General name for a small fitting piece of mechanism, or an object that is interesting for its ingenuity or novelty rather than its practical use, used by Vila to refer to Avon's detector shield in Trial. Due to this variant meaning, Vila's remark of 'Avon's gadget works!' was regarded by the latter as seeming to lack 'a certain style' as 'the description of a highly sophisticated technical achievement'.
In Seek-Locate-Destroy Travis was told that the only three Starburst class pursuit ships built to date had been assigned to the Galactic 8th Fleet. In Trial, Fleet Warden Samor, one of the arbiters at Travis" court-martial, was noted as rarely being away from his "beloved Galactic 8th Fleet". In Star One the Flagship Galileo reported that the Galactic 8th Fleet could intercept the alien invaders in four hours.
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The events in Star One make it clear that Blake's 7 is confined
to our own galaxy, but two statements run counter to this. In Duel,
as Travis watched Liberator's approach, he commented that "the
other patrols have pushed him into this galaxy". In Killer, Blake
talked of the plague on Fosforon going out "to all the galaxies".
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Ro referred to the hyper space ships and their need for monopasium 239 to reach other galaxies. In Star One Avon conjectured that an intergalactic drive may have been developed by the Federation.
Civilian vessel of Outer Planets manufacture. The Ortega was a Mark III cruiser of this class, and Jenna pointed out that such ships had not been built for at least fifty years. Blake noted that Galaxy class cruisers were fitted with communicators, as if this were something unusual. Nine people were aboard the Ortega, although not all of them may have been necessary crew: Rafford was the pilot, Dortmunn the engineer and Grovane the communications officer. Without an ison crystal the ship was required to fly at sublight speeds.
A Federation flagship, reported as being just four hours away from intercepting the alien invaders. Apparently attached to the Galactic 8th Fleet. Presumably named after the scientist and inventor Galilei Galileo (1563-1642)
Federation officer holding the rank of Deputy Commander. He was in charge of security arrangements for the governors" conference on Atlay.
Belkov's computer, and the only thing he trusted. Based on a Federation class Alpha 197 model, Gambit had been extensively modified with parts from other computers, including a number of units from a pleasure planet computer and numerous games. Orac noted that many functions had been added or disconnected at whim, and Gambit contained much redundant circuitry. Vila persuaded it to release a circuit to allow Orac to deduce the games sequence in Belkov's Orbiter. The computer had its own defence system to prevent unauthorised tampering, and killed one of Servalan's troopers. Like Orac, Gambit mirrored some of the logic of its creator and was a skilled games player and strategist. It could communicate vocally, and had been given a female persona. Gambit obeyed the self-destruct sequence issued (with notable sadness) by Belkov, but refused to relinquish control of his Alpha 3 vessel. It did allow him to lock his controls and those of Orbiter's feldon panels onto Cygnus XL.
| A scientist working under Dr. Bellfriar on Fosforon. Like his superior, he turned a blind eye to Blake's presence on the base. One of those who entered the autopsy room when Wardin's corpse attacked Dr Wiler, he died after contracting the disease introduced from Wanderer K47. |  |
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The crew were seen to play a number of games, presumably to break the
monotony of long voyages. In Trial Avon and Jenna played a strategy game on a circular table with marker lines radiating out from the centre. Large and small playing pieces were seen, the larger towards the centre.
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In Dawn of the Gods a form of Monopoly was played by the crew,
including Orac. Movement was controlled by dice, and players could acquire
ships and property: Vila had a shuttle, Avon a battle fleet, and Dayna a
hotel on Space City. The ultimate goal was apparently control of the galaxy.
Orac reminded Vila of Rule 10, that a player on a penal colony could stay
there for two turns, but on the third had to pay a 10,000 credit fine and
leave the colony.
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In Children of Auron Avon and Tarrant were seen playing a game whi#h
utilised a triangular board marked out in triangles. The playing pieces -
red, blue, yellow and white in colour - were pyramidal. This game or one
very like it was seen again in Sarcophagus, where Avon beat Vila, and
also much earlier on Goth where Jenna let Gola win. In this latter case it
appeared to be a game native to Goth, and the only pieces seen were red and
black.
