Widely used as a troop carrier, the T-16 looked very similar to the London and may have been the military version. It carried no armament and no scanning devices (the latter seems a trifle strange). It was also poorly designed, with a useless cavity towards the rear. It may thus have been a makeshift military adaptation of a civil craft. The T-16 ferrying convicts from Kalkos to Sardos was the only remaining vessel of the Federation's Fifth Legion.
Powerful weapon developed by Egrorian, probably derived from his understanding of parallel matter. Egrorian claimed that the tachyon funnel could destroy anything, instantly, completely, and at any range. As a demonstration Egrorian destroyed Porphyrus, a lunar satellite 17 light years away.
No real technical details were given save that eight neutrons formed the core of the accelerator. Development of the tachyon funnel had apparently begun over ten years previously, but further funding had been blocked by the senior administrators at the Space Research Institute. It can be deduced that Egrorian's subsequent disappearance was assisted by Servalan, presumably to allow him to complete the tachyon funnel for her own use.
Egrorian attempted to give Avon the tachyon funnel in exchange for Orac, later intending to recover it when the overloaded shuttle crashed back on Malodar. He threatened to turn the weapon on Scorpio if Avon did not agree. Avon jettisoned the funnel in his attempt to lighten the shuttle, presumably destroying it. Servalan then left Egrorian and Pinder behind on Malodar, so it can be assumed there was no second tachyon funnel in any stage of construction.
| A member of Tynus" staff at the Q-base on Fosforon. He died of the plague there. | |
| A bounty hunter on Gauda Prime, and according to Deva "worse than the people he hunted". Tando and two other bounty hunters worked with Blake in capturing Arlen, but she later shot the other two whilst Blake killed Tando himself. |  |
One of two keys found by Dayna on the sentry guarding the pylene-50 production plant on Helotrix. The first was bogus and activated nerve gas dispensers.
| Recording device used by Varon to gather evidence against Blake's conviction. Long and slender, with a pistol-like grip, it was held up to the eye with one hand supporting the "barrel". |  |
Sister of Gola and Rod and present at the court of the Charl. She claimed to have knowledge of mysteries handed down from the "Lost Time", and Gola feared her predictive powers and use of mind-affecting drugs. She predicted (accurately) the arrival of Jenna and Vila, and also (inaccurately) that Rod would kill Gola. Jenna was temporarily transfixed by Tara's powers. Tara poisoned Gola after he had killed Rod, leaving her to take the throne.
Developed by Ensor at the age of 18, the tarial cell became an integral component of a new generation of computers. Orac was able to extract information from computers because of this. Egrorian noted that tarial cells were virtually indestructible.
Tarriel cell is a common variant spelling.
| A frontier system, represented in Avon's alliance of local warlords by Boorva. Tarl was among those systems that felt itself threatened by Zukan's ambitions. |  Boorva |
| Del Tarrant's brother, he left Earth somewhat earlier than Del and eventually came to be champion for the United Planets of Teal. He was Champion for about four years, apparently defeating many challengers. At some point his brother apparently learnt about this, since Del immediately set a course for the scene of the combat on hearing of war being declared. As a result of this declaration, Deeta went into combat against the Vandor champion, Vinni, and died when Vinni beat him on the draw. He had earlier passed up a chance to shoot Vinni in the back. Although his brother was in the vicinity, they never met (Deeta had intended to see Del after the combat), but Deeta managed to transmit a last dying message to Del through the sensornet implanted in his brain. |  |
Tarrant was a graduate of the Federation Space Academy, and his first command as a lieutenant was of the kairopan shuttle under Captain Jarvik at the harvest 15 years prior to Liberator's visit. At some point he was promoted to Space Captain. Ten years prior to Orbit he attended courses at the Space Research Institute, shortly after Egrorian's disappearance. He was later, according to the Ultra, posted missing along with a stolen pursuit ship with which he ran contraband in the Outer Planets, and by his own account got himself "mixed up in other peoples wars": Vila in Moloch referred to him having an execution order placed on his head for deserting. At some point he encountered Bayban. Caught up in the fighting during the Intergalactic War, he stole an officer's uniform and boarded the Liberator, using his bogus rank to assume command of Klegg and his troopers. He was the first to find Avon and Dayna aboard the ship, quickly deduced who Avon was, and endeavoured to keep Klegg from finding out whilst he dealt with Klegg's men.
Known relatives: One brother, Deeta (see above). Deeta, as he died, called Del "little brother", suggesting that Del was the younger.
Notable brawls: Tarrant grappled with a number of people, including Jarvik on Kairos (when he lost); Doran in Moloch, a link on Terminal, a Federation trooper on Helotrix, Muller's android (where he was saved by Vila), "Cancer", a trooper on Mecron II, and a technician in Blake's headquarters on Gauda Prime. He would probably have lost this last struggle had Soolin not intervened.
|
Bodycount: He killed three of Klegg's men (including Harmon), shot one of
the Thaarn's guards (his first shot with a Liberator handgun),
"killed" two of the Ultra, shot Grose and Lector on Sardos, destroyed the
android Vinni with a weapon developed by Dayna, shot a link on Terminal,
killed two troopers in Games (shooting one, the other thrown into an
electromagnetic crusher), killed Investigator Reeve on Virn, a guard on Zerok
and another on the Space Princess, and a Federation trooper on Gauda
Prime. He also threatened Vila with a gun on Sardos.
|  |
 In Dawn of the Gods |
Captured by: Hower and later Mori on Obsidian, where he was released by
Hower; by the Caliph of Crandor; by Shad's men from the Kairos shuttle; by
Servalan on Auron, along with Avon and Cally where he was rescued by Franton;
by the Ultra, who wanted himself and Dayna to demonstrate the human bonding
ceremony for their records; by Grose's men on Sardos, when he escaped by
himself with incidental help from Servalan; by Servalan on Terminal, along
with the rest of the crew; by Dorian on Xenon, along with Avon, Dayna and
Soolin; stranded with Vila on Scorpio after Muller's android closed
down life support; by Belkov on Mecron II, along with Dayna, and again saved
by Vila; held prisoner by the sand on Virn along with Servalan; trapped in
Xenon base by Finn's sabotage along with Dayna and Vila, and "captured" by
Blake on Gauda Prime, where he broke away before Blake could tell him the
truth.
|
|
Injuries: Tarrant was shot in the leg in Volcano, contracted the
disease introduced to Auron by Servalan, injured by the undead alien in
Sarcophagus, almost succumbed to the mental power of the Ultra (Dayna
distracted them), was dragged unconscious from the bunker on Terminal by
Vila, later collapsed on the surface of Terminal, required medical treatment
for frostbite in Headhunter, and suffered serious injuries in his
crash-landing on Gauda Prime.
|  In Terminal |
His piloting skills defeated Servalan's strategists in The Harvest of Kairos when leaving UP-Sopron, and averted a collision into Sardos, but otherwise he displayed little of his flying ability. He managed to bring the crippled Scorpio in for a crash-landing on Gauda Prime, saying "it takes talent to fly a dead ship".
Almost from the start, Tarrant declared: "I don't trust anybody except myself - that's why I'm still alive". Several times he challenged Avon's leadership aboard the Liberator, and was seen to bully Vila in City at the Edge of the World and Moloch (though he did apologise later in the first instance). Either he had carried a past reputation along with him or acquired one very quickly, since Dastor in The Harvest of Kairos specifically mentioned Tarrant and no-one else with respect to the Liberator (although these remarks had their origins in Jarvik, who had known Tarrant previously). After his brother's death Tarrant noticeably mellowed and worked more easily alongside Avon, although he rarely backed down on a point of principle. He happily went along with Avon's use of Dayna and Vila as bait for the space rats on Caspar, and Tarrant alone was apparently taken into Avon's confidence when it came to double-crossing Egrorian.
