Pax Mission I

Tirest controlled his urge to send the human (Lanzeckii) into the middle of the next week. The arrogance of this human, if the station didn't need a comm officer, he'd be in medlab recovering from a fighting pike upside the head.

"Your hired human, I need contact with the orbital station and the ships in orbit and I need it as of two hours ago. Use whatever you need to get me those channels."

The human began tearing the long range comm panel apart to find the problem and fix it. Tirest ignored him, other important problems were raising their ugly heads.

"Chief we've located the Narns, they're at the main entry assisting the guards there with crowd control."

"Narns and crowd control don't usually go together Mr. S'thapilsa. Get me a better report as to what is going on up there."

"Hey Chief, come here a minute. I think you want to hear what this Drazi's got to say."

"Minbari Warrior, this station on prime route for new drug trade and smuggling routes to less developed worlds not belonging to League. Cartels want this place."

"That's how I know that you're not telling me everything I want to know, Drazi. You can tell me the more or I'm sure there are other ways to drag the information out of you." Tirest said as he noticed the human telepath enter security as if searching for someone. The Minbari made sure that the Drazi followed his line of sight to the telepath. "You can talk to me or you can try and hide it from that gentleman over there. What's it going to be, little Drazi?"

"The Cartels they've planted people here to sabotage the station and make everybody leave, cause Volkune to lose face with other powers."

"I don't have anymore time for this, Sergeant Hislop put this Drazi someplace where he can feel safe and that we can put our hands on him later."

"Right Chief. Oh, I got you a link so that you can get out of here if you need to and we can still reach you."

"They just helped put down a near riot at the main entry, Chief. The corperal in charge reports that the crowd is dispersing."

"Tell the Narns they just became station security and have them check the main reactor area. If the Cartels think they can sabotage this station they'd better think again."

Tirest surveyed his domain. Security Central was finally beginning to calm down. The patrols were getting things under control throughout the dome for the moment. He needed contact with the orbital station and whatever ships were up there, they had to be warned.

Lanzeckii smiled to himself when Tirest hired him."Ill get right on it" he said. He started to rip the comm apart and figure out what was wrong, after a couple minutes he had found the problem.

"Uh, Sir I believe Ive gotten back communications but there is one little problem, there appears to be a bomb here."

"A bomb" Tirest said in surprise. "Yup, standard issure terrorist bomb" Lanzeckii replied

"Can you stop it" He asked "Im pretty, sure. I took demolitions in the academy." Lanzeckii got to work on it. It was a crude but effective bomb. After a few moments he cut a wire and pulled it out. "Here we go, seems I still have what it takes" he said with a grin. "Very good Lt. I'll have security dispose of it." replied Tirest. Lanzeckii fiddled with the wires and put to comm back together. "I have re-established communications with B5P" Lanzeckii said and got up And dusted himself off. "By the way, I'm not that bad of a guy once you get to know me"

Tirest was mildly impressed with the human's ability to deal with the bomb so quickly and without destroying Security.

The Minbari Warrior moved over to the desk he had appropriated form some human clerk. The paperwork was already starting. He'd have to find a member of the Worker Caste to help him handle this part of the job that is if he remained in the post after the Command Staff was found.

"Nice to meet you to Captain. I am only acting Chief of Security until such time as Captains Creala and Harun are recovered along with the other missing officers, one of whom, if I recall correctly is also the Volkune head of state. I need you to control the jumpgate and keep anybody from leaving this system who can't generate their own."

"The Name is Tirest of the Family Vorune, Captain. I am asking for your cooperation in recovering officers of your race including your leader Captain. If you would rather not assist me I'm sure that your government will send someone who will, although by that time I doubt that your leader will be alive."

"Blockade the jumpgate with whatever ships you have available. Allow no one to enter or leave this system if you can stop them. I also want a list of all ships currently in this system and a copy of your system scans for the last six hours."

"No that is all I require for now, Captain. Thank you for your assistance. Pax XII out."

"Hey Chief Tirest, I got a lock on a transmission source from inside this station."

"Sergeant Hislop, take a squad and Mr. Lanzeckii and shut down this transmission and bring me the party behind it."

The security team left to handle their assignment. Tirest checked by link with the teams he had out on patrol orderinf several to get a couple of hours sleep and then relieve another team. It was time to get his resources back to full strength. The Minbari left S'thapilsa in charge with orders to contact him immediately if anything happened and then retired to his quarters to rest for a couple of hours himself.

Tirest was rested and working through a series of Kalan'tha movements to clear his mind for sharper focus on the problem of the missing officers. He hoped that someone would give him a fresh trail to track. As he moved throught the last series of his ritual the dome's alarms sounded and warnings about loss of gravity issued forth as the Minbari found himself suddenly lighter than he was use to feeling.

"Chief somebody just blew the hell out of the gravity generator and we have a leak in the seals between the Methane breather's quarters and the Oxygen sections on level six."

"Get a repair team on the leak first. Seal off the generator room and get a team down their with scanners. I'll meet them there. Find me the a telepath maybe we can get an impression of the party that did this."

Tirest wore a breather to filter out the poisonous methane as he searched the wreckage that had once been the primary gravity generator. Who ever had placed the explosive charge had known exactly where to place it for maximum damage. By the look of the place the blast had come from a shaped charge. As he surveyed the wreckage one of his very tired looking security teams arrived with a Minbari of the Religious Caste, a telepath he hoped. His hopes were confirmed when she introduced herself as Lauren of the Skywalker Clan and asked how she could serve. Replying in Minbari, Tirest explained his request.

"I need to find out who is responsible for this explosion. I have hopes that a telepath might be able to pick up an impression of the terrorist. I do not know how sensitive that telepath would have to be or if it can be done. Will you assist us in this?"

I know this one is short but I'm hoping for other sources of information. This is really my 11th post I realized I'd numbered two posts as 7. Enjoy. Tirest of Vorune

The Minbari telepath collapsed under the stress of trying to get Tirest the information he needed. She had given him confirmation of what he had suspected, that the drug cartels were moving in on this station. They must think that because of the Volkune agreement with the Earth Alliance that security here would be as sloppy as it was on the worlds of the humans. Tirest had two of his security team build a stretcher and carry the fallen Minbari to Medlab for treatment. He also notified Medlab that she was coming and that security would remain to guard her until she regained conciousness. Tirest then began collecting samples of the debris to have examined in the lab for forensic clues that might help pinpoint the origin of the explosives. Once that was done he cleared the room so that the repair crews could get to work. So far the repair crews had managed to fix the minor leaks that had developed between the Methane side and the Oxygen side. The Minbari Warrior decided to go to the zocalo and poke around, perhaps he could shake some information loose. After posting a set of guards to watch over the repair crew he headed for the zocalo.

The zocalo was a mess. The Narns had put down the riot that had been about to erupt in the area some hours ago but that hadn't stopped the destruction of several store and diner fronts. Tirest entered the nearest bar from which voices could be heard. Inside he found a sizable crowd of upset and obviously drunk patrons of various races. The sight of the tall warrior brought a hush over the room until he made his way to the bar. Boldly turning his back to the crowd Tirest ordered a Minbari wine and waited to be served.

"It's all the Volkune's fault, that we're trapped on this planet in a leaky dome." said a voice from the crowd.

"I hear tell that Minbari designed and built this place for the Volk's." said another voice.

"The Volk's can't even hold this place without help from the Narns and the Minbari and the humans. said voice one.

"I would be careful the slights and slurs you hurl at the Volkunes, Brakiri. I'm sure that they would be happy to show you the folly of speaking when liquor has disengaged your brain from your tongue." Tirest said from the bar.

"You're that Minbari that's been sticking his nose into other people's business." replied the Brakiri.

"That would be me. I happen to be charge of security so it's my job to stick my nose into other people's business, especially when they're attempting to smuggle drugs and guns." replied the Minbari, who then took a sip from his wine.

"He's a cop. I say we teach this stuck up Minbari a lesson." said the Brakiri moving to close the distance between himself and the Minbari Warrior.

"I was hoping somebody would start this kind of a problem. It's been a rough day and I need to relax." Tirest said.

The Minbari's fighting pike extended in a blur that cleared the patrons on either side of the warrior. Tirest became a blur of Kalan'tha moves that put his fighting pike into the most effective stunning areas for each patron that crossed his path. Within twenty minutes the bar lay in silence and Tirest returned to his spot and finished his wine while he waited for the first patron to wake up or one of his security teams to arrive. As he waited his link chimed.

"Chief we've got reports of a fight in the zocalo involving a Minbari and another fight between a Minbari and some other group down in the lower levels."

"The first Minbari would be me. Send a security team and a medical team to the zocalo I have some troublemakers here that I'll want to question when they wake up. As for the other fight send a Medteam and the Narns to take statements and corral the prisoners, bring the Minbari to my quarters in two hours, but let him finish his fight first."

Perhaps the Anla'shok had found something out. Tirest relaxed and ordered a second glass of wine, glad to have released some of the nervous energy that had filled him for the past day. He wasn't any closer to finding the missing officers but maybe his questioning of this lot would provide a fresh lead. He tapped his link and signalled security central.

"Tirest to Central. Get me Sergeant Hislop's group. I want to know how Mr. Lanzeckii is doing in tracking down that signal."

