MAJOR DRAMATIS PERSONAE
in order of appearance:
Marguerite Wallenstein. High Admiral of the United Earth Peace Fleet, a fleet of observation in orbit above the Planet of Terra Nova. She acquired her position largely through the actions and intervention of Patricio Carrera. The high admiral is Reformed Druidic Faith, repentant for her previous (“and they were many, oh, many”) sins. Still, she has a duty to her home planet to keep the barbarians of Terra Nova from breaking into space and trashing her system of government, even though she detests that system.
Omar Fernandez. Legate in the Legion del Cid. Chief of Intelligence, which includes counterintelligence. Crippled and wheel chair bound by a would-be assassin’s bullet. A widower, Fernandez’s only child, a daughter, was killed in a terrorist attack. Utterly ruthless and utterly loyal to his country and its war chief.
Patricio Carrera, Born Patrick Hennessey. Former officer in the Federated States Army, retired, moved to his late wife’s—Linda Carrera de Hennessey’s—native country of Balboa, raised an army to avenge the death of her and their children at the hands of Salafi terrorists. Currently commander, or Dux Bellorum, Legion del Cid, a former private military corporation, now the armed forces of the Timocratic Republic of Balboa
Jan Campbell. Captain, intelligence officer from the Anglian Army. Female, and highly decorative. Female, and “more deady than the male.” Campbell authored a report, the Campbell Report, which advised, correctly, that the legion was dangerously tough and large. Ignored then, her star is likely to rise with the perceived accuracy of her report. Rather, it would except that Campbell is currently a prisoner of war along with—
Kris Hendryksen. Cymbrian Sergeant Major, intelligence, seconded to the Tauran Union, and captured during the last battle in Balboa.
Ricardo Cruz. Sergeant Major, Second Cohort, Second Infantry Tercio, Legion del Cid. Highly decorated. Battle hardened. Rather young.
Khalid. Druze assassin and spy working for Fernandez, on assignment to the Tauran Union. Like Druze, generally, Khalid is loyal to his adopted homeland or Balboa. Pretends to be a Moslem, most of the time. Good friend of Ricardo Cruz and Rafael Montoya.
Achmed Qabaash. Sumeri, Brigadier, Army of Sumer. Legate, Pro Tem, Legion del Cid. Qabaash commands a brigade in the Presidential Guard of the Republic of Sumer, which brigade, sent to help Sumer’s ally, Balboa, is appointed Forty-third Tercio, Legion del Cid. Most Balboans who know him would agree, “Qabaash . . . mean motherfucker . . . glad he’s on our side.”
Bertrand Janier. Chief of Staff, Tauran Union Combined Staff. Effective commander, Tauran Defense Agency. Former commander, Tauran Union Security Force-Balboa. Janier was once rather overbearing and arrogant. Events have muted those defects, leaving a superior general officer in their wake. Why, he’s even begun to treat almost like a human being, his long suffering aide de camp.
The Khans, referred to as Khan, the husband, and Khan, the wife. They are members of Wallenstein’s staff, highly valued, very capable. They have some rather odd views of marriage and sex, by Terra Novan lights, but quite within the mainstream culture of Old Earth and not all that far out of some subcultures of twenty-first century Earth.
Blanco. A black lieutenant of the police in Balboa’s neighbor, Santa Josefina. Educated at the military academy of another central Columbian petty state, Blanco is about as military as it gets in demilitarized Santa Josefina. Serves occasionally as a military advisor to his president—
Angel Calderón. President of Santa Josefina, Balboa’s eastern neighbor. Having no particular vices or virtues, being neither perfectly honest nor unutterably corrupt, he was probably as good a choice for president as had been on offer, for normal times. Sadly for the president, the times are not normal.
Claudio Marciano. Tuscan general officer, retired but called back to duty as a compromise candidate to command the Tauran Union Security Force in Santa Josefina. Capable and cynical, he detests most things about demilitarized Santa Josefina and rather admires his official enemy, Balboa. Much loved by the soldiers of the multinational TUSF-SJ, his task is a forlorn one.
Judy Tipton. Anglian military wife. Her husband is a prisoner of Balboa. She is, perhaps unwittingly, an asset in the propaganda war between Balboa and the Tauran Union.
Lydia Gordon. Anglian military widow. A definite asset in the propaganda war between Balboa and the Tauran Union.
