STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW
‣ SERIES: AURORA CYCLE
▾ CAST
AURORA JIE-LIN O’MALLEY—THE GIRL OUT OF TIME. CENTURIES AGO, HER COLONY SHIP, THE HADFIELD, WAS BOUND FOR OCTAVIA III. WE NOW KNOW IT’S A GOOD THING SHE DIDN’T MAKE IT THERE BECAUSE VERY BAD, VERY … BOTANICAL THINGS HAPPENED TO THE COLONISTS WHO DID. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS INCLUDES HER DAD.
MORE ABOUT HIM IN A MOMENT.
AFTER JOINING FORCES WITH SQUAD 312 OF THE AURORA LEGION, AURI STARTED HAVING PROPHETIC DREAMS, EXHIBITING TELEKINETIC POWERS, AND GENERALLY TRANSFORMING INTO A SMALL BUT DETERMINED SUPERHERO. SHE LEARNED HER POWERS HAD BEEN GIFTED TO HER BY THE ESHVAREN, A MYSTERIOUS RACE WHO DEFEATED THE RA’HAAM EONS AGO.
KNOWING THEIR ANCIENT FOE WAS ONLY SLUMBERING, THE ESHVAREN LEFT BEHIND A WEAPON, AND A WAY FOR THE TRIGGER OF THAT WEAPON TO UNDERTAKE TRAINING IN ITS USE.
INSIDE THE ECHO, A PSYCHIC TRAINING SPACE, AURI MASTERED HER POWERS—AND PRACTICED SOME OTHER THINGS WITH HER BOYFRIEND, KAL. SHE EMERGED, READY TO TAKE DOWN THE RA’HAAM, ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAD ALREADY STOLEN THE WEAPON.
ALSO TRAINED AS A TRIGGER, THE SYLDRATHI WARLORD KNOWN AS THE STARSLAYER HAD USED THE WEAPON TO DESTROY HIS OWN PLANET’S SUN, AND WAS NOW THREATENING EARTH WITH IT. OH, AND TURNS OUT HE’S KAL’S DAD. THAT WAS A CONVERSATION THAT DID NOT END WELL.
LAST SEEN: ABOARD THE WEAPON, A CRYSTAL SHIP, FIGHTING THE STARSLAYER FOR CONTROL OF ITS PLANET-SHATTERING, UNDERWEAR-SOILING POWER.
TYLER JERICHO JONES—THE LEADER TURNED FUGITIVE. WHEN TYLER JOINED THE AURORA LEGION, HE NEVER IMAGINED HIS SQUAD WOULD BE FULL OF THE ACADEMY’S BOTTOM-OF-THE-BARREL CHOICES. THEN AGAIN, HE NEVER IMAGINED HE’D END UP ON THE RUN FROM HALF THE GALAXY, ROBBING BANKS AND RANSACKING SHIPWRECKS, LET ALONE TEAMING UP WITH THE MEANEST SYLDRATHI WARRIOR HE’S EVER LAID EYES ON.
DID I MENTION SHE’S KAL’S SISTER, SAEDII? THAT BOY HAS A LOT OF SKELETONS IN HIS CLOSET.
ANYWAY, TYLER USED HIS TACTICAL BRILLIANCE AND UNPARALLELED DIMPLES TO LEAD HIS SQUAD’S ESCAPE FROM OCTAVIA TO EMERALD CITY, WHERE THEY HEISTED A FAT STACK OF CASH, A BOX OF MYSTERIOUS GIFTS LEFT LONG BEFORE ANY OF THESE SHENANIGANS BEGAN, AND THE KEYS TO A VERY, VERY FANCY NEW SHIP.
IN THE MIDDLE OF STEALING THE HADFIELD’S BLACK BOX, THE GANG WAS TAKEN PRISONER BY THE AFOREMENTIONED SYLDRATHI WARRIOR, SAEDII. ONE DRAKKAN PIT FIGHT LATER, TY FOUND HIMSELF CAPTURED BY THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (AKA THE GIA) ALONGSIDE HIS NEW SYLDRATHI ENEMY.