He had three notable encounters with women in his time as a member of the crew, two of them disastrous. In Assassin he sprang to the defence of Piri, quite unaware that she was actually Cancer. In Sand he spent some time on Virn with Servalan and did not inform the others of her presence until Scorpio had left the planet. In Warlord his clandestine affair with Zukan's daughter Zeeona ended with her death in the freight bay on Xenon Base.
His last notable action was to tell Avon (rightfully as he believed) that Blake had betrayed them all. Soon after he was shot by a Federation trooper and apparently died in the tracking gallery, along with the rest of the crew.
|
An agent for the Federation security, usually working in the Outer Worlds.
He followed Blake, Richie and Ravella to the secret meeting outside the dome
city on Earth and was greeted there by Bran Foster. He later addressed the
meeting, starting to detail ways in which food manufacturing could be
disrupted.
|  |
 | He not unnaturally survived the massacre, and later discussed the affair with Ven Glynd. His appearance at Blake's trial gave Blake a vital clue to the level of corruption in the Administration. He was last seen watching the London leave Earth, having just overseen the killing of Maja and Tel Varon. |
Presumably a creature of some sort, possibly from Tarsius and no doubt much given to the strangling of hapless wargs. Vila said that Tarrant had "about as much subtlety as a Tarsian Warg-strangler", which doesn't appear to be a lot.
One of the planets taken by the Federation under Commissioner Sleer's Pacification Programme, along with Luba, Porphyr Major and Helotrix. Mentioned by Leitz, who noted that industrial production there had risen 19% after adaptation, an example of the way in which pylene-50 could reinforce the work ethic.
| Leader of the Amagon pirates who captured the Liberator using a false distress call from the civilian cruiser Star Queen. He had previously known Jenna on Zolat-4, where they had hid in the mountains from three hundred customs guards. Jenna saved Tarvin's life in this incident, but how or why was never specified. He offered not to sell Jenna to the Federation, but put little trust in her. He was eventually shot dead by Sarkoff. |  |
Crewman of the London, and along with Wallace the first person to cross to the drifting Liberator. It is not quite clear which of the two was Teague, but he may have been the crewman who used the remote lock activator to open the hatch on Liberator and was later found dead on the flight deck.
| A deep space passenger liner. Announcements made reference to "first class dining salons" so it probably carried more than one class of passenger (as one might expect). Deeta Tarrant was aboard when declaration of war between Teal and Vandor was declared. The observation gallery later appeared as the combat ground chosen for Tarrant's duel with Vinni. |  |
The convention between the United Planets of Teal and the Vandor Confederacy by which war between the two systems was averted. Disputes were resolved by champions of each system in computer-selected environments, each champion having the same weapons and any necessary survival equipment. Combat was to the death, and the losing side was obliged by the Convention to surrender two thirds of their fleet and three planets.
Relatives of defeated champions could issue a challenge by right of blood feud, a right Tarrant exercised to avenge his brother and dispose of Vinni (use of a weapon of his own choice was not mentioned as a violation of the rules). A former blood feud was also mentioned regarding Racov, Vinni's predecessor. Victory by the challenger led to him (or, presumably, her) becoming the new champion of the system in question. Attempting to kill a Champion outside a period of declared hostilities invoked a Summons to Justification.
The process was overseen by three arbiters, one from each system and a neutral. Sensornet implants in the champions allowed distant observers to "participate" in the combat, a rare allusion in the series to virtual reality. Combats were a major event, widely televised and bedecked with ceremony and ritual. Vila described them as "the most fun you could have with your clothes on anywhere in the galaxy", and the fact that this turned out not to be the case suggests that use of the sensornet might have been a recent innovation. Any visitors were accorded the status of neutral observers and guaranteed diplomatic immunity, a status exploited by the crew of Liberator when they visited.
For the combat between Vinni and Deeta Tarrant, the neutral arbiter was Servalan. Colluding with a Vandor high councillor, she had introduced the Vinni android, a blatant violation of the rules of the Convention. By provoking real war between Teal and Vandor she hoped to annexe both systems, and had a battle fleet in close proximity. Dayna sensed that Vinni was not a natural fighter, Avon guessed "he" was an android, and Tarrant used Dayna's new weapon to dispose of the evidence.
| Employee of the robot development cartel on Pharos. He was knocked out by Tarrant as "Muller" was about to be taken aboard Scorpio. On reviving he discovered Muller's headless body. |  |
Very little detail was given to the level of technological development in Blake's time, and the following is little more than an outline.
Interstellar travel was, obviously, possible and routine, though intergalactic travel was theoretically possible but unrealised. The aliens from M31 had somehow overcome the technological difficulties involved. Wingless (possibly "antigrav") aircraft were seen in Blake, but all other vehicles seen in the series were wheeled.
Faster-than-light ("sub-beam") communications had been developed, but transmissions apparently needed to be relayed through booster stations. This was less important (perhaps even irrelevant) where Orac's carrier beam was concerned. The purpose of Central Control on Star One suggests that the Federation had access to such instant long- range communications technology.
Some computers at least were designed to respond to spoken commands, though others (e.g., that on the London) were not. Most computers were surprisingly large. Most, perhaps all computers (at least within the Federation) were fitted with the tarial cell developed by Ensor, though quite what this was and what it did were never detailed.
Numerous references to circuitry were made in the series: confirmation circuits in Mission to Destiny, neural circuits in Travis' arm, the trigger circuit for his lazeron destroyer, the germanium circuitry which Avon recognised on Ultraworld, and circuit influencers, as used by Ven Glynd in Voice From The Past and Muller's android in Headhunter. In Traitor Vila suggested that the only way to deal with the recalcitrant solid state circuitry in the teleport audio system was to "kick the living quartz out of it". Stardrive made reference to fibre-optic connections.
Force fields and force walls were extant but apparently rare, though they may have been a standard fitting on at least some ships. Force field technology would appear to have been developed on Keezarn at least 3000 years before City at the Edge of the World. Some technology appeared to utilise antimatter: antimatter shielding was posited as a defence for the entrance to Central Control on Earth, and an antimatter minefield defended the approach to Star One.
Jenna alluded to "stasis technology" in Duel. Traction beams were mentioned in Dawn of the Gods and Games. teleportation had been developed by the System or its precursor, and partially developed by the Federation. It had also been independently developed much earlier on Keezarn.
Little was said regarding medical technology, but decontaminant drugs could negate the effects of radiation sickness, and prosthetic devices would seem to have been not uncommon. The Federation could (and did) drug whole planetary populations into docility. More was revealed regarding the possibilities for psychiatric medicine, but exactly how memories could be implanted or suppressed, or (as with mutoids) whole personalities replaced, was not discussed in depth.
Restrictions on Biotechnology appeared to be legal rather than practical. Cloning was the province of the Clonemasters, who 'grew' a clone of Blake from his DNA profile. Such profiles might have been a routine part of an individuals medical record. Growth and maturation rates could be greatly accelerated. Some artificially created life forms were seen, such as the Decimas.
The level of technology clearly varied considerably across the galaxy. Some worlds were exceedingly primitive. The Federation was probably not the most technology advanced society in the galactic community, Auron for one appearing to be superior in at least some respects, and the System definitely so. Total mass/energy conversation was apparently unique to Sardos, though the very fine level of particle analysis required by the process might have been more widespread. In Breakdown the planet Overon was said to have only "third level technology", insufficient to repair Gan's limiter. A highly sophisticated civilisation on Keezarn had collapsed some three millennia earlier, and more advanced examples were occasionally encountered, often linked with psionic capabilities. Sinofar and Giroc may have been one such example, and at least some of the Undead Alien's powers in Sarcophagus resided in her ring. The Seska relied on an ingrafted dynamon crystal to make use of their telekinetic abilities.
