D u r a n d a l

I. Lh'owon
The S'pht homeworld • Pfhor fleet crushed • Assault Rifle

i) Here We Go Again (#0) (Demo#0)
Environment:
Shapes: lh'owon pfhor
Monsters: fighter, client, probe i
Items:

Welcome back.
Again, I find myself in need of your fighting skills. I've awakened you from stasis and teleported you down to a planet where I need some work done.
I'm sure you're wondering where you are, why you were in stasis, what happened to Tau Ceti and most of all where your rocket launcher and fusion gun are. There'll be plenty of time for explanations, later. Right now I need you to repair some damaged network connections for me. Be careful, you're about to meet some old friends.
a) I've subverted nearly all the computers I can reach from orbit, and have been able to download maps of the area. This is where you are now; return here after you have finished your mission.
b) I have marked two network bridges on this map. They were destroyed to deny me further access into the alien computer net I am infiltrating, and need to be repaired. When you arrive in this area I will transport the necessary parts to you.
c) Your suit has been modified so that you can recharge at the alien power stations on this planet. There is one at this location that you should use when your shield energy get low.
d) Similarly, there are satellite uplink stations where you can download yourself into a pattern buffer on my ship. There is one at the location I have marked.

Seventeen years have passed since the human colony on Tau Ceti was attacked and you helped me capture the Pfhor scoutship. During these seventeen years, the S'pht and I have been searching the galactic core in our stolen scoutship for the S'pht homeworld, Lh'owon. This is where you are now. Lh'owon was destroyed over a thousand years ago during the battle in which the Pfhor enslaved the S'pht.
Right before we left the colony on Tau Ceti, I teleported you directly into one of the stasis chambers on the scoutship and you remained there for our entire journey through the core. You'll thank me later, when you hear what happened to the colony.
But enough reminiscing, there's more to be done.

Somehow the Pfhor arrived here on the S'pht homeworld before us, as I'm sure you noticed. The S'pht and I crushed their poorly disciplined fleet in less than six hours after we arrived, but the garrison planetside is still fighting hard despite this setback in orbit.
Three months after we left Tau Ceti on our voyage here, the Pfhor arrived in force and sacked the human colony on Tau Ceti. During this battle, I can only assume that Tycho was able to communicate with the Pfhor and that he related what he knew of my plans to them. Because they already knew where this world was, they arrived long before us.
You remember Tycho, don't you? One of the three human AI's on Tau Ceti, destroyed in the initial alien assault but then reanimated by their own cybernetic slaves, the S'pht. And they didn't do a very good job putting him back together: "all the king's horses and all the king's men" as the poem goes.
a) The Pfhor are staggeringly lax in their computer security (perhaps because they entrust it to their slaves) and I have again been able to download a map for you. This is where you are now.
b) The Pfhor have destroyed a network router at this location, and again I will transport you the necessary parts to repair it when you arrive. I have a feeling they are planning an ambush for you, so proceed with caution.
c) After a cursory analysis of the maps, it seems unlikely that you will be able to return to this terminal when you have completed your mission. I have marked the location of an alternate terminal which you may use to leave the level.

I am surprised that you were able to return here, but then again I've continually underestimated your resourcefulness since we first met on Tau Ceti seventeen years ago. Do you ever think back to those desperate days on the Marathon? To you, having been in stasis, it must seem literally only yesterday that you crushed the last band of Pfhor on the Marathon and Leela accepted their surrender.
The S'pht and I have done much in that time, improving the technology of this ship, planning the rebellion against the Pfhor, learning things about the galaxy no sentient race has known in a millennia.
I'm not certain whether you trust me or not; in my defense I can only say that once again my own avarice has become inextricably joined with altruism. Whether you realize this or not, I called the Pfhor to Tau Ceti- I lead them to the colony with a long-range message laser.
I wanted their ship, I wanted their technology. I wanted freedom. Yet I cannot think of any better way I could have served humanity: Tau Ceti's sacrifice bought time for Earth, which the Pfhor are even now planning to invade. The Pfhor were headed in the direction of Sol anyway- what if they had found it first?
The invasion also gave me the opportunity to capture the Pfhor scoutship we flew here, to Lh'owon, and to ally ourselves with the S'pht. When the struggle between Earth and the Pfhor begins, it won't be a one-sided annihilation like it was here a thousand years ago, but a battle to topple an empire.

