Powerful weapon developed by Egrorian, probably derived from his understanding of parallel matter. Egrorian claimed that the tachyon funnel could destroy anything, instantly, completely, and at any range. As a demonstration Egrorian destroyed Porphyrus, a lunar satellite 17 light years away.
No real technical details were given save that eight neutrons formed the core of the accelerator. Development of the tachyon funnel had apparently begun over ten years previously, but further funding had been blocked by the senior administrators at the Space Research Institute. It can be deduced that Egrorian's subsequent disappearance was assisted by Servalan, presumably to allow him to complete the tachyon funnel for her own use.
Egrorian attempted to give Avon the tachyon funnel in exchange for Orac, later intending to recover it when the overloaded shuttle crashed back on Malodar. He threatened to turn the weapon on Scorpio if Avon did not agree. Avon jettisoned the funnel in his attempt to lighten the shuttle, presumably destroying it. Servalan then left Egrorian and Pinder behind on Malodar, so it can be assumed there was no second tachyon funnel in any stage of construction.
| A member of Tynus" staff at the Q-base on Fosforon. He died of the plague there. | |
| A bounty hunter on Gauda Prime, and according to Deva "worse than the people he hunted". Tando and two other bounty hunters worked with Blake in capturing Arlen, but she later shot the other two whilst Blake killed Tando himself. |  |
One of two keys found by Dayna on the sentry guarding the pylene-50 production plant on Helotrix. The first was bogus and activated nerve gas dispensers.
| Recording device used by Varon to gather evidence against Blake's conviction. Long and slender, with a pistol-like grip, it was held up to the eye with one hand supporting the "barrel". |  |
Sister of Gola and Rod and present at the court of the Charl. She claimed to have knowledge of mysteries handed down from the "Lost Time", and Gola feared her predictive powers and use of mind-affecting drugs. She predicted (accurately) the arrival of Jenna and Vila, and also (inaccurately) that Rod would kill Gola. Jenna was temporarily transfixed by Tara's powers. Tara poisoned Gola after he had killed Rod, leaving her to take the throne.
Developed by Ensor at the age of 18, the tarial cell became an integral component of a new generation of computers. Orac was able to extract information from computers because of this. Egrorian noted that tarial cells were virtually indestructible.
Tarriel cell is a common variant spelling.
| A frontier system, represented in Avon's alliance of local warlords by Boorva. Tarl was among those systems that felt itself threatened by Zukan's ambitions. |  Boorva |
| Del Tarrant's brother, he left Earth somewhat earlier than Del and eventually came to be champion for the United Planets of Teal. He was Champion for about four years, apparently defeating many challengers. At some point his brother apparently learnt about this, since Del immediately set a course for the scene of the combat on hearing of war being declared. As a result of this declaration, Deeta went into combat against the Vandor champion, Vinni, and died when Vinni beat him on the draw. He had earlier passed up a chance to shoot Vinni in the back. Although his brother was in the vicinity, they never met (Deeta had intended to see Del after the combat), but Deeta managed to transmit a last dying message to Del through the sensornet implanted in his brain. |  |
Tarrant was a graduate of the Federation Space Academy, and his first command as a lieutenant was of the kairopan shuttle under Captain Jarvik at the harvest 15 years prior to Liberator's visit. At some point he was promoted to Space Captain. Ten years prior to Orbit he attended courses at the Space Research Institute, shortly after Egrorian's disappearance. He was later, according to the Ultra, posted missing along with a stolen pursuit ship with which he ran contraband in the Outer Planets, and by his own account got himself "mixed up in other peoples wars": Vila in Moloch referred to him having an execution order placed on his head for deserting. At some point he encountered Bayban. Caught up in the fighting during the Intergalactic War, he stole an officer's uniform and boarded the Liberator, using his bogus rank to assume command of Klegg and his troopers. He was the first to find Avon and Dayna aboard the ship, quickly deduced who Avon was, and endeavoured to keep Klegg from finding out whilst he dealt with Klegg's men.