See also ANDROIDS, ANTIMATTER, ARTIFICIAL TELEPATHY TRANSMITTER, CLONING, COMMUNICATIONS, COMPUTERS, CRIMINOTHERAPISTS, DETECTORS, GENETIC ENGINEERING, HOMING DEVICES, PROSTHETIC DEVICES, SPEED, TELEPORT, VEHICLES, WEAPONS.
The word "teenager" appears to have been used only once, when Tarrant described space choppers as "a teenagers craze a couple of centuries back".
Mentioned by Dastor with regard to the monitoring of Liberator's journey to Kairos.
Described by Avon as a device for the controlled direction of pure energy, Pella tried to get Dorian to build one whilst convincing him it was actually a teleport system. She needed the tele-ergotron to turn the wheel inside the door of Scorpio's silo, thus bypassing the nuclear compression charge and allowing her access to the ship.
Assisted by the moon discs, Cally used telekinesis to deactivate the commandeered Orac and thus prevent the unnamed alien force in Shadow from effecting an entry into the universe from its own dimension. She later said that telekinesis was rare, but apparently not unknown, amongst her people.
When Liberator veered off course in Dawn of the Gods, Dayna asked Cally if telekinesis was extant on Auron, presumably to see if that might account for the course change. Cally did not get a chance to answer.
Telekinetic activity was manifest aboard the ship when the undead alien from the sarcophagus began to exert its power. A tray and a lyre-like musical instrument were seen to move through the air as a result.
Telekinesis was the special province of the Seska on Xenon, and Pella used it a number of times. She opened and later relocked the secondary hatchway to Xenon base, and later opened it again, threw back Vila, used it twice to force Avon away but failed on the third attempt, fired the crossbow held by Avon to kill Cato when he started to answer Avon's questions about the Seska, and telekinetically rendered Avon unconscious by dropping a computer terminal on his head. Together with Kate she assisted Dayna in killing Gunn-Sar. Pella also used her power on the manual override switch to the nuclear compression door behind the door to Scorpio's silo. Her power was not sufficient to turn the wheel inside Scorpio's silo, so she tried to get Dorian to build her a tele-ergotron to direct her power onto the wheel.
Tarrant considered telekinesis a myth, on the basis that the human brain could not generate enough energy. Orac replied that the brain did not need to, and only had to direct energy generated elsewhere in the body, with the aid of an ingrafted crystal: in the Seska's case, this crystal was dynamon.
When Liberator began to veer off course, Tarrant told Cally to conduct a telemetric band sweep and jam all signals emanating from anywhere within 10 million spacials.
Blake instantly realised that Cally was telepathic, suggesting that the ability was widely known, if rarely encountered. Cally used her telepathy irregularly, most significantly to interrogate Blake when she ambushed him on Saurian Major, to voice her loneliness when overcome by sono vapour on the Ortega, to warn Blake of approaching guards on UP-Bounty, to help Blake convince Largo that Liberator carried four shuttles, to communicate to the moon discs on Zonda, to warn Ro of the Kommissar on Horizon, to warn Avon not to enter the control complex on Star One, to tell Avon that Liberator had been boarded in Volcano, and later to direct Dayna and Tarrant to Mori's position on Obsidian, to tell Vila to run from an approaching vehicle on Crandor, to reassure Zelda of Liberator's coming to Auron, and to inform Tarrant of the combat environment chosen by the computer for his duel with Vinni.
In Shadow and Death-Watch she expressed doubts about her ability to contact people on the surface of a planet from orbit, and in Volcano she had trouble making contact with Avon even though they were both on the Liberator together, albeit in different places. Contact with Zelda was possible under far greater distances, however, presumably due to what Zelda described as "optimum telepathic affinity". In Death-Watch Cally implied that the ability to contact an individual might be related to the degree to which s/he was known by the telepath.
She was telepathically contacted by the Lost, the Darkness, the Thaarn, the undead alien in the sarcophagus, and the Ultra (apparently, using the power of the Core). She also detected the inimical nature of Wanderer K47. The undead alien described a telepath as "rare", and the Ultra catalogued her "humanoid vertebrate, subcategory telepath". Dorian referred to her death making it more difficult to integrate the crew into a gestalt creature to absorb his corruption, and specifically cited her telepathy.
Other possibly telepathic beings included Zil and Sopron. Zeeona was instantly aware of her father's death despite the distance between them, so she and perhaps others or even all of her people may have had some telepathic ability. Tara of Goth's powers might also have had a telepathic basis.
Orac in Power dismissed teleportation by mind power alone as impossible, since "unless directed by an outside agency, matter transmuted to energy will dissipate". This was apparently contradicted by the way Sinofar could bring Blake and Travis, and later Jenna and Keera, down to UP-Duel. The undead alien in Sarcophagus could also transport herself at will, at least over short distances.
Liberator, however, had such an outside agency, as did Scorpio, and the Federation had tried but failed to develop a matter transmission system of their own. Blake talked of such devices sending solid objects "like radio signals". Aquitar was an important element in the Federation's project, and Blake recognised this or something like it in the teleport bracelets on Liberator. Little was said about the technology itself, but in Dawn of the Gods the outer teleport transducers were damaged when the force wall collapsed, preventing use of teleport (they were presumably seen to by the auto-repair system soon afterwards). In Moloch the teleport's operating frequency was blocked by the inner energy field surrounding Sardos, which blocked all medium-wave emissions (from gamma rays to radio waves). Cally adjusted the teleport to operate on an omicron pulse frequency in order to by-pass this. That the Federation never developed a teleport system of their own, despite acquiring a number of bracelets, suggests that the vital elements of the technology resided in the apparatus aboard Liberator rather than in the bracelets themselves.
The following people used the teleport system (those who used it several or many times first did so in the named episodes): Blake, the first person seen to teleport, and later Vila and Gan in Cygnus Alpha; Vargas; Jenna and later Cally (Time Squad); Dr Kendall, Sonheim, Grovane, Pasco and Levett; the android Avalon and Chevner; the real Avalon; Professor Kayn and Renor; Sarkoff and Tyce; Ensor Jr.; Altas One and Two and three guards; two other Space World guards; Bek and Hanna; Molok; Del Grant; Ven Glynd, Travis (as Shivan), Nagu, Governor LeGrand and an uncertain number of aides (see BRACELETS); Dayna (Aftermath); Tarrant (Volcano); Mori and three troopers; Shad, Jarvik, two guards and Servalan (The Harvest of Kairos); Patar; Deral; Moloch; Kostos and two of Servalan's aides - a total of 51+ persons.
Tarvin and his henchmen may have teleported aboard or docked with Liberator. At least one did arrive by teleport.
Liberator's teleport malfunctioned three times: in Time Squad when Blake and Jenna were running out of air aboard the cryogenic capsule, in Aftermath when battle damage necessitated evacuation by life capsule, and in Sarcophagus the undead alien allowed Cally to teleport aboard whilst leaving Avon and Vila stranded on the sarcophagus vessel. The teleport console also blew up in The Web, but was not in use at the time. Blake and Cally could not be teleported up from the Control complex on Star One, Avon surmising it was "shielded", and teleport to Sardos was not available until Cally had adjusted the operating frequency. Teleport was also not an option on Crandor with the outer transducers damaged.