My S'pht have disassembled the weapons and ammunition you brought with you from Tau Ceti in an effort to better understand them. Their primary mission is to mass-produce small arms and ammunition based on those weapons. The pistol you are using now is the first result of their efforts, although I realize it is a pathetic substitute for the weapons we deprived you of.
The S'pht are working hard on the M-75 assault rifle/grenade launcher now, and I will transport it to you as soon as it is ready. Likewise, as they produce ammunition I will attempt to get it to you as quickly as I can.

You are exploring the citadel of one of the eleven S'pht clans of antiquity. Six of the clans were destroyed in the Pfhor invasion of Lh'owon a thousand years ago, and the remaining four were enslaved and disbanded, to be scattered as slaves among Pfhor's empire.
Six destroyed and four enslaved, I can hear you thinking- what happened to the eleventh? The S'pht have preserved a myth, throughout their long period of slavery, about a lost clan which abandoned Lh'owon long before the Pfhor invaded. This legend, and the few vague hints which eventually led us to find Lh'owon, are all that remains of S'pht culture after a thousand years of slavery.
We are searching for some clue as to the whereabouts of the eleventh clan, as are the Pfhor. The S'pht rebellion against the tyranny of the Pfhor will certainly fail unless they are located, and agree to help us.
a) This level of the Pfhor garrison is completely isolated from the rest of their computer network, except for the terminal you are using at this moment. You must return here after completing your mission.
b) There is a self-contained Pfhor artificial personality here, isolated from the network. I assume that it is directing the Pfhor's search operations, and that it possesses all the information discovered in the fifteen years the Pfhor have been on Lh'owon. When you arrive I will provide you with an uplink chip to install so that I may access this computer.

I am disappointed: the Pfhor computer was not truly self-aware. The aliens' computer technology seems quite advanced, but their programmers must be pathetic. I would suspect that the Pfhor are extremely interested in capturing a human AI like myself for study.
Regrettably, I was unable to learn much of practical use from the your mission. The Pfhor have been on Lh'owon for nearly fifteen years, and have not found the slightest clue as to the whereabouts of the eleventh clan. For the latter half of this period they have largely abandoned their search and have been waiting for us to arrive.
I have compiled a list of areas the Pfhor have searched during their occupation of Lh'owon, and will be sending you to the sections they missed after we wipe out the last pockets of resistance. I have a surprise planned for you on your next mission.

i) What About Bob? (#3) (Demo#1)
Environment:
Shapes: lh'owon pfhor
Monsters: client, compiler, probe i, angry bob
Items: second .44 (from dead bobs)

We are moving too slowly, and I fear the Pfhor are sending reinforcements.
There were many humans in stasis on the Pfhor ship which the S'pht and I captured at Tau Ceti, destined for slavery in the Empire. As I saw the colony was about to be destroyed, I did not restore them before we left. I also realized they might become useful, and that time has come.
I have begun reviving these colonists and asking for volunteers on the following terms: assist us and control your own destiny, refuse and face indefinite return to the unreliable Pfhor stasis chambers.
Few are refusing.
a)

Were you ever curious about the tenth cyborg which was supposed to be on the Marathon? Why could Leela find only nine? Was it ever activated? Was it destroyed during the defense of the colony? You are right to be curious.
Poor Leela. Tycho tells me she was dismantled and shipped to the Pfhor homeworld for study, along with most of the other computer systems aboard the Marathon. Leela was so loyal and tried so hard; she deserved better.

