Travis was suspended from duty for massacring unarmed civilians after their surrender on the planet Auros. He was later tried for the murder of 1417 people on Zircaster, and it is tempting to assume this is the same incident, although Zircaster itself was stated to be a planet. Either two different massacres took place, or Auros was also known as Zircaster.
| Sarkoff possessed an automobile, probably genuine, and neither Cally nor Blake knew what it was, other than a vehicle of some kind. Registration number was RT 277. | |
When the crew started to try and repair the damage resulting from the attack by two Space World vessels, Avon told Cally to "strip down the auto-navigator". Whether this device was part of the navigation computers or a peripheral unit to them was unstated.
In Time Squad Zen deduced the purpose of the programmed guardians after examination of the cryogenic capsule's auto-navigation unit.
The autopsy on K47 crewman Wardin was listed by Dr Wiler as autopsy report 149,906. The law not unnaturally required that life was extinct before examination could begin, and space death autopsies were conducted in a sealed mortuary in case alien organisms were present in the corpse.
A system found on board Federation ships and the Liberator, as well as being part of the high-intensity radiation grid guarding Central Control on Earth. This system repaired damage automatically, without the need for human intervention. The obvious benefits of such a system were an overall reduction in personnel, which would be particularly valuable on board ship, freeing the remaining crew for other tasks.
The first such system is found on the Federation civilian ship London in Space Fall. The ship was caught up in a space battle, and the outer hull was punctured astern; but Raiker reported to Leylan that the 'Auto-repair circuits' were sealing it. From a later explanation by Jenna, as well as by Nova's death, it would appear that those circuits were responsible for activating the sealing gel which flooded into the endangered section and which went 'solid in seconds'.
Compared to the auto-repair system on the Liberator, the one on the London appeared to be of a far more basic nature, dealing only with structural damage, not damage to components, and with no regenerative capacity; but this was to be expected, given the latter's age and the former's far superior technology. The Liberator's auto-repair system was first mentioned in 'Time Squad'; but it was not described in detail until The Web, when the primary drive increased speed due to a deliberately induced malfunction. Zen reported that the 'automatic repair service' should have it under control in 11.302 minutes.
Later in that episode, after Cally cut the forward detector links, Zen reported that 'repair monitors are assessing the damage'; to a later question he reported that, as the partial malfunction was still not traced, 'Repair monitors are in phase two reassessment'. Later confirmed by Avon, this shows the methodical manner the auto-repair used to locate then repair the damage.
Avon demonstrated the efficacy of the system when he tried to use another of the ship's systems, bypassing the detector computer. In one of his attempts, circuit boards shorted and burned out; but the auto-repair restored the circuitry in seconds, a repair that would have taken days to repair in an ordinary computer system, suggesting that it had regenerative capability. Avon endorsed Gan's response to this of 'fantastic', pointing out that a fortune could be made from it.
Redemption demonstrated what happened to the auto-repair when the Liberator's systems were taken over. The crew had to replace damaged components manually, the replacements appearing to come from an 'auto-repair cavity'. Either some components were kept there for such an emergency; or the system could still operate at an elementary level, regenerating components there instead of in situ.
Exactly how effective the Liberator's auto-repair system could be was shown in Aftermath, when the damage suffered due to Andromedan attack overwhelmed its capacity, leading to a malfunction in the ship's life support system, forcing the crew to leave by life capsule. Despite this considerable damage, the ship was soon operating at 54% of normal capacity, increasing as the auto-repair systems completed their functions. Zen estimated that repairs would be complete in 2 hours and 34 minutes, and reported that the weapon systems were fully operational.
Despite its great abilities, the auto-repair system was unable to cope with the cloud of minute fluid particles encountered in Terminal. After going through the cloud the hull sensors stopped working and the auto-repair circuits were activated. While the substance began to corrode the Liberator's hull, it was not until later that Vila noted a 'very-high level discharge' from the energy banks, such that their regenerative capacity was exceeded. This was due to auto-repair circuits working at maximum capacity; but the damage was exceeding their recitification capacity. The result was the development of dangerous structural weaknesses in many areas of the ship, the circuits fighting a losing battle and burning up the energy banks. The final result was the breakdown of systems, including Zen, and the ship's destruction when Servalan had the main drive activated.