Kate told Avon that the Seska had worked on developing a teleport system "for generations", and Dorian with their help had tried four different approaches over a period of thirty years without success. Avon, assisted by Orac, installed a working teleport system with consoles on Scorpio and Xenon base, and it was used by the following people:
Avon, followed by Tarrant and Dayna and then Vila and Soolin in Power, Muller's android, Vena Muller, Gerren, Keiller and Zeeona. It failed to work properly when first used, leaving Vila behind on Xenon, and was deactivated on Orac's insistence in Headhunter, although Avon later ordered it restored.
All of the crew performed teleport operation duty at some time or another. This is summarised below. The "average" figure reflects the different number of seasons in which the characters were present: 4 for Avon and Vila, 3 (Cally and Orac), 2 (Blake, Jenna, Tarrant and Dayna), 1.5 (Gan) and 1 (Soolin).
| SEASON | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cally | 3 | 9 | 5 | - | 17 | 5.67 |
| Vila | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 5 |
| Avon | 9 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 19 | 4.75 |
| Soolin | - | - | - | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Orac | - | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 3.67 |
| Jenna | 5 | 2 | - | - | 7 | 3.5 |
| Dayna | - | - | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3.5 |
| Blake | 3 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 2 |
| Tarrant | - | - | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1.5 |
| Gan | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 0.67 |
| TOTAL | 26 | 26 | 22 | 19 | 93 |
(The precise accuracy of the above data is open to query. For instance, does putting someone down and then bringing them up again count as one teleport duty or two? However, the figures do indicate the relative frequency with which each member of the crew operated the teleport.
No teleportation took place in The Way Back and Space Fall: these episodes come before the discovery of the teleport system on Liberator. The only other teleport-free episode preceding Liberator's destruction was Dawn of the Gods. Teleportation did not feature in two 4th Season episodes, Rescue and Orbit.
The only episode in which the teleport was used between two points on the planetary surface, rather than between ship and surface, was Pressure Point.
One other civilisation was seen to have developed teleport, that of Keezarn some 3,000 years previously. The people there had developed the technology to transmit matter from terminal to terminal "over any distance". One terminal was in the City at the Edge of the World, another on a spaceship thousands of light years away by the time Vila and Kerril arrived. It was used by the people of Keezarn, and Kerril, to reach their new home. Liberator's teleport range was much less: at least 1,000 spacials, since this was a standard orbital distance. In Seek-Locate-Destroy Travis was told that Liberator was "a quarter of a million out", presumably 250,000 spacials, and he said that this was beyond teleport range (this may have been a guess, or he could have tortured the information from Cally).
Zen noted that the tests undertaken by the assessment team on Obsidian were "collated in Federation teletext".
The space rats monitored activity within their territory on Caspar by means of television cameras, which Vila described as "ancient".
| A Subterron / member of Avalon's resistance group, who betrayed her location to Travis and confirmed that she had contacted Blake. He did not benefit from this betrayal, being one of those who later died in the massacre of that group by Travis' mutoids in the caves beneath the surface of UP-Project Avalon. |  |
An artificial planet (described by Dorian as "an artificially modified planet"), built by scientists of a consortium of united planets 411 years before Liberator's visit. Originally positioned out towards the orbit of Mars, it somehow came to be located on the edge of Sector 6. The planet was supposed to have broken up, but was quite intact when the crew arrived. Tarrant called it a "historical curiosity". Avon was lured there in the belief that Blake was on Terminal with an unspecified secret that could make them both invincible and rich. This turned out to be a trap carefully prepared by Servalan, and the crew of Liberator were stranded there by her. She left on the Liberator moments before its destruction. Cally was subsequently reported dead by Avon as a result of explosives planted by Servalan in the underground complex and abandoned space craft. The survivors were rescued by Dorian arriving in Scorpio, ostensibly to salvage equipment from the underground bunkers on the planet.
 |
Terminal was ovoid rather than spherical, and its surface comprised of large
land masses and oceans. Native life included the links and a large,
apparently immobile, predatory creature that lay in wait for its prey. Vila
described them as "snakes", but this was a rather loose application of the
word. One of these was destroyed by Avon as it attacked Dayna, and two more
were killed by Dorian before they could get to Dayna and Vila.
|
The recording heard by Vila and Kerril identified their language as "Terran", and Norl appeared to be fluent in it. It is convenient but not necessarily accurate to refer to the language used by the crew and everyone else in the series as Terran. Language barriers were rarely met: people who, even if of human origin, had been isolated for a long time spoke "Terran" with ease - the Lost, Sinofar and Giroc, Meegat, the Altas, the Goths, the Sarrans, the Sardoans, and the Hommiks might all have had their own languages, but apparently did not. The message heard by Vila and Kerril mentioned "translator units" and Tarrant referred to the "old tongue" of Keezarn.
Zil was initially incomprehensible, but soon came to speak to Blake in Terran. Zen uttered some phrases in an alien language before "dying".
See also FRENCH.
Also called the "three day sweat", the Terran Ague affected anyone who travelled in deep space, altering the body's nucleic structure. The virus introduced by Wanderer K47 only infected those who had suffered the Terran Ague and was conjectured by Blake to be intended to restrict the human race to Earth, but there were surely many people not born on Earth who had never travelled in space.
|
Criminal organisation present throughout the Federation. Their most
lucrative field of operations was the addictive drug, shadow, and the source
of shadow was the planet Zonda, apparently not very far from Space City.
That Space City was run by the Terra Nostra was, according to Blake, "an open
secret". On Earth, by contrast, they were more covert.
|  The chairman of the Terra Nostra |
 The President's personal security force | Since the Moon Disc plantations on Zonda were guarded by the President's personal security force, the Federation and Terra Nostra were acting in tandem, allowing the Federation to control both sides of the law. It is not impossible, but unlikely, that the Chairman of the Terra Nostra was also President of the Federation. It was never made clear whether the Terra Nostra was a clandestine wing of the Federation, or a bona fide criminal organisation co-opted by the Federation. |
Vila claimed he bought his "Grade-4 Ignorant status" from "a friend at the testing station".
Cally recited the legend of the Thaarn, the oldest story in the Book of Auron, thus:
The story goes back to the mists of time, to the Dawn of the Gods. There were seven gods who discovered the planet Auron, and on it left the first man and woman. A million years went by. The gods returned. They were no older, even though a million years had passed. The gods returned and were pleased with what they saw, and they bestowed on the people of Auron great gifts - new types of crops which ended hunger, constant peace, and telepathy was promised. But one of the gods was very jealous - he didn't believe that the people of Auron deserved all this. He was frightened that they would one day become so powerful they would challenge the supremacy of the gods themselves, and in his rage he killed another god. The five remaining gods were so angry they built a chariot for him, and sent him beyond the threshold of space and time. The mad god swore a terrible vengeance. He said that he would return again. He said that he alone would discover the eternal secrets, and become the one great Master of the Universe.Cally compared the Thaarn with Earth stories of dragons and unicorns, and added that on Auron the Thaarn was "a symbol of darkness and evil".