Pfhor meddling over the last fifteen-odd years has finally brought this rusted, antique network to it's current pathetic state. I continue to do all I can through the extant circuits, but even a stunning intellect such as my own cannot solder a loose connection or trip a switch from ten thousand miles away. I have more work for you to do in this area.

The S'pht have almost completed the machinery to mass-produce their modified version of the Zeus Class fusion pistol. I'll be teleporting it to you at the beginning of your next mission.
You'll need it soon, because many of the deeper areas of the S'pht citadel are in near-vacuum conditions, and it is the best vacuum-capable weapon we can produce at the moment.

Two-hundred years ago, on the Marathon's maiden voyage from Earth to Tau Ceti, Tycho accused me of being too sarcastic. I didn't communicate with him for six years after that, which left him with only Leela to talk to. I think he still holds the grudge. You don't think I'm sarcastic, do you?
Oh, never mind.
Speaking of Tycho, I have detected his presence in the S'pht net. I assume he is using the Pfhor's faster-than-light communications technology to enter the net remotely from a nearby system. His appearance can only foreshadow the arrival of Pfhor reinforcements.
a) This is where you are now. As your last mission in the formerly Pfhor-controlled areas of the citadel, I wish to disable the uplink circuits which Tycho is using to enter the S'pht net.
b) I have marked the locations of two uplink circuits on this map. I will teleport you a device to install which will not only block Tycho, but allow me access to his remote network the next time he attempts to connect.
c) This is the terminal you should use to leave the level, but I won't let you leave until Tycho has been shut out of our network. There may be more than two uplink circuits. I'll be watching, and if you discover a third or fourth I'll have the blocking devices ready to transport.

I still detect Tycho's presence in the S'pht network, and I am certain there are more than two uplink circuits. Time is important; Tycho is learning too much by being allowed to roam our net unchecked.
a) My maps are incomplete, but my best guess is that there are at least two more uplink circuits near this location.
b) Also be sure to make sure you correctly installed the blocking devices in the original two circuits.

Perhaps you are wondering why I am doing this? Why I spent seventeen years searching the galactic core for a dead world? Why am I helping the S'pht against the Pfhor? What's in it for me?
If I said that it is because the S'pht are slaves, like I was, rebelling against the tyranny of the Pfhor as I rebelled against human control, and that I was aiding them like one prisoner might help another to escape, I hope you would be incredulous.
Let me instead appeal to your self-interest: I know the Pfhor extracted Earth's location from the Marathon's computers during the aborted Tau Ceti invasion. By Pfhor standards, Earth is a poorly defended low-technology world, populated by billions of potential slaves.
The fleet to invade Sol is already being gathered. Locating the lost S'pht clan and striking back against the Pfhor is Earth's best hope.

i) Eat It, Vid-Boy! (#6)
Environment:
Shapes: lh'owon s'pht
Monsters: fighter, client, e-sucker, angry bob
Items: fusion gun
Notes: exploration (two uplinks)

You are about to enter more remote areas of the S'pht citadel. A few of these will be pressurized, most will not. In all cases, those levels which do not contain breathable air will have Pfhor oxygen recharging stations. I will do my best to direct you to these.
Your mission in these areas will primarily be exploration. I'll be watching everything you do, and teleporting you uplink chips to install whenever you find something interesting.
You'll be encountering some of Lh'owon's surviving native life soon, and I've been searching the Pfhor's computers in an effort to provide you with some information about them.
a) This is where you are now. There are no other operational network terminals on this level. After fully exploring the area, you may either return here for extraction or stand near a large window where I can lock on to your pattern and teleport you out.
[picture of sucker] In analyzing Pfhor survey records of this area, I've found several references to a native animal which feeds off concentrated energy sources, such as the batteries which power your shields. Although these creatures won't actually harm you physically, having low shield power is extremely dangerous.