Lanzeckii, Sergeant Hislop and the squad moved down the coridors rather quickly. They had detected an illegal transmission and were sent to find out what it was. Soon after there had been a hull breach so they had to switch to breathers to continue.

"We are close to the source seargant, better ready your troops." Lanzeckii said.

The squad got into formation around the door and the Sarg moved to open the door. He hit the switch and it opened. At that moment a gun pointed out of the door.

"Get Down!" yelled the seargant and they all followed as weapons fire filled the air. Soon the squad reformed and counter attacked. They rushed into the room and engaged the mysterious attackers.

Lanzeckii pulled out his ppg and entered with them. It was a large cold storage facility. He noticed several fallen people some of the squad, some others. A shot came close to him and he returned fire hitting the target. Soon massive firepower was being shot at him.

"Lt. Orinari fall back" yelled the Seargant. Lanzeckii complied and he, the Seargant and 2 others emerged from the area.

Lanzeckii hit the comm. "Lanzeckii to Tirest, our problems have just gotten bigger, whoever made the transmission has considerable firepower, weve been decimated. We need backup immediately"

Psi Corp was mother, father, and brother all at once. Yet, even with all this family, the Corp often ended up with some rather rude agents. With the exception of diplomatic telepaths, the Corp agents really had no use for manners; besides, their brash mannerisms helped maintain the general fear that most of Earth Alliance held of the Corp.

Not only did it maintain a general fear that Earthdome had for the Corp, but it always seemed to make Corp investigations a little bit easier. Hardly any notice was taken as, for example, Torquemada smashed about through the station, rudely interrupting working officers to question them about the occurances that had just taken place. Even if he could not find the perpetrators in this crime, if it was indeed a crime, Kevin would still do his job as V'thtashi's aide and keep the commanding officer updated on what he had been missing during his "absence." Despite the fact that he could feel that something was wrong, his mostly accurate premonitions told him that the stations crew was fully capable of freeing the officers who had so suddenly disappeared.

It was during these brass interrogations of working officers that Torquemada found Lanzeckii twiddling around with some sort of communications device. Lanzeckii was rather stressed, but the telepath sensed this was due to matters other than the uncooperative transceiver. After a brief conversation with Lanzeckii that included a guarantee of a later conversation to discuss any other services that the mundane may need, Kevin stumbled upon a slight discrepency that the head of security, Tirest of Vorune, may not have realized. The Psi Corp agent overheard Tirest's call to Central that pinpointed the security chief to the zocalo.

In a time brief enough that a call from Lanzeckii and communications had not yet made its way back to Tirest, Torquemada had made his way to the zocalo. He briefly raised an eyebrow at the mess that the security chief had made of the patrons of one particular establishment, and approached the Minbari Warrior who held a smug look on his face. As smug as a Minbari Warrior could look, anyways. Torquemada straightened his gloves and approached Tirest.

"Yes, that is correct. What can I do for you?" the Minbari Warrior responded with the slight look of disdain that all of the Warrior class seemed to have for humans.

"I have been doing a bit of investigating, and stumbled upon a discrepency that you might like to know about. It seems that drug cartels have been trying to influence and infiltrate Pax IX. However, while fixing the communication systems, Lanzeckii found a bomb. Though he did disarm it with no harm to anyone else, it seems odd that a cartel would move towards terrorism, as such acts would reveal their presence. Quite the contrary, the organized cartels of Earthdome would not support any types of terrorism, as destroying a station does not make them any profit. I believe that you may have other problems on your hands other than the drug cartels. Not to say that the cartels are not here; that is quite obvious. The disappearance of our senior officers, however, is most likely connected to whoever put the bomb in the communications device. Someone obviously does not want Pax IX to become fully operational."

Torquemada did not have a chance to see the response on Tirest's face as, at the moment he finished his voicing his suspicions, Lanzeckii radioed in with Sergeant Hislop requesting more support from Tirest's security as they came under heavy fire.

Tirest surveyed the wreckage of the bar. It had been a statisfying little brawl. The human telepath entered the bar and approached the Minbari Warrior.

The telepath explained his findings about the cartels and the terrorist most likely being seperate groups. His conclusion that the kidnapping of the senior officers was carried out by whomever was behind the bombing had merit. Tirest was kept from further discussions with the telepath by the chirping of his link.

"Lanzeckii to Tirest, our problems have just gotten bigger, whoever made the transmission has considerable firepower, we're being decimated. We need backup immediately."

Over the sounds of ppg and slug thrower discharges. "Level eight, brown sector five."

"Take cover and hold your position back up is on the way."Tirest cut his link to the human officer and raise central. "Central have Delta, Gamma and Zulu squads meet me at brown sector three level eight. Send Alpha and Tango squads to level eight brown six, and seal off brown five." He cut his link knowing the his order would be followed.

The Minbari moved rapidly through the corridors to the lift where he met up with Delta squad. Together Security Chief and troopers decended to level eight. Tirest hoped that he might run across the heavily armed Narns or the Minbari Ranger Sarinth on the way. In brown sector Tirest and his squad met up with Gamma and Zulu squads and moved to the doors seperating them from brown five. Tirest ordered the doors opened and as soon as his teams were through sealed the doors. Sha'ann in hand the Minbari Security Chief directed his teams to split up and move forward to pin the terrorists in a crossfire. Carefully the squads moved with Tirest in the lead of Delta squad. As they opened a door to a cargo storage facility and were met by a hail of ppg fire that downed two of Tirest's security team. Tirest opened fire with his Sha'ann driving back the terrorists who'd had to reload their weapons. The Minbari's continuous fire allowed his security forces to move into better positions and from cover pindown the terrorists.

"This is Security Chief Tirest, surrender. We have you surrounded. Throw down your weapons and live to face trial."

"Like hell Minbari scum. You and your Volk toadies are gonna have ta kill us all. We got one of your officers in here Minbari come any closer and he buys the farm."

Tirest had marked the spot where the speaker was most likely hiding and he targeted it with his Sha'ann and fired blowing a large chunk out of the wooden crate. The terrorist leader pushed Lanzeckii out into the Volkunes' line of fire while he ducked behind more solid cover. The well trained Volkunes held their fire as the human Lt. fell to the floor unconcious. Tirest laid down cover fire while his officers moved to new positions closer to the terrorists. Once his officers were set Tirest moved his own position, but stayed exposed just a moment to long. One of the terrorists had picked up a Volkune slugthrower when his own ppg ran out of caps; with his captured weapon he fired at the exposed Minbari catching him in the leg. The Minbari fell but recovered himself ignoring the pain that burned in his leg. His Sha'ann spoke the fury of the injured Minbari, as he concentrated his fire on the position the shot had come from, until the crate exploded in a shower of metal shards. A scream of pain came from the location as the shards hit the terrorist. In the meantime the Volkunes had managed to position themselves on the terrorists' flanks and their deadly crossfire began to take its toll. Tirest again called for the terrorists to surrender.

"Shut up Coleman, the Minbari and his Volks ain't gonna let us outta here alive."

"He's Warrior Caste, Jones, he's got honor if he gives his word he'll keep it. Minbari your word on medical treatment and the fair trial."

"If you surrender now I give you my word that your injured will recieve medical treatment and that you will recieve a fair trial from the Volkunes."

The human's ppg hit the floor as he moved forward to surrender. From behind him another form fires a ppg into his back killing him.

"Your human office ain't the only hostage I got Minbari. You might not care about a human but how about another Minbari." The terrorist said pulling Sairenn out in front of him.

"Perhaps if you had a Minbari to deal with human, I might have a problem." Tirest's Sha'ann took the human in the head so that he and Sairenn fell to the floor. "This is your last chance to surrender, throw down your weapons and come out now or we will cut you to ribbons."

One by one the terrorists threw their weapons out and rose hands over their heads in surrender. When the last terrorist was out in the open Tirest signalled his guards to take them to holding cells. Tirest selected a couple of guards to build stretchers and carry Lanzeckii and Sairenn to Medlab. Contacting Central Tirest ordered brown five unsealed for their exit and then resealed to protect any evidence inside. The injured security chief then took himself off to Medlab.

The injured members of the security force and the prisoners lay on the beds in the MedLab as the surgons hurried around trying to mend everyone's wounds. Sairenn opened her eyes. Her hand reached down to a concealed PPG which she drew without drawing attention to herself. She looked over to where Tirest, the Minbari that had 'saved' her sat with a Volkune bullet in his leg. She sat up out of bed and then got to her feet. Before he could realise, Sairenn had the PPG aimed at his head.

Sergeant Hislop, Captain Creala's best sergeant, had spotted the movement and aimed his Gun O' Death from the hip. He pulled the trigger in single-tap style, firing only one bullet. The shot took Sairenn clean through the heart, killing her instantly, her blood spraying from the exit wound in her chest. Tirest looked shocked that a senior officer such as Sairenn would want to murder him. He turned to Hislop. "Sergeant. You just killed a Senior Officer... but she was going to kill me."

"That was no Senior Officer, sir. Never known Sairenn to carry a weapon like that." Hislop explained. He bent down and tweeked Sairenn's nose. It moved. He pulled harder and eventually pulled it off! Sairenn was not Sairenn at all! It was just a mask! The person Hislop had killed, the person Tirest had rescued, was a HUMAN wearing a Latex mask! "My guess is she wore that to confuse you during that fight. They probably thought that you would give up... fools."