As encountered by the crew of the Liberator, the Thaarn was still pursuing his plans of conquest, having developed a gravity generator on the principle that "he who controls gravity controls everything". At least some of the people he had captured with this device had been promised planets of their own to govern, and he offered to make Cally "queen of a thousand worlds". His operations were based on Crandor, described by his chief executive the Caliph as "palace of the Lord Thaarn, Master of the Universe".
| He took especial interest in Cally, detecting her presence soon after Liberator was pulled off course by the gravity generator. He told her he was "so alone" and claimed to have waited for her for "the time it takes light to cross a thousand galaxies". She persuaded him to turn off the energy isolaters, allowing Liberator to escape, and Crandor was destroyed soon afterwards. The Thaarn managed to get away. Cally saw the Thaarn, despite his insistence that she shouldn't, and found a withered diminutive humanoid with an enormous cranium. She later denied to the crew that she had in fact seen him. |  |
| Federation officer with the rank of Major, and together with Arlen and Servalan, one of the very few female officers seen in the series. Assigned by Servalan to "defend" Travis at his court-martial, she in fact did her best to ensure he received a death sentence. She insisted that the tribunal hear details of every one of the 1,417 civilians Travis was accused of having massacred, claiming that she might wish to query some of the evidence. Rontane saw this for what it was: a means of prejudicing the tribunal against Travis. Travis replaced her defence statement with one of his own, which lost her favour with Servalan. As Travis told her, "Majors can die quite anonymously". She probably perished as a result of Blake's surprise attack on the space station where the court-martial was conducted. |  |
A medical facility, and apparently quite efficient since it healed Pinder's broken arm within a matter of hours.
| The crew wore thermal suits in several episodes, notably Project Avalon (Blake, Vila, Jenna), Hostage (Blake, Vila and Avon) and Countdown (Avon and Del Grant). Those in the latter two episodes were of a different design to those in the first, but all incorporated a temperature adjustment mechanism. |  In Hostage |
 In Countdown | In Project Avalon this was set at 75% with a surface temperature of -120° (Celsius?), although Blake and Jenna teleported into caves below the surface where it may have been warmer. |
Popular name for the Terran Ague, referred to by Bellfriar.
Mentioned by Avon when taking Scorpio up from the surface of Terminal.
| Described by Toise and Krantor as "a trekker", he challenged the Klute at speed chess and died after being defeated in 28 moves. Like many people seen in Freedom City he dressed in period costume, in his case strongly based on 17th Century European fashion. |  |
Few references to time are given, some more meaningful than others. In The Way Back it was announced that the London's departure from Earth was advanced to "1700 Earth time", and Vila noted that this was only eight hours distant (ie: about 0900). It was night when the London left the dome city, despite it being summer (as evidenced by the leaves on the trees, and the implicit date - see below). This suggests that Earth time was applied to the whole planet, with no local time (at least as far as launchings were concerned). Keiller, In Gold, advised the Space Princess" passengers to "tune all chronometers to frequency seven for synchronisation with Federation Standard Time".
In Hostage Servalan's planetfall on Exbar was scheduled for "2159 standard". In The Harvest of Kairos the kairopan shuttled was scheduled to take off from the planet at 0815. Both of these times fall within the scope of a 24-hour clock.
Several date codes were seen in The Way Back. Study of the medical records of Renor Leesal et al show an apparent chronological progression from years 42 to 52, the day before Blake's alleged assault being 52.6.8. This might be taken to mean either June 8th or August 6th (it might mean something else entirely, of course). If so, it is more likely to be June 8th, since Renor Leesal was apparently born on 42.1.5 and vaccinated on 42.4.3 - these dates are more likely to be January 5th and April 3rd respectively than May 1st and March 4th. The year "52" can mean several things - see FEDERATION.
Other dates given were less meaningful. Travis" massacre of civilians on Zircaster is given the date code "beta 2001". The Federation's investigation of Obsidian is listed as having "date code 303" which Vila called "a long time ago". It could not have been that long ago, however, since Hower was on Obsidian at the time of the investigation, after having trained with Hal Mellanby at the Federation's Central Science Complex.
References were made to "Earth years" in Moloch, "Earth hours" in Power, and "standard days" in Gold.
See also TIME UNIT
The mechanism used by Federation and other ships to exceed light speed, though by how much was never made clear.
See also HYPERDRIVE, PHOTONIC DRIVE, SPEED, INTERGALACTIC DRIVE.
|
The Mark X pursuit ships in The Harvest of Kairos were described as
the newest and fastest at Servalan's command, yet Zen noted a modified fin
that implied "primitive Time Distort facility". Pursuit ships in earlier
episodes (eg Hostage) had been seen to travel at speeds of up to
TD-10. No explanation for this apparent anomaly was given.
|  |
The following timeline is based on the various (frequently vague or approximate) references given by various people in various episodes. Some of them are possibly contentious, and since there is little indication as to how much time each season represented (Ven Glynd mentions two years separating The Way Back and Voice from the Past), the relative placing of some of the more recent events is rather conjectural.
| 3,000 | years before City at the Edge of the World, the people of Keezarn launch their ship to find them a new home. |
| 700 | years before Killer, Wanderer K47 disappears in 61 Cygni. |
| 411 | years before Avon's visit, Terminal is built. |
| 200 | years before Pressure Point, the Federation begins to expand. |
| 200 | years before Powerplay, Chenga is settled. |
| 200 | years before the crew reach Xenon, Dorian discovers the underground room on the planet. |
| 125 | years before Cygnus Alpha, the first prisoners are landed on the penal colony (approximate - might be 100 or 150 years). |
| 100 | or more years before Traitor, the old monorail tunnel on Helotrix is sealed. |
| 100 | years before Mission to Destiny, Destiny is settled. |
| 50 | years at least before Mission to Destiny, the Ortega is built. |
| 40 | years before Orac, Ensor goes into hiding (according to Blake - see ENSOR). |
| 30 | years or more before Children of Auron, disease is eliminated from Auron. |
| 30 | years before Pressure Point, Control is moved from Earth (according to Travis). |
| 30 | years before Rescue, Dorian begins work on developing a teleport system. |
| 23 | years before The Way Back, the Fletch expedition is massacred by the Waazis (inferred date). |
| 20 | years before Aftermath, Hal Mellanby leaves Earth with Dayna. This is before Servalan becomes a prominent political figure. |
| 20 | years before Power, Maravik defeats the Seska. |
| 15 | years before The Harvest of Kairos, Tarrant takes his first command on the kairopan shuttle. |
| 12 | years before Bounty, Sarkoff becomes President of Lindor. |
| 12 | years before Games, Belkov begins mining feldon on Mecron II. |
| 7 | years before Bounty, Sarkoff is voted out of office. |
| 10 | years before Assassin, pirates begin operations on Domo. |
| 10 | years before Orbit, Egrorian flees from the Space Research Institute with Pinder and several million credits. Tarrant studies at the SRI shortly afterwards. |
| 4 | years before The Way Back, Blake's first rebellion is defeated and Travis badly injured (Blake again met Ven Glynd two years later, or 6 years after his first trial, before going to Star One). |
| 6 | years before Star One, top secret experiments begin on Bucol-2. |
| 5 | years before Sand, the first expedition to Virn is wiped out. |
| 4 | years before Death-Watch, Deeta Tarrant becomes Champion of Teal. |
| 3 | years before Trial, Travis massacres 1,417 civilians on Zircaster. |
| 3 | years before Stardrive, Dr Plaxton begins working with space rats. |
The date given for Dr Havant's treatment of the three children allegedly molested by Blake is 52.6.8 - see FEDERATION and TIME for further discussion on what this might mean. Although 20th Century and earlier events were mentioned on a number of occasions, no indication was given as to how far back such events might have been.
Unspecified period of time. Selma told Jenna that miners absorbed a lethal dose of radiation from monopasium-239 in 30 time units.
In Hostage Travis gave Blake 25 time units to reach Exbar before Inga would be killed.
A poison extracted from pamperanian fungi, used on Forbus by Commissioner Sleer to enslave him to her, manufacturing pylene-50 for her Pacification Programme.
Crewman of Wanderer K47, along with Kemp and Wardin. His body was not found when the ship was recovered by the salvager on Fosforon.
| Krantor's assistant in Freedom City, and wearer of a rather suspect headdress. He informed Krantor of Travis" whereabouts, and surmised (correctly) that Kline was in fact Docholli. He berated Krantor for losing 10 million credits to Avon and Vila. His dealings with Krantor suggested a homosexual relationship between them. |  |
A bidder at the slave auction on Domo, representing Valeria of Prim and Natratof of Gourimpest.
