Harry Potter – Alteran, Part 2

*This is Alteran speech*

-"Mental communication"-

[Asgard speech]

-oo00oo- scene break or time jump.

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate SG1 nor do I receive money for my writing.

Chapter 7 - Hide or Fight

Harry settled into his bed onboard the Zeus. They had escorted the Asuran city back to Atlantis, making the quick stop at the now dismantled defense satellite. They were going to stay in orbit for a day while Aliya smoothed things over with the Tria crew after they saw the Asuran city appear in orbit. Hermione also wanted to stay for a day to go over the data from the Aurora and its crew.

While they had been taking care of the Asurans, Helia had, with the help of her chief engineer, being able to access the neural network virtual reality on the Aurora. She explained to the Captain what was happening and what they planned to do for them. It was going to be a long process once they got back to the Milky Way.

Harry had also had to talk with the two Asgard, apologizing to them for the delay in going to find their lost brothers and sisters. Once they settled things at Atlantis, he promised them it would be the next stop.

Harry was feeling a bit on edge though. Now that he had time to think about his actions the day before, he wasn't sure he had done the right thing. The Asurans were children of the Lanteans and by extension he and the new Alterans. Luna was lying next to him on the bed, staring up at the ceiling of the compartment.

"Luna, did we do the right thing?" Harry asked as he laid his head on the pillow next to her.

Luna took a moment to reply but when she did, it was with a conviction that Harry rarely heard from her. "We did what was needed. I told you about my visions. If we had left them, tried to modify their aggression base code, or did anything else besides what we did, we would not succeed in rebuilding Alteran society. They would have come for us eventually. I am still not sure what Aliya did will hold but I don't see destruction coming from it."

Harry let out a long sigh as he closed his eyes. "It still troubles me." sighing again.

"If it didn't trouble you, Harry, I would start to be worried. I… there was just no other way." Luna rolled over and cuddled up to Harry. It wasn't often that it was just the two of them in bed. "We have more trouble coming, it's distant, but it is coming. We will need to gain strength."

Harry turned his head and looked into Luna's eyes, they were glossed over and she had a faraway look. "What's coming my moon?"

Luna's eyes focused on him. "I can't see it clearly. We have time, years, but something is coming. It's very distant from us right now… we haven't caught their attention yet."

Harry got a troubled look. "What is it Luna, what aren't you telling me?"

Luna just snuggled in closer to Harry and put her head on his chest. "We have time."

-oo00oo-

Just before leaving on their next mission, Harry instructed the Human Analog Nanite Swarms or Hands to take the newly named City of Sparta around the Lantea system and reclaim all Lantean technology. They were ordered to leave the hydrothermal power plant at the bottom of the ocean for last.

After giving them his instructions, Harry had walked away feeling slightly dirty. He looked at them with two thoughts in mind. Part of him thought of them as technological tools, just like all of the technology the Alterans had created over their millions of years. The other part of him looked at them as another lifeform created by his ancestors, a lifeform that… deserved more from their creators. As they were, they would have destroyed biological life, their hatred of the Lanteans was too deeply ingrained into them, and Harry didn't honestly blame them for that hate, that hate though would have turned to the other creations of the ancients.

After that, Harry wasn't sure if he would leave them in Pegasus to clean up the rest of the galaxy or not. If they traveled by Stargate they would be able to access ninety percent of what the Lanteans had built. Harry wasn't sure he even wanted to leave the gate system active. If he removed it, it would limit the Wraith to ship travel only, which would limit their feeding ability but not by much. He was still contemplative about it. It would also cause problems for the humans of the galaxy that used the gate system for trade.

Harry knew of one more city-ship in the galaxy that was reported to still be intact. The social satellite that was currently in orbit of the world it rested on, showed that it was falling apart. Nature was reclaiming the city and it would eventually be turned to dust. The satellite also showed humans using it for shelter and protection from the Wraith. Harry wasn't sure what to do about it yet, fortunately, he had time before he absolutely needed to think of solutions to it.