Tirest was really beginning to wonder what he had done to upset Shai Alit Neroon that the great man should send him to this place. If he ever made it back to Minbar he would have to ask his mentor and patron. Tirest made a mental note to record a commendation in Sergeant Hislop's record for the eventual return of Captain Creala and the other senior officers. The man had after all just saved his life. Now the Anla'shok Sarinth turns up wanting explainations and trailing the two Narns along with him. Hopefully the data crystal Sarinth had handed him would contain something of use. Tirest sat back and explained the situtation of the missing officers to the ranger and the Narns, who looked as if they would gladly tear him apart except for the fact that his Sha'ann was carefully pointing in their direction.

"I am beginning to believe that the human telepath is correct and that we are looking for more than one set of opponents. The drug cartels are sapping our resources while the terrorists destroy the place. We need a way to turn the terrorists against the cartels until we can find and locate the senior officers. I am going to need your eyes and ears now more than ever Anla'shok, the Volkune while skilled are not on a par with the healers of the Religious caste back home. I will be laid up with this leg for a few days. Take the Narns with you perhaps they can be of some use." Tirest signalled an end to the interview as the Volkune doctor approached his bed.

The ranger and the Narns withdrew to give the Medical staff room to work on the injured warrior. Typical of his caste Tirest argued with the doctor about the use of painkillers and nerve blocks so that they wouldn't cause further pain.

"Doctor I've had worse injuries in training sessions back home Shai Alit Neroon is not an easy task master. Do what you have to do I will endure the discomfort. If you would have one of your staff bring me a portable reader, I probably wont even notice you're here."

In the end Sergeant Hislop brought Tirest the reader and the Minbari popped in the data crystal from Sarinth. The display of information was brief but it told a chilling story. The drug cartels were recieving help from an alien race known as the Dragg (Let me know if I just went beyond the limits) in the manufacture of Dust and other narcotics and in getting them past security on various worlds. Pax VII was the perfect place for them to set up an new base of manufacture and several drug labs. The terrorists were still an unknown factor in the problem but where one unknown race was at work perhaps there were others.

G'art and G'arron were not happy, the ranger had annoyed them for quit a while, and Both of them very ready to tear him apart, but they didn't because of diplomatic reasons and it wouldn't look good on your resume to have killed a ranger. After leaving medlab with the ranger G'arron got an Idea. "They must have an alternative way to get, may be from the outside" he said to G'art and turned towards the ranger " could you manage without us for a while there is something we want to do" "sure" The narns went one way and the ranger the other. G'arron and G'art headed for an airlock in level 8 brown sector five as they arrived the put some biosuits on and took their weapons and headed in to the airlook. They also sent a message to Tirest about their doings and then they headed outside to inspect the outer shell and surroundings to find if this is how they got in.

"Chief are you awake?" Hislop's gravally voice cuts through Tirest's trance like a hot knife.

"A message just came in from central, those two Narns, G'Arron and G'Art have taken biosuits and gone outside from level eight brown sector five."

"We're checking on that Chief. They won't be out there long, the atmosphere will eat through those suits in ten minutes."

"When they stagger back inside arrest them and lock them away somewhere deep. Thank Valen we don't have any Centauri around or we'd have three major problems on our hands. Our major problem with the drug cartel is that they're getting outside help from a race known as the Dragg. I don't know anything about them, but I would guess that they work for a dark purpose."

"Want me to see if I can get you moved back to your own quarters Chief, maybe then you can contact your government and see if they've got any information of these Dragg."

"Perhaps you can convince the good doctor to let me out. It seems when I try he suddenly forgets how to speak Interlac."

Tirest considered what to do about the Narns and their failure to follow directions. Well maybe a couple of days in a holding cell would curb their desire to roam at will. There was one other person that of late had not been accounted for, the Warrior ZuZani. He would have to do something about her. She had nearly sparked an incident over Sairenn, and now when there was trouble she failed to come to the aid of another of her caste. The Religious Caste telepath and the Anla'shok had both come to his aid, it was a disgrace to the Warrior Caste that ZuZani had failed to aid him.

"Hey Chief, I got you sprung the doc figured he wouldn't be able to keep you much longer anyway."

"He was right about that." said Tirest as he sat up and moved to get off the bed.

"Take it easy Chief, Volkune slugs leave nasty wounds even after the docs done with you."

"This is nothing, Sergeant. In training I had this leg broken in three places by a fighting pike. My master was the best of the Wind Swords with the fighting pike, I hope some day to make him proud of my skills."

"You aren't too gentle with that thing either Chief, half the guys you clocked in that bar fight are still out cold. Doc can't remember when he's ever seen so many fractured skulls or jaws."

"Change the codes. Only you and I are to have complete access. I want this station locked down so tight that even a Vorlonn couldn't get in."

The Security Chief and his sergeant went their seperate ways. Tirest returned to his quarters and attempted to get a secure communication through to Minbar.

It took less than an hour to find out what the call Tirest had received was all about, and the results of the skirmish between the security team and the terrorists. The terrorists, and perhaps the drug cartels as well, were more sophisticated than the security team had suspected, apparently. Not only had they overwhelmed the initial security contingent sent to deal with them by using heavy weapons, but they had used sophisticated prostetic costumes to disguise a few of them as the captured senior officers. If it were not for the sharp eye of Sergeant Hislop, the station would be in a greater state of chaos than it now stood.

Perhaps more frightening than the synthetic skin was the heavy firepower the terrorists had used. Any of the Pak'ma'ra could have smuggled in synthetic skin wrapped in plastic or synthetic fibers, but even the obviously dense mundanes of Earth Alliance Security could not have possibly let aboard weapons as large and heavy as those used by the terrorists. It definetely hinted at the possiblity that when the senior officers disappeared, whatever forces got them brought these weapons onto the station. The Dragg, or whatever this unknown race was called, was working with the terrorists in an attempt to weaken, occupy, or destroy the new station. Pax was in trouble, and those who threatened it could not be that far away yet.

Torquemada removed a comm badge from his coat pocket and tapped into Security Central. "Contact security chief Tirest of Vorune and advise him to send a request to orbital station to seal off sector and not allow any ships to leave. Advise that if the senior officers are not within the station, they may still be close by in space."

Of course, it would be helpful to know what a Dragg was. After checking with some new contacts on the station to see if any sightings of any of the senior officers had been reported, Torquemada headed back to his quarters and removed the small metal box which he kept his credits in. Quickly, he opened the box with the thumbprint identikey and removed a small, square piece of glass that displayed constantly changing numbers. Typing these numbers into a small cache within the box even as the numbers changed, the Psi Corp agent open the locked cache and removed a data crystal. After replacing the whole mess, he moved to his comm screen and inserted the data crystal. The screen flashed in a chaotic pattern of colors before establishing a secure link with the Psi Corp Intelligence Division.

"Sir, I need any information you have on something or someone called the Dragg. Could you help me?" asked the telepath, the usually rude human suddenly taking great measures to show respect.

The screen showed a disgruntled looking telepath who seemed as if he was about to snarl at Torquemada. "You know what this channel is supposed to be used for. This is a breach of procedure. I'll get you what you need, but next time just use the station's secure channels."

"Sir, I have reason to believe that factions working against the well-being of this station have access to the secure channels. I thought this would be safer."

"Did you ever think that if they had access to the secure channels, they would have already figured out that you know that the Dragg are there?" The Intelligence agent's snarl grew more obvious as Torquemada realized his mistake. "I'll contact you back with the information you need in 2 hours. Be ready to receive transmission on secure channel. PCI out."

Torquemada grimaced at his failure as the screen flashed into black and locked the crystal back in its cache.

He heaved a great sigh a moment after the gentle buzz of the special stem went off as he felt the relaxation spread through his veins. The sounds of the voices in his head silenced for a moment, and his mind relaxed as it was allowed to stop using all the protection tricks needed to prevent him from either accidently making illegal scans or going insane.

In these moments, when his mind, although still tired, was somewhat clear, he thought back to his early childhood. His mother, who, despite her over protectiveness and hate for his father, was very dear to him. She used to tell him old stories and give him wise advice like, "Manana is often the busiest day of the week." She was a simple person, and very beautiful of soul.

Then the initial hit of the stem wore off and Torquemada heard a man thinking about his girlfriend, and a Narn woman thinking about how she had been dishonored by her families cooperation with the Centauri. Like a crack in a dam widening, the flow of thoughts that filled his mind grew exponentially, and Kevin quickly mentally stumbled to block them all out. A renewed stress lay upon his head as his mind focused on a bit of poetry. With a yawn, the telepath stood up and left his quarters to make his rounds as he waited for PCI to get back to him with information on the Dragg.

As the door closed behind him, he spotted his first source of gossip, a dust-addicted human business man who had come to the station to meet prospective clients. This first contact was not one of Torquemada's paid informants; the mundane was so out of it from the dust that he wouldn't pick up the telepath's scan even if he was a P8. After sorting through the nonsensical thoughts of flying Drazi out of the mundane's head, Torquemada got a good look at the man's past few hours, and, seeing nothing of value, continued down the corridor to seek out another contact. He checked his coat pocket to make sure he had enough credits; information didn't come cheap, and illegal scans were a serious offense to the mundane government heads.

