Second (Yevethan)

In Yevethan culture, a second was a male who acted as the number two of another, stronger nitakka.

The term was often associated with a position corresponding to that of executive officer aboard capital ships. When Nil Spaar was given command of the Beauty of Yevetha to scout the Koornacht Cluster, his second accompanied him. In 16 ABY, when the warship Blessings failed to match the expected standard of readiness, both the commanding primate and his second were executed, to emphasise that the price of failure could also be imposed on subordinates.

When a powerful nitakka rose in status, his second would rise with him, and for this reason, the title could also be used at higher and lower levels of authority. When Nil Spaar had been the young leader of an insurgency against the Imperial occupation, Dar Bille was already acting as his second, and in that role, served as his subaltern in a small commando squad. After their mission aboard the Beauty, when they overthrew Kiv Truun and Nil Spaar became the ruling Viceroy of the Duskhan League, Dar Bille remained his second, but he was eventually appointed to a largely autonomous role in command the flagship Pride of Yevetha, a position of authority in which he was simultaneously the appointed proctor of the Viceroy, and the commanding primate of the ship, perhaps with a second of his own. There were situations where the viceroy's lesser proctors, such as Tal Fraan, made their ritual submission to the second rather than to Nil Spaar in person.

The concept of the "second" was invented by novelist Michael P. Kube-McDowell in the Black Fleet trilogy. The role appears to be based on the behavioural concept of the "beta male".

The term appears to only be used explicitly in the first novel in the series, Before the Storm, and not in the sequels Shield of Lies and Tyrant's Test.