The Lost Fleet: Alliance Fleet / Characters

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Crew and long-term Passengers of the Dauntless

Captain/Admiral John "Black Jack" Geary

An officer of the Alliance Navy who makes a heroic Last Stand when his convoy is ambushed by warships from the Syndicate Worlds. He goes into cryosleep after escaping his dying ship, and is recovered a century later only to find that the Alliance and the Syndics are still fighting the same war, and he's a hero of legend.

The Ace: A brilliant tactical commander, bordering on supergenius. Subverted and Deconstructed with the fact he's not so much a genius as standards have degenerated so badly that he stands out by comparison. As time goes on though, he develops the necessary skills and loyal allies to back up his reputation more and more.
- His grandnephew Michael states in the comics that “He doesn’t fight in one right way. He fights in whatever way is right.”
- From ''Implacable"':
Geary: I'm never going to get away from that, am I?"
Desjanji: No, not when you just did on Boundless the most Black Jack thing that anyone could possibly do."
Amazon Chaser: He's attracted to Victoria Rione and Tanya Desjani because they're both strong, tough, independent women who refuse to take guff from anybody.
Benevolent Boss: What Geary is overall to his subordinates, remembering all to well the bad superiors he himself had coming up the ranks, and refused to never be like them. Even if he is tempted to start screaming for answers at times.
Berserk Button: Murdering POWs and civilians. Also, to a lesser extent, comparing him to Black Jack Geary's myth or being insubordinate.
Bullying a Dragon:
- Each time Gear encounters the Syndicates even after winning the war, be it passing through their territory, or when assisting Midway, a Syndicate CEO will try and mess with him, be it to prove their superiority and infallibility they are so convinced of, or because of orders with the Syndicate leadership. It never ends well.
- Significantly powerful factions within the Alliance government and military continuously try to discredit him, use him for their own shady aims, and then outright murder him, and keep failing horribly. It reaches Nice Job Fixing It, Villain as sometimes their actual attempts to sabotage him end up being what he needs to turn things around.
By-the-Book Cop: A naval officer from a time when this was standard wakes up in a time when they're all expected to be Cowboy Cop Military Maverick types.
The Captain: He was "posthumously" promoted to the rank after the battle at Grendel, and uses a loophole regarding seniority to assert his authority over the other captains in the fleet.
The Chessmaster: A reputation of Geary's which begins to develop, especially with the former Syndics of Midway. His incredible military and diplomatic successes give the impression he is not only the foremost military strategist alive, but also the greatest political mastermind, where everything he does is a Xanatos Gambit. He is honestly appalled by this, as he knows better than anyone how much of that was luck, or him relaying ideas which were originally Rione's. When he tries to explain this to Colonel Rogero, the man just interprets it as Geary being having learnt from her.
Clueless Chick-Magnet: Rione literally has to tell him that she's trying to seduce him before he gets the hint, and it takes him quite a while to realize that Desjani is interested as well.
The Creon: Countless people would love to see Captain (later Admiral) Geary force the Alliance government to make him a benevolent dictator. Unfortunately for them, Geary is appalled at the idea of having that kind of unquestioned power and won't even accept a permanent promotion to fleet admiral, insisting that he revert to the rank of captain as soon as the war ends, though he does have other reasons for that decision.
Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: He gets an internal version when he realizes exactly how he feels about Tanya Desjani.
Expy: Of both King Arthur and Steve Rogers.
Famed In-Story: To an almost ridiculous degree, much to his chagrin.
Fish out of Temporal Water: A running theme throughout the entire series is Geary coming to terms with the many ways in which the fleet and civilian society have altered since he went into cryosleep.
Flanderization: Has been subject to this over the past century, with his myth elevated to an Ax-Crazy Leeroy Jenkins who is, somehow, still an Invincible Hero.
Four-Star Badass: He's promoted to admiral twice over the course of the series. First, he receives a temporary promotion to fleet admiral for the duration of the sixth book (at his request, so he could marry someone not of junior rank), and then a permanent promotion to admiral after the end of the war and his marriage to Desjani.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: With Desjani, Duellos, Cresida, Tulev, and Badaya. Geary is the Melancholic.
Heroic BSoD: He's in the middle of one at the beginning of the series, having just been awoken from cryosleep only to be told that he's been out for a century and the war is still raging. He sinks into another one after the disastrous First Battle of Lakota, when the fleet gets pinned between superior forces and is badly mauled. Afterwards he generally moves past it, but still has his moments after people die and he is left wondering how he could have prevented it.
Honour Before Reason: Embodies this in many regards, and inspires others to do so as well. A bunch of people have seen him as naive for it, and try to use it against him, but generally he is canny enough to get around it. It also makes him much harder to manipulate or pressure for the Alliance leadership, because if he receives orders that he refuses to obey, he would just (as is his legal right), resign, heedless of the chaos it would throw the Alliance into, or the risk it would pose to his fleet if it lost his leadership.
Humble Hero: Which is all but inevitable when you don't accept being The Messiah.
Inappropriately Close Comrades: This comes up a few times. The first time is when Geary notes that Rione is the only woman in the fleet to whom this doesn't apply, and is therefore the only one he can have any kind of relationship with. Then he has to struggle with his feelings for Desjani, which gets so bad that he considers transferring off Dauntless to ease the strain on them both. After they get married, they have to maintain a proper distance between themselves, including having meetings in his office with the door open so nobody can claim anything untoward is happening between them.
- Many people opposing him have tried to use this against him, desperate for something to tarnish his reputation, only to fail as they are studiously acting entirely proper.
Invincible Hero: What most people believe him to be. He's far from it, but still very good at what he does. This is an issue for him though, as any failures would 'prove' his reputation is false despite all his successes, making his enemies desperately seeking any way to trip him up.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: His appearance in the Corsair comic gives him a pretty impressive jawline.
Living Relic: Geary is the only human alive who remembers a galaxy where the Alliance and the Syndics were not at war. Upon returning to the Alliance, he is also struck by all the changes which have happened over the years.
Logical Latecomer: Geary is a logical latecomer as a result of being a Human Popsicle. He is trapped in cryo-sleep during the first battle of the Alliance-Syndic war and isn't found and woken up until a century later. Because he's the only member of the Alliance military who remembers how things worked before the war, Geary can see the flaws in the way things are run now when everyone else believes their own propaganda about how those methods are the best ones or that things have always been like that. For instance, every commander is a Leeroy Jenkins in battle rather than fighting as a fleet. The Alliance indiscriminately kills civilians and prisoners, believing it's justice for the people the Syndics have killed and will demoralize the enemy (even though it hasn't in decades). The worst ship commanders are assigned to the ships that are the least likely to be destroyed due to notions about honor, while talented commanders are put into the ships most likely to be destroyed. Geary works to change that way of thinking, and it doesn't take long for most of the other characters to begin realizing that his alternate methods are working.
Military Maverick:
- A bizarre example. The REST of the fleet doesn't have much in the way of discipline, ethics, or devotion to rules—so he's this by dint of the fact that he is a By-the-Book Cop.
- Later, upon rejoining the structure of fleet command, the highest members of HQ become afraid of how his incredible military record threatens their own political standing, and start to give him orders deliberately meant to sabotage and undermine him. However when John uses their own bureaucracy against them to still do what he wants, he gains a reputation within the admiralty as a maverick.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond:
- Geary himself notes that by the standards of his time, he is only an average tactician and ship driver, and that he knew many officers who could have run rings around him. The reason he is nearly unstoppable when he joins the war is because both the Alliance and Syndic fleets have been reduced to simplistic, brute-force tactics by a century of attrition. As time goes by though, and with the support of the people under him, he develops increasingly sophisticated tactics to handle all sorts of scenarios, including against opponents using tactics deliberately developed to defeat him specifically.
- In the case of the Syndics post-war, they are hampered by the fact that most of their veterans were killed in action. Therefore the opposition he tends to come up against by then are even more of novices compared to the first series.
Officer and a Gentleman: One of the few left in the fleet, at least until he starts teaching the other captains to abide by the laws of war again.
Only Sane Man: A large part of his ability to command the fleet in the beginning effectively boils down to the fact he's one of the few officers who isn't interested in a suicidal attack on the enemy. By the second series, most of the officers have mellowed out and fully support his plans after seeing his ongoing success, but are also now making their own solid contributions.
The Paragon: A morally virtuous man and brilliant strategist held up as an example to others. Again, much to his chagrin.
Rank Up: He's promoted to fleet admiral in Victorious, though he doesn't want the rank for several reasons and is able to convince the government to make it a temporary promotion. After he's successfully ended the war and gotten married to Desjani, he accepts a promotion to admiral and remains at that rank throughout the next series.
Real Men Love Jesus: Is faithful to his ancestors, albeit not as much as some.
Rip Van Winkle: Wakes up a hundred years after he went into his stasis pod.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: The destruction of Merlon weighs quite heavily on him, and he suffers from nightmares throughout the first and second series.
The Strategist: His biggest advantage is that he employs 'any tactics at all' against the Syndics and his other opposition.
UST: He has quite a bit of it with Desjani, starting somewhere toward the end of Valiant. It's finally resolved when they get married between Victorious and Dreadnaught.

Captain Tanya Desjani

Captain of the battlecruiser Dauntless, Desjani serves as Geary's flag captain. Over the course of the series, she becomes one of his closest advisors, friends, and eventually his wife.

Blood Knight: Geary often wonders what Desjani will do for fun if she can't go around blowing up Syndic targets anymore.
Bodyguarding a Badass: What increasingly becomes her role as the number of assassination attempts against her husband and commanding officer keeps rising. For all that he is the greatest fleet strategist and tactician alive, he lacks her combat experience and honed lethality. Even Rione conceded how dedicated the Tanya would be in this.
Boyish Short Hair: Her brief appearance in the Corsair comic shows that she wears her hair in a pixie cut.
The Captain: This is where she outclasses even her husband, making very clear why her ship was chosen as the flagship. She retains a firm yet very well informed hand upon her crew, who are all extremely competent and loyal to her. In terms of individual ship handling, her colleagues regard her as one of the best, or the best.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: With Geary, Duellos, Cresida, Badaya, and Tulev. She and Tulev are the Phlegmatics, though when it comes to combat she starts displaying Choleric tendencies.
Green-Eyed Monster: Develops this attitude to Rione when she takes up with Geary. It takes him a while to realize why, though.
Ms Exposition: Serves as this to Geary, calling him out on his mistakes as well as educating him on common elements of culture he doesn't know about due to his long period in cryosleep.
Necessary Evil: What she convinced herself the orbital bombardments were to try and end the war. After having her idol reveal the truth of it, she pledged herself to never be pushed into making such actions again.
Number Two: She's Geary's flag captain, and serves as second in command of the fleet on a few occasions. On multiple occasions she is the one he goes over his plans with to find flaws, and improves them. She also keeps him grounded and in check, especially when the weight of how the galaxy has changed and being 'Black Jack' gets to him.
Real Men Love Jesus: She is a devout woman who believes that Geary was sent by the living stars.
Woman Scorned: A minor example as she utterly loathes her ex-lover for cheating on her and won't even have his name spoken in her presence afterward. She jokingly points out this is why John would never cheat on her, because he is well aware he would come out of it maimed or dead.
UST: She and Geary start developing a lot of tension toward the end of Valiant, and it isn't resolved until they get married between Victorious and Dreadnaught.

Victoria Rione

The Co-President of the Callas Republic, a minor power that aligned itself with the Alliance (which Rione eventually applies for citizenship in to remain with the Fleet after the Callas Republic and Alliance drift more apart). Her husband was captured by the Syndics earlier in the war and is believed K.I.A.