There were other little things here and there that could use his attention, like a society that had an Aurora ship and construction dock in its possession but the satellite indicated that they weren't able to use the technology and were developing their own tech-based on what they had. Their problem was that they were running the dock shield constantly which was powered by thermal dynamics. It was a few years away but a supervolcano was developing beneath the dock. He was thinking of sending someone there to deactivate the shield but he wasn't sure yet.

He had bigger problems to deal with at the moment. The satellites had mapped the galaxy and it wasn't pretty. It was actually worse than he had thought before coming here. Fortunately, the Wraith were sleeping and only had one hive active at a minimal level. The cruiser that had been dispatched to investigate the Aurora signal had been part of that hives fleet but since it didn't find anything they had returned with no signals going out to wake the others. It was a stroke of luck if Harry ever had one.

He was still hoping to get out of Pegasus without them waking up, if they could accomplish everything they needed to without waking them up, they would get fifty years to come up with a solution for the Wraith.

Right now though they had some Asgard to get in contact with. After that, he had two more places that needed his attention. Hermione appeared on the bridge, glancing around for a second before finding him sitting up in the control chair. Luna was standing next to the chair with her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Aliya is staying behind, she wants to monitor the HANdS while they do what you instructed them to do. She's staying on Atlantis though." Hermione announced.

Both Luna and Harry looked over at her while she spoke, Luna was the one to respond though. "That's a good idea, she can adjust their programming a bit more." Harry actually turned and looked up at Luna when she said that. "Something I should know about my little moon?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, choices have been made." Luna replied with her normal dreamy demeanor. This caused Harry and Hermione to share a look with each other before Harry laid back in the control chair. "Our two Asgardians are anxious to find their lost brethren." Harry informed them.

"Then let's get going." Hermione told him.

The holograms around the bridge showed the hyperspace window opening and Zeus entering it.

-oo00oo-

The Zeus exited hyperspace and cloaked over a nasty-looking planet. Luna was standing at the back control console looking at the information coming in from the sensors. The two Asgard however were standing a couple of meters in front of the control chair looking at the planet via the holographic. Harry was still in the chair but sitting up, he wasn't expecting any trouble on this trip.

Hermione was standing behind him also looking at the planet below them. "That doesn't look habitable!" She exclaimed.

Luna spoke up at that. "It's not. The surface-atmosphere is highly poisonous and volatile but I am detecting subsurface structures of Asgard design. They must be living underground."

Just as she finished speaking, the automated systems of the Zeus snapped the shields into place as a surface-fired plasma beam struck the Zeus. Harry immediately dropped back into the seat as the ship was rocked from the impact. It was much more powerful than an Asgard shipboard weapon. "Shields at ninety percent, minor damage to sub-light engines." Harry spoke out to the room as he brought the Zeus to full power and started reinforcing the shields with power from the second Potentia; he also dispatched the nanites to the damaged system.

"High Councilor, open a channel to the surface." requested one of the Asgard just as a second plasma beam hit the shields of The Zeus causing the cloak to drop. The second beam had hit just the right spot for it to damage the cloaking emitter.

"Open" Harry informed him as he also dispatched nanites to the damaged cloak. He didn't want the ship to remain uncloaked for long while anywhere in Pegasus except the Lantea system.

[Greetings from the Ida galaxy. We represent the Asgard High Council and the Great Races Alliance. Hold fire. We have come to bring you home.] The Asgard spoke to the room.

The weapons fire stopped but there was no reply to the greeting for several seconds. Harry, Luna, and Hermione were all holding their breath during those seconds. Harry because he didn't want to have to return fire. The second blast from the plasma beam had been five times stronger than the first and had actually drained the shield by two percent, even with two Potentia powering it.

He let out his breath when a hologram of another Asgard appeared on the bridge. Harry noticed that this Asgard was slightly different from Thor and the others. Its skin was slightly grayer and it had two visible implants, one above its right brow, the other on the right side of its chest. [I am Dgenu, the current leader of the Vanir. How have you come to be here?]

[I am Yuhliser of Asgard. We are here to bring our lost brethren home. With the help of our friends the Alterans, we have solved the cloning problem. Our race will continue on as it should have before we made our great mistake.]

