Let there be...
Hari snapped awake, every muscle tense. She was covered in a layer of sweat, but felt cold. A dream was fading from her mind. Someone from her dream who was definitely an asshole kept poking at her before turning into a ball of golden light. That wasn’t right, or was it?
She sat up, frustrated. She may as well get up. It’s not like she could fall back asleep anytime soon.
Hari hesitated in the doorway of the console room. Rush was already at a console. He glared at her with bloodshot eyes. Hari raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She crossed the room to ‘her’ station and checked on the systems. There was so much she could learn from Destiny, if only she could figure out the basics. It was like knowing the best book in the history of the world awaited you, but first you had to teach yourself the language it was written in.
“Errrr. Rush?”
“What?”
And wow, that wasn’t a friendly tone of voice.
“Did you figure out how to reroute power between systems?”
Rush’s head snapped up. “No.”
He went back to work without another word.
“Yesterday I was learning about the backup lighting system in the ship. But now the power in that system is gone.”
“Hmmm.”
“I didn’t drain the power.”
“Hmmm.”
“Rush?”
“Keep looking.” He didn’t look up at her.
He didn’t look very good.
Hari imagined what Snape would have done if Hari had told him to go to bed. Rush would probably react about the same way, except with less flaying. Maybe.
The next few hours were quiet, but Hari was getting more anxious with every minute at the console. She guessed Rush was, too, because he fidgeted, rubbed his neck, and tapped the console so hard she wanted to glue his hands to his chair.
“Rush?”
“What?”
“Power is dropping in several systems.”
“Hmmm.”
“Life support is doing well. Really well, actually.”
“Yes.”
“Rush!” Hari wanted to shake him.
He finally looked up and raised an eyebrow.
“It looks like ship-wide power is being rerouted into life support.”
“Yes.”
“We’re low on power.”
“Yes.”
“Any idea how we recharge or refuel or whatever this ship needs?”
Rush rubbed his forehead. “Working on it.” He looked utterly miserable.
Hari wasn’t sure if she’d ever wanted to hug someone and kick them in the balls at the same time.
“Right. Colonel Young called a meeting during breakfast. I’ll try to catch him before them.”
“Waste of time,” hissed Rush.
Hari didn’t say anything. She hated when people kept vital information away from the person making decisions. Dumbledore always kept information from her. Sirius died because of it. Hari floundered for almost a year in the wild, camping and starving, because he didn’t tell her information earlier. They could have worked together. They could have…
Hari took a deep breath and left the room.
_______________________________________
Young, Senator Armstrong, and Wray were in the mess hall. What a weird name for a dining room.
Hari interrupted them. “Errr. Colonel Young. A minute?”
He stood up and followed her to a nook off the corridor outside. “What is it, Hari?”
She leaned closer. Not quite whispering in his ear. “We’re having power issues.”
Young sighed. “How bad?”
“Bad. As far as I can tell. Really bad.”
He gently put a hand on her shoulder. “What does Rush say?”
Hari rubbed her forehead. “Not much.”
Young gave her a side eye, and she shrugged.
“Can you tell everyone to stop exploring the ship and turning things on? We need to stop using so much power.”
He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Alright. I will. And then I’ll be by the console room to talk to Rush.”
“Yeah. That’ll be fun,” murmured Hari.
_______________________________________
On her way back to the console room, James asked her to look at something. Hari entered a room with a lot of the crew. None of the higher ups. Well…it looks like Young wasn’t the only one hosting a meeting today.
“Hi?” Hari gave a small wave.
They didn’t look happy. Spencer stepped forward. “No one’s giving us a straight answer on whether we’re going home.”
“Of course we’ll go home. It just might take some time,” Hari huffed.
“Time?”
“Yes, time.”
“Why?”
Hari scanned the crowd. “Hey, Riley. You were there when we made the first attempt to dial the ninth chevron after I arrived before the attack.”
Riley shifted. “Yeah?”
“What was it like?”
“Um. The ground shook. There was a lot of static – like lightning – coming from the gate.”
“Pretty scary, right?” asked Hari.
Riley shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Yeah,” nodded Hari. “That was when everything was right except for the very last symbol in the address.’
“Yeah,” Riley agreed, looking confused.
“So…we’re on an old ship. We need to learn enough about the systems to check that everything’s working. Then we need to fix whatever needs to be fixed. Probably refuel. Make sure we don’t blow the ship up when we try to dial home.”