Accidental Adultery: Discovers her husband was taken prisoner and was possibly still alive after she started a romance with Geary.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: It takes awhile for Geary to realize that this is what's going on between them.
The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Pretty much every time she calls out Geary for one of his stratagems, she is left eating crow at the end. Eventually she gets wise to this and tells him that he should probably just go ahead and ignore her.
Deadpan Snarker: Like Duellos, she gets some good one-liners. "Numos is so dense I'm surprised he doesn't have his own event horizon."
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted. After her death at Unity Alternate, Geary often finds himself missing her counsel, and even Desjani honors her memory by adding her to the plaque that bears the names of all her dead friends.
Green-Eyed Monster: Though she repeatedly denies it, she's implied to be jealous of Desjani after she realizes that Geary is in love with her.
Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of Leviathan, she deliberately collapses the hypernet gate at Unity Alternate in order to wipe out the rogue AI fleet. She is unable to escape the shockwave and dies alongside her husband.
Honest Advisor: To Geary, who values the opinion of someone who doesn't venerate him, and can describe things through a civilian lens. Rione appreciates this, never disguising the concern she feels about Geary's potential to be a dictator, or how bad things are back in the Alliance.
Horrible Judge of Character: Assumes Geary is a Ax-Crazy Glory Hound or a wannabe dictator. It takes a long time for her to realize he really is as good and honorable as he seems. On the other hand, she's quite good at reading other people, so this is probably a case of her perceptions being colored by the legends that have grown up around Black Jack.
Sour Supporter: She occasionally has this attitude toward Geary.
Trickster Mentor: After she realizes Geary really isn't planning to take over the Alliance, she starts teaching him how to handle the political games he will inevitably face once he gets the fleet home. She does this by being oblique, demanding, and contrary, forcing him to read between the lines to understand what she's really saying.
Tsundere: During the early books of the series, she acts like this around Geary, which seems to confuse her as much as it does him. She's very heavy on the "tsun-tsun", and only rarely shows off her "dere-dere" side.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Her fears about a legendary war hero lost to time for a century giving into megalomania and trying to seize control of the Alliance government through military force are pretty sensible. Or at least they would be, if John Geary didn't despise his 'Black Jack' mystique and have a sense of professional ethics that makes such a course of action totally anathema to him. Ironically, Captain Falco pretty much is everything Rione is afraid of and Geary is the one to overrule him.

Lieutenant Iger

The chief of the intelligence section on board Dauntless.

Bearer of Bad News: While by no means all of his news is bad, he sometimes has to deliver this to Geary, such as the discovery of the Syndicate reserve flotilla.
The Comically Serious: On occasion he sounds a bit silly while describing something outrageous or alarming and trying to keep a straight face.
Gentlemen Rankers: While his exact social status is unclear, he came from a star system with plenty of safe, draft-exempt jobs, but chose to serve in the fleet anyway.
Iger: People like to joke that's why I wound up in intelligence, because I demonstrated I didn't have much.
Hidden Depths: As it turns out, the studious, reserved Iger writes haiku. It's speculated that his newfound interest in Lieutenant Jamenson may have had something to do with this.

Dr. Nasr

The senior fleet physician, who serves aboard the Dauntless.

Due to the Dead: He brings Geary some coffee so that they can drink a toast to the last two Kick prisoners, both of whom suicided upon awakening and realizing they had been captured.
Instantly Proven Wrong: Downplayed, but just one book after he tells Geary that, as far as he knows, the Syndicate worlds never use mental blocks due to simply killing people with information they want to keep secret the Syndicate Worlds are shown using mental blocks (although admittedly under somewhat unusual circumstances).
Mister Exposition: Nasr provides Geary with context about anything medical-related, such as mental blocks, the treatment of the Kicks, and the nature of the Europa Plague.
Seen It All: Has shades of this, given the nature of both his job and the war.
What the Hell, Hero?: Delivers a furious tirade against everyone else present (and Senator Costa in particular) for planning to try and rescue Yuon and Castries by going behind the local authorities' backs rather than just asking for their help, given the stakes.
Why Didn't I Think of That?: Figuratively slaps himself on the head after a comment Geary makes gives him the idea to ease Yuon and Castries being unhappily quarantined together by having one of them sleep while the other is awake.

Lieutenants Bhasan Yuon and Xenia Castries

A pair of junior officers aboard Dauntless.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: Subverted. Though they work well together, they bicker a lot when off duty. Their fellow officers naturally assume this means BST between them, but an annoyed Desjani points out that this isn't always the case.
Bridge Bunny: The most prominent ones in the series, although Yuon first appeared a good deal earlier.
Hidden Depths: Castries is apparently fond of trashy space fantasy novels that turn Geary into a King Arthur figure who romances beautiful princesses and slays "star-dragons".
Hostage for MacGuffin: They are kidnapped during the visit to Earth. The kidnappers are hoping to acquire stealth technology from the Alliance, which is more advanced than anything in Sol.
Ship Sinking: Any idea that they might be a couple is firmly torpedoed after they've spent three weeks trapped in quarantine together.
Castries: I have to be naked in here with him? Ancestors help me. I really am in hell.
Yuon: (irritably) I hear suffering is good for the soul.
Those Two Guys: They gradually develop into a rare male and female example, rarely appearing or being mentioned separately from each other.

Master Chief Gioninni

One of the senior enlisted officers aboard Dauntless, a counterpart to Captain Smythe in some way.

Didn't Think This Through: After Dauntless returns to Varandal from Earth, Gioninni tries to sell the uniforms of the Marines who went down to Europa, since they're now incredibly valuable collector's items. As Smythe points out, anyone getting wind of such a scheme would crack down hard on any other under-the-table dealings, including the work he's doing on fleet readiness. Geary immediately has it shut down.
Dress-Up Episode: When Dauntless visits Earth, he dresses up as King Jove to induct the crew and passengers into the Voyagers (those who have crossed Sol's heliosphere).
Friend in the Black Market: A rival of sorts to Smythe. Desjani notes that she hasn't cracked down on him for two reasons: she's never been able to find solid evidence of his schemes, and he's very good at obtaining equipment and supplies that she can't get through normal channels.
Implausible Deniability: Playfully does this about his money-making schemes on occasion.
Not Me This Time: In Boundless, Geary and Desjani are surprised to find that Gioninni's claims of shock and ignorance about a Military Moonshiner are genuine for once, and he's outraged about someone running a racket behind his back.
Remember the New Guy?: He's portrayed as an indispensable member of the crew of Dauntless, who is closely trusted and relied upon by Desjani, but Geary (who has been essentially living onboard the ship for the better part of a year and makes efforts to get to know even low-ranking members of its crew) doesn't interact with him onscreen until late in the seventh book.
Suddenly Always Knew That: When Desjani is trying to figure out how the ex-Syndics at Midway are moving their orbital dockyard out of the path of a bombardment, she asks if anyone in the crew has experience with orbital-structure engineering. Gionnini responds, claiming that he's worked on "everything."

Gunnery Sergeant Orvis

Head of the Marine contingent aboard the Dauntless.

Actually Pretty Funny: Orvis is amused to hear that Syndic propaganda claims that Alliance Marines are brainless mutants.
Ascended Extra: Briefly. He's a background character at best for most of the series but gets some prominence in preparing the mission to rescue Yuon and Castries and Boundless.
Big Damn Heroes: Serves this role during the brief Rescue Arc on Europa.
Dirty Business: Acknowledges that he needs to say a prayer to his ancestors for forgiveness for his I Lied moment and for having to leave the other surviving mercenaries on the surface of Europa with just their weapons and some drugs.
Dress-Up Episode: Briefly dresses up as Davy Jones during the ceremony of crossing the boundary line to the Sol System.
I Lied: Promises one of the hostage-takers on Europa safe passage off the world if he surrenders Yuon and Castries, but then has one of his Marines shoot the man as they didn't have any spare spacesuits to evacuate the man without spreading the plague.
Semper Fi: An experienced and disciplined Marine who executes a flawless hostage-recovery operation on Europa.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: It's subtle, but when one of his Marines comments about having nightmares, his reply is "you and me both."

Senior Chief Tarrini

One of the chiefs aboard the Dauntless.

Almighty Janitor: An enlisted sailor who gets things done just like Gioninni (but without his sense of larceny) and is among the first to realize that the universal fixing substance the Dancers want is duct tape.
Dress-Up Episode: Dresses as Queen Callisto during the ceremony to celebrate crossing into Sol.
Iron Lady: Even during the Dress-Up Episode she's described as looking ready to install a little discipline in anyone who gets too rowdy.
Servile Snarker: After Desjani comments that she'd prefer not to shoot an enemy ship (which has Yuon and Castries aboard) full of holes, Tarrini mutters "That's a first" then pretends to be looking around for whoever said that.

Chief Busek

The chief engineer aboard the Dauntless during Beyond the Frontier.

The Engineer: Serves as this job and has little to do with Geary and the command staff.
New Meat: Gionnini noes that she has been in the service for a relatively short time and while competent, isn't the best authority for Geary to consult.

Lieutenant Nicodeom

An officer onboard the Dauntless who appears in Valiant.

Bridge Bunny: One of the watchstanders aboard the ''Dauntless', albeit one with a defined speciality.
The Engineer: While he doesn't seem to be involved in the actual repairs of the ship, he serves as the bridge officer consulted by Desjani about engineering scenarios.
Stuff Blowing Up: He plays a role in crafting the plan to rig a minefield out of ships to blow up the arriving Syndics during the Second Battle of Lakota.

Ensign Duck

A duck that the Dauntless marines adopt in Resolute. Desjani gives him an official rank to avoid having to kick him off the ship.

Chekhov's Gunman: Ensign Duck initially seems like a simple Joke Character, before he spots an assassin in a stealth suit and alerts Geary by quacking loudly and charging toward an area where no one seems to be.
Team Pet: Despite technically being a crew member, Ensign Duck is mainly onboard to be a mascot animal.

Petty Officer Inglis

A new officer aboard the Dauntless in Resolute. His hatred for the Syndicate Worlds outweighs any loyalty he may feel toward Geary.

You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He's apparently working for sinister anti-Geary infiltrators in the fleet, but seems to be a low-ranking conspirator, and his colleagues murder him as soon as he's captured after performing an assassination attempt that seems to be incidental to their overall plans.
You Killed My Father: He tries to kill the Alliance's ex-Syndic ally Colonel Rogero because Syndicate Worlds soldiers killed his mother and sister.

Battle cruiser commanders

Captain Roberto Duellos

Captain of the battlecruiser Courageous (and later of Inspire), Duellos is one of Geary’s first supporters in the fleet. He becomes one of Geary's closest friends and most trusted advisors.

The Confidant: Aside from Desjani, Duellos is one of the people Geary is most likely to use as a sounding board about anything military-related, especially when he's trying to understand the changes that a century of total war has wrought on the Alliance fleet.
Dashing Hispanic: Like nearly all the characters in the story, his physical description is left to the reader’s imagination. That said, his homeworld is named Catalan and he was trained at a base called Fort Cinque, which would argue for Spanish/Catalonian heritage in his distant past.
Deadpan Snarker: He gets some good one-liners throughout the series, especially when he's verbally sparring with Numos and Casia.
A Day in the Limelight: He gets this when Geary is required to transfer to Inspire to go handle a refugee crisis at the border in Steadfast. Duellos becomes his Number Two for the duration.
Disappeared Dad: His father and uncle died in the war.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: With Geary, Desjani, Cresida, Tulev, and Badaya. He's the Sanguine.
The Gadfly: Duellos seems to enjoy needling other commanding officers he doesn’t like, especially Numos. Geary has to rein him in once or twice to keep fleet conferences from deteriorating into slanging matches.
The Lancer: He emerges as this among Geary's most trusted circle of captains.
Loved I Not Honor More: Duellos is married with kids, and loves his family very much. He also loves being in the Alliance fleet, so he stays on after the end of the war despite the strain it puts on his marriage. Sadly, his wife ends up separating from him by the time of the Outlands series.
Not So Above It All: Despite his intelligence and loyalty to Geary, he’s still a battle cruiser captain at heart, meaning that he is still sometimes aggressive to the point of stupidity. He’s also not above publicly needling commanding officers he doesn’t like.

Commander/Captain Jaylen Cresida

Captain of the battlecruiser Furious, Cresida is one of the first captains to back Geary and becomes one of his most valued advisors, as well as his de facto scientific expert.