Harry could see the eyes of Dgenu widen in surprise. [The ship you come in is not Asgard nor is it Lantean.] Questioned Dgenu.

[This ship is Alteran, a recent upgrade from the Aurora vessels you are familiar with. This is The Zeus.] Yuhliser turned and pointed to Harry sitting in the control chair. [The commander of this vessel is High Councilor Potter of the Alteran High Council.]

Harry stood from the chair, he didn't relinquish full control of the ship though, he just switched to mental commands instead of the direct control of the chair. He bowed as was appropriate to the hologram of Dgenu. *The Alteran High Council brings you greetings, the Great Races Alliance also sends greetings from the Nox. We have traveled back to Pegasus to remove what is left of our technology, to discover the status of the Wraith and Humans, and to bring you home to the Ida galaxy, reunite you with your brethren.*

Harry paused to give the Vanir Asgard a moment to absorb that information, he then continued, still in a formal manner. *We have assisted our friends, the Asgard in correcting the genetic problems caused by cloning. Efforts are already underway in Avalon to provide the last generation of cloned bodies to the Asgard. We invite you and all of your people that remain to come with us and leave this galaxy behind.* Harry finished his little speech then bowed again before retaking his seat back in the control chair and regaining direct control of the ship.

Dgenu stood there for a moment, a look of contemplation showing in his eyes since Asgard didn't have much in the way of facial expression. [We will need time to gather ourselves and our equipment for transport.]

*How many Asgard are on the planet, what ships do you have, and what equipment do you need to bring?* asked Harry from the chair since the formal speech had been dropped.

[We have twenty-three thousand Asgard here. We, unfortunately, do not have enough ships to transport them all, resources are hard to acquire. We also have several hundred armored battle suits that the Lanteans helped us to develop before they came under siege by the Wraith. We would like to bring those with us.] Dgenu replied to the inquiry.

Harry looked to Yuhliser and received a nod from him before replying. *We will have to send the city-ship to pick you up.* Harry then mentally transmitted the information about Sparta to the Vanir. *The ship will arrive in four days. Will that be enough time to get everything ready?*

[Yes High Councilor, it will.] Dgenu's hologram then disappeared from the bridge of the ship. Harry turned his attention to Yuhliser. *Do you wish to be beamed down to the planet? Dgenu seemed a little…*

[No High Councilor, we will remain on The Zeus. There has always been a strain between the Asgard and the Vanir. We hope with the cloning issue resolved, we will be able to reintegrate them with the Asgard as a whole. We have suffered greatly with our brothers and sisters so far away from us.] Yuhliser replied.

Harry didn't need to reply. He laid back in the chair and checked the status of the repairs to the Zeus. Finding that the nanites had been up to their normal proficiency, he cloaked the ship and set course for his next destination.

-oo00oo-

The orbit of Arcturas Planet

Harry decided to take his time getting to their next stop; it had been one of Janus's projects that he had set up in secret from the Lantean High Council. Janus had named it the Arcturas project. It was actually two projects in one. The first was a new power source to replace the Potentia. It was designed to pull Zero Point energy from this or other actual universes instead of the artificially created bubble universes created in the Potentia.

His notes on it looked promising but there had been an issue. The core of the power generator created exotic particles that the shielding around the core could not compensate for. Janus`s notes explained the disaster that had taken place killing several scientists and destroying most of the planet's surface.

The other part of the project was a new weapon. The details of the weapon were sketchy at best. It was powered by the new core and was supposed to be able to destroy a hive ship in a single hit. Harry wasn't sure what Janus was thinking since from what he could tell, the weapon would only be planet-based. It was too large to be used onboard a ship. Then again it was a prototype and could eventually be scaled down for ship use.

As The Zeus dropped out of hyperspace over the planet, Harry was still deciding what to do with the project. "I'm going down to the planet and see what is left of the project and pull the full files on it," Harry informed Hermione, who was the only other person on the bridge at the time.

Hermione walked over to him from where she had been standing behind the rear control console getting an update from the Tria medical personnel back on Atlantis about the Aurora crew. "Would you like some company?"