Four types of toolbox were shown in the series. The first was a small toolbox used by Dal Richie in 'The Way Back' to carry the equipment he used to open the dome's exit at Sub 43; the second was a black toolbox used in 'Space Fall' by a technician on the London who was checking the ship's computer when he was attacked and eventually knocked out by Avon.
The third type of toolbox was the most widely seen, in a total of six episodes. It should be mentioned that it might not have been the same toolbox that appeared in all the episodes. In appearance, it was red with a white top, separated by a black stripe, on the outside, white on the inside. Its lid was light grey with two thin red stripes on top, white underneath; and it was fastened to the top of the toolbox by fasteners on either side of the latter; and it had a handle for carrying on top. While this type of toolbox is particularly associated with Vila, it was used by other B7 crewmembers in half the episodes in which it appeared.
|
This type of toolbox first appeared in Time Squad, when bracelets
and other equipment were loaded into it by Vila and Gan. Vila carried and used
it during this episode; this was also the case in Seek-Locate-Destroy, the
toolbox carrying the equipment used to break into the Federation base on
Centero. In both these episodes, its interior was divided into a series of dark
grey tubes, presumably used to facilitate the storage of objects.
|  |
This type of toolbox was again used by Blake in Bounty, it containing a rope and grappling hook used by him to gain access to Sarkoff's residence. Of interest was that Sarkoff was carrying the toolbox when teleported up to the Liberator. The last time this type of toolbox was seen was in Countdown, when carried down by Avon when he went down to Albian with Del Grant to disable the solium radiation device, it presumably contained the necessary equipment.
 |
A fourth type of toolbox appeared in four episodes, used by Blake, Rashel,
and Vila. It was roughly two thirds the size of the third type of toolbox,
grey, with three ribs, a hinged lid, and a handle for carrying it on its
side. Blake was seen with this type of toolbox in Sub-Control Room Four in
Redemption; Rashel was seen with it in Weapon; and Vila was seen with
it in The Keeper and City at the Edge of the World. While Vila was not
seen using any of the equipment packed into it in The Keeper, it
presumably contained the low energy probe he used to collapse the first
forcefield in City. Rashel may have been using a toolbox as a suitcase in
order not to attract the attention of security.
|
| Sara used a club hammer to destroy the flight controls of the Ortega, a primitive instrument compared to the hand tools usually seen. Avon and Del Grant used an electric drill in Countdown. Less prosaic tools mentioned include an "extractor" and "separator" (in Countdown), a "probe" (in Mission to Destiny), insulated saw, laser knife, laser lance, laser probe, link clamp, and magnetic probe. In Power, Avon searched for dynamon crystals with the aid of a petroscope. |  |
Avon described the handguns on Liberator as "too elaborate for a toothpick".
Of the various people in costume in Freedom City, one was dressed as a stylised toreador.
| An assistant of Servalan on Terminal, who with Reeval monitored Avon as he made his way to the underground complex. Toron was killed by a link soon afterwards. Like Reeval and two other of Servalan's assistants, he appeared to be of an unnamed, blonde humanoid species. |  |
Torture by various means appeared from time to time.
|
Blake was seen to be tortured (in a flashback) in The Way Back. Blake
was tortured on the command of Vargas in Cygnus Alpha, the implements
seen owing much in design to their mediaeval forerunners. Avon was also
questioned by force by Geela in The Web. Cally was tortured by the
Interrogation Division on Centero in Seek-Locate-Destroy. In
Project Avalon, Avalon was tortured by Travis: she said she new
"enough about these machines to realise that I will tell you everything".
|  Cygnus Alpha |
 |
Blake was tortured by the Altas in Redemption. Blake, Jenna and Cally
were tortured by a disorienter on Horizon, the effects of which were
potentially lethal. Selma was tortured with another device, which inflicted
no organic damage but could kill through the level of pain experienced.
Kasabi was subjected to interrogation drugs in Pressure Point,
eventually dying of a lethal overdose. The head of the psychomanipulation
team who conditioned the technicians left behind on Star One died under
interrogation, as reported by Durkim by Servalan.
|
|
Avon endured five days of brutal interrogation prior to Shrinker's arrival in
Rumours of Death. Avon was tortured by Grose and Lector in
Moloch, and his wrist was damaged, but apparently not seriously, as a
result. Dayna was tortured by Servalan in Animals: the chair in which she was confined functioned as a lie detector and could inflict pain if desired (Servalan desired). The troopers in Warlord who captured Avon on Betafarl appeared to be about to torture Avon before Soolin intervened. |  |
| Perhaps not surprisingly, there appeared to be little tourism within the Federation, but references were made to pleasure planets on a number of occasions, one such being Gardenos. The passengers of the Space Princess were issued with a star map and ostensibly passed a number of interesting phenomena on their way to Earth, and can thus be considered the most likely tourists in the entire series. This was some time after the Intergalactic War and the removal of Servalan, and so might indicate a less repressive attitude from what remained of the Federation (the activities of Commissioner Sleer, however, suggest otherwise). |  The Space Princess |
| An essential component of an A-line converter, without which pulse coded messages were unbreakable. It ran the spectrum bands from L to Y, up to 30,000 Megahertz. Two were normally issued to converter stations, one as a spare. |  In Avon's hand |
A transmitting device, in the shape of a small green disk, that was to be swallowed by Vila in City, in order that Orac, using the locator, could tell the Liberator's crew exactly where he was on the planet Kezarn. Avon told Vila that the tracer was 'perfectly harmless', and would 'dissolve eventually'. Despite this, Vila was so 'scared witless' by Tarrant, in the latter's words, that he palmed the tracer and left it aboard the Liberator.
In Traitor, a similar device was used by the Federation on Helotrix in a similar manner, but for a different purpose. Igin, attached to the Fourth Column of freedom fighters under Hunda, was captured and 'adapted' using Pylene-50. After being given 'a tracer to swallow', he was sent back to report to his column. When it was believed that he had got back to base, a neutron strike was ordered against his position.
See LOCATOR.
When Liberator moved off course in Dawn of the Gods, Tarrant speculated on traction beams being responsible, and ordered Cally to conduct a "telemetric band sweep" as a result. Avon noted that "no known power in the universe" could operate a traction beam over a range of 20 million spacials. Cally stated that the traction beam had not yet been developed on Auron. It was later noted that traction beams produced "straight line movement".
In Games Belkov threatened to hold Scorpio in place with a series of force fields, which Avon analysed as a reference to "multiple traction beams". Tarrant expressed incredulity that traction beams could be powerful enough to pull a ship out of orbit.
| Part of the medical equipment aboard Liberator, tranquilliser pads were used to subdue Gan in Breakdown. Two were placed on his arms. Another kind was seen in Voice from the Past, somewhat thicker and attached to the forehead, which was used on Blake. Both types were discoid in shape. |  |
Term used by the Ultra to refer to the process by which they extracted the memory of intelligent beings they captured. Avon and Cally were subjected to transference (said to be "quite painless"), although their memories were later restored by Tarrant.
 |
A prison cell, where a sentenced Federation prisoner was held for the period
between the pronunciation of his sentence and its execution. It was
described by the arbiter in Blake's trial in 'The Way Back' as 'an area of
close confinement'; and, as seen in that episode, it could hold a number of
prisoners awarded the same sentence: transportation for life to Cygnus Alpha.