Crusading Widow: Cresida’s husband was killed in action before the series began.
Field Promotion: Cresida starts the series as a commander, but Geary promotes her to captain at the end of the second book, in recognition of her tactical and scientific skills.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted. Geary, Desjani, and Duellos all find themselves missing Cresida after her death at Varandal. Desjani even tells Geary that if they have a daughter, they're going to name her after Cresida.
Genius Bruiser: She's a talented scientist and skilled tactician.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: With Geary, Desjani, Duellos, Tulev, and Badaya. She and Badaya are the Choleric.
Hidden Depths: Cresida at first appears to be nothing more than a competent, if hotheaded, battle cruiser captain. As the series goes on, she is revealed to be a remarkably good scientist and the fleet’s best expert on the hypernet.
Hot-Blooded: Cresida is aggressive, fierce, and intense, and throws herself into any task she's given with maximum effort.
The McCoy: Of all Geary’s advisors, she is the most passionate and emotional, often arguing for the most aggressive course of action possible.
Leeroy Jenkins: Cresida is a classic Leeroy at first, like all battle cruiser captains in the fleet. That said, she takes to Geary’s tactical training like a duck to water.
Missing Mom: Her mother died in the war when she was twelve.
Not Afraid to Die: Due to believing that her husband will be waiting for her.
Sacrificial Lion: Cresida is killed in the battle at Varandal when Furious becomes the focal point for a barrage from the entire Syndic reserve flotilla.

Captain Kostya Tulev

Captain of the battlecruiser Leviathan, Tulev is another early supporter of Geary, and becomes one of his closest confidants, alongside Duellos, Cresida, and Desjani.

Four-Temperament Ensemble: With Geary, Duellos, Cresida, Desjani, and Badaya. He and Desjani are the Phlegmatics.
Leeroy Jenkins: Notably averted. Tulev is one of the few battle cruiser captains who doesn't go charging valiantly and brainlessly into battle at every opportunity.
Sacrificial Lion: He dies fighting at the Battle of Unity Alternate in an effort to stop the dark ship drone fleet from annihilating Alliance space.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Even after the war is over, Tulev admits that the war has not ended inside his head.
The Spock: He is the most calm and levelheaded of Geary’s advisors. Geary often uses him in situations when clarity and steadiness are required.
The Stoic: Tulev displays strong emotion only twice: once when the war is officially over, and again when a cousin he had believed dead is recovered from a POW camp.
Stout Strength: While we never see him in physical combat, he's described as "stout" in his first appearance, and it one of the fleet's best captains in a fight.
You Can't Go Home Again: Tulev’s homeworld was bombarded into ash by the Syndics during a particularly brutal phase of the war. Almost his entire family was wiped out.

Captain Badaya

Captain of the battlecruiser Illustrious, Badaya emerges as leader of a faction who wishes to crown Geary as dictator of the Alliance. Thereafter, Geary must walk a fine line between keeping Badaya's faction happy and not encouraging their ambitions.

Foil: Serves as one to Falco, Numos, Admiral Bloch, Captain Kila and various other mutinous or conspiratorial figures within the fleet. They tend to be set in their opinions, acting impulsively and forcefully (yet in the shadows to avoid punishment), and display little to no regard to the lives of their fellows or subordinates. Badaya is more careful and thoughtful (taking time to observe Geary before deciding that he would be an ideal leader and later considering Geary's arguments about why a dictatorship wouldn't solve problems), is upfront with Geary about his plan, is more reactive (stating that he won't force a coup, although he hopes/expects for Geary to join one) while intending to let the paranoid Alliance senate make the first move against Geary (something that comes very close to happening once they do get home, but is averted) and does show genuine concern about the lives of Alliance sailors and anger towards those who would murder them to further their plans.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: With Geary, Desjani, Duellos, Cresida, and Tulev. He and Cresida are the Cholerics.
Iconic Sequel Character: While he is one of the more developed and prominent captains in the fleet, he doesn't properly appear (every captain in the series is technically present in the background at fleet conferences from the beginning of the series) until the third book.
Last-Name Basis: Badaya’s first name has yet to be revealed.
Leeroy Jenkins: Like most of the battle cruiser captains, Badaya can be aggressive to the point of stupidity. He gets over it eventually, though not before he leads a charge on Ambaru Station when he thinks that Geary is about to be arrested and spirited away by the Alliance government.
Spanner in the Works: Defied and played straight. Badaya is made acting commander of the fleet while Geary is away visiting Earth. After concluding that this has been done under the expectation he will act rashly and get the fleet into trouble, Badaya decides to do nothing - clearly refusing to be the Spanner to Geary while also being the Spanner to whoever put him in charge. He of course takes great pleasure in having defied everyone's expectations.
Toxic Friend Influence: He's one of these to Geary at first. He supports Geary, but only because he wants to make him a dictator. Geary is horrified by the idea and refuses to do it, but this doesn't deter Badaya in the slightest. Geary therefore has to worry about a coup d'etat being declared in his name, on top of all of the other problems on his plate.
Undying Loyalty: When the fleet successfully returns home from the frontier in Guardian, Desjani notes that Badaya is going to be one of Geary's closest allies from now on regardless of what Geary chooses to do.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: His plan to overthrow the government has no malice or personal ambition behind it. He is driven by desperation at the amount of corruption in the government and the meaningless sacrifices the fleet has been forced to endure. Unlike most examples of the trope, he actually grows out of it once Geary explains to him that things wouldn't necessarily improve if he took over, due to how corruption tends to flourish in dictatorships, even well-intended ones.

Captain Sandra Kila

Captain of the battlecruiser Inspire, Kila is an ambitious, aggressive, and ruthless officer. This proves to be a bad thing.

Ambition Is Evil: Kila's ambition certainly is, since it led her to attempt to kill everyone on Dauntless, Furious, and Illustrious, successfully destroy Lorica, and generally wreak havoc behind the scenes, all in the name of trying to take command from Geary.
Bad Boss: Upon being found out as the ringleader of the conspiracy against Geary, the first thing she tries to do is murder her executive officer, comms officer, and systems-security officer and pin the blame on them.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She initially seems to be just another battle cruiser captain, but she quickly becomes hostile and confrontational toward Geary. Rione suggests that this is her true personality asserting itself now that she knows she won't be able to use her normal tactics to get on Geary's good side.
Driven to Suicide: She opts to blow herself up rather than be executed for her crimes.
General Ripper: Kila openly advocates for using the Syndic hypernet gates as weapons of mass destruction to end the war and doesn't seem to care when other officers point out that they'd be annihilating star systems and butchering millions of civilians in the process.
The Man Behind the Man: As it turns out, Kila has been behind the conspiracy against Geary from the beginning, having used Numos, Falco, Faresa, and Casia as her catspaws. She was also planning to use Caligo as a figurehead after eliminating Geary.
The Neidermeyer: Desjani notes that Kila is the kind of officer who is a horror to serve under.
Desjani: They say Kila's bitch-switch is locked into the "on" position and has a power-boost setting that activates at the slightest provocation.
Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Had a fling with Duellos when they were junior officers together and is hostile towards him in the present.
Sleeping Their Way to the Top: Rione says that there are some indications that Kila has done this in the past to advance her career, and asks Geary if she's ever tried seducing him.
Taking You with Me: When she is fully exposed as the leader of the conspiracy against Geary, she doesn't hesitate to take her fellow conspirator Captain Caligo down with her by sending Geary the emails and other messages that prove Caligo was in cahoots with her.
Team Killer: Where to begin? First, she arranges for an "accident" on the shuttle carrying Casia and Yin to Illustrious to keep them from potentially exposing her. Then she tries to trap Dauntless, Furious, and Illustrious in jump space by sabotaging their FTL drives. Then she successfully destroys Lorica in retaliation for Commander Gaes tipping Geary off about the sabotage. Finally, she tries to murder three senior officers, including her XO, on her own ship when she's found out. If there was a trophy for team killing, Kila would be a shoo-in.

Captain Michael Geary

Commander of the Repulse. Geary's grandnephew, and Jane's brother, who is presumed dead after serving as a rearguard for the fleet during its retreat from Prime. He is eventually revealed to be a Syndicate prisoner.

Ascended Extra: Only appeared in person for two chapters in the first book before becoming the main character of the comic The Lost Fleet: Corsair.
Disappeared Dad: Michael has three children, the eldest of whom is around draft age, but was on a tour of duty when their mother died, and her family adopted them. Michael used an alias when he got married so his kids wouldn't be subjected to the Heroic Lineage "Geary curse" and be pressured or inspired to enlist in the fleet and maybe die in a Hopeless War. This kept his wife's family from being able to contact him right after her death and he hasn't contacted his kids since for Shoo the Dog reasons, which clearly weighs on him.
The Resenter: Towards the legacy of Black Jack initially, although he ends up getting over it, and actually imitating his grand uncle's famed rearguard action when necessity requires.
Uncertain Doom: Geary assumes Michael is dead, but both he and Jane agree that they can't sense Michael's spirit among their ancestors. As it turns out, he's very much alive and well.

Commander Neeson

Captain of the battlecruiser Implacable.

Closest Thing We Got: After Cresida's death at Varandal, Neeson becomes the fleet's new hypernet expert. He notes that he's nowhere near as good as Cresida, but Geary still turns to him on occasion.
Deadpan Snarker: When Geary demands to know why the hypernet gates got built even though they had the potential to cause nova-scale energy discharges.
Neeson: They let you go really fast.
Genius Bruiser: Like Cresida, he's a skilled commander who is good at coming up with plans to manipulate the Syndics and has some decent technical knowledge of the hypernet gates.
Nice Guy: Considerate and respectful when discussing plans.
Series Continuity Error: In Steadfast, it's mentioned that a Captain Ekrhi has taken over Implacable. However, in the next book, Leviathan, Neeson is still in command of Implacable when he's first mentioned, but shortly thereafter he is said to have taken command of the battlecruiser Steadfast. By the end of the book he's back in command of Implacable and Ekrhi is nowhere to be seen.
What Happened to the Mouse?: His ship is destroyed during the Battle of Unity Alternate. While much of the crew survives in escape pods, it's left unmentioned if Neeson himself made it off.

Commander Landis

Captain of the battlecruiser Valiant and a member of the faction which wants to see Geary crowned dictator of the Alliance.

Everyone Has Standards: Admits to having bombed Syndicate worlds, and having mixed feelings about it, but utterly draws the line at the idea of using the hypernet gates as bombs.

Captain Vitali

Commander of the battlecruiser Daring.

Berserk Button: Angrily protests when another captain makes a misrepresentation of what Dauntless, Daring and the heavy cruiser Diamond did at the Sancere hypernet gate. He also tends to get disgusted towards the enigmas easily enough later on.
Military Brat: In Implacable, he mentions his father was also in the Navy and warned him about the disastrous repercussions of a Witch Hunt.
Nerves of Steel: When helping to keep the Sancere hypernet gate from triggering a nova-scale explosion, he holds Daring on station even as her weapons overheat and her systems start to shut down.
No Name Given: He ad a notable role all the way back in Fearless, the second book of the series, but takes a while to be named.
One-Steve Limit: Geary and Desjani meet a Lady Vitali on Earth. When they tell her about Captain Vitali, she wonders if they're related.

Captain Caligo

Captain of the battlecruiser Brilliant.

The Nondescript: Caligo doesn't have any discernible personality, takes no sides, tries to stay in the background, and chooses his words carefully so as not to stand out. Geary notes that he'd ordinarily be thrilled to have someone like that as a subordinate.
The Starscream: I He is part of Kila's scheme to get rid of Geary out of his own ambitions, as Kila has promised to back him as fleet commander.
Uncertain Doom: He is last seen facing charges for offenses he could easily be executed for.
Villainous Breakdown: The man is clearly terrified and makes poor attempts at denial after being exposed as Kila's coconspirator.

Captain Kattnig

Captain of the new battlecruiser Adroit, which is assigned as reinforcements to the fleet after they make it back to Alliance space. An old friend of Tulev, he seems a little too eager to fight again.

Driven to Suicide: After losing his nerve in full view of the fleet and veering away from the Syndics, which gets several other ships destroyed, Kattnig knows he has only one way out. Desjani realizes what he's going to do and urges Geary to relieve him and put him in protective custody, but the order goes out too late to prevent him from going through with his suicide.
A Father to His Men: He worked himself to the point of collapse looking after his crew when his last ship was destroyed.
Leeroy Jenkins: After joining the fleet, Kattnig is continuously volunteering to put himself in danger and pressing for aggressive strategies. It becomes a tragic subversion when it's revealed that he's actually lost his will to fight and is doing this to try to work his nerve back up.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: He doesn't want to fight anymore after everything he's seen, but can't bring himself to admit this, which just makes his internal agony worse.

