Terinu
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| Terinu | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Peta Hewitt |
| Website | http://www.terinu.net/ |
| Update schedule | Monday, Wednesday, Friday |
| Launch date | 1986 |
| Genre | Science fiction |
Terinu is a webcomic created by Peta Hewitt.
Terinu is a science fiction adventure comic, done in black and white India ink in comic page format. It is the story of the title character, a fifteen-year old alien boy, the last known member of a genetically engineered slave race, who is a pawn in a brewing galactic war. Many of its themes echo classic Young Adult science fiction novels, though with a somewhat darker edge.
[edit] Cast of Characters
[edit] Main cast
[edit] Terinu
Terinu is a Ferin, a race created to serve the Varn Dominion. He was found as a child by Mavra Chan, floating seemingly unharmed in the vacuum of a destroyed starship. Chan dropped Terinu into the lap of Madame Cher, who at the time was paying protection money to the space pirate. When Terinu was about seven years old, Chan took him aboard her ship, the Celestial Marauder, to be trained as a both a pirate and her personal assassin. During this time Chan successfully imprinted herself in Terinu’s psyche, making him unconsciously view her as his master, and requiring him to obey her orders to the letter. Terinu’s only friend aboard the Marauder was Matt Townsend, a human boy close to Terinu’s own age.
Terinu’s upbringing has left him emotionally scarred, and distrusting of other’s motives. It doesn’t help that there are at least four separate power factions that want to either hold him captive or control him, making truth out the classic teenage complaint that the whole world is against him.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter One
[edit] Leeza Blake
An Australian native, born and raised in Anakie, Victoria, Leeza Blake is a civilian engineer under contract to the Galactic Sapiens Alliance military. In her mid to late twenties, she is the daughter of Admiral Blake, and cousin to Lance Freeman. She was raised by Lance’s mother, Vonnie Blake, after her own mother died in an unspecified incident. At the beginning of the comic series, she is an engineer aboard the Treona, a GSA science vessel. In the course of the first issue she encounters Terinu, and they team up with Lance and Rufus to escape an attacking force of Galapodos Warriors, led by General Gisko.
In terms of personality, Leeza is forthright, moral, and empathic. She’s uncomfortable with some aspects of GSA policy, such as selling prisoners as contract laborers. She is also sympathetic to Terinu’s plight, but is sometimes frustrated by his flinty personality. She often finds herself defending Terinu against her cousin, who does not trust the boy’s motives.
She has a troubled relationship with her father, who wishes to have Terinu held and examined by Bio-Tech, a genetics research company.
Currently Leeza is Terinu’s legal guardian, having been maneuvered into the role by her father, after thwarting Admiral Blake’s attempt to have the boy held by Bio-Tech. Unbeknownst to her, she is also Terinu’s “Master”, after the boy successfully transferred his loyalty to her from Mavra Chan in an act of pure will.
Leeza’s only real known vice is an addiction to coffee, the lack of which tends to make her irritable.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter One.
[edit] Lt. Lance Freeman
Lance is a demolitions expert in the GSA military, and had been assigned to weapons testing on a station that his cousin Leeza was briefly visiting, when it was attacked by the Galapados Warriors to recover Terinu. He’s the son of Vonnie and Barry Freeman, and cousin to Gwen Freeman. He’s protective of Leeza, but often ends up in arguments with Terinu, whom he regards as a troublemaker at best, and a convicted criminal at worst. Despite this, he has aided Leeza in helping Terinu escape both the clutches of Mavra Chan and Bio-Tech.
Lance is about four years younger than Leeza, and is 6’ 2” tall with brown/black hair and brown eyes.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter One.
[edit] Ru-Ofanius “Rufus” Brushtail
The son of Vulpine farmer nobility, Rufus is sociable, outgoing, and a born swashbuckler. Eschewing his family’s money and influence, he volunteered for the Vulpine fighter corps as a flight engineer, and eventually refurbished his own ship to make his way as a mercenary fighter pilot. Something of a ladies man, he has recently found himself attracted to Melika Softpaw, a Vulpine dancer at Madame Cher’s Cabaret.
Of all the group, he’s the one that seems to get along with Terinu best, often drawing the boy aside to calm down after yet another argument with Lance.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter One
[edit] Antagonists
[edit] The Gene Mage
The Gene Mage is a Varn, and apparently a high ranking member of the Varn Dominion government. It was the Gene Mage that created Terinu’s race, the Ferin, to serve the dominion as both servants and power sources. After the Varn were defeated by the combined forces of Humanity and former Varn client races, the Gene Mage then created the Galapados Warriors to serve as soldiers to the Dominion.
Personality wise, the Gene Mage is a commanding, patriarchal presence, expecting to be obeyed, but willing to listen when his subordinates offer suggestions. He regards the creation of the Ferin as the pinnacle of his accomplishments, and is determined to capture Terinu to restore the boy’s race to the side of their Varn masters, thus restoring the Dominion to its former glory. He finds the boy’s continual refusal to understand the glory of serving the Dominion somewhat puzzling.
He regards Gisko as a loyal servitor, and has forgiven the general at least twice when Gisko has failed to successfully complete the Gene Mage’s orders.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter Two.
[edit] General Oryon Gisko
Gisko is the commanding general of the Galapados Warriors, the genetically engineered soldier race created by the Gene Mage. His scales are khaki colored, and his eyes are yellow and pupiless.
He regards the Gene Mage as his God, and is completely loyal to him, though on at least one occasion he disputed the Gene Mage’s orders in order to save a damaged Galapados breeding facility. He bears no malice against his opponents, and has come to regard to Lance as an honorable enemy.
According to the background information given at the Terinu main site, he has a mate named Skorah, whom he loves very much and desires to bear children with (currently all Galapados are sterile.)
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter Three.
[edit] Lady Mavra Chan
Chan is an ambitious, evil warlord, commanding a small fleet of pirate ships centered around the Celestial Marauder. She sports an artificial right eye, wiry muscles, and dark buzz cut hair. She discovered Terinu aboard the guttered vessel of one of her opponents when he was four years old, and arranged for him to be raised by Madame Cher while the boy grew. Somewhere along the way she also made the discovery that Terinu was a member of the Ferin race, and his mental block against disobeying anyone he identified as his master.
Chan has tendrils on several planets and moons, and is apparently able to run protection rackets on them without interference from the GSA government. At one point she briefly coerced Joleen into betraying Terinu and the rest of the Treona’s crew, after kidnapping her parents.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Eight.
[edit] Admiral Erwin Blake
The Admiral is a tall, heavyset man, apparently in his late fifties-early sixties with graying hair set in a ponytail. He’s dedicated to protecting the GSA from the Varn threat, and is willing to use any means necessary to achieve that goal. He is aware of the existence of the Ferin, and apparently knows what happened to them five hundred years ago, but has not revealed this information to anyone else.
