The Hero's Companion (The Hunter Legacy) Page 3

  James McLauchlan

  James (Jim) McLauchlan was an Australian engineer, sent to England during World War 2 as a liaison for building the Lancaster Bomber in Australia. His wife Violet was responsible for starting the sending of food packages to Britain, after Jim commented in a letter that the people there were starving.

  He remained an engineer until his retirement.

  He was the author's Grandfather, and we have no doubt that in the 27th century, he would have been the Chief Engineer of a major Shipyard.

  Bigglesworth

  Biggles was a pilot in a life spanning series by W E Johns, beginning in World War One, and spanning well into the jet age. Biggles was a born leader, as well as a natural pilot.

  Exactamundo

  Favourite saying of "The Fonz", on the tv square screen show Happy Days.

  Dead people and cleavage

  Ghost Whisperer. Jennifer Love Hewitt. Enough said.

  Meat grinder

  A defensive position designed to force your enemy into a kill zone where you can inflict maximum damage for minimum casualties.

  The best meat grinder was positioned after a series of easy defensive positions, so by the time the enemy reaches it, they expect this one to be just as easy to take. Or if they are more paranoid, it causes them to be overly cautious, and thus take longer getting there.

  For a good example of its use, see the novel Shards of a Broken Crown, by Raymond E Feist.

  No goodbyes, just good memories

  The last message from Tasha Yar, towards the end of the first season of square screen tv series Star Trek The Next Generation.

  "Death is that state where we live only in the memory of others. No goodbyes, just good memories."

  One of those lines which comes out of Sci-Fi, which the author will never forget, and has used several times at funerals.

  Make or Break the Hero

  In space, no-one can hear you scream

  From the poster advertising the square screen movie Alien.

  Fog of war

  Refers to the parts of a battlefield which have no oversight, or sensor coverage. Anything could be happening there, and you won't know until something moves into your sensor range or sightlines. Most battlefields, even in space, are only partly visible to each side.

  As ships or units move on the battlefield, the fog is either dispersed, or moved to where they used to be; dependent on how far each unit can push away the fog. How much coverage you have, depends on the number of ships you have, their placement, and how far they can 'see'. As ships move, the area covered changes.

  I feel the need. The need, for speed.

  From the square screen movie Top Gun.

  The victorious dead

  Toast made after the battle of Helm's Deep, in Lord of the Rings part 2.

  Immelmann turn

  Pull back on the joystick, going into a loop backwards. At the top of the loop, straighten out. You are now upside down. Roll back to normal orientation. You are now pointing back the way you came, albeit higher up.

  It was named after German World War I ace, Max Immelmann.

  Game saves

  Most computer games give you some way of saving the state of the game, before you shut it down, so you can start again in the same place next time. Other games allow you to save any time you want, which allows you to 'save the money' and/or 'save the reward', before going on to do something dangerous again. In this way, if you get killed, or seriously screw up, you can reload the last save game and try again a different way. This is particularly useful during mission oriented games, or sandbox games where something unexpected could occur at any moment.

  The catch cry of serious gamers giving advice to newbies, is 'Save. Save. Save. Save often. Save as soon as you complete doing something.'

  Jon of course, had been doing that from a very young age. The author since his late teens.

  BigMother of Borg

  From Jon: "Jane looked at me with a look of pure glee on her face, and raised eyebrows. I gave her the thumbs up. Her suit changed to a strange black armour with tubes going in weird directions. She focused an obviously mechanical eye on the nearest cam, and turned the vid on. General Smith appeared on the screen, with Alsop and a few others in the background."

  "This is BigMother of Borg," Jane said in a multitude of simultaneous voices. "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." End Jon.

  The Borg were first introduced into Star Trek Next Generation season two, and continued to be a recurring species until the end of Voyager, with yet another encounter in the prequel series Enterprise.

  Borg being short for Cyborg, meaning a humanoid body implanted with cybernetics. In this case, linked with a Hive mind, something akin to Bees.

  They were supposed to be the ultimate evil, having suppressed all emotions and individuality.

  Their only attempt at creating an individual, was named Locutus of Borg. This sparked innumerable joke names all ending in 'of Borg'. One such joke is a corruption of the Simpsons. "I am Homer of Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is … Oooo Donuts!"

  Cake run

  A simple trip to do something equally simple, where nothing unexpected should happen. For pilots, it means something long and boring, to be avoided if at all possible.

  Hail the Hero

  Today is a good day to die

  The combat attitude of Star Trek's Klingon race. Usually said by Worf, the only Klingon in Starfleet. To die in battle was their highest aim. To die gloriously in battle was to earn them a place in the Klingon afterlife, which all Klingons sought.