Captain Vente

An arrogant and politically connected captain assigned to the newest Invincible at the beginning of Beyond the Frontier.

Jerkass: More condescending than outright nasty, but it's there.
Put on a Bus: After Invincible is severely damaged due to Vente's incompetence and has to be scuttled, Geary refuses to give him any further responsibility in the fleet and leaves him stuck on one of the auxiliaries.
Spanner in the Works: Possibly the reason he was assigned to the fleet. He is the senior warship commander in the fleet, making him second in line for command should something happen to Geary. In theory this could make him an obstacle to Geary. In practice, Vente is too incompetent and self-centered to pull it off, and Geary just bypasses him anyway and designates Badaya as his official second-in-command.

Troop transport passengers and commanders

Colonel/Major General Carabali

Commanding officer of the fleet's Marine contingent, who winds up in charge after her superior officer is murdered by the Syndics in Dauntless.

The Chains of Commanding: She has been at war a long time, and is tired of sending men and women to die. She is also clearly not happy that her rank and responsibilities require her to stay out of the fighting, rather than getting deployed alongside her Marines.
Colonel Badass: She's an excellent tactician and strategist, though she usually remains out of the action so that she can focus on the overall tactical picture.
Four-Star Badass: She is promoted to major general after the fleet's return to Alliance space.
Medal of Dishonor: As a junior lieutenant, she was once awarded a medal for keeping her platoon alive under trying circumstances. She did this by allowing her platoon sergeant to execute a bunch of unarmed Syndic prisoners so that they could use the power cells from their armor to recharge her platoon's suits. She doesn't wear the medal or its ribbon.
Not So Above It All: Though she is a consummate professional and an excellent officer, she's not above occasionally cracking jokes about the Navy.
Rank Up: She is promoted to major general after the fleet returns to Alliance space.
Tragic Keepsake: Her colonel's insignia, which belonged to her father and grandmother. Both of them were killed in action before they could pass them on.
Undying Loyalty: To the Alliance. Even after the rest of the fleet is fully prepared to overthrow the Alliance government in Geary's name, Carabali flatly states that she will do everything in her power to keep her Marines from joining a coup attempt.
You Are in Command Now: After her superior officer is murdered by the Syndics, Carabali winds up in command of the remaining Marines in the fleet. Fortunately, she rises to the occasion.

Commander Young

Captain of the assault transport Mistral, which plays a key role in the final battle against the dark ships.

Bearer of Bad News: Given that the Mistral isn't a combat vessel, Geary was prepared to have her and her alone flee the system to report on the outcome of the battle if things went too badly, although he doubted that Young would be too happy with that order.
My Greatest Failure: Deeply distraught at having let Rione get off her ship, which leads to her Heroic Sacrifice.

Colonel Rico

Commander of the Marines aboard the Mistral.

Badass Boast: Makes one before the assault on Unity Alternate.
Commander Young: The bus will get you freeloaders there. After that it will be up to you Marines to pay for the ride.
Rico: We'll earn the fare.
Shout-Out: He is named for the protagonist of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
Undying Loyalty: Very committed to defending the Alliance.

Corporal Maksomovic

A soldier serving in a security role on the captured Kick super battleship in Guardian.

Bomb Disposal: He is assigned to disarm a Syndic bomb while being given instructions by the engineers and has a miserable yet resigned countenance throughout the experience. After actually disarming the bomb, he has a Self-Serving Memory reaction, seeming to think he remained cool throughout the experience.
You Are in Command Now: He briefly takes command of his squad after his sergeant is shot.

Battleship commanders

Captain Armus

Captain of the battleship Colossus and one of the most senior officers in the fleet, Armus emerges as the spokesman for the battleship captains, and eventually joins Geary's inner circle.

Jerkass Realization: He is often reluctant to accept Geary's strategies at first, but after the conspiracy against Geary is fully uncovered, he is ashamed that his mindset might have encouraged the plotters. Being who he is, Geary doesn't hold it against Armus.
Mighty Glacier: Like the ship he commands, Armus does not move or react as quickly as many of the other captains in the fleet, and everyone knows it. Though most of them disregard him for this reason, Geary knows he can be a tremendous asset when employed properly. It pays off magnificently at the Second Battle of Midway, when Armus is faced with an enigma fleet that intends to try ramming his ships. He slows his formation of battleships down to make their sensors more accurate, forms them into a Stone Wall, and uses all their tremendous firepower to unleash annihilation on the enigmas.
Geary: I am aware that Captain Armus is not distinguished by flexibility or quickness. But he is steady.
Old Soldier: Geary and Desjani note that he might be the senior warship commander in the entire fleet at the beginning of the Beyond the Frontier series.
Tranquil Fury: In Resolute, Geary notes that Armus doesn't display anger easily, and when he does, it's usually subdued rather than "explosive." Even when he learns about a malignant conspiracy being led by one of his subordinates and gets extremely angry, all Armus says is "Unacceptable," before taking several deep breaths to calm down.

Captain Jane Geary

Geary's grand-niece and captain of the battleship Dreadnaught. Jane joins the fleet after the Battle of Varandal, and must learn how to live in a universe where her heroic grand-uncle is Back from the Dead.

Hidden Depths: She says that she'd have liked to be an architect, had she not been railroaded into the fleet by her family's legacy.
Leeroy Jenkins: Not at first, but as she becomes obsessed with proving herself to be a "real Geary", she starts to spin out of control, becoming increasingly aggressive and insubordinate.
Not Afraid to Die: Averted. She admits to Geary that she was terrified when she led an apparently suicidal charge against the Kicks at the Battle of Honor, and that she is obviously a coward because of this. Geary, naturally, explains to her that courage is not the absence of fear, and tells her that he too was scared during his Last Stand at Grendel a century ago.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Jane is a skilled ship commander and tactician, but she still lives in the shadow of Black Jack Geary. This becomes a problem in Beyond the Frontier, when she decides to try and live up to the legend of Black Jack.
The Resenter: As she tells Geary, she has spent her entire life hating him and his heroic reputation, since it is now expected that every able-bodied member of his family will join the fleet and serve honorably.
The Unfavorite: Between herself and her brother Michael, she appears to be this trope. Michael received command of a battle cruiser, to which all Alliance officers aspire, while she was given a battleship due to being "insufficiently aggressive" by modern standards. She has also been the recipient of suggestions that she lacks the spirit of Black Jack Geary, despite being one of his descendants.

Commander Shen

The new commander of the battleship Orion at the beginning of the sequel series Beyond the Frontier.

Heroic Sacrifice: In Guardian, he steers Orion into the path of several Syndic suicide attackers aimed at the fleet's auxiliaries, saving them at the cost of Orion being destroyed with all hands.
Hidden Depths: Despite his unprepossessing exterior, Shen proves to be an excellent captain who manages to motivate and inspire his crew in a way Geary hadn't believed possible.
I Can Still Fight!: After Orion has taken a series of batterings at Pandora and Honor, Geary asks Shen whether he thinks the ship is combat-capable. Shen says yes, though he concedes that the damage is severe enough that Orion isn't able to fight on the frontline.
Mauve Shirt: Shen gets several appearances before his Heroic Sacrifice.
The Neidermeyer: Averted. Geary is afraid that Shen will be one of these, but he turns out to be more of a Drill Sergeant Nasty.
Perpetual Frowner: He smiles once over the course of the entire sequel series; said smile is described as being like watch an earthquake crack rock.
Pet the Dog: He unreservedly praises Orion's crew for their efforts to restore the ship to battle-readiness, stating that he couldn't have asked for a better or harder-working crew.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He turns out to be the kind of captain who will lecture his crew when necessary, but also praise them when he knows they've done a good job.
Remember the New Guy?: He's an old friend of Desjani, but was never mentioned in the original series.

Captain Numos

Captain of the battleship Orion, Numos proves to be a self-centered and conniving man, who becomes a major problem for Geary.

Dirty Coward: During Geary's first fleet conference, Numos suggests that every still-functioning ship should just run for it and leave the many heavily damaged ships to the nonexistent mercies of the Syndics. Later on, after Falco's mutineers run into a Syndic ambush, Numos doesn't hesitate to flee with Orion while the battle cruiser Triumph stays behind to hold the enemy off, even though a battleship is better suited to that kind of rearguard action. Much later on, when it becomes clear that he's facing a firing squad for his actions, Numos turns state's evidence to worm his way out of being executed.
Insufferable Imbecile: Numos is an obnoxious idiot. Rione lampshades it at one point.
Rione: The longstanding thorn in your side Captain Numos is stupid. In fact, Numos is so dense I'm surprised he doesn't have his own event horizon.
Jerkass: Numos is nothing but a gigantic prick from the moment he first opens his mouth. It gets to the point where Geary nearly orders him shot in a fit of anger after he refuses to accept responsibility for mutinying and leaving the fleet.
Jerkass Has a Point: He criticizes Geary's taking command by pointing out that he only outranks them due to date of rank and his promotion to captain (when he was assumed dead) was supposed to be a posthumous one, and that Geary has far less combat experience and context about how the war is being fought than almost anyone else in the fleet. These points have some grounding, and Geary himself is concerned about them (although, given the nature of the fleet, they ultimately run out to be assets rather than liabilities).
Miles Gloriosus: Numos makes a lot of noise about honor and courage, but he's the first one to advocate an every-ship-for-itself approach to escaping the Syndic fleet, and he also flees to safety while allowing other ships to cover his retreat in the wake of Falco's defeat at Vidha.
The Mutiny: Numos is one of the ringleaders of the mutiny which occurs in Fearless. Naturally, when he rejoins the fleet, he immediately throws Falco under the bus and insists that he was Just Following Orders.
The Neidermeyer: Given that Numos is a belligerent prick to his fleet commander and other officers of equal rank, it's not hard to imagine that he's even worse to the people who serve under him.
Never My Fault: Numos disobeys Geary's orders at the Battle of Kaliban, with the result that his subformation of the fleet barely participates in the annihilation of the Syndic flotilla. Numos, of course, blames Geary for his own screwup. He later refuses to accept responsibility for his part in the mutiny, instead shifting the blame to Falco, who has lost his mind, and several other senior captains, all of whom are now dead.

Captain Casia

Captain of the battleship Conqueror, Casia emerges as the newest pain in Geary's neck after Numos, Falco, and Faresa are relieved of command and arrested.

Commander Contrarian: He argues with literally every decision Geary makes.
Dirty Coward: Casia avoids action at Second Lakota, which causes Warrior and several lighter combatants to be destroyed and nearly costs the fleet one of its precious auxiliaries. Geary outright accuses him of cowardice in a fleet conference after the battle.
Face Death with Dignity: When it becomes clear that his only options are death or living in disgrace with the accusation of cowardice hanging over his head, Casia finally accepts responsibility for his actions and demands to be honorably executed via firing squad. Geary is frustrated that he is only now choosing to display admirable behavior.
Casia: You call me coward. I see agreement in many of my fellow officers' eyes. I'll prove you all wrong when I face the firing squad.
He Knows Too Much: Kila blows up the shuttle taking Casia to the firing squad, apparently to prevent him making a final statement that might implicate them.
Jerkass: Like Numos and Faresa before him, Casia is a belligerent, incompetent prick whose main function in the story is to aggravate Geary.
Unexplained Recovery: Despite having been Killed Off for Real in Valiant, Casia reappears in Beyond the Frontier, alive and well and still in command of Conqueror. No In-Universe explanation has yet been given for this, meaning that it is most likely a Series Continuity Error.

Captain Mosko

Commander of the battleship Defiant and of the Seventh Battleship Division.

A Father to His Men: Requests that Geary liberate any survivors of his crew someday. He also expresses deep regret at having to take the rest of his division to die with Defiant, but knows that his ship alone wouldn't be able to hold back the Syndic pursuit force for long enough to save the rest of the fleet.
Heroic Sacrifice: He leads the entire Seventh Battleship Division in a rearguard action to give the fleet time to escape Lakota.
Mighty Glacier: Leads a very effective rearguard at the First Battle of Lakota.
Uncertain Doom: There were apparently some captains of destroyed or captured Alliance ships who survived First Lakota and were taken elsewhere by the Syndics, but it's unclear if he was one of them.