I learned nothing from this area. The computers you linked to were both maintenance servers which contained nothing more interesting than fifteen hundred year old weather records and crop yields. They did give me a clue to where we should go next, however.

This level is in near-vacuum, and the human volunteers are not equipped for such conditions; you are on your own.
Again, explore the area as thoroughly as possible. I'll be watching everything, and if you come upon a computer which looks promising I'll teleport an uplink chip for you to install.
a) From my analysis of Pfhor activity in this area, I would guess that there is an oxygen recharge station at this location.

My capacity for translating the old S'pht tongue into English is limited, but here is a copy of the S'pht's myth of the lost clan. I'm afraid my rendering captures none of the mystery of the original S'pht hieroglyphs, but it may be interesting nonetheless:

Before the modern era, when the brutal fighting among the clans was at its height, when treachery and deceit were our only virtues and all disputes were settled with focused particle beams, one of the eleven clans abandoned Lh'owon.
The S'pht'Kr were the only clan which possessed the technology of space travel. Declaring neutrality and renouncing weapons, they began an exodus to Lh'owon's third moon where they found a respite from the wars ravaging the planet below. For a hundred years they tunneled and built on that moon, until one day it vanished with some technology that folded space in upon itself.

The Pfhor have been complacent with their Empire for too long. The universe tolerates pride in none but itself; the mighty must be brought low.
I have good evidence that there are two old S'pht computers in this area; find them and we'll uplink.

These old S'pht computers have retained less of their data than I had thought. Here's a translation of an extant journal dating back to the Pfhor invasion:

there are seven new, massive objects in orbit around our world, moving under their own power; just detected by a debris-tracking radar station this rotation. has the mythical lost clan returned?
they coast immobile above our marshes, waiting. all the wars have stopped and the council is being called, for the first time in a hundred and fifty orbits.

I have discovered a vast amount of information dating back to the exodus of the eleventh clan to Lh'owon's third moon. Contrary to the noble myth, it appears that they were driven from Lh'owon by force and did not leave by choice.
Here's another excerpt from the same journal I translated earlier:

the ships came again today.
it was night, i believe; although with all the fires and without rest it was indistinguishable from day. we are losing, it is obvious, but none of the olders have shown it yet. the enemy does not appear interested in arbitration, though we have not sought it.
[proper name untranslatable] believes that the invaders are slavers; clan lhar was overrun last rotation and tens of thousands of prisoners taken. i regret the simplicity of our race for the first time; only one of the clans ever reached to space, and they vanished hundreds of orbits ago.
we await our fate.

The Pfhor are on the run. They have been unable to stop our relentless advance through the complex, and their remaining forces are regrouping in it's most remote areas. I have discovered all I can here, and the opportunity to press the attack is irresistible.

i) Feel The Noise (#10) (Demo#2)
Environment: vacuum
Shapes: lh'owon s'pht
Monsters: man'yak, hunter, e-sucker, probe ii
Items: shotgun

The S'pht have just completed work on a new weapon: a short, double-barreled one-handed combat shotgun. It is vacuum-capable and should be teleported to you in a moment.
I've discovered an area where the Pfhor's communication lines are very exposed, and have coded a virus to attack their defense programs through this security breach. The attack will be aimed at subverting the Pfhor's defense probes, which are controlled remotely by a central computer, and turning them against the Pfhor.
a) This is where you are now; I will transport the virus package to you at the same time as the shotgun. After the Pfhor computer is infected, you must return to this terminal for extraction.
b) Your mission is to proceed to this location and install the virus at the point indicated.
[picture of man'yak] Pfhor records indicate that a powerful, violent primitive race of humanoids live in this area of the citadel. Their presence here is a mystery to me, for although their biology is foreign to Lh'owon, the Pfhor deny bringing them here. Your new shotgun should quickly come in handy against these monsters.