Lanzeckii woke up and saw a bright light. *am I dead* he thought. As his eyes began to focus he realized he was in Med lab. He sat up and a doctor walked over to him.

"Yes now may I go, I have had enough with the pleasantries" Lanzeckii said rather forcefully.

Lanzeckii got up and walked out of Med Lab. He needed a place to rest so he started walking to the Hydroponics bay, he had made that his place of rest along with many others. He entered the bay after squeezing through crowds of aliens and humans. He looked around and saw only a few people. There was Lauren, as she was here often and several others. Lanzeckii looked closer and saw that one of them was one of his families killers. He grabbed his communicator and sent a signal to Tirest. "Lanzeckii to Tirest get a squad down to Hydroponics, there here!" He pulled out his PPG and sneaked around the racks. He came up right behind the drug dealers and aimed his PPG. With a smile he said "Hey boys, remember me?" ....

Lanzeckii dodged the blast and pulled back up and hit the attacker. He quickly fell to the floor. He turned and saw the first guy get up and about to shoot him when off all things Lauren slammed him on the head, knocking him unconscious. Lanzeckii turned to her and smiled. "Why thank you, I owe you." "I am here to serve." She replied. Lanzeckii grinned.

The second guy was getting up when Lanzeckii kicked him in the face knocking him cold once again."Wait a second there were three of them, where did the other...." Lanzeckii didnt get a chance to finish when he saw him. He was aiming a slugthrower at Lauren. Lanzeckii threw his full force into Lauren knocking her out of the way just as the bullets hit where she would have been."Seems I was able to repay you sooner than I expected" He said as they got their senses back. He stood up aimed and fired but the man was gone."Damn, where's Security when you need them." He asked as he helped Lauren up.

"Will you be all right?"! Lanzeckii asked her.She nodded and said "Yes I should be fine""You stay here and help these people, I'm going after the last man, I have a score to settle. Tell Tirest that I went after him." She nodded again and went to help the injured people. Lanzeckii ran out of the Bay and looked around. He couldn't see him anywhere. Then he noticed a movement run into a coridor. Lanzeckii quickly followed. It entered a non-used section and continued for what seemed for ever. Just as he went around a corner a fist slammed into his face. He fell to the floor and the man attacked him. They wrestled and fought back and forth, neither having the advantage. Finally Lanzeckii pulled his gun out and slammed the butt of it into his face knocking him cold. Lanzeckii pulled his communicator and said "Lanzeckii to Tirest Im in Green Level Section 8 please bring help"....

I received a set of orders from Captain Harun de' to report to someone named Sairenn in the engineering department for assignment to duties. So far, I am having a difficult time finding my way around. There are so many aliens, Prophets only know what they are getting up to! The security teams which now patrol regularly are, I admit, reassuring. My brothers used to tease me about having crushes on men in uniform. I used to retort that they were better than the farmers! (That being the only choice of men in our district.) But now that I am surrounded by them, the charm seems to have worn off slightly.

The engineering section is quite a large portion of this floor, considering the actual facitlity covers several levels, I suppose that is appropriate. A junior officer met me as I enetered engineering and comandeered my services for repair of some remote power duct on level 3. Why should a power duct in a brand new facility need replacing? It didn't make much sense, but I carried out my duties. When I reported back, I was again sent to adjust a power flow capacitor on level 2.

While adjusting the flow, I noticed a minor power fluctuation, and decided to check it out. It was a bit tricky tracing the power cables back to their origin, but in the end, I was able to locate the junction box that housed a converter from which the cable extended. I did not recognise the design and could not figure its purpose, so I made note of the location and added it into my work log for fruther investigation.

Upon returning to the office, I mentioned the junction box to my supervisor, who said he would check it out personally. I thought perhaps he would invite me along, sort of as training exercise, but he had several other tasks for me and I did not see him again before the end of my shift.

At the end of my shift, I proceed to the Zocalo to check out some of the pubs. I have heard by insinuation of a nice place called "Ship's Rest" which was supposed to be exciting. I find that I miss the precence of my brothers. My brother Tan used to be quite adept at T'lando, a game native to our region. Prehaps there are other Volkunes here who know of it and could provide an entertaining challenge. Of course, I do not have quite the dexterity of movement that Tan had. He was reputed to be the T'lando champion of the province. It is quite a challenge to get all of your pieces to the other side of the board before your opponent does the same to you, but the key to the game is speed. In a game where there is no time to deliberate each move, dexterity and skill are the most advantages qualities to the game.

As I pass through the corridors to the Zocalo, the lights begin to flicker before extinguishing altogether. In a moment of panic, I started to scream, but choked it back at the thought of my brothers laughing at me. But when I heard the whirring of the ventilators come to a halt, that is whe the panic truly set in. I do not know whether it was blind panic, luck or indoctrination that drove my feet back in the direction of the engineering offices, but before I found my way to the first intersection, the lights and ventilation were restored. The secondary units had kicked in!

When I arrive at engineering, I notice that every other off-duty engineer in the facility had the same idea. The second engineer was briefing teams on repair priorities, and I slipped in at the back. Apparently the power was cut off when a converter on level two exploded. It is believed the location was sourced to such and such section, in the vacinity of a junction box. My mind began to race! Could it possibly be the same unidentified junction box which I had worked on earlier? When the work parties had been dismised, I approched the briefing officer. I had been unable to locate my supervisor and enquired as to his whereabouts of the duty officer.

"Ms Tinner, he was killed earlier in the explosion which caused the blackout. Now please, get to work."

"Tirest of the family Vorune to Shai Alyt Neroon of the Minbari, the Volkune attempt at a planet for galactic peace is falling apart. This facility has lost all of its senior officers in what appears to be a mass kidnapping. I have been left in command as Acting Chief of Security. This facility is besieged by drug smugglers and terrorists who have help from a highly advanced group known as the Dragg. I hope that you might be able to forward any information our people might have on this group. Master please advise your humble student."

Shai Alyt Neroon appeared on Tirest's screen still in the robe of the Grey Council of which he was a member.

"Tirest of Vorune you have contacted us at a sad time in our people's history. The Grey Council has just been broken by the Religious Caste and the Worker Caste following the lead of Delenn of the Family Mir. I am afraid you are truely on your own this time my student."

"Yes and Delenn sees herself as the instrument of that prophecy. If there is anything in the Council records that will help you, I will see that you get it."

"Use her as you see fit she has embarassed our caste with her actions. Perhaps you can find a way for her to redeem her honor."

"I will try master. I will not bring dishonor upon you by failing this facility. If it can be saved I will see it saved."

"You will bring great honor on your family and clan, my student. Go with Valen. Neroon out."

Tirest's screen went blank and then filled with the image of the station's identifier. The Minbari sat down to take his weight off his injured leg. Despite his bravado with the doctor it hurt and he was tired. He hadn't been sitting long when his link chirped.

"Chief sorry to bother you but that human telepath Torquemada just sent a message here for you."

"Security Chief Tirest, I suggest you contact the orbital station and request that they close this sector to all out going traffic."

"Computer message to Mr. Torquemada. System has been closed to all incoming and out going traffic since communications were restored with the station yesterday. If you wish to aid security in its investigations please report to Sgt. Hislop in Central. The sergeant will assign you to the questioning of those prisoners who have refused to cooperate. You will be paid the usual fee for your services. Computer end message and send."

Tirest went to shower and change clothes, as he emerged from the shower the comm system chimed.

The human Lanzeckii was at it again. Tirest decided he would take the wind out of his sails once and for all this time.

"I'm on my way there. Hislop be on the look out for that human telepath to show up in central. If he does assign him to the toughest cases we've got in lock up from the terrorist group."

Picking up his fighting pike and Sha'ann Tirest headed out to put down yet another riot. Arriving at the hydroponics garden Tirest surveyed the damage done by the human and it seemed the Minbari Telepath. Tirest closed on Lauren's position and spoke to her in Minbari.

"What have you been up to Lauren of the Skywalker Clan? You should leave the battles to the Warrior Caste. Return to your quarters I will be by soon to hear what you have learned."

The Religious Caste Minbari withdrew and Tirest turned his attention to the human captives now being dragged to their feet by his security teams.

"Nothing you want to hear Minbari scum. We ain't talkin' until we get a mouthpiece from Earth."

Any further outburst was silenced by the tip of Tirest's fighting pike connecting with the man's solar plexus and driving the wind from his lungs. The second human wisely shut his mouth and kept quiet. Tirest signalled one team to take the prisoners to holding and for another team to close down the garden and send everybody on their way. The third team fell in around the security chief as he recieved a frantic call from Lanzeckii.

Tirest and his squad moved out. In a few moments they were on Green level and closing on section 8. They soon spotted the two humans, one out cold the other sitting to the side back against the wall.

"Take them both in to custody and down to lock up. Have Medlab send someone down to look this guy over. Put Mr. Lanzeckii into an nice cell by himself and post a guard, he has a lot of explaining to do about this situtation."

Lanzeckii struggled with his guards for a moment until he caught the look on the security chief's face. This was not a Minbari he wanted to get any madder at him. Tirest moved on to supervise the closing of the hydroponics garden. When hydroponics was closed and secured Tirest went to the quarters assigned to the Zu'Zani warrior Zazara to give her instructions.

