Collateral Damage
Printed pages 146–156. 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.
Attack on Echo
Brookes attacked Echo and its scorpion near Earth with a modified hawk. Lucinda and Ensign Stuart Trew were killed, and Echo escaped with severe damage.
Bombing of York
The Flaxens bombed York in retaliation for the penetration of their territory during Serilda's rescue. They deliberately concentrated on civilian population centers rather than military or government sites.
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.
Flaxen Air Force
The Flaxen Air Force operated yellow-winged aircraft marked with a black glyph inside a white circle. Its fighters and bombers carried out the attack on York and the massacre of captives in Texas.
Flaxen communications network
The Flaxens' global communications depended on satellites and a central radio transmitter in North America. Lucinda was sent to destroy the transmitter after Shrader threatened daily massacres.
Flaxen insignia
Flaxen insignia combined yellow, white, and black with a distinctive black glyph. Aircraft displayed the glyph inside a white circle on yellow wings, and combat knives bore it on yellow handles.
Flaxen salute
Flaxen public gestures of allegiance included raising a fist and invoking the Flaxus. Subordinates also bowed their heads before senior officers.
Flaxens
The Flaxens are the people of Venus who claim a separate and superior identity to humans. Their state wages a campaign of conquest on Earth.
Hawks
Hawks were advanced arrow-shaped transport craft taken from Cylli by Brookes and modified as weapons. Their speed, stealth, protection, and sphere beams initially overwhelmed Echo's remaining defenses.
Helen Chute
Lieutenant Commander Helen Chute is Echo’s counselor. She supports the crew through the personal consequences of their displacement.
Kilter Shrader
Field Marshal Kilter Shrader was the most senior Flaxen on Earth and the highest military official of the Flaxus. He threatened United Earth with daily mass killings unless it ended its alliance with Echo.
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.
Lillet Corazon
Lillet Corazon is Serilda Corazon's human mother. She recognizes her daughter's mental abilities during childhood and keeps them secret.
Lucinda Orcana
Lieutenant Lucinda Orcana is Echo’s chief tactical officer. She serves on Captain Kip Eastcott’s bridge crew.
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.
North America
North America is the initial center of Flaxen settlement and conquest on Earth. The first war leaves the Flaxens in control of nearly the whole continent, extending into much of Mexico.
Railguns
Railguns are shipboard weapons that use magnetic acceleration to fire titanium slugs. They serve in the ancient United Earth and Martian fleets.
Reflective armor
Cylli's protective surface could reverse its normal absorption of incoming energy and deflect photons. Her shipyards gave Echo and its surviving scorpion armor using the same principle.
Sarah Dimple
Commander Sarah Dimple is Echo’s executive officer and Captain Kip Eastcott’s second in command. A veteran of the war with Mars, she combines loyalty to her captain with a willingness to challenge his decisions.
Scorpions
Scorpions were small combat craft carried by Echo, named for their insect-like shape and pincer-mounted plasma cannons. Originally designed to fight in swarms during the six years' war, they retained weapons during Echo's conversion for colonization.
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.
Soriah
Ensign Soriah served aboard Echo. During lunch with Serilda, he told her about the bombing of York and its connection to the raid that had freed her.
Sphere beam
A sphere beam is a directed violet energy weapon powered by energy diverted from a sphere drive. Its output depends on the materials available to conduct that energy.
Sphere drive
The sphere drive is Avalon Brookes's propulsion technology, which draws photonic energy from higher dimensions through a hypersphere. It is intended to propel the Copious expedition at eighty percent of light speed.
Stealth systems
The hawks carried concealment systems that prevented Echo's sensors from detecting them until they were dangerously close. Cylli later gave Echo and its remaining scorpion comparable stealth.
Subdermal communicators
Subdermal communicators are tiny implants used by Echo's personnel for calls and displays. Kip Eastcott's implant projects blue holographic text above his wrist.
Texas
Texas was a region of Flaxen-controlled Earth where approximately one hundred thousand captive Humans were enclosed in a wire-fenced square. Flaxen bombers killed them during Kilter Shrader's broadcast to United Earth.
Texas massacre
Flaxen bombers killed approximately one hundred thousand captive Humans in Texas during a broadcast by Kilter Shrader. He demanded that United Earth break its alliance with Echo or face further daily killings of the same scale.
United Earth
United Earth is the human government resisting the Flaxen conquest of Earth. Its institutions include a presidency, armed forces, and intelligence services.
York
York was a regional capital of United Earth and the most heavily populated city in Europe. Flaxen bombers deliberately attacked its population centers after Serilda's extraction.