Known relatives: One brother, Deeta (see above). Deeta, as he died, called Del "little brother", suggesting that Del was the younger.
Notable brawls: Tarrant grappled with a number of people, including Jarvik on Kairos (when he lost); Doran in Moloch, a link on Terminal, a Federation trooper on Helotrix, Muller's android (where he was saved by Vila), "Cancer", a trooper on Mecron II, and a technician in Blake's headquarters on Gauda Prime. He would probably have lost this last struggle had Soolin not intervened.
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Bodycount: He killed three of Klegg's men (including Harmon), shot one of
the Thaarn's guards (his first shot with a Liberator handgun),
"killed" two of the Ultra, shot Grose and Lector on Sardos, destroyed the
android Vinni with a weapon developed by Dayna, shot a link on Terminal,
killed two troopers in Games (shooting one, the other thrown into an
electromagnetic crusher), killed Investigator Reeve on Virn, a guard on Zerok
and another on the Space Princess, and a Federation trooper on Gauda
Prime. He also threatened Vila with a gun on Sardos.
|  |
 In Dawn of the Gods |
Captured by: Hower and later Mori on Obsidian, where he was released by
Hower; by the Caliph of Crandor; by Shad's men from the Kairos shuttle; by
Servalan on Auron, along with Avon and Cally where he was rescued by Franton;
by the Ultra, who wanted himself and Dayna to demonstrate the human bonding
ceremony for their records; by Grose's men on Sardos, when he escaped by
himself with incidental help from Servalan; by Servalan on Terminal, along
with the rest of the crew; by Dorian on Xenon, along with Avon, Dayna and
Soolin; stranded with Vila on Scorpio after Muller's android closed
down life support; by Belkov on Mecron II, along with Dayna, and again saved
by Vila; held prisoner by the sand on Virn along with Servalan; trapped in
Xenon base by Finn's sabotage along with Dayna and Vila, and "captured" by
Blake on Gauda Prime, where he broke away before Blake could tell him the
truth.
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Injuries: Tarrant was shot in the leg in Volcano, contracted the
disease introduced to Auron by Servalan, injured by the undead alien in
Sarcophagus, almost succumbed to the mental power of the Ultra (Dayna
distracted them), was dragged unconscious from the bunker on Terminal by
Vila, later collapsed on the surface of Terminal, required medical treatment
for frostbite in Headhunter, and suffered serious injuries in his
crash-landing on Gauda Prime.
|  In Terminal |
His piloting skills defeated Servalan's strategists in The Harvest of Kairos when leaving UP-Sopron, and averted a collision into Sardos, but otherwise he displayed little of his flying ability. He managed to bring the crippled Scorpio in for a crash-landing on Gauda Prime, saying "it takes talent to fly a dead ship".
Almost from the start, Tarrant declared: "I don't trust anybody except myself - that's why I'm still alive". Several times he challenged Avon's leadership aboard the Liberator, and was seen to bully Vila in City at the Edge of the World and Moloch (though he did apologise later in the first instance). Either he had carried a past reputation along with him or acquired one very quickly, since Dastor in The Harvest of Kairos specifically mentioned Tarrant and no-one else with respect to the Liberator (although these remarks had their origins in Jarvik, who had known Tarrant previously). After his brother's death Tarrant noticeably mellowed and worked more easily alongside Avon, although he rarely backed down on a point of principle. He happily went along with Avon's use of Dayna and Vila as bait for the space rats on Caspar, and Tarrant alone was apparently taken into Avon's confidence when it came to double-crossing Egrorian.
He had three notable encounters with women in his time as a member of the crew, two of them disastrous. In Assassin he sprang to the defence of Piri, quite unaware that she was actually Cancer. In Sand he spent some time on Virn with Servalan and did not inform the others of her presence until Scorpio had left the planet. In Warlord his clandestine affair with Zukan's daughter Zeeona ended with her death in the freight bay on Xenon Base.
His last notable action was to tell Avon (rightfully as he believed) that Blake had betrayed them all. Soon after he was shot by a Federation trooper and apparently died in the tracking gallery, along with the rest of the crew.