Merseian Influence

To generalize, a series hero has a continuing villain, whether individual or collective, who does not appear in every instalment. Thus, when Russian intelligence chiefs review Bond's file, they note that they had not been involved when he had tackled trans-Atlantic diamond smugglers the previous year. Similarly, Merseians were involved in events on Altai and later on Nyanza but not on Unan Besar although they might have been. A sufficiently insidious villain can always be shown to be lurking somewhere in the background. Flandry reflects that, if Nias Warouw hypnoprobes him, then Warouw will gain a lot of information about the Empire and about Terran Intelligence that he would be able to sell to the Merseians who could easily deploy one or two cruisers to make Unan Besar a protectorate.

Another collective villain is the barbarians, previously represented by the Scothanians. If Warouw helped other groups of barbarians to raid Terran planets, then he would share in their loot. (In the film of Thunderball, SPECTRE receives a consultation fee from the Great British Train Robbers.)