THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: FINDING KOBOL

          As he watched him walk away with his son, Rodolphus shook his head, thinking, 'It really was a wonder that he and Roark got to hold their son at all, especially when everyone kept snatching him from them the moment they entered a room with any of the family in it.

          "He's right, you know," Roark said as he took his arm, pulling him toward the door.  

          "I know," he glanced back at a humming Evan, who was, once again watching them with an intensity that had him involuntarily reacting.  "I think we need to talk," he said in a tone that only Roark could hear.

          "About?" he asked as they entered the conference room.

          "Evan."

          Roark nodded as they approached the table, taking the empty seats between Raphael and Gabriel.  Pulling his laptop from its case at his side, he opened it, turned it on, and began to pull up the information they had collected.

          "Good afternoon everyone," Admiral Roark began, giving Severus a smile as he settled into his seat, settling a sleeping Hunter against his chest.  "I want to thank all of you for coming on such short notice.  I called you because an issue has come up that needs to be addressed before this fleet will begin moving again."

          "And what issue would that be, Roark?"  Minerva McGonagall asked after setting her tea on the table before her.

          "Our patrol ran into something...something they, nor we have ever run into.  Roark?"

          No response.

          When they turned to look at him, they found him staring at his computer screen, fingers resting on the keys.  Raphael, sitting beside him, reached out to touch his hand, drawing his attention.  

          "What is it?"

          "Hum...maybe nothing...but then again...Dolph, take a look at this while I explain what we came across in the Zeta sector."  Getting to his feet, he picked up his much smaller handheld and moved to the main screen at the head of the room.  "If I could please have everyone's attention," he said, bringing up the view of space from the view of four viper cockpits.

          "While Rodolphus, Evan, Chris, and I were on patrol in the Zeta sector, we ran into this," suddenly the sound of four alarms began to ring, making nearly everyone jump.

          "What the?" came from one of the vipers,

          "Hey guys," came Roark's voice, "are you seeing this?"

          On the screen before them, a huge black hole in space appeared as Rodolphus's voice came over the com.  "Unfortunately, I am.  Evan, are your gyros going crazy?"

           "My scanners going crazy too.  Trying to lock onto something that is no longer there."

          "Captain, what exactly are we looking at?" Councilor Dumbledore asked, sitting forward to try to get a closer look at the screen.

          "THAT, Councilor Dumbledore, is a black hole.  A large one at that.  We tried to see if there was a way to get around it."

          "I gather there isn't one?"  Thorin asked of his nephew.

          "There is if you want to take the fleet hundreds of magnums off our current course.  Realizing just how big this thing was, we decided to see what was inside."

          "You did WHAT?!" came the shout, which immediately woke Hunter, who whined.

          Severus immediately began trying to calm the infant, who, it seemed, did not want to be calmed as he began to cry.  That was when Councilor Minerva got to her feet, and moved around the table.

          "Give him to me, Severus," she said with a warm smile.  "Sometimes, especially when parents are unavailable for one reason or another, a woman's voice is just what they need."

          Severus immediately passed Hunter to her, who, immediately realizing someone knew, someone who smelled very good and exuded a calming effect was holding him, quieted, lifting his head to look at her with tear-filled sherry-brown eyes.

          "What's his name?" she asked as she moved back to her seat.

          "Hunter," Roark answered, watching as his son reached for the bright green pin at the councilor's throat.

          "Hunter.  A nice strong name.  Unique in that it has not been used for a very long time.  You said you decided to take a look inside?"

          "What?  OH!  Yes,.." he then went on to explain what had happened.