Margaret Colicos stood close to DD, as if in a daze. “After thousands of years of breeding and recovery, the Klikiss are ready to swarm again. They want their planets back.”
Waves of Klikiss creatures exhibiting several different shapes or breeds continued to flow through the transportal. The giant insects seemed numberless. Already, hundreds had marched through the trapezoidal gateway, sweeping out into the Llaro colony.
Margaret continued: “The Klikiss have returned with a vendetta against their treacherous robots, who brought about the end of their civilization ten thousand years ago.”
As the alarm spread, Llaro settlers ran about, shouting, trying to find ways to defend themselves. But the Klikiss had not attacked, Orli realized. Not yet.
Margaret turned to look behind her. “At this moment, Klikiss are swarming through every transportal on every one of their worlds. They will reclaim their sovereign territory.”
Orli saw a larger shape emerge through the transportal, a giant Klikiss covered with enormous spines, curved spikes, and mottled armor. Its head crests were jagged and threatening, vastly more powerful than the rest of the Klikiss.
In a clicking and chittering language that was oddly musical, with notes that rose and fell in an alien melody, the giant Klikiss spoke to Margaret. The little compy DD translated, the brightness of his tone belying the dire message. “The breedex is angered to see such widespread human habitation on these worlds.”
Margaret’s unfocused gaze swept across the established colony on Llaro. “Leave. Or the Klikiss will exterminate you all.”
GLOSSARY OF CHARACTERS AND TERMINOLOGY
Adam, Prince—predecessor to Raymond Aguerra, considered an unacceptable candidate.
Adar—highest military rank in the Ildiran Solar Navy.
Aguerra, Raymond—streetwise young man from Earth, former identity of King Peter.
Aladdia, Sofia—transportal technician on Rheindic Co, reassigned to study the hydrogue derelict on Earth.
Alexa, Mother—interim ruler of Theroc, wife of Father Idriss, mother of Reynald, Beneto, Sarein, Estarra, and Celli.
Andez, Shelia—EDF soldier, held captive by Roamers at the Osquivel shipyards.
Aquarius—wental distribution ship flown by Nikko Chan Tylar, damaged by Klikiss robots on Jonah 12.
Archfather—symbolic head of the Unison religion on Earth.
Avila—Roamer clan.
Battleaxe—nickname for former Hansa Chairman Maureen Fitzpatrick.
BeBob—Rlinda Kett’s pet name for Branson Roberts.
Ben—third Great King of the Terran Hanseatic League.
Beneto—green priest, second son of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa, killed by hydrogues on Corvus Landing, but returned to the worldforest as a wooden golem.
Big Goose—Roamer derogatory term for the Terran Hanseatic League.
blazer—Ildiran illumination source.
Blind Faith—trading ship owned by Branson Roberts. Destroyed along with Davlin Lotze during EDF pursuit.
Blue Sky Mine—skymine facility at Golgen, operated by Ross Tamblyn, destroyed by hydrogues.
Bria’nh, Tal—legendary Ildiran commander who fought against the Shana Rei.
Briggs, Sergeant James—security chief aboard the Juggernaut Eldorado.
Brindle, Conrad—Robb Brindle’s father, former military officer.
Brindle, Natalie—Robb Brindle’s mother, former military officer.
Brindle, Robb—young EDF recruit, comrade of Tasia Tamblyn, captive of hydrogues after the battle of Osquivel.
Burton—one of the eleven generation ships from Earth, fourth to depart. Lost en route, captured by Ildirans, and the colonists aboard were used as breeding subjects.
Caillié—one of the eleven generation ships from Earth, taken to settle Theroc.
Cain, Eldred—deputy and heir apparent of Basil Wenceslas, pale-skinned and hairless, an art collector.
carbon slammer—new-design EDF weapon, effective at breaking carbon-carbon bonds.
cargo escort—Roamer vessel used to deliver ekti shipments from skymines.
Carrera, Ensign Federico—EDF trainee pilot, part of General Lanyan’s “cavalry.”
Celli—youngest daughter of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa.
Chan—Roamer clan.
Charybdis—the first water world where Jess disseminated the wentals.
Childress, Ensign Sandra—EDF trainee, part of General Lanyan’s “cavalry.”
chrysalis chair—reclining throne of the Mage-Imperator.
citysphere—enormous hydrogue habitation complex.
clanker—deprecatory term for either compies or Klikiss robots.