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In Terminal the same Monopoly-like game was played between Dayna and
Cally, and Vila claimed to play it to Galactic Master level. At least some
computer moderation was apparently involved. Cally beat Dayna in 9,721 moves
and promptly asked for another game.
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In Power, the Hommiks of Xenon apparently played a three dimensional
game similar to noughts and crosses. Gunn-Sar cheated by removing pieces when
no one was watching.
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In Warlord Soolin, Dayna and Vila were seen playing a game involving
the placement of coloured balls in transparent cylinders. The balls were
variously red, green and white, and Soolin was apparently red.
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Gan was first seen unstrapping himself from his seat after the London
left Earth. He helped Vila in his attempts to distract the guards while
Blake gained access to the ship's service tunnels, and persuaded the guard to
open the exit door from the prisoners" quarters. He was the first of the
prisoners ferried on the London to walk out onto the surface of Cygnus
Alpha, which seemed to impress Kara. He played the part of the prisoner
chosen by Vargas" followers as a sacrifice in Blake's escape attempt. He was
first heard to be addressed by his full name by Zen in Time Squad.
|  In Cygnus Alpha |
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Very few details of Gan's past were revealed. In Time Squad he told
Jenna that he had killed the security guard who had killed his "woman" and
was subsequently accused of murder: he seemed to resent this on the basis
that the guard had been armed whilst he himself had not. He later revealed
that he had been fitted with a limiter implant to prevent him killing. He
could threaten easily enough, however, as he showed whilst on the
London, and could handle a weapon with no problems. In Time
Squad he tried, but failed, to overcome the restraints imposed by the
limiter as one of the reawakened guardians attacked Jenna. All that is known
about the fitting of the limiter was that it occurred before he boarded the
London but presumably after his killing the guard. This killing was
probably, but may not have been, the reason why he was sentenced to Cygnus
Alpha.
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Known relatives: None, except for his unnamed partner. Bodycount: Unique amongst the crew, Gan never killed anyone, although he tried to overcome the limiter as noted above.
|  In Breakdown |
 In Breakdown |
Significant brawls: In hand-to-hand fighting he acquitted himself well,
sometimes against considerable odds. He forced a guard on the London
to open the door of the prison compartment, and later dealt with two more
guards single-handed; he threw down Vargas and Laran on Cygnus Alpha, but
might have been killed but for a warning from Kara; the android Avalon,
however, proved more than a match for his strength; he took on three
Scavengers in Deliverance, and three Space World guards in
Redemption. When his limiter malfunctioned in Breakdown he
attacked Jenna and needed to be restrained by Blake and Avon together. Later
in the episode he attacked Cally, then Avon.
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Places visited: Cygnus Alpha, Centero, UP-Duel (where he was the first to see Sinofar and Giroc), Cephlon, Space World, Space City, UP-Weapon, Horizon and Earth - a total of just 9 planets/space stations.
Significant injuries: He was injured by the programmed guardians in Time Squad, burnt his hand trying to repair the Liberator in Redemption, treated with the Alta's hand-held pain-inflicting device later in the episode, and rendered unconscious in Horizon, requiring two darts to knock him out. He was also the first person seen to use the first aid kit on the flight deck, treating Jenna after she was injured by one of the programmed guardians.
His immense strength came in useful in Cygnus Alpha, holding the church door shut against Vargas" followers as he, Blake and Vila tried to escape; in Seek-Locate-Destroy, when he ripped the cypher machine free of its housing; in subduing the android Avalon in Project Avalon (with the aid of Blake, Jenna and Vila); in escaping from the church cellar in Pressure Point, and opening the door to Control in the same episode.
