magic, just like you did when you brought the city fully online. After that what is being hidden from your view will become visible." Walking over to the chair muttering under his breath about crazy ancient antique old men and how they liked to get their jollies, Harry turned and sat down in the chair. Relaxing back in the chair, the back reclined as Harry closed his eyes and started to glow as he let his magical core expand and submerged his mind in it. Ollivander watched as the young man reclining before him seems to wince slightly as system after system came to life and the station powered up. Harry lay there with sweat starting to bead up as he felt a tickle a the back of his mind, and winced as the tickle flashed over into a burst of pain before disappearing and the bond to the station settled in. Opening his eyes Harry reached out and grabbed the towel that appeared in front of him as the chair returned to its original position. Wiping the sweat off of his face he released the towel and it disappeared in midair. Looking around he noticed in wonder that the command center had revealed itself to be a crystal dome like structure that let him see a three hundred and sixtyy degree view of the surrounding area. Harry jumped up out of the chair in wonder as he quickly turned around and took in the sight of the station for the first time. All around him there were weapon platforms interspaced with small and medium size war ships that seemed to gleam and shift as if made out of the same substance of his battle suit. As Harry let his eyes fall on each new discovery, in the back of his mind a trickle of information would inform him of what he was seeing, thus giving a name and brief description of the vessels abilities to him. Finally looking down his eyes rested on a large oval dome that stretched between the pylons and gasped out loud when through the bond he was given the description of the ship he was looking at. "Yes Harry, the future of your new world. Every magical species the Ancients created are represented down there in the Ark in stasis, in populations large enough to become a viable species once again." Ollivander told him pride in his voice. "There is even room enough to evacuate the rest of the magical creatures left on earth at this very moment." Ollivander told him pride still evident in his voice Bowing fully Ollivander started to fade from sight. "Your true inheritance Lord Commander. You have made your parents proud of you, as am I." Harry stood there body plastered against the cry-steel for who knows how long taking in the sight before him, as hope coursed through him for the first time of a bright future. Opening his link up with Aloria Harry merged her bond into the one he formed with the space station and keyed her into the system net allowing her control of the station, through his bond. As Aloria raced through the new systems devouring the information and completing the links between her and the station she whispered in awe "These ships and systems are even more advanced than the cities." Returning to the station command chair he reclined once again, before willing the environment to duplicate his sleeping quarters temperature and lighting before he let his mind and magic freely loose as he fell to sleep, glowing with power as knowledge made its way into his mind. XXXX Bill watched his family eat breakfast, as his mother entered the dining hall from the door leading to the kitchens. It had been a very strange couple of days he reflected as he once again touched the link attached to his temple, it was fast becoming a habit he would have to nip in the bud. He sat there and ate mechanically as he reviewed last nights lesson on the Ancient Language and the runic symbols they used to as short cuts to explain concepts. Deciding he had a fair grasp of the language now, he planned to test it after breakfast on one the TS panels to see if he could correctly reach his destination without relying on verbal commands. Paying attention to the here and now Bill asked. "Charlie what time are you and mum going back to the Burrow?" "We are going to leave right now dear." Molly said as she stopped next to Charlie who grabbed his glass and downed the rest of the juice before standing. "Do you need some of us to go with you mum?" Ron asked interrupting his halting conversation in Alteran with the twins. "No dear, you stay here and finish your breakfast. That lovely Aloria is sending down a bunch of remotes along with a few crates to help us pack" Molly told him as she started for the door. Paling slightly at the thought of how much like big metal spiders the remotes looked like Ron threw a half hearted "Right then" after his mum's retreating back Turning back to Fred and George to pick up the argument on using the twins pranking inventions as weapons, which he was surprisingly in favor of. Before they had a chance to get much further into the discussion Aloria interrupted them. "Excuse me but can I ask you Weasley's to do Harry a favor?" "Of Course" George perked up. "What does Harry need us to do." said Fred. "Harry is still busy with a project he started last night, and the members of the DA should start to arrive shortly, and some one should be there to meet them until Harry can make it." Aloria told them, as she checked on Harry through the link and saw he was still asleep, though the glow of his magic seemed