Spencer was scowling. “And what if we can’t fix it?”
“Then we try something else. Maybe we’ll find another Icarus planet. Maybe we’ll find a different way to recharge the batteries or fuel tanks or something onboard. If the ship’s power system is damaged, maybe we’ll find another power source like a star. We’ll figure it out. Just give us some time…and, you know…don’t let us die of starvation or something in the meantime.”
“Really?”
“I have no intention of living the rest of my life without proper English tea.”
_______________________________________
Rush was a giant git.
If this was his response to sleep deprivation, Hari was going to knock him out every single night.
The last hour since members of the science team trickled in after breakfast had made Rush spiral.
He wouldn’t speak to anyone. When he did deign to open his mouth, it was to scream at the people nearby. He didn’t take it out on her, but… this was a new level of gitdom. Hari still preferred Rush to Snape.
Hari was flipping through screens on her console. “Something from the other side of the ship shut down. Not sure what.”
Young walked in.
“Colonel,” said Rush. “Power is being channeled into life support away from–”
Volker cut him off. “I don’t see it. We’re cut off from the core systems.”
“Out!” yelled Rush.
Young cut in. “What can we do?”
“Nothing!” Rush was really yelling now. “You don’t understand, Colonel. All of our power is almost gone.”
“Emergency reserves?”
“Almost entirely depleted. We don’t have long to–”
The lights flickered and died. With a sickening jolt, Destiny dropped out of FTL.
“We could be in range of a stargate,” said Volker.
“You see what I mean?” Rush gestured toward Volker with such force that Hari made a note to never give Rush a weapon.
“Rush,” Hari stepped forward. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong! The opportunity of a lifetime, thrown away!” Rush was pacing.
Hari cast a discrete diagnostic charm. Something was wrong with him, but it didn’t read as life threatening. “You’re in pain,” said Hari.
Rush waved his hand like he was shooing a fly. “I refuse to be held responsible for this.”
Young’s voice was quiet and soothing. “No one’s blaming you.”
“I ran out of time!” Rush was ranting and pacing.
Hari stepped closer, reaching out to Rush.
“TJ, to the console room,” Young said into his radio.
Hari caught Rush as he collapsed. Young was there a second later and helped lower Rush to the ground.
“TJ, now!”
_______________________________________
All of the consoles were dark and unresponsive.
“I’m moving to the shuttle to see if its power is drained. Coming?” asked Hari.
Several scientists followed her.
Luckily, the shuttle still had power.
“Brody?”
“Yeah, Hari?”
“It looks like we’re in a star system. Can you check what’s here?”
“Yeah.” Brody moved to one of the shuttle’s consoles.
Hari moved to a different station and searched for information about the shuttle’s power system.
“Huh,” said Brody after a few minutes.
“What is it?”
“There’s a gas giant. Three other planets closer to the sun. Some might be in the habitable zone,” said Brody.
“No way!” said Volker, smiling.
“Oh my God.” Park laughed.
“Does laughter mean you have good news?” asked Young.
“How’s Rush?” asked Hari.
“He’ll be fine. Is someone going to tell me…?”
Brody jumped in. “We dropped out of FTL in a star system.”
Park couldn’t help herself. “The odds of that are, well, astronomical.”
“How does this fix the ship?” asked Young.
“The ship’s dead,” said Volker.
“I don’t accept that,” snapped Young.
“You saw the consoles in the ship go out,” protested Brody. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Young turned to Hari.
“I put a kino on search mode to search the ship for an active console or any indications of power. Nothing yet. I’m also looking into the power system of this shuttle to see if we can divert its power to Destiny.”
“So you’re working the problem,” said Young. He turned back to the other scientists and glared.
“There’s also…” Hari trailed off.
“What?” asked Young.
Hari took a breath. “I don’t have proof. I was looking into this when the consoles went dark. I have a theory that Destiny is in this system to recharge or refuel somehow.”
“There is absolutely no evidence of that,” scoffed Volker.
“I haven’t proven it,” Hari repeated. “But it makes sense.”
“How?”
“Destiny knows we’re here. She knows we need life support. She took us to a planet where we could get lime to fix the air scrubbers. And now we need power. And we’re in a system with multiple energy sources.”
“What energy sources?”
“The gas giant. The sun.”
Volker spluttered. “Maybe we’re supposed to extract energy the ourselves, like we had to find lime ourselves.”
