By the time they got back to Port Royal, Denise and Connor had told the rest how they had taken down the laser cannon. They had also heard about how Linda had handled herself. Connor had laughed upon hearing the story.

In Port Royal while they were waiting for the train to the space portal at the spoke. They were sitting in a lounge watching the news video. The lead story was of a whole building of people that had disappeared. It was said there were no clues as to where the people could have gone. The most acceptable idea is that the Supervisors are behind it; after all, it would take a group of Mind walkers to do something like that. Pogo looked at the group and said,

"No. Even a group of very powerful mind walkers would have serious trouble doing that." They all went back to their drinks and food.

The train came in and they made their way back to the ship. They got clearance to lift off and soon they were back in space. Connor said,

"Thank God we are off that rock. I don't think we were ever safe. I hope I never have to go back there."

Linda laughed.

"It was not that bad. I think I could have gotten along quite well if we had stayed there."

Pogo added,

"I don't know about that. We have found a serious problem and we may have to go back to help solve it." Aleerin then announced,

"Statement: Would not like/be adverse to never go back to Penates. Syndicate will kill/terminate me/myself if I go/travel back there."
 

Denise looked at him with sympathy.

"Don't worry Aleerin. We are going to the Concord's Lighthouse. You will be safe there."

As she said that, the Lighthouse came into view through the front portal. The station is about 1500 meters in height and varies from about 35 meters at the docking area to about 400 meters at the upper disc. The upper disc appears to have a city growing out of it. Yalp looked at it and said,

"Holy cow! It is an engineers dream come true! I would love to be working on that thing."

"Well, we may be piggy backing the Lighthouse to eventually get back to the Stellar Ring"

"Oh that would be great," replied Yalp.

Connor got onto the com and contacted the docking control of the Lighthouse. He was given direction to a docking arm and then told where to dock. Before getting to the docking arm, a patrol ship scanned their ship to make sure they were not smuggling any contraband.

They got to their air lock and docked with it. Opening the door they found two concord customs officials. Denise also noticed Huntly, Graham and Martine standing behind them. After the customs people were finished checking their I.D.'s, Huntly came over and said,

"We were getting concerned. We have accommodations and Beighur is going to meet us there." She looked at the young Mechalus and continued,

"Who is your new friend?"

Denise answered,

"He is a liberated guest of the Syndicate, but we can talk about that in private." They then made their way to the central elevator. Huntly said,

"We have to go to the Visitor Center and get you scanned into the computer." The group followed her to the elevator and up to deck 193. Because they were all fairly respectable citizens, the Welcome Center was not a problem. They also all set up credit on the station since most of them had been traveling they had all the necessary date crystals with the proper information on them. Then they went through another customs check. This time they also checked their luggage and found Yalp's tool kit. The customs officer thought it was for picking locks. Yalp showed him his ID that said he was ships engineer and eventually was let through with his tools in tact.

While Yalp was dealing with customs, Denise noticed how large the rooms were on each deck. Especially the height. Even a tall Weren could stand upright with his arms above his head. It is set up more like a domed city than a space station. Buildings were independent with sidewalks between them - not walkways from one area to another. This was even more evident on the next level. They looked to be walking in an open town with fields of grass and a sun up above. They made their way up to deck 198 and Huntly lead them to the Pacific Plaza Hotel. They went to the front desk and got scanned for their room keys.

Once in their rooms, everyone decided to get a couple of hours sleep. When everyone woke up and got ready, they left the hotel. Huntly said,

We should go see Captain Beighur. He should be able to get us an appointment with the Magistrate."

"Yes, that is a good idea. But there is something I think we should do first. We are totally unarmed and once the syndicate finds out Aleerin is missing they will come after him."

Huntly smiled and said,

"I know just the place." They made their way past restaurants and night clubs until they got to the east elevator. Going down to the 197 deck they got off and found the area quite crowded. Huntly lead them to a shop on their right. It had a sign out front that said, "Self-Reliance Goods". They walked in and a woman approached them.

Huntly stepped forward and said,

"A friend of mine recommended we come to see you about some self-protection."

"Oh, and who might your friend be?"

"His name would be Devriele and he said you supplied him and his associates with some personal protection while they were on the Lighthouse."

She looked them over before replying,

"You are probably in the same business, but these others, I don't think so. You had better give me a good reason or I will not be able to help you."

Huntly looked at Denise and gave her a nod that said, ` these people can be trusted, their business depends on it', so Denise said,

"Our young Mechalus friend here has run afoul of the Jamaican Syndicate on Penates. We think they may try to spirit him away from us." The shop keeper looked at the young Mechalus and said,

Is this true boy?" He voice demanding the truth.

Aleerin just nodded yes and stepped slightly behind Denise. The woman smiled and said,

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you. My name is Martha, what is yours?"

Aleerin stepped up beside Denise and quickly grabbed her hand. He said,

"My name is Aleerin."

"You have the Ancient name. You must be very special." Aleerin just smiled. Martha then said,

"There, that is better." She turned to Denise and continued,

"Well, I guess I might be able to help you. What are you looking for?"

"We need conciliable but non-lethal protection." Martha thought for a second then said,

"I think I have just the thing. It is a small plastic stunner gun. Very hard to pick up on scanners and will knock a grown man out cold with one good shot!"

"That would be perfect. Do you also have a place where we can get familiar with them?"

Martha nodded and lead them into a back room. There they found a weapons range that would have made most military bases envious. Martha handed Denise the stunner gun and she moved into range. Targets started popping up around her and she put the weapon through it's paces. She finished and said,

"These will do nicely." Then she sent everyone else through the range. They all did well enough to hopefully be able to protect themselves.