The Cassia Affair

OOC: Still don't have the whole thing figured out in my head but hopefully this will give us something to do for at least a little while.

IC:


PARADISUS NOVUM:THE Triumvirate announced today that an accident at a military depot outside the city of Cassia, in the Mana province has been contained. Earlier, locals were reporting odd sounds from the depot and a quarantine was soon enacted. Llocals, unable to travel within a 5 mile radius of the depot's location, grew curious and frightened as little information was initially released.

"The Cassia facility is one of many here on Veridia Prime that houses our Naquadria missile silos" Triumvir Marcus Flaven told reporters at a brief news conference on the situation. "The Dominion is dedicated to protecting the lives of its citizens, and the Naquadria missiles we have current stockpiled are apart of our planetary defense system in place. Naturally, history has taught us the devastation that comes from manufacturing and using these terrible weapons. While I felt privileged to live in an era that began with the Augustine Dictatorship and led to the dismantling of the past generation's stockpile of these weapons I also feel sadden that it must be under my watch that these weapons must return. However, as we all know, the galaxy is full of strange and deadly powerful civilizations. We have been so fortunate to have met only those seeking peaceful co-existence so far but we must remain vigilant in our protection of the Dominion. For that reason and that reason alone, we have rebuilt and now maintain planetary silos with Naquadria missile ready to launch against our enemies."

According to official reports released by the Dominion military investigators, operators maintaining the the Cassia power plant that powers the military depot and the systems which maintain the silos, failed to stop a minor system overload which developed overnight. The sounds that locals heard, many of which individuals described as weapon's fire, were various power conduits throughout the power station and the military depot exploding due to the overload. Officials have already assured residence that everything is now well under control, emergency generators have been broke in and the silos are well under control by the military with no threat of a false launch. However, the military is maintaining its quarantine zone until such time as the power planet is full repaired and brought back online. Official stay this is simply a safety precaution and apologize for any inconvenience this creates for people commuting out of Cassia.
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Cassia Military Depot, Mana Province...

A recently purchased Dominion LAAT roared through the skies just above the military depot. There were three in fact, in tight formation and sporting a new dark gray and black paint job over the generic tan and red color scheme the vehicles had when delivered to the Dominion Fleet. The Dominion seal was also very present on each ship, hard to miss by anyone who spotted them in the skies. Circling the facility several times the ships finally came to the ground, landing in a small landing zone designated to the southern most part of the facility. A security barrier surrounded the facility, which was a patchwork of several buildings and barracks, all of various sizes. The barrier, a reinforced wall, had a noticeable man-made puncture just east of the landing zone. Exiting two of the LAAT's were Dominion government security officers, personal guards to the Triumvirate which exited the third.

Leaving the landing zone the members of the Triumvirate surveyed the damage to the facility. It was evident earlier on that the fight that occurred was certainly a coordinated attack, pot-marks littered several buildings and walk-ways moving from the puncture in the wall up towards the control facility for the silos. Bodies throughout the facility were still being collected and moved to a certainly storage facility, out of sight from any prying eyes. Making their way slowly, taking in everything that they saw, the Triumvirate made their way to the storage facility. The commanding Colonel that oversaw the facility greeted the government officials as they entered the building, the rest of the men saluted and standing at attention until told otherwise by the Triumvirate.

"Triumvirs, it is an honor" said the Colonel.

"We have no doubt Colonel" said Marcus plainly. "What do we know so far?"

"They attack in the early honors just before dawn" said the Colonel. "They used the main expressway just east of here, before ditching their transports and moved through the woods until they were on us. We didn't spot them until they attacked, by then they'd already used a rocket launcher to dispose of the wall and began moving in. They gained ground quickly before we were able to setup an effective defense line just outside the control facility, which we believe to be their target."

The Triumvirs looked at the rows of dead bodies while the Colonel spoke. The Dominion soldiers were all in their military-issued clothing, some in their armor. The attackers, all in black battle armor with pitch-black helmets that completely covered their faces. The weapons that had been collected off their bodies were all dominion-issued weapons. That alone was alarming to the Triumvirs as the Dominion believed it had complete control on its arms.

"We were able to stop them, then turn the battle back. We eventually cornered the remaining units and detail with them accordingly. They fought to the death, it was impossible to take a prisoner. At last count, there are at least two hundred of them Triumvirs but that is not the surprising part."

Collectively, the Triumvirate raised their eyebrows and before they could ask, the Colonel knelt down at one of the bodies and removed the enemy's helmet. This sparked a collective gasp from the group as they could not believed what they were seeing. Marcus knelt down for a closer look. It was Veridian, as normal as one would think a Veridian would look. What shocked the Triumvirs was the fact that this Veridians was what the Dominion called, a Collar. The Dominion was virtually free of criminals given their system of applying control collars to criminals of various crimes. Originally designed as torture devices, the devices were soon reinvented during the Augustine Dictatorship as a means to deal with crime. The Device is worn around the neck and surgically connected to the subjects spinal cord. Once activated, it alters brainwave activity to allow for the suppression of a individual's personality. What remains is a husk of a individual, completely docile and obedient.

"He's a collar" said Alexandria in shock.

"How could this have happen" Marcus said as he knelt and inspected the Collar.

"We don't know yet honorable Triumvirs" said the Colonel. "We have already identified this particular collar. He was a rapist, sentenced five years ago and then sold to a mining company in Pumori along with many others he, I believe the whole lot. We've contacted the company and their records show they sold this group two years ago when they closed the particular site they were working in. They are attempted to recover the records of exactly who they sold them to now, but stated they believed it was a public auction."

"This information does not leave this facility" Marcus said coldly as he rose. "No one is to know what has happened here, we've already released a statement to the public and everyone he is ordered to follow that story."

"Of course Triumvir" said the Colonel.

Marcus then turned and began walking out of the storage building, the other two Triumvirs followed. "I've seen enough here" said Marcus, now walking back towards the LAATs. "This Dominion has not seen this kind of terrorist activity since the early years of the Augustine Dictatorship."

"We believed we'd routed out all dissidence" said Flavian.

"The Dominion was apparently wrong" said Alexandria.

"It doesn't matter now" said Marcus. "We must find whoever has bought and trained these collars. It is likely to believe they have more and will soon target other locations as well. We were lucky here that they did not take the silos, otherwise Cassia or who know what other city might no longer be on the map. I will not allow this Dominion to fall into anarchy, we will crush this before it begin and will all of the might and weight of the Dominion's power."

The others nodded in agreement.

The news story is picked up on by the Centauri embassy and relayed to Chiron. Though the events are not of particular interest to the Governate, any such accidents at facilities containing high-powered weapons are somewhat concerning to the Planetary Governate. They continue to monitor for news developments concerning the Naquadria missiles at the embassy but otherwise take no action to get involved in the situation.

They make note of it but generally regard it of little importance.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!" screamed Andrew as he confronted Mathew in the hallway. Moving out of the hallway, Mathew said nothing and instead took what Andrew had to throw. "100 collar, 100 of our bothers and sisters and you throw them to the wolves. How could you, what could have possibly possessed you to do it? It goes against everything we believe in!"

"I'm sorry Andrew" Mathew said finally.

"SORRY! How can you say sorry and nothing else. Sorry doesn't even begin to explain or justify anything that has happ...."

"NO" Mathew said, cutting Andrew off. "No it doesn't explain anything and I can't explain it. All I can say is sorry ok. At the time I thought it was a good idea, the plan came to me and I acted. BUT in my defense at least I acted. What have we done in the last few years, really? What has the High Council agree to do against the Dominion. We've become complacent and THAT is far worse than what I've done, in terms of what we believe in Andrew."

Andrew shook his head, not so much in disagreement with what Mathew was saying but more just in shame that his friend could feel the way he did.

"Look Mathew, I know it seems that the High Council isn't willing to act but you've got to look at it from their point. The Dominion is powerful and we still remain so few, if they were to find us they could wipe us out in a second and destroy everything we've worked hard at for so long now. Don't you get that, if we make one wrong move we could undone everything."

Mathew said nothing at first, simply leaning back against the cold dank wall behind him. Then, finally, he asked..."So how bad is it?"

"Well to be honest the High Council was seriously considering re-collaring you and putting you back in the pleasure palace they rescued you from but luckily for you, cooler heads prevailed. You've been taken off the de-collar team and put with supplies. Its not great but its better than the alternative and I think you know it. As for damage control, that seems to be still unclear as of right now. Some of our buyers are seriously spooked and are talking about no longer dealing with us but some on the High Council think we can talk them out of that. Our biggest concern is the transaction trail for those you sent to the firing squad."

"That's unfair Andrew, they were programs with the best fighting program out there. We can't train regular people the way you can program collars. They should have done better, I really don't know what happened. Still, they got a lot farther than any of the squads we have trained now would have gotten."

"Still Mathew, those were our people...our brothers and sisters. If we go around programming them to fight the Dominion we'll be no better than those fascist bastards. I know its been slow but remember, we've survive several generations of raids and remain ever vigilant. "

"So what are we going to do now?" Mathew asked.

"We'll perhaps to your delight and others, the High Council is planning something big. They want to strike the capital, try and us this to our advantage and possibly get our name finally out there. What they're planning on striking they haven't said yet, but whatever it is it will have to be something so important that the Dominion won't be able to use propaganda to cover the event up."

Burnination remains either unaware or doesn't find the matter of international importance, so leaves no comment.

Again, the Planetary Governate doesn't quite pick up on the details of the events, though relations do sour somewhat in general as the Planetary Governate begins to suspect that the Veridians have secretly made dealings with the Hive and the fact that the Veridian Dominion uses the "collar" treatment which they find to close to comfort to the practice of nerve stapling back on Chiron.