Hari shrugged. “Possible.”
“Or maybe,” Brody said, “It brought us to a habitable planet so we can leave a failing ship.”
“Why not take us to a planet with a stargate so everyone could live?” asked Hari.
“It ran out of power too quickly?” said Park.
Hari crossed her arms. “Then why set us up for an aerobraking maneuver? Destiny doesn’t have to slow down or change direction for the shuttle to leave and reach one of the inner planets.”
“There’s no proof!” Volker looked at her like she was contagious. Or stupid.
“I know,” said Hari.
That took the wind out of their sails.
“Is there any way to know for sure?” asked Young.
Hari shrugged. “I’m using the kinos to see if there’s anywhere I can access Destiny’s systems. I’m looking through the shuttle’s systems to see if there’s information about Destiny’s power stored here.”
“Well. Work on it,” said Young. “I’m going to report this to Homeworld Command.”
_______________________________________
Hari was alone in the shuttle. The rest of the science team left to search for supplies for power connectors and conduits.
Young walked into the shuttle. His gait was wrong. He didn’t move his arms in the right way.
“Report,” he snapped.
The hair on Hari’s neck rose.
She used a tiny brush of Legilimency. He didn’t feel like Colonel Young. Possession? Were there magical people around, hiding from Hari? She hadn’t been cautious enough.
Hari moved toward the Colonel. She pointed over his shoulder. “Here let me show you.”
As she moved behind him, she used the element of surprise to quickly tie him to the chair. Magic may have been used behind his back. She summoned a strip of cloth and used it as a gag. He strained against the ropes.
Hari almost felt bad.
She pushed a button on her radio. “TJ. Scott. Could you come to the shuttle? I have those results I was going to show you.”
There was a pause.
“Roger,” said Scott.
Hari sat down and stared at Young.
A few minutes later, Scott, Greer, and TJ jogged in.
“What’s wrong–” Scott stopped when he saw Young. “What the hell?”
Hari held her hands up, placating. “Something’s wrong with Colonel Young. TJ, can you check him?”
TJ moved forward slowly, keeping an eye on Hari. Greer barged forward, looking like he’d happily kill Hari.
Scott stopped Greer’s progress. “Explain, Hari.”
“He…This sounds crazy. He was moving wrong. Acting wrong. I can’t…With everything going on, I can’t take the risk with people around the shuttle.”
TJ removed the gag.
“I’m not Colonel Young!” he shouted.
Someone who possessed another person’s body was owning up to it? Or had Young suddenly gone mad?
Scott snorted, then looked sheepishly at Colonel Young. “Uh. He’s not Colonel Young.”
Hari’s eyes snapped to Scott. Holy crap. Was Scott going off his rocker, too? She edged backward.
“Errrr. Lieutenant Scott,” said Hari very softly. “Who do you see in that seat?”
“I’m Colonel Telford,” yelled Colonel Young.
TJ started to untie his hands. “How did you get this…” she was muttering.
“TJ? Aren’t you…worried by what Lieutenant Scott said?”
Greer laughed.
Scott rubbed his face, trying to hide a smile. “Colonel Young used the communication stones to report to Earth.” Like that explained everything.
“And…” questioned Hari. “A side effect is being confused about identity afterward?”
“No! It’s…” Scott looked like he was really trying not to laugh.
Colonel Young was not laughing. “The communication stones put Colonel Young’s consciousness into my body on Earth, and my consciousness into his body here.”
Hari’s jaw hung open. Consciousness wasn’t really a thing. Souls were a thing. The muggles in this reality had access to something that ripped souls from bodies and switched them around to other bodies? And they were fine with that? How would that even happen? Hari wanted to inspect the communication stones and stay far, far away from them at the same time.
“Body snatching?” Hari’s voice may have been an octave higher.
TJ’s shoulders were shaking.
“That is…” Hari thought for a few seconds. “Surprisingly, not the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Colonel Young – errrr, Colonel Telford – stood and rubbed his wrists. He glared at her.
“Errrrr. I remember a Telford from Icarus. Tall. Nice eyes. Killer cheekbones. Sexy. You’re…that Telford?”
TJ covered a laugh with a cough. A fake cough. A very fake cough.
Telford just glared.
It felt so wrong for the wrong soul to be in a body. It was like a loose tooth Hari was poking at.