Commander Suram

The executive officer of Warrior, who is put in command after his Bit Character captain joins in Falco's mutiny.

The Atoner: He acknowledges to Geary that he and his crew have a lot to make up for, most especially having left fellow ships to the wolves at Vidha.
Determinator: He puts a lot of effort into making his damaged ship battle-ready and protecting the auxiliaries. When Warrior is crippled and on the verge of exploding, he remains aboard to coordinate the effort to shut down the power core and dies with his ship.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: It's implied that he was the one doing most of the work on Warrior while Kerestes kept his head down and did nothing to draw attention to himself. Geary states that he intends to give Suram full credit for the battleship's good performance.
Redeeming Replacement: Very much so to the weak-willed, disloyal Captain Kerestes.
You Are in Command Now: After Kerestes is arrested and relieved of command.

Captain Midea

Commander of Paladin, a battleship in Numos's division.

Blood Knight: She's easily one of the most aggressive captains in the fleet, which is saying something.
He Who Fights Monsters: Geary repeatedly notes that her appearance and behavior remind him of a Syndic CEO.
Hypocrite: She disapprovingly insinuates that Geary and Desjani have more than just a professional relationship at a fleet conference, only for Badaya to inform Geary that she was nearly court-martialed for inappropriate behavior with her executive officer.
Jerkass: Just like Casia, Numos, and Faresa.
Leeroy Jenkins: Like so many captains in the fleet. She executes a reckless and doomed solo charge against the Syndic fleet, although she was moving to try and help a damaged ally (just one that was too far away to have a reasonable chance of helping) and manages to destroy or damage several enemy ships first.
Undying Loyalty: Ironically, she always fell in line and did what Numos told her, in perhaps his only display of actual leadership qualities in the whole series.
Wild Card: No one except Numos is really able to control her.

Commander Yin

Numos' executive officer and successor as captain of Orion.

Dirty Coward: Yin is very adverse to taking risks even when they'll save the lives of other ships, and is described in fairly pitiable terms upon realizing she's facing a court-martial and/or summary execution.
She Knows Too Much: Judged a liability by the conspiracy after being relieved of command and is murdered, along with Casia.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To her former CO Numos in many ways. She is an unpleasant contrarian and Dirty Coward who blames someone else when facing serious charges.

Captain Faresa

Commander of the battleship Majestic and one of Geary's first opponents in the fleet.

Commander Contrarian: Just like Numos, she never has a good word to say about Geary or any of his plans.
Death Glare: Her default expression, usually aimed at Geary.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Blown up along with everyone else on her ship (while locked in the brig) during the Second Battle of Lakota.
Jerkass: Never has a kind or reasonable moment.
Old Soldier: When first interacting with her, Geary notes that she looks close to retirement age.

Captain Bob Parr

Commander of the battlecruiser Incredible.

Fire-Forged Friends: With the Resolution and its crew after they survive near-certain destruction at Heradao.
Leeroy Jenkins: Parr is among those who nearly mutiny when it looks as if Geary may have been arrested, something he later feels chagrined about.
Rage Breaking Point: His reaction to learning about the dark ships and seeing them killing Alliance people (although a speech from Geary helps calm him).
Parr: Why are we fighting again, why are our people dying again, because of the mistakes made by people who will never pay the price for their errors?
Shout-Out: His name is Bob Parr, and he's in command of the Incredible. Does that sound familiar?
Taking the Bullet: He and Incredible survive Heradao when the Resolution (which has much stronger armor and shields) gets between them and a barrage of Syndicate fire. Both ships manage to survive, to Geary's surprise and relief.

Captain Namani Plant

The deceptively calm and upbeat captain of the battleship Warsprite.

Ambiguously Related: She has the same surname and personality as one of Smythe's engineers, making it possible that the two are relatives.
Beware the Nice Ones: She's very calm and friendly, but is described as being intense and deadly in space battles.
Everyone Has Standards: In Implacable, Plant spends much of a conference reluctantly insisting that their duty is to follow a set of unpleasant orders to wage war on the various alien races and the Phoenix Stars, but she finally breaks free of that chain of thought after watching the bearer of those orders start arresting and threatening any captain who disagrees with him.
The Reliable One: She's not the most reliable of Geary's captains, but is notable for being both a good warship commander and very strategic, dependable and cool-headed while helping plan how to countermand Pelleas's coup without alerting the conspirators.
Remember the New Guy?: She's never mentioned before Resolute, where she's on good and familiar terms with Geary and Desjani.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: She briefs Geary about information she's discovered on a treasonous plot by several of their fellow officers with about as much emotion as she'd display during a card game.

Captain Constantine Rogov

The commander of a task force joins Geary in Implacable. He isn't there to reinforce Geary, but rather to try and force a sinister agenda on him.

The Dragon: He serves as General Ripper Julian's loyal right-hand man.
A Father to His Men: He may be willing to use violence against sailors on other ships who oppose him, but he is horrified when Trigger-Happy conspirators murder several members of his crew, with Rogov later making it clear that he would have never authorized that and surrendering after realizing that's what his crew wants.
Never My Fault: Downplayed. After surrendering his ship in the aftermath of several of his sailors being killed, it is mentioned that he blames Geary for causing that conflict by not complying with the insane and probably forged orders Rogov presented and forcing a standoff between their fleets instead. However, it is suggested that, deep down, Rogov at least partially accepts his guilt, given how he later commits suicide.
Villainous Valor: Even when his entire fleet sides with Geary's fleet (which already outnumbered them greatly), Rogov takes a long time to surrender due to being willing to risk his life for the conviction of his jingoistic beliefs.

Captain Adam Pelleas

Captain of the battleship Gallant.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Pelleas is properly introduced having a Big Damn Heroes moment and accepts the praise modestly, causing another captain to comment that his ship, the Gallant, has a Meaningful Name. Then, in the next book, it turns out that he is part of the faction that feels the Alliance needs a military dictator, and his cabal also plots to use a False Flag Operation to start a war with the Dancers.
Know When to Fold 'Em: When he sees that the plot to start a shooting battle with the Dancers has been exposed, he quickly abandons any effort to commit further violence and tries to claim he was acting under fake orders.
Mighty Glacier: He charges his ship through a minefield to take the brunt of an explosion threatening one of the fleet auxiliaries. His ship comes out the other side with minimal damage.

Captain Zhao

Captain of the Audacious, a ship stationed in friendly space.

Morton's Fork: Zhao is ordered to obtain the evidence aboard Geary's troop transports at Unity, and both Geary and Zhao seem to realize that he'll be catching flak for what happens whether he succeeds or fails.

Captain Petra Bai

One of Rogov's subordinates, who commands the latest ship to bear the unlucky name Invincible.

Just Following Orders: She will argue in favor of genocidal and suicidal war plans or shooting at her own allies simply because orders are orders.
Token Evil Teammate: She is the only captain in Rogov’s fleet who refuses to desert General Julian's sinister cause under any circumstances, even when he orders her to shoot at her own defecting comrades. She ends up being relieved of command in an Anti-Mutiny.

Scout battleship commanders

Captain Vendig

Commander of the scout battleship Exemplar.

Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first book of the series, the commanding officer of Exemplar is named Basir. Vendig appears without explanation the next time Exemplar comes up. ^note
Fragile Speedster: His ship has the weapons of a battleship, but in order to be fast enough to scout ahead, it also has far less armor which ultimately gets it and the other ships of its class destroyed during the return to Alliance space.
Just Think of the Potential!: One of the few captains not actively plotting against Geary to give serious consideration to using the hypernet gates as bombs. Vending even suggests using AI-controlled warships, something that the others angrily reject as absurdly risky and immoral.
Last of His Kind: Exemplar is the last scout battleship in the fleet by the fifth book, but is lost immediately afterwards in the Battle of Heradao. Due to their structural weaknesses, no more scout battleships are built afterwards.
Uncertain Doom: His ship is destroyed during the Battle of Heradao, but it isn't explicitly stated that he himself died.

Commander Vebos

The first captain of the scout battleship Arrogant, who embodies the qualities of his ship's name.

Life Saving Misfortune: Zigzagged. He's relieved of command of Arrogant, which is then destroyed just a few days later, but the ship was destroyed due to its new captain making a courageous decision that Vebos probably wouldn't have taken if he was still in command.
Mean Boss: He's described as being hard on his crew and they're all happy to see him go.
Quickly-Demoted Leader: He offends Geary enough with his insubordination to be transferred to serve as the weapons officer aboard Orion (a job which is also delegated to a man of his rank but strips him of his own command).
The Starscream: He insinuates that Geary should be removed from command (claiming that a century in survival sleep has obviously damaged his brain) and proposes Numos as their new leader.
Trigger-Happy: He blazes away at a Syndic city against orders, even though this risks killing Alliance Marines who've landed nearby.
Uncertain Doom: Vebos is never mentioned after the first book, and it's unclear if He was still serving on Orion -as Geary had considered giving it an entirely new crew to purge Numos's influence- when it is destroyed in Guardian with all of its crew except two who'd been sent for medical treatment on a different ship after a previous battle.

Auxilaries officers

Commander Lommand

Commanding officer of the Titan, one of the fleet's most constantly-imperiled auxiliaries (ships that carry supplies and perform repair work).

The Engineer: And a very good one, to boot, coming up with a lot of the best ideas about manufacturing supplies, increasing maneuverability and the like.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Commander Tyrosian, who is an able but unimaginative division commander.
My Greatest Failure: Regrets how slow his ship was during the retreat from Syndicate space was, and how Michael Geary was lost covering for him. He also offers his resignation after Honor, since Titan nearly got a sub subformation of the fleet destroyed by losing a propulsion unit he thought he'd fixed.
The Smart Guy: Of the auxiliaries division. Before Smythe takes over, he's the one likely to figure out how to solve any major problem.
Young and in Charge: One of the youngest commanders in the fleet, but the commander of a very important auxiliary.

Captain Smythe

Captain of Tanuki and the new head of the auxiliaries division after the fleet's return to Alliance space.

Dissonant Serenity: Generally very cheery and casual about his job, although that doesn't make him any less good at it.
Early-Installment Weirdness: His name is spelled Smyth in the first book he appears.
Friend in the Black Market: Smythe is an expert at gaming the system for his own benefit and that of the fleet. He uses back channels to acquire funding and materiel for the fleet, while occasionally diverting luxury goods to Tanuki for the benefit of himself and his crew.
Lovable Rogue: A bit shady, but loyal and charming.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Smythe is normally either in full Consummate Professional mode toward his engineering tasks or a sly Friend in the Black Market. The two most notable exceptions are probably in Implacable.
- After learning how the Wooareek won't share the secrets behind their (nearly) Faster-Than-Light Travel with the humans until the far future, everyone in the conference room gets a good laugh when Smythe exclaims, "But I want it now."
- He is one of the many captains to make Let Me Get This Straight..., You're Insane! exclamations of anger and disbelief after hearing the campaign plans of General Ripper Arnold Julian.
The Scrounger: An effective, fleetwide one who works the system to get hands on necessary repair funds for the fleet.

Lieutenant Elysia Jamenson

One of Smythe's subordinates on Tanuki.

Badass Bureaucrat: She is incredibly skilled at disguising important information in mountains of paperwork, or finding information that someone else tried to bury that way.
Chekhov's Skill: Her uncanny talent for finding patterns and deciphering bureaucratic paperwork helps uncover the existence of the dark ships, a Syndicate weapon that would have been used to ambush the fleet, and later to communicate with the Dancers.
Official Couple: With Lieutenant Iger. They get married when it seems that the fleet is facing certain annihilation at Unity Alternate.
Oireland: She has green hair, her nickname is Shamrock, she comes from a planet called Eire, the audiobook narrator gives her a very "Oirish" accent, and her last name is one letter off from a popular brand of Irish whiskey. It's sort of a wonder she doesn't start every conversation with "Top o'the mornin'!"

Captain Tyrosian

Head of the fleet auxiliaries division for most of the trip home.

