Today in a series of replies to FAQ (frequently asked questions) sent to me by fans (and sometimes not so much), I answer the question: “Who is Sona Kilroy?“
Sona Kilroy is the chief villain in Dead Beckoning – and as an example of Humanity, he’s the very worst – a Corsair. In the Galaxii series, Corsairs are space pirates – and the Corsairs have a reputation for attacking cargo carriers and raiding isolated colonies and outposts. They’re hunted by the Terrans, with rewards offered as bounties on any Corsairs captured – with the biggest rewards offered for known names, such as “Red” Dorn Schultz, “Strings” Levine, Blachart the Bloody, The Hell Queen – or Sona Kilroy. As a group, they’ve lived apart from the rest of Humanity for so long they don’t know how to relate to outsiders, other than to see them as prey.
For a century, the black ships of the Corsairs had raided and plundered smaller, under-defended colonies and outposts, and preyed upon traders, freighters and loderunners traveling the space lanes in the outblack; and once sated, they returned home to a planet they called Meradinis – the Turtle Island of the stars… only thing is, nobody but Corsairs knew where Meradinis was – and without knowing where to strike, the Terrans were really powerless to do much to end the Corsair’s reign of terror. After all it’s really a pretty big universe.
Unable to locate the Corsair’s home base, the Terran’s set the Space Fleet to attack any Corsair ships they encounter – and to either destroy or capture them with the goal of discovering the location of Meradinis. The Corsairs again prove to be one step ahead of the Terrans in this regard, because they put safeguards in place to erase their navigation computer’s data-banks at a moment’s notice if capture seems certain – a practice which pays off… for the most part. Corsair ships are pretty basic in comparison to a Terran warship – being essentially old loderunners and other commercial vessels outfitted with tweaked-out faster engines and stolen military hardware including the latest weapons! For the most part however, they come fitted with industrial cutting lasers and EM rail-guns that fire iron meteorites at high velocity! Corsair ships are all black in color, both to mask them as camouflage in the black of space – but also to set them apart from others, and as a psychological trick to strike fear in those they encounter. Often, to avoid detection, Corsair ships will run without any lights or beacon, except in their own space, among friends.
They’re far from easy to take down, even on a one-on-one basis, as many Terran Space Fleet crew find out! The crew of the Mordrake discover just how difficult it is to beat a tough, hardy foe in “Demonspawn“. The Corsairs are really bad hombres and truly terrifying individuals – and the higher they rise in the Corsair ranks, the more formidable they have to be in order to survive.
While this is true of most Corsairs, it’s even more so in the case of ship commanders in the Corsair’s Black Fleet – also in the case of another well-known Corsair legend and fearsome pirate captain, ‘Blachart ‘the Bloody’. A Corsair captain is somewhere in the region of ‘middle management’ in the Corsair scheme of things. As a ship’s captain in the Black Fleet, there isn’t much room to go higher, except in the sense of becoming a Commodore or Admiral, or perhaps by becoming a political figure – and Sona Kilroy is such a famous Corsair at the top of his game! He’s the second most powerful man on Meradinis – in complete control of all the ships that make up the Black Fleet – and defers only to the Patron himself!
At the time of the first book in Galaxii, (“Blachart“) Sona Kilroy is the highest-ranking Corsair Admiral. He’s experienced, hardened, sly and also without conscience. He’s also really well-connected, which helps him to get things done and more importantly, to stay where he is. He’s also supremely self-confident, to the point of arrogance. He looks down on others, even his own followers, and he’d gladly sacrifice every single one of them to save his own skin.
His own crew admire him because he leads from the front – he’s a man’s man, a tough leader-type personality who always seems to have nested alternative “plan B’s” up his sleeve. This – and his success rate in making his crew rich while keeping most of them alive – along with himself – assures their continued support.
Sona Kilroy carries a sword, a sort of katana, and it’s his favorite weapon. He’s not likeable, and his role in the story is not to be liked – he’s an absolute villain with zero redeeming qualities such as ethics or conscience – unlike his nemesis, Blachart a.k.a. ‘Adam’.
“Dead Beckoning” picks up the story just after the resounding defeat of Meradinis, the former Corsair homeworld in “Blachart“. In the ensuing chaos of the battle in space – with the ruined, burning black ships blazing in orbit – and while Terran ships are sending down divisions of starmarines to take control of the cities, several powerful Corsair figures manage to escape the long arm of Terran justice – including Kilroy, and as it turns out – the leader of the Corsairs, the Patron.
The ever-beneficent Terrans seek to end the Corsair’s piracy menace, but they also want the people of Meradinis to rejoin the Human race, and are prepared to reintegrate them over time back into the fold as citizens of the Terran Empire. However, not all Corsairs are so willing to let go of their way of life, and of these, none is more feared – and respected – than the man known as Sona Kilroy, the Admiral of the Corsair fleet!
In the peace that follows the defeat of the Corsairs, while the Terrans dwell under the impression that the Corsair menace is forever gone, Kilroy sets out to rebuild the Corsair civilization on another planet hidden deep within the shadowy, unexplored Omegan Quadrant. His dream to rebuild Meradinis elsewhere, recruiting Corsair stragglers along the way, is the Terran’s nightmare! It falls to Mykl d’Angelo, Captain of the starship Antares, the valiant crew of the Mordrake, and a man calling himself Adam, to stop him!
Where can you get “Dead Beckoning“? Right here.
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I hope this answers this question to your satisfaction!
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.