Paradisus Novum....

"This situation has gotten dangerous Marcus" Alexandria comment, looking over the final reports from Cassia. "They could have gotten a bomb or weapons at the very least."

"For once I agree" Flavian added. "We've known of them for sometime, hell we are not the first Triumvirate to have to deal with them. Why we haven't smoked them out entirely is beyond me. We have the military and what's more we now have allies outside the planet. Sure we have our disagreements over policy but surely the galactic community favors order over chaos."

The meeting had been going on from sometime now as both Alexandria and Flavian gave Marcus a piece of their minds. Not that Marcus hadn't seen it coming, perhaps on the contrary he welcomed it. Nevertheless, it made for long and drab meeting in his mind.

"Need I remind you that while we are not the first Triumvirate to deal with this, the last that did and choose what I believe you are suggesting, did so with disastrous results. Not only did lose both military and civilian lives, but the Dominion only went to drives these separatist further underground. Until this affair I think I can say with confidence that we were all of the mind that they'd simply disbanded. That they haven't, of course, is now of great concern to this government as rightfully it should. Luckily for us, this attack seems to prove they are now desperate for results. Never before have they attack a Dominion target in this manner nor left such helpful evidence. I assure this most august body that I have already directed the Justicars to find us more information. Their deadly efficient nature has never failed us before and I don't think..."

Marcus was interrupted the distant echo of an explosion, one that startled the Triumvirate and brought them to their feet.

"What was THAT!" Alexandria exclaimed.....

10 minutes earlier....

The maglev station was terribly busy today or at least that what Alexis thought as she gathered her briefcase and coat an walked over to the boarding area. She was an investment banker, one the best in Paradisus Novum or at least she would be when the firm finally gave her the chance. Fresh out of university she was bright, energetic, and full of determination. She came from a middle-class family of three boys and one girl, lucky her. She didn't mind though, as she loved her family dearly. Not yet making the "big Velons" as the expression goes, she wasn't quite ready to live on her own. Instead she remain at her parents house and helped them out with chores an expenses when she could. Boarding the maglev she spotted an empty seat and took it upon herself to grab it first. Wow, must be my lucky day she thought to herself as usually there was never a seat left open. Sometimes young men would offer their seats but she always felt guilty taking them as she felt she at least owed them her number, especially the cute ones. Sadly her job hardly left her time to think much less date.

The maglev quickly filled up with all manners of people from across the city. Young and old, tall and short, men and women, rich and poor. Mostly a silent ride, sometimes the occasional beat could be heard (an sometimes felt) by some young student who played their music to loud. They'll be deaf before their thirty Alexis would think to herself, only to smirk when she realized her mother use to say the same when she was a student. Filled to capacity (perhaps even a bit more than was legal), the maglev began to pull away from the station and with in seconds it was roaring down the track. Familiar with the scenery from the outside, Kim often choose to look around the inside of the car during her trips and today was no different. Sometimes she'd notice familiar faces, by familiar it meant that they road the train often and she'd seen them on this particular train at this particular hour before. Other times, much like today, she'd notice new faces she'd never seen before and would play a sort of mental game, trying to guess what they do and who they were.

Looking around she saw an old woman, at least in her eighties. Her face was one of a woman who had bore an unnaturally hard life but was not entirely the worse for wear. Her posture had gone, probably years ago, but she wore this expression on her face as if she couldn't be happier. Perhaps she was visiting a grandchild today, one she hadn't seen in sometime. That made Alexis feel warm inside and she secretly wished the woman the best of travels. Sitting a few seats to the woman's left was a sharp looking man in his late thirties from what Alexis believed. Dressed in what could only be the finest tailored suit Alexis had ever seen, he seemed rather bored by the whole trip. He held his briefcase in his lap and if Alexis didn't know any better, she swore the man was going to fall asleep right then and there. Alexis smirked again thinking how funny it would be if he did fall asleep, his head bobbing around as the train roared on.

Content with the people to her right, Alexis turned her attention left and spotted what was undoubtedly the sorriest soul on the train. The man was probably sixty, but his face wore the age of a man well past his natural age. His cloths were tattered, his shoes had long since worn out, and that was probably the best outfit he owned. Certainly he had a job but obviously he didn't manage his money well. Poor guy, he should come by my office Alexis thought to herself. I'm sure he's simply made a few wrong investments, that's all. Her pitty went further when she thought about the cost of riding the maglev, the man might have spent all he had for the day on the ticket alone. Hopefully he's at least going to see a friend or relative that can help him out she thought. Focused on the poor old man in tattered clothes, Kim notice him going into the inside breast pocket of his worn out jacket. Something metallic caught her eye as it glistened from the sun's light pouring into the train car from the large windows. Alexis, his imagination already hard at work had obviously watched one too many action movies. Oh my goodness, he has a weapon! she thought to herself. Her muscles began to tighten and she began to perspire. She was afraid that the man had a knife or worse a gun. Maybe he was mad at the world and was ready to take his revenge on the better off of society. She wanted to say something, alert someone but she couldn't find her voice. Sitting there in fear she tried to reason with herself wait, wait this is silly she though I am overreacting...... am I.... The man's hand began to slowly emerge from his coat and while she was utterly terrified, she couldn't turn her attention away. Oh no he going to do it, he going to....to....he going to.... The man began to file his nails, his large metal file was what had caught the rays of sunlight beaming through the window. All at once Alexis felt realize and also so silly. I shall stop watching those action movies at once she thought to herself.

DOWN WITH THE TOTALITARIAN SCUMB....DOWN WITH THE ALIEN IMPERIALISTS...I DIE FREE!!!!!!

The yelling caught Alexis by surprised as she turned back towards her right to see the smart dressed man open his brief. Kim never felt another sensation, she was too close to the bomb to suffer when it went off. The explosion completely destroyed the maglev car she and the others were riding, sending hot twisted chunks of metal into the buildings around the high rise track and onto the streets below. The car before it suffered extensive damage but shielded the remaining front cars from the blast. The remaining three cars behind where the bomb had exploded came crashing down as the track underneath the car began collapsing. Had the conductor not kept going, the remaining cars of the front would have also suffered the same fate as a few feet of track in either direction also collapsed in a domino-like effect. When the initial smoke cleared from the street below it looked as if a bomb had been dropped on the city block itself. Almost all the windows from the buildings around had been shattered by the blast of the bomb and the destruction of the tracks. Rumble and debris was everywhere, the smell of the dead was also apparent. Emergency crew first on the scene had never seen anything like it. A few government news agents were dispatched, though the carnage was so much to handle it was doubtful a good article would be written today.

Elsewhere on Veridia Prime, in the country side of the Braxis province, a another maglev was destroyed much in the same manner as the one in the capital. The only difference it seemed was that this train was carrying military hardware towards a Dominion military station in the region. Before the Dominion new agency could cover either story, a infiltration occurred on the Dominion's planet-wide Dominet. A group calling themselves the Ninth Tribe claimed responsibility over the maglev explosion. Though the article never clarified which explosion the group was claiming responsibility over, their agenda was made clear. They claimed the deaths and destruction dealt by the attack would come as a significant blow against the Dominion, a organization they claimed was betraying Veridians and had been for generations. The rest of the message was soaked with propaganda painting the passenger's killed, as traitors to Veridia Prime and willfully acted against freedom and justice. The innocents killed, were causalities of war whose sacrifices would be honored when victory was achieved. It took at least an hour before the government was able to clear the message from the news feeds, replacing it with their own article. It painted the Ninth Tribe as terrorists and urged citizens with any knowledge to contact their local authorities at once.

The Triumvirate sent messages to the embassies in the capital, both of which were located only blocks away from where the accident in the capital was located.
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:::OFFICIAL MESSAGE:::
FROM: The Kurium of Foreign Affairs

The Dominion of Veridia Prime would like to assure your embassy and its staff that your safety is our number one priority. While the events of today are no doubt disturbing to your offices as they are to our government, rest assured that our military and security forces are tirelessly working to bring those responsible for this tragedy to justice. For your safety, we will be instituting government check points around grid 42, the section of the capital where your embassies and some of our own government offices are located. A simply show of your identification will be necessary to pass into and out of that particular grid until further notice. These check points are designed to ensure the safety of the grid. If you do not wish to comply with this security measure and instead wish to vacate your embassies the Dominion will assist with such as best as is possible. Any further questions, comments, concerns, or complaints should be filed with the Kurium of Foreign Affairs, the Kurium of Interiors, or with the Triumvirate's office. We appreciate your patience with this matter.

Signed,
Dominar Barrius Imbrex
Kurium of Foreign Affairs
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Brother Lal's Chamber

Lal read and reread the news reports from the Veridian Dominion and the reports filed by the security personnel at the embassy and by Ambassador Asher himself, and sighed as he did so. An attack made on an area near the embassies, and to boot the attacker was apparently reported to have said something about alien imperialists. Yes, right, as if the Planetary Governate that could not fully control it's own planet could control another one with more than twice the population. It was worrying, and yet he was entirely unsure about how he felt about it. Obviously, it was a threat to the security of the Planetary Governate's personnel in Veridia Prime, and he wasted no time in quickly recalling the personnel, and yet he felt that the Veridian Dominion might have deserved it.

In the last few months, relations had certainly soured. There were suspicions among the probe services that the Human Hive may have made contact with the Veridians and frankly the idea worried him that the Hive could be gaining an foreign ally, if a rather unadvanced one. In addition, more and more reports began to filter in from the the embassy about the social oppression, unethical practices, and harsh memetics of the Veridians. It became increasingly clear that the Veridians were an extremely totalitarian state that operated under expansionist and xenophobic ideals that were anathema to him. And the collars, the absolutely ghastly collars. Lal had always thought that Yang was bad in his methods of coercion and his willingness to use the Genejacks, but somehow even that paled somewhat in comparison to what the Dominion was doing.