Admiral Blake has a difficult relationship with his daughter, Leeza. He is worried for her safety, and had pulled strings to arrange for her to be assigned to safe duty near Earth when the conflict with the Varn began to heat up. However, when Leeza deliberately thwarted his plans to have Terinu examined by Bio-Tech, he had no compunction against arranging for her to be fired by the engineering company she worked for, and sticking her with Terinu’s guardianship. His over-protectiveness of his daughter may be related to the (currently unexplained) circumstances around the loss of his wife.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Nine.
[edit] Princess Titalia
Titalia is the eldest daughter of the Ardactavian Hive Queen Ermenzebra. Tall and gaunt, she is an ally of the Varn Gene Mage, helping in the attack on the fuel station in Chapter One, and then manipulating her sister, Princess Ichichi, into leaving several asteroids leased to the Creo undefended so the Galapados Warriors could attack them.
Though currently aiding the Gene Mage’s plans, she regards herself as his equal, not a subordinate. Whether the Gene Mage holds the same opinion is unknown.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter Two.
[edit] Dream Stalker
Dream Stalker is a female Varn, with bright red hair in flowing curls, wearing robes decorated in flame accented patterns. She addresses the Gene Mage as "brother", but it is not known whether this is a familial relationship, or a Varn honorific.
Unlike the Gene Mage, she harbors no hopes of integrating Humanity into the Varn Dominion, instead regarding them as little more than animals. This apparently stems from the defeat Humans handed the Varn five hundred years before. Despite this, she is willing to aid Mavra Chan in order to create a counterweight against the GSA government.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Fifteen.
[edit] Secondary Characters
[edit] Ambassador Ictiss
Ardactavian ambassador, serving as Princess Titalia’s lackey. He loses the auction in which Bio-Tech purchases Terinu, then commands the Gene Mage’s Galapados Warriors in an unsuccessfully on attack the refueling station where the boy is being transferred to Bio-Tech custody. Subsequently he is assigned by the Ardactavian Hive Queen to apologize to GSA officials on Luna Station for the Ardactivian’s failure to defend the Creo asteroid colony.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter One.
[edit] “Auntie” Alexia
A markedly overweight Creo woman working at Madame Cher’s Cabaret. Alexia has an unrequited crush on Lance, which is most definitely not reciprocated.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Eight.
[edit] Barry Freeman
Husband to Vonnie Freeman, and father to Lance. Barry is a slightly overweight, likable man who seems content to follow his wife’s orders. According to Peta Hewitt’s posts in the forums, Gwen is the daughter of his younger brother Micheal.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Fourteen.
[edit] Binda Mandawauy
An ethnic Australian working as a lab intern at Bio-Tech. She lets a sedated Terinu out of his restraints, and is reprimanded after the boy takes the opportunity to destroy several thousand credits worth of lab equipment. She’s a “Tuckerized” friend of author, Peta Hewitt.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Thirteen.
[edit] “Brutal” Brooks
First Mate aboard the Celestial Marauder, Brooks was giving the task of training seven-year old Terinu to be a spacer. He tormented and abused the Ferin boy at every opportunity, making Terinu’s life a living hell.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Nine.
[edit] Captain Aynish
A Galen serving as commander of the Celestial Marauder. Terinu described him as “A fair man. In a weird kind away, I think I would’a been all right under him.” Unfortunately, Terinu ended up serving directly under “Brutal” Brooks.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Nine.
[edit] Croydon
Another “Tuckerized” intern working at Bio-Tech, who chews out Binda for letting Terinu loose.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Thirteen.
[edit] Cyeman Cadwell
A human in his late twenties, working as an Ardactavian operative with the cover of being a Cyber Cor recruiter. He arranges for Gwen to get her Cyber-Glider implant behind her Aunt Vonnie's back, and then attempts to kidnap her and take her to the Adactavian Empress. Terinu interrupts him, and Cyeman is subsequently killed when he tries to fire his pistol at the boy in his ship's engine room.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Seventeen.
[edit] Emirette
A handsome young Galen man seen with Mavra Chan, evidentially serving the space pirate in a ‘personal’ capacity. He expresses doubts at the wisdom of holding Leeza, Lance, and Rufus captive, and later rescues Mavra when she’s incapacitated by Terinu.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Twelve.
[edit] Frani
A female Ardactavian servant, who warns Princess Ichichi to keep her voice down, while the latter wails over her bad business deal with the Creo.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter Three.
[edit] Gruder
A human fighter pilot that Rufus beats in a poker game. He attempts to draw Rufus into a fistfight at a bar the next day, but the Vulpine easily outmanuvers him.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter One.
[edit] Gwendolyn Freeman
A cousin to Lance and Leeza, Gwen is a young woman of fifteen, with light brown hair and hazel eyes. She has secretly received a "Cyber Glider" implant allowing her to mentally interface with computers (a very rare ability in the Terinu universe). She has a very rocky relationship with Terinu.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Sixteen.
[edit] Hive Queen Ermenzebra
The slug-like matriarch of the Ardactavian civilization, she assigns Princess Titalia and Ambassador Ictiss the job of apologizing to GSA officials for failing to defend the Creo asteroid colony.
First Appearance: Season Two, chapter Eight.
[edit] Joleen
Joleen is a young Creo female, formerly employed by Madame Cher’s Cabaret. On the eve of the girl’s departure from the Cabaret, Madame Cher arranged for her to take transport aboard the Treona with Leeza and the others, so she could be dropped off on the small moon where her family maintained a refueling station. Unknown to either Madame Cher or the crew of the Treona, Joleen’s parents were being held captive by Mavra Chan, who had coerced the girl into sabotaging the Treona so it would land at the refueling station for repairs, and allow Chan the opportunity to capture Terinu.
Joleen and her parents escaped Chan with the aid of Terinu. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Nine.
[edit] Kevin Freeman
Gwen's little brother, who lives with her at their Aunt Vonnie's house. He's about ten years old, with a face full of freckles, and loves to tease his big sister.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter 16
[edit] Madame Cher
The proprietor of Madame Cher’s Cabaret, Madame Cher is a heavyset Asian woman with an L-shaped scar on the right side of her face. She’s usually dressed in a formal kimono. At one point in the past she was under Mavra Chan’s influence, and forced to take in and raise Terinu after the pirate lord found him. The scar was acquired in the period between Terinu being taken away by Chan, and the Treona crew’s defense of the Creo asteroids.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Eight.
[edit] Melika Softpaw
A beautiful and elegant Vulpine entertainer at Madame Cher’s Cabaret, Melika helped raise Terinu as a young child. A member of the Vulpine farmer nobility, Melika took her job at the cabaret to pay off her late brother’s gambling debts, which had nearly plunged their family’s farm into ruin.
When the Treona’s crew visited the cabaret, Rufus saved Melika from an attack by an enraged cave lice, which began a low key romantic relationship between the two Vulpine. Despite their mutual attraction, Melika refused Rufus’ offer to travel with them on the Treona. Later Rufus secretly paid off the Vulpine noblewoman’s debt to her brother’s creditors, which she took as an insult rather than an act of an admirer.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Eight.
