Spotlight: The Bel-Zon

The Bel-Zon is the name of a criminal organisation operating mainly within the borders of the United Federation of Planets. Founded at an undetermined point in the mid-24th Century, the Bel-Zon’s principal activities included piracy, narcotics, assassination, extortion, starship theft, mercenary operations, and trafficking in sentients, armaments and restricted technology.

Gorgan, the last of the 
original Bel-Zon
Marauders. With mumu.

Named after the Bel-Zon Marauders of Triacus whose attacks triggered the bloody Epsilon Indi War centuries before, the modern Bel-Zon has been distinctive from the likes of the Orion Syndicate, the Iotian Mob and the Orsini Cabal, for its diverse members of many different races and worlds, which one commentator had likened to ‘a criminal version of the Federation’.

The Bel-Zon criminal organisation of the 24th Century, in its first incarnation, was governed by a Hexad of senior operatives responsible for different branches of its criminal activities, and was led by Simon Giger, and based at an undisclosed location.

USS Furyk

In the latter half of the 2350s, the Bel-Zon expanded its activities into the Salem Sector, and in 2358 accepted a contract from a Kzinti clan to sabotage the operations on the Federation mining colony on Scesity, attempting to trigger a smaller-scale version of the disaster which destroyed the Klingon moon Praxis, allowing the Kzinti to become the principal source of pergium, kemocite and magnesite for the sector. Their operation was thwarted by Captain Esek Hrelle, in command of the Steamrunner-class Starfleet vessel Furyk (ref the Surefoot story “The Lion of Salem Sector”)

Other indirect encounters followed, while the Bel-Zon increased its power and influence, culminating in the organisation’s most audacious operation: an attack on the Furyk, murdering all of its crew except for Hrelle, who was tortured for the security codes to Station Salem One (ref “The Universe Had Other Plans”). 

Station Salem One

The Bel-Zon then sold Hrelle into slavery to the Orion Syndicate, who had a bounty on him for his actions against their organisation. The Bel-Zon had also used Salem One’s security codes to raid the stores of trilithium resin being stored there for eventual shipment to Deep Space Five, killing several Starfleet personnel and civilians in the process, including Hrelle’s first wife, Commander Hannah Hrelle.

Simon Giger

This incident, however, proved to turn the tide against the Bel-Zon, as Starfleet and Federation Security focused its efforts against them. In the succeeding years, as more of their senior operatives were being caught and imprisoned, including Alex Giger, the brother of Simon Giger (ref “The Nist Sanction”), the Bel-Zon moved their operations within the borders of the Skarosians, a non-aligned autocracy where they could grow the illegal narcotic Vraxoin.

However, their attentions returned to Hrelle, who in the intervening years had escaped captivity and returned to Starfleet service, commanding the Surefoot and indirectly becoming involved in several Bel-Zon crimes (ref “Secrets and Lies”, “The Fast and the Furriest”). Following an undercover operation where Hrelle had thwarted the child slave trafficking operations of one of the Bel-Zon’s senior operatives (ref “Birthpains”) in 2370, the Bel-Zon decided to inflict personal revenge upon Hrelle.

A Vlathi Assassin

To that end, they organised an infiltration of the Surefoot with a small mercenary force and several Vlathi, serpentine assassins loaned to them by the Supremor of the Skarosians. The resulting conflict, though it inflicted one casualty and several wounded, was unsuccessful. After Hrelle led a subsequent undercover operation resulting in Bel-Zon operative Bastien Dumont being imprisoned by the Son’a (ref “Dead Man’s Hand”), the remaining Bel-Zon, trapped within Skarosian space, planned for another attack on Hrelle, with the continued aid of the Skarosian leader, the Supremor.

However, the Bel-Zon and the Supremor had not reckoned on the intervention of Ma’Sala Shall, kin-mother to Hrelle and head of not only the Caitian Planetary Navy but the Caitian Secret Service. Following the Vlathi attack, she used her resources to track down the organisers and ensure they could not harm her family again (ref “Daughter of Kaas, Daughter of Esek”). Her methods of ensuring this proved effective.

VERY effective...

Continued law enforcement efforts began cleaning up many of the surviving operatives and resources for the Bel-Zon, and the organisation was considered defunct.

However, in 2376, Terran industrialist Max Zorin suffered a major corporate financial loss following an exposure of dangerous terraforming experiments by his company, Zorin Interstellar. This was caused by Hrelle, now Commodore and in command of his former base of operations at Station Salem One (ref “Bleeding Edge”). Zorin organised a new incarnation of the Bel-Zon, seeking both revenge and the fulfilment of an as-yet-undisclosed crime of interstellar proportions, while still maintaining a level of detachment and plausible deniability from Federation and Starfleet authorities (ref “Murderers’ Row”).

