Miracle Workers

by Keith R. A. DeCandido

  Most references in the minipedia are to the books in the S.C.E. series, but there are also references to Star Trek television episodes, movies, novels, and comic books. Episode designations are tagged with an abbreviation referring to series: TOS= Star Trek, the original series; TAS= Star Trek, the animated series; TNG= Star Trek: The Next Generation; DS9= Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; VOY= Star Trek: Voyager.

  Any errors, corrections, or comments should be sent to S.C.E. Minipedia, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, or e-mailed to SCE@albeshiloh.com.

  #

  110/Soloman. Noncommissioned Starfleet engineer assigned to the U.S.S. da Vinci as a computer specialist. One half of a bonded Bynar pair with 111 (The Belly of the Beast). The two were assigned as civilian observers and computer experts to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers team on the da Vinci (Fatal Error). During the salvage of the ship known as “the Beast,” the insectoid aliens that had taken over the ship attacked the salvage team from the da Vinci and killed 111 in front of 110 (The Belly of the Beast). The loss devastated 110. Bynar tradition holds that if one of a pairing is killed, the other should return to Bynaus for rebonding, but 110 was unwilling to soil 111’s memory by rebonding. He continued to go on missions for the S.C.E., and wound up being vital to a mission to remove a computer virus from the world-controlling computer Ganitriul (Fatal Error). He also was on the away team that investigated the Omearan Starsearcher called Friend. When the da Vinci transported Jaldark Keniria’s corpse off of Friend’s bridge, 110 was trying to link with Friend’s computer, and the ship’s outrage at being separated from its pilot put him into a coma. However, that formed a link between him and Friend, and 110 was able to communicate the truth about Jaldark’s death to Friend. Friend invited 110 to become his new pilot, which he found tempting but ultimately refused, deciding to remain on his own. He was no longer permitted to have a numerical designation at that point, so Captain David Gold nicknamed him “Soloman.” Soloman joined Starfleet as a noncommissioned engineer and retained his position as the computer expert on the da Vinci (Hard Crash). When the da Vinci first encountered the Androssi on Maeglin, 110 and 111 were able to interface with Androssi computers, but with much difficulty. When the da Vinci came up against the Androssi on Empok Nor, Soloman found that he was unable to repeat the process, as the Androssi had upgraded their systems (Cold Fusion). Soloman, like all Bynars, has a belt unit that allows him to communicate directly with computer systems, so he is not required to use the voice interface, which he views as clumsy. Soloman has a computer efficiency rating of ten; the next highest person in Starfleet has an eight (Fatal Error). 110 is the equivalent of the number six in binary code; the name was chosen as a sort of in-joke for fans of The Prisoner, where the title character was Number Six, who did not fit in with the society into which he had been placed.

  111. Civilian computer specialist assigned to the U.S.S. da Vinci as a computer specialist. One half of a bonded Bynar pair with 110 (The Belly of the Beast). The two were assigned as civilian observers and computer experts to the S.C.E. team on the da Vinci (Fatal Error). When the da Vinci encountered the Androssi on Maeglin, 110 and 111 were able to interface with Androssi computers, but with much difficulty (Cold Fusion). During the salvage of the ship known as “the Beast,” the insectoid aliens that had taken over the ship attacked the salvage team from the da Vinci and killed 111 (The Belly of the Beast). 111 had a computer efficiency rating of ten; the next highest person in Starfleet has an eight (Fatal Error).

  A

  ACB. See annular confinement beam.

  Abramowitz, Carol. Noncommissioned Starfleet personnel assigned to the U.S.S. da Vinci as a cultural specialist (The Belly of the Beast). Abramowitz theorized that the Eerlik had a cultural bias against computer security because all their computer systems are linked through Ganitriul. Because of that, their cryptography is nonexistent, and Bart Faulwell and Fabian Stevens were able to hack into the systems of the Senbolma, a ship that was free of Ganitriul’s influence (Fatal Error). Abramowitz served as the liaison between the da Vinci crew and the Tholians during the S.C.E.’s salvage of the U.S.S. Defiant (Interphase Book 1). She also clandestinely monitored the Tholians’ coded communiqués, and after the Tholians fired on the da Vinci, she enlisted Faulwell’s aid in translating those coded messages (Interphase Book 2). Abramowitz is fond of Sinnravian drad music, particularly the recordings of Blee Luu. Her roommate, P8 Blue, objected to her constant playing of Luu’s latest recording, and was only assuaged when Lt. Commander Kieran Duffy, acting as temporary first officer, changed their duty shifts so they wouldn’t be in their quarters at the same time. As a way of making peace, Abramowitz traded her copy of Luu’s music to Lieutenant Nog of Deep Space 9 for an as-yet unspecified item (Cold Fusion).