|
| A flexible tube-like walkway that allowed one ship to connect with another. Used by the London to establish access to Liberator, and used by Wallace, Teague, Krell, Blake, Jenna, Avon and Raiker. A second tube was sent from the Space Princess to link with Scorpio's freight bay 2. Unlike that from the London, this was a solid structure. It was used by all of the crew (except Vila) as well as Keiller and a hapless guard. |  |
Zen was fitted with translator units, enabling it to speak to the crew. They broke down in Terminal and Zen uttered something indecipherable in another language. Translator units were also fitted to the starship to which Vila and Kerril were taken in City at the Edge of the World: the onboard translator units identified their language as Terran.
| Generic term for a variety of spacecraft. References include the transporter that brought Governor LeGrand to the Liberator in Voice from the Past, and the transport for kairopan (which was unmanned and computer controlled, the Federation not trusting anyone with so valuable a cargo). |  The kairopan transport |
Chenie arranged for Docholli to leave Freedom City on a Trantinian planet hopper. It was never specified exactly what "trantinian" meant, and the pilot of the craft looked human enough. Trantinians might have been inhabitants of an unnamed planet, possibly called Trantinius or something similar.
|
Federation officer with rank of Space Commander, number given in Trial
as "Alpha 15105". Orac noted in Voice from the Past that he was of
similar size and weight to the rebel leader Shivan. Travis himself stated in
Trial that he had "been in the service all my adult life".
|  In Seek-Locate-Destroy |
 In Duel |
The earliest reference to Travis dates to Blake's earlier period of
dissidence four years prior to his deportation to Cygnus Alpha. Travis
discovered the location of a rebel meeting and hid there two days beforehand.
When all the dissidents were gathered he and his men appeared, butchering
most of those present. Blake shot Travis and thought he had killed him, but
Travis survived, albeit without his left arm and eye. His life was saved by
Maryatt, probably in relation to this incident, although Travis merely said
that his face was seen to by "a field medic"; by the time of
Deliverance Maryatt was a senior figure in the Federation medical
corps, something of a heady promotion. Travis later expressed some regret on
learning of Maryatt's death.
|
His left arm was fitted with a lazeron destroyer, though few of the people he killed died by this weapon. See LAZERON DESTROYER for more details of its use.
His over-riding obsession was to kill Blake, and he almost succeeded in Seek-Locate-Destroy, Orac, Pressure Point, Hostage, and Star One, where Blake was severely wounded after a direct hit from Travis. He also wounded Avon in the arm in Hostage.
Known relatives: None. Blake also noted in Duel: "How do you illustrate the death of a friend to a man who hasn't got any?".
|
Bodycount: Travis' kills include a Phibian on Aristo, a clone of Blake, Olag
Gan (with a strontium grenade), a trooper at his court-martial (shot with a
handgun), Nagu (with a knife), Ven Glynd, and Cevedic and henchman (with a
Federation pistol).
|  In Weapon |
Notable brawls: Travis fought Blake hand-to-hand on UP-Duel, but lost. In Freedom City he was quickly overpowered by Cevedic's men.
Places visited: He was seen to set foot on Centero, UP-Duel, UP-Project Avalon, Aristo, UP-Clonemaster, UP-Weapon, Earth, Exbar, Asteroid P-K118, Atlay, UP-Gambit, Goth and Star One - a total of 13 planets.
| After the failure of Project Avalon he was suspended from duty again. With Servalan he set out to collect Orac on Aristo, but was beaten by Blake. After this defeat he apparently needed drastic psychotherapy, and Rontane later described him as "a psychotic". After the debacle at the Control bunker on Earth he became an embarrassment to Servalan and was court-martialled in order to dispose of him before he could testify against her in an official enquiry. He escaped and became a renegade, later working unofficially for Servalan. |  Waiting his court martial in Trial |
 In Trial |
She promised to have him listed as dead if he
helped her eliminate Blake. At some point, probably after his court-martial,
he discovered or was contacted by infiltrators from M31, and raced against
Blake and Servalan to find the location of Star One. He discovered the brain
print left by Lurgen on Goth, and came to Star One intending to deactivate
the antimatter minefield keeping the alien fleet at bay. He seemed to be
aware of the aliens" intent to eradicate humanity, and actively sought some
responsibility for the inevitable carnage. He was shot in the back by Blake
after switching off one sector of the defence zone, and died after being shot
again by Avon moments later, falling spectacularly into a circular well of
unknown purpose.
|
Mentioned by "Blake" on Terminal, a part of his life-support system that sounded an alarm when treatment was due.
In Redemption, Jenna told Blake that Gan was there after a servo link he was trying to repair burned his hand. No indication is given as to whether this treatment unit is another name for the medical unit or a different unit entirely.
See also MEDICAL UNIT.
|
Trees of various species can be identified on a number of planets, although
their presence ought not perhaps be taken too literally most of the time.
Oaks and Holly are visible on UP-Duel, Beech, Yew and Scots Pine on
UP-Bounty, Cedar of Lebanon in the grounds of Residence-1 and Buddleia
on (amongst others) Exbar, Sardos and Xenon.
|  |
 Buddleia on Exbar | It could be conjectured that these species were brought from Earth by early colonists. It could equally well be conjectured that they are not worth dwelling on at length. See also BIRDS. |
| Krantor and Toise both described Thrylce as a "trekker", presumably some form of habitual spacefarer. | |
The following were the proceedings in the trials of Blake in The Way Back and Travis in Trial:
1. Blake's trial: The clerk of court brought the tribunal to order and the arbiter entered. The clerk then announced that the arbiter would allow submissions and Tel Varon and Alta Morag, the legal representatives for the accused (Blake) and the Federation, submitted their cases.
The advocates had prepared their cases in advance of the hearing and their submissions were stored in clear spheres containing electronic components, one for the defence and one for the prosecution. One of those spheres is illustrated and labeled here as a 'Submission Sphere', although the name was not revealed in the episode. The spheres were presented to the tribunal in sealed, pink, semi-transparent boxes or cases, one of which is illustrated and labelled here as a 'Submission Case'.
The arbiter then asked for the accused to be brought forward and enquired as to whether he, Blake, had been made aware of the charges against him and that he understood the nature and gravity of the charges. The arbiter then established who was acting for Blake and for the Federation. The arbiter ascertained that each advocate was satisfied that the evidence was fairly obtained and that all statements were certified as true and correct by lie detector.
At this point, the arbiter turned to Blake to establish that he was satisfied that his defence was fully and fairly prepared. Blake stated that the charges against him were totally false and therefore offered no defence. The clerk presented a 'Submission Case' to each advocate and they were requested by the arbiter to see that the evidence for the prosecution was sealed and approved by the defence and vice versa. The advocates removed the 'Submission Spheres' from their cases; and the spheres were placed into a plinth that might have been part of what the arbiter later described as the judgement machine.
This machine then evaluated each of the submissions by interrogating them, each sphere illuminating as it was interrogated. After the assessment was made, the machine stopped and only one sphere was seen to be illuminated. The clerk removed what could be best described as a 'Verdict Sphere' from the top of the plinth. He placed it on a stand, similar to that on the top of the plinth, to the left of the arbiter's desk. This has been illustrated here as the 'Verdict Stand'. The verdict was then displayed on a large screen behind the arbiter and Blake was found guilty on all charges by the judgement machine. Sentence was then decided in the case, also by the judgement machine, not the arbiter.
2. Travis's trial: The charges against Travis were brought under Section 3 of the War Crimes Statute Code. In this case, the computer was programmed with judgement programme one oblique three. As in The Way Back, a tribunal of three, with Fleet Warden General Samor presiding as temporary arbiter, ran the court proceedings. The defendant reported for judgement and was asked to identify himself. Once recognised by the court, the defendant asked if he accepted the authority of the arbiter, the balance of the judgement programme, and the competence of the defending officer. Travis accepted; and the computer read out the formal indictment, to which he was asked to formally answer.