Harry stood up from the chair. "You're welcome to come along. There's probably not a whole lot to see."

Hermione gave Harry a look. "You seem to have forgotten that I have the full download now. This is quite interesting to me. I don't have to just be the chief medical officer anymore, though I do enjoy my work in that field."

Harry just stared at her in shock for a moment before replying. "I didn't know you have an interest in extremely high energy physics and subatomic particle manipulation."

Hermione just humphed at him. "I'll have you know, I had to use a bit of that knowledge to work out our zpe manipulation abilities. Magic is nothing more than our ability to manipulate exotic particles created by our use of zpe."

Harry smirked at her. "I know, you told me. That does give me an idea though for the Arcturas core: if we could create a shield using our magic to contain those exotic particles, we could actually replace the Potentia."

"That depends on what exotic particles are created. As far as I'm aware, we still can't block a killing curse even with our technology. The exotic particles created by the curse go through everything except solid matter. Besides we have no idea what kind of particles that thing can generate, they could be worse than the killing curse and be able to pass through solid matter as well as shields." Hermione replied.

"Let's go take a look then," replied Harry as the two of them disappeared from the bridge of the Zeus.

-oo00oo-

Arcturas Facility

"Harry, I can't identify what killed these two." Hermione called out to Harry who was standing at the observation window that looked into the power generator's core. He turned to her, walking over to where she was kneeling over the two bodies that they found in the control room.

"Let me see the scanner."

Hermione stood up and handed the scanner to Harry. He pulled up her scans of the two bodies and looked over the data. "I don't know either, I've never seen this particle signature before. At least it looks inert, no radiation to worry about." Harry handed the scanner back to Hermione. "I've scanned the inside of the core, there are Kedavra particles in there. The walls of the chamber have scorch marks where they hit." Harry had named the particles used in the killing curse after scanning them in the chamber.

Hermione's eyes opened wide hearing that. "Harry we can't play with this thing. It's not a power generator, it's a killing machine." She handed her scanner back to him. "Look at the data again, compare it to the magical data on curses and other spells."

Harry ran his hand through his hair, he had been going over the data in the computers. He spoke as he looked at the data again on the scanner. "They were close to figuring it out. According to the data in the computer, they had a shield modulation theory that I think would at least block the Kedavra particles."

"Harry the Potentia we use now generates more power than we need. I know they need to be changed out, and new ones are grown at the Potentia platform, but they don't kill people unless they go boom from damage. This thing will kill you just for turning it on."

Harry scratched his head again. "If there was a way to shunt the exotic particles someplace else, like into a pocket universe, or alternate universe, there wouldn't be a problem."

"And what would happen in that alternate universe, those particles would literally tear it apart. Think of life in that alternate." Hermione argued.

"We can find a lifeless universe…" Harry started to say.

"I know you still have that mirror locked up, but think about it, any universe that you can connect to with it, has to have life, otherwise there wouldn't be a connecting mirror in it." Hermione knew where Harry's thoughts were going.

Harry thought about that for a second and realized Hermione was right. He wouldn't be able to find a suitable alternative using the mirror. "No, we couldn't use the mirror to find the…" Harry stopped talking when he looked up from the scanner and saw the expression on Hermione's face. He could see she was getting ready to have a full-on throw-down about this.

In the sternest voice Harry had heard her use in a long time, Hermione started."Harry James Potter," Harry was sure Hermione was on the verge of stomping her foot. "we will not be playing with this thing. Destroy it. You can keep the data and records, work on it theoretically, but I will not let you play with this thing. Nor will I let you build another one, not unless you and every scientist in the galaxy can prove to me that it will be perfectly safe. Do you understand me?"

Harry looked at her with a sheepish expression while he replied. He knew who still actually wore the pants in the relationship. "Fine, I won't play with it. But I'll figure it out somehow, this thing has potential."

"Good." Hermione nodded her head sternly. To Harry, she looked like she was channeling McGonagall. "What about the weapon?" She asked as a follow-up to change the subject.