All the auto-repair systems shown in the series were in ships with one exception: the high-intensity radiation grid guarding the entrance to Central Control on Earth, as seen in Pressure Point. When cut, it was capable of total self-repair in 8 seconds. From what was seen, it appears to have a form of regenerative capacity, though nowhere near as sophisticated as on the Liberator.
While auto-repair systems had many benefits, they also had certain drawbacks. First, presumably due to their basic programming, they could not _anticipate future damage_, which would mean interference in human autonomy. In The Web, Zen refused to identify Cally's role in deliberately inducing the malfunction in the primary drive, as 'involvement is not permitted'; and he refused to reprogramme the system to deal with the future explosion of the bomb she attached to the primary power channel as 'Pre-emptive interference in crew activities is forbidden'.
Second, auto-repair systems were methodical. The one on the Liberator, according to Avon in The Web, 'starts at the beginning and it works its way through. It's slow'. Due to its methodical nature, Avon could anticipate how long a particular repair would take. The fact that the radiation grid in Pressure Point would take exectly 8 seconds to self-repair if cut gave the crew the chance to get to Central Control's entrance.
Third, they had to rely on other systems to find out what damage they needed to repair. The Liberator's system relied on the hull sensors; but the malfunction of the latter by the fluid particles in Terminal limited the data for analysis, thus limiting the system's capacity for repair. This, combined with the actual damage caused, eventually resulted in the ship's destruction.
See also FORBIDDEN ZONE, LIBERATOR, LONDON.
The auxiliary computer on Liberator were responsible for every minor adjustment of the ship's systems required when in flight, and were ultimately controlled by Zen. When Zen shut down, as in this episode, the auxiliary computers did likewise, and manual control of the ship became next to impossible.
A feature of the flight deck aboard Liberator: Orac gave Blake information on Wanderer class vessels through the auxiliary monitor.
| Dissident leader who had started resistance movements on over a dozen worlds. She called on Blake's help for transport to a safer planet, but was betrayed by Terloc and captured by Travis. |  |
 Android Avalon | She was duplicated in android form and planted on the Liberator, a plan known as "Project Avalon". Jenna had met her at some previous, unspecified, time before escaping with Blake to the Liberator (the android failed to recognise Jenna, and Jenna made no comment on this), and Cally said she had admired Avalon's work "for a long time". Avalon left the unnamed planet in the episode with Blake but was not seen or referred to at any later time. |
Helot freedom fighter with Hunda's 4th Column. Avandir monitored Igin's return from the city, and took part in the ambush of the adapted Helots sent out by Colonel Quute. He also took part in the assault on the city once Forbus" antidote to pylene-50 had been supplied to Hunda by Tarrant and Dayna.
| Some facts are given regarding Avon's past. He trained with Tynus, and they later worked on a fraud together. Avon was arrested, but did not implicate Tynus and was presumably acquitted (see below). In Cygnus Alpha he referred to handling the computer analysis on the Federation's matter transmission project: Blake was also involved with the project, although they did not work together. At some point he conceived the idea of embezzling a large sum of money by undermining confidence in the Federation's banking system (Vila mentioned five million credits in Space Fall. |  In Space Fall |
 In Cygnus Alpha | The Ultra later cited a sum of 500 million credits, but in Space Fall Avon talked of lifting 100 million credits if he managed to escape from the London, implying that this was far more than his original target). The plan was discovered by Federation security and thought to have political motivations, hence the assignment of Bartolomew to "run" him. Bartolomew was, of course, Anna Grant and according to Shrinker, anyone Avon "so much as looked at was marked for collection". |
|
Travelling "halfway across the city"
(which city was never specified) to buy exit visas, Avon was shot when the
seller increased the price to ten times the original amount and could
apparently have got even more for turning Avon in. Avon then killed the man,
but had lost a lot of blood and was forced to lie low. He was sheltered by
some unspecified people, during which time he heard that Anna had been
arrested. He waited for a week until leaving, having heard by then that Anna
was dead. At some point after Anna's "death", and probably after his arrest,
Del Grant threatened to kill him if they ever met again.
|  In Time Squad |
 In Seek-Locate-Destroy |
He discussed a past fraud operation with Tynus in which he was arrested but
kept quiet, allowing Tynus to go free. This may be the crime for which Avon
was deported, but if so then Bartolomew would be expected to have had Tynus
brought in too (this may, of course, have happened, but Tynus made no mention
of it). Avon's activities with Tynus may thus have been an earlier criminal
enterprise. It may also have been crime that initially brought Avon into
contact with Keiller: Keiller was being blackmailed for his criminal record
(or at least claimed to be). Quite what Avon and Keiller had done together -
if anything - was not, however, detailed.
|
|
Aboard the London, Avon planned to arrange a deal with the crew
whereby he would be set free and the rest of the prisoners dumped in space.