With a sigh, he gave an order to his best probe teams.

Infiltrate Veridian digital networks, and try to find everything you can about this 'Ninth Tribe' and try to determine their track record if you can. In addition, see if a method of contact will be found, but do not actually make contact. When these objectives are done, await further instruction.

The Burninite Foreign Affairs office releases statement condemning the terrorist actions of the "Ninth Tribe."

OOC: Changed the internet name of Veridia Prime, going to call it Dom-net instead of Dominet. Sounds better to me Really a minor change. Also I'm going to take some writing liberties with this next post involving your Probe team Sela. If I've gone to far just tell me and I'll edit. Finally, I apologize for the length but I feel I can't really put all this in more than one post as it all fits better as one and is all relevant to expanding on what the Ninth Tribe is.

IC:
The Dominion digital network, known by the local population as the Dominion Network, Dominion Net, or simply the Dom-net, was a state run access point for anything and everything that Veridians could wish to access. Music, Literature, news articles, encyclopedias; it was all there at the touch of a few key strokes of a terminal. Most Veridians accessed the Dom-net through their Personal Access Display Devices or PADDs that came in various sizes and which, Veridians carried with them everywhere. However, stationary terminals could also be found in every home as well as on almost every street corner or public area within cities all across the planet. Accessing them was free and made very easily, mostly because while the illusion that everything was accessible, the truth was...it wasn't. The Dom-net was controlled by the Kurium of Public Information and Communication an while it maintained the facade that anything and everything was available, the truth was that everything that made it to the Dom-net for access was carefully screened, crafted, and published to ensure people thought as the Dominion wished them to think.

The system was designed to be highly resistant against outside interference. In truth, the Dom-net had not been infiltrated for almost 200 years until a few days ago when the Ninth Tribe published their statement. While highly safeguarded from tampering, it was obvious now that it was not permanently invulnerable. True also was the fact that the Dominion could only protect against what knew and in the past few years it became painfully clear they knew very little. The probe team would not have chosen to access the Dom-net from a terminal within the embassy, especially since it had recently been temporarily vacated. Certainly that would have arose suspicion as they were mostly likely certain the Dominion monitors all uses of the Dom-net. Instead the Probe team would have chosen to hack the system from a relay point, of which there were many and all were within the subterranean levels of any city. Accessing from this point, the Probe team began their search of all key terms relating to the Ninth Tribe. The initial search would prove less than effective....

The first batch of data files that came up were various articles on historical references to the Ninth Tribe. According to the files, the first world government to establish itself on Veridia Prime was not the Dominion but instead a government calling itself the Terran Republic. It was established by the Colonist in terms of survival and for several generations afterwards the Republic survived. However, as the Republic's population expanded so too did ideas, culture, and political thought. Before long nine distinct groups evolved, each different and each believing that the Republic should take a different path. Finally coming to the conclusion that neither side would win their debates, the nine groups divided into tribes. Understanding that while their population was vast they occupied a mere fraction of the otherwise unexplored planet, Eight tribes agreed to leave the Republic and establish themselves elsewhere. These eight tribes would go on to form the eight nations that would, for centuries onward, dominate the political and historical landscape of Veridia Prime until the formation of the Dominion . The ninth, those who believed strongest in the ideals of the Republic, remained with the hope of carrying on the civilization for generations to come. However, as history dictates, the ninth didn't survive and instead vanished with no trace or record of what happened to them. The settle of the Terran Republic became a sacred place, with the eight tribes agreeing never to set foot in the Republic unless they did so united. This was the first international agreement of the planet and it was upheld for centuries and centuries forward until the establishment of the Dominion. Sadly, by the time archaeologists entered all that remained were ruins and no artifacts recovered ever shed light onto what happened to the ninth tribe. Most historians believe that the ninth died out or, after failing to maintain their society, splintered and integrated with the other eight. Beyond those, a wide variety of all sorts of theories are also present.

While all very fascinating, this information did little to give the probe team much information on the group now calling themselves the ninth tribe. It was said in the historical records that the Republic was a direct democracy and perhaps this group wished to institute such on Veridia Prime. That would certainly be a stark contrast to the way the Dominion operated now, but to suggest these people were ancestors of the ninth tribe seemed highly unlikely. Knowing they needed something more the team dug deeper and using their advance software and technology they hacked into the highly encrypted data files of the Dominion, files that had been classified using the Necessary Classification Act. Though it took a bit longer than they would have thought, it was nevertheless relatively easy to breka through the Dominion's encryption. They had a long way to go before they were on par with the other advance galactic civilizations. Once in the team preformed the same search, using the same parameters as the last. This time several data files were listed, some government records and a few were actual visual logs and recordings, some dating back to Julian Augustine himself. This peaked the teams interest and while copying and recording them, they viewed them.
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:::PERSONAL LOG::::
Author: Julian Augustine

The Image of a man in a typical Veridian suit came over the screen. He appeared seated at a desk, his face was young but familiar as it was plastered everywhere on Veridia Prime today. He spoke softly but with great authority in his voice and with great optimism.

"Its been almost five years since the Genetic Wars and we've made incredible progress. Construction across Veridia Prime has put millions back to work, generating revenue in the process. My financial adviser worry that people may start hording their finances in fear of another war but day in and day out I make it a point to reassure them that the order I have created is not going to easily break down. I am comforted that by focusing on the reconstruction of schools, I have created a new bastion where I can instill this assurance for the next generation. In a decade or more I will have a new working class that will not fear as their predecessors do, of war that could come."

Julian's expression then change, subtle but still change to a more serious look. A look of concern but not one of immediate concern

"I do feel it necessary to make the point of reporting in this log of a disturbance against me. Her name is Aadila and she comes from the nomads of the Tambora desert, which is of particular humor to me that she would involve herself at all. Her people have always been isolated, very few served in the wars. Still, they are a cunning people, the best scouts I ever served with were nomads from the desert. Anyways, my point is that she has taken it upon herself to speak out against me. To make it public the freedoms that have been sacrificed for my dictatorship. I am fortunate that no one as of yet has joined her, I imagine she'll simply get swept away and forgotten. After all, though they've given up freedom to me, I have given back order, peace, and prosperity. I imagine they view her words as I do, as chaos and anarchy. She speaks of democracy but we know where democracies got us. Choked with bureaucratic nonsense and individuals caring more about their own interest than the interest of their people. No the time of democracy is over, the time for the Dominion is now.
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:::PERSONAL LOG:::
Author: Julian Augustine

A visibly aged Augustine comes up over the screen, aged no doubt by the stress of his title and office. Though through all the wrinkles and age spots a look of happiness can be seen. A look of happiness that quickly turns to one of a more concerned and worried look as his log progresses

"The celebration of my 50th year as dictator and that of the Dominion was most remarkable. I have never heard the people cheer, laugh, and praise me and my work as they did today. My Kurium Dominar of Culture and Sport tells me that they will begin work on a monument in my honor. I am naturally flattered though I know in my heart I did not take this position in hopes of such praise and reverence. The people cried for order, they cried for peace and I gave it to them. A few weeks ago, perhaps to be one of my last orders, I have hopefully secured that which I have worked so hard to build. In my youth, I overlooked a threat...I over estimate the threat of Aadila the nomadic woman from Tambora whose followers have grown. My closet adviser now worried that she'd got the ear of the Tambora Governor that she could possible talk him into seceding from the Dominion. His mother was a nomad I am told, they possible share the same tribe but that is of little consequence now. Aadila is dead, I ordered her assassination though it was and did look like a normal accident. She was traveling by maglev to a town in Kongur, ancestral allies of Tambora. I could not let her message spread, I refuse to allow civil unrest and the possibility of a civil war destroy what I have built. The breaks failed, the maglev crashed and while she was not the only one to die, those innocents dead will have not died in vain. I have hope that her death will leave her followers disorganized and that they will simply collapse under the weight of us, the Dominion. I do not regret this decision nor any other questionable decisions I've made as dictator for all that I did and may still do before my death, was for the people and the order they know cherish."
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:::PERSONAL LOG:::
Author: Triumvir Barrius Vestalis

A new and unfamiliar face is now shown on the screen, the quality of the recording is obviously better and the office from which this man is recording from is more similar to the offices used by the Dominion government now. He seems distressed as he speaks though his initial remarks are one of happiness

"Celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Dominion, I believe our beloved Augustine would have love it. I regret not having met him but his death came before my time. Nevertheless, though young enough at the time to have met him and are still around today believe he would have been proud of what we've continued in his name and the progress that even he might not have imagined. While he put the first Veridians on the moon, we've begun construction of a ship that will take Veridians to the edge of our solar system. Think of it, Veridians seeing with their own eyes for the first time the other planets of the Nag system. The thought is breath taking and while I hope to see it as Triumvir recent events may mark my premature departure from this office I cherish so deeply.