In his own words, Gan followed Blake because "I need people I can rely on" (Time Squad), and his loyalty, whilst strong, was not unswerving: he was not prepared to die for Blake's cause, and with the others only agreed to go ahead with the attack on Control so long as there was a chance of success. He was less than happy with Blake's plan to enlist the help of the Terra Nostra, objecting on moral grounds. On two different occasions he was seen to place instant but misguided trust in young women, in Project Avalon and Pressure Point. In Horizon he was seen to have difficulties learning how to operate the teleport, and largely blamed himself, but he was not entirely without technical expertise. He was the most tolerant of Vila out of the rest of the crew, but still found him irritating at times.
 In Weapon |
His last words, as he held up a collapsing doorway in the bunker where
Control was supposedly housed, were: "I'm not worth dying for." Vila, in
Trial, described him as "straightforward".
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The public address system in the dome city on Earth was heard to refer to a shipment of protein culture arriving from Ganymede.
Ganymede is the largest of Jupiter's moons, about midway between Mercury and Mars in size. About half the surface consists of cratered rock, the rest relatively smooth. Much remains to be discovered about this satellite, but with a surface gravity probably not much less than half that of Earth, it could easily support a sealed colony. More likely the protein culture was shipped from a space station in orbit of Ganymede. That would be less expensive to construct than a sealed colony.
Sergeant-Major, mentioned by a trooper as the Security Commander of the detention block on UP-Project Avalon.
Vila dreamed of using his share of the kairopan harvest to retire "to the lakeside of Gardenos, and be waited on by those cute, little -", at which point he was thankfully interrupted. He later referred to three moons circling the planet. His suggestion that he and Cally settle down there and start a family was probably not terribly serious.
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A British order of knighthood, part of whose insignia Krantor allegedly
wore, as part of the costume allegedly patterned upon one worn by the
Prince Regent. He wore two items, the first being a silverish,
eight-pointed brooch, set with white stones, with a cross of red stones
covering a hole in its centre, on his left breast; the second was a white
riband worn over his right shoulder, and under his left arm, so that the
crossed ends rested on his left hip.
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The Most Noble Order of the Garter, to give the Order its full name, was
founded by King Edward III of England on 23 April 1349. It was intended to
be an imitation of the society of King Arthur's Round Table, an
international company of heroic knights which would increase its founder's
personal prestige. Edward's motives also included a desire to cement
relations with the knights of his kingdom and to reward loyal service.
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The Order was placed under the patronage of St. George; and 23 April, St. George's Day, is the Day of the Order. Its motto is _Honi soit qui mal y pense_ (Dishonoured be he who thinks evil of it). The banners and coat of arms of the Knights are hung in the Chapel of the Order, St. George's Chapel, at Windsor.
The Order gets its name from the most distinctive part of its insignia: the dark-blue velvet Garters, edged with gold and with the Order's motto in gold, worn by Knights of the Order on the left leg below the knee, and by Ladies on the left arm above the elbow.
Why Edward chose a garter is not known. The story that he picked up a garter that had been dropped by a lady of his court, and when some of those present laughed, said that he would hold it in the highest honour, is probably a scurrilous invention of the French court. A more plausible theory claims that the garter was at the time a part of male dress that had gone out of fashion; so Edward adopted it to give the Order a distinctive appearance. Also, the garter bore a strong resemblance to the device of the contemporary Castilian Order of the Band.
The two items Krantor wore are incorrect. The brooch is supposed to be the Star of the Order; yet the latter, while eight-pointed, is of chipped silver, not set with any stones; and it has a white enamelled medallion bearing the cross of St. George in red enamel and surrounded by a dark-blue enemelled Garter, edged with gold bearing the motto in gold letters.
The riband is, firstly, the wrong colour, and should be Saxon blue; secondly, it is worn without the Lesser George, which is of gold, consisting of St. George slaying the Dragon, surrounded by an oval band bearing the motto; and thirdly, it is worn the wrong way around. The riband of the Order of the Garter is supposed to be worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm, so that the Lesser George rests on the right hip.