  Ka-Plaa

  Success, in Klingon, as it sounds. Deliberately not spelled correctly to avoid copyright issues since anything to do with Trek is a copyright minefield.

  Now you're getting it

  Said by the character Rose, in Doctor Who, 2005.

  Small steps

  The advice given to Ellie Arroway by her father, in the square screen movie Contact.

  I have given a name to my pain, and it is

  "I have given a name to my pain, and it is Batman." Said by the Joker in the 2nd Batman square screen movie of 1989, (first remake).

  What's up Doc?

  Said by Bugs Bunny, a character in the Looney Tunes square screen cartoons.

  Oh dear, dear, dear,

  The opening words of the computer game Starship Titanic, said by the Doorbot, written by Douglas Adams.

  raw prawn

  Australian slang for someone who attempts to deceive, treat someone like a fool, or misrepresent a situation.

  Burnside's Killer

  Dick Burnside

  Burnside was a Detective Inspector in the British police show The Bill. He was a bit of a rogue, while being on the good side. The character went on to have his own mini-series, with the rank of Detective Chief Inspector.

  Burnside was the bad guy in the novel Double Share, 4th book in the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series, by Nathan Lowell.

  The author thought the name needed redemption when we were looking for a name for the detective character for the series.

  James Patterson

  James Patterson is the author of many detective stories, mostly to do with some form of murder. Using the name for a murder victim felt like sweet irony at the time.

  Hire a Hero

  To the nearest phone booth

  Early Superman always changed inside a phone booth.

  Phone booths were where early communications were made, using a box installation and a hand device. These began to be phased out at the end of the 20th Century, as the hand held mobile phone phased in. All types of hand held or worn communication devices were phased out when the ping, pulse and hollo chat became available.

  Backed her cart up

  Cat slang for forcing a person to pat you with excessive smooging of the legs. Making it more desirable or an easier option for the human to pat the cat, than ignoring it.

  Your will, Great One

  The answ
er expected when a Magician on the planet Kelawan gives you an order. From the books by Raymond E Feist, beginning with the Rift War trilogy starting with Magician, and especially the trilogy with Janny Wurts, starting with Daughter of the Empire.

  Margaret Boothby

  An amalgam of two names, both grounds keepers.

  Margaret Newmar is the grounds keeper of the Officer Academy on the planet Port Newmar, in the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series, by Nathan Lowell.

  Boothby was the grounds keeper at Starfleet Academy, in Star Trek The Next Generation.

  fatigue pants, a white singlet, and a lot of muscles

  Kind of like the Ellen Ripley look from Aliens. Or the female version of the John Rambo look, in the square screen movie series, beginning with First Blood.

  Remember Me

  Star Trek The Next Generation, season 5. One of the better episodes, which teaches you never to let a know-it-all ensign mess with your warp core console.

  Wesley Crusher

  Star Trek The Next Generation. Teenager, Ensign, Lieutenant. Generally considered an insufferable know it all, and largely not liked. Originally played by Will Wheaton, who is/was largely liked.

  617

  617 Squadron, RAF, were popularly called the Dam Buster Squadron. It was a Lancaster Bomber squadron in World War 2, most noted for destroying Germany's dams with bouncing bombs, later going on to be the squadron who dropped the largest bombs dropped on Europe during the war.

  666 squadron

  666 was the squadron Biggles flew in during World War 2, in the Biggles books by W E Johns.

  287 squadron

  287 was a rival squadron to the one Biggles flew with in World War One, in the Biggles books by W E Johns.

  Do, or don’t. There's no try.

  Yoda – The Empire Strikes Back, flat screen movie. Slightly paraphrased. Yoda actually said, "Do or Do Not, there is no try."

  Anything to do with Wars is a copyright minefield, hence paraphrasing.

  The One

  The Matrix Trilogy of flat screen movies. The main character, Neo, was referred to as 'The One'.

  Babylon 5 also had "The One". In this case it was three people. The one who was, the one who is, and the one who will be; who all lived at the same time and knew each other, but were also separated by more than 1000 years. Two of the three were Human, two of the three were Minbari. Two of the three changed species.

  Convert the door mechanism into an intercom

  Star Trek Enterprise, flat screen tv series – the crew are captured on their own ship, and convert the door mechanism into an intercom in order to communicate with each other, and organize an escape.

  Twentieth century Sci-Fi dramas were full of people doing amazing things with nothing, in order to escape and win the day, after being captured during a moment of stupidity. It's almost a requirement for good drama.

  The author tries very hard not to do stupidity, and thus not need to convert door mechanisms into anything.