Against the better judgement of my colleagues, I ordered a raid against this Ninth Tribe. Augustine assassinated their leader but instead of fracturing and dissolving, they strengthened and grew. Their attacks are subtle but are proving effective in creating doubt among the people. Disruptions in communications, water system, power...the people believe the Dominion is breaking down, becoming less efficient. Fear will soon grow and it will be that fear that this....ninth tribe... will use to call for resistance against us. Augustine feared civil war and now so do I. Perhaps I acted irrationally but at the time it seemed the best option to end this here and now. Overwatch found their main headquarters and through their work we knew how to strike them. I naturally called for an assault which my colleagues argued against, calling instead for us to infiltrate them with one of our own. Feed them false information and them lure them into a more secure trap. I should have listen but instead I ordered the attack. 104 of theirs are now dead, 40 of ours wounded, 10 of ours dead, and we believe some survivors made it out. They gone completely off the grid and so far underground that its doubtful we'll find them within the next few months much less the next decade. We've been able to contain the situation publicly, but my fellow Triumvirs are calling for my resignation. While I hope to defeat such a movement, the damage is done. It is likely the Ninth Tribe will manifest themselves again, I can only hope after I am long dead so that I may rest in peace. I suppose only time will tale....
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The team finds no other recordings on the subject of the Ninth Tribe. The rest of the material are various reports from Overwatch, the Dominion's intelligence agency, on what they dig up about the Ninth tribe following that recording to the present day. Vague and mostly incomplete, the records show that the Ninth Tribe has until recently been extremely quite and extremely careful. Some officials even stating their disbelief in the organization still existing. Obviously these individuals were now proven wrong but most were likely too old to worry about such things now. The only information on contacting or tracing the Ninth Tribe were a series of communication codes believe to be used by the group, using a sort of binary coding language. Having spent several minute in the system already the team is alert by their equipment that the possibility of detection by the Dominion is imminent and simply cut the system off. What they found was likely all to be found and go on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Falacrīnum, Shastan Province...

The sun was now setting over the city and it was at this hour most days that Lurco enjoyed a good up of tea. An elderly Veridian, he'd been a local government clerk for years. His tea made he sat it on the table beside his favorite sitting chair and got comfortable. His PADD in hand he was preparing for an relaxing evening of reading the next chapter in the current book he was engrossed in. Only a few lines into the new chapter Lurco was disturbed by a knock at the door. Rising from his seat he shuffled over to the door and looked at the monitor to see who it was.....Long coats! His heart began to race as the imagine of the Overwatch officers at his door came over the screen. Why were they hear, what where they doing...he hadn't a clue. Attempting to compose himself when the second ring at his door came he press the controls to open the door. Sliding open, Lurco came face to face with four men, three distinctively dressed in Overwatch uniforms while the third was distinctively a Justicar.

"Lurco Corculum?" asked one of the men, to which Lurco simply nodded. The men let themselves in, Lurco finding himself figuratively shoved back into his home. "I assume you know why we're hear" said the man who'd spoken at the door. The other two Overwatch agents dispersed into Lurco's home. He could hear one was in the kitchen while the other was somewhere in the back rooms.

"No.....no I don't have a clue....have....have I broken a law?"

"The evidence would appear so" said the Justicar, standing behind the Overwatch agent who in turn, was standing before Lurco.

"Mr. Corculum our agency has been monitoring this area for sometime and we've received disturbing singles from this residency. Do you have other communication devices beyond your home's terminal?"

"No....no I don't....I...I'd have no use for such things."

"Of course" said the agent, his facial expression suggested he was less than convinced. The Agents looked around the living room area they were current in. He'd been a family man, younger pictures of himself, a wife, and two boys rotated through various digital frames along the walls. "Our files tell us your wife died at a young age, sometime shortly after these pictures I take it." The mention of his wife changed Lurco's attitude and a tone of disgust was apparent as he talked to the agent. "My wife was murdered, raped and murdered."

The agent smirked, "Now, now Mr. Corculum, the Justicar on the case found no evidence to suggest your story. He interviewed everyone involved including the city official you claimed to be the culprit. In the end the truth came forward and your wife's life was taken unfortunately by an ill-built railing of the building's balcony."

Lorco said nothing but physically he was tense and very angry. That mood changed little when one of the Overwatch officers in his home emerged from the back of the house with a box. Taking it to the agent in front of Lorco, he opened it to reveal a communication device. It was an old design, one that was no longer in service but still apparently functional. The lead agent turn back to Lorco.

"You lied to me Mr. Corculum...I do not like being lied too" By this time the other agent also entered the room and upon a gesture from their superior, the two men forced Lorco back into his chair and subdued him into it.

"This evidence only supports what we already knew Mr. Corculum" the lead agent continued. "You've been working with the terrorist organization known as the Ninth Tribe. This is very much a pity given that your official record shows excellent service to your government. I can only imagine your illusions over your wife's death eventually drove you or they, to contact one another and begin the relationship you apparently have. While unfortunate, there may still be hope to save yourself and your sons."

Lorco's face faltered from his stern exterior briefly when his sons were mentioned. All grown up and with families of their own, he never intended to endanger them. Quite the opposite, he believe his work would save them or at least their grandchildren in time. "My family, what you haven't taken from me, is of no concern to you. I have always acted alone and none of them know anything about this."

"Be that as it may, they will be put to the collar for your crimes Mr. Corculum. That is...unless you can provide me with the location of the Ninth Tribe."

Lorco said nothing at first as his loyalty to the cause was strong. Yet, as the pictures of his family continued to filter through the room and his mind, his one and only weakness in life broke him. "There is a factory in town that they use, I don't think it is their headquarters but more a field office. That is all I know, I have never been shown anything else but that place." The agent smiled as Lurco gave up the information easier than he thought he would. Nodding to the two officer, their grip on the older man loosed and they walked away and back to their side of their leader. "The Dominion thanks you for your cooperation, if you'll excuse us." With that the three Overwatch agents began walking out of the home. The Justicar however, instead moved forward.

"Lurco Corculum" he said, "I charge you with treason against the Dominion, conspiracy to incite rebellion, and other high crimes against your people. Evidence in the case, a communicator designed for the sole purpose of communication between yourself and the terrorist organization known as the Ninth Tribe. How do you plead...."

Lurco knew what was coming, but in vain...or perhaps in reverence to his personal beliefs and honor he spoke "Not Guilty"

"Pleaded accepted" said the Justicar, "By the power invested in me by the code of Justice, I find you guilty of all charges. Punishment...death"

The single gunshot was short, but rang out down the road in either direction. Neighbors looked out their windows to see what was going on but quickly went back to their evening when they saw the Justicar come out of Lurco's home. A disposal unit would show up not moments later and take care of the body. Loading up the communicator in their vehicle, the Overwatch officers would take it back to their offices with the hopes of tracing the single of the device to its twin. They would also follow up on the lead given to them by Lurco although past leads had lead to dead ends. The Justicar would also send word to other officers to round of Lurco's two sons and their families. The sons would be shot after interrogation by Overwatch, the wives, two sons, and four daughters between the two men would be put to the collar. This was justice in the Dominion, justice against anarchy and chaos.

(OOC: I'm not sure if they have "software wands" per se, but I think you described the process well enough and I'll roll with it. )

Lal attended on other matters until the probe team's encrypted reports filtered in with the attachments as well, and what he found in them definitely peaked his interest. Though he had briefly read some Veridian history documents in his spare time, he tossed them out quickly due to the obvious and propagandist nature of the documents when he did so and as a result he found some of the information rather enlightening. More importantly, it definitely began to give him an idea of what this Ninth Tribe was about. It seemed as if there was some genuine connection to a desire for democratic reform was present and he began to get a better idea of their activities. It seemed this group worked in subtlety and only made attacks on infrastructure, which seemed rather contrary to the attack on the passenger train. Then he thought back to the first news reports, and he remembered that there was an attack on a military train as well and the Ninth Tribe announcement did not seem to specify which train was attacked. The combination of all of these things in his mind made Lal suspicious... very suspicious.

Refocus priority into testing the security of the Veridian Overwatch networks and then see if you can infiltrate them and gather information on the circumstances on the two train attacks.

Drip.......drip..........drip........

The sound could be annoying at times, the leaking pikes hitting the could stone floor below. The underside of Veridia Prime was vast, the old lost under the new. Networks of pipes, power lines, maglev lines, and tunnels expand across the surface of the planet, deepest and most vast in the more urban areas and cities. Hind under the surface of the planet, sometimes they were city unto themselves. The underside of the capital was almost 50 levels deep.

"This meeting of the High Council is now called to order, Councilor Thomas has the floor"

"My fellow members of the council we today are faced with an unprecedented threat to our survival as well as an unprecedented time to live in. We've survived assassinations, raids, and a propaganda program designed to villainize us and make us into monsters. That we have survived all this is a testament to our determination to see freedom restored. Yes, democracies failed when we needed them the most, yes they led out people to some of the most disastrous wars this planet has ever seen. Both those were different people, living in different times. We have learned of those mistakes and are now prepared to lead our people forward!"

"Now it is unfortunate that one of our own had to make the first move, a move which none of us would have sanctions. But what Mathew did has opened this council's eyes that the time to strike against the Dominion is now. We do not understand in full the events that have so far transpired and though the Dominion has been quick to paint us in the wrong they had been able to do nothing to stop what we've always hoped would happen. People are talking about us....SURE they speak ill of us but at least they're talking about us. No more are we these mythical boogie men that come in the night to steal children. Now we are a true and recognizable group and it will be through personal debates among families and friends that Veridians will come to decide for themselves where good and evil lay. Already cracks form in the glass tower of the evil empire the Dominion has built and it is with pick in hand that we shall continue to strike until at last the glass is shattered and WE ARE FREE!"

The assembled began to applaud, the clapping echoed downed the vacant hallways. So far underground they feared no one as no one was certain to hear them. William raised his has after several minutes, calming the crowd of assembled free people down.