Clarin, Roberto—former administrator of Hurricane Depot, now leader of POWs on Llaro.
cloud harvester—ekti-gathering facility designed by the Hansa.
Clydia—one of the nineteen green priest volunteers aboard EDF ships.
cohort—battle group of the Ildiran Solar Navy consisting of seven maniples, or 343 ships.
Colicos, Anton—son of Margaret and Louis Colicos, translator and student of epic stories, sent to Ildiran Empire to study the Saga of Seven Suns.
Colicos, Margaret—xeno-archaeologist, wife of Louis Colicos, specializing in ancient Klikiss artifacts, vanished through transportal during Klikiss robot attack on Rheindic Co.
competent computerized companion—intelligent servant robot, called compy, available in Analytical, Friendly, Teacher, Governess, Listener, and other models.
compy—shortened term for “competent computerized companion.”
Corribus—Klikiss colony world, obliterated by Klikiss robots.
Corvus Landing—Hansa colony world, obliterated by hydrogues.
Covitz, Orli—waifish survivor of the Corribus massacre.
Crenna—Hansa colony world, evacuated when hydrogue-faeros battles extinguished its sun.
Cyroc’h—former Mage-Imperator, father of Jora’h.
Daniel—new Prince candidate selected by the Hansa as a potential replacement for Peter.
Daro’h—Dobro Designate-in-waiting.
DD—Friendly compy, formerly owned by Margaret and Louis Colicos; taken captive by Klikiss robots, but recently escaped.
Designate—any purebred noble son of the Mage-Imperator, ruler of an Ildiran world.
diamondfilm—crystalline parchment used for Ildiran documents.
Diente, Admiral Esteban—Grid 9 commander.
Dobro—Ildiran colony world, site of human-Ildiran breeding camps.
Dogged Persistence—Roamer trading ship owned by Denn Peroni.
doorbells—resonance mats invented by Kotto Okiah, capable of blasting open a hydrogue warglobe.
drogue—deprecatory term for hydrogue.
dunsel—slang term for token human commanders aboard EDF rammer ships.
Durris—trinary star system, close white and orange stars orbited by a red dwarf; three of the Ildiran “seven suns,” one of which was extinguished by faeros-hydrogue battles.
EA—Tasia Tamblyn’s personal compy; her memory was wiped when she was interrogated by Basil Wenceslas.
Earth Defense Forces—Terran space military, headquartered on Mars but with jurisdiction throughout the Terran Hanseatic League.
Eddies—slang term for soldiers in the EDF.
EDF—Earth Defense Forces.
ekti—exotic allotrope of hydrogen used to fuel Ildiran stardrives.
Eldorado—Grid 5 flagship Juggernaut, captained by Admiral Kostas Eolus.
Elman, Private Kevin—silver beret.
Eolus, Kostas—Grid 5 admiral.
Estarra—daughter of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa. Current Queen of the Terran Hanseatic League, married to King Peter.
faeros—sentient fire entities dwelling within stars.
Fitzpatrick, Maureen—former Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League, grandmother of Patrick Fitzpatrick III.
Fitzpatrick, Patrick, III—spoiled cadet in the Earth Defen
se Forces, General Lanyan’s protégé, presumed dead after the battle of Osquivel but captured by Roamers in Del Kellum’s shipyards.
Forrey, Karlton—first Roamer to set up operations at Forrey’s Folly, which ended in disaster.
Forrey’s Folly—Roamer outpost.
frak—slang term for fracture-pulse drone.
Frederick, King—previous figurehead ruler of the Terran Hanseatic League, assassinated by hydrogue emissary.
Frick, Anselm—Palace District businessman.
fungus reef—giant worldtree growth on Theroc, carved into a habitation by the Therons.
Gale’nh—experimental half-breed son of Nira Khali and Adar Kori’nh, third oldest of her children.
Goff, Boris—Roamer skyminer.
Gold, Sullivan—administrator of the Hansa’s modular cloud harvester at Qronha 3, now held prisoner on Ildira.
Golgen—gas giant where Ross Tamblyn’s Blue Sky Mine was destroyed, bombarded by comets targeted by Jess Tamblyn. Wentals have made it safe for skymining again.
Goliath—first expanded Juggernaut in EDF fleet.
green priest—servant of the worldforest, able to use worldtrees for instantaneous communication.
GU—Analytical compy assigned to work with Kotto Okiah.
Guiding Star—Roamer philosophy and religion, a guiding force in a person’s life.