Harry pulled a PADD out and looked at it. "The forward weapons on the Zeus are actually almost as powerful. I found the specification for them in Olympus's Janus database. I think, looking at this, that they were based on his research on this weapon."

"So we don't need anything from here except the data?" Hermione asked.

"Doesn't look like it." Harry walked over to one of the control consoles and pressed a few controls, transferring the data up to the computer on the Zeus since his PADD didn't have enough storage for it all.

Once the transfer was complete he turned back to Hermione who was once again scanning the bodies. "We can destroy the facility from space as long as it's not powered on. Or we can turn it on and let it overload, it will take out the entire system though."

Hermione looked up at him from the bodies as they disappeared in a flash of light. She had sent them up to the Zeus to be returned to Atlantis for a proper Alteran burial. "I think we can just destroy it from the Zeus, you don't get to blow up a solar system just so you can get more data on this thing."

Harry's shoulders slumped down a bit as he replied. "Yes, dear."

-oo00oo-

Onboard the Zeus in orbit of Arcturas

After retrieving three more bodies from the facility, one of which had definitely been killed by Kedavra particles, Harry fired the Zeus' main weapons at the planet's surface. He, Luna, and Hermione watched the twin beams race toward the location of the facility. Moments later they could all see a large explosion on the surface.

Luna mentally commanded the sensors to zoom in on location. Since this was the first time they had ever fired the main weapons at a planet at full power. The scanners zoomed in and as the blast cloud cleared, they all gasped. Below them was a crater that was deep enough to expose the planet's mantle. A moment later a second explosion rocked the planet as a supervolcano the size of the United States erupted with mantle material.

Luna was the first to comment on it. "Hmm, that was rather unexpected. Must have weakened the crust enough to let the mantle go." Harry looked up at her from the chair. She looked as serene as she always did. He watched her walk back to the rear control station and start reading the data there.

Harry noticed Hermione watching her as well, then glanced at him with a shrug. "She is the planetary scientist among us."

"Yes and I've never seen the mantle of a planet directly, it is most interesting. One more shot Harry and I'd have direct access to the core." Luna smiled at him sweetly.

"Don't you dare Harry, that planet still has a chance to recover in the future!" Hermione stopped him before he could follow through on Luna's request.

"Party pooper!" Luna called out to her. "I can't destroy Earth, at least I can do science while we destroy this planet. It's dead already anyway. It'll take two million years for that ash cloud and the following ice age to clear."

"Luna, what is with you and wanting to blow up a planet?" Hermione asked.

Luna smiled at her. "Harry and Aliya both got it into the heads of the SGC that I was going to blow up Earth. I can at least blow up one dead planet, record it, and send it to the SGC so they can witness my-" Luna made air quotes with her fingers. "wrath."

Harry sat up in the chair and put his head in his hands while trying not to laugh or look at the scowl on Hermione's face. Hermione hadn't heard about Harry or Aliya telling the SGC that Luna would blow up the planet.

Harry pulled his head from his hands while glancing back at Luna. "Actually, it was Emma that started that one if memory serves me right."

"Oh, I think you're right Harry. She really put the fear of Luna into SG1 didn't she." Luna replied while not paying attention to how Hermione's mouth was hanging open.

Harry gave a little laugh. "OK my moon, stop trying to get a rise out of your sister-wife. She was already irritated back on the planet."

Luna stuck her tongue out at him. "Party pooper."

"LUNA!" Exclaimed Hermione.

"There it is." Luna replied dreamily.

-oo00oo-

In orbit of the Attreo Planet

The Zeus was barely out of the hyperspace window before Harry was scanning the next planet on his list of needs immediate attention. As soon as the scan data came in, he directed the Zeus down into the planet's atmosphere over where the Attreo device had been built.

Janus had a good idea with this one but failed to take into account that the Astria Porta operated on the same subspace frequency that the Wraith used for their hyperdrive. The device was designed to block access to hyperspace on the same frequency that the Wraith used on their ships.