"Thank you Thomas for that speech" said William. "It is true that we must now strike but we must be clear about our objectives and clear about our motives. We cannot let the Dominion win the war of words, cannot allow them to continue to spin their lies against us. That is why, while ambitious, we've put in motion our next strike. I will not lie there are those among us on the Council with reservations about this move but we've all come to the agreement that it may be the only way to have our voices heard. May the Illuminated have mercy on us and watch over those bravest among us to dedicate themselves to this mission. An may we here not fail them as they fight so hard of us."
____________________________________________________________________________

The probe team would have no doubt returned the lower systems of the city to again access the Dominion Network. Knowing the level of encryption around government records, they employed the same techniques against the Overwatch archives. They weren't surprised to find that there was even a deeper level of encryption over the archives but this still wasn't enough to keep them out. Once in however, the Probe team soon realized that it would be the sheer volume of data that would be their biggest obstacle. Seen as the omnipresent surveillance force of the Dominion, Overwatch seemed everywhere. In truth, the proportion of Overwatch officers to the general population of any one population in a community was high. However, it seemed that while they did indeed to do their investigations, the bulk of reports that Overwatch filed came from the average Veridians. Millions of self-delivered reports were in the system with neighbors accusing neighbors of a host of violations to Dominion laws.

Apparently the Dominion encouraged this and Overwatch made attempts at looking into every report. Sifting through all the reports would take the Probe teams technology sometime, even with them filtering the reports with keywords such as Nineth Tribe and Train Attacks, there were many reports. It seemed this was going to take a little bit longer....
_______________________________________________________________

"Captain" said the tech specialist as he caught him in the hallway. "Sir I am glad to have found you, I need you to come look at this." The specialist and the Captain walked back into the surveillance room, a large area with various monitors and terminals. There were dozens of Overwatch tech specialists working at their stations, monitoring various public areas and even private communications.

"Sir we've caught it again" said the Specialist sitting at his station. "See its there, that same anomaly we recorded a day ago. The script is all different here....and there too."

"What is it?" the Captain asked.

"I don't know sir, I've never seen it before. The system is reporting all green across the board, no breaches but that is definitely not suppose to be there."

"Is in transmitting from somewhere?"

"I've tried tracing it sir but no luck" said the Specialist. "That is, sir, via the network itself but I looked into the hard lines themselves. We're experiencing an increase here" the specialist pointed to a diagram he brought up on the screen. "It level two, section 45 just under grid 87 of the city sir. I think the whatever it is, its coming from that area."

"Good work" said the Captain, "I'll send agents to investigate the situation immediately..."

As of yet the Centauri probe team remains unaware of the incoming enemy agents and tries to use more sophisticated methods to search through the information, filtering the most highly classified documents they can access first and looking at those and then going down from there. So far, their success has given them a sense of overconfidence that may just prove deadly if others choose to act against them.

The Probe teams programs went to work, sifting through the thousands and thousands and thousands of files for clues. Eventually files began emerging that were of some use to the team, files that certain contained information they would find of interest. Most detailed previous attacks of the Ninth Tribe, attacks that all seemed geared towards disruption of the Dominion's daily routine. Public terminals going down, edits to public information, re-routing maglev tracks to cause back up, and causing power outages. Going through the reports, they began painting a picture of a group that had, apparently until recently, fought a non-violent war against the Dominion. Why did they change their tactics now, why kills innocents? Were they affair that the Dominion was getting help from Alpha Centauri, the Rhean Confederacy? When at last it came to the train attacks they seemed legitimate enough aside from the fact that the civilian train caused hundreds to die whereas the military supply train only left its small number of occupants injured.

Reading over the last few lines of the most recent report, one of the members turned to peer into the darkness of the dank hallway. The echo of a foot step rang down from that direction.....
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lunar Space Dock, Veridia Prime...

The space dock of Veridia Prime was a massive station that literally fit around the planet's one and only moon. A ring-shaped station, it rotated in orbit around the moon and was designed to take in both many commercial and military ships. Naturally, the Dominion hoped to looked upon the station in time and see it massive fleets docking at various times, troops moving in and out of the station. Now however, not even a third of the station was in use. While the exterior and overall structure of the station was complete, one a small portion in the interior was finished and so for now what travels and commercial ships Veridia Prime received were all bottled into a rather small space. With the withdrawal of the Centauri from their embassy, much of their citizens were also leaving the planet. Though not a large group in their entirety, they had made a significant impact on the Dominion's economy as many of them travel to Veridia Prime to do business.

All now leaving for fear of the terrorist, only a handful remained in what looked like the last of the Centauri to leave the planet. While a Stargate had been gifted to them for faster travel between Veridia Prime and Chiron, civilian transports also operated and that's what this group was waiting for. Along with them were Veridians, both civilian and commercial workers, also waiting for their turn through the various checkpoints to get to their own transports and ships. Making their way through the checkpoints anyone on the station would then be lead into a larger, open areas of various seats and view screens playing the most recent news, weather, and other important information travels would need traveling to Veridia Prime or from it. Making their way to their various stations, no one noticed the small group as they took their places....no one noticed until the gunfire rang out.

It all happened so quickly, the gunfire echoed and the voices demanded everyone hit the floor. Security naturally took to their own side arms but were hit almost automatically. Scared, everyone hit the floor as the group walked around their guns now very visible. "Everyone down on the floor and quiet." one of the individuals cried. Another one directed a second to a public terminal and they began taking off the service panel and began messing with the various internal components. Eventually, what looked like some sort of video device was attached and one of the individuals, a man now as he took off his hood, pointed to the second who seemed to turn on the device. His face was plastered on all the view screens in the station, in actuality all the view screens across Veridia Prime itself.

"Citizens of Veridia Prime, we are the voice of your freedom. For long now the Dominion has warped your minds, made you see what they wanted and hidden from you the truth. We, the Ninth Tribe, are here to liberate you from this tyranny and bestow upon you the true freedom you deserve. We have taken control of the space dock and have now taken all its personnel and those here waiting from transport hostage. If the Dominion isn't willing to waste lives, we call on its leadership to contact us to negotiate for this station. We eagerly await that call....."

With that the transmission was cut. Others who had been working on the doors now had them shut and ceased, and seemed to be in control of this section of the station via another terminal from which they'd removed its service panel. If this were true, they not only controlled the immediate room they were in much the defense turrets on the exterior.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Why did we have to get stuck with coming down here" complained one of the two Overwatch agents as he came down the access ladder. "It is our duty and we do not question our duty that's why" said the other, handing him a flashlight. "Fine, but you know we'll be taking a bath for a week." The two agents went down the relatively dark and dank corridor with both their pistols and flashlights at the ready. Their commander had only said there was a disturbance in this section of the underside, something Overwatch had dealt with before. Rats...or well they're like rats, enjoyed the environment of the underside and sometimes thought it wise to chew of various cables after scratching through the rusting pipes.

Walking through they heard nothing and saw nothing. "I'm telling you its such vermin, like usual" said the whining agent. I say we just report it as such and get the hell ou....."

"Shhhh" said the second, then the whining agent heard it. It was faint but it was there, a strange noise neither had heard before. It was coming from just down the hall, perhaps around the next corner. They the intensity of their light in hopes of not alerting anyone who might be down the way and began walking towards the sound.......

The leader of the probe team quickly turned his head as he heard the noise of the footstep's echo, and then quickly signaled to his men that they had to begin making their way out to the evac point. It was unmistakably the sound of a person approaching and with all his experience working in probe teams he knew that the moment you even had an inkling that someone was approaching to apprehend you had to leave immediately. They had already accumulated significant amounts of information, anyways, and could count it a success. With that, they began to try to get to one of the access ladders, but they had no clue if they could complete their mission now...

***

Brother Lal rubbed his forehead as he received a report on the hostage crisis on the Veridian spaceport, trying to determine his next action. While earlier he was somewhat sympathetic to the goals and ideals of the situation, he was less than pleased by their decision to capture the Centauri embassy workers as well as the rest of those on the spaceport and make them their hostages. At first he deemed the attack on the passenger train rather inconsistent with their previous actions, but with some of the newest live reports from the probe team and this perhaps it was not so. He knew that he needed to act quickly to secure his people, and possible unilaterally. With that, he began to prepare for an announcement to be directly broadcasted to the spaceport, stating the following:

"To the members of the Ninth Tribe:

The Planetary Governate of Alpha Centauri is displeased by your actions in your seizure of this spaceport and our embassy workers as your hostages, as well as the attack on the passenger train not far from the embassy sector. We are a benign group that wishes to respect the national sovereignty of all nations, but when you threaten us and act against our citizens we take notice. You are hereby urgently requested to surrender yourselves and set the hostages free, or we shall consider the use of force against you. May your choose wisely, or the consequences will be grave."

(OOC: No problem. It was just that Lal did not want any of his people under threat.)

One of the members of the probe team was shot in the back, and being only very lightly armored with the thinnest Silksteel suit he suffers considerable injury as a result. The probe team member with medical training quickly applies an all-in-one disinfector/painkiller/regenera cream, and the shot member begins to heal, though he will need urgent medical attention in any case with the cream only being first aid. They quickly made their way to an extraction point, stolen files in tow. Quickly, they boarded a truck that was carrying important files and equipment from the embassy while the personnel were gone, but they all sigh with relief as they make it back to Chiron with the mission success code sent back to Lal.

***

Lal reviewed the collected information with a sigh. None of it was really particularly useful in this situation, though it did provide valuable information about the internal workings of the Dominion. He especially commended his probe team for managing to retrieve the records under the Necessary Classification Act, as having reviewed them he noticed the meeting between the three current Triumvirs and the Hive. Not completely unexpected, in his mind, but unpleasant nonetheless. In any case, he was also pleased that the Centauri hostages had been released safely, averting a hostage crisis on his part. He was also alerted by the most senior aid that had be held hostage that he was given a 'data stick' by the Ninth Tribe with important information. Sure enough, the data stick quickly made its way towards Lal as the infotech department figured out how the access the information aside and they presented it and the information to Lal for his perusal...