He quickly deduced that they would then have to kill him to keep his mouth
shut. In Blake's escape attempt he took control of the computer room, but
was recaptured when Blake surrendered. He boarded the Liberator with
Blake, but needed to be restrained by Jenna from leaving Blake on Cygnus
Alpha. Thereafter he stayed with the Liberator until its destruction
at Terminal, and with the Scorpio until its final flight to Gauda
Prime.
|  In Mission to Destiny |
 |
Known relatives: The defence mechanism active when Avon first boarded the
Liberator (he was the sixth person to enter the drifting ship) tried
to lure him with an image of his brother. No further details given.
|
| Bodycount: When asked by Jenna in Cygnus Alpha if he could ever kill face-to-face, he answered "I don't know", which is strange considering he had already done so. It is not unlikely that he was simply trying to avoid talking about the subject. Although by no means incapable of killing, he was not - initially at least - one for taking lives without reason, and as late as Aftermath prevented Dayna from dispatching an unconscious Sarran. He was first seen to shoot anyone in Deliverance, when he killed a scavenger. |  In Shadow |
 In Weapon |
He also killed one of the President's security personnel on
Zonda; a trooper on UP-Weapon; four Federation troopers on Horizon;
Tynus; two of Mori's troopers in Volcano; one of the Thaarn's guards
on Crandor (Tarrant also shot one, and one of these two was only wounded);
four of Shad's guards in The Harvest of Kairos; at least two of
Bayban's men on Keezarn; Shrinker (effectively) and Anna Grant in Rumours
of Death; Dorian's creature in Rescue; two Hommiks and later Pella
in Power; two space rats in Stardrive; a mutoid in
Animals; a guard on Zerok, at least one guard on the Space
Princess; four troopers on Betafarl in Warlord; and two bounty
hunters and later Klyn on Gauda Prime before finally killing Blake himself -
at least 36 kills.
|
|
Notable brawls: In hand-to-hand fighting he knocked out the computer
technician on the London; overpowered Sara on the Ortega; was
overpowered by Gan in Breakdown; knocked out a trooper in
Moloch; lost a fight with Gunn-Sar in Power; overcame Pella's
telekinetic power in the same episode; and acquitted himself well against
Benos" pirates in Assassin.
|  In Trial |
|
Places visited: Avon set foot on Saurian Major, UP-The Web,
Centero, XK-72, Cephlon, Aristo, Space World, Space City, Zonda,
UP-Weapon, Horizon, Earth (twice), Fosforon, Exbar, Albian, Asteroid
P-K118, UP-Gambit, Star One, Sarran, Obsidian, Crandor,
UP-Sopron, Kairos, Keezarn, Auron, Ultraworld, UP-Death-Watch,
Terminal, Xenon, Caspar, Bucol-2, Domo, Mecron II, Zerok, Beta 5, Malodar,
Betafarl, and Gauda Prime - a total of 38 planets/space stations.
|  In Countdown |
 In Killer |
Captured by: Tarvin's pirates, along with the rest of the crew, in
Bounty; by the Altas (again, with everyone else) in Redemption;
by Veron, along with Blake, Vila and Gan in Pressure Point; by Travis"
crimos in Hostage; by Klegg in Powerplay; by the Thaarn (with
the others) in Dawn of the Gods; by Servalan in The Harvest of
Kairos; by Servalan again in Children of Auron; by the Federation
(voluntarily, in order to get to Shrinker) in Rumours of Death; by the
Ultra; by Grose and Lector on Sardos, where he was tortured by Lector; by
Servalan on Terminal; by Dorian in Rescue; by the Hommiks in
Power; and by the pirates of Domo in Assassin (again
voluntarily) where he was sold to Servalan for 2,000 vems. In the same
episode he was captured by the professional killer Cancer, and only saved by
the sudden arrival of Tarrant and Soolin. He was almost executed by
Federation troopers on Betafarl, but saved by Soolin.