Obviously, Krantor's designer got the Order's insignia wrong; and one would hope for his sake that Krantor never discovered this error.
See also JEWELLERY, PRINCE REGENT.
Also these links about the order:
Heraldic Sculptor,
Churchill Society,
mrffriends.
Sarkoff's antique collection included a 20th Century gas mask. The helmets of Federation troops had a cover over the face and a fitting which resembled a gas mask filter, although the exact purpose is conjectural.
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Originally settled as an agricultural world, with settlers sent there to grow
crops and timber, Gauda Prime was subsequently found to have rich mineral
resources. The world was declared an Open Planet to speed up exploitation of
these newly-discovered resources, and the farmers who refused to make way for
the miners were eliminated. Soolin's family was one such example. As
Tarrant observed, the planet "must have been a draw for every crook and
killer in the quadrant".
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At some time after the Intergalactic War, Blake established his new headquarters on Gauda Prime, and if what he told Tarrant is to be believed he brought Jenna with him. It is unclear whether he arrived as a bounty hunter, or exploited the opportunities offered by this role when they arose. The planet was later visited by the crew of Scorpio, all of whom apparently died there along with Blake. Scorpio itself was severely damaged in a crash landing. A blockade was in force around the planet, presumably under the control of whatever authorities had applied for Federation membership, and according to Blake this same blockade was responsible for Jenna's death.
Although the open planet designation had been introduced to displace farmers, timber production was still in evidence over large areas of the planet, Klyn noting that Scorpio had crashed in Plantation-5.
See also OPEN PLANET
Practor referred to Servalan as having been killed in the rear-guard action at Geddon, with no further details. Geddon may or may not have been a planet.
| A genetically engineered servant of the Lost, her aging processes being halted once she had grown to maturity. Like her "brother" Novara, she was under the constant control of Saymon's combined mental powers. She tortured Avon with a spear-like energy weapon, and "died" when the Decimas destroyed the power systems in the complex on UP-The Web. |  |
An instrument used to detect and measure the level of radioactivity, named after the physicist Hans Geiger (1882-1945 AD). Cally used a Geiger Counter, or an instrument performing its function, to establish that four of the Liberator's crew had 'absorbed heavy doses of radiation', the result of staying down too long on the surface of Cephlon.
Penultimate casualty of the first expedition to Virn. Realising what the sand was doing, she committed suicide, leaving Don Keller alone. The sand then killed him. By inference, Gena was the only woman among the 25 people in the expedition - a report from Keller cited 20 dead and 3 sick, leaving Gena and himself unaffected: any other women would also have been untouched by the sand.
Rank within the Federation. The only General seen was on Helotrix, in charge of the garrison there. He had previously led a unit of Helots and was quick to praise their fighting spirit, especially in the hand-to-hand department. He died fighting Dayna, and was never referred to by name.
Means of transporting a large, unborn, population on long space flights, usually in association with brood units. Genetic banks were carried on the cryogenic capsule brought aboard the Liberator in Time Squad, and on the chemical rocket watched over by Meegat on Cephlon. Avon described the latter as more sophisticated than the former, though this might have been an educated guess on his part. When Servalan destroyed Auron a potential 5,000 offspring in what Franton called "gene stocks" were rescued from the bioreplication plant and taken to the planet Kahn.
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The Decimas on the unnamed planet in The Web were artificially created
by the Lost, as were Geela and Novara, and Blake referred to such
experimental work being banned "centuries ago". The Lost had left Auron to
continue such work in secret.
|  Geela and Novara |
The race memory amongst the people of Keezarn was said to be genetically engineered into them, forcing them to gather every 35 generations at the City at the Edge of the World and seek to find someone who could open the vault.
Clinician Franton on Auron introduced or enhanced psionic ability in cloned individuals, which implies some degree of genetic manipulation.
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The Federation research team on Bucol-2 cross-bred human deserters with
unspecified creatures to make intelligent animals which could act as shock
troops in a highly radioactive environment. The research was initiated six
years before the Intergalactic War and abandoned in the war's closing stages,
although Justin continued to work alone on the project, intending to use the
results for peaceful purposes.