  M-Kew, Old horse face

  World War One novel series called The Bandy Papers, by Donald Jack. The first novel is called Three Cheers for Me, and is about a Canadian in the trenches of WWI, and the Royal Flying Corps.

  This series is very funny, and is noted by such opening sentences as 'On my way back to the front, I ran over a General.'

  Grasshopper

  The main character of the square screen series Kung Fu, was called Grasshopper by his Master during training.

  Young padawan

  Trainee Jedi were referred to as Padawan, in the series of square screen and flat screen movies called Star Wars.

  Jedi was the name given to those who could perform what others call magic.

  Mary Celeste

  Mary Celeste was an American two masted Brigantine found adrift and deserted off the Azores Islands, in 1872. There has never been an explanation for what happened to her crew.

  The Flying Dutchman

  The Flying Dutchman is an urban legend, of a 17th century sailing ship, doomed to sail the seas of Earth forever. It is said sightings of this ghost ship are omens of doom to come, often seen before a hurricane.

  So say we all

  Group affirmation from the first remake of Battlestar Galactica, flat screen tv show.

  Goring, Donitz

  Both were senior officers of the Third Reich. Goring controlled the air force, and Donitz the submarine service. Both of which played a major part in World War Two.

  Hitler

  Adolf Hitler was a corporal in World War One, who rose to lead Nazi Germany into World War Two. He's the exception to the rule, which proves that standard military doctrine never finds the warfare genius, or the born leader.

  As a result of his life, much science fiction and war fiction puts the main character starting out as a corporal, before discovering they can lead.

  Knights Cross

  The Knights Cross was the highest award a military officer could receive in Nazi Germany. It hangs around the neck, and was worn with the normal uniform.

  Johann Schmidt

  From the square screen series Hogan's Heroes.

  The most gratuitous use of the word fuck

  The most gratuitous use of the word fuck in a serious screenplay, was a Rory award given to screen writers, looking like a silver bail from the top of a cricket wicket, in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy in five parts, by Douglas Adams.

  However, it was soon after determined that it wasn’t a Rory award for the most gratuitous use of the word fuck in a serious screenplay at all, but part of the slow time key to the Wicket Gate, thought lost permanently in time, but now being found to not have been lost at all, but temporarily misplaced.

  Flash Gordon

  Square screen movie of the same name, based on comics. Sports jock becomes space hero.

  This was one of those things which happens to authors as they write books. When Melissa Gordon was first used as a name, there was no intention to put her in a super-fast ship, and have a comparison to Flash Gordon be made later on.

  It just happened.

  Believe it or not.

  Ugly

  Comes from the series of Star Wars novels, especially the Xwing sub-series. It refers to (mainly) fighters, cobbled together from the parts of different ships, to form something unique. Mainly used by pirates and others who couldn’t afford to buy a decent ship, or weren't capable of stealing one. All of these were lethal. A few to the target, but most to the pilot. The word deathtrap comes to mind.

  Grace Tapping

  Amanda Tapping played the roles of Sam Carter in the flat screen series Stargate SG1, and Helen Magnus in Sanctuary, and is an author favourite actor. Why use a person's name once, where twice will suffice?

  Grace was the first name of the lead scientist in the flat screen movie Avatar, played by Sigourney Weaver.

  Jane's Christmas

  Boomers

  Six White Boomers – six white old man kangaroos, said to pull Father Christmas around in his sleigh over Australia on Christmas Eve, in order the reindeer didn’t suffer from heatstroke. Christmas time in Australia quite often has 100 degree Fahrenheit (38 degree Celcius) heatwaves.

  From the song Six White Boomers, by Rolf Harris.

  X3 trilogy

  In the beginning, a German games company called Egosoft released a computer game called X: Beyond the Frontier. It was followed by X-Tension, and X2: The Threat.

  X3:Reunion was followed by X3: Terran Conflict.

  The five games were then released as the X Superbox, with the X: Encyclopedia, which was also on disc. It included links to fan fiction, mods, and modding tools.

  X3: Albion Prelude followed.

  X3AP was released through Steam, one of the emerging digital distributors of computer games, with X3TC included.

  This was followed by X Rebirth, which continues the story way into the future, but returns the player to the conditions of the original game. Hence a lot of diehard X3 players, not li
king the new game, went back to continue playing either TC or AP.

  The entire X-series is a 4X sandbox, with plot. Sandbox games allow the player to do anything in any order, and play the game however they want to. In the later games, the Sandbox became more important than the plot.

  The games are unique in so far as most computer games are designed to take forty eight hours to a week to complete all the play, while the X games were designed to take six months to play. Indeed, it can take four to six months to progress to the level where you can begin to buy the largest ships. Many of the diehards continued a single game for more than eighteen months.