The problem was that once the device was activated it also blocked the formation of the wormhole within the Astria Porta. This caused the energy used to create the wormhole through subspace to feed back into the gate with catastrophic results as soon as someone dialed a gate while the device was active. Several planets had been destroyed during the testing without Janus knowing until after the fact.

It was an easy mistake to make, the Alterans had been using the Astria Porta for so long, they just took them for granted. Janus hadn't even bothered to check the frequency of the gates used in the Pegasus Galaxy.

As Zeus settled over the building and laboratory Janus had used to build the weapon, a swarm of nanites was released and instructed to return the building to its base materials. It was going to take them two days to get it done, Harry and the Zeus weren't going anywhere until it was. This was one artifact left behind that just couldn't fall into the wrong hands.

-oo00oo-

Atlantis Control Room

*High Councilor…* Helia called him as he walked into Atlantis's control room three days later.

Harry replied to her call with a friendly tone to his voice and with a smile. *Captain Helia.*

Helia stood up a little straighter and with an official military air about her, started telling him why she had requested him in the Atlantis control room. *High Councilor, that Wraith cruiser that was sent out to investigate the Aurora signal is on the move again.*

Harry looked a little surprised but also concerned. *Do we know where it's going?*

*Current course puts it in orbit over Atlantis in two days, twelve hours, thirty-seven minutes, High Councilor.*

Harry turned his attention from Helia and looked over the control room. Seeing who he was looking for he called out. *Remus, what is the status of the upgrades to Atlantis?*

*The Power core was finished just before you returned, shields will be finished tomorrow…* Remus started replying, but Harry cut him off. *What about the cloak?*

*It is installed and waiting on the shield upgrades to be finished.* Remus replied.

*I assume the StarDrive is not ready?* Harry asked.

*No High Councilor, it was damaged from being under the ocean for so long. It will not be operational for another week.* Remus replied.

*Transfer all nanite swarms to complete the shield upgrades.* Ordered Harry, he then turned his attention back to Captain Helia. *What is the status of the Tria and the Aurora?*

*The Tria is fully operational per your instructions, Shields, Cloak, Engines, and the Power Core have all been upgraded. Engineer Dacia has been very efficient in getting it all completed. The Aurora is not space-worthy. The crew minds have been transferred to a secondary computer core on Atlantis.* Helia reported.

Harry nodded in acknowledgment of the report. *Keep track of that cruiser, if anything changes let me know. I will be in my office.* Harry could feel the cold hand of fate on his shoulder. He really didn't want to have to deal with the Wraith yet.

-oo00oo-

Harry's Office Atlantis

Harry sat in his office looking over reports on his PADD. he could just tap into the city with his mind but he did enjoy doing some things the old fashion way unless it was an emergency. He had a solution to the Wraith problem but he wasn't ready to use it. There were other problems to solve before that solution would become available. He didn't like the idea of running and hiding from the Wraith either. He was counting on the Wraith sleeping for a while longer. If they found Atlantis or the Alterians in the Pegasus galaxy, they would wake up, start culling the humans and building their forces again.

He really wished Luna was giving him more clues to the choices he should make but he understood why she wasn't. She was just nudging things again like she did when they were all in Hogwarts. He had been relying on her too much and they both knew it.

Harry put the PADD he was looking at down and looked up to the ceiling of the office in contemplation. After a few minutes, he stood and walked out of his office. *Captain Helia, * Harry called out as he closed the short distance to the control room.

*Yes, High Councilor?*

*As soon as the shield is finished, cloak the city. We can't afford for the Wraith to find us yet or for the others to wake up.* Harry ordered, then continued. *I don't like hiding from them but they would decimate the human population and we wouldn't be able to do anything to stop them yet.* Harry finished as he reached the railing overlooking the stargate and put his hands on it, leaning forward.

Helia walked up next to him. *Yes, High Councilor, the city will be cloaked.* She took a moment to look at the young man that was now the High Councilor of the Alterian People. Since being rescued by him and his girls as he called them, even though they were all his wives and Councilors in their own right, he had put her in her place, seen him do things the Lantrians never dreamed of, and make decisions that the High Council of the past should have made. He was cleaning up their mistakes and yet not holding those mistakes against them. *Permission to speak freely?* she asked.