The Bait: Tyrosian and her ships are used as bait for the Syndic warships several times, to the point where she treats it with resigned acceptance by the fourth book.
Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Tyrosian is a very good engineer, but the responsibilities of being a division commander and managing the supply and repair needs of the entire fleet overwhelm her, and she’s actually happy to be relieved by Captain Smythe.
The Engineer: Tyrosian is a good engineer. She's not so good at division command, however.
Not So Above It All: While she normally avoids the Blood Knight behavior of the warship commanders, Tyrosian is unusually upbeat when asked to rig explosive traps to several wrecked Syndic warships.
You Are in Command Now: After her worthless boss is Kicked Upstairs Tyrosian is made the new division commander.

Captain Gundel

Captain of the Jinn and the initial head of the auxiliaries division.

Kicked Upstairs: Geary gives him a meaningless staff position in order to have an excuse to relieve him of command of both the auxiliaries and Jinn.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: With his feet-dragging and apparent unfamiliarity with the best engineering procedures, Gundel really couldn't be doing more harm to the fleet if he was trying.
Pointy-Haired Boss: Gundel makes his executive officer and fellow captains do pretty much all of the work running Jinn and the auxiliaries division respectively, and yet is quick to claim that any competence or success they have is from having observed him hard at work for so long.
Put on a Bus: Exiled to fleet headquarters after the return to Alliance space, where he continues working on a logistics report about what it will take to get back to Alliance space even though they're already home.
The Slacker: Gundel really isn't a very hard worker.

Commander Plant

One of Smythe's engineers, and an expert on disarming bombs.

Bomb Disposal: Her speciality is disarming explosives.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She seems a bit spacey and laid-back for an EOD expert, but she gives accurate instructions to the Marines on disarming the Syndic nukes.
Dissonant Serenity: Calm and cheerful while giving instructions to a terrified Marine disarming a bomb left by a commando raid on Invincible

Commander Hopper

The fleet's leading expert on remote signals and linkage during Beyond the Frontier. She is deployed to help disarm the Continental Shotgun.

Communications Officer: Although her only role is trying to prevent a Syndicate device rigged to a remote communication system from broadcasting a signal meant to destroying the fleet and the planet of Simur.
Consummate Professional: Gives off an aura of calm competence and is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
Non Action Girl: She's a fleet engineer, which means that she doesn't usually get involved in combat. However, she receives emergency certification in orbital insertion for the mission to disarm the Continental Shotgun.
Properly Paranoid: States that even with detailed instructions, the relay would be too complicated for the Marines to safely disarm without her there, and once the raid is over they agree that she was right.
This Is Gonna Suck: An unhappy-looking Hopper gives off this vibe when saying that she needs to personally accompany the Marines going to disarm the device (prompting a Big "WHAT?!" from Smythe, Carabali and Geary all at the same time) although things do end up working out.

Liberated POWs

Captain Francesco Falco

A famed captain of the Alliance Navy, believed dead for twenty years. Falco is recovered from a POW camp early in the series and immediately becomes a thorn in Geary's side.

Armchair Military: When Geary visits Falco in his medical room, the latter is busy planning out the fleet's grand strategy with star charts, but graciously takes a break from his "duties" as fleet commander to advise Geary.
Believing Their Own Lies: Falco has thoroughly convinced himself that he is the only man who can command the Alliance fleet and save the Alliance itself from destruction.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Falco initially presents himself as a friend and ally to Geary. Once he realizes that Geary has no intention of letting him make any decisions or command anything, he moves almost immediately to plotting against him.
The Charmer: Even the people who don’t like him are charmed by him. Desjani notes that if anyone but Black Jack Geary had been in command of the fleet, Falco would very likely have taken over in short order.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Played With in Courageous: when Geary needs to think of an approach that the Syndics won't expect, he consults Falco because he is the least rational thinker in the whole fleet, and adopts Falco's suggestion that the Fleet head for the Lakota System. This has mixed results, but Falco was correct in that the Syndics did not have significant forces lying in wait for them.
Epic Fail: Falco leads thirty-nine ships away from the fleet on a mad dash toward Alliance space, trusting in "moral superiority" to see them through. They immediately run into a series of minefields and ambushes, exactly as Geary had predicted would happen, and are torn to shreds. It goes so badly wrong that Falco snaps and loses his mind.
Driven to Madness: Falco loses his grip on reality when his faction of mutineers runs into a series of Syndic ambushes and is nearly wiped out. Even Geary feels sorry for him upon realizing exactly how badly his mind has gone.
General Failure: Geary notes that, in spite of his reputation as a "fighting sailor", Falco is actually a pretty terrible tactician. His victories all came at staggering costs, while he'd lost more than one battle due to basic errors. Duellos lampshades this at a fleet conference.
Duellos: I served under Captain Falco at Batana. My first battle, and nearly my last. My commanding officer commented afterward that as our losses equaled those of the Syndics, it would have been simpler if Captain Falco had only ordered each of his ships to ram one of the enemy ships, thereby achieving the same result with much less difficulty.
General Ripper: Falco believes that peace can only be achieved by massacring every single Syndic in the galaxy, military and civilian. Geary is naturally appalled by his sheer disregard for human life.
Heroic Sacrifice: Arguably. When Warrior is being shot to pieces around him, Falco refuses to be evacuated (giving another sailor his seat on an escape pod) and dies when her power core overloads. Geary and Rione wonder whether he actually understood what was happening, given his mental state, but conclude that they may as well assume the best of him, since he’s dead and all.
I Reject Your Reality: Falco actively retreats into delusion after the failure of his mutiny. He believes himself to still be in command of the fleet, even rationalizing the presence of armed sentries outside his stateroom as an "honor guard".
Knight Templar: Geary and Duellos both recognize that this is what makes Falco so charismatic and dangerous; he is utterly convinced of his own rightness.
Narcissist: Falco believes himself to be the greatest ship captain since Black Jack Geary and the only man who can save the Alliance. He also dislikes being interrupted and doesn't do well with people who won't kiss up to him and stroke his ego. Geary outright notes that Falco is jealous of the attention and deference Geary receives.
Never My Fault: When Geary asks Falco if he's ever made a mistake, Falco defiantly retorts that he has never made a serious error and neatly dumps all the blame for his failures onto his subordinates.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His mutiny quickly proved the soundness of Geary's strategies, and the foolhardiness of Falco's, while causing at least a few captains involved in the conspiracy against Geary to be pointlessly killed, arrested for mutiny, or undergo a Heel Realization, causing those who hadn't accompanied him on his mad run towards Alliance space to lose valuable support and forcing them to step out of the shadows, given that Numos and Faresa weren't available as figureheads anymore after being arrested.
Not Used to Freedom: Duellos's assessment of Falco is that, after twenty years of growing accustomed to the routine of a Syndic labor camp, Falco has no capacity left for dealing with the unexpected - he and Geary both notice that Falco needs a moment to stop and re-set when a conversation doesn't go the way he planned it in his head - and Falco will "fall apart" upon encountering his first real combat situation. Since combat is entirely made up of the unexpected, this is exactly what happens when the mutineers encounter their first Syndic opposition.
Pet the Dog: Lieutenant Riva tells Geary and Desjani that Falco devoted a lot of effort to keeping up everyone's morale up even as they spent years in a Syndic labor camp, and it's outright stated that many of them would have been broken if it weren't for him. Geary reflects that seeing Falco as just another scumbag like Numos or Faresa isn't going to be as simple as he himself would prefer.
Red Baron: He’s known as "Fighting" Falco. Geary isn't impressed.

Admiral Lagemann

A POW liberated during the beginning of Beyond the Frontier.

Cool Old Guy: He is an older man who never obstructs Geary and proves to have a good sense of humor.
The Creon: Lagemann never tries to assert his authority over Geary, works to keep others who would in line, and is happy to be given something to do.
Hero of Another Story: A respected and effective leader of the Alliance Navy earlier in the war, who finds himself having seen its end in a prison camp, and is willing to take a supporting role in the fleet after being liberated.
Military Brat /One-Steve Limit: There was a Commmander Lagemann (possibly an ancestor of his) who was under Geary's command during the outbreak of the Forever War, as seen in the short story Grendel and reluctantly broke away from the Merlon to escort the fleeing merchant ships to safety while Geary and his crew stayed back to Hold the Line.
Retirony: Averted, he says he intends to leave the fleet and go home to a peaceful existence once they get home. He does make it back alive.
Spanner in the Works: Due to his fresh perspective on the enigmas, he's able to work out a couple of their plans before anyone else, and also helps prevent a lot of the less reliable POWs from interfering with Geary.
Tempting Fate: Admits that he screws up in picking a ship called Invincible as his flagship. Sure enough, he was captured when it didn't live up to its name. Averted when he names the captured Kick superbattleship the Invincible; he notes that this is an ironic name, since the fleet has already proven that it isn't invincible.
Tuckerization: He's named for a friend of John Hemry's from his time in the US Navy.

Commander Paol Benan

Rione's husband and a liberated prisoner.

Brainwashed and Crazy: By Alliance security, in order to keep him from revealing his knowledge of their black-ops biowarfare experiments.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Towards Geary, after finding out that he slept with Rione. He recovers somewhat, though he admits that he will always hate Geary for what he did.
Driven to Madness: The mental block damages his brain to the point where he has to be kept permanently sedated. Dr. Nasr notes that this is the entire point of imprinting a block on someone; it causes continuous and permanent mental deterioration, but since the blocked person literally cannot talk about the problem, it slowly pushes them over the edge until they wind up committing suicide.
Secret-Keeper: An unwilling one. He was involved in top-secret and illegal biowarfare experiments, until his conscience kicked in and he refused to take part any longer. Alliance security responded by imprinting a mental block on him and reassigning him elsewhere.
Uncertain Doom: It's not clear for some time whether he's alive, even after Rione finds evidence that he survived the destruction of his ship. It's not confirmed until they're reunited in Dreadnaught.

Major Guerrero

One of Michael's fellow prisoners in Corsair.

Blood Knight: Enjoys fighting Syndicates, although not to psychotic degrees.
Rugged Scar: His face has a long cut down it.
Semper Fi: A trigger-happy marine determined to protect his men.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Executive Aragon and her men, at first.

Chief Taman and Chief Sindi Taman

Two of Michael's fellow POWs, a brother and sister, with the brother being the only member of his original crew with him.

Annoying Younger Sibling: It's unclear which is older but they playfully bicker about which is the better engineer.
The Engineer: Both of their jobs.
Out of Focus: Once they get the propulsion units working, they vanish into the background while Chief North takes over as the engineer that Michael interacts with more.
Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Sindi was reported as having died earlier in the war but was actually picked up as a prisoner.
Sibling Team: They work to gather to get propulsion working so the captured ship can leave the Syndicate facility.

Lieutenant Casell Riva

Desjani's old boyfriend, and a POW liberated alongside Captain Falco.

Hero-Worshipper: Towards both Geary and Falco, which causes him some Conflicting Loyalty. Falco's mutiny largely shakes this though.
Life Saving Misfortune: Dressed down and transferred off of the Furious by Cresida for sleeping with a crewmate (and cheating on Desjani), which probably saves his life, given what happens to the Furious later on.
Romantic False Lead: Rekindles his relationship with Desjani for a while after being rescued, until he ends up sleeping with another woman on his new ship and his name becomes mud as far as she's concerned.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Only mentioned twice after he cheats on Desjani (to clarify that she's still mad at him after Geary tells her that the new ship he was on took some damage in a battle but survived, which she just shrugs off, and later when she admits what they had was probably doomed even before his capture). His reaction towards Geary and Desjani's marriage is unknown.

Commander Kai Fensin

A POW liberated during the fifth book, and an old friend of Rione and her husband.

Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Despite having a wife back home, he eventually entered into a relationship with a female prisoner (who later died due to poor conditions), something he is clearly guilt-stricken over.
Bearer of Bad News: Is unable to tell Rione if her husband is still alive, and says he was wounded the last time they saw each other, after being captured.
Due to the Dead: Fensin is in charge of remembering the names of several other prisoners who died before being liberated, so their families can be notified.
Revenge Before Reason: Has spent a long time planning to murder the collaborating senior POW officers and briefly continues this after the liberation before being convinced that turning them over to the Alliance authorities, while robbing him of that degree of personal revenge, can still see them punished without making him and his confederates murderers.
Stranger in a Familiar Land: Shows shades of this, given the return of Black Jack Geary and seeing his old friend "Vic" Rione as an Alliance senator and co-president of the Callas Republic.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Vanishes from the story within a couple chapters of being liberated.