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Deduced from sensor readings analysis by Zen to be the cause of the explosion aboard young Ensor's Space Master above Cephlon.
Some people hear this as 'gelitan', 'geritan', or 'genitam'; Hoyle has it as 'Gemitam' in his novel Project Avalon.
Germanium circuitry was the principle material of Ultraworld's computer systems. Avon recognised it shortly after teleporting into the planet, and later commented that it could neither think for itself nor self-replicate.
Germanium is a rare semi-metallic element related to silicon. Its atomic number is 32, atomic weight 72.59. Like silicon, it has useful semi-conductor properties.
A brilliant geologist and expert on mining techniques, searching out planets to mine for the Planetary Resources Commission. He was also, in Avon's words, "greedy, avaricious, and a crook", delaying revelation of his findings whilst he manipulated the commodities market. Gerren and two associates tried to lift Belkov's cache of feldon crystals from Orbiter, and only Gerren survived, even he being wounded. He had been in league with Avon for some time before the rest of the crew even heard of him. He joined Tarrant, Dayna and Vila on Mecron II, but was shot trying to escape back to Scorpio and was last seen as Servalan's prisoner.
Mentioned by Vila as the site of a swamp fever that had killed millions. Presumably a planet.
The term Dorian used for the creature that the survivors of Liberator, together with Soolin, would become. He described them as "bound together by time and pain", and capable of cleansing him of more corruption and degeneration than an individual could. The Gestalt never came into being, since Avon killed the creature Dorian was already exhausting and Dorian died as a result.
Federation officer of unspecified rank, working under Servalan on her cruiser after the Intergalactic War. He resented Deral's promotion, considering himself better material for a senior officer, and he appeared to think he had been passed over through not having the right connections. Ginka supervised the curing of Franton from the alien pathogen, was in charge of the assault on the control centre on Auron, and commanded the bombardment of Auron from Servalan's ship. He lied to Servalan in order to discredit Deral, persuading her to let him destroy the replication plant, but was killed by Servalan once she realised the truth.
| Powerful being on UP-Duel, titled the Keeper. She appeared as an aged crone, though whether or not this was her true appearance is unguessable. Together with Sinofar, she controlled the Power, the weapon that ended a thousand years of war. Openly excited by Travis" ruthlessness and aggression, she interfered with the Duel arranged by Sinofar, almost leading to Blake's death. Like Sinofar, she "didn't ask to be chosen", but appeared to resent her situation more. Her relationship with Sinofar was an uneasy one - as Sinofar said to her at the end, "You keep us prisoners". |  |
Dr A.J. Globbs" name was seen on Renor Leesal's medical record.
The Charl of the Tents of Goth, who had conspired with his brother, Rod, to have his father imprisoned. Gola then seized the throne and expelled Rod. At some point he had suffered head injuries and was healed by the cybersurgeon Lurgen during his stay on the planet. Gola intended to take Jenna as his wife (or "pair bond"), despite the reservations voiced by his sister Tara. He also had Vila instated as his fool, but later had him thrown into the dungeons. After defeating Rod in single combat, Gola was poisoned by Tara, who took the throne for herself.
Keiller noted that gold had been virtually mined out everywhere except on Zerok, where it was relatively abundant. It was bought by many people, including the Federation who used it as currency in fringe deals with "frontier planets lacking computer link-up". Gold was ferried from Zerok to Earth on the pleasure cruiser Space Princess, albeit listed as a consignment of fruit. At the mine on Zerok it was rendered temporarily worthless by a computer-coded process as an additional security measure.
A gong was sounded in the church on Cygnus Alpha as Vargas prepared to sacrifice Gan.
Derogatory epithet, used by the space rats in reference to Dayna and Vila. Originally used by U.S. military personnel, referring to the people of South-East Asia.