[edit] Matt Townsend
Matt is the cook’s assistant aboard the Celestial Marauder, having been sold to Mavra Chan at age nine by his father to pay for the man’s drinking habit. He became close friends with seven-year old Terinu when the latter was brought aboard by Chan to be trained as a spacer. It was Matt who ensured that Terinu had enough food to eat while the Ferin boy suffered under the tutelage of Brooks.
In the current timeline of the story, Matt is seventeen years old. He has shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Nine.
[edit] Nefreeti
A Galen pawnshop owner/fence living on the Creo asteroid colony, who is indebted to Mavra Chan. Terinu leans on him to acquire a new dust jacket generator for the Treona, but then Nefreeti informs Mavra of the boy’s location in return for a reduction of his debt.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Seven.
[edit] Ninetta
A Galen entertainer at Madame Cher’s Cabaret, Ninetta is tall, leggy, and vivacious, in stark contrast to the usual Galen reserve. Together with Melika, she helped raise Terinu during his years at the Cabaret and maintains a sort of big sister fondness for the boy.
First Appearance: Season Two, Chapter Seven.
[edit] Princess Ichichi
Sister to Princess Titalia, she inadvertently sold several valuable asteroids to the Creo for mining, for far below their actual worth. Titalia uses this error against her to persuade Ichichi into leaving several asteroids leased by the Creo unguarded, allowing the Galapados to attack unopposed.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter Four.
[edit] Saddarth, Professor
Head of the team examining Terinu while he is imprisoned in Bio-Tech’s Luna Station facility. In his single-minded pursuit of knowledge he will often ignore any ethical considerations involved.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Thirteen.
[edit] Samuel Symms
An undercover operative working as a prosperous fence. He attempts to kidnap Terinu while the boy was in service to Mavra Chan, but instead inadvertently sparks Terinu’s latent Bion powers. Drugged near senseless and frightened, Terinu blasts Symms’ head off.
First Appearance (in the shadows): Season Two, Chapter Nine.
[edit] Sargent Amsk
An even stronger than normal Galapados Warrior, whom General Gisko sets upon Lance to test the human's hand-to-hand combat abilities.
First Appearance: Season One, Chapter Three
[edit] Vonnie Freeman
Wife of Barry and mother to Lance Freeman, Vonnie a heavyset woman in her late forties/early fifties who owns an engineering company specializing in deep space construction projects. Vonnie is very forthright, and sympathizes with Leeza over her brother Erwin’s deceptions and stubbornness. She ends up hosting Leeza, Lance, Rufus, and Terinu after giving Leeza the idea that helps free the boy from Bio-Tech’s clutches.
First Appearance: Season Three, Chapter Fourteen.
[edit] Races of the Terinu Universe
[edit] Ardactavians
Ardactavians are a bipedal race that shares many physical and social characteristics with colony forming insects. They have a hard exoskeleton that can be orange, purple or green protecting their heads, chests, pelvic area and limbs. Softer beige or gray coloured skin is exposed on their faces, necks, and abdomen and in between their joints. They are tall ranging in height from approximately 6’2” for the working class, 6’6” for the military and 7’2” for the female members of the monarchy. These royal Ardactavians also sport three curved horn like structures emanating from their brows. Their facial features are usually stark and severe with high prominent check bones, prominent brows and long chins. Their mouths are filled with many small sharp teeth. They have wide eyes and small irises, usually orange or red in colour.
[edit] Creo
The Creo are gray-skinned, with heavy muscles and thick brows, and no external ears. Males are completely hairless, females sport a white topknot that is often dyed. They appear to be well-suited for mining, and make their homes in extensive cave networks hollowed out of moons or asteroids.
[edit] Ferin
The Ferin are/were a race of servitors created by the Varn Gene Mage, uplifted from a tree-dwelling marsupial that possessed the natural ability create and project “Bion” energy as a defense against predators. After several hundred years of genetic alteration, the Ferin were able to walk on two legs, speak, and reason as well as any other sentient being, while retaining their Bion generating abilities. They stand at between 4’ 2” to 4’ 10” in height, have light grey skin, and lengthy (average seven foot) prehensile tails that end in a large spade, used for maneuvering while jumping from tree to tree. They also sport two long, mobile spurs atop their heads, 5 to 7 inches in length, used to generate and project bion. These spurs can raise and lower depending on the Ferin’s moods. Their hair comes in a variety of colors, in red, dark blue and all mixtures between.
As part of their expected role as spacecraft power sources, the Ferin have remarkable survival skills when exposed to vacuum. Using their Bion to sustain themselves, they are capable of operating in a vacuum for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes. After that, the Ferin drops into a state of hibernation, similar to that of a Terran bear. How long they are able to maintain this final state is unknown.
Modern Ferin were used by the Varn Dominion as servants, pets, and power sources. In the latter role, they proved to be remarkably efficient generators, processing sugars and proteins fed directly into their bodies via large intravenous tubes, and bleeding off the excess energy to be captured by the power cell in which several Ferin served at any one time.
Ferin are also able to use their Bion as a form of empathy or telepathy. In Chapter Ten, when Terinu is describing the first time he used his powers, he claims that he felt Symms’ confusion, and also felt his death. Later in Chapter Fourteen, Terinu attempts to use his empathic ability to tap into Earth’s biosphere in order to try and plumb for memories of his origins. This backfires, and sends him into a panicked run as the Earth’s incredibly diverse biosphere overwhelms his senses.
Despite their remarkable abilities, the Gene Mage built several safeguards into the Ferin psyche to prevent them from ever disobeying their masters. For starters, they have an instinctual inability to use their bion powers against any Varn. Attempting to fight this instinct results in a severe headache. Next, much like Terran ducklings, between the age of seven and fourteen a Ferin will “imprint” upon whomever they perceive as their master, following that person’s orders without question, even if it results in personal injury. No Ferin may have more than one master, and Terinu was only able to switch his loyalty from Mavra Chan to Leeza through an act of extraordinary willpower. Finally, the Ferin are naturally dyslexic, unable to mentally process written words, though they are able to interpret the simple symbology needed for their roles as personal servants to the Varn.
At some point during the Human led rebellion against Varn rule, the Ferin race was wiped out. In Chapter Four Leeza possibly is referring to this when she says, “Together the allies discovered and destroyed the Dominion’s power sources.” This would strongly imply that the rebellion deliberately targeted the Ferin race for destruction. This is not common knowledge in the GSA, as the existence of the Ferin is apparently a state secret. They are known to Admiral Blake, who is seen in Chapter Thirteen examining a sealed file containing reports and photographs of various Ferin (including an autopsy of one specimen).
[edit] Galen
A tall, slim, attractive race descended from avians, Galen could pass for human, except for the fine feathers that replace all hair on their heads, and the delicate bone structures on either side of their face that serve as ears. Most Galen come across as reserved and slightly haughty, with the exception of Ninetta, who is described as being an atypical member of her race.
[edit] Galapados
The Galapados are a race of reptilian warriors created by the Gene Mage specifically to counter natural Human aggressiveness. They have khaki colored scales and yellow, pupiless eyes, are heavily muscled, and stand on average over six feet in height. They are unable to reproduce naturally, depending on incubation units to create and incubate Galapados young. This probably is one means the Varn use to prevent the Galapados from attempting to rebel against the Dominion. It is unknown whether they also have the Ferin’s natural inability to attack a Varn, though this would probably be a likely precaution for the Gene Mage to add to their psyches.