"Zazara of the Family Zu'Zani, I am Tirest of the Family Vorune and Chief of Security of this station. Satai Neroon of the Warrior Caste has given your redemption into my hands. I want you to serve as personal guard for a member of the Religious Caste who may have information I need in an investigation. You will take up this duty by order of the Grey Council or return to Minbar in disgrace."

Tirest left and headed for Lauren's quarters to hear what information she might have picked up. When he had her statement he advised her that another Minbari warrior would be coming to act as her guard by order of the Grey Council. He hoped that she wouldn't pick up on the fact that the Council no longer existed, but figured she might. His orders were valid just lacking a solid backing outside the Warrior Caste. Next he headed to the holding cells to deal with Mr. Lanzeckii. The human was going to have to learn to share information and not jump into the middle of security matters. If he had informed Tirest about these men they could have been quietly picked up and questioned. Now he would have to have a really good explaination for his actions if he didn't want to sit in a cell for a couple of days. Tirest was intercepted on his way to Lanzeckii's cell by Hislop who informed him that one of the prisoners was likely to break and spill his guts soon.

"I'll be with you in just a moment Sergeant Hislop I want to here what Mr. Lanzeckii has to say first."

Tirest continued to Lanzeckii's cell and entered. The Minbari crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"All right Mr. Lanzeckii explain to me why you violated the trust I placed in you when I hired you as part of my security team. I don't need what you humans call vigilantes on my security staff. If I want a riot there are plenty of others to provide one."

Tirest listened to Lanzeckii's story. When the human finished the Minbari signalled the guard outside to open the door. Lanzeckii rose to follow the Minbari out the door but Tirest stopped him.

"Not just yet Mr. Lanzeckii I want you to spend a little more time here thinking about your actions. I'd rather have a dozen men with less skill than you have than deal with someone who wants to be a hero. Heros only get that way after they're dead. Good day Mr. Lanzeckii."

Tirest left the human in his cell and went back to the central offices to deal with Hislop and the prisoner that wanted to speak.

"Well Chief, he's one of the terrorists you captured this morning. He calls himself, Sid Parker, from Earth. He says he knows about the Dragg."

Hislop leads Tirest into a small interrogation room off of the central offices. The sight of the Minbari Warrior and the big Volkune Sergeant spooks the nervous human. Tirest eases into the seat opposite the human and dismisses Hislop from the room.

"Mr. Parker I am Tirest the Chief of Security for this facility. Tell me why you and your friends decieded to tear up my post."

"If the information you have helps me restore this station to its true purpose, I will see to it that you get a fair trial by the Volkune government. I will even put in a word on your behalf that you cooperated with my investigation."

"Okay, I'll talk. We were sent by a group that call themselves the D.R.A.G.G., they're a huge crime cartel made up of groups who sepcialize in different types of criminal activities, Drugs, Robbery, Assasination, Gunrunning, and Gambling. They want Pax VII to be the new center of their empire of crime so they hired us to make trouble get the Volkunes to give up and pull out. They said we could use whateve means we needed as long as we didn't destroy the place. We thought it would be an easy job. They told us the security staff was burnt out Earth Alliance Security from Mars Colony."

"No there are several Drazi, Brakiri, and Pak'ma'ra organizations involved as well."

"Where did you get the likeness of the Chief Engineer to make the mask used by the assasin that tried to kill me?"

"Breaking into the computer system was easy as was downloading the files on all the command staff. You however were a surprise to us, as was your convincing the brass to remove the humans from security. We had a couple of agents in the Alliance force."

"I want the names of the agents in the Earth Alliance security team, and those of your contacts here and among the alien sector. You'll give that information to my second Sergeant Hislop. I want everything you know about DRAGG's operation in this facility or I'll see that the Volkunes go hard on you."

"See that you do. Sergeant Hislop take the rest of this man's statement and bring it to me in my office."

Tirest went to his office in central and began to tackle the mounting paperwork that his control over security had generated.

The first thing that his contacts eyes moved to was the Psi Corps insignia. It was actually a bit humorous how their eyes either widened a little in fear or narrowed a bit it disgust or hate. It wasn't important, however, how they felt towards him as long as they gave him information. That, however, they were less willing to give when they hated him.

Torquemada cracked his knuckles as he entered his quarters from another unsuccessful round of prying information out of nowhere. He had found absolutely nothing on the whereabouts of the senior officers. However, he did find out the names of several of the terrorists middlemen back on Earth.

The telepath almost smiled as he saw that his screen was blinking with an incoming message. PCI was unusually early with their response. He'd like to find out who or what this Dragg was. "Play message," he commanded the screen. He frowned slightly to see that it was an audio from Tirest, the security chief.

"System has been closed to all incoming and out going traffic since communications were restored with the station yesterday. If you wish to aid security in its investigations please report to Sgt. Hislop in Central. The sergeant will assign you to the questioning of those prisoners who have refused to cooperate. You will be paid the usual fee for your services."

Torquemada was perplexed. If the system was sealed off, then why hadn't a ship been found yet? It seemed very unlikely that, with a quarter of the station looking for them, the senior officers would still be on the station. Then again, maybe no one was looking in the right places. He shrugged it off and started a message to Tirest.

"Am reporting to Sergeant Hislop momentarily. Will assist in any interrogations and questionings. Contact me at Central with any further requests for assistance. Torquemada out. End message."

As he strode briskly to Security Central, Torquemada realized how much less affected he was now by Hislop's grotesques. Perhaps it was due the increased exposure to the Sergeant. The telepath shook it from his mind as he entered Central.

"Sergeant Hislop, I was told to report to you. How do you require my assistance?"

The sergeant looked up from a memo that he was reading and looked at the human, recognizing the Psi Corps insignia. "Ah yes, you're the human telepath. Follow me. These particular subjects are quite adamant in their refusal to cooperate with us. We could use your abilities to 'nudge' them a little in the right direction."

"I think things are starting to get a little out of hand. But no one asks me these things."

"Oh, calm down, Kat. I think Tirest is doing a very good job considering the task we have left him with."

"I think perhaps the time has come for us to show ourselves, before the station falls completely apart."

"I agree, Ron. I am glad we left to draw out the drug smugglers, but I had no idea we had a terrorist problem as well. How do you feel about this D.R.A.G.G. organisation?"

"I think we need to do a little more investigation. I hate to take the Vol away when things are so unstable."

"I know, but we have a good crew. I have already made some decisions on positions for added security. I agree whole heartedly with Kat's endorsement of Tirest. And Kevin Torquemada is proving to be quite useful in drawing out some of the undercover undesirables. But I need someone who can handle communications and tactical, and I do not like the aspect of the planet being left exposed to any criminal element who wishes to walk in. This situation will take some consideration to sort out, but I believe we can handle it."

"What if we left a shuttle in orbit for a short while until things settle a little. Then anyone trying to gain unauthorised access to Pax can be stopped before they even reach the surface."

"I believe that it may be of great assistance but will not the shuttle be open for attack by any larger vessel? It is not of the greatest firepower, and it cannot remain in orbit for extended periods of time."

"Hmmm, you present an interesting point, Rick. Still it is an idea which bears thinking about. The problem still at hand is what to do about the problems on the surface NOW."

"Well, I for one am interested in getting back don to Pax before they completely demolish my station. My engineers must be worked off their feet trying to keep up repairs with all the gun battles, PPG fights, and rioting. Perhaps I should not have set off the rioting by shutting down the power for that brief instant."

"No, Sairenn, the oversight was mine. You did the right thing, and normal power was restored rather quickly. No, the main cause of the problems was the bombs which had been planted before we even got there. If you hadn't done what you did, more lives may have been lost when those systems were accessed by an unsuspecting person. Look how many devices have been uncovered since then?"

"I fear there will be a lot of hard ahead for all of us. It will be like rebuilding the station from scratch."

"I will try to organise more engineers from the Vol to lend assistance for the remainder of our time in orbit, Sairenn. Do you think a week will be long enough?"

"Good then it is settled. But we still need to get back there without causing another riot. suggestions people?"

There was a loud click in the quarters aboard the Vol, where Marine Captain Creala loaded and locked his VK-260-A. The Gun-O’-Death as the armed forces called it. Before he left his quarters, Kat sent an anonymous message to Pax VII. It was sent to Security Central for the attention of Tirest of Vorune, Chief of Security. The message simply said: "PRIORITY ONE: Head to customs checkpoint Alpha. There is information about your missing officers. Bring Torquemada." The message would be relayed by the computer to Tirest’s location. There were no message headers or routings. No one would know where the message was sent from.

The Senior Officers had known about the Drugs Cartels before they left Pax VII. In fact, the whole point of leaving was to draw the cartels into the open, having them believe that the Station was ‘unattended’ so to speak. V’thtashi, being an old hand at communications, had re-programmed the system to act as a Station-Wide monitoring system which transferred all its information to the LSC Vol so that she could collect the evidence. It had worked. All but one occurrence had been foreseen.

The terrorists were an unknown factor. It had occurred to the Senior Staff at first that these terrorist acts were part of the cartel’s plans to move into the station. However, it now appeared that this was a separate group, a group which needed to be dealt with quickly by those trained and experienced in doing so. Those still on the surface - Tirest, Sarinth, Lauren and Kevin - were probably capable of dealing with this faction, but six Humans and two Volkunes lay dead. As many more were wounded from the fire-fight. It was time to re-take GeoDome1.