A neutral planet which Blake visited in search of Lurgen. The atmosphere was toxic: Jenna observed that prolonged exposure would "rot your lungs eventually", suggesting that sulphur dioxide was present and Jenna did specifically mentioned sulphur. The population lived largely underground, although trees were plentiful on the surface. Rats were seen underground. Docholli described the people of Goth as "a crude lot", and the technology there was unsophisticated. Weapons included swords and spears, although the crossbows used by many warriors fired bolts that exploded on impact. "We are a warrior people," said Gola at one point, a statement difficult to deny. Goth was ruled by a king or Charl, probably inherited through the male line (though Tara appeared to assume rule once both her brothers were dead).
The planet was visited by Blake, Jenna and Vila. Servalan and Travis had arrived some days sooner. Named Goths were the royal family: Gola, Rod and Tara. Tara passingly mentioned the "Lost Time", possibly implying early colonisation from Earth, but no meaningful details were given.
Tok, the proxy bidder on Domo, took bids for Avon from Natratof of Gourimpest. Gourimpest may have been a planet, city, race etc - exactly what was never specified.
Various references suggest that Federation society was stratified into four or more grades: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. Blake was an Alpha, and Vila claimed to have grown up in the "Delta service grades". Coser was a Beta class/Beta grade technician (both terms were used). No-one was ever stated to be Gamma.
Other references are based on occupation, probably independent of a social stratification system. Rashel was a labour grade slave (specifically, a bond slave), and she also spoke of the "free grades". Councillor Joban mentioned labour grades. Jarvik had resigned his captaincy to join the construction grades, and he later referred to troopers as the security grades.
If nothing else, it would seem that Federation society was distinctly grade conscious.
| Sarkoff owned a gramophone, on which he played Tommy Steele's Singing the Blues and Kathleen Ferrier's Blow the Wind Southerly. |  |
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A Federation agent, code-named Bartolomew. Anna was first mentioned in
Countdown, when Avon met her brother Del. Del had sworn to kill Avon,
believing him responsible for Anna's death, but Avon managed to convince him
that he had been unable to rescue her. In Children of Auron Avon admitted that Anna had "meant a lot" to him, and that he planned to kill the man responsible for executing her. Rumours of Death supplied more details: Anna had been working with Avon on his fraud scheme - after he had been shot by the man supplying exit visas for himself and Anna, Avon had been forced to lie low for a while, only later finding out that Anna had been arrested and had died under interrogation.
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In actuality, Anna had been assigned to monitor Avon, in the belief that his
crimes were politically motivated. Anyone he came into contact with was
brought in for questioning. Anna apparently staged her own death to conceal
her secret identity: Del definitely believed that she was dead.
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Very few people knew that Anna Grant was Bartolomew. Chesku certainly did not, at least according to Servalan, and Del Grant appeared to have no idea. A "controller" from Central Security that Shrinker interrogated for the rebels did know, but died before he could reveal any details.
On meeting Avon in the cellar of Servalan's palace, Anna professed her love for Avon (whom she addressed as "Avon"), adding "I heard there was someone with Blake but I didn't know for sure". When questioned by Avon, she claimed to have run to "her husband" when Avon disappeared after being shot (although if genuinely married at the time she had retained her maiden name). This husband, she said, knew she didn't love him. Her dying words, after being shot by Avon, were: "I let you go, my love".
In flashback, Avon admitted that he trusted Anna, with the rider "I'm afraid I do", revealing the depth of feeling he had for her, and possibly (probably?) she for him. Many possibilities are hinted at in what various people said about Anna/Sula/Bartolomew, but very few real facts are to hand.
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A mercenary, responsible for a revolution on Arcos and called in by Cauder on
Albian to overthrow the Federation's control of the planet. The garrison was
defeated under his command of the rebels, but not before the solium radiation
device was activated by Tronos. When Blake arrived, Grant recognised Avon
instantly. Avon believed until then that Grant was dead (Grant also believed
that Avon had himself died). Having some knowledge of timing devices, he
worked with Avon to disarm the solium device.