HE LEARNED MANY THINGS, INCLUDING WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE IN HER UNDERWEAR, AND THAT HE AND SCARLETT ARE NOT HUMAN, AS THEY THOUGHT, BUT THAT THEIR MOTHER WAS A SYLDRATHI WAYWALKER.
LAST SEEN: ON THE RUN WITH HIS NEW FRENEMY, SAEDII.
KALIIS IDRABAN GILWRAETH—THE MISUNDERSTOOD WARRIOR. FROM THE HIGHS OF FINDING A NEW FAMILY IN SQUAD 312 AND FINDING LOVE WITH PSYCHIC WEAPON AURORA TO THE LOWS OF HIS UNMASKING AS THE SON OF THE STARSLAYER AND HIS EXPULSION FROM THE SQUAD, KAL HAS HAD QUITE A TIME RECENTLY.
CAST OUT FOR OMITTING THE TEENSY DETAIL THAT HE WAS THE SON OF THEIR ARCHENEMY, HE RETURNED TO THE FAMILY FOLD. BUT, TWIST! HE REMAINED LOYAL TO AURORA, AND FOUGHT BESIDE HER WHEN SHE ARRIVED TO TAKE ON HIS FATHER.
LAST SEEN: UNDER PSYCHIC ASSAULT ABOARD THE ESHVAREN WEAPON.
SCARLETT ISOBEL JONES—THE FABULOUS ONE, INSTALLER OF MY PERSONALITY PROGRAM, LIGHT OF MY LIFE. SHE ALSO KNOWS WHERE MY OFF SWITCH IS.
THE WORDS “IF SHE ONLY APPLIED HERSELF” APPEARED MORE ON SCAR’S ACADEMY REPORTS THAN ON ANY OTHER CADET’S IN HISTORY, BUT HER UNCANNY EMPATHY (OR NOT-SO-UNCANNY, IF YOU KNOW HER MOTHER WAS A SYLDRATHI WAYWALKER, WHICH SCAR DOES NOT) AND ABSOLUTE LOYALTY TO HER TWIN BROTHER, TYLER, SAW HER CAREENING ACROSS THE GALAXY WITH SQUAD 312, NEVER ONCE CHIPPING A NAIL.
DURING THEIR TIME ON THE RUN, THE SQUAD DISCOVERED A COLLECTION OF GIFTS AT THE DOMINION REPOSITORY, LEFT FOR THEM MANY YEARS BEFORE THEY’D EVEN JOINED THE AURORA LEGION. SCAR SCORED THE BEST ONE—A NECKLACE INSET WITH A CLUSTER OF DIAMONDS. THEY ARE, AS EVERYONE KNOWS, A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND.
AFTER TYLER WAS TAKEN PRISONER BY THE GIA, SCARLETT AND THE OTHERS PUSHED ON TO HELP AURORA RETAKE THE WEAPON FROM THE STARSLAYER, SAVE EARTH, AND GET ON WITH THE JOB OF KILLING THE RA’HAAM BEFORE IT WAKES UP AND EATS THE GALAXY. NO BIG.
LAST SEEN: ABOUT TO MAKE OUT (!!!) WITH FINIAN (!!!), BUT THWARTED AT THE LAST MOMENT BY HIS REALIZATION THAT THE DIAMONDS ON HER NECKLACE AREN’T DIAMONDS AT ALL BUT ESHVAREN CRYSTAL (!!!).
OH YEAH, AND THEN EVERYTHING EXPLODED.
FINIAN DE KARRAN DE SEEL—THE ONE WHO REALLY DOES GROW ON YOU, ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW HIM. RESIDENT BETRASKAN MECHANICAL GENIUS, FINIAN’S PROVEN HIS LOYALTY TO SQUAD 312 OVER AND OVER.
HE MIGHT HAVE SOFTENED HIS ABRASIVE EXTERIOR, BUT YOU CAN PRY HIS SMART-ASSERY FROM HIS COLD, DEAD HANDS. WHICH YOU MIGHT YET GET TO DO, GIVEN THAT THE LAST THING HE, SCARLETT, AND ZILA SAW AT THE END OF OUR LAST VOLUME WAS A BLINDING FLASH OF LIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GIANT SPACE BATTLE TO DEFEND EARTH FROM A VERY CRANKY STARSLAYER.