Lieutenant Bailey

An officer from the Audacious who is among Michael Geary's fellow POWs.

Fighting Irish: Bailey is presumably from Eire, given her green hair.
Fire-Forged Friends: Initially resents Harbin and the other Syndicate soldiers but comes to cooperate more with them.
Number Two: She spent enough time with Geary and his fleet to get a feeling for his battle plans before being captured at Lakota, making her useful to Michael.

Admiral Chelak

A liberated POW from the beginning of Beyond the Frontier who is briefly a pain in Geary's neck.

Small Name, Big Ego: Is utterly convinced that he should be in charge of the fleet despite his long confinement, obvious incompetence, lack of knowledge about their mission, and Geary's own exploits.
The Starscream: Repeatedly tries to undermine Geary's authority and have himself installed as head of the fleet, with no success.

Pradesh

An Alliance Marine liberated along with Michael.

Action Girl: A tough fighter.
Kick Them While They're Down: Averted. She specifically refuses to shoot a prisoner due to Geary having re-installed that mindset before she was captured.

Chief North

An engineer among Michael's fellow prisoners.

The Engineer: One who specializes in shields.
New Meat: One of the younger-looking Alliance sailors in the comic.
What a Piece of Junk: Sums up her feelings about the Syndicate ships.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Expresses sad disappointment at the Syndicate Government's breaking the deal to return prisoners.

Other Admirals

Admiral Bloch

The original commander of the Alliance fleet, who turns over command to Geary while he goes to negotiate with the Syndics.

Ambition Is Evil: Bloch fully intended to declare himself dictator of the Alliance upon successfully defeating the Syndics in their home system.
Bad Boss: Desjani and Duellos both make it clear that they don't think highly of him as a commanding officer, and Geary is relieved that he never actually had to serve under Bloch.
Dirty Old Man: Towards Desjani, apparently. Geary is furious when she tells him this.
Everyone Has Standards: When Bloch tells Geary about the dark fleet's Armageddon Option (that is, blowing as much of the Alliance hypernet as possible under the assumption that the Syndics have won), he adds that he argued against including that protocol in their databases.
Miles Gloriosus: Often described as confident that he was a brilliant commander, even as he did things like blunder into the (admittedly fairly complex and well-prepared) Syndicate trap at the beginning of the series, and when the dark ships go rogue, he has his staff try abandoning them to see what happens (they get blown up) before risking it himself.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Zigzagged. He gave Geary command of the fleet in his absence, which ended up winning the war for the Alliance (something that both the readers, and Bloch himself wanted) but also torpedoing Bloch's plans to be a dictator by winning the war himself (not that he was in a good position to do that anyway).
Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He is apparently executed by the Syndics in the very first book of the series, but it is eventually revealed that they kept him alive to interrogate.
Small Role, Big Impact: Only physically appears in two or three scenes throughout the entire series. It was his mission into Syndicate space which found Geary a short time before the life support on his escape pod would have failed, and Bloch then gave Geary command of the fleet when he went to negotiate with CEO Shalin. His plans for a dictatorship were also part of the reason Rione went with the fleet, and spends so long suspicious of Geary.
What Happened to the Mouse?: In-Universe, after he is returned to the Alliance in a prisoner exchange, he promptly disappears from the story again, only to return as nominal commander of the dark ship fleet in Leviathan.

Admiral Timbale

Commander of the Alliance naval forces in Varandal Star System.

Bothering by the Book: When ordered to yank half of Geary’s valuable auxiliaries right before the mission to the frontier, he and Geary quickly get around the order by realizing the order wasn’t sent through proper channels. He uses this to ignore it until Geary is gone.
The Brigadier: Maintains the border, and helps supply Geary.
A Father to His Men: Upon learning that two of his destroyers were lost to the dark ships he wastes little time in asking whether there were survivors. Even in his first appearance, when he's actively avoiding contact with Geary and the fleet so he can stay out of any potential coup attempts, he's still prompt in seeing to the repair and resupply of their ships.
Neutral No Longer: While by no means willing to launch a coup against the Alliance, at the beginning of Beyond the Frontier he refuses to support fleet headquarters' underhanded efforts to steal Geary's valuable auxiliaries before his mission into alien space in spite of the potential that official action might be taken against him for this (although it doesn't appear that any was).
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Timbale is furious with the intelligence officers who incapacitated him during the dark fleet's assault on Varandal and inadvertently led to the destruction of two of his ships. He outright demands that Geary hand them over so he can have them shot.
What You Are in the Dark: Initially afraid of having to pick a side if Geary does launch a coup against the Alliance, although he gets better, and even addresses this (comparing it to Schrodinger's Cat).
You Are in Command Now: Averted after the Battle of Varandal. He could take command when two higher ranking admirals were killed (during the battle he's too far away to exert command over Geary or his grandniece) but is afraid that doing so would make him take a side during the coup.

Admiral Otropa

The Alliance Grand Council's military advisor.

Embarrassing Nickname: He's called "The Anvil." When Geary says that it sounds like a strong nickname, Timbale tells him that it came from Otropa always getting beaten in battle.
I Reject Your Reality: Insists that Geary's version of the retreat back home is obviously false (despite every officer in the fleet supporting it) due to managing to inflict such heavy casualties against the Syndicate Worlds and using tactics that he considers to be lacking in fighting spirit. Geary doesn't hesitate to tear him a new one in response to this insult.
Jerkass: Picture Numos, but in a position of real authority.
Put on a Prison Bus: In Boundless, Otropa is arrested offscreen for being involved with the dark ship project.

Admirals Baxter and Rojo

The co-commanders of the Alliance Navy during the Outlands trilogy.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The two greet Geary with plenty of false platitudes and Sugary Malice and then devolve to questioning his sincerity and judgment. By the end of their meeting, the three recognize that they all want the best for the Alliance and get along a little better.
Rules Lawyer: Baxter and Rojo acknowledge that they'll use various bureaucratic maneuvering to keep Geary from getting too powerful. Their first scene has them attempt to keep from following the Senate's orders to send Geary to Dancer space by pointing out that they haven't officially received those orders due to their computer systems being shut down for de-bugging. Geary replies by presenting a physical copy of his orders.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Rojo and Baxter have hated each other passionately since they were ensigns. They are given joint command (and told that either of them failing will get both of them demoted) because the Senate feels sure that they won’t be able to cooperate long enough to get up to any mischief. Consequently, they have a good working relationship, but only out of necessity.
Desjani: Rumor has it that when they were in command of ships, their ships never got assigned to the same force for fear that they'd start shooting at each other instead of the enemy.

Admiral Barnhorst

An unpopular admiral who briefly replaces Timbale as the commander at Varandal.

Obstructive Bureaucrat: Barnhorst is nicknamed “Barricade” for obstructing people out to accomplish anything useful. This leads to her failing to carry out several important orders that Geary delivers to her and gets her relieved of command.

Heavy cruiser commanders

Commander Gaes

Commanding officer of the heavy cruiser Lorica. Gaes joins Falco's mutiny, but comes to regret it.

The Atoner: After seeing so many ships die following Falco, she realizes that she made a huge mistake. She volunteers to surrender command of her ship and submit to disciplinary action then and there if Geary wants to, and works hard to act as a rearguard for the fleet's damaged ships.
She Knows Too Much: She tips Geary off to the sabotaged jump drives, and Kila retaliates by blowing up Lorica with a worm that overloads its power core.
Heroic BSoD: She appears to be in the middle of one when the mutineers rejoin the fleet at Ilion.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: She admits that she's going to have to live with the memories of the disaster at Vidha.

Captain Sean Eric Boudreaux

The captain of the Sapphire, a heavy cruiser assigned to the fleet at the beginning of Beyond the Frontier.

Ascended Extra: He spends eight books only getting the very occasional line during fleet conferences until Implacable, where he gets a name and is thrust into a prominent position by unexpectedly being selected to be the captain of the first human ship to visit the Wooareek home world.
A Father to His Men: When General Julian suggests that he may order Boudreaux to attack the Wooareeek, Boudreaux half-seriously replies that he'd rather kill himself than follow that order, as attacking the Wooareek would be suicidal and at least that way, he wouldn't take his crew with him.
Hero-Worshipper: In Invincible, he declares that anything Geary says is honorable is honorable in his book after the heroic feats Geary has done.

Commanders Thalente Hasan and Banoy Genji

The first of Rogov’s captains to question his Blind Obedience arguments.

Noble Bigot: Most people in their task force were recruited due to having varying degrees of xenophobic distaste for the Dancers, but Hasan and Genji they realize they have been lied to about Geary knowing about and approving of Julian's campaign of conquest, they show some concern and suspicion, which gets them illegally relieved of command. After being reinstated, Hasan still shows some concern about the idea of aliens having unrestricted access to human space but appears placated after hearing that the aliens seemingly want to stay in their own area of space.
Small Role, Big Impact: Hasan only has three scenes and eight lines in Implacable, while Genji has one scene and three lines, but their arrests at the orders of General Julian play a huge role in pushing most of the fleet into agreeing with Geary that the general is acting illegally
Thrown from the Zeppelin: In a nonfatal version, they are the first commanders of the new ships to question the validity of their orders during a fleet conference, and Julian has them arrested on the spot. Unusually for the trope, this serves to (quickly and drastically) undermine the cause of the person punishing their defiance rather than strengthening their Bad Boss.

Light cruiser commanders

Lieutenant Commander Pajari

Commander of the light cruiser Spur.

A Day in the Limelight: While accompanyingGeary's small task force to secure the Adrianna System. It's noted that the commanders of the smaller ships generally stay in the background and this gives Geary a chance to observe them in action and get to know them more.
Leeroy Jenkins: Averted, with her maintaining strategy and discipline even after losing a ship, but letting the Syndics think she's displaying this to make them act stupidly and become easy targets for her.

Destroyer commanders

Commander James Savik

Captain of the destroyer Formidable.

A Day in the Limelight: His situation is similar to Pajari's above. Savik gets less focus than she does but is assigned to pick up some prisoners and provide screening for the other ships.
Nice Guy: Takes his orders with a proud smile.

Commander Savos

Captain of the destroyer Spur, his ship is destroyed and Savos is captured during the First Battle of Lakota, only for him to be quickly liberated during the Second Battle of Lakota and temporarily made commander of the Orion.

Consummate Professional: Especially in terms of maintaining a military bearing. Geary describes him as trying to sit at attention.
Eyepatch of Power: He's wearing one as a result of his battle wounds when Geary talks to him.
Gut Feeling: Tells Geary that he could sense that the Syndics are scared of him.
Redeeming Replacement: Zigzagged. He's a better person and displays more personal competence than either of his predecessors, but is unable to whip Orion into shape.
Uncertain Doom: It is unclear if he was transferred off of the Orion after Captain Shen took command, or remained aboard in a lower position. If the later, then he would have almost certainly died along with the rest of the ship's crew (save for two who had been transferred to a troop transport for medical treatment due to injuries from an earlier battle).
Unluckily Lucky: Due to suffering from a concussion after the loss of the Spur, he is kept separate from the other captured commanding officers, who were either killed during the battle or sent out of the system on a prisoner transport before Geary returns.

Lieutenant Commander Moltri

Commander of the destroyer Taru

Dark Secret: He watches videos that are considered disgusting by Geary, and are described as having computer generated people in them, since they contain actions that would make watching them illegal if real people were used (possibilities include some form of snuff film, torture, or child pornography).
Nervous Wreck: During his only scene in the series, due to being about to confess his Dark Secret and its potential role in hacking into the fleet systems to Geary, expecting to face his scorn, and being frightened of potential exposure afterwards.
Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears once in the entire series, for only a few pages, but his actions are what allow Geary to begin unraveling the conspiracy against him.
Unwitting Pawn: The subnet Moltri uses to acquire his videos are used by Captain Kila to hack into the ship's jump drives in an effort to destroy Dauntless, Furious, and Illustrious through sabotage.
What You Are in the Dark: After realizing that the subnet he's been using to acquire his videos was used to implant a worm into the fleet's jump drives, he reports its existence to Geary in order to increase the chances of catching the perpetrators and preventing a second incident. Moltri does this knowing that it subjects him to the risk of disapproval or worse from his peers and no one would have known about his involvement if he'd stayed quiet.