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 | Del was Anna Grant's brother, and believed not only that she was dead but also that Avon was, albeit indirectly, responsible, having left with the exit visas before he knew Anna was dead. He appeared to have a very anti-Federation attitude, and was thus perhaps not completely mercenary. He did demand a high fee for his services, but apparently because his reputation (and ego) demanded it. |
When Tarrant was persuaded to perform calculations for the Thaarn on Crandor, he was given a pencil. He referred to it as a graphite writing stick, adding that he had never seen one outside a museum. Avon was seen using a pencil a few minutes later. Quite how the Thaarn got hold of a box of pencils is not specified.
When told by Dayna that his near death from the undead alien was incidental, Vila replied: "Incidental? That'll look good on my gravestone". Together with the star orbit burial suggested by Tarrant for a supposedly dead Vila in Dawn of the Gods, this is a rare reference to funeral rites in the series.
| The hazard at the centre of the Prohibited Space Zone crossed by the Liberator to get Gan to XK-72. Ship speed within the vortex exceeded Standard by 12, Liberator's apparent design limit, and structural distortion was suffered, but not to any severe extent. Jenna took the ship right through the eye of the vortex to bring it out through the other end intact. |  |
Gravitational Vortex - Written by Iain Coleman
The object is described as a gravitational vortex, and can lead to the destruction of inadequately-navigated spacecraft. It is localised and has low luminosity (otherwise it wouldn't have been such a surprise). It exhibits unstable magnetic fields, which are strong enough to significantly affect spacecraft. It is red and swirly.
My guess is a massive, highly magnetised compact object, along the lines of a neutron star but perhaps made of more exotic matter than boring old neutrons. It is rapidly rotating and accreting matter from its surroundings (a dense interstellar cloud) at a slow rate. (The accretion rate is slow enough that the accreting material does not get too hot: its temperature is about 3000K, giving a dull red glow).
It's hard to reconcile the low temperature with such a strong gravitational field that the Liberator might be destroyed by tidal forces. Instead, let's try an intense magnetic field. If the intersellar cloud has an incredibly strong magnetic field which is roughly oppositely directed to that of the compact object we get an interesting model. There will be a magnetopause, where the oppositely directed fields meet. The gas will diffuse very slowly across the magnetopause, limiting the accretion rate and hence limiting the temperature increase. Where the fields meet, intermittent magnetic reconnection will take place: the fields join together and twang apart like stretched elastic bands, opening holes in the magnetopause and accelerating particles to high energies. This process will also involve considerable magnetohydrodynamic turbulence.
What with reconnection, turbulence and extremely large field strengths, this magnetopause would be a pretty dicey region to fly through. It would be best avoided, but could be negotiated with skilful piloting. It would at first glance appear to be just an ordinary accretion disk (or "gravitational vortex" as Blake puts it).
In the event, they just fly straight through the center. This isn't such a bad move. They cut down their exposure to the worst of the turbulence to two short periods (entering then leaving the magnetosphere), and are lucky enough that those two brief crossings are not too disastrous.
Fitted to Ensor Jr's Space Master, they failed to prevent the ship diving down towards Cephlon after Servalan's bomb exploded aboard the craft. Probably fitted to many ships, perhaps small ones in particular.
An invention of the Thaarn's, administered by Groff on Crandor. The Thaarn saw it as the means by which he could become Master of the Universe on the principle that "he who controls gravity controls everything". The device generated a total field rather than a directional beam, and could be put into reverse if the energy isolaters were switched off.