The information given to the escaping hostages was a goldmine if ever the Cenatauri leadership wanted one. It was a long collection of files, pictures, schematics, and other data that the tribe had been collecting for years against the Dominion. Genocide, enslavement, forced population transfers, torture, rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, disappearances..... If ever there were a more merciless dictatorship in all the galaxy, the Dominion was it. Though not all the crimes that this information highlighted were still in practice, it all built a strong case against the morals and true standing of what the Dominion way of life was really stood for. Surely anyone who read this information would be horrified to know a people could suffer through such a way of life willingly. That literally billions willingly served such a government no doubt sent shivers down even the most stern of spines.

Perhaps more worrying some however, was not the crimes the Dominion had committed but those they could commit. The data showed that the Dominion was hard at work on their own fleet, utilizing the latest in their own technological innovations. The military buildup was certainly impressive and the speed with which they were working proved only one thing....the Dominion was planning something. Sadly that is where the data fell short, as such information was absent.

How many more of their kind would have to die to get such information....only time would tell....
________________________________________________________________________

While the two Dominion warships sat ominously in synchronized orbit with the station, Paul and Victus traded blow in their most recent war or words battle. At first it was a simply enough discussion over the demands of the tribe against the Dominion government for the release of the rest of the hostages. However, this conversation quickly devolved into a ideological debate with Victus praising the order and peace the Dominion had given Veridia Prime and Paul countering such arguments with the fact that the said peace was an illusion and the millions lost in the process were unforgivable.

It was clear to everyone who witnessed the argument that neither man was winning the argument and that both were unwilling to relent to the other. What Paul didn't realize however, was that while Victus kept him on the communication channel, the strike team was making its way closer and closer to the section of the station that he and the others were hold up in. Indeed, by now the strike team was just outside the sealed doors of the room. To get an idea of what the landscape in the room looked like, one of the men made their way into the ventilation system and was soon peering into the room via a vent. Another had taken the control panel off the door and was now attempting to hack the system and override the lockout.

When the locks finally switched over on the large security doors was when Paul and the others realized the Dominion wasn't interested in talking. The bullets began to fly almost immediately when the doors retracted and the strike teams came in. The hostages had been sat on the floor behind some of the benches in the room, giving them cover from weapons fire. Blitzing the enemy, the strike team took down several and confused the rest. While they attempted to fight back the inevitable truth quickly stared Paula and the others in the face and they surrendered. Forced to the ground, the hostages were examined and released, the team calling for shuttles.

Victus on the bridge of his ship was pleased and soon ordered shuttles to make their way towards the station. Paul shivered as the cold metal of the cuffs went around his wrists, Dominion soldiers picking him up off his chest. He looked around at his former comrades, some laying dead not far and others under the boot and knee of Dominion soldiers. He smiled a little when he saw that the hostages were all well, after all it was never his intent on harming any of them. Shoving him in the direction of one of the docking bays, he walked almost with his head held high knowing he'd gotten the information out. Mission completed he thought to himself as he walked through the room.

Then he saw it....

It was out the corner of his eye, one of the men with him on the mission had struggled from off the floor and was not on his feet. What's that in his hand Paul thought to himself as he saw the man struggling with the Dominion soldier over something in his hand. The mans voice seemed muffled in Paul's ears as time seemed to slow around him. His own heart began racing when it was all to apparent to him what was going on.

Victus eyes widened when the blast of the bomb blew the windows out of the station, atmosphere and bodies venting from the room. Dominion soldiers, Ninth Tribe, and even the innocent hostages were all flying out into the cold embrace of space. "No....no" Victus said to himself, before pulling himself together. "Tel the shuttles to get over there, we have to try to save them" he told his officers who were quick to relay the message to the shuttle pilots. Sadly, it was too late to save anyone as the atmosphere vented quickly and the fail safes designed to prevent such a complete venting of the atmosphere failed to engage.
_________________________________________________________________

"Magnus how could we not have seen it" said Thomas as he and Magnus, High Councilor's of the Ninth Tribe walked down the dirty, dank corridor. "The explosion only affirms our fears from the being, we've been infiltrated Magnus."

Magnus, a woman whose face bore the burdens of the years she'd already lived, seemed so sadden. "It pains me to think that we could have a Dominion spy among us, we've been so careful Thomas. It can only mean that someone sold us out and it pains me to think that such a thing could happen. Though I suppose knowing the Dominion, whatever payment offer, was something of great importance."

"Of that I am certain Magnus" said Thomas, "no doubt a loved one being held against their will by the Dominion. Still, the train accident and now this bombing only proves that the Dominion is working to frame us from crimes we are not committing. We never attacked that civilian train nor did we ever authorize that bombing. Paul knew the mission was simply to get that information to the Centauri."

"I don't think Paul betrayed us" said Magnus confidently. "His father was a honest man, fought honestly for our cause until his death. Paul reminded me a lot of him, he would not have brought those explosives with him. He had to have be one of the others."

"I suppose it is of little consequence now" said Thomas. "The Dom-net has been flooded with news reports and articles of the attack and naturally, painting us in an ill picture. We have to find a way to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the people. Finally waken them from their long sleep at the hands of the Dominion."

"I agree Thomas and that is why I gave the green light for the Cassia mission. I know you were pushing hard for it and I always rebutted you due to the high risks involved, but this last incident has opened my eyes to a lot of things. A success there could very well turn the tide in our favor."

Just then as the two high councilors rounded a corner they crossed paths with Mathew, whose actions have it seemed begun this entire current affair the Ninth Tribe was having with the Dominion.

"Councilor Magnus" Mather said with a slight bow, "I am glad to have met up with you."

"Ah Mathew, you will be happy to know that the intelligence you and Alexander gather on the Cassia installation is now being put to use" said Thomas. "Councilor Magnus has agree to the mission I am told."

"Yes I know" said Mathew, "I am told our people have already left for Cassia now"

"That is right said Magnus."

"Excuse me then" said Thomas, "I will leave you two to speak as I wish to get to the control room and monitor their progress from there." With that Councilor Thomas walked away, leaving Magnus and Thomas in the hallway. Magnus could tell something was troubling Mathew.

"Mathew, I would assume you would be happy to know that the fruits of your labor could very well soon be the key to our success over the Dominion. That installation in Cassia, according to your intelligence, is one of the largest digital storehouses for Dominion information in this region. Who knows what all those hubs will have locked inside them. I am sure we'll finally get the evidence we need to expose the Dominion for what it is."

Mathew just shook his head. "Its all my fault Councilor...its all my fault but I intend to make it right...

Confused, Magnus questioned the young man. "You certainly cannot still hold yourself responsible for that affair at the military base outside of Cassia Mathew. Yes it was rash and sure we've lost some lives since then but you opened our eyes to our own complacency. Now is truly the time to strike especially with the galactic community watching."

"No you don't understand councilor" Mathew said, somewhat sobbing now "but illuminated ones willing, I will make something right from this wrong....
________________________________________________________________

"Why does it seem we can do nothing to stop these terrorist" Alexandria exclaimed as she and Flavian sat in their usual places in the Triumvirate's chamber. "How many more lives must be lost before we finally catches these vermin?"

"We shouldn't have attempted to take hostages" said Flavian. "These terrorist are too dangerous, we should have ordered the strike team to take them all out."

"Please, without a hostage we'd have no one to interrogate. Besides, we need someone to put on stand for these crimes" Alexandria exclaimed. "We shouldn't have taken your suggestion and allowed the team to go in guns free in the first place. Once they were at the door they could have simply accessed the ventilation system and flood the room with gas. But no, we decided to use gun diplomacy."

"If I am not mistaken the terrorists had suits" argued Flavian. "You want to go soft of them, such thoughts have made the Dominion itself soft, no wonder they're winning this war."

"Why I never.....you self-righteous son of a b..."

"Please" Marcus said as he entered the room, interrupting the argument. "Let us not devolve into childish arguments my fellow and esteem Triumvirs. Yes mistakes have been made but fortunately for us the Dominion is the vanguard of order. Chaos is but a whisper in the wind, falling abruptly short as it hits the impenetrable walls of the Dominion." As usual Marcus walked into the room with a smug attitude that infuriated his colleagues.

"Need I remind you my fellow Triumvir" Alexandria retorted, "that we could very well be on the brink of civil unrest. These attacks are proving weaknesses within the system and others could attempt to exploit them as these terrorists have."

"I think not" Marcus said confidently. "No my dear colleagues, I believe we are soon to find that the Dominion has no weaknesses. I feel we are soon to find that the Dominion is Order, and Order always prevails...."

Lal read through the information and found it absolutely shocking, the final straw against the Veridian government in his mind. Then, however, he quickly calmed himself and reminded himself that being already biased against the Veridian government it was easy enough to accept this information as fact. Most importantly, however, he was confirmed of his suspicion that the civilian train bombing was staged and was certainly not in keeping with the Ninth Tribe's previous actions, and more intriguingly he learned about this alleged plan in the Veridian government's military buildup. More than anything, this needed confirmation, and needed confirmation now. So like that, the probe teams were sent out one last time, this time to infiltrate the Veridian military networks...

Once again, within the depths of the undercity the probe team worked their mechanical and software magic to infiltrate the Dominion's network. This time, they targeted the military's corner of cyber-space looking for anything and everything that would help them and their government complete the picture. However, since their last infiltration, Overwatch had become paranoid....well more paranoid than usual. More undercover officers were patrolling the streets and system analysts were working round the clock to spot even the small hick-ups in the system. While it never came across the system as a break in, there were tell-tell signs that Overwatch had now become aware of when a break-in by this group was occurring. Random fluctuations in processing through network junction boxes that normally ran at regulated paces, power levels elevating, and "static" in the lines....these where things they saw the last time and it was those sorts of things they were looking for now.