This new Bel-Zon contained some members of the original organisation, along with individuals with unique and diverse talents. The members actively involved are listed below, though the list is not exhaustive:

MAX ZORIN: Terran industrialist who had been secretly and illegally genetically augmented for increased strength, speed, stamina and intelligence, though apparently at the cost of psychopathy. He is sadistic and short-tempered, has personally killed often, and appears to become obsessive with certain goals, such as gaining revenge against Commodore Hrelle. 

He operates from his private luxury starliner, the SS Moonraker, which he has converted into a mobile corporate HQ, maintaining the public persona of an entrepeneur seeking new investments. 

DAWN AND DUSK BAUER: Twin sisters of mixed Human-Betazoid heritage, the genes from their Betazoid mother granting them a telepathic rapport that they’ve kept hidden from all. They performed a series of petty crimes utilising their identical appearances and telepathy, before becoming Zorin’s personal assistants, often reluctantly liaising between Zorin and the Bel-Zon.

BASTIEN DUMONT: Former Bel-Zon senior operative in charge of transport and planning, he had organised the Vlathi attack on the Surefoot, and later was imprisoned by the Son’a after being framed for attempted theft by Hrelle (ref “Dead Man’s Hand”). Dumont was later liberated from captivity and imminent execution, and given the opportunity to head the new incarnation of he Bel-Zon, reactivating many of the organisation’s hidden assets and resources.

CAPTAIN ARKADY KAZAN: Terran of Russian-Cossack origin, former Starfleet Captain who served with distinction commanding the Soyuz-class vessel Fort Wayne during the Federation-Cardassian War in the 2350s, before unrevealed circumstances prompted him to fake his own death and join the Orsini Cabal, a criminal group on Inferna Prime. However, he grew bored with the limited possibilities for upward mobility within the Cabal and bought his way out to become an independent contractor, before eventually being recruited into the Bel-Zon, acting as second in command to Dumont, where his experience and skill at command is proving useful.

SURINH DAG: Orion entrepreneur, former Gamesmaster within the notorious Orion Deathmatch Circuit, and for several years owned Hrelle during his years of captivity. After this time, however, he had suffered from a hostile takeover of his business by the Syndicate and fell on hard times, which he erroneously blamed on Hrelle. Recruited by the new Bel-Zon, he has sobered and is employing his contacts within Orion space, allying with Orion pirate Nesac Sur and Nesac’s Orion blockade runner Green Death.

LADY FANTOMAX: Older Terran female, aka Penelope Creighton-Ward, who had developed a talent for theft, managing to steal many objects of art and other unique items over the decades, never getting caught, before retiring on Risa. Years later, however, her criminal past is uncovered by Kazan, blackmailing her into resuming her identity of Fantomax on behalf of the Bel-Zon. She reluctantly agreed, though he nonviolent nature and methods of operation increasingly clash with the Bel-Zon’s tactics.

DR ORLOK: Vulcan biologist and geneticist, former member of a Separatist terrorist cell who fled Vulcan, operating as a freelance criminal, using her scientific knowledge on behalf of other criminals and organisations. She is arrogant, cold and calculating, willing to commit genocide, often as much in the twisted pursuit of scientific knowledge as for profit.

COLONEL ILSA WÖLFIN: Terrorist from Ekos, a planet whose inhabitants once embraced Terran Nazi ideology and culture, and who refused to give up this when the Ekosians reformed. Nicknamed Ilsa the She-Wolf, she is genetically augmented for strength, durability and rapid healing, and has ambitions of returning to Ekos and becoming their new Führer, using financial backing from the Bel-Zon when her service is completed. Her shared Augmented genetic heritage and murderous nature has made her find a kindred spirit in Zorin, with whom she has engaged in a sexual relationship.

FRANKIE NOVA: aka Franco Novarro, a fictional Terran gangster from a 20th Century Dixon Hill detective novel, he existed as a holographic character in a Holodeck program on the USS Enterprise-E beloved by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Nova was turned into a sentient photonic lifeform on a seeming whim by the entity known as Q. Nova escaped from the Enterprise and adapted to 24th Century criminal life, eventually allying with a crew of Ferengi he calls the Ant Hill Mob. Nova’s photonic body affords him a measure of indestructibility, and also allowing him to phase through solid matter at will.