to be settling down and he would be waking soon. Ron jumped up grabbing Charlie's and his dishes. "Of course we will." as he headed towards the kitchen to deposit them in the sink where the remotes would clean and put them away, skirting around the little remotes crawling around the kitchen as they cleaned. Bill watched his three brothers rush off as he finished his breakfast and cleaned up the odds and ends on the table preparing to follow them. "Aloria do you know how long Harry will be?" Bill asked as he entered the kitchen. "I would guess another hour or so before he wakes up from the advanced sleep learning state he placed himself in." Aloria told him as she continued to monitor the object of their discussion through the links with the station. Bill continued the discussion as he left the dining hall and made his way towards the TS down the hall. "I would think he would have put off doing something like that knowing he had the DA members coming this morning." "I am afraid I can not really discuss it without Harry's permission. But I can say it was unexpected and once the information came to light unavoidable." Aloria apologized. Walking into the transport station Bill looked at the panel and cycled through the destinations possible, looking for the one he wanted. "I can understand that." Finding the one he was looking for, Bill double tapped the TS on the map and turning to see if he was right he walked towards the doors in time to see a blur of red hair go running past. Smirking that he was able to get closer to the embarkation room than his brothers, Bill was able to hear a male voice informing them of incoming travelers. Entering the room Bill noticed the sheer amount of people walking around, with more appearing all the time over in the area set aside for non-gate arrivals. Not thinking that there would be that many show up, "Merlin where are we going to put them all until Harry gets here." Bill whispered. "A short walk down the corridor past the TS there is a pilots ready room, opening up into an auditorium. It should have enough room I think." Aloria told him, distracted as she noticed that Harry had stopped glowing and was now in a deep sleep. Taking the steps to the first level two at a time, Bill made his way to the balcony that jutted out over by the gate controller station. "Can you give Ron directions to the room then, while I get their attention." Hearing Aloria answer in the affirmative Bill magically amplified his voice as he leaned on the railing. Seeing Ron jerk his head as Aloria contacted him Bill started. "Can I have every ones attention please." Waiting a moment for every one to quiet down and turn to look up toward him Bill continued. "If every one will follow Ron down to the meeting room we can get started. Harry will be joining us there in a moment or two." Seeing that Ron was making his way through the crowd closely followed by Neville, Bill returned his voice to normal and looked over those who chose to follow Harry's lead as they walked by. Surprised to notice the fair number of adults in a student only organization, Bill hoped Harry would get there quickly. XXXX Harry stretched as he woke up. Getting up from the chair turned bed Harry walked over to the cry-steel window and gazed out over what amounted to a mini fleet with its support structure. Not moving from his spot Harry sighed wearily before he whispered. "Aloria." "Yes Harry." Tentatively Aloria replied. Not moving his head as he watched the deceptively innocent floating ships, Harry started to say. "Aloria I want to give you an Alpha Priority Command that can never be over ruled." Hearing the sound of an indrawn breath over the speaker Harry told her. "You are to become the conservator of the succession. You are to be the ultimate judge if one of my children is worthy of replacing me as Lord Commander, and if not you are to refuse to facilitate the bonding of them to the city and in turn the rest of the fleet." Harry turned his head to watch two small craft approach the station window in front of him. Mentally telling the city to release the hidden protocols to Aloria as he gave the two probes in front of him their instructions and sent them off on their recon mission. Hearing the shocked gasp from the speaker, Harry sighed. "If I knew what I was getting into there is no way in hell you would have convinced me to take up the mantel of Lord Commander. It would have been a bloody cold day in hell before I entered that room with that damn circlet sitting on that chair, let alone let you convince me to put it on." "Harry I didn't know." Aloria tried to convey that she was telling the truth with her voice. "I know that." Walking back towards the Astria console, Harry typed in the closest gate coordinates to the closed down Altare Galaxy. Staring at the Astria the probes had vanished through moments before, Harry started to talk out loud. "When I finally accepted that I did not wish to save everyone, it became easy to accept that I could not save everyone. I slept better at night. When I accepted my heritage, I gave up my foolish wish to always be normal. When I found out that there is no such thing as normal or a normal person for that matter, I embraced my differences. Now people long dead for tens of thousands of years in their attempt to right the wrongs of their brothers and sisters have given me the ultimate power. Made