Harry turned his head to her, looking her in the eyes. He then looked at the people currently in the control room, most of which were people from Olympus. *Here or in my office?* was his return question.

*In your office High Councilor, if I may.* was her reply.

Harry nodded then turned for the short walk back to his office. As he entered the office, Harry went to the food replicator ordering tea for himself and coffee for Helia before returning to sit behind his desk, placing her coffee down on it and offering her the chair in front of the desk with his hand.

*The floor is yours Captain.* Harry said as he sat down.

It took a moment and Harry could see she was collecting her thoughts. *First, I want to apologize again for my actions when we first returned to Atlantis.* Helia started with what Harry could tell was true sincerity. *You have done more in the week we have been here than the old Council did in years. You are cleaning up our mistakes, yet you don't seem to hold those mistakes against us.* At that Harry held up his hand for her to stop.

*Thank you Captain for the apology, I can tell you meant it. However, I do hold the old Council very much responsible, make no mistake about that. I just don't hold all Lanterians responsible, the council made its choices, its members were more concerned about ascending than they did about doing what was right.* Harry paused a moment to gauge Helia's reaction to that. He could see she was mildly irritated but understanding. Harry then continued. *I actually hold all of the past Alterians responsible, even my wife Aliya, yes, she knows and we've talked about it.* Harry stood with his tea and walked to the window of his office, taking a sip.

*What do you mean, High Councilor?* Helia asked, she wasn't going to take his words as a slap in the face without context.

Harry turned from the window, his posture relaxed. *The Alterians have sixty million years of history, they have traveled the stars for most of that, seeded life in how many galaxies? In Avalon, they seeded it twice. Ask yourself this question, how many of those galaxies would have developed life on their own if the Alterians had not interfered? The Nox, the Asgard, the Ferling were not the result of Alterian seeding, they developed on their own. The Alterains of old were arrogant, they fled the home galaxy to get away from the Ori who thought of themselves as gods. And yet the Alterians played god with galaxies they had no right to play with. How many civilizations did they wipe out before they even had a chance to start?* Harry shrugged his shoulders. *I can't answer that question, can you?*

Helia felt a cold pit in her stomach, she couldn't answer that question either. Had they become as bad as the Ori?

Harry could see the horror in Helia's eyes at what he had just asked her. *We are not going to be the same. We are going to learn from our past.* Harry looked at her then sat back down. *We are going to clean up the messes made by the old Alterians, then we are going to clean up our own mess on Terra. We will never seed another galaxy, we will watch and wait. We will be there to nurture and protect but not interfere. If you and your crew want to be part of the future, we will welcome you. You and they just have to leave the old thinking behind.* Harry sighed. *I apologize, there is so much on my mind, I needed to rant to someone other than my wives.*

Helia sat looking at the High Councilor for a moment as he visibly deflated. She understood more than most the burden of command. That he allowed her to listen to him unburden just a little gave her a new respect for him as the topic was directly related to her, her crew, and the Alterians of the past. *Thank you High Councilor for allowing me to listen to your thoughts, I see the wisdom in them. The idea that we could be as bad, are as bad, as our brothers and sisters in the home galaxy fills me with a deep sorrow even if we went about it in a different way.* Helia sat up straighter, adjusting her uniform as she did. *I would like to dedicate myself to New Altera. I can not speak for my crew but I will speak with them. I can see most, if not all, also ready to help the future of Altera move forward.*

Harry smiled, the first genuine smile he had around Helia. *Then I welcome you to New Altera and the future we will build together.* Harry held out his hand to her. Helia didn't take it though as she stood, instead she gave Harry the salute of a Military commander to her superior. Harry smiled again and returned the salute. *Captain Helia, please return to command, make sure none of our forces in Pegasus are discovered by the Wraith.*

*Understood High Councilor.* Helia then turned and left the office. A moment later he could hear her out on the command deck giving instructions. Harry looked to the ceiling again with a sigh. "I think I'll like working with her." Harry thought to himself. -" Good job love, one problem solved."- came the mental communication from Luna.