Hari put her shoulders back. “I can’t take risks with people acting unusually around this equipment.”
“I understand,” he bit out.
“Do you forgive me…even though I’m…errr…not really sorry?”
Scott face palmed.
Greer turned away, making a suspicious choking sound.
Telford rolled his neck. Well…Young’s neck… “Forget it. Report,” he snapped.
Yeah.
Hari could tell they’d be best friends.
_______________________________________
Colonel Young walked in. Hari watched him. He moved right. The feeling of wrongness was gone.
She walked up to him and gave him a quick hug.
He was startled and pulled back, eyebrows raised.
“The body snatching thing was creepy. And unexpected.”
His lips twitched into a smile.
“I sort of detained Telford.”
Young’s smile disappeared.
“Yeah.” muttered Hari. “Glad you’re back.”
Young looked like he wanted to ask, but stopped himself. “So what’s our status?”
“We’re getting close to the gas giant.”
_______________________________________
Hari heard steps coming toward the shuttle and looked up.
“Nick! How are you?”
He nodded to her but didn’t smile. “Better.”
“Come on in,” said Young.
Rush was quickly up to speed, basically by figuring everything out by himself. He really was brilliant, the git.
Hari looked up from her console. “If I’m right, then after the flyby of the gas giant we’ll be headed toward the sun.”
“Have you found any evidence to support your theory?” asked Rush.
Hari sighed. “No. I can’t access information about Destiny’s power systems from here. And the kinos haven’t found any active consoles away from the shuttle.”
“Hmmm.”
“Well, pull up a chair, sir,” Scott said to Rush. “This'll be a show you don't want to miss.”
Rush moved toward a seat and reached for a seat belt.
“Just so we're clear,” said Young, smiling, “my definition of ‘habitable’ includes a sandy beach, a tropical climate –”
Rush cut him off. “There's going to be severe turbulence when we contact the atmosphere.”
Young sighed. “We'll pass the word.” And he left the shuttle.
And that’s when shit got real for Hari. A freaking huge, alien, glowing planet was taking up the shuttle’s entire view. It had swirling clouds. One of the storms she saw was larger than Earth. They were inside a ridiculously old ship, built by a race that was long gone – long gone on the scales of evolution – and the ship might break up in minutes.
She might be dead in minutes.
Granted, going through FTL was much more challenging for a spacecraft. But only when the shields were working properly. Were the shields working properly? Shields needed power.
Hari snapped her Occlumency shields into place. She focused on nothing but breathing.
She was only slightly aware of the flyby.
They survived.
They survived!
Hari brought her attention back to the present. TJ was laughing.
The laughter stopped when Scott yelled for Rush. “Look at this.”
The aerobraking maneuver changed Destiny’s orbit.
Right into the sun.
Rush looked at Hari. “You thought this would happen.”
“If Destiny didn’t recharge in the gas giant, then yes.”
“We didn’t approach deep enough into the gas giant for any sort of refueling.”
Hari shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Did you find anything regarding the status of the shields before Destiny shut off power to the consoles?” asked Rush.
“No.”
“But you think you’re right.” Rush made that sound like a statement, not a question.
“Yes.”
Rush rubbed his forehead.
_______________________________________
Young told everyone about a lottery. Seventeen people would travel to the planet on the shuttle loaded with supplies.
He also told everyone about Hari’s theory, making sure to say it was unproven, but possible.
Everyone knew that only seventeen people were guaranteed to live through the day.
_______________________________________
“Colonel Young,” said Hari.
Young looked pissed off. “Not you, too.”
“What?”
“What do you want, Hari?”
Hari took a deep breath. “Take my name out of the lottery.”
“What?!”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“You’re young, Hari. Talented. You could help people survive on the planet.”
“I’m not giving up on Destiny. And I’m not leaving people here.”
“Hari…” he rubbed his temples. Young stood and walked into Hari’s space.
She tilted her head up to stare into his eyes. “Maybe there’s something I can do at the last minute to help. Maybe…” Hari shook her head. “I’m staying.”
Young looked away. “You think you’re right.”
Hari nodded.
He sighed. “You’re betting your life on it.”
“I don’t bet.”
Young met her eyes again and raised an eyebrow.
Hari shrugged. “It’s not a game. This is just…where we are.”
Young breathed out and nodded. “This is where we are.”
_______________________________________
Hari and Rush stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the sun, while the crew drew names in the gate room.