V’thtashi, Rron, Sairenn, Rick, Sean and Feaf all waited in the shuttle bay with the weapons of their choice ready, be it a PPG, Gun-O’-Death or a pistol of some sort. Kat had told them all to be armed and ready, just in case. Being the Marine, Kat was to be in charge of this landing. They were planning to land a shuttle in a potentially hostile environment. It seemed logical that someone with experience in doing so led the party... Besides, Kat was the only one who could fly the special landing shuttle which Marines used to land undetected.

"Activating entry portal." Kat announced as the shuttle slipped past the atmospheric forcefield. "Get ready for landing!" The shuttle turned on its three axis before landing with a thud on the shuttle-pad. "Go, go, go!!!" Everyone filed out of the rear and side doors with their weapons ready for any reception party. Everyone went to ground as soon as they got out of the shuttle with their weapons forward. There was no-one around. The telepaths in the group could feel that. GeoDome1 had been sealed.

Kat threw his gun to Sean who holstered his small revolver. Kat then signalled to V’thtashi. As the Commanding Officer, only her codes would override the lock out and let the Senior Officers back into GeoDome1. She tried her normal set first, just in case...

"They’ve changed the access codes.. sensible precaution. I’ll try the back door." V’th started accessing her personal back door into the system which she had asked Sean to install. She hoped that no-one had found it... then dismissed the idea as unlikely as Sean was one of the best. Suddenly, the doors slid open and two guns poked out, only to be grabbed by Kat before anyone fired.

"Shush. I’ll explain everything later. Meanwhile, stay guard here and don’t use the Comm. System."

"Aye, sir! And welcome back." The Volkune Marine smiled and saluted all the officers as they filed into the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kat was busy briefing a few of his most trusted Marines, and the senior staff on the plan of action to come. He was more spelling out the 'battle' plan than anything else. It was pretty straightforward, neutralize the terrorists and hopefully disband the group of drug smugglers who had started this entire ordeal.

He paced back and forth in the chamber, turning on his heel every once and a while. Rron and V'th stood by his side, nodding their heads and occasionally throwing in their two cents worth.

Sairenn didn't like the sound of this at all. All she wanted were for things to get back to normal... nice and quiet. And the worst of all of this, was that her station was being ripped apart! Strange how she had only just come here only a week ago, and was already being quite possessive of it. She could only suppose it was her nature to take things personally. Sairenn was spaced out, thinking about the damage to the dome when Kat addressed her unexpectedly.

"Sairenn! you stay here, keep Feaf with you. We can't afford to gamble with all of the senior staff, and you can start working out a few problems from here. I know you're not the computer genius...." He looked at Sean, "excluding present company, of course," Sean nodded but said nothing, so Kat continued .But I need Sean out there with me, and right now you're more adept than any of us. so you'll have to make due on your own. I want you to get the Comm back under control... so we can communicate, if you find Lanzeckii he can help you...start whatever repairs you can... Oh! and explain the situation to Tirest and Torqemada... it's likely they'll be asking questions. You got that?"

"Good." Kat turned to Rron and V'th. They had a spoke a few words in a quiet whisper. "All right ladies and gents... Let's move!"

As most of the senior staff and the two marines filed out the doorway, Feaf Sima pulled up along side Sairenn.

Sairenn paid no attention to him, but walked over to the main computer console to start her assignment.

Feaf threw up his hands, "Great! Well... I suppose I could just take a nap then!" Then he began to mumble, 'you'd begin to think they didn't want me around... all these Volkunes and Minbari, too overly obssessed with duty and order... not enough with pleasure and spirts.'

Sairenn sat down to work on the main console. She was a bit confused with the interface a first, still getting used to the minbari technology with Volukune systems. After poking around for a while she was able to figure out how Sean had left the Comm system, so she worked with what she'd found. She was making major head way when Tirest and Torqemada approached her.

Sairenn turned to address them directly. She bowed in greeting. "Sirs, I am to explain the technical situation to you, by request of Captain Hi'katuishi."

Tirest averted his eyes. He would listen, but could not, in any way respond to Sairenn's words. He would lose his place, it was not allowed. Sairenn noted his reaction, and then focused her conversation only in Toreqemada's direction.

"On the afternoon the senior staff departed, each of us recieved a personal transmission from Captain Harun de'. We were ordered to attend a meeting concerning the security of the station, the result of that meeting being that the senior staff take a leave of absence from the installation. As an additional order, I was told to enter engineering and set up a cascade power shutdown of 2 of the main reactors powering the dome. I did this by overloading the central processors gradually, allowing more and more power to leak into the system slowly until it ultimately overloaded itself. The main reactors have safety features which prevent total blackout, which is why there was no permanent damage done, and why my engineers were able to fix the problem relatively easily. This action allowed us a diversion to leave the dome. It bought us some time, and it confused those who we wanted to target.

Also, before leaving, Sean Clark tapped into the comm system and rewired the internal systems to reverse their signal. In simpler terms, they were now enabling outside broadcasts to which we could tap into from aboard the Vol. This is how we monitored the situation, here on the planet. It was one of the key components to our plan. The plan which Captain Hi'katuishi is now going to wrap up by retaking the Geodome and capturing the smugglers we targeted."

Sairenn ended her briefing abruptly. She never was known as an elegant speaker. She eyed both men standing before her. Tirest was still more interested in the wall, and Torqemada was nodding his head in understanding.

She turned her attention solely to Mr. Torqemada. If you please, I would like to enlist your help in recalibrating the comm systems back to normal settings. I understand this is your area of expertise.

"That's right." Torqemada stated plainly. "Point me in that direction and I'll fix your problems for you."

"Very well, if you will finish those repairs, I should like to start on some of my own." Sairenn answered.

"Yes, stay and help with the communications problems, I'm reporting back to Central to get a piece of the action." Tirest turned sharply and only nodded to Torqemada before leaving the room.

Sairenn watched him as he practically stormed from the room. She had a knot in her stomach.

Tirest sat behind the desk he had commandered in security central trying to wade through the pile of paperwork that had been generated by the disappearance of the Senior Officers. As nominally in charge of the facility Tirest had been sent the reports from all stations. His major problem was that most of the reports were in some form of Volkune with no translation attached. The Minbari drew calm from his Kalan'tha breathing exercises and tackled the reports from those stations that either sent them in Interlac or provided a translation in Interlac. Engineering had reported another explosion that had killed a shift supervisor and injured several passers by. The current head of engineering was asking for any extra personnel that could be provided. Tirest understood how the chief felt; he could use more hands in security. Medlab was also reporting a shortage of space as well as personnel to handle the injuries that had been caused by the rioting and Security's clash with the terrorists. The Chief Medical Officer reported that several of the injured terrorist could be moved to a secure lock up if Tirest had the space. He didn't but he'd find it to relieve MedLab. As he worked his way through several piles of readable reports, Tirest recieved a priority call from Minbar. He hadn't expected Satai Neroon, Shai Alyt Neroon he reminded himself, to respond so quickly to his plea for help.

"Yes master. I've been trying to get through some paperwork, but I fear my training in languages is lacking. You do not need to hear of my small problems master, please what did you discover?"

"This Dragg is not a race that our people have encountered. We have no knowledge of them."

"I have only just discovered that they are not a race but an organization of criminals spread throughout Human and League space master."

"I shall pass this information on to others perhaps Delenn can make some use of it."

"Thank you master. I will up load and send everything I have discovered to you as soon as the prisoner finishes giving his statement."

"You have done well Tirest of the family Vorune. I wish you luck on your assignment. GO with Valen."

Tirest had barely broken the contact with Minbar when another message came across his screen voice only with no origin code.

:PRIORITY ONE- Head to customs check point Alpha. There is information about your missing officers. Bring Torquemada.:

Tirest rose from his seat and left his office. He tracked down the human telepath Torquemada in the interrogation room. The telepath's presence had inspired the man to talk to Tirest's security officer without to much effort.

The Minbari and the human made their way to customs checkpoint Alpha. When they arrived they were met by Sairenn. The Minbari Warrior averted his eyes from the forbidden contact. This was going to get to be a major problem if the command staff had returned with this non-person in a position of authority. He listened to her explanation of the events surrounding the senior officers disapperance while studying the walls. They had planned this for awhile to draw out the smugglers but hadn't realized that there were other forces at work behind the scenes until Tirest and the others had discovered the bombs and the terrorists. Tirest also realized that the senior officers now knew he had high connections among what had once been the Minbari Government, something he had hoped to keep quiet for awhile longer. Sairenn had finished speaking abruptly and addressed the human in order to enlist his aid in some repair work. The Minbari Warrior realized that the other senior officers were going to need his help co-ordinating security strike teams against their targets.

"Yes stay and help with the communications problems, I'm reporting back to Central to get a piece of the action." Tirest turned sharply and only nodded to Torquemada before leaving the room.