LAST SEEN: INTERRUPTING HIS OWN LIFELONG DREAM OF KISSING (!!!) SCARLETT JONES (!!!) WITH HIS NECKLACE REALIZATION. THIS BOY NEEDS TO GET OUT OF HIS OWN WAY, SERIOUSLY.
ZILA MADRAN—THE ONE WITH THE EARRINGS. AND THE BRAIN THE SIZE OF A PLANET.
ALTHOUGH ZILA’S SQUAD THOUGHT FOR QUITE SOME TIME THAT SHE WAS A STRAIGHT-UP SOCIOPATH—AND IN THEIR DEFENSE, SHE DID SHOW A VERY UNHEALTHY AFFECTION FOR HER DISRUPTOR’S STUN SETTING—WE’VE SINCE LEARNED THAT AS A CHILD SHE SAW HER PARENTS KILLED AS THEY TRIED TO PROTECT HER, AND THAT SHE’S BEEN ALONE IN THE GALAXY EVER SINCE.
PULLING OFF SOME CONSIDERABLE BADASSERY, INCLUDING RESCUING SQUAD 312 FROM IMPRISONMENT ON SAEDII’S SHIP, SHE’S UPPED HER GAME FROM THEORETICAL TO PRACTICAL, AND SLOWLY BUT SURELY, THE ICE SEEMS TO BE MELTING.
LAST SEEN: GETTING BLOWN INTO HER COMPONENT MOLECULES, ALONG WITH SCARLETT AND FINIAN, DURING THE BATTLE TO SAVE EARTH.
CATHERINE BRANNOCK—THE FALLEN COMRADE. BEST FRIEND TO TYLER AND SCARLETT, AND THE PILOT FOR SQUAD 312, CAT “ZERO” BRANNOCK WAS AN ACE WITHOUT EQUAL.
SHE WAS CONSUMED BY THE RA’HAAM AS THE SQUAD FLED OCTAVIA, BUT THAT WASN’T THE LAST WE SAW OF HER. NOW SHE’S A PART OF THE RA’HAAM, AND IT’S BEEN USING HER KNOWLEDGE TO PURSUE AURORA, TYLER, AND THE REST OF THE SQUAD. IT’S NOT ABOVE USING HER FAMILIAR FACE, EITHER. WHEN TYLER WAS TAKEN PRISONER, SHE INTERROGATED HIM AS PART OF THE GIA.
LAST SEEN: FIRING A BUNCH OF MISSILES AT TYLER’S FAVORITE FACE.
CAERSAN, ARCHON OF THE UNBROKEN—EVERY FAMILY’S GOT ONE, AND HE’S KAL’S. IT’S HELPFUL TO KNOW SYLDRATHI POLITICS HERE.
SO THE SYLDRATHI ARE SPLIT UP INTO CABALS, YES? THE WARBREED ARE THE WARRIORS (THE HINT’S IN THE NAME, REALLY), AND WHEN THE SYLDRATHI SIGNED A PEACE ACCORD WITH THE TERRANS AND BETRASKANS, THE WARRIORS, WELL … THEY’D HAVE PREFERRED TO KEEP FIGHTING.
A PACK OF THEM DUBBED THEMSELVES THE UNBROKEN AND STARTED A SYLDRATHI CIVIL WAR. THEY WERE LED BY CAERSAN, ARCHON OF THE UNBROKEN, AKA THE STARSLAYER. HE EARNED THE NAME BY STEALING THE ESHVAREN WEAPON THAT AURI WAS TRAINING TO USE, AND BLOWING UP HIS OWN PLANET’S SUN IN AN EPIC POWER MOVE THAT CONVINCED EVERYBODY ELSE TO STAY RIGHT OUT OF HIS WAY WHILE HE MADE WAR ON HIS OWN PEOPLE.
HIS SON, KAL, WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM AND SPLIT TO JOIN THE AURORA LEGION INCOGNITO. WE’VE SEEN HOW WELL THAT WORKED OUT FOR HIM.