There is some fan speculation that the Galapados were uplifted from an Earth species of lizard, based on “Galapados” being similar to the word “Galapagos” in reference to the Galapagos Islands near Ecuador, and on their similarity in appearance to the Galapagos Lava Lizard. This has not been confirmed by the comic’s text, however.
[edit] Manzi
A race of fine boned 'taur' like beings. The upper half of their bodies are thin and angular and have a hominid appearance and is bare of fur except for their scalps where it is extremely thick. The lower part of their body resembles a deer with all four hooves. Manzi society are driven by a passion for research and knowledge, so much so that their leaders are a collective of their greatest scientific minds. They also prefer to issolate themselves from the other races as they feel the pursuit of wealth and power as frivolous when faced with the pursuit of knowledge, a task they don't wish to be distracted from.
[edit] Maud
Squat, fur covered beings with small owl like beaks and large 'eyes' that are geared to detect heat rather than light. They live on a planet with very low light levels due to its dense atmosphere. Maud are secretive keeping mostly to themselves. They are extremely good at acquiring wealth through careful investment choices etc. The net worth of their accummulated assets are the topic of much nervous speculation.
[edit] Varn
The Varn are a tall, green skinned race, with yellow eyes, large straight horns emerging from their foreheads, remarkable intelligence, and a generally devilish appearance. Once the former masters of the galaxy, they believe themselves to be descendants of gods, and rightful rulers of all other species. With several thousand years to genetically tinker with themselves, the Varn are effectively unaging, and may possess survival abilities similar to the Ferin.
[edit] Vulpine
The Vulpine are a race resembling anthropomorphic foxes, averaging about six inches shorter than humans, with relatively short legs and digitigrade feet, long torsos, and bushy tails. They are described as being natural farmers and pilots, and appear to have a noble class based around their agricultural tradition. They are also described as being matriarchal, and actively worship a supreme being they refer to as the Holy Den Mother.
[edit] Glossary of Terms
Bion: A type of energy produced naturally by the Ferin, which they are able to utilize as either a conventional power source or a defensive weapon.
Bio-Tech: An interstellar biological research company, with offices on Luna Station. In the beginning of the story, Terinu is convicted of piracy and bought by Bio-Tech at an auction.
Bloody Plagues: A weapon, presumably biological, that was released against the Galactic Sapiens Alliance as a final act of vengeance by the Varn towards the end of the rebellion.
Bolt Hole: A colony world outside the GSA’s control, used as a haven by pirates. In the beginning of the story it is invaded by the GSA.
Cannon Ship: Lead ship of the fleet sent by the Gene Mage to conquer a Creo asteroid colony. It was equipped with a “Crust Breaker Cannon”, which Terinu was forced to power using his bion. The ship was subsequently sabotaged and destroyed by the crew of the Treona.
Celestial Marauder: The flagship of Mavra Chan’s pirate fleet, commanded by Captain Aynish.
Cyber Glider: An individual with the ability to use a cybernetic interface to infiltrate computer systems. In the Terinu universe, this ability is rare and highly prized by both civilian law enforcement and military espionage organizations. Cyber Gliding is inherently dangerous however, with even experienced Gliders running the risk of induced schizophrenia and "brain frying."
Dampening Collar: A lockable collar used to dampen Terinu’s bion generating capabilities, that secures around his neck and the top of his head, forcing down his spurs. At least one version featured a remotely controlled stun weapon to control the young Ferin when he got physically out of hand.
Dust Jacket Generator: A type of energy shield used by spaceships when traveling at faster than light speeds, keeping them safe from interstellar debris.
Forced Labour: An increasingly common punishment in the GSA, where criminals are sold at auction to corporations to act as essentially slave labour. Leeza is uncomfortable with the idea, but Lance states it is preferable to having criminals sit in prisons “eating up public funds.”
Fragg: Teri's favourite expletive. Means the same as a contemporary word also beginning with "f".
Frell/Frelling: Rude curse words. Rufus occasionally uses the more polite “Fruit!” when under stress. First appeared in the science fiction TV series Farscape.
Galactic Sapiens Alliance: An interstellar government founded by the races that originally rebelled against the Varn Dominion five hundred years ago. It includes Humans, Galen, Creo, and Vulpine. Other races that may be members include the Manzi and the Maud.
Holy Den Mother: Patron goddess of the Vulpine race. Rufus and Melika often swear by her.
League of Pirate Warlords: A loose association powerful pirates, bound together by blood oath out of mutual self-interest. Their numbers have recently been sharply reduced.
Luna Station: A large space station shaped like a Catherine Wheel, in orbit around Earth’s Moon. It is the site of a shipyard, and a Bio-Tech facility where Terinu is briefly incarcerated and examined. Leeza also has an apartment on the station, which Terinu implies she received due to her father’s influence.
Madame Cher’s Cabaret: A live entertainment company owned by Madame Cher, operating out on the GSA frontier. Most of the entertainers appear to be female, and live together under the Cabaret’s roof.
Power Cell: A padded, partially flooded chamber utilized by the Varn Dominion to collect bion energy. Several Ferin dwell in a power cell at any one time, with large intravenous tubes inserted into their bodies to feed them the proteins and sugars required for their increased energy output, which is collected by a pillar in the center of the cell.
Sleek Winged Fighter: A fast, hardy and highly manoevarble fighter once used by the Vulpine space force. It's now been supersceeded by a newer model but Vulpine fighter hardware romantics still drool over restored examples of this fighter at air and space expo's
"The black heart of Baltos!": A term used by Space Pirates. Baltos was a particularly brutal and infamous Space Pirate whose name is legendary amongst his peers. Other pirates swear by him.
Treona: An Epsilon class Y2Y Explorer (Deep Space Model). The ship Leeza was assigned to track down a problem in it’s activation crystal array. During the attack on the refueling station in Chapter One, Leeza was forced to abandon the rest of the crew and escape in the Treona, along with Terinu, Rufus, and her cousin Lance.
Varn Dominion: The empire once controlled by the Varn, including the races they conquered, and uplifted creatures such as the Ferin.
Vulpine Prime: Homeworld of the Vulpine Race.
The White Knight: Rufus’ personal spacecraft, a refurbished Sleek Winged Fighter. It is equipped with energy weapons, and is capable of interstellar travel.
[edit] Issue Summaries
Terinu began life as a dead tree format comic before being published on the web, and as a result Peta Hewitt still gathers the pages in distinct chapters, ranging from twenty-two to thirty pages. Below are summaries of major events from each chapter.
[edit] Season One
Chapter One Terinu is captured by the GSA when it invades the planet Bolt Hole, and is subsequently sold at auction to the Bio-Tech corporation, who beats out a bid made by Ambassador Ictiss.