Rigoberto Puercel. Legate, commanding Eighth Legion and the Isla Real.
Roderigo Fosa. Legate and admiral, commanding the classis, or fleet, of the legion.
Rafael de a Mesa. Sergeant. Tercio Santa Cecilia. De le Mesa is crippled and wheelchair bound, and leads a small team of Down’s Syndrome affected troops on what is essentially a suicide task, to man a fixed tank turret, defending a portion of a beach, on the Isla Real.
Esmeralda Miranda. Freed slave from Old Earth. Admiral Wallenstein’s cabin girl and stand-in daughter. Very young. Lover of Richard, earl of Care and captain of the UEPF Spirit of Peace. Likes Richard. Loves her high admiral as a mother and more. Hates the Consensus that rules her planet and hates the clan that rules her home province.
Xingzhen. Of indeterminate age but painfully beautiful. Empress of Xing Zhong Guo, or New Middle Kingdom. Real ruler of the Kingdom. Rather despises most men.
Raul Parilla. Old soldier, retired. Former figurehead commander of the Legion del Cid. Now the genuine president of the Timocratic Republic of Balboa.
Marqueli Mendoza. Wife of Warrant Officer Jorge Mendoza. Ph.D. Author and philosopher in her own right, and, with her husband, one of the two main intellectual architects of the Timocratic Republic. Seconded to the propaganda ministry for some educational work in support of the war effort. The essence of pure feminine charm in a very compact package.
Richard, earl of Care. Captain of the UEPF Spirit of Peace. Foisted on Wallenstein as a sop to the ruling class of Old Earth. Fairly competent but advanced too young and knows it. In love with the ex-slave girl, Esmeralda. Much cared for by Wallenstein, because fundamentally decent despite the class that bore him and raised him.
Cass Aragon. Warrant Officer, intelligence, assigned to Santa Josefina. Female, tall, slender, and light skinned, she blends in perfectly with the Santa Josefinan norm.
Hamilcar Carrera. Cadet, Twenty-ninth Cadet Infantry Tercio. Seconded to Thirty-seventh Cadet Cazador Tercio. Son of Patricio Carrera and Lourdes, Patricio’s second wife. Worshipped by a tribe of pagan Pashtun as “Iskandr,” the reincarnation of Alexander and a god in his own right. He has already fought and bled for the cause, though quite young. “I am not a god, Pili . . . I’m just a boy.”
Pililak. Also called, “Ant.” One of Hamilcar’s twelve Pashtun wives. Very gutsy girl, defiant to a fault, but dedicated to her god.
Victor Chapayev. Legate, commanding the Academia Militar Sergento Juan Malvegui (now become the Twenty-ninth Cadet Infantry Tercio). Ex-Volgan para, who came over with Colonel Samsonov and the Three-fifty-first Tsarist-Marxist Guards Airborne (now Twenty-second Paracaidista Tercio, Legion del Cid). Fought with Carrera in Santander. Son in law to—
Muñoz-Infantes. Commander of the Castilian contingent of the old Tauran Union Security Force-Balboa. Defected, with his battalion, to Balboa.
Lourdes Nuñez de Carrera. Carrera’s second wife. Tall, slender, huge eyed, multi-lingual. An independent thinker and brave; she is a she bear in defense of her family. She, personally, foiled a coup against her husband and Parilla.
Alena Cano, AKA, “Alena the Witch.” First Pashtian of her tribe to recognize Hamilcar as Iskandr. Married into the legion at a young age. Husband is Tribune David Cano. No one, least of all she, knows if she’s a witch or just supremely insightful. Dedicated to her Iskandr.
Ignacio Macera. Tribune, Legio del Cid. Serving in Tercio la Negrita.
Ricardo Salas. Legate, commanding Tercio la Negrita.
Matthias Esterhazy. Legate at large. Former Sachsen Fallschirmstuermpioniere. Signed on with the legion early. Has a very full plate; alternates between diplomatic duties, comptrolling, investing for the legion, and doing occasional engineering work.
Larry Triste. Senior Balboan intelligence operative. Legionary rank unknown.
Wu Zixu. Major. Imperial Marines, Xing Zhong Guo.
Liu. Captain (Naval). Commanding Xing Zhong Guo Dynasty class attack submarine, Mao Zedong.