Grenades appeared in several episodes. In Redemption two Spaceworld guards were teleported aboard Liberator with grenades, but sent back before they could throw them. In Pressure Point Travis threw a strontium grenade, killing Gan in the resulting structural damage. In Countdown the Albian rebels were seen throwing grenades, and Provine referred to the rebels dropping "bombs" down the air shafts. In Gambit Servalan fixed an unprimed nitre grenade in Travis" arm. In Volcano Dayna threw a grenade, killing one trooper and blasting Mori into the volcano's crater. In City at the Edge of the World Avon used an unprimed grenade to capture three of Bayban's men. Dayna threw a grenade at unseen guards in Rumours of Death. Grenades were planted along the crew's intended escape route across Caspar in Stardrive and later detonated by remote control. Dayna also threw a grenade into the space rats" mess room. Another grenade was used, again by Dayna, against Muller's android, but only succeeded in decapitating it. In Gold she used a grenade on timer delay against security guards in the gold mine on Zerok.
All of these grenades were hand thrown, with no mention of grenade launchers (an integral part of any modern army). The clip guns developed by Dorian could fire micro-grenades, but these were apparently never used.
 | Federation officer, rank of Major. With Section Leader Forres, he was responsible for security around Residence One. Badly wounded when the rebels attacked, he survived long enough to give the alarm. Tarrant posed as an officer to persuade Grenlee to reveal where Servalan was being held. He presumably died in the cellar after Avon dropped him to question Servalan. |
| Originally from Xaranor, where he had a wife and two children. Trapped on Crandor, he had become the Thaarn's senior technician, "with many targets that must be met" according to the Caliph. Groff gave Tarrant and Avon details of the Thaarn's gravity generator. When the Liberator crew made their escape, Groff asked them to inform his family of his survival, adding that they were always in his thoughts. He then fought down one of the guards, struggled with the Caliph and was last seen as a terminal victim of the Caliph's neuronic whip before Crandor was destroyed. |  |
| Federation officer with the rank of Section Leader, and one of few men of the infamous Fifth Legion to survive the Intergalactic War, crashing on Sardos in the Legion's flagship. With Lector, he disposed of his superiors, including Colonel Astrid, and lured Servalan there, planning to use her cruiser as a model for a new fleet, created by the Sardoan's mass/energy transformer technology and crewed by prisoners from Kalkos. He was killed by Tarrant. |  |
Communications officer aboard the Ortega. He suggested a stowaway might have been responsible for the deaths of Rafford and Dortmunn, a theory Avon discounted from the start. He voted against giving Blake the neutrotope to take to Destiny.
Possible rank within Space Command: Servalan referred to her Guard Commander during Travis" court-martial. See RANK.
| Title applied to Sinofar as the Guardian of the unspecified power of her race. This power also had a Keeper, Giroc. |  |
Chief of the Hommiks, and "the biggest, toughest, meanest son of a Seska on the planet". He ruled by right of challenge and, in his own words, "by the strength of my right arm, and by my left arm, and by...er...". His predecessor was Maravik, and he had defeated no less than 26 men in his time as chief, although Cato insisted that Marquin be considered missing since his body was never found after falling off a bottomless cliff. Gunn-Sar had taken the former Seska leader, Nina, as his wife, with no indication of her willingness or otherwise in this matter. He appeared to have no children.
Avon defeated him in single combat with a heliofusion rod, but failed to depose him. Dayna challenged him to single combat as well, and needed the surreptitious help of Pella and Kate to win. Gunn-Sar died as a result, and Nina vowed that the Hommiks would leave to settle down elsewhere.
Despite his male chauvinist outlook, he was seen wielding a needle at one point. He had heard of computers, but did not know what they were, and Cato told Avon that Gunn-Sar regarded a computer as "some kind of god". Cato also described him as "stupid", but he appeared to be a popular ruler.
The first gunship mentioned in the series was in Shadow, when a gunship was sent out to attack Liberator from Space City. This was presumably a space-going vessel, probably very short-range. Cally destroyed it with the neutron blasters.
The Federation force on Helotrix was equipped with gunships, and Hunda mentioned to Leitz that his 4th column had shot down two of them.
Justin told Dayna that the scientific personnel on Bucol-2, when leaving the planet towards the end of Intergalactic War, were shot down by an enemy - presumably alien - gunship minutes after take-off.