Some time later on a deep space refueling station, Leeza reunites with her cousin Lance, who has joined the GSA Marine Corps. He's there to participate in a weapons testing project, while she is busy fixing the drive system of the Treona. Lance informs Leeza that his team arrived by hitching a ride on a prison transport, which was carrying single prisoner bound for Bio-Tech. Leeza expresses dismay at the idea of Bio-Tech using forced labor, but Lance sees no problem with it.
Meanwhile, Rufus is chatting with some fellow mercenary pilots in bar, discussing his exploits defending merchant ships against pirate attacks. Gruder expresses disbelief at Rufus' claims, and attempts to start a fight over losing to the Vulpine in a card game the night before. Rufus easily dodges the drunken human. A Galen watching at the bar asks if Rufus is staying to watch a magic show being presented on the station, and Rufus says he will be escorting a transport that evening.
Somewhere away from the station, Ictiss meets with a hooded Ardactavian, informing him that General Gisko has arrived at a staging area and says that if the figure succeeds in his task, his name will be chanted in the Hive Queen's chamber.
Onboard the prison transport, Terinu awakens to find a dampening collar has been locked to his head. The prison guard watching him informs him that it was especially designed for him, and that he will shortly transferred to Bio-Tech's custody.
Back on the station, the hooded figure is revealed to be the magician performing his show. After a brief display of slight-of-hand, he detonates an apparent suicide bomb into the crowd, having gathered the majority of the station's personnel together in one spot while General Gisko launches his attack. Out in space, Rufus detects the explosion on the White Knight's sensors, and quickly doubles back towards the station as he spots several fighters of an unknown deisgn vectoring for an attack.
Leeza and Lance are together when the station is attacked. Leeza contacts her engineering team, and is informed that they are cut off from the Treona. Leeza comes up with a plan to get the replacement drive crystals she needs from the station's mail room, repair the ship, and then pick up the ship's crew which is leaving in the station's escape pods. Lance heads towards the fighter bays to launch a defense against the incoming ships.
During all this, Terinu is handcuffed and being escorted by two guards through the station. He escapes them when Galapados warriors break through a bulkhead and attack.
Out in space Rufus begins a spirited defense of the refueling station, aided by Lance, and they agree to be temporary wingmen.
Back on the station Leeza is in a lift, having retrieved the drive crystals, while unbeknowst to her Terinu rides atop the elevator car. The lift is attacked by a Galapados warrior, who drops down on Terinu and falls through with the boy into the lift. Leeza shoots the warrior with her pistol, only to find that the delicate drive crystals she needed to repair the Treona were smashed in the fight. Leeza quickly realizes that Terinu was the prisoner that Lance had mentioned being on the prison transport, and is surprised at his young age. She takes him with her to the Treona's bridge, where she receives a mayday from Lance, who informs her he has depleted his fighter's ammo and Rufus' fighter is damaged. She tells him she is going to launch the Treona to retrieve them both, and he should ready his grappling 'bot. Unfortunately the ship is cut off from the station's power grid, so without the lost crystals Leeza is unable to restart the ship's drive. As the station blares a warning that its reactor is about to explode, Terinu informs her that he can use his Bion ability to restart the ship. Not quite believing him, but having no other options, Leeza releases him from his handcuffs and dampening collar, and watches in amazement as he powers up the drive.
Just in time, Leeza launches the Treona as the station begins to self-destruct. Lance and Rufus' fighters grapple onto the ship as it accelerates away, trying to outrun the fireball that threatens to engulf them all...
Chapter Two Princess Titalia berates Ambassador Ictiss for his failure to retrieve Terinu during the attack on the refueling station in Issue One. Ictiss claims the attack failed because General Gisko refused to obey his orders. Unimpressed by his explanation, Titalia dismisses Ictiss in order to speak to her "associate."
A hologram of a robed Varn appears (the Gene Mage). Titalia reports Ictiss' failure, claiming he is a fool, but he at least knows how to keep his mouth shut. Equally unimpressed by her explanation, the Gene Mage questions whether her ambition matches her competence, and speculates whether one of her sisters would "be more focused."
Titalia points out the Gisko refused to obey Ictiss' orders. The Gene Mage asks whether she doesn't like his reptile soldiers, claiming it took much time and effort it took to perfect them. He rescinds his request for her to retrieve Terinu, and instead asks her to locate an isolated world for the Varn to harvest workers from, outside of the view of the Gal-Sapien Alliance. Titlia pledges not to fail, and the Gene Mage replies, "Dear Titalia. Failure would be most unwise."
On the bridge of the Treona, Leeza. Lance, Rufus and Terinu, having escaped the exploding refueling station last issue, find that the ship has sustained heavy damage requiring extensive repairs of its circuitry. Mutual introductions are made, and Lance and Leeza wonder where the Galapados Warriors, a previously unseen race, came from.
Their conversation is interrupted when Lance catches Terinu taking several burnt out circuits. When he confront the boy and tries to grab him, Teirnu responds by burning Lance's hand with his Bion. An angry Lance pull his pistol on Terinu and threatens to march him to the brigg (sic), but Leeza intervenes, pointing out that he's just a boy. Lance responds by telling her that he was the criminal being transported to Bio-Tech, and that things are bad enough "...without the midget here with his built-in laser spurs running loose!!" Before things can get further out of hand Rufus pulls Terinu to one side. Rufus thinks to himself that the boy is “Trouble with a capital T” while Leeza senses he's frightened and off balanced by his situation. She speaks with him briefly, pointing out they're all stuck on the damaged ship together, and that they need to work together to get home. Terinu agrees reluctantly, thinking that the only “home” he's ever known was Bolt Hole, which the GSA invaded, and that's he's really just on his own again. He ends up keeping the purloined circuits.
Later, Leeza and Rufus have completed repairing the engines as best they can, with Rufus waxing nostalgic for older model ships with less temperamental systems. Lance calls them up to the bridge, where he points out an abandoned Galen freighter nearby, that was missed earlier because the Treona's sensors are still out. Rufus gets the idea of salvaging the freighter's fusion plant for what the Terona needs. Leeza is reluctant, pointing out that with their sensors out, they can't scan the ship for trouble, but Lance agrees with Rufus and she decides she's outvoted. She tells Rufus to start stripping down the Treona's reactor while she and Lance board her to look for parts.
Later, Leeza, Lance and Terinu enter the freighter, and Leeza is pleased to see the ship's emergency lighting and life support still function. She's surprised to discover that the reactor is still working as well, noting that after decades of neglect it should have burned itself out. She tells Lance to start pulling the parts they need, and goes off with Terinu towards the control section to try and figure out the reason behind the anomaly. Along the way, she asks Terinu what his name is, but the boy stays silent.
Meanwhile, Lance heads towards the fusion reactor, chatting with Rufus, who is having trouble repairing the Treona's sensors. The Vulpine helps Lance decipher the Galen signs, and he continues on. Along the way he's surprised to see a dock rat wandering around, despite the ship supposedly being abandoned for so long. He reaches the reactor's maintenance hatch, unaware as a half-visible figure with scaly skin and a rifle sneaks up behind him and then strikes him over the head with the butt of the weapon. Too late, Rufus gets the sensors online, only to find that the “abandoned” freighter is swarming with multiple, unidentified life signs.