me the ultimate weapon so to speak. They made me a king." Aloria did not know what to say, as she went over all the hidden protocols and instructions newly released to her and built into the very foundation of her being. "Such a heavy responsibility they laid on my head." Harry said as he leaned his forehead on the cry-steel dome. Frightened of his possible answer, Aloria asked so softly it would not have been heard if others were in the room. "Are you going to accept?" Snorting Harry answered her question. "Like I have a choice." Slapping himself mentally for wallowing in a mood. "I suppose I could say to the hell with it and just continue on with my plans, and brought the Alteran race out of hiding and back to the once former glory we held." "That is if it were not for the fact I need these to protect what we are going to build." Harry told her as he waved his hand over the visage of the resting fleet. "I don't understand." Aloria told him. "The great Alteran federation encompassed thousands of worlds strewn through ten galaxies." Harry then pointed down towards the earth. "But all that is left of that great federation is below on this single world. And a few ships trapped in time as they race the speed of light trying to get to safety." "The plague that decimated the galaxies was not natural." Moving away from the console, Harry walked across the room and activated several dozen squadrons of the heavily armed scout ships to replace the shuttles that they had currently docked in the bays of the city. Aloria putting the cryptic comments together, along with the probes leaving. "You are looking for the cause of the plague, you think it is somewhere in the Altare galaxy." "I find that now that I have hopes and a dream of a better future, I am not willing to let it go without a fight." Harry told her. Taking one last look around at all the ships coming to life, and feeling through the bond the station coming to life, Harry said with passion. "I may never have wanted to be king, but now that I am; I will be dammed if I allow whatever almost caused the extinction of my race to succeed. Not with this now at my disposal." As Aloria watched, Harry shifted from the station back to the city, she felt a renewed sense of purpose and pride at being the guardian, instead of being annoyed at not fulfilling what she thought she was built for. XXXX "Harry is on his way." Aloria told the Weasley's through their links. Sighing in relief Bill wrapped up the discussion on the true origins of the Wizarding race and was about to open it up for questions when he was interrupted by the sounds of trumpets going off. "Lord Commander Arriving." Aloria's Voice echoed through out the empty city. Wondering what in Merlin's name was going on now, Bill just stared along with the others as Harry walked into the auditorium and started towards the stage. Seeing the Weasley's all become quiet and stare off towards one side, the rest of those assembled turned in their seats to see what they were staring at, only to be shocked to see a regally dressed Harry walking down the steps with this glowing circle on his head. Harry was slightly amused as he watched everyone look at him with shocked expressions on their faces. Stopping when he was behind the seated Weasley's, Harry spoke up. "Thanks guys for covering for me." "I know you have been told where you are, and some of the background history of how the Alteran's became today's Witches and Wizards." Harry told them. Waving his hand to the side, he willed the cry-steel wall to become transparent. "But seeing is truly believing." Gasps of astonishment accompanied his words as the wall disappeared, and the view of the city showing the Earth sitting there in all it's splendor. Harry chuckled as Colin and Dennis Creevy jumped up from their seats and ran over to the wall to plaster their faces against it, in awe of being in space. As everyone was taking in the view, Harry continued. "In ages past our ancestors along with one of our greatest allies, a race called the Furlings came to this world in the hopes of keeping our two races from dying off during a time of great sickness, and then a war in the Pegasus galaxy broke out, which decimated the rest of the Alteran's and they retreated to our world. Over time the knowledge of who and what we were was lost to both races. Not only did we loose our identity but we lost the knowledge on how to truly use our powers, and we learned to rely on wands to do what we once did without one." Harry said as he moved in front of the table and moving his hand, more so for demonstration than needing to, conjured up a comfortable chair and table, along with a snack. Sitting down, he now had all there attention. "For those who truly want to reclaim their heritage, and join me as I go off in search of the last remaining ancients that are stuck in a bubble of no-time, and find a new place to call home, I am going to offer a place here in the city for your whole extended family." Standing up and banishing the conjured items with a thought, Harry started to pace back and forth across the stage. "Anyone with Alteran blood running through their veins, whether they can use magic or not is welcome to join me. I plan to invite the best and brightest the Wizarding world has to offer, and once they have reclaimed their rightful heritage and knowledge, go out and find a new world to call