  Ambrushroi. Religion of some members of the Gallamite race. Followers of Ambrushroi who die are to have their bodies burned within six hours of death (Invincible Book 2).

  Amuk. Worker assigned to the subspace accelerator project on Sarindar. Amuk was killed by the second monster shii when he, Entorr, and Kugot failed to properly spring a trap for it (Invincible Book 2).

  Androssi. Civilization about which very little is known. They first appeared in the Alpha Quadrant in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between Cardassian and Federation space, offering to give technological aid to the Maquis rebels in the DMZ. They have made several appearances since the Dominion War ended, offering to provide technological aid, but often at a high price. The Androssi have a skin tone that ranges from yellow to brown to sepia, with similarly colored hair. Androssi society has a very hierarchical structure. The Elite appear to be the ruling class, and they finance individual ships, with a mandate to acquire technology for their Elite sponsors. Members of the officer class run the ships, and members of the worker class do most of the work on those ships. Among the officer and worker classes, the males generally have untrimmed beards, and both genders wear their hair long and tied back. Members of the officer and worker classes generally are not particularly emotional, and focus on their work. Regard for life appears to be fairly low in Androssi society, at least when it comes to the worker class and alien life. Androssi generally communicate with each other over distances through devices in their ears. They never use visual communication. Androssi ships are rectangular in shape, and tend toward the functional rather than the aesthetic (Cold Fusion). The name Androssi is a play on Andreassi, which is author Keith R.A. DeCandido’s mother’s side of the family, and also what the second of his middle initials stands for.

  Androssi Protocol 1. Security procedure initiated by Lt. Commander Domenica Corsi of the U.S.S. da Vinci. During the da Vinci’s first encounter with the Androssi on Maeglin, they discovered that they could disrupt their equipment with a phaser shot at Level 2, or light stun. During their second encounter at Empok Nor, that protocol failed to stop an Androssi security device, forcing Corsi to call for Androssi Protocol 2 (Cold Fusion).

  Androssi Protocol 2. Security procedure initiated by Lt. Commander Domenica Corsi of the U.S.S. da Vinci. This is a fallback in case Androssi Protocol 1 fails. It entails setting phasers on random settings and frequencies until one is found that can disrupt Androssi technology (Cold Fusion).

  Androssi security device. A circular device, known among the Androssi as a panshar, that, like much Androssi technology, employs dimensional shifts. When activated, the device fires electrical bursts at opponents that cause damage to the central nervous system. Such damage is greater to Bolians than to humans. The device can be disrupted by phasers on a particular setting (Cold Fusion).

  Anilegna. Worker assigned to the subspace accelerator project on Sarindar. Anilegna was killed by the second monster shii (Invincible Book 2).

  annular confinement beam. A cylindrical force field used in transporters to ensure that a person being transported remains within the beam (“Power Play” [TNG]). A larger-scale version of the ACB was used on the subspace accelerator on Sarindar. This ACB was design
ed to clear a path of vacuum through the atmosphere. The power needs of the ACB are such that increases in size mean that its power output is increased logarithmically proportional to that size. The original design of the Sarindar ACB only increased the power exponentially, a potentially devastating error caught by Commander Sonya Gomez (Invincible Book 1). Gomez used the ACB to destroy the second monster shii (Invincible Book 2).

  anprat. A delicacy on the Androssi homeworld that Overseer Biron is particularly fond of (Cold Fusion).

  anril torpedo. Type of weapon that is capable of completely disrupting deflector shields, making it impossible to reconstitute immediately. Overseer Biron’s Androssi ship was equipped with two anril torpedoes, one of which was used against the U.S.S. da Vinci at Empok Nor (Cold Fusion).

