Advanced Automatic Battleship. A moriarti-class AI robot battleship. Highly illegal.

Ahriman. A subsistence colony in Quadrant Zero. Whilst coming from hardy colonist stock, the colonists here have had great difficulty raising the planet out of subsistence level due to the harsh weather conditions. A founder member of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

AIMS (Anti Incoming Missile System).  A complex and expensive system of warship point defence missiles designed solely for shooting down incoming missiles.

AIMS (Artificial Intelligence Monitoring Service). The interstellar monitoring body responsible for investigating breaches of the Stickney Treaty.

AIR Support: Basically, units of Pacifier-like combat atmosphere craft designed to operate between low orbit and ground level. A proportion of these are RPV-class robot aircraft. Typcally a GF division has around 6 of each of these in each AIR battalion.

Aliens. Aliens, in the sense of sentient, non-human species do not exist on any world or system yet explored by humanity (that's about 200,000 systems, of which about 1,200 are capable of supporting life). There are the usual rumours, of course - hidden aliens, invisible aliens, shape-changing aliens, grey (external link) aliens from Zeta Reticuli (humans colonised the Zeta2 Reticuli system centuries ago - definitely no aliens there). No hard evidence. For most people aliens remain largely in the realm of the fantasist and paranoid.

Amako, Tanaka (Sho-sho rtd): Amako reached the rank of Sho-Sho in the Mars Star Navy, despite never commanding a ship at any point in his career. He was head of the Naval Astrogation Department for over 10 years. Since retiring from the Navy 20 years ago he has written many famous books on navigation and has followed a career as an explorer - some would call him an 'adventurer' though that isn't how he would put it.

Ankh. An independent world in Quadrant 1. Member of the Seven Worlds Defence Alliance. Ankh does not yet had a unified colonial government. However, the five colonies on the main colony world have formed a Committee of Planetary Unity, which speaks for the colonies (most of the time). Because of the non-unitary nature of the colony's politics, it can take a while to get decision out of them - and sometimes the Committee can be deadlocked or unable to reach decisions. In 3207 the Chair of the CPU is Armand Dayer.

APGW (Anti-Personnel Guided Weapon). A tiny anti-personnel missiles designed to be used inside the twisting corridors of a starship. Highly specialised support weapon for the starship marines - the APGW provides much needed supporting firepower during the close-quarters battle. Optimised for use in zero-g and a hard vacuum, these are not used planetside.

A Place Like This: The most popular soap opera in the universe which has maintained the highest ratings for over 35 years. A Place Like This is set in the small colonial town of Saint Jade Goodie on the fictional colony of Hope's Folly. It has been described by the most dramatic "tri-v experience" ever known. The series follows five different families in their epic lives and always tackles real life situations. The main characters include the Jarvis Family - who contain a wide range of different extended family members including disfunctional psychopaths, criminals, heroes and saints..

Appleton, Louise: Famous Martian crime author, acknowledged genius and keen historian, Ms Appleton has now published over 30 novels in the renowned 'William Savory' series. She is also less well known for her books of speculative fiction which are published under a pseudonym, and are widely regarded as conceptual masterworks.

Aquapolo. A popular team game played entirely under water.

Armed Merchant (AMI) The correct term for class of specialised armed merchant ship designed to protect merchant shipping lanes from piracy. Not to be confused with the more temporarily armed merchans of the C*A classes, which whilst armed, are not specifically build for combat. A typical AMI has firepower somewhere between that of a destroyer and a light cruiser, and still has cargo space to conduct worthwhile trade.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):  a generic term for thinking machines. Most cultures permit the use of rather dim AI (the so-called 'Loyal Pet' and 'Bright Slave' classes of AI).  But the self-aware, sentient versions - the 'Moriarty Class' are banned in all human societies by interstellar treaty (the Stickney Treaty).

Assault Carrier:  An assault landing ship that has been converted to operate up to 5 pacifiers.

Asteel. Capital world of the Greater Federation of Asteel (GFA)

Automatic Battleship. Bright-Slave controlled robot battleship.

Avalon (T22): A small unremarked colony in Quadrant 1. Of no important or significance to anyone (yet).