Lieutenant Commander Pastak

Captain of the Gavelock, and commanding officer of the Twentieth Destroyer Squadron.

No Man Left Behind: He doesn't hesitate to take his ships near a potential core overload in an effort to rescue those trapped onboard the Warrior.
You Are Too Late: Sadly, the Warrior explodes before he can reach and evacuate it, something which leaves him somber.

Diplomatic vessel commanders

Captain Matson

Captain of the diplomatic vessel Boundless.

Nice Guy: He's a polite man who dislikes Dr. Macadams but won't openly insult him.

Other Alliance Navy personnel

Lieutenant Barber

An officer aboard the Inspire.

Absence of Evidence: He quickly picks up on how the system defenses have been depleted by noticing the communications, equipment and such that isn't there anymore.
Bearer of Bad News: He's the one to tell Geary and Duellos about how badly defended the star system is.
Bridge Bunny: The only named officer on the bridge of the ship during Geary's mission to Adrianna besides its captain.
The Smart Guy: Serves this role aboard the ship.

Ensign Hochin

A junior officer aboard the battleship Peerless stationed near Varandal.

Abandon Ship: Did this shortly before appearing, and provides Geary's fleet information on the status of the battle from his escape pod.
Consummate Professional: He is very alert, detail-oriented and quick to provide helpful information to the fleet. They greatly appreciate this given that the previous survivor from the battle they'd communicated with, Lieutenant Reynardin, was a Shell-Shocked Veteran who'd spent too much time talking about how terrible the battle was and how great it was to see them.
Hyper-Awareness: He observes which escape pods were picked up by the Syndics and provides a very strong description of the ship that did so.
Rank Up: After haring his report, Geary vows to put him in for a field promotion to lieutenant.
Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears in one, short scene but it's his telling Geary about the prisoners aboard a Syndicate heavy cruiser that causes Geary to go after that ship. From the captain of that heavy cruiser, Geary finds out that the enigma race collapsed the hypernet gate at Kalixa and this knowledge is responsible for him keeping the Syndics from collapsing the hypernet gate at Varandal in retaliation.

Captain Romano

A captain who shows Geary around Fleet Headquarters at Unity.

Badass Bureaucrat: It isn't emphasized, but Romano seems to be a savvy headquarters official and calmly briefs Geary about some key information that his superiors unsuccessfully tried to issue without his knowledge.
Nice Guy: Romano is courteous and respectful toward Geary and displays a good sense of humor.

Ensign Arwen Duellos

The eldest daughter of Captain Duellos. She joins the fleet in Outlands.

Daddy's Girl: Arwen looks up to her father, saving every message he sent her while he was away on missions.
Ensign Newbie: She's fresh out of fleet officer training.
The Mole: Arwen gets involved with Pelleas's conspiracy due to the conspirators misrepresenting what's going on. As soon as she learns better, she helps spy on them and sabotage their plans.

Alliance Fleet members before the main series

Lieutenant Commander Cara Decala

Geary's long-dead XO aboard the Merlon.

Early-Installment Weirdness: During the first book, when Geary briefly reminisces about his executive officer, he thinks of a man named Patros (although it's possible that Patros was his executive officer before Decala, given that Geary's memories of him are "several weeks old").
Married to the Job: Loved venturing into space, which caused strains on her marriage, as her husband wasn't in the fleet and wanted her to stay closer to home.
Number Two: She's Geary's loyal pre-war executive officer.
Sacrificial Lamb: She died about a decade into the Forever War.
Undying Loyalty: She wanted to stay on the ship at Geary's side during his Last Stand and took a lot of coaxing to leave.

Geary's Shore Patrol: Demore, Alvarez, Chadra and Riley

Four sailors who serve on a Shore Patrol with Geary, eleven years before the Forever War, when he was a young Ensign, during the short story Shore Patrol.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: Chadra and Riley really don't get along or work well together for most of the story, then Geary walks in on them making out.
The Ditz: Alvarez isn't the brightest bulb in the drawer and is infamous for screwing up simple jobs, but she largely makes up for it by being earnest. In one scene, Alvarez fails to count to five properly.
The Hedonist: Demore is a partier who likes to raise hell on normal shore leaves.
Hidden Depths: Alvarez and Chadra show interest in visiting Earth someday, and Chadra at least seems to consider working harder to get a transfer to a ship likely to be sent back for a ceremonial visit.
Implausible Deniability: Demore denies having gotten drunk himself while observing which of their crewmates were drinking to excess. He would have been a lot more convincing if he wasn't visibly struggling to keep his words from slurring.
The Slacker: Chadra and Riley are described as having decided they'd made a mistake within hours of enlisting in the navy, something their various superiors tend to agree with. Geary does wonder if part of Chadra's problem is having a Pointy-Haired Boss though.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: On their own, none of them are too competent or inspiring, but they do manage to accomplish some stuff together.
Rugby Is Slaughter: A couple of the sailors they encounter on the patrol were hurt as a result of a rowdy rugby game.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: When Alvarez has to use the bathroom, she deputizes another crew member from the Redoubt to fill in for her until she gets back. The guy is heavily drunk and nearly uses the (secretly unloaded) taser she left with him on another sailor who tried to steal his drink.

Chief Gunner's Mate Diana "Gundeck" Magoro

A gunner aboard the Merlon who is the protagonist of the short story Ishigaki set during the Forever War.

Chekhov's Skill: Some of her tinkering with guns ultimately lets the ship score a victory when its damaged and in danger.
Embarrassing Nickname: No one calls her Gundeck anymore, which she is grateful for.
Military Maverick: Was demoted while serving on Merlon for unauthorized tinkering with the guns, although she's tried to put this behind her since.
My Greatest Second Chance: Decala recommended sending her before a court martial for experimenting with the guns but Geary chose to simply demote her and give her a second chance, something she works hard to prove herself worthy of in the years after his disappearance.
Sergeant Rock: Her immediate superior is a green ensign in awe of anyone who was on the Merlon, who defers to her on a lot.

Commander Weiss

An ensign aboard the Merlon and Magoro's division officer, who later becomes Magoro's commanding officer after being given his own ship.

Overshadowed by Awesome: He tries to avoid talking about serving under Geary partially due to how large Geary's legend looms, and partially because his subordinates are often disappointed when he describes Geary in relatable, human terms.
Rank Up: He's gone from an ensign to a commander in six years, and feels concerned about what that indicates about the fleet and the war.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He has a few lingering doubts about Magoro, due to her Military Maverick past, but is accommodating towards her and appreciates results.
To Absent Friends: He and Magoro talk about how so many of their crewmates from the Merlon have died in the war, and wonder if Geary would feel happy about that after he (apparently) died trying to save them.

Master Chief Milam

A former crewmate of Desjani. He is first mentioned in Guardian, the third Beyond the Frontier book, where his daughter makes a brief appearance. He then appears in person in the prequel short story Fleche.

The Engineer: He served in the engineering department and was the highest-ranking survivor left after the initial battering their ship took.
Nerves of Steel: He remains even more collected than Desjani throughout the incident.
Number Two: He becomes Desjani's second-in-command after she realizes that You Are in Command Now.
Taking You with Me: After boarding the Syndicate ship, he sets the power core to blow with the few men who had it there with him, blowing up the Syndicate soldiers and themselves while Desjani and the other surviving members of their boarding party retreat back to the Flèche.

Seaman Jasmin Holaran

A gunner who served in the same battery as Magoro onboard Merlon, who lived long enough to retire.

Badass Family: Her children would also enlist in the fleet.
Cool Old Lady: Enjoyed entertaining neighborhood children (one of whom would later become a POW before being liberated by Geary and the fleet) with stories about having served under Black Jack Geary during her retirement.
Military Maverick: Described by Geary as an "occasional hell-raiser", but a capable sailor who received a commendation for her gunnery unit's performance during a fleet wide exercise.
Posthumous Character: Is long dead by the main series and never appears in person during any of the stories taking place earlier.

Captain Spruance

Geary's commanding officer onboard the Redoubt, eleven years before the war.

I Was Never Here: Chooses to accept a lot of statements to this effect from the shore leave troublemakers in order to cut Geary more slack.
Named After Someone Famous: She is named for Admiral Raymond Spruance, one of the chief commanders of the American fleet in the Pacific theater of WWII and widely acknowledged as one of the best flag officers the US Navy has ever produced.
The Nicknamer: She was the one who gave Geary the "Black Jack" nickname, in a moment of jest.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Even though Geary couldn't completely keep the peace, she recognizes that he made a good effort, and was undermined by internal factors, cutting him plenty of slack.

Lieutenant Sam Booth

An officer onboard Geary's ship Redoubt eleven years before the war, and a character in Shore Patrol.

The Neidermeyer: He gives Geary lousy duty with no advance warning or sympathy in order to spare one of his cronies some work, and is stated as looking down on the enlisted men.
One-Steve Limit: It's unclear if he's related to Captain Erabus Booth, an Obstructive Bureaucrat from fleet headquarters whose digital avatar briefly appears during Grendel.
Professional Butt-Kisser: His In-Series Nickname is "Suck-Up" Sam.

Ensign Daria Rosen

A friend of Geary's aboard the Redoubt

A Friend in Need: When she hears Geary is being given the shore patrol duties at the last minute she scrambles to get him a few things that he'll need.
Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in two brief scenes but is implied to have been the one who spread Geary's "Ensign Black Jack" nickname after overhearing Spruance use it.

Seaman Bandera

One of Magoro's subordinates aboard the Ishigaki.

Constantly Curious: About ways to make the guns work better, with Magoro providing him some cautionary advice about the potential dangers of it.
Determinator: Wounded during the battle but leaves the sick bay to continue helping.
New Meat: He's a low-ranking, recently enlisted sailor who asks a lot of questions.

Ensign Rodriguez

Magoro's division officer aboard the Ishigaki.

Ensign Newbie: Painfully young looking, with limited training and somewhat reliant upon her senior personal. She's also keen on regulations and nervous at the idea of them being broken.
Hero-Worshipper: An early example of an officer who literally worships Black Jack Geary.
Killed Offscreen: She is killed by a Syndic hit during the battle in another section of the ship than Magoro (the nov character).

Commander Lagemann

Commander of the Pommel, one of Geary's escort ships during the Battle of Grendel.

Bring Help Back: She is ordered to spread word about the battle so by Geary despite his own desire to stay and help Geary.

Chiefs Vlad Drakar and Kantor

Magoro's fellow chiefs aboard the Ishigaki.

The Engineer: Drakar keeps the ship's engines working.
Hero-Worshipper: Drakar is deeply in awe of Geary.
Properly Paranoid: Kantor fully believes rumors that the Syndics have started shooting prisoners, noting how, historically, the longer a war goes on, the worse it it gets. And the war does get a lot worse and go on a lot longer.

Petty Officer Cahalan

One of Desjani's cremates aboard the Flèche and a member of her boarding party.

Hold the Line: Guards the boarding tubes with eleven others in order to fight against the Syndics who'd charged onto their ship right as the Alliance forces charged onto theirs. He fully acknowledges that this is going to be a Heroic Sacrifice, and numbly tells Desjani that he and his men will die with honor. They do.

Characters / The Lost Fleet: Alliance Fleet

Crew and long-term Passengers of the Dauntless

Battle cruiser commanders

Troop transport passengers and commanders

Battleship commanders

Scout battleship commanders

Auxilaries officers

Liberated POWs

Other Admirals

Heavy cruiser commanders

Light cruiser commanders

Destroyer commanders

Diplomatic vessel commanders

Other Alliance Navy personnel

Alliance Fleet members before the main series

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Characters / The Lost Fleet: Alliance Fleet

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Crew and long-term Passengers of the Dauntless

Battle cruiser commanders

Troop transport passengers and commanders

Battleship commanders

Scout battleship commanders

Auxilaries officers

Liberated POWs

Other Admirals

Heavy cruiser commanders

Light cruiser commanders

Destroyer commanders

Diplomatic vessel commanders

Other Alliance Navy personnel

Alliance Fleet members before the main series

Previous

Index

Next