Leeza and Terinu reach the control section, and the boy picks the lock on the door while she speculates that the degrading reactor core might account for their just losing the signal on Rufus' communicator. They enter, and Leeza is shocked to find that the communications room is online and fully functional. Terinu tells her they ought to retreat, and she agrees, but not before she grabs a data crystal she finds on a table. When she picks it up however, it sets off an alarm. Terinu quickly realizes the the ship is occupied and starts to run, only to head straight into a pair of Galapados warriors. They turn and flee, getting involved in a running gun battle with the Galapados as they head down deeper into the ship, finally finding some cover in the freighter's galley. Terinu fires at them with his Bion, but Leeza is struck in the head by a stun bolt. The boy decides to affect a retreat and throws a Bion grenade at the warriors, using the distraction to wrench open the panel to a disposal unit. After a moment's hesitation, he grabs an unconscious Leeza into the chute with him, and they escape their opponents.
Chapter Three On the bridge of the Treona, a worried Rufus makes another failed attempt to contact the others trapped aboard the derelict freighter, reflecting grimly that if the ship's sensors had been working and they'd seen how it was swarming with life forms they would have never have boarded it, no matter how desperately they needed the parts. Finally he decides if he can't reestablish contact eventually, he'll just have to abandon everyone and take the White Knight out to run for help.
Back on the freighter, two Galapados Warriors drag an unconscious Lance to the presence of General Gisko, who wonders how such a small, weak appearing species could be the threat that the Gene Mage described to him. Lance regains consciousness, and Gisko introduces himself, informing Lnace that he already knows the human's name, having monitored the Treona's communications since it arrived. He informs Lance that Terinu and Leeza are alive and at large in the ship, but assures Lance they will be captured soon. Lance becomes furious at this last bit of information, warning Gisko not to threaten Leeza. Gisko states that he admires Lance's spirit, but that he's in no position to make threats right now. The general orders Lance to be put into a cell until Gisko needs him again.
In the freighter's refuse processing pit, Leeza wakes up, watched over by Terinu. Leeza attempts to contact Rufus, but communications are still jammed. Terinu informs that she's been out for hours, and Leeza asks about the Galapados that were chasing them. She takes heart in the idea the the Galapados are so overwhelmed by the smell that they don't want to come after them, but Terinu tells her it doesn't matter, since all the warriors have to do is wait until they head back up the stairs and pick them off then. Leeza asks if he has any suggestions, and Terinu responds by making an incredible leap up towards the ceiling, dropping a rope down for her to climb so they can leave via the same chute they escaped through.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Ictiss is summoned by Princess Titalia, who stands over a holographic map table of the local star quadrant. She tells him that somewhere in it there must be a suitable target for the Varn. Ictiss expresses concern over the plan, but Titalia dismisses him and states her own ambitions to eclipse her mother, the Hive Queen, “...powerful ambitions require powerful allies.” Suddenly Princess Ichichi bursts in, upset that the Creo mining company that had leased an asteroid from her had found a valuable platinum deposit, worth far more than the paltry three million credits than they'd paid for it. Princess Titalia is pleased by this news.
In his cell on the freighter, Lance is fiddling with a small device when he's interrupted by a Galapados, who escorts him to the presence of General Gisko. The two trade barbs briefly before Gisko informs him that the Galapados leader wants to test human fighting capabilities. In this case, by setting Lance in hand-to-hand combat with Sergeant Amsk. Lance proves no match for the huge Galapados, and Gisko expresses disappointment at the apparent feebleness of humans. At that point Lance pulls out the device he was working on, a sonic screamer made from his useless communicator. All the Galapados in the room are temporarily overwhelmed, and Lance takes the opportunity to steal one of their communicators before fleeing. Using it, he's able to contact Rufus, who tells him that he's observed with the ship's sensors that Terinu and Leeza are heading straight into an ambush. Lance starts running in their direction, coming to the rescue.
Making their way from the refuse pit, Terinu finally bends enough to tell Leeza his name, which is a Galen word for “Void Mouse” a creature that can survive in vacuum. Terinu tells her he got the name because he was found on an airless freighter. She expresses surprise that any other creature can do what the Galen mice can, but Terinu makes light of his ability, saying he can “only” stay active in vacuum for twenty-five minutes, and then only if he's not tired. Suddenly they step through a doorway, and find themselves in a massive chamber, filled with crystal tubes containing gestating Galapados children. They're quickly surrounded and captured by guards, and the Gene Mage appears in a holographic projection, happy to have found his Ferin again after 500 years...
Chapter Four The Gene Mage appears in holographic image before a startled Terinu and Leeza, telling them that after half a millennium of searching his “...greatest achievement” has been returned to him, and stating “Take heart. Your masters have returned to rebuild what should have never been destroyed. The time has come for the return of the Grand Dominion!” Leeza asks Terinu if he’s ever seen the Gene Mage before. Terinu says he’s never seen him before in his life, but then wonders to himself why he’s so scared of him. Surrounded by Galapados Warriors, he and Leeza can only stand helplessly as the Gene Mage orders his soldiers to fit the boy with a dampening collar and taken to him via their fastest shuttle. But before his orders can be carried out, the incubation chambers surrounding them burst open as Rufus attacks the freighter with ‘’The White Knight’’, directed by Lance. He covers Leeza and Terinu’s escape, and they make their way back to the Treona. The Gene Mage orders his warriors to pursue, but General Gisko refuses, stating that the hatchlings must be saved first. The Gene Mage permits the general to proceed, musing that his creations are not as obedient as he might have wished and thinks, “Their genetic programming was too rushed to allow much refinement.”
Leeza, Lance and Terinu quickly shuttle back to the Treona, where Rufus greets them on the bridge. When Rufus notes that their ship’s engines are still down, Lance quickly orders both himself and Rufus to their two fighters to defend their ship. But to everyone’s surprise, the “derelict” freighter pulls away, leaving the ‘’Treona’’ alone in space once again. Leeza and Rufus agree to start fixing the engines, while Lance mans the scanner array.
Meanwhile, Princess Titalia meets with Ichichi in Tatalia’s birthing chamber, where numerous clones of herself produce eggs that will eventually grow into worker drones. Amused by her sister’s discomfort at meeting in such a “dismal place” Titalia presses Ichichi on the matter of the asteroids she foolishly leased to the Creo, offering to help her find a solution to her financial dilemma. Ichichi can see no way out, given that the contracts are already signed, but Titalia tells her the solution does not involve contracts. She tells Ichichi to remove Ardactavian patrols from the asteroids, and simply “...look the other way.” Unless of course, she would prefer to tell their mother of her grave mistake.