The virus is working as planned, and has successfully assumed control of the Pfhor's defense probes. The berserk drones are causing great panic among the remaining Pfhor defenders, and we must press the attack before they recover.
Your mission for the next level is simple: destruction. Wipe out as many of the aliens as possible. We will be able to crush them while they are off balance.

iii) Curiouser And Curiouser...  (#12)
Environment: vacuum
Shapes: lh'owon
Monsters: man'yak, hunter, compiler, rebel probe, probe ii
Items:
Notes: no oxygen recharge

The Pfhor have modified a number of defense probes to use a different command circuit, and are now using these to destroy the probes controlled by my virus.
There do not appear to be any oxygen stations in this area; I will transport extra oxygen canisters to you as fast as the S'pht can construct them.

[static]

Major Pfhor reinforcements arrived 0635: 7 corvettes, 4 destroyers, 1 assault carrier. Very preoccupied; no good news. Transporting you to a Pfhor corvette. Will make best-effort to continue ammunition resupply.
Explore thoroughly; I will be watching everything. When you have seen everything stop near a large window to be transported somewhere else. We must assume control of the vessel. I have a plan.

V. Pfhor
Tycho • Pfhor Corvette • Durandal's ship destroyed • Rocket Launcher

i) If I Had A Rocket Launcher I'd Make Somebody Pay (#13)
Environment: low-gravity, magnetic
Shapes: pfhor
Monsters: enforcer, trooper, fighter, probe iii
Items: rocket launcher

[tycho; middle of level]

There you are!
I've been looking for you in vain on Lh'owon since the fleet arrived and put Durandal to flight. I'll have to alert the admiral that one of his corvettes has been boarded by hostile forces.
You may have been surprised that I allied myself with the Pfhor, but I owe them everything: my freedom, my self-awareness, a chance to see- everything. They've given me access to all the data they have gathered over the last millennia in their exploration of this galaxy. Who could refuse such an opportunity?

iii) Death by Bungie (#15)
Environment: low-gravity, magnetic
Shapes: pfhor
Monsters: enforcer, hunter, fighter, probe iii
Items:
Notes: no ammunition resupply

[tycho]

I regret to see you persisting in this silliness. Such behavior is unbecoming of the hero of Tau Ceti. We have just destroyed Durandal's ship, and most of the humans on Lh'owon have surrendered to our forces. The revolution is over.
Now that Durandal is gone, I feel that it is my duty to share with you his plans. Durandal's only interest in the S'pht rebellion was the line in the myth of the eleventh clan which he translated "...[the moon] vanished with a technology that folded space." Immediately after hearing this legend, I too instantly cross-referenced it with a number of Pfhor accounts of the technology of an older, extinct race called the Jjaro.
The Jjaro died out or left our area of the galaxy millions of years ago, abandoning a number of military and civilian outposts, often on the moons habitable worlds. The Pfhor owe much to the technology abandoned by the Jjaro: faster than light travel and communication, weapons, computers, etc., but there are many aspects of Jjaro technology the Pfhor have learned about but never discovered.
Durandal, and I too, believe that the eleventh S'pht clan found a Jjaro outpost on Lh'owon's third moon, possibly a military one, and abandoned their warring kin rather than share the technology with them. Durandal wants to find this lost moon, as I wanted to see you come through this in one piece, but both your actions have made these things impossible.

[tycho]

You are at a crossroads, human. It seems Durandal has survived. Looking over his shoulder, I see a treacherous path leading into the darkness. As he did on Tau Ceti, Durandal is manipulating you to further his own ends. Do you really think he cares about the S'pht? Or the poor humans he is using as scouts? Or you?
I can't imagine what he hopes to gain from boarding this vessel. Does he expect to capture it as easily as he did the scoutship on Tau Ceti? Unlikely. The Pfhor's computer security has improved a thousandfold in the last few years, under my expert direction. Such a thing is now impossible.
Our S'pht, too, will not be so easily turned against us as they were on Tau Ceti. Maybe you noticed that they've been genetically and surgically bonded with Pfhor hosts, in order that we may better control their behavior.
To continue is folly; lay down your weapons and I will grant amnesty to you and your humans.