Travis pleaded not guilty; and the defence was given the opportunity to make an opening declaration, to which they declined but reserved the right to respond later. It is at this point that the prosecution's data was entered into the computer. Note that the defence's data was not entered, unlike the judgement machine in The Way Back, which had both sets of evidence entered in at the same time. The defence, via the arbiter, could challenge the evidence as the computer processed it. Again, this was in complete contrast to the judgement machine, which underwent its evaluation without interruption.
After the prosecution's evidence was complete, the computer awaited further instructions or data input. The defence then asked for their data to be entered; but in this case, Major Thania, the defending officer, requested permission to make her opening declaration, for which permission was granted. However, an argument broke out between Travis and Thania, the result of which the former was allowed to make the declaration, During this declaration, he alleged that his actions were instinctive, reacting under battle conditions, just as he was trained to and that if he was guilty, so were his superiors. Thania was then asked once again if the defence data was ready, to which she responded positively and it was entered into the computer. The arbiter instructed the computer to run judgement, after which it judged Travis to be guilty as charged.
The tribunal then retired to consider sentence. Again, this was in complete contrast to Blake's trial, in which the judgement machine decided the sentence. Samor advised Travis that they could not accept his contention that his actions were a result of his training and that he would be stripped of all rank and privileges, dishonourably dismissed the service and executed. The trial was brought to an abrupt conclusion as Blake attacked Servalan's headquarters, where the trial was being held; and Travis escaped justice.
See also ADVOCATE, ARBITER, BLAKE, CLERK OF COURT, COURTS (FEDERATION), LAWYERS, Alta MORAG, SAMOR, THANIA, TRAVIS, Tel VARON.
A model of android, used as a basis for the substitute Avalon put aboard the Liberator.
The term used by Governor LeGrand to refer to the alliance of herself, Blake and Shivan.
| Federation officer, rank unspecified but superior to Sergeant Selson and subordinate to Space Major Provine. Based with the Federation Space Assault Force detachment on Albian, he remained behind in the control room after Provine and Selson left for the rocket silo, waiting four minutes before activating the solium radiation device. He was shot and fatally wounded in the process, but managed to start the countdown before he died. |  |
|
Federation troopers appeared frequently, and quite a few ended up dead on the
floor. They were seen in The Way Back, Time Squad,
Seek-Locate-Destroy, Project Avalon, Bounty,
Shadow, Weapon, Horizon, Trial, Killer,
Countdown, Voice from the Past, Star One,
Aftermath, Powerplay, Volcano, The Harvest of
Kairos, Children of Auron, Rumours of Death, Moloch,
Traitor, Games, Warlord and Blake.
|  |
The helmet was black with a hinged visor. A green band ran around the upper rim in most cases, but this was missing from the troopers in Volcano and Children of Auron and some of those in Rumours of Death. This may indicate a particular kind of unit (such as marines) but there is no evidence for or against this.
Normal weaponry was a standard issue carbine, referred to by Avon in Volcano simply as a "handgun". Fan lore sometimes refers to this weapon as a 'paragun', a term not used in any episode. A pistol version was also seen on various occasions, wielders including Del Tarrant in Powerplay and Sula in Rumours of Death. The stock of the handgun was extendable, as demonstrated by Avon in Cygnus Alpha, and also removable, effectively making the weapon a heavy pistol - this was seen in Games. Various marks of each weapon may have existed, as a number of different sound signatures were heard at various times. Troopers were seen carrying different weapons in Moloch, Traitor, Warlord and Blake.
Ranks mentioned included Trooper, Squad Leader, Sergeant, Sergeant-Major, Section Leader, Captain, Major, Space Major, Subcommander, Space Commander, Colonel and General. Others, such as Base Commander, Brigade Commander, Deputy Commander, Guard Commander, Intelligence Commander and Security Commander may have been ranks in their own right, but were more likely positions of responsibility held by officers of varying rank. Tarrant trained as a Space Captain, but this might be a space fleet rather than an army rank. Trooper as a rank is probably equivalent to Private, Par being addressed as "Trooper Par" by Thania.
Troopers were frequently seen in groups of six: six troopers rode on each of the electric cars seen in The Way Back, patrols of six were seen around Sarkoff's residence in Bounty, and at Residence-1 on Earth in Rumours of Death. This might indicate the size of a squad. The only other bodies mentioned were the section, with no indication of its strength, and the brigade, again with no details.
Several units were referred to. The Interrogation Division took charge of Cally in Seek-Locate-Destroy. Maryatt was a Space Surgeon in the Medical Corps. Both of these may have been blanket terms for a number of more discrete units. The President's personal security force may have been a Space Command unit, as may Governor LeGrand's forces, but this seems unlikely, particularly in the case of the latter. The Space Assault Force were described as "crack troops". Klegg and his troopers belonged to the Federation Death Squad. Survivors of the Fifth Legion were encountered on Sardos, which rather implies at least four other legions - their equipment included a T-16 troop transporter, suggesting that legions were a combined arms force. The President was, amongst other things, Lord General of the Six Armies, but such a title may not have meant much as far as practical military organisation was concerned.
In Project Avalon Blake said that Federation troopers were very highly trained, but little indication of their combat expertise was evident.
See also DEATH SQUAD, FIFTH LEGION, RANK, WEAPONS.
A Sarran, called to by Chel whilst looking for War survivors.
Occasionally encountered in space: Artix broadcast a turbulence alert to the crew of the London when spectrum shock waves began hitting the ship. Zen pointed out that flying through the fluid cloud encountered en route to Terminal could result in turbulence, and Cally made a reference to having passed through it before. Cally had previously mentioned turbulence in Breakdown. Turbulence was encountered by Scorpio on returning from Pharos: Dayna suggested a freak magnetic storm as the cause, but Muller's android had more than a passing hand in it.
Quoted by Avon and Tarrant as Avon returned to the Liberator after nearly being killed by Servalan (Avon: "The rumours of my death..."; Tarrant: "...have been much exaggerated").
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) is often attributed with having said this. His actual words were, in a cable from Europe to the Associated Press, "The report of my death was an exaggeration".
The Space Princess, en route from Zerok to Earth, passed the ferocious star (?) of Pyrrus, which Keiller described as "the twelfth wonder of...". Perhaps a reference to "twelve wonders of the galaxy", but no real elaboration given.
| Assistant to and later revealed to be daughter of President Sarkoff on UP-Bounty, where she was seen to drive Sarkoff's automobile. Tyce initially held Blake at gunpoint with a pair of flintlock pistols whilst she disarmed him, but was later persuaded to leave with Blake and Cally whether her father agreed to come with them or not. On the Liberator she was held prisoner by Tarvin, tried to kill him with a concealed weapon, and was nearly killed herself until Sarkoff shot Tarvin. She left Liberator with Sarkoff, presumably to Lindor. |  |
| Commander Technician on the Q-base on Fosforon, Tynus trained with Avon and later worked with him on a fraud. Avon was arrested but kept quiet about Tynus" involvement. On Fosforon Avon used this to blackmail him into acquiring a TP crystal from the A-line converter. Tynus delayed things as long as possible, sending a message to Servalan informing her of Avon's presence. Vila discovered the message. Tynus was eventually thrown into the A-line converter during a struggle with Avon, and died from the 250,000 volt current flowing through it (and him). He kept locusts, which he was seen sketching, and Dr Bellfriar suspected he might be "space happy". |  |
Th remains of a Type 6 Survey ship were found on the surface of Crandor. Tarrant noted that Federation survey ships had a habit of not returning from the 12th sector, so the Type 6 was may well have been a Federation craft. If so, it was possibly built on Xaranor.