home." As Harry talked Bill thought to himself. Thank Merlin Harry is not dark, as charismatic as he is he could destroy the world. Harry spent the next hour and a half explaining what he planned to do and how it would be accomplished. With the Weasley's help, he explained what the teacher links were and how they would be used to teach everyone the forgotten knowledge that would prepare them for the new future. Harry finished off with. "Forget everything you have ever learned about purity of blood and Muggleborns. What determines if a person has magic is if both parents have Alteran blood running through their veins." "And Squibs?" shouted out one of the adults in the audience. Harry had expected this question and was ready for it. "Most of you would not understand the technical explanation so I will overly simplify it for you." "A squib is born with an illness that does not effect the child except in their ability to use magic. It is easily fixed, and when caught early the child will have no ill effects." Harry told them. Seeing some of them were a little confused, and he was loosing them. "We have a treatment that for a lack of a better word, will cure a person who is a squib so they can use their magic." Holding his hand up to forestall the questions he saw waiting to be asked. "If we catch the person before they become a teenager they will have full use of their powers. Otherwise they would have to resort to using something to focus their magic, like a wand, if they wanted to do anything past say fourth year material." "My parents can come with us then, and maybe be able to do magic?" Dennis asked hopeful. Chuckling softly at the hyperactive enthusiastic young man. "Yes Dennis, you and your brothers parents are welcome to come even if they can't do magic." Each person then thought Harry was starring directly at them, "Alteran's do NOT care if the person can do magic, just if they are a good person." Noticing it was almost time for lunch Harry said. "One more question before we make our way to the dining hall for lunch. After lunch those that wish can get a brief tour of parts of the city, as it takes a lot longer than a couple of hours to really get started seeing the wonders that is Toria Ai Shas." Augusta Longbottom stood up and asked. "Mr. Potter you said the Furlings also took refuge with the Alteran's on the world below. Are they still around?" "Yes they are. We know them today as the Goblins, we see them every time we enter a Gringotts branch." Harry answered her. Holding up his hand to forestall any comments once again. "Yes we have fought wars with them. And yes they too lost all knowledge of who and what they were. But those who can not let the past go, and can not accept the new future being offered, will be left behind." Harry told her and thought to add. "On BOTH sides." "I can accept that." Mrs. Longbottom told him. "I am reminded of one last thing as Aloria tells me lunch is ready. For those who have manor homes and such we have the means of bringing them with us, you will not have to leave the home you have known all your life behind. We have special techniques that will allow us to move them with us in a shifted state." Harry said as he started up the steps. "Now if you will all follow me we can see about getting something hot to eat." Harry told them as he walked out, not looking back to see if they were following him or not. After giving everyone a brief description on how the TS or transport system worked and comparing it to the floo network so they would understand the concept, Harry asked the twins to go with the first group to act as ushers for the rest on the other end. As Harry was going through the buffet and loading up his plate, Neville made his way with his plate over to where Harry was. "Hey Harry." "Hi Neville how are you doing?" Harry asked curious. "Good very good, Gran wanted to come up with me in the hopes she could pull you aside and talk to you, something about the Wizengamot and the Chaos the ministry is in." Neville told him as he walked along with Harry as they looked for a table to sit at. "Tell her to hunt me down after the tour and we can sit down and go over whatever she wants then." Harry told him as he chose a table. Sitting down on the other side of the table. "Ron told me a bit about the greenhouses and farms. What I want to know is how soon can I start to move up plants from my greenhouses at home." "You are planning to join us then?" Harry asked as he put his knife down to give Neville his undivided attention. "Gran and I talked on the way to the dinning hall. She told me to start packing as soon as we got back. She has hopes that with the advanced healers we might be able to get my parents back." Neville said hope in his voice. Talking to Aloria through their link before saying anything, Harry went over different treatment options. "I think we may be able to help them Neville. Saying that, I have to warn you that if we do bring them back there is a good possibility they would not remember ever having a child." He warned his friend. "I think I can deal with that. Thank you Harry." Neville told him full of hope. As Harry finished his lunch in between people dropping by to ask questions, he stood up and dropped his dishes off on the belt that would take them to the kitchen sinks and made to move near the doors deciding it was time to get on with it. Edited by Scott