Hall of Rememberers—central building of the rememberer kith, where the Saga of Seven Suns is compiled and memorized.
Hansa—Terran Hanseatic League.
Haphine—gas giant.
Happiness—former Klikiss world, colonized by neo-Amish group.
Huck, Tabitha—engineer aboard Sullivan Gold’s cloud harvester at Qronha 3, now held captive at Ildira.
Huystra, Jeremiah—leader of neo-Amish farmers on Happiness.
hydrogues—alien race living at cores of gas-giant planets.
Hyrillka—Ildiran colony in the Horizon Cluster, devastated by recent rebellion led by Designate Rusa’h.
Idriss, Father—ruler of Theroc, husband of Mother Alexa, father of Reynald, Beneto, Sarein, Estarra, and Celli.
Ildira—home planet of the Ildiran Empire.
Ildiran Empire—large alien empire, the only other major civilization in the Spiral Arm.
Ildirans—humanoid alien race with many different breeds, or kiths.
Isix cats—sleek feline predators native to Ildira; Jora’h’s daughter Yazra’h keeps three of them.
Isperos—hot planet, site of Kotto Okiah’s failed mining base.
Jack—first Great King of the Terran Hanseatic League.
jazer—energy weapon used by the Earth Defense Forces.
Jora’h—Mage-Imperator of the Ildiran Empire.
Juggernaut—large battleship class in the Earth Defense Forces.
Kamarov, Raven—Roamer cargo ship captain, destroyed along with his cargo ship by Patrick Fitzpatrick III.
Keffa, Smith—hydrogue prisoner and experimental subject.
Kellum, Del—Roamer clan leader, in charge of the Osquivel shipyards.
Kellum, Zhett—daughter of Del Kellum.
Kett, Rlinda—merchant woman, captain of the Voracious Curiosity.
Khali, Nira—female green priest, lover of Jora’h, mother of Osira’h.
kith—a breed of Ildiran.
kleeb—derogatory term for an EDF cadet.
Klie’f—senior member of the Ildiran scientist kith.
Klikiss—ancient insectlike race, long vanished from the Spiral Arm, leaving only their empty cities.
Klikiss robots—intelligent beetlelike robots built by the Klikiss race.
Klikiss Torch—a weapon/mechanism developed by the ancient Klikiss race to implode gas-giant planets and create new stars.
Kolker—green priest, friend of Yarrod, stationed on Sullivan Gold’s modular cloud harvester at Qronha 3, now held captive on Ildira. He has lost his treeling.
Kori’nh, Adar—leader of the Ildiran Solar Navy, killed in suicidal assault against hydrogues on Qronha 3.
Kosevic, Brion—executive officer aboard the Goliath.
Kowalski—Roamer clan.
Kowalski, Oscar—head of operations at Forrey’s Folly.
KR—Analytical compy assigned to work with Kotto Okiah.
Lanyan, General Kurt—commander of the Earth Defense Forces.
lens kithmen—philosopher-priests who help guide troubled Ildirans, interpreting faint guidance from the thism.
Lightsource—the Ildiran version of Heaven, a realm on a higher plane composed entirely of light. Ildirans believe that faint trickles of this light break through into our universe and are channeled through the Mage-Imperator and distributed across their race through the thism.
Llaro—abandoned Klikiss world, now used as a colony and also as a POW holding world for Roamer prisoners.
Lorie’nh, Tal—cohort commander in the Ildiran Solar Navy.
Lotze, Davlin—Hansa exosociologist and spy on Crenna, now presumed dead but hiding on Llaro.
Mae, Terene—EDF ensign.
Mage-Imperator—the god-emperor of the Ildiran Empire.
maniple—battle group of the Ildiran Solar Navy consisting of seven septas, or 49 ships.
Manta—midsize cruiser class in the EDF.
Maratha—former Ildiran resort world, now infested with Klikiss robots.
McCammon, Captain Richard—head of royal guard in the Whisper Palace.
Mijistra—glorious capital city of the Ildiran Empire.
Muree’n—experimental half-breed daughter of Nira Khali and a guard kithman, youngest of her children.
Nahton—court green priest on Earth, serves King Peter.
nematodes—scarlet prehistoric worms living in the underground ocean of Plumas.
Nemo, Alexander—false name of Davlin Lotze.
nialia—plantmoth grown on Hyrillka, source of the drug shiing.
Nira—female green priest, lover of Jora’h and mother of Osira’h.