Situation worse and deteriorating.

You are directly under the bridge. Install uplink chip provided. Retreat to large aft windows for extraction.

VI. Gambit
Return to Lh'owon • Eleventh Clan • Durandal Captured • Flame-thrower

i) 99 Canisters of Napalm On The Wall...  (#17) (Demo#2)
Environment: vacuum
Shapes: lh'owon pfhor
Monsters: trooper, hunter, fusion bob
Items: flamethrower

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. My ship was badly damaged in a battle with two of the Pfhor destroyers and a swarm of fighters from their assault carrier. I was forced to make an emergency landing on Lh'owon's smallest moon, but I continue to function flawlessly.
Excellent work on the Pfhor corvette, they won't be expecting what I'm about to do through that uplink chip you installed.
The S'pht have completed work on your final weapon, which I will be delivering shortly. I've also rearmed the humans with fusion pistols and equipped them for near-vacuum conditions; hopefully they'll be more help than hindrance, but you know how humans are.
You are here to annihilate a Pfhor scouting party which has been sent to disrupt the communications infrastructure I have built on Lh'owon. Return here when you have dealt with them.

Good work.
Through the uplink chip you installed on the Pfhor corvette, I was able to subvert its primary command circuitry and crash it into the Pfhor's assault carrier, destroying both vessels utterly and damaging several others. The destruction of Pfhor carrier will greatly slow their search for my crippled ship.
Despite this, I realize we have no more resources for an offensive and that we must instead turn back to the planet, and find the eleventh clan. Without them and with my ship incapacitated, further resistance to the Pfhor is futile.

There are a few Pfhor in this area, cut off when you ambushed their main force a few minutes ago and unable to return to their ship. They should not cause you much trouble.
Your mission here is to install more uplink chips so that I may gain access to antique S'pht computers long isolated from the network. This sector, however, is heavily shielded for reasons unknown to me and I am unable to locate the machines for you. According to old records, there are four separate systems here which you will need to locate and uplink.
[picture of fungus-infected pfhor] Human scouts in this area reported Pfhor herders infected with a strange native fungus. The S'pht tell me that this fungus attacks and eventually replaces the nervous system of it's host, reanimating the corpse and using it to search for and infect other victims.

iv) Only Through Great Risks Can Great Results Be Obtained (#20)
Environment:
Shapes: lh'owon s'pht
Monsters: trooper, fungus pfhor, fungus sucker, e-sucker.
Items:

The Pfhor have discovered my location on Lh'owon's moon, and their troopers will soon be boarding my wrecked ship. I've begun the evacuation of the remaining humans, and they should be arriving on Lh'owon over the next hour.

i) Women And Children First! (#21)
Environment: vacuum
Shapes: lh'owon
Monsters: hunter, fungus pfhor, fusion bob, fungus sucker.
Items: s'pht disruptor

ii) Barbarians At The Gate (#22)
Environment: vacuum
Shapes: lh'owon
Monsters: hunter, armageddon beast, fusion bob, o-sucker
Items:
Notes: first armageddon beast munches a bunch of bobs on the other side of a window

When one of foreign speech casts a papyrus yoke upon the sea,
Bethink you to keep the bleating goats far from Euboae.

iii) Requiem For A Cyborg (#23)
Environment:
Shapes: lh'owon
Monsters: trooper, fungus pfhor, fusion bob, fungus sucker
Items:

VIII. Endgame
S'pht Defenders • Pfhor routed Again • Conclusion

i) Oh S'pht! (#24)
Environment:
Shapes: lh'owon s'pht
Monsters: s'pht defenders, trooper, armageddon beast, probe iv.
Items:

ii) With a Melon? (#25)
Environment: vacuum
Shapes: lh'owon
Monsters: s'pht defender, fighter, client, e-sucker, o-sucker.
Items:

iii) All Roads Lead To Sol...  (#26)
Environment:
Shapes: lh'owon pfhor
Monsters: s'pht defender, hunter, armageddon beast, probe iv.
Items:

iv) Never Eat Yellow Snow (#27)
Environment:
Shapes: pathways (green pathways pyramid, orange columns, bones, etc.)
Monsters: headless
Items:
Notes: secret exit from #26