Back on the Treona, Leeza and Rufus take a break from repairs to clean up and meet the others for lunch in the galley. Everyone discusses recent events, with Leeza noting she didn’t recognize the Gene Mage’s race, but that the giant humanoid seemed to recognize Terinu. Lance presses the boy to tell them what he knows, and Terinu angrily responds that he doesn’t know anything. Leeza shuts them both down before the argument can get much further, and reminds them that the alien was speaking of rebuilding the Dominion. Rufus acts confused, wondered what they’re talking about, and Lance and Leeza tell the story of the Varn Dominion, which ruled over several client races, including the Vulpine, Creo and others, for thousands of years, demanding to be worshiped and served as gods. Then the humans were conquered and supposedly integrated into the Dominion, when actually they were making alliances with the other subject races, convincing them the Varn were not gods, and leading a rebellion that gained the freedom of all the races that would eventually form the Gal-Sapien Alliance (but not before the Varn attempted to wipe them all out with biological weapons.)
Rufus expresses doubts that it could really be the Varn, but notes the oddity of a new race of warriors appearing that seem to have a built in grudge against humanity. Lance warns that should especially be careful around General Gisko, stating “he’s no fool” while Leeza counters she’d rather not run into any of them ever again. She says in a few hours the engines will be repaired, and Terinu can power them up and they can go home. Terinu tells them that if they want him to do that, he’ll have to eat more. This provokes Lance into blowing up at the boy, claiming that they’re all on rations, he won’t ...”get a crumb more” than anyone else, and that if he doesn’t like that he can spend the rest of the trip in the brigg (sic). Terinu angrily responds that if that’s the way they feel about it, they can power the engines themselves.
Meanwhile, Princess Titalia contacts the Gene Mage, informing him that the Creo asteroid colony is undefended, and that his fleet can take them as slaves. The Gene Mage corrects her, claiming the Creo will not be slaves, but merely being rescued from the chaos of a disorderly universe, and returning to their rightful place as servants of the Varn. He praises Titalia, assuring her that if continues to please him she will be rewarded. Titalia thinks she doesn’t care if the Creo are called servants or slaves, as long he assists her in overthrowing her Hive Mother. Out loud she states how she looks forward to destroying the Gal-Sapien Alliance, and having them bow before her.
Back on the Treona Terinu is sitting alone on the bridge when Leeza approaches him cautiously. She agrees with Teirnu that Lance can be difficult to deal with (though the boy puts it a bit more rudely). Leeza tells him she understands that he lived on a pirate colony and that had to be rough, but he has to relax a little if he’s going to deal with ordinary people. She then thanks him for saving her life back on the freighter, which seems to surprise and please him. Then she brings up the subject of the Gene Mage, and Terinu tells her how frustrating it is to have wondered about his origins, only to discover that the person who might hold the answers “...scares me half to death.” Leeza assures him that they’ll be heading back into civilized space, and putting many light-years between them and the mysterious alien. She then asks him what the problem is about him powering the engines, and he explains that his Bion isn’t an unending supply. If he needs to power up something large, he needs to eat a large meal beforehand to build his energy reserves. Leeza tells him that shouldn’t be a problem, since she knows where the captain hid her secret supply of snacks.
But before she can feed him, Rufus calls her to the bridge. She and Terinu both head up, where Lance and Rufus have decoding the data crystal she recovered in the previous issue. It contains a recording of the Galapados’ battle orders and the coordinates for the Creo colony. Shocked, Leeza realizes their goal, to start a war!
Chapter Five The story begins with Rufus and Lance’s fighters hiding in a conglomeration of asteroids, while the Cannon Ship and escort of fighters pass nearby. Rufus asks Leeza if they can been seen, and she replies that the Galapados vessels have their energy signatures to match the asteroids in the belt and that she has done the same. Leeza expresses concern about coming all this way in fighters, but Lance tells her that with the Treona damaged it could not have snuck up as they have, and there's no time to contact Command Central to warn anyone.
While Leeza attempts to tap into the Galapados communications to determine exactly which Creo colony they're going to strike, Terinu asks Rufus why they're bothering to help defend the Creo in the first place. Rufus attempts to explain that it's their responsibility, but Terinu counters that it's none of their business and who would know the difference anyway? Rufus simply sighs and asks the boy to trust him.
Leeza reports that Galapados communications are encrypted, so they're going to have to use “Plan B.” A few moments later Rufus deliberately reveals himself to the Galapados fleet, allowing himself to be captured as a distraction while Terinu, Leeza and Lance infiltrate the Cannon Ship. Lance expresses consternation as Terinu floats in the vacuum without a space helmet, but his superior agility allows him to quickly locate a maintenance hatch to allow them entry. They board without tripping any alarms and begin to head further into the vessel, keeping to the maintenance tunnels to avoid detection.
On the Ardactavian homeworld, Princess Titalia readies to board her personal yacht, ignoring Ambassador Ictiss' pleas for caution. She wishes to see the upcoming battle personally, to determine if the Galapados Warriors live up to the Gene Mage's claims. Titalia menacingly notes that if things go well, it will be the first blow struck against the Gal-Sapien Alliance and her sister will be deeply in her debt.
Later, Rufus is being interrogated by his Galapados captors, claiming to have accidentally stumbled upon their fleet. After briefly mistaking a circuit tester found on his fighter as a weapon, the lead interrogator decides to put him to work. Meanwhile General Gisko discusses the upcoming attack on the Creo colony with a lieutenant in the ship's command center. The lieutenant notes that the Crust Breaker Cannon mounted on their ship requires more power than the ship's generators can provide. Gisko informs his subordinate that the Gene Mage wishes to use the Cannon to test another form of energy, “One superior to all other known power generators.”
They walk out of the command center, past a corridor lined with storage lockers. Once they've past, Leeza, Lance and Terinu emerge, having heard the two Galapados's conversation about the Cannon and its mysterious power source. They sneak into the command center, trying to decipher the alien controls to figure out where the fleet is going to attack. Leeza doesn't recognize the system they've entered, but Terinu recognizes that they're heading towards a Creo mining camp that Mavra Chan runs a smuggling operation out of. The boy states that the attackers would be unable to destroy the colony, since the Creo would just burrow deep in the asteroid and hide until help arrives. Lance isn't so certain, guessing that the Crust Breaker Cannon is probably key to the Galapados attack strategy.
Leeza and Terinu follow Lance as they try to reach the cannon, sneaking past Galapados soldiers along the way. One stumbles upon them, and Terinu blasts him with his Bion. The continue on, Lance spotting load bearing struts that seem to center on the cannon's internal housing assembly. They sneak in, catching the Galapados technicians by surprise and successfully disable all of them. On the upper deck on the Cannon chamber they find Rufus, who had been dragooned into aiding in the cannon's final adjustments. While Lance and Rufus set charges to destroy the cannon, Terinu and Leeza examine its mysterious power unit. Leeza merely finds it “scary”, but Terinu says “No, it's more than that. It's like I've seen this kinda machine before... in a dream. A really bad dream.”
Before they can speak further, a group of Galapados attempt to retake the room. After successfully repelling them, Leeza belatedly seals the door shut. Their respite is momentary however, as the Galapados begin pumping the atmosphere from the chamber. As the others succumb, Terinu unseals the door to save them.
He's then confronted by more warriors, who accompany the Gene Mage. The Varn greets him warmly, but Terinu merely asks “Who the fragg are you?” The Gene Mage introduces himself, revealing that he is the one that created the Ferin race, and stating, “I see patterns in genetic sequences. I re-stack the blocks that encode all life, shaping the form and the abilities of my creations that they may better serve the needs of my people.”
