78 And here we have Rina Dragonaar, who is one of the First Symphony's more notable runaway characters. She was only supposed to be "the crewman who shows Devlin to the hangar bay", but somewhere along the line she developed into something very much more.

154 Cut line: "Not that there's anything wrong with playing with yourself, but you can't fill entire days with it. Trust me, I've tried."

189 The Lightning IV isn't based on any particular sci-fi space fighter, though in my mind it does end up somewhat resembling the real-life F-22 (which should've been called the "Lightning II").

212 This always kind of bugged me about Star Wars - that Rebel pilots flew in what looked like they might be pressure suits, but wore open-faced helmets that couldn't possibly protect them in the event of a loss of cabin pressure.

304 The Starfury is the standard fighter of the Earth Alliance in Babylon 5.

325 At the time I wrote this, there were no B5 references available that gave technical details about Starfuries, so I had to make up my own numeric designation for them. I failed to be consistent in this, so the numbers attached to the fighter type are sometimes different from story to story. The ones seen here are actually SA-23E Aurora Starfuries, the most common type seen on the source show.

380 Gamilor, and UF-universe Gamilon culture in general, is mostly an original invention. They weren't well-explored on Star Blazers and my memories of that series are hella sketchy to boot.

460 Like Amanda and Rina, Xenia is an original character. She shares the given name of James Bond villainess Xenia Sergeyevna Onatopp, but is not derived from that character.

514 Only Amanda calls Kitarina "Kit"; all her other friends call her Rina.

598 Klah is one of the galaxy's many coffee-like beverages.

885 Garon specifically requested command of the destroyer Vengeance because of his and Amanda's fondness for the old Klingon television show Battlecruiser Vengeance.

1093 Dolshaia the Redeemer is the second of the UF-Gamilon religion's two principal deities. She is the wife of Kru the Executioner and is responsible for seeing to it that warriors who have not yet completed their destiny do not die from wounds incurred in battle. She is an aspect of Freyja Lightwalker, the goddess of medicine.

1109 Devlin is possessed by an uncommon fury here; normally he would never consider issuing a direct command like this. It goes against his principles.

1156 Well, considerably more modest, if we're being honest - 32B vs. 36D.

1216 As seen on the original Star Trek.

1218 Reference to William Gibson's Neuromancer, in which the best biotechnologically manufactured replacement organs can be had in Chiba, Japan.

1220 Inspired by a bit in one of James Burke's documentaries in which he notes that a Pinkerton's agent in the Old West tragically became, thanks to heavy drinking intended to give him cover as a hopeless drunk, a hopeless drunk.

1288 At last it comes out. Many details in my stories develop organically over time, or spring upon me while I'm writing as suddenly as they subsequently spring upon the reader, but this is not one of those; Devlin was going to be a blip all along.

1547 Rina's discontent at this turn of events will be seen again.

1608 12 HD.

1855 Amanda's eyeplate is visually reminiscent of that sported by the Zentraedi commander Breetai in Super Space Fortress Macross.

1941 I always picture this scene in a jerky-camera, fast-pan, Homicide: Life on the Street sort of style, with a bit of artsy slo-mo thrown in just for kicks.

1950 Devlin's weapon is a PPG (phased plasma gun), the sidearm of choice on Babylon 5.

2195 We'll find out who she's calling in Hunted Rose.