|
|
Significant injuries: Avon suffered relatively few injuries in his
time as one of the crew, but was wounded on the left hand by a spear-like
energy weapon carried by Geela in The Web; shot in the left arm arm by
Travis in Hostage; shot in the left arm (again) by Mori in
Volcano; contracted the alien disease used by Servalan against the
people of Auron (presumably cured by Orac); was brutally interrogated when he
went hunting for Shrinker; had his memory emptied by the Ultra and incurred a
damaged wrist from Lector in Moloch. He was also said to be suffering
from back pains in Horizon.
|  |
 In Dawn of the Gods |
Avon was frequently rendered unconscious. He was knocked out by Gan in
Breakdown, by Servalan in Terminal, by falling from a life
capsule in Aftermath, by Tarrant in Powerplay, by Cancer in
Assassin, and by an electric shock when trying to place the head on
Muller's android in Headhunter, and by the troopers who captured him
on Betafarl. His greatest number of knockouts occurred in Power where
he was knocked out by a hommik who captured him, by another hommik after he
defeated Gunn-Sar and by a computer keyboard telekinesed by Pella.
|
|
Rescues: For someone who professed to care little for his compatriots, he
effected a surprising number of rescues. He saved Blake from a bomb planted
by Cally in The Web; was the first to offer to go back down to Cephlon
to look for Jenna in Deliverance; rescued Blake and Cally from Travis
in Orac; saved Blake from an animated power cable in
Redemption; defeated Federation forces on Horizon almost
single-handed, saving the rest of the crew; engineered Blake's retrieval from
the Host in Trial; voluntarily removed his teleport bracelet to
continue disarming the solium radiation device in Countdown; and made
a point of looking for a missing Tarrant in Rescue.
|  in Moloch |
He was forced to rescue Servalan twice. In Aftermath he had to save her from the Sarrans in order to find out where she had hidden Orac, and in Rumours of Death he agreed to release her from the cellar where Sula had had her chained in exchange for Bartolomew's identity.
|
"When it comes to computers, he's the number two man in the Federated worlds"
was how Vila described him in Space Fall, but Avon's technical
expertise was wide-ranging. He devised a detector shield for the
Liberator, first used in the attack on Servalan's HQ in Trial.
In Time Squad he displayed a sound knowledge of space craft design,
and in Countdown showed considerable expertise in the field of bomb
disposal. In fact, he did very little with computers throughout the course
of the series, and was unable to effect more than a rudimentary reprogramming
of the android Avalon, although he did manage to bypass Zen and get the
automatic back-up computers on-line in Breakdown.
|  In Hostage |
 |
He claimed, even before he met Blake, that he didn't trust anyone, but when
asked (in a flashback) by Anna if he trusted her he replied, "Oh yes, I'm
afraid I do". He later told Del Grant "If there had ever been a time when I
could have given my own life to save her, I would have done it". This was
before he shot her. His relationship with Servalan developed precipitously.
They met twice, in Orac and Weapon, and then only briefly,
before speaking to each other in Aftermath when she offered him
co-rulership of the galaxy (he refused). Thereafter they met no less than
seven times, in The Harvest of Kairos, Children of Auron,
Rumours of Death, Death-Watch, Terminal,
Assassin, and Gold. She once told him, in Death-Watch,
that she regarded him not as an enemy "but as a future friend", yet happily
abandoned him to his fate on Terminal. In Traitor he said "I need to
kill her myself", but showed no subsequent sign of actively pursuing this
goal, though opportunities were admittedly very limited.
|
|
He was last seen standing over Blake's body, surrounded by at least twelve
troopers. A number of shots were heard to be fired, at least eight from
standard Federation weapons, three to four more from another weapon. This
may have been Avon, but some of the troopers were armed with non-standard
weaponry. Whether or not Avon could have survived up to twelve hits or more
remains unknown.
|  |
 | Not everything Avon said about himself could be taken literally, never less so than in Aftermath when he told Dayna, "I'm not very keen on watersports". Just how true this statement might have been will, alas, never be known. |