  Ansed. The First Speaker of Eerlik. The head of Eerlik’s government, Ansed had to guide her people when Ganitriul, the computer that ran all functions on Eerlik, was sabotaged by Pevvni Purists. Ansed found the need to walk places, to open doors manually, and to be subject to uncontrolled weather patterns to be quite a hardship. Ansed was born on Maryllo Island. She was killed by Undlar, the leader of the Purists (Fatal Error).

  Archimedes, Shuttlecraft. Shuttlecraft assigned to the U.S.S. da Vinci (Fatal Error). Named after the famed Greek mathematician.

  atonal minimalist. Subgenre of Sinnravian drad music. Blee Luu is one of its purveyors (Cold Fusion).

  B

  Barbanti. Chief engineer of the U.S.S. Sugihara. Lieutenant Barbanti thought that Lieutenant Nog’s plan to tow Empok Nor with nine ships was “categorically insane,” and refused to accept any responsibility for it if Captain Janna Demitrijian went along with it (Cold Fusion).

  Barnak, Jil. Chief engineer of the U.S.S. da Vinci. Lieutenant Barnak is an Atrean (The Belly of the Beast). When the Androssi security device was discovered to interfere with all the da Vinci crew’s combadges, Barnak had new ones replicated for the entire crew, which worked on different frequencies and would be less affected by the interference (Cold Fusion).

  Bashir, Julian. Chief medical officer of Station Deep Space 9. Bashir was second in his Starfleet Medical Academy class, behind Dr. Elizabeth Lense (“Explorers” [DS9]).

  “Beast, the.” Nickname given by the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci to a large, round ship. The ship had two rings circling the outer hull—one across its equator, the other across its poles—that served as observation ports and were made of a material that is transparent from the inside. The Beast travelled via a black-hole propulsion drive. Believed to be a cruise ship originally, run by a humanoid race, it was taken over by insectoid aliens who were breeding in the engine core. They attacked the colony at Blossom IV, and were defeated by the U.S.S. Enterprise and examined by the da Vinci. More than a thousand times the size of a Sovereign-class ship, and with a hull resistant to sensor scans, the ship had hundreds of redundant environmental systems, energy collectors, and over a hundred airlocks. Though the original twelve aliens that had taken over the ship were killed in the fight with the Enterprise, their offspring attacked the Starfleet Corps of Engineers team from the da Vinci that examined the ship afterward, and killed one of them, 111. The S.C.E. team was forced to destroy the vessel (The Belly of the Beast). The Androssi salvaged a ship similar to the Beast and utilized some of its technology to modify the station Empok Nor as part of an attempt to convert the station into a mobile weapons platform (Cold Fusion).

  Biral. Speaker of Eerlik. After the death of First Speaker Ansed, Biral took her place as the head of Eerlik’s government (Fatal Error).

  Biron. An overseer for the Androssi. Like all members of the Androssi officer class, Biron’s mandate is to acquire technology for his ship’s Elite sponsor. His method of doing so is generally to exploit other races by fixing—or pretending to fix—their technological problems in exchange for new technology. Biron first encountered the U.S.S. da Vinci on the planet Maeglin. Although details are not known, Biron came away poorly from that encounter. He ordered one of his ship’s Androssi security devices to be calibrated so that it would interfere with the specific combadges of the da Vinci crew if they encountered each other again. He next encountered the da Vinci at Empok Nor, where he was converting the abandoned station into a mobile weapons platform for an unnamed client, who had promised to provide holo-emitters for Biron’s Elite sponsor in return. Unfortunately, he had to cannibalize some of the weapons from his own ship in order to upgrade the station to the client’s specifications, which left his ship more vulnerable to an attack. The da Vinci succeeded in driving him off, though he was able to use a dimensional shift to retrieve all the upgraded components (Cold Fusion).

  black-hole propulsion drive. Propulsion system that utilizes dozens of tiny black holes that are dropped into subspace and then returned to normal space a slight distance away, shoving the containment and thus the ship. The ship nicknamed “the Beast” used such a drive (The Belly of the Beast).

