A Pillar of Fire by Night

by Tom Kratman

Mukhabarat: Arabic: Secret Police.

  Mullah: Holy man, sometimes holy, sometimes not.

  Na’ib ’Dabit: Arabic: sergeant major.

  Naik: Corporal.

  Naquib: Arabic: Captain.

  NGO: NonGovernmental Organization.

  Noahs: Aliens that seeded Terra Nova with life, some from Old Earth, some possibly from other planets, some possibly genetically engineered, in the dim mists of prehistory. No definitive trace of them has ever been found.

  Ocelot: Volgan-built light armored vehicle mounting a 100mm gun and capable of carrying a squad of infantry in the back.

  Meg: Coastal Defense Submarine employed by the legion, also the shark, Carcharodon Megalodon, from which the submarine class draws its name.

  M-26: A heavy-barreled version of the F-26, serving as the Legion’s standard light machine gun.

  PMC: Precious Metal Certificate. High denomination legionary investment vehicle.

  Progressivine: A fruit-bearing vine found on Terra Nova. Believed to have been genengineered by the Noahs. The fruit is intensely poisonous to intelligent life.

  Puma: A much improved Balboan tank, built in Volga and modified in Zion and Balboa.

  Push: As in “tactical push.” Radio frequency or frequency hopping sequence, so-called from the action of pushing the button that activates the transmitter.

  PZ: Pickup Zone. A place where helicopters pick up troops, equipment, and supplies to move them somewhere else.

  RGL: Rocket Grenade Launcher.

  Roland: A Gallic Main Battle Tank, or MBT.

  RTO: Radio-Telephone Operator.

  Satan Triumphant: A hot pepper of Terra Nova, generally unfit for human consumption, though sometimes used in food preservation and refinable into a blister agent for chemical warfare.

  Sayyidi: Arabic form of respectful address, “Sir.”

  SCIB: Shaped Charge Incendiary Bomb.

  Sergeyevich-83: Or Serg-83, a Volgan-designed, Zhong-built naval fighter-bomber, capable of vertical take- off and landing, and of carrying an ordnance load of about two tons.

  SHEBSA: Servicio Helicoptores Balboenses, S.A. Balboan Helicopter Service, part of the hidden reserve.

  Sochaux S4: A Gallic four wheel drive light truck.

  SPATHA: Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Heavy Armor. A legionary tank destroyer, under development.

  SPLAD: Self-Propelled Laser Air Defense. A developed legionary antiaircraft system.

  Subadar: In ordinary use a major or tribune III equivalent.

  Surah: A chapter in the Koran, of which there are 114.

  Tercio: Spanish: Regiment.

  Tranzitree: A fruit-bearing tree, believed to have been genengineered by the Noahs. The fruit is intensely poisonous to intelligent life.

  Trixie: A species of archaeopteryx brought to Terra Nova by the Noahs.

  TUSF-B: Tauran Union Security Force-Balboa.

  UEPF: United Earth Peace Fleet, the military arm of the Consensus in space.

  Volcano: A very large thermobaric bomb, set off primarily by a seismic fuse.

  Yakamov: A type of helicopter produced in Volga. It has no tail rotor.

  APPENDIX B

  LEGIONARY RANK EQUIVALENTS

  Dux, Duque: Indefinite rank, depending on position it can indicate anything from a major general to a field marshall. Duque usually indicates the senior commander on the field.

  Legate III: Brigadier general or major general. Per the contract between the Legion del Cid and the Federated States of Columbia, a Legate III, when his unit is in service to the Federated States, is entitled to the standing and courtesies of a lieutenant general. Typically commands a deployed legion, when a separate legion is deployed, the air ala or the naval classis, or serves as an executive for a deployed corps.

  Legate II: Colonel, typically commands a tercio in the rear or serves on staff if deployed.

  Legate I: Lieutenant colonel, typically commands a cohort or serves on staff.

  Tribune III: Major, serves on staff or sometimes, if permitted to continue in command, commands a maniple.

  Tribune II: Captain, typically commands a maniple.

  Tribune I: First Lieutenant, typically serves as second in command of a maniple, commands a specialty platoon within the cohort’s combat support maniple, or serves on staff.

  Signifer: Second lieutenant or ensign, leads a platoon. Signifer is a temporary rank, and signifers are not considered part of the officer corps of the legions except as a matter of courtesy.

  Sergeant Major: Sergeant major, with no necessary indication of level.

  First Centurion: Senior noncommissioned officer of a maniple.

  Senior Centurion: Master sergeant, but almost always the senior man within a platoon.

  Centurion, J.G.: Sergeant First Class, sometimes commands a platoon but is usually the second in command.

  Optio: Staff sergeant, typically the second in command of a platoon.

  Sergeant: Typically leads a squad.

  Corporal: Typically leads a team or crew or serves as second in command of a squad.

  Legionario,

  or Legionary,

  or Legionnaire: Private through specialist.

  Note that, in addition, under legion regulations adopted in the Anno Condita 471, a soldier may elect to take what is called “Triarius Status.” This locks the soldier into whatever rank he may be, but allows pay raises for longevity to continue. It is one way the legion has used to flatten the rank pyramid in the interests of reducing careerism. Thus, one may sometimes hear or read of a “Triarius Tribune III,” typically a major-equivalent who has decided, with legion accord, that his highest and best use is in a particular staff slot or commanding a particular maniple. Given that the legion—with fewer than three percent officers, including signifers—has the smallest officer corps of any significant military formation on Terra Nova, and a very flat promotion pyramid, the Triarius system seems, perhaps, overkill. Since adoption, regulations permit but do not require Triarius status legionaries to be promoted one rank upon retirement