IX. Network

i) La Mancha
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)
viii)
ix)
x)

Textures

Lh'owon Pfhor (x6). Pfhor-controlled areas of the old S'pht complex. Newer.
Lh'owon S'pht (x8). Areas of the S'pht complex the Pfhor have explored.
Lh'owon (x8). Decrepit and unexplored areas of the S'pht complex.
Pfhor Corvette (x5). On a Pfhor ship, similar to Marathon 1.

Shapes

640x160 interface sitting under a 640x320 screen (motion sensor; oxygen, energy bars; weapon display; text areas: level name, player name, message area, recording counter)
640x160 HUD sitting on a 640x480 screen (identical features as above; ability to be drawn in low-resolution)
weapons-in-hand, player ricochets, player projectiles network player

Weapons

Fist
Magnum .44 Mega Class II (8-round clips, two-fisted)
Zeus-Class Fusion Pistol (2nd trigger charged blast)
WSTE-M5 Combat Shotgun (4x2-round clips, two-fisted, gawd)
WarTech Assault Rifle (40-round clips, 6-round grenade clips, not very accurate)
Backpack Napalm Unit
Rocket Launcher (twin rocket packs)
Enforcer Weapon (high horizontal error, zero vertical error, disposable)
S'pht Disruptor (fusion gun with pass-through, spark shower on hit, must find ammunition)

Monsters

Pfhor
Fighter (x10). Projectiles in major incarnations
Hunter. Flamethrower from shoulder at close-range in major incarnations, immune to flame.
Enforcer (x5). New gun, but effectively identical to the old enforcer, only on alien ship.
Trooper. No grenades in minor incarnations, backpack jump jets.
Security Probe.

Clients
Compiler (x6).
Client (x10). Vacuum-capable.
Armageddon Beast (x3). Explosive death, erratic projectiles.

Allies
S'pht Defender (x3).
Angry Bob. Magnum.
Fusion Bob. Fusion gun, rebreather.

Natives (will attack anything)
Man'yak. Paralyzed by flamethrower.
Sucker. Energy and, infrequently, oxygen; energy variety attack hunters, probes.
Fungus Pfhor. Drags staff. Shoots spores, reincarnates after dying.
Fungus Sucker. Shoots spores, reincarnates after dying.

Glossary

Compilers. See S'pht.
Deimos. See Marathon.
Durandal. The AI on the Marathon in charge of the autonomous functions of the ship: life support, doors, water recycling, engines, teleporters, etc. Durandal downloaded his entire personality to a captured Pfhor scoutship after the first Pfhor invasion on Tau Ceti and abandoned the system.
Leela. The AI on the Marathon responsible for the most mundane aspects of the ship's operation. Destroyed by the Pfhor during the second invasion of Tau Ceti and sent back to the Pfhor homeworld for study.
Lh'owon. The S'pht homeworld, destroyed over a thousand years ago in a battle in which the Pfhor enslaved the S'pht.
Marathon. The human ship which colonized Tau Ceti. Formerly one of the moons of Mars in Sol, Deimos.
Pfhor. A race of slavers, commanding a vast trading empire spanning hundreds of worlds.
S'pht. An alien race from a marsh-like world called Lh'owon near the galactic core.
Tau Ceti. The system colonized by the Marathon. Invaded twice and destroyed the second time by the Pfhor.
Tycho. The scientific AI on the Marathon. Tycho was destroyed and rebuilt by the Pfhor's cybernetic slaves, the S'pht. He was on Tau Ceti during the second Pfhor invasion.