Knowing the kind of cyber-defenses the Dominion was running by now, the probe team made quick work of them and got into the dirt of it all rather quickly. Not surprising, there was virtual mountains of files on the network for the military, a staple of the Dominion it seemed. At first, most were requisition papers, personnel files, and things of that nature. Interesting to a point but ultimately useless for what the probe team was sent to investigate. Unbeknownst to the team, the deeper they dug only gave Overwatch the time to pin-point the latest disturbance in the network. Given the last encounter, Overwatch wasted little time and dispatched two teams of five towards the location. The closer and closer they got, the deeper the probe team got.

At last they found what they were looking for, though still somewhat confusing. At first it was projection reports, it appears the Dominion has put a great priority on its military buildup with a good deal of the emphasis on its space fleet. Already two cruisers were in service, with several more nearing completion within the next few months. If the reports were accurate, the Dominion military believes it will have ten ships operational in about a six-month time period, with all seven classes of their warships represented in that group. Now by any standard ten ships was barely a threat given that the established powers in the galaxy boasts space forces in the hundreds. However, successive reports seemed to suggest that the military believed that the Dominion industrial complex could churn out more if all went well with the first of each class of ship. However, what became more interesting was the statistics on troop transports and other craft. The military seemed to be putting a good deal of emphasis on the ability to move troops to other planets.

Interesting still was several intelligence reports the military had on file for planets in or around the general area of the Veridian's home system of Nag. Throughout, the reports details planets ranging from life-sustaining but uninhabited to planets with civilizations reaching the point of first space-flight. All were vastly inferior in technology to both the Dominion and certainly the rest of the galaxy. Sadly, the reports were vague on exactly what the Dominion was doing, spying on these planets. Were they thinking of expanding, all signs pointed to that fact. But which planet and when exactly they would expand was still a mystery. A mystery, it seemed that would have to be solved another day.

Taking every precaution not to alert them, the Overwatch team now had the probe team surrounded on two sides, leaving only a small bit of room for them to find cover. Turning on spot-lights from their guns, they called out to the unknown group. "Stop where you are and put your hands were we can seem them...."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Warehouse District of Cassia, Veridia Prime....

Night now swept across most of western hemisphere of Veridia Prime, cloaking half of the giant landmass in darkness while the other remained in light. Most of the residents of Cassia were asleep, well asleep by this late our. In the warehouse district, only the dim lights from the street gave any light at all to an otherwise dark corner of the city. Andrew, and one of the largest strike forces ever allowed to assemble of the Ninth tribe made their way in various small groups into the district by way of vehicles as well as on foot until at last they surrounded the targeted building. The group had scoped out the building for days. It was a Dominion information depot with hundreds of servers inside. The vast amount of data stored away in such a facility was a gold-mind to anyone looking for information on the Dominion, especially the dirty secrets the Ninth Tribe hoped to expose.

Waiting for everyone to get into position, Andrew took point as he led the first team into the building. The building was believed to be lightly guarded, as the contents of the building was believed to be a closely guarded secret by the government. The first couple of guards encountered were quickly taken out, the team using their access badges to get into the building. Now with several teams moving into the building the invasion of sorts was eventually discovered and small fire-fights between Dominion personnel and the rebel fighters ensued. While better trained, the Dominion personnel was hopelessly outnumbered and before long those that weren't killed surrendered when faced with the barrel-end of the enemy's gun in their face. The entire ordeal took less than an hour and once the rebels knew they had the building secure and no alarms had been triggered, they quietly celebrated amongst themselves.

"This Andrew reporting home, home respond" Andrew said into his communicator as the screen soon came to life. Councilor Thomas's smiling face soon greeted Andrew.

"We hear you loud and clear Andrew, can we assume it was a success then?"

"Affirmative home, mission was a success!"

"Excellent" said Thomas, "have your teams setup at once, we're eager to start receiving."

"Affirmative, we're setting up now. I will contact again when we've complete all transmissions."

With that Andrew began barking orders to his teams. They began unpacking various electronic devices of different shapes and sizes. All of it was necessary to begin tapping into the servers and transmitting the data instantly to the rebel base. The information was too critical to simply copy it to their devices and then take it home themselves, they need to get it there now. Back at the command center of the rebel base Thomas and the others in the room were equally excited at the initial success of the mission and began preparing on their end to receive the information once the transmissions began.

The probe team was alarmed at the enemies calling out for them in the distance. This was not good. They were too far deep in the tunnels and their enemies had managed to block off all escape routes, so there was only one choice. The leader of the probe team sighed, and broadcasted one code to the rest of the team: the code to self destruct. All soldiers on Alpha Centauri carry a mobile power source with them - fission, fusion, or quantum - and if things go really bad they sometimes choose to activate self-destruct. This case definitely fit the requirements, they had gotten all they probably needed from this place and they were certainly not going to allow the Veridians to learn about what they were doing, much less be able to study their technology.

So they self destructed.

But they weren't as thorough as they might have hoped.

A software wand survived. Though it was unlabeled and had nothing to suggest ownership as it was not connected to the network, it still seems functional enough that it could be reverse engineered.

OOC: Never going to live that down huh

IC:
The explosion in the tunnel collapsed the area directly around the team, killing two Overwatch agents in the process. Hours later swarms of agents and engineers were brought in to excavate the area. Though items were recovered from the probe teams, it was doubtful that they would shed any significant light on the crime. The items were chard, mangled, and completely inoperable from whatever purpose they once served. The only thing Overwatch believed it could discern from the items recovered were that they were alien in design, as nothing appear even close to the style and design of things manufactured on Veridia Prime. However, to whom the items belong it seemed would have to remain a mystery as no identifying marks or logos survived the explosion. In the end, the Dominion was left with more questions than answers.

______________________________________________________________________________

Warehouse District of Cassia, Veridia Prime....

Andrew and the team wasted little time in connecting to the servers and setting up their link between the warehouse and the base. Within minutes, they were streaming information from the servers using encrypted signals hundreds of miles across the planets surface to the Ninth Tribes base of operations. Doing so with the amount of information that was now at their fingers tips was going to take time, lots of time. Knowing that the volume of information they now had was going to take as long as it was meant the entire team settled down and made the place their own. A few took watch around the parameter of the building while others maintained the link. Some even began pursuing through the files, getting a sneak peak into what they were now taking.

Personnel files, reports, correspondences, the information was as diverse as it was expansive. Many believed it was going to take a life-time to look through it all and even longer to discern any real value to any of it. Still, regardless of how much junk they might acquire, if even one piece of data could help bring down the Dominion it was completely worth it. Minutes seemed to drag on to those who started to become restless from the inactivity of the activity at hand. Andrew, looking for something to occupy himself at the moment decided to get a report from those who were guarding the parameter.

"Watch dogs, this is keeper, come in....." said Andrew into his communicator. He waited a moment, yet nothing was said. "watch dog, this is keeper...." he repeated with little concern in his voice at first. After all, the warehouse might be insulated against signals coming into or out of the facility. Fearing as such the team had setup their transmitter on the roof of the building but regardless of all this, he still received no response. Worried he looked over at two other men nearest him and requested they check out the situation. However, no quickly had they stepped out of the room Andrew was in did he get the answer to his question. Without warning gunfire erupted throughout the warehouse, pinning Andrew and his large team in various areas throughout the building. They'd become comfortable and caution in such an off-guard position, many were scrabbling to defend themselves.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Miles Away, Ninth Tribe Headquarters...

Councilor Thomas and the others operating in their command room were pleased when their receiver began uploading the data coming from the Cassia warehouse. It was quickly apart only after a few minutes of receiving the data that the cache they had been able to secure was no doubt vast. The Councilor was indeed very pleased but was a bit upset that Councilor Magus had not yet joined up with him in the command room to oversee the operation. He was certainly curious as to what could be keeping her, it had been almost an hour since last he'd seen here. Whatever kept her from overseeing the operation along side him however must have been important, and resigned himself to the current duty before him. Given that the Ninth Tribe's headquarters ran off of the local power grid, they had to be careful over the amount they used. Naturally, they ran off a system that was designed to siphon small amounts of energy from a variety of local sources to ensure that their operations did not go noticed by local authority. That being said, when operating under conditions such as this they constantly had technicians to manually regulate the system so that no one source pulled more energy and lead others to become suspicious.

All busy doing their part for the operation, Councilor Thomas sat back a minute and began looking through some of the data that had already been received. There was a lot already present in their computers and he could tell it would take them sometime to sift through all the garbage to get to any of the real meat of the data. Sitting back in his chair, almost glued to his computer, the Councilor practically drowned out the other noises of the room and the various people as they moved about. When he finally came out of his comma-like state, he realized he'd not heard back from Andrew. Looking at the time he realized that they were late, not significantly so, but nevertheless late. Motioning over to his communication team he asked that a link be established with the team. Within seconds the communications officers had an established link with Andrew and within minutes they learned the horrifying truth. There was nothing on the visual by the audio made clear that a battle was going on in the warehouse, which could only led Thomas to believe that something had gone wrong. Though, no sooner had he had those thoughts cross his mind that red lights began flashing in the command room .

"Councilor, one of our secondary alarms has just been triggered."

"Secondary?" Thomas said alarmingly.

"Yes, it seems all primary alarms are offline as it most of our defenses. I can't explain it sir, but it appears we've been infiltrated."

"Oh no.....sound the alaert!!!"

