Ilsa Killiany

Ilsa Killiany was the Director of the Terran Confederacy Ghost Program, a position she felt that she was born to. Killiany could "bend the universe to her will" in order to acquire powerful telepaths for the Confederacy. She had the rank to order generals around and could give "advice" to the Confederacy Council. As far as she was concerned, ghosts were the last line of defense for the Confederacy against aliens and rebels.^[1]

Biography[]

Killiany was always on the hunt for telepaths for recruitment into the Ghost Program, or for whatever else the Confederacy might need them for. To this end she employed wranglers, very weak psychics who could sense the presence of psychic energy.

One such agent, Malcolm Kelerchian, was a detective in the Tarsonis Police Force, who fell into trouble when he tried to investigate Emmett Tygore, a member of the Old Families, for a series of brutal murders; the family tried to take revenge on Kelerchian. She "rescued" Kelerchian after she discovered his psychic abilities by putting him into the Ghost Program. Kelerchian was not happy about this, but he had no choice, as failure to comply would result in him being killed by the Tygore family.

Searching for Nova Terra[]

One of Kelerchian's first cases was the Terra Family murder case, which resulted from a botched rebel attack on the family and a massive psychic outburst from the teenage girl November "Nova" Terra. Her outburst proved that she was a powerful telekinetic; Killiany was eager to conscript Nova for the Ghost Program, paying no mind to the recent deaths of the Terras. Telekinetics were rare; the Ghost Program currently housed a single telekinetic, Agent X81505M, however, he could do nothing more than drool in his basement room. Killiany assigned Nova the code name X41822N before she was even acquired. Unfortunately, Nova Terra had "gone underground" and she assigned Fiorello to deal with the murder while she sent Kelerchian to go find her. In order to make Nova’s induction into the program easier, Killiany forced Nova’s sister, Clara Terra, to falsely announce Nova’s death to the public.

Six months after the attack on the Terra family, Kelerchian still had not discovered the whereabouts of Nova Terra. Killiany was losing her patience, since X81505M had died and many other ghosts had been killed fighting the zerg and Sons of Korhal. Her mental health seemed to be breaking down, causing her to screech and look poorly – Malcolm Kelerchian was breaking down the same way. As part of her last ditch effort, she ordered the psychopathic Major Esmerelda Ndoci to help her find Nova, even though Ndoci would have preferred to defend Tarsonis from the Sons of Korhal, who were just then mounting an attack on the world. Kelerchian was put in charge of Ndoci, not an easy task; fortunately Kelerchian discovered the location of Nova that same day (in the headquarters of the notorious Gutter crime boss Fagin).

Kelerchian entered the headquarters in order to retrieve Nova, but just as he did so the Sons of Korhal and the zerg descended to the surface. Killiany ordered General Ledbetter to pass orders to Ndoci: "Acquire Nova at all costs." Ndoci could not disobey the orders in order to go fight the Sons of Korhal, but instead ordered her troops to kill everyone in the vicinity except Nova, including Kelerchian. The rescue operation fell apart when a wave of zerg overran New Gettysburg and descended to Tarsonis, destroying the last of the Confederacy's power; the realm of the fallen order now under the Terran Dominion.^[1]

Downfall[]

Ilsa Killiany's fate is unknown, though Kelerchian suspected she was arrested or killed herself. Her replacement, Kevin Bick, said that she could not put aside her rivalry with the former Sons of Korhal and make peace with the Dominion, and so she was "expendable". According to Kelerchian, Killiany believed in the Confederacy and wanted to protect it from its enemies. Director Bick, on the other hand, simply believes in his superiors.^[1]

Personality and Traits[]

Ilsa Killiany was short and slender, had short brown hair, a hook nose and wore glasses in an age where Retinor made them unnecessary. She had a bad temper and a very sharp tongue, however, and could make army veterans tremble in fear; she could even intimidate the psychopathic Major Esmerelda Ndoci (threatening her with demotion and horrendous punishment for talking back to her.) She kept an immaculately clean desk (which Kelerchian saw as a sign she was crazy) and liked classical music.

Above all else Killiany was a loyal Confederate and furthered the ghost program which she directed in any way she saw fit. Both of which were threatened by the aliens, rebels, X81505M's death, and the failure to acquire Nova Terra, all of which were causing her great strain and deteriorating mental health. When the Dominion rose to power, it was said by her successor, Kevin Bick, that Killiany could not make peace with the Dominion, resulting in her termination as director and possible death.^[1]

Notes[]

• Keith R. A. DeCandido brought about the change of Killiany to Bick as a symbolic for the program changing from the Confederacy to the Dominion. Her fate was intentionally left ambiguous as a potential plot thread that could be picked up in the future.^[2]

References[]