Frightened, Terinu attempts to attack, but his Bion seemingly rebounds on himself, shocking him. The Gene Mage is surprised by his action, informing Terinu that his genes are encoded to prevent any Ferin from attacking a Varn. The boy then attempts to run away, leaping into the ceiling supports. A Galapados shoots at him with blaster, and the Gene Mage angrily orders him to come down, telling him there is no escape.
Chapter Six The Gene Mage orders Terinu to come down from the ceiling supports or he will order the Galapados to shoot him. The boy hops down reluctantly and a Galapados slashes at his back, ripping away the upper half of his spacesuit. Terinu warns the Gene Mage not to let one of his warriors attack him again, but the Varn sees through the boy's bravado, noting that his lowered spurs and tail show how frightened he is. On the Gene Mage's orders Terinu is strapped into the interface mounting of the cannon, while he explains that Terinu's race was created by him, uplifted from an alien species of marsupial that could create and control energy. He continues, narrating how the Ferin were given intelligence in order to serve the Varn as personal servants, only to have seemingly perished during the human led rebellion. But the Gene Mage tell how he never gave up hope, and now that he knows one Ferin has survived, there must be other out in universe to be found, to serve the Varn Dominion once again. As he finishes, he picks up a needle from a gleaming rack of surgical instruments, to sedate Terinu before bonding him to the cannon's power grid.
In a cell in another part of the cannon ship, Leeza comforts Rufus as he wakes up. Lance informs him that he's been unconscious for five hours, and Rufus realizes that they must be coming within attack distance of the Creo colony, which will only be lightly defended. The cell door opens and a Galapados enters, informing them that they will be transported to a “re-education facility” in order to “relearn what it is to serve the great Dominion.” Lance demands to know where Terinu is, turning as the Galapados replies to suddenly punch him unconscious. Leeza tells Rufus to take the White Knight and fly ahead to warn the Creo colony, while she and Lance head back to the cannon mount to finish setting the charges that were left hidden when they were captured.
Soon Rufus is away, being chased by four Galapados fighters. He zooms past Princess Titalia, who is aboard her yacht. Titalia, enraged that the Galapados are already making mistakes by letting a prisoner get away, orders her yacht's pilot to fire on Rufus. The White Knight is hit once, but zooms away before they can press their attack. When Titalia contacts Gisko to berate him for letting Rufus get away to sound a warning, the general brushes aside her concerns, telling her that “No amount of forewarning can protect the Creo against the weapon our master has given us!”
Back on the cannon ship, a fearful Leeza hides from a roaming patrol of Galapados. She reflects that her father would be pleased at her “Playing little soldier girl, just like you always wanted me to.” Her pistol knocks against the wall, the noise attracting the attention of a Galapados Warrior...
In the cannon mount chamber, Terinu awakens to find himself bound to the Crust Breaker Cannon, via myriad of intravenous tubes. The Gene Mage informs him that his nervous system is connected directly to the cannon, to force his body to generate Bion in amounts greater than he ever could by himself. Terinu asks him if he thinks he'll just let that happen? The Gene Mage then replies, “That would be my adivce. Any attempt to resist the process would prove most uncomfortable.”
Meanwhile Rufus nurses his damaged fighter to within range of the colony and sounds the alarm. On the cannon ship Gisko is notified that the Creo have launched a defensive squadron, but the General merely informs his subordinate to brings the cannon ship into rage, so they can see what it can do. In the cannon mount chamber Terinu's body emits a blinding light as he is forced to power up the cannon. The ship fires on the asteroid as inside Creo flee falling debris and Rufus watches in awe. Gisko's lieutenant reports a direct hit, and the General orders his fighters to intercept any vessels attempting to escape. Around a corner, Lance hears his orders, debating whether he can take on four Galapados all by himself. He manages to take out two, only to be knocked down by Gisko, who orders his lieutenant to continue the attack.
Leeza, having managed to avoid being spotted by the Galapados patrol, locates a service hatch directly above the cannon mount. She drops down inside and her open wide with shock...
Out in space, Rufus dodges many lesser skilled but numerous Galapados fighters. While he's holding his own, the Creo defenders are over matched. As he fights for his life, the Vulpine pilot hopes Lance is having better luck...
Meanwhile, Lance is engaged in a fistfight with Gisko. Despite the Galapado's superior strength, he manages to Judo flip him through an airlock door. Before Gisko can regain his balance, Lance hits the launch button, and the general is flung away from the ship in an escape pod. Lance engages the final warrior left in the control room, demanding that he shut the cannon down. The Galapados tells him that cannon control has been transferred to another station, and the controls in the room are now locked out.
In the cannon mount Leeza anxiously looks over the tubes connecting the now unconscious Terinu to the weapon, noting that they seem to be directly connected to his arteries. He awakens and warns Leeza to get away, fearing he'll fry her when they force him to generate more Bion and he repeats for her what the Gene Mage told him concerning the origins of his race. Leeza pledges to free him, but instead he suggests she finish putting the explosive charges in place. The Galapados removed the detonators, but he tells her he thinks he can set them off with his Bion. Intially Leeza refuses, but Terinu tells her to reset the charges to merely disable the cannon, not destroy it. Reluctantly she agrees with his plan, unsure whether she'll be able to set the charges properly to not completely destroy the entire ship and him with it. He replies, “Maybe, maybe not. I'm kinda hard to kill.”
Sometime later Lance and Leeza flee in an escape pod. They contact Rufus and tell him to warn the Creo defenders to fall back away from the cannon ship. Some distance away Gisko gains control of his own escape pod, and uses its radio to order the ship to resume fire. Aboard, Terinu powers again, this time using his Bion to fill the entire mounting chamber with energy. The explosives detonate and he is freed from his restraints, the feed tubes tearing away from his skin. As the ship is destroyed around him he declares in his mind to the Gene Mage, “I hope yer watchi' this Varn! And while yer at it get this through yer green skull... You don't own me!!!! And to hell with your Great Dominion!”
Observing its destruction from her yacht, Princess Titalia reflects, “It seems my assiociate's resources are a poor match for his ambitions!” She orders her pilot to proceed at maximum speed to distance herself from the incident. Meanwhile, Rufus call to Lance, asking if he and Leeza rescued Terinu. Lance tells him no, and that the boy was responsible for the cannon ship's destruction. Then he turns to Leeza and tries to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. As he comforts his cousin, the lifeboat's sensors begin to beep, detecting Terinu alive, floating in the void. They pull him aboard and Leeza holds the injured and unconscious boy in his arms.
On the Varn home world, the Gene Mage looks up at the sky, pondering Terinu's defiance, but pleased at the power he displays when compared to his ancestors. He thinks, “If all Ferin have evolved so, then we Varn will become mighty indeed!”
In a Creo hospital, Terinu awakens, surprised to see Leeza watching over him. “You came back for me?” he asks. When she replies, “Of course,” he smiles and says to her, “Told you I was hard to kill.”
[edit] Season Two
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[edit] Season Three
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