Extraction
Printed pages 101–107. Records documented in this chapter; later article sections may include subsequent events.
Showing introductory records. Switch to Full archive above to include later names and revelations.
Camp Skadi
Camp Skadi is a Flaxen prison and forced-labor camp commanded by Colonel Jaakobah Flint. Its inmates endure hunger, disease, overcrowding, violence, and the threat associated with the red circles.
Colonel Hastings
Colonel Hastings is a United Earth Tier 1 special-operations officer carried aboard Echo. Captain Eastcott places him in command of the reconstituted volunteer force.
Combat crescents
Combat crescents were transparent devices worn around the eyes by Echo's Marines. They combined enhanced vision, tactical displays, communications, translation, and weapons control.
Copious
Copious is the planned destination of the first attempted human expedition beyond the solar system. It lies just under thirty-five light-years from Earth, orbiting an orange K-dwarf star.
Earth reconnaissance satellites
Satellites remaining from before Echo's departure for Copious provided reconnaissance during its return to Earth. Echo reestablished communications with them and used their optical and infrared feeds to support military operations.
Echo
Echo is a United Earth starship and the self-aware artificial intelligence who operates the vessel. Commanded by Kip Eastcott, he carries roughly one thousand people on the Copious expedition.
Extraction from Camp Skadi
Hastings's Marines extracted Serilda Corazon and Megan from Camp Skadi in a covert night operation ordered by Captain Eastcott. The mission succeeded without friendly casualties or an alarm from the Flaxen garrison.
Field medical equipment
Echo's Marines carried portable medical scanners and treatment devices capable of rapidly diagnosing and medicating prisoners in the field. They used them on the malnourished, infected inhabitants of hut seven.
Hut seven
Hut seven is a prisoner dwelling within Camp Skadi. Serilda Corazon, Megan, and numerous sick or injured inmates live within its thin metal walls.
Julius Forrender
Julius Forrender is President of United Earth during the war against the Flaxens.
Kip Eastcott
Captain Kip Eastcott commands Echo on the Copious expedition. A veteran of the war with Mars, he leads a crew far removed from the world they knew.
Marine rifles
The rifles carried by Hastings's Marines combined a silent microwave beam, conventional kinetic ammunition, and guided rockets. Their flexibility supported covert entry and open firefights.
Megan
Megan is a human prisoner in Camp Skadi and Serilda Corazon’s closest companion. Seriously weakened by the camp’s conditions, she depends on Serilda’s care and shares her concern for their fellow prisoners.
Serilda Corazon
Serilda Corazon is a woman of human and Flaxen parentage imprisoned at Camp Skadi. She cares for her friend Megan and the other occupants of hut seven while strange visions of a starship trouble her sleep.
Six Years' War
The Six Years' War is the conflict between United Earth and the secessionist Martian Confederacy. It ends in United Earth's victory five years before the Copious expedition departs.
The Moon
The Moon is Earth's natural satellite. Echo uses its far side to conceal the ship's location while preparing contact with contemporary United Earth.
Tier 1 special operations
Tier 1 special operations is an elite branch represented among the former Marines aboard Echo. Its members specialize in covert combat.
Translation matrix
Echo's translation matrix converts between the expedition's English and the changed languages of contemporary Earth and Venus. It enables live diplomatic conversation despite almost ten thousand years of linguistic change.