No sooner had those words come out of his mouth than gunfire began echoing down the corridors just outside the room. Within minutes, Dominion soldiers were pouring through various entry points and engaging rebels at ever occasion. Many were put down without a fight given they were caught completely off-guard with no warning what so ever. Others seeing their friends die, quickly retreated, geared up, and began fighting back. The carnage just echoed, ominously throughout the entire area of the rebel base as the fighting went on....

Lal sighed as he read the termination reports from the probe teams. Unfortunate, as they were doing so well, but after a series of successful probing attempts security is inevitably increased. While he wanted to try to act out directly against the Veridian Dominion, there was really nothing much that he could properly justify action against them with and indeed he was not particularly desirous of picking a fight with them. Then, however, he remembered the data obtained from the databases, and ordered the PDF Sensor Agency to begin to monitor the same planets the Veridians had filed reports on. If they could detect any evidence of the Veridian Dominion attempting anything with the natives there, they could have a proper case against the Veridians, albeit a very indirect one.

Mathew sat nervous in an office he'd never been before, biting his nails. His disheveled look only mirrored his mental state as he sat, his foot tapping feverishly against the floor. Looking aroud the room he continuously wondered how much longer he'd have to wait. He felt like it had been days, he wasn't even sure what time it was. Was it night...day....had he even eaten anytime recently? Everything within the last few hours was all now a blur to him and he couldn't even remember how he'd made it to the office room at all. Now getting cold feet and wondering if being here was all a mistake, he starts to get out of his seat.

"Leaving so soon" said a cold, stern voice as he entered the room. "Come now Thomas, please sit."

Thomas obeys, not sure why, but nevertheless obeys. The man comes from across the room and comes to sit across from Thomas, just behind the desk. Picking up a PADD, the man looks over several documents before looking again at Thomas. "Biting your nails is a dirty habit Thomas, you should quit." Again Thomas obeys, why he doesn't know he just does as he is told. The man takes several more minutes before speaking, the room deathly quiet. So thick it can be cut with a knife, but finally broken again by the man behind the desk.

"It says here Thomas, or should I say Terentius, that you were a clerk at the local level before your crime. A promising future politician perhaps for your local district, had it not been for your crime. What happened Terentius?"

"I loved her..." Thomas said.

"Apparently" the man said with some humor in his voice. "Sadly, she was the mayor's wife and adultery is a very, very dirty crimes Terentius. Especially, when a man with as many connections as he had, is involved."

Thomas said nothing as he sat there.

"Did the Dominion not provide you with enough outlets for your urges" the man asked before shrugging. "At any rate it says here you were sentenced to the collar and were then bought by a brothel in Ostia. Looks like here you had quite the clientele list too, apparently you were a hit with many men."

Thomas winces at the thought

"Then you were found by the rebels who, more than likely, believed you could be useful given your time as a local clerk, and free you. Too bad you are an untrustworthy as you are Terentius, or the rebels might have actually gotten some use out of you. As it is, that woman proved to be your weakens and now here we are. The rebels are dead and the Dominion is appreciative of the work you've done in its name."

"Not its name" Thomas said, showing some defiance. "Her name, everything was for her."

"Ah yes" said the man, his voice cold again. "The woman, and I assume that is why you are here...for the woman. Well a deal is a deal, and you've upheld your end so I suppose I should uphold mine."

With that the man turned to the small computer terminal on his desk. Pressing a button he asked his secretary to show their guest into the room. The doors of the office slid open and a beautiful blonde hair, blue eyed woman walked into the room. She wore a stunning red dress that left little to the imagination as she filled it out perfectly. A large hat, sunglasses, and a scarf around her neck completed her look as she walked in and over towards the desk. Mathew couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her and though her face was obscured a bit by the hat and sunglasses, he knew it to be her. He bolted from his seat and met her hat way, embracing her as only lovers do. Overwhelmed with emotions he whispered in her ear. "At last....at last my love we are together again." He waited, longing to hear her angelic voice tickle his ears once more but to his dismay she said nothing. Indeed, she had done nothing either since he embraced her, not taking him into her arms as he took her into his. Putting his hands on her arms, he pushed her back a bit so he could get a better look at her and then all at once realized what was going on. In angry, he violently tore the scarf from her neck while pushing her away, realizing the collar she wore around her neck.

"What is this?" Thomas cried out in angry as he turned back towards the man at the desk.

"That is what you requested" he said with a wiry grin. "You asked to be reunited with your long-lost lover, that you both be allowed to live together without worry over your crimes. Oh....wait...do you mean you didn't know? Oh my, I feel so bad now perhaps I should have told you. You see, after your affair she did it again, indeed by the time Overwatch investigated her on behalf of her husband, it seems she'd taken several lovers. Naturally, he did not wish to be burden by such lies and deceit so like you, she was punished. Indeed, apparent she was bought by a brothel not far from the one you worked at."

Tears now filled Thomas eyes as he realized what he'd done. He'd sold the Ninth Tribe out for a love affair he could never have, for a happiness and paradise that did no longer exist. By this the doors had slide open again and two Overwatch officer entered the room, their pistols trained on Thomas. With one motion of the man's hand, Thomas was subdued by the men though in truth he would have gone freely with them had they only asked. Thomas had nothing to live for now and the collar would be a welcome reprieve from the pain he now held in his heart. After Thomas was carted off by the Overwatch officers along with the woman, the secretary entered the room. "Triumvir Flaven, your meeting with the rest of the Triumvirate is in five minutes."

"Thank you" said Marcus, the smile on his face having only grown wider. He rose from his seat, straightening his suit as he walked out of the office.
________________________________________________________________________________

Chamber of the Triumvirate....

The pictures were as gruesome as the story they told. The warehouse had been a massacre, Dominion soldiers having watch over the facility the entire time. All along the warehouse was a trap, a prize of which the Dominion knew the rebels would not easily look over if they believed they had a chance and knew that their options were thin. The servers never had crucial data, indeed the vast volume of data were highly fictionalized personnel files, personal logs, and military reports. Written within the files however, was a unique virus that the Dominion planted and was their ultimate weapon in the fight. Once uploaded into the Ninth Tribes computers, it activity sought out primary security programs connect to their network and deactivated them while all the time giving the illusion that they were still active. By the time the illusion faded and the network realized what was going on, it was already too late. Dominion soldiers, knowing the location of the hidden base, were waiting at the door when it was unlocked and opened to let them in.

Dead bodies littered the bullet-soaked hallways, the Dominion had meticiously ensured that every man and woman both at the warehouse and the hidden base were killed. Even the children that had been born in secret by these individuals were killed, after all unchecked breeding could only lead to genetic disaster if allowed to contaminate the great pool. Entire operation was now laid out in front of them and both Flavian Sabinu and Alexandria Gentianus had to admit, they were impressed by Marcus.

"My esteem Triumvir" Flavian said, "I must admit I did not think such an operation could have been pulled off. That our intelligence was able to gather the crucial information necessary to ensure success is impressive."

"Indeed" said Alexandria, "this is no doubt a victory that will not easily be forgotten in the Dominion."

"I should think not" said Marcus. "However, this is but a small victory for a small conflict that I think we all true knew would end in only one way. Now my most revered colleagues, we must look to the future. We have ensure order on Veridia Prime for generations to come. The last vestiges of rebellion are dead and now nothing domestically threatens the Dominion's success. However, I no doubt need to remind this body that we had a breach in security, one of extra-terrestrial design. Though we have no proof to point the finger at any of our two current trade partners, the Centauri or Rheans, this event can only prove that chaos threatens our borders. Thus, we must now look towards the future and make haste in preparing our first push to expand our border....and expand order!"

Both Flavian and Alexandria nodded in agreement. Pleased, Marcus then glided his finger tips across the control panel before him and star maps were pulled up over the screens, in place of the pictures.......
___________________________________________________________________________________

"The transports is ready to go Magnus" said a young man as he handed the older woman her coat. "I have bought our passage on a small transport that is going to make a trade run to Rhean space."

Magnus, the last of the High Council, looked fondly out of the terminal window and out towards the city. She'd never left Veridia Prime and never believed in all her years it would come to this. Yet, after hearing Thomas tell of his deal with the Dominion and the imminent end that the Tribe was the face, she knew she had to do what was necessary for their survival....for the survival of the case. Such thoughts, however, brought tears to her eyes when it came to how many had to be sacrificed so that so few could survive. Only five of them remained now, and of them she was the only one with any age. The rest were so young, they had much to learn if they every wished to filled the shoes of those that were lost. Still, their spirits were high and they had just as much bravery as she did at their age, when she...like them....was first freed of her bondage to the Dominion.

The Transport would never make it to Rhean space as Magnus and her small group would overpower the Captain and his crew of three and commandeer the ship for themselves. Though infants in a world so much bigger than that which they were born in, they knew enough to know that Veridia Prime was not the only planet in the galaxy for which they could live. It would be tough but they would find a new home and from there begin again with the homes of freeing more, in time. Again the Dominion had won a battle but again it foolishly went to bed thinking the war was over.

"No my dear Dominion" Magnus would say under her breath as Veridia Prime became smaller and smaller out the window..."no my dear Dominion, the war has just begun....."

(OOC: Would the events of the warehouse be publicly broadcasted, or would the Dominion suppress them to keep the Ninth Tribe around as a scapegoat?)

OOC: Consider the warehouse a publicize event, highly re-written in terms of events. However, the news reports would say nothing of the other attack. Also, the warehouse will not be a total slaughter, the Dominion will state it took prisoners in order to put them on trial. Like in Nazi Germany, the Dominion will simply have show trials that will end as quickly as they begin. But yes, the people will generally believe that the Ninth Tribe still exists and the Dominion may indeed use that to their advantage later on although generally, they'll become more like boogie-men designed to scare children than any real believed threat.