Harry Potter and the Shadow War

Harry Potter and the Shadow War

Chapter 2 - Space Station

When the world felt solid again, Harry opened his eyes. He and Ron found themselves in a sterile, spartan corridor that seemed to be made mostly of metal. There were doors at intervals along the walls. At least, Harry assumed that they were doors, though they had no visible hinges or handles. A large number 5 was affixed to the walls on either side of them, between light fixtures.

It seemed that Ron had managed to bring his book bag with him, so Harry handed him the book/Portkey, and Ron put it away. They were still trying to get their bearings when a blond man in a green uniform with a black vest over it came around a corner and spotted them. His outfit vaguely reminded Harry of body armor he'd seen Muggle police wear. The man stopped short when he saw them. Then he pushed at a device affixed to his right hand.

"Allan to Garibaldi," he said into the device, keeping his eyes on Harry and Ron. Harry looked at Ron, wondering if they should try to run, but Ron just shrugged. Harry was more curious than anything else, so he decided to wait and see what happened next before taking any action.

"Go," said the device.

"Chief, I've got two kids here that look like they fell out of the same looking glass as the two we found in Brown Sector a few minutes ago," the man said.

"Where are they?" asked the voice from the other end.

"Blue 19. One of them looks like he might be related to the redhead."

"Bring them up," said the voice, after a pause.

"Would you mind coming with me?" the man asked them politely. Since it sounded like they would be rejoining Hermione and Ginny, Harry and Ron had no objections.

***

"Captain," said Commander Susan Ivanova, working her usual shift at Command & Control (C&C to the staff). "Garibaldi's calling you from his office."

"Put him through," replied Captain John Sheridan, commanding officer of the Babylon 5 space station. Security Chief Michael Garibaldi's face appeared on a small screen in the wall.

"Captain," began Garibaldi, a slight question in his voice, "I've got something down here I think you should see."

"What is it?"

"There are four kids here, apparently unsupervised, and dressed very strangely."

"Human?"

"As far as I can tell. But captain, here's the weird part: they don't seem to know how they got here."

"Where did they come from?" Sheridan asked, seeming to become curious.

"They say Earth. Great Britain, specifically."

"We're certainly not getting traffic from there these days. And they have no recollection of getting on a shuttle?"

"Not only that, but at least one of them didn't seem to know what a shuttle was!" Garibaldi answered disbelievingly.

The captain paused as though making a decision.

"All right," he said finally. "Ivanova, can you handle this? I'd do it myself, but I'm meeting with Ambassador Delenn in a few minutes. We have some...preparations to make."

Susan understood what he meant. Ambassador Kosh's replacement from the Vorlon homeworld was scheduled to arrive soon. They couldn't say any more with others nearby (or on an open channel, for that matter) because it wasn't general knowledge that Kosh had been murdered. The Vorlons wanted to keep that secret, and everyone was to address the new ambassador as though he were Kosh.

"Yes, sir, I can manage," Susan replied.

"Good. I want you two to get as much initial information you can. I also want them to have a basic physical. If they didn't go through the usual decontamination procedures, I don't want to take the chance that they've brought something on board with them. Give me a full briefing in the conference room at 1800. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Susan turned to Garibaldi on the screen. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Garibaldi out," he replied with a nod, and his face disappeared.