Nodu’nh, Tal—commander of a Solar Navy cohort.
Nogales, Rosamaria—biologist studying the hydrogue derelict.
Okiah, Jhy—former Speaker of the Roamer clans, now dead.
Okiah, Kotto—Jhy Okiah’s youngest son, brash and eccentric inventor.
O’nh, Tal—second-highest-ranking officer in the Ildiran Solar Navy, has only one eye.
Orryx—Ildiran splinter colony, first to be destroyed by the Shana Rei.
Osira’h—daughter of Nira Khali and Jora’h, possesses unusual telepathic abilities.
Osquivel—ringed gas planet, site of secret Roamer shipyards, now abandoned.
ossuarium—storage chamber in the Prism Palace for the glowing skulls of former Mage-Imperators.
Otema—old green priest, sent from Theroc to Ildira, where she was murdered by the former Mage-Imperator.
OX—Teacher compy, one of the oldest Earth robots. Now instructor and adviser to King Peter.
Palace District—governmental zone around the Whisper Palace on Earth.
Palawu, Howard—Chief Science Adviser to King Peter, one of the dissectors of the Klikiss robot Jorax.
Palmer, Bing—Roamer skyminer.
Pasternak, Shareen—chief of Welyr skymine; betrothed to Del Kellum but killed in an early hydrogue strike.
Paxton, Sergeant W. H.—leader of silver beret squad.
Pellidor, Franz—assistant to Basil Wenceslas, an “expediter.”
Peroni, Cesca—Roamer Speaker of all clans. Cesca was betrothed to Ross Tamblyn, but has always loved his brother Jess.
Peroni, Denn—Cesca’s father, a Roamer merchant.
Peroni, Lyra—Cesca’s mother.
Pery’h—Hyrillka Designate-in-waiting, murdered at the start of Rusa’h’s rebellion.
Peter, King—successor to Old King Frederick.
Plumas—frozen moon with deep liquid oceans, site of clan Tamblyn water industry.
Prime Designate—eldest noble-born son and heir apparent of Ildi
ran Mage-Imperator.
Prism Palace—dwelling of the Ildiran Mage-Imperator.
Qronha 3—gas giant close to Ildira, site of the first hydrogue attack on Ildiran cloud harvesters, then repeat attack on Sullivan Gold’s skymine.
Ramirez, Elly, Commander—acting commander of Tasia Tamblyn’s Manta cruiser.
rammer—kamikaze EDF ship designed to be crewed by Soldier compies; initial sixty lost at Qronha 3.
rememberer—member of the Ildiran storyteller kith.
Remora—small attack ship in the Earth Defense Forces.
Rendezvous—asteroid cluster, center of Roamer government, destroyed by EDF.
Reynald—eldest son of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa, killed in hydrogue attack on Theroc.
Rheindic Co—abandoned Klikiss world, site of major excavation by the Colicos team.
Ridek’h—young boy, new Designate of Hyrillka.
Roamers—loose confederation of independent humans, primary producers of ekti stardrive fuel.
Roberts, Branson—former husband and business partner of Rlinda Kett, also called BeBob.
Rod’h—experimental half-breed son of Nira Khali and the Dobro Designate, second oldest of her children.
Rossia—eccentric green priest, survivor of a wyvern attack, now volunteer aboard EDF ships.
Ruis, Lupe—former mayor of evacuated Crenna colony.
Rusa’h—Hyrillka Designate, leader of unsuccessful revolt against the Mage-Imperator; flew his ship into the sun before he could be captured.
Saga of Seven Suns—historical and legendary epic of the Ildiran civilization.
Sandoval—Roamer clan.
Sarein—eldest daughter of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa, Theron ambassador to Earth, also Basil Wenceslas’s lover.
Sarhi, Padme—Grand Governor of Yreka colony.
seedship—verdani battleship; also, treeship.
septa—small battle group of seven ships in the Ildiran Solar Navy.
septar—commander of a septa.
Shadow Fleet—legendary group of Ildiran warliners destroyed by the Shana Rei.
Shana Rei—legendary “creatures of darkness” in the Saga of Seven Suns.
shiing—stimulant drug made from nialia plantmoths on Hyrillka, dulls Ildiran receptivity to the thism.
Shir’of—senior member of the Ildiran engineering kith.
shizz—Roamer expletive.
silver berets—sophisticated EDF special forces.
Of Fire and Night Page 56