  Blair, Thomas. Commanding officer of the U.S.S. Defiant. After investigating an attack on a Klingon colony at Traelus II in 2268, Captain Blair took the Defiant to Federation space, along with the web generator that was the only evidence of the Tholian attack on the colony. While being pursued by the Tholians, the Defiant fell into interphase and became trapped, with the crew suffering debilitating neurophysiological effects. Blair was killed by one of his crew while recording a log entry (Interphase Book 1).

  Blossom IV. Federation colony. The farming colony was attacked by the ship known as “the Beast.” The enemy vessel did significant damage to the colony, killing a thousand and injuring a thousand more, before it was engaged and defeated by the U.S.S. Enterprise (The Belly of the Beast).

  Borg. An immensely powerful civilization of enhanced humanoids. Starfleet’s first contact with the Borg was in 2365, while Sonya Gomez served on the U.S.S. Enterprise as an ensign. (“Q Who” [TNG]) In 2376, the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci mistook the Omearan pilot named Jaldark Keniria for a Borg and her Starsearcher ship Friend for a Borg ship (Hard Crash).

  Brioni Port. Spaceport on planet Eerlik (Fatal Error).

  Bynar pair. Term given to two members of the Bynar race who are bonded. Bynar pairs do everything in tandem, including finishing each other’s sentences (“11001001” [TNG]).

  Bynars. Humanoid civilization from the planet Bynaus. The Bynars are heavily integrated with a sophisticated planetary computer network. They mostly live in bonded pairings, and have numerical binary designations for names (“11001001” [TNG]). Bynars are also able to interface directly with most computer systems (The Belly of the Beast). Bynars only require a few hours of downtime per day, and their skin is able to conduct electrical impulses of up to at least two hundred kilojoules. Bynars are less sensitive to bright lights than humans, nor are they as impaired as humans by certain toxic gases (Fatal Error). Bynars are generally bonded with another at birth, and Bynar pairs remain together, linked very closely (“11001001” [TNG]). Traditionally, when one member of a bonded pairing dies, the surviving member returns to Bynaus to be rebonded with another. Those that do not are removed from the central computer net and forced to relinquish their numerical designation (Fatal Error). Bynar brains are also better suited than humans to cybernetic links (Hard Crash).

  Bynaus. Planet located in the Beta Magellan system, home to the Bynars (“11001001” [TNG]). Bynaus has a super-computer that is virtually unique in the galaxy in terms of sheer size, though the Eerlik computer, Ganitriul, is comparable (Fatal Error).

  C

  Caargenne. Worker assigned to the subspace accelerator project on Sarindar. Caargenne was killed by the second monster shii (Invincible Book 1).

  Cabbi. Race that is part of the Nalori Republic. They have flippers (Invincible Book 1).

  Calwei. Worker assigned to the subspace accelerator project on Sarindar. Calwei was a Cabbi (Invincible Book 1).

  chameleon circuit. Device that allows a mechanism to change its outer form. Scientists at the Daystrom Institute attempt
ed to put such circuitry to use, but the power demands to let something with an unstable molecular structure perform stable mechanical functions were in excess of what was practical. The owners were able to solve that problem, and constructed two servants with such circuitry. It took on the form of shii (Invincible Book 2). The fact that this has the same name as the malfunctioning device on the TARDIS in the long-running British TV series Doctor Who is, of course, a complete coincidence. Really.

  chimerium. Dense mineral, a composite of magnesite and kelbonite. High concentrations of chimerium interfere with transporters and sensors. By far the largest concentration of chimerium found so far is on the planet Sarindar in the Nalori Republic. Its very nature makes it difficult to mine. The Nalori ordered the construction of a subspace accelerator to send the chimerium to a refinery in orbit (Invincible Book 1). Commander Sonya Gomez discovered a way to get at least minimal tricorder readings on Sarindar, despite the interference from the chimerium (Invincible Book 2).

  Claris. Engine Master on the Androssi ship commanded by Overseer Biron (Cold Fusion).

  Conjoined. Term used to refer to Omearans linking with Starsearcher vessels (Hard Crash).

  Conlon, Nancy. Engineering officer assigned to the U.S.S. da Vinci. Conlon is an ensign (Interphase Book 2).