The Warrior was tense and it showed in his walk as he returned to Security Central. He called Sgt. Hislop into his office and asked for the list of names supplied by the terrorists. Going over the list the security chief and his second began breaking the list down into station sections and assigning teams of four men to pick up and hold the suspects for questioning. While they were discussing the team assignments Tirest ordered Lanzeckii released from his cell and assigned to man the communications station in security. Finished with their preparations, the two security officers took charge of their teams and headed off to round up their suspected terrorists and drug dealers. The Minbari Warrior and his team headed for Level Six Brown Sector Three.

As Kat, V'th and Rron rushed to secure her office without being detected, V'thtashi got a first hand look at the peace which had been restored to the station. She felt a sense of pride in the abilities of her staff to maintain a high standard of excellence and peace in what must have been a terrific ordeal. Shortly after arriving there, Tirest arrived to pay his respects.

"I thank you for your welcome, Tirest of Vorune. You have done much honour to your house and caste, as we knew you would. But there is a long road to travel yet before this facility is returned to normal. I trust you will make the journey with us?" V'th responded.

"I shall consider it an honour to serve with such as yourself, V'thtashi of Telashi. I have done much study of yourself and your companions while you were indisposed. And I found it most enlightening."

"I am glad, now can we drop the formalities? Ain't no one here but us chickens, as a friend once used to say. Now, shall we get down to business?"

They all sat around the huge round table in V'th's office. Tirest showed her some of the paperwork which had been piling on his desk, much of it in Volkune and therefore unreadable to the Minbari warrior. Once they had sorted through the reports, V'thtashi noticed how the top levels of the facility were bursting at the seams, especially as much of the facility was still being repaired. But the lower levels, which had still been under construction at the time of the riots were largely completed and could be isolated to use as a prison facility. V'thtashi placed the order with Sairenn to see that this was done as soon as possible. Tirest was to place Sergeant Hislop in charge of the transfer of prisoners as soon as the levels were ready. They would then be able to convert the holding cells into an overflow for the Medlabs, being as they were only one or two corridors from each other.

That being done, Tirest informed the senior officers of his promise to the various prisoners of a fair trial by the Volkunes in exchange for the information they were providing. However, as the facility was not yet fully functional, no judicial administration had been set up as yet. Rron volunteered to speak on behalf of the Volkune government to the other Allied worlds to request that they send just such personnel to the facility. This plan would hope to be completed within the next six months. At that time, the trials could begin.

In the meantime, many of the prisoners in the holding cells were not major criminals, but rather looters and rioters who had participated in the rioting as a venue of their anger and fear. It was decided that these prisoners would be offered he opportunity to work of their sentence (which V'thtashi as commander of the station could administer) by assisting in the restoration and reparation of the damage they had wrought. V'thtashi mentioned that she would assign her attaché, Torquemada, to the task of sorting out the prisoners and co-ordinating their work assignments. After their sentence had been served, the would be deported from Pax and be refused entry in future.

The next task had been to assign the personnel their new postings. Many people had come to Pax in search of work, but had not yet been assigned duties due to circumstance which had intervened. V'th now intended to correct that over sight. She had come to accept Kevin Torquemada as a great personal aide and would ask him to continue in that role.

During the rioting, there had been several casualties. Of these casualties, several were of note, in that the bodies of Starbuck Benedict, Edburn Korm, Jerin Xalvix were currently identified. V'thtashi had noted that these people had been assigned by their various governments to posts on Pax VII, never to be able to fill those roles. There were currently 7 unidentified bodies still in bio-containment chambers pending positive identification. Also, Sergeant Tirell Hislop had been recommended for commendation for saving the life of Tirest above and beyond the call of duty. The commendation was passed unanimously and V'th noticed the look of pride on Kat's face as the motion had been approved. Kat had personally groomed the Sergeant for a command position such as this, and he was bursting. V'th decided at that point to cut the meeting short until she had a chance to study in further detail the reports which had come in. She informed Tirest that as they had been speaking, Kat's marine forces had moved through the facility arresting the criminals which they had deemed the worst offenders, which Tirest had not yet identified. She explained that the communications system had been wired as a huge transmitter so that the officers on the Vol could observe the station undetected. Many acts of violence and criminality which had gone undetected to the observer on Pax had actually been recorded on the Vol and it was the worst of these offenders which were now being rounded up. Kat had ordered his marines to detain them in the lowest level of the facility until suitable containment had been arranged.

As one last passing comment before the meeting broke, V'thtashi noted that there should be an extended calm over Pax XII for some time to come........

Tirest had accepted the position of Chief of Security from Captain V'thtashi. He now had official sanction to continue organizing the security forces and round up of the terrorists and drug dealers. The Volkune's had agreed to honor his promise of a fair trial to those prisoners that cooperated with his investigation, although there were no judicial authorities as yet present. Tirest set Sgt. Hislop as his liason between himself and the former Minbari Sairenn as it became clear that she would be in a position of authority with which he would have contact. Even with the Grey Council disbanded their excommunication (outcasteing) was still a law he and every Minbari on station must live with. At the meeting with the Captain, Tirest had learned the extent of the senior officers' plan to drawout the drug smugglers and their actions now under way to deal with the problem. Tirest's security teams had linked up on many levels with Captain Creala's marines in order to arrest as many as possible. Hislop was overseeing the conversion of the lower levels into security holding cells in conjunction with Sairenn. Tirest returned to Security Central to supervise the transfer of prisoners to these new cells and prepare the main holding cells for use by MedLab as overflow space. Peace and calm were returning to Pax XII and Tirest ordered the Hydroponics Garden reopened. Once the transfers were begun, Tirest left Private S'thapilsa in charge to handle the rest of the transfers and help when MedLab began shifting patients down. The Minbari Warrior then headed back to his office to begin an attempt to clear the last of the paperwork. When the Captain called an officer's meeting he would have to mention adding forcefield generators to the defense capabilities of the station. He noted that no sign of the two Narns had been reported by any security team as yet. As soon as he could spare the men from the round up he would send a couple of teams in hardsuits outside to find them.

Humm... I just got a post and thought.. ARRGGG this might make things a little difficult. However, i figure that this slots in there somehow. Don't forget when you are posting, that Kat's Marines and the Security Force are one and the same... although the Security Force also has a few incompetant Humans :) With any luck, this rather long post ought to finish off the battling with terrorism on Pax XII. Hope you enjoy it! As Sarah says... GET READY TO BOUNCE! <bg>

Kat and Tirest walked out of the meeting with V’thtashi together while Rron and V’th stayed in her office to go over the paperwork. The Volkune security force had already started mopping up the terrorists and drug-dealers not yet identified by Tirest and his crew and the two men, a Marine Captain and a Security Chief, needed to help them.

Not a couple of minutes after the meeting, Sergeant Hislop’s voice crackled over the internal communications systems. "Hislop to Captain Creala and Chief Tirest. Several of the perpetrators have been captured and are being held by Mr. Rodman and Mr. Clark. Several others have banded together and are holding storage bay Blue-Five. We are under heavy fire! Please assist. Over."

Kat replied fast in standard Volkune. "Creala received. Dig in and hold fast, we’re on our way!"

"Good. I’ll go slow for you." He started running at sprint pace which Tirest managed to catch up to quickly so Kat increased his pace until he could see that the Minbari warrior was having a hard job to keep up.

As they reached the battle-zone, Hislop met them. "Sirs! They’ve got themselves dug in real well. Thought about charging them but the casualties would be unacceptable."

"Good job, Sergeant. What’s their strength." The conversation was in Interlac so Tirest could follow it.

"I’d guess about six or seven, sir. I’ve kept six Marines here, including myself. Sent the rest back. Would have been too crowded to make a fight."

Kat smiled. "That’s where they have a good deal of their arms stored, Tirest."

"Flash-bangs!" Kat took an object about the size of a small orange from a pocket. "Its filled with some powder that makes a flash and a triple bang. They’ll think they’re dead when they get a load of this."

"Sir, we can’t get near enough to throw them. They just open up with whatever large firepower they have accumulated over there." Hislop had already thought of the grenades.

"Lets see, shall we?" Kat poked his head around the door to the store. Immediately, there was PPG and laser fire hitting the wall where Kat had been standing only nanoseconds before."Phew!That’s some fire-power!" Kat commented. He was now on the other side of the corridor, safe behind some metal boxes which could absorb the fire for the time being. "Tirest, would you like to lead the charge?"

"The Captain ain’t crazy, Chief. He knows what he’s doing. Marines! Make ready!"

Hi’katuishi held the grenade in front of him and let his mind take it where he needed it to go. He had considered briefly, the killing of these criminals, but the thought had lasted only as long as it had taken him to move across and into the room.

For the criminals, it looked, felt and sounded as though the world had come to its end as the small bomb exploded in their midst. The ignition of the Magnesium powder had created a blinding flash while other elements of the grenade made a deafening triple bang which rocked the storage-room. In the ensuing confusion, and whist the terrorists were still holding their heads, the small Marine force charged and surrounded them. The battle was over.

Tirest took out his fighting pike and smashed open one of the containers the terrorists had been defending. The manifest had claimed that it contained construction materials. Obviously, it had been smuggled into the station during construction.

"Well," said Kat, looking at the manifest, "it seems that the mystery of how this stuff got here has been almost solved. All we need now is to know who the head nachos of D.R.A.G.G are."

"That mystery may be solved with time, Captain Creala." Tirest turned to Hislop. "Sergeant, how many more are to be rounded up?"