After a surprisingly short time, Young, Greer, and several others entered the observation room.
They watched the shuttle leave.
She hugged Young, who seemed surprised. Then she wrapped Greer in a bear hug and squeezed. He patted her back and then pulled away. Young and Greer left.
And then she looked at Rush.
“I’m sorry I pulled you into this, Hari.”
Hari smiled. “I’m not.”
She hugged him, too, happy that he didn’t pull away. Then he walked off.
Hari looked at the sun, getting closer every second.
If she was going to die, at least it wouldn’t be at the hands of a malicious person this time. Really, there were worse ways to go.
_______________________________________
Hari paced the console room.
The lights were off.
Had she once again made a decision to walk to her death without raising a hand to protect herself?
It felt better this time.
She didn’t regret coming back from the In Between after Voldemort killed her. She didn’t regret the new experiences.
For the first time in her life, Hari had quiet time studying a topic she loved. She’d had months without the weight of the world on her. She only had to worry about food, water, shelter, and entertaining herself as she pleased.
She’d met Rush. A prime example of what all the super gits in the universe could be if they applied themselves to the betterment of life rather than destruction and cruelty.
She’d become an astronaut. Traveled to other planets. Explored farther than anyone in the history of Earth.
She had no regrets in this chapter of life. That felt good.
Her heart beat quickly.
The lights were off.
They didn’t come on.
Until they did.
_______________________________________
Hari ran into the observation room to see Rush was already there. She wrapped him in a hug, and they both laughed.
“Uh. Why are we laughing?” Chloe looked at them like they were crazy.
“We’re alive!” Rush hugged her tighter.
Senator Armstrong frowned. “Are we going to stay alive?”
“Yes!” Hari laughed.
“But the fiery death –” murmured Chloe.
“-- would have happened already,” cut in Rush.
Chloe hugged her dad.
Young walked in.
Hari skipped over to him, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him. His muscle froze for a second, but he put his hands on her back and pulled her closer. Hari stroked the hair on the back of his neck and tried to press closer. Around the time she wondered if she’d survived a sun just to die of suffocation, Senator Armstrong coughed and Young pulled back, looking a little sheepish.
“Uh…” He didn’t let her go.
“We’re alive!” Hari beamed.
“You were right?” Young asked.
“She was,” Rush laughed. “And I have never been more happy to be wrong in my life.”
Hari hugged Young, put her forehead against his neck, and smiled. He stroked a hand up her spine.
“We need to contact the shuttle,” demanded Young.
“I’ll work on it,” said Rush, already heading toward the console room.
Hari sighed a pulled back a little. “I’ll help him.”
Young brushed his fingers across her shoulder. “I’m sure Senator Armstrong and Chloe will help me spread the good news.”
They pulled apart, and Hari wanted to reach out again. Instead, she followed Rush.
_______________________________________
After the shuttle docked with Destiny, Senator Armstrong looked physically pained when Chloe wrapped herself around Lieutenant Scott like an octopus.
It’s good to be alive, thought Hari.
_______________________________________
That evening, Hari knocked on Young’s door.
“Enter.”
Hari opened the door and stepped into the room.
He looked a tad awkward.
“Hi, Hari.”
“Hi. I…errr…I have a question.”
“Yeah?”
“Do I owe you an apology?”
“What?”
“An apology. For earlier.”
Young stared at her, confused.
“I kissed you,” said Hari.
Young looked at her lips.
“Without…you know…asking first.” Hari fidgeted.
The Colonel stepped closer and skimmed two fingers along her collarbone. “No apology necessary.”
Hari stepped closer, resting her palm on his side.
“I’ve been told,” murmured Young, “that I’m bad at this.”
“Who said that?”
“My ex-wife.”
“Maybe she was biased,” whispered Hari.
“You are so beautiful.” Young cradled her face with one hand and leaned in.
A few minutes later, Hari jumped when the radio squawked. Young’s lip twitched.
“Scott to Young.”
Young sighed. “This is Young.”
“Can you look at something, Colonel?”
“Where are you?”
“The water storage area.”
“I’ll be there in five.” Young moved his hand away from his radio. His eyes were glued to Hari’s lips. “This may take a while.”
“Hmmm.” Hari stole a quick kiss.
They left Young’s room, heading in opposite directions.
Hari may be stranded on a very old ship halfway across the universe, but she couldn’t remember being this happy. It’s good to be alive.