THE RAT PACK: A collection of rodents from Zeta Arcanis III, a planet with a pre-Warp humanoid civilisation that decimated themselves in a nuclear war, which triggered mutations among the rodents, producing sentience and a hive mind. Fronted by a large male rat designated “Ben”, the Pack hid onboard a Starfleet survey vessel which had landed, desiring to find a new home on another planet, allying with the Bel-Zon towards this end. The Pack’s numbers and collective link make them a versatile force often overlooked by the humanoids around them.

JET JAGUAR: Ferasan female, who fled her world and its oppressive patriarchy to seek fulfilment and independence elsewhere, her felinoid strength, speed and tracking skills proving very marketable. Eventually finding herself in the employ of Kazan’s former employers in the Orsini Cabal on Inferna Prime, it is Kazan himself who returns and enlists her, intimating that the Bel-Zon’s intended target, Commodore Hrelle, was responsible for her people’s defeat and destruction.

BELE: Former political official from Cheron, a planet whose humanoid inhabitants’ skin was a vertically-bisected black and white, with the Cheronites whose right side was white oppressed the Cheronites whose right side was black. Bele had pursued a terrorist from this other side, Lokai, across the Galaxy for centuries, both returning to find their peoples dead from civil war. Inextricably driven by their mutual hate, they continued their conflict on the planet, Bele eventually winning, but at the cost of his world’s imminent destruction. Kazan visited Cheron and deceived Bele into joining the Bel-Zon with the promise of a storage facility containing Cheronite embryos. Bele is immortal, and can generate biothermal energy to use as shields or weapons.

KAMRA OBSCURA: Tandaran assassin, whose desert tribe on Tandra Prime have developed the ability to psychically cloak themselves from most lifeforms and even some devices around them, rendering a measure of invisibility. Kamra is also highly proficient in armed and unarmed combat, in particular with rifles, but is bound by a personal code of honour not to harm innocents, choosing to accept assignments involving only criminal targets.

METAL MICKEY: An automated security drone, actual name MIKKI (Mobile Integrated Kilo-Kinetic Interceptor), manufactured decades ago on Minos, the Arsenal of Freedom. Sold to an offworld colony, the machine that would later be designated Metal Mickey adapted to the idea that the best way to ensure security is by incinerating all organic life. It went on a rampage through the Lorenze cluster, its programming compelling it to return to Minos, which in itself had been destroyed by another of its products, the Echo Papa 607, before being conscripted by the Bel-Zon. Mickey is a tank-like machine with a dalekanium shell, and a wide array of weapons and cybernetic interface capabilities.

THE HIGHWAYMAN: Alias for Bo Darvil, a Zeon who operates an interstellar smuggling operation, while maintaining a legitimate shipping service, Colonial Movers (“We Move Anywhere”). Despite his tough exterior, he avoids violence and conflict whenever possible, allowing his current contract the Bel-Zon to provide armed support, though he eschews contact with the Ekosian Colonel Wölfin, due to the persecution his people suffered under hers.

ALIAS: The codename for a humanoid female of unknown origin, who specialises in impersonating real and imagined individuals for deception and gain, using holographic, DNA masking and other technology, as well as old-fashioned method acting. Originally came to the attention of the authorities because of her impersonation of the demonic figure Ardra on Ventax II, she has since been known to impersonate a member of the Betazoid Royal Family, the Dohlman of Elas, and Captain Kathryn Janeway.

BERLINGHOFF RASMUSSEN: Inventor and con-man from 22nd Century New Jersey, Earth, he had stolen a time machine from a visiting scientist from the 26th Century, and appeared in the 24th Century, pretending to be the future time traveller in order to steal objects and technology to take back with him to his home. Caught and trapped in the 24th Century, he has since committed numerous crimes of fraud and theft, working alongside Alias.

KIVAS FAJO: A Zibalian trader and obsessive collector who came to the attention of Starfleet when he abducted Lt Cmdr Data to add the android to his collection of unique objects, in 2366. Data escaped captivity, had Fajo arrested and imprisoned and much of his collection and wealth confiscated. Fajo escaped prison in 2374 and began rebuilding his collection, working with the Bel-Zon as a trader of rare and unique weapons and technology.

BAD RONALD: One of several names for a sentient being from Chaotic Space, another dimension to ours with hazardous properties. Very little is known about Bad Ronald, except that it possesses formidable psychic abilities, and an affinity for torturing and killing humanoids, in particular children. Some unconfirmed reports have noted a clown-like appearance to It...