"They should all be on the way to holding cells, Chief. The rest of the Marines have picked them up. I doubt they’ll be too gentle with them either."

"Thank you, Sergeant." Said Kat. "Tirest of Vorune, I recommend that you perform some interrogations. I shall get on with the paper-work. I noticed that two of my Volkunes were killed in action whilst under your nominal command. I have much work to do. Sergeant Hislop, make sure this bunch is put in the detainment area and gather all these weapons for evidence."

Planet Pax VII and its single colony, GeoDome1, were safe at last from the terror it had witnessed. But much damage had been caused. Many lives were wrecked. It would take some time to rebuild the facility to its full strength.

In his quarters, Kat was writing recommendations for the security of the Station. His first, was that a transport of seasoned VSF or otherwise Security officers be sent to Pax VII to take over from his fifty-four Marines and supplement the few decent Humans already there.

His second recommendation was an orbital station at Pax VII which would act as a customs check-point as well as control the Jump-gate. There was already a station in the system. It had been constructed for the purpose of housing the construction crews and ships. If this station was fortified and manned by Security with small armed craft, then it would perform the task Kat had laid out superbly. Pax Station would then control traffic flow into and out of the system, or at least to and from Pax VII.

He sent these recommendations to V’thtashi for discussion. It would be interesting what would come of them. Kat then stowed his weapons in the hope that he would not need them here again. He lay on his bed and slept.

"Okay,"the other Narn said suspiciously. They walked to the bar. Then they engaged in what Narns do second best-drink. Their first best thing is fighting.

G'art and G'arron had been walking outside for about 7 and a half minutes. They'd seen nothing but they were noticing that they suits couldn't take much more. "Damn" G'art said;" I knew we should have taken the hard suits!"

"Yes, in a minute , I think I saw someting over there in that cave" "Ok, but quick even with the protection of the cave our suits can't last longer than maybe 5-10 minutes."

They walked fast towards the Cave, so that they could make it back in time! As they walked inside they saw strange markings on the wall and something that remotely looked like an airlock. "Somebody really messed up when they surveyed this planet" They said in unison! They fingered on the Airlock and it hissed open. "Definetly not major race design" "Looks really old too" They walked inside and closed the airlock. The airlock pressurized and the inside door opened. They walked inside. "The air seems to be breathable" They took off their suits and breathed in the stuffy air.

The suits where falling apart as they took them off! "Consider us lucky!" G'art commented. "Maybe, but my comlink is broken, how'bout yours" "mine too" "let's take a look around"

The both off the walked around and saw some computer consoles here and there, a room with something that looks like beds etc. "looks like an outpost off some kind, let's find the control room" They walked around an found a large room. The room seemed active, Hologram system maps blickering with small ships that swirled through the system, something that looked like a jump gate etc. Computers Identifying the ships.

"This base is built under argmantiumrocks, worthless but in a natural state it shields this base" On one side there is a station map. "armament, hangerbay, etc!, seems like a military base"

"Hangarbay, any ships in there?" (a comment the reason why they can understand what the computer says is in lingo, a grammatical language constructed to make it easy to communicate with unknown species, has been in use since minbari's first space travel)

"3!!!!", "0ne fighter off some sort, one shuttle and one destroyer" (A comment I think this base is big, really big but the base is also technological speaking military, and finders keepers!!)

"Let's see if we can understand some off these systems maybe communication, or weapons and look on the spec's off the ship maybe I can fly it"

"I think one of the reason why the base was not detected other than argmantium is the planets atmosphere, it's hard to scan the surface but the tactical advantage is that from the surface to scan outside the planet is almost without interferance, that could be why the station was built here, why pax was built here and why the drugrunners want it. They want a tactical base or peace, that can't be detected or attacked easily." They spent the next few hours looking over the equipment. "what we have figured out so far is how to use the weapons of the station and how to fly the ships, no communication" "Maybe we can use the weapons to get some attention?" "Maybe, but they would still have a hard time locating the source or figuring out what happened!" "or even worse they could retaliate" "That not a problem the staion could take a few hits and it would coutermaesure things like rockets and other things" "Let's try it, fire a particalbeam minimum power at the one of the asteroids orbiting the planet " They fired and destroyed it ( A big Kaboom !!!!!!!)

P.s. "Plan B if base attacked by all they've got and the coutermeasures don't work, take the ship and get out"

"No no no no no! This... yes, that one... there. NO! There! Do you know anything about electric field projection?! Right, go help with the welding..."

"Second level reports infrastructure fractures, we're going to have to rebuild two sections."

"Right, you... send out teams, get those patched up, you're going to have to take teams of three for each. You! tell level two I'll be up to help in--"

"All right!! Let's have some order here. I can not do five million things at once, as much as you can not breath after being spaced! Now, let's take things one at a time. The staff is already spread thin, recruit some marines for the hard work on the dome, I'm sure the Captain can spare some of his men.... Good, the work here looks done, move to the next level... all of you! I'll be on level two... Let's not let this place fall apart people!"

Sairenn was up to her headbone in work now that things were calming down. The dome seemed as fragile as crystal now, because it was falling apart in 12 different places! She was being swamped with new damage reports, and didn't have time to handle them all herself. Of course, she'd never even met half of her engineering staff, so names and specialties were a lost cause. Right now the work was just plain frantic, but Sairenn was calm and patient... to an extent.

This job... holding a planetary station together, was a far cry from keeping 15 decks of a cruiser under control. This was insane! Her team had been ordered first to convert some of sub-levels 1 and 2 into holding cells for security. They were just putting the finishing touches on it now. Sairenn, having to time-share her guidance was now moving toward the upperlevel to help with infrastructure problems.

"Actually, I was sent to help you, in one way or another." Sgt. Hislop answered.

"The Chief, he wants me to oversee you and your people when you create the holding cells."

Sairenn started walking again, in quite a hurry to get to the upper level. Hislop followed closely behind.

"I'm sorry Sgt. We've already finished that job. Tell Tirest he can start transferring prisoners as soon as he likes."

"Are you sure the cells have proper protection? You seem to be done far ahead of schedule." Hislop was amazed.

"I take my job *very* seriously. Nothing is more important that doing things right. You will find those cells *exemplary*. I resent any implication from you that myself and my team can not do our very best."

With that said, she hustled off to her next destination, leaving a a stunned Hislop in her wake.

Hislop whistled slowly. "I guess that's a yes..." With that, he turned on his heel and went straight back to Tirest.

Upon arrival on Pax VII we immediately discovered that the Earth Force security team had been highly inefficient at detecting narcotics smugglers and gun runners. As a result, several such organisations and individuals had infiltrated the station. Prompt action was taken to relieve the said security force and replace it with my own Marine contingent from the LSC Vol. As a result, we were able to stem the flow of these agents into the facility. Unfortunately, those already inside had begun their work. This resulted in the injury of the Narn exchange officer, G’arron Akri. However, the culprits were apprehended and interrogated.

In the mean time, the senior officers of both the Pax XII facility and LSC Vol returned to the LSC Vol to monitor the situation without interference. The purpose of this was to flush out the suspected cartels and gather sufficient evidence to eradicate them.

During our time aboard the LSC Vol, it came to our attention that a second group, known as D.R.A.G.G were operating to cause disorder. Their plan failed thus far thanks to the swift action of Tirest of Vorune, the acting Chief of Security at the time. Unfortunately, in a short battle with the said organisation, several security members were KIA and as many again wounded. These included two Volkune Marines from Delta3 company.

Shortly after this, the senior staff returned to the surface and promptly arrested and incarcerated the perpetrators remaining hidden on the station, thus restoring order without further loss of life.

Pertaining to the incident of fire emanating from the surface of the planet. This matter was reported briefly as a request for assistance. However, it was soon discovered that the Narn officers, G’arron and G’art Akri were responsible. Their bio-signitures were traced to a fortification near the dome. Soldiers in hard-suits located them and directed a shuttle landing before they themselves managed to escape from said location by way of a shuttle or cruiser which were both present within the fortification.

1. That a transport of seasoned and reliable VSF (or otherwise) security be dispatched to this station, along with a small core of Engineers, since the current force is slightly over-laboured.

2. That the station in orbit of Pax XII be fortified and equip to house a security team which would be responsible for traffic in the Pax system. This station would be able to monitor, control and prevent traffic to and from the facility and also perform security checks on any cargo or passengers before it reaches the planet surface.

As the LSC Vol leaves within the hour, all appointments have been made. Most notably, Sairenn, the Chief Operational officer (Engineering) has been given the additional duty of Executive Officer, Tirest or Vorune has, as per my personal recommendation, been appointed Chief of Security, Kevin Torquemada is V’thtashi’s personal attaché. Also, Sergeant Hislop I have appointed the official Volkune security advisor. He will act as second of Security to Vorune and as liaison between Sairenn and the Minbari. Two other Marines have been stationed as Captain Harun de’s personal guard.

Well. What did you think of our first Mission as the Pax Mission Group? Lot of good folks, eh? And a few recognisable names. This was the first mission for two of our moderators (although the posts of Lauren of the Skywalker Clan seem to have become misplaced, and not stored for posterity. My apologies to Becky for this oversight), as well as the First Command Position for V'thtashi, later to become Senior Moderator.

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Below is detailed the mission posts from our First Pax Mission: