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The Alliance Senate
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Senator Navarro
The head of the Senate grand council when Geary finally makes it back to Alliance space.
- Big Good: The head of the war effort against the Syndicate, and a man who struggles to fight a humane war, while valuing the input of the fleet, and doing what he can to help Geary.
- Bothering by the Book: Works to find a loophole to prevent punishing the fleet for letting their ships run so low on fuel during the retreat (which nearly incited The Mutiny) and later gives Rione a proxy vote during the trip to Earth so that she can deadlock the vote if the other senators onboard try to order anything particularly stupid.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: His home system is right along the border between the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds. As he rose through the Senate, the Syndics amped up attacks on neighboring systems while deliberately leaving his homeworld untouched to raise suspicions that he might have made deals with them and undermine his credibility. For a long time, it worked.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Willing to hear Geary's proposal out, while rebuking those who wanted to have him arrested just on the off chance that he might have delusions of grandeur.
Senator Costa
An aggressive, militaristic senator.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: She has shades of this, especially in Victorious (where the situation is kind of warranted) haughtily communicating with the Syndicate leaders when Geary attacks their home system.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's introduced as being very supportive of Geary at a time a lot of the council distrusts him, but is willing to give consideration to using the hypernet gates as weapons of mass destruction, grows a bit unfriendlier after seeing Geary retain more independence than she'd like, and was a major force behind the creation of the dark ships.
- Deadpan Snarker: Often.
- Hypocrite: Always quick to call for an aggressive, risky approach to things, yet reluctant to take any risks herself during incidents like the battle with Tavistorevas, and the Europa rescue mission (not that she doesn't try to take credit for them afterwards).
- Motive Decay: Costa starts out wanting to military strengthen the Alliance's military and weaken their bitter and longtime enemies to end a Forever War. Then she becomes a major force behind a dangerous and ill-advised A.I. Is a Crapshoot project that nearly destroys the Alliance from within due to her paranoia about not being able to trust the military to do what she wants anymore, even though the original war is over. As of Boundless, Costa seems primarily focused on trying to avoid punishment for her role in the fiasco.
- Pet the Dog: For all of her difficult nature, she does have a fairly large amount of these. She is moved to tears by the the Dancers' compassionate act of bringing a body of an early space explorer back to his hometown on Earth, expresses condolences for the loss of Michael Geary and instantly agrees that the Dauntless should try to rescue Lieutenants Yuon and Castries from Europa.
- War Hawk: Especially in Beyond the Frontier.
Senator Suva
A somewhat pacifistic senator.
- Actual Pacifist: To an extent, being very uncomfortable with any battle, although she did vote to approve the dark ships, due to feeling they'd provide security.
- Bothering by the Book: Suva is the one to come up with a way to dismiss unfair charges that fleet headquarters has filed against Geary's captains in Dreadnaught without seemingly submitting to threats of mutiny. She does this by pointing out that the charges weren't filed through the exact official channels they should have been.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Suva generally makes decisions that are both humane and beneficial to the survival of the Alliance ad objectives of the fleet (although not always eagerly), with a few regrettable exceptions, such as the dark ships.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Doesn't get along well with Costa, who is her ideological opposite. Any time they find something to agree on is a cause for either alarm (e.g. approving the dark ships, and trying to keep the mission to the Sol System classified) or celebration (e.g. how moved they are by the Dancers returning a body to Earth).
- Straw Civilian: How many of the fleet see her, and not without justification. That being said, her attitude appears to be somewhat conflicted, rather than simply haughty and unyielding."We're... Not like you," Senator Suva said, her voice tinged with what sounded like regret. "Are you sure of that?" Geary asked. The senators looked back at him as if they had never considered that question before.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Grows a little more warmer and understanding over the journey to and from Earth, coign to interact more with the crew on a personal level, although it isn't a perfect transition and is damaged by seeing their willingness to be ruthless during the Europa rescue.
Senator Sakai
A senator from Desjani's homeworld of Kosatka.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Sakai is burned out by the endless machinations of the Alliance Senate and believes that the government's collapse is inevitable. Nonetheless, he works to maintain sanity in the Senate as long as it's still functioning.Sakai: Perhaps my efforts are doomed to failure, but that will not be because I ceased trying.
- Only Sane Man: When he's next to Costa and Suva, Sakai tends to be the most far-sighted and cooperative of the three.
- The Quiet One: Rarely speaks except when spoken to, or to offer political insight (which he's careful about giving). When he is assigned to participate in the mission to force the Syndicate government to surrender Geary can't even remember what, if anything, he said when Geary addressed the grand council earlier in the book.
- Sleazy Politician: He isn't one himself, from what we see, but he bitterly notes that politicians who tell the voters the truth (especially in the Alliance, given the Forever War) are the ones who tend to get voted out of office.
- The Stoic: Very guarded about showing emotion in public.Even his voice only might have carried a cutting edge.
Senator Unruh
A younger senator apparently elected (or at least promoted to the Grand Council) during the Time Skip between series.
- Black Boss Lady: Technically not the boss, but one of the bosses (albeit possibly the youngest of them) after her appointment to the Grand Council.
- Deadpan Snarker: Isn't afraid to snark at her more obstructive colleagues.Senator Unruh: Could we break from long-standing precedent and actually learn something about a subject before we make statements about it?
- I Was Never Here: Timbale takes Geary to a secure conference room on Ambaru Station and tells him that there is no one in the room, but that he might want to have a look around. Unruh is there to give Geary a key to access Unity Alternate's hypernet gate and explain that they're moving against the hidden factions in the Alliance government which have been hiding the dark ships and attempting to undermine the Senate and the fleet. She then reminds him that she was never there and that their conversation never happened.
- It Has Been an Honor: In a sense, she's visibly touched when, after a discussion about defeating the dark ships and punishing the people in charge of the project, Geary tells her their conversation has reminded him of why he has faith in the Alliance.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: A supporter of Navarro, who Geary develops a quick appreciation for.
- Why Didn't I Think of That?: Is left very thoughtful by a speech Geary makes about how the "cost" of the fleet budget should instead be considered an "investment" given how the former term creates an image of money being thrown away because the Senate has no choice, while the later signifies relying on people who make a real difference in effectiveness and efficiency.
Senator Wilkes
A hostile member of the Grand Council who first appears in Beyond the Frontier.
- Ambiguously Evil: After just one meeting with the man, Geary flat out distrusts him and is willing to speculate that Wilkes is one of the figures behind the dark ships. It's unclear whether or not this is true, but he's definitely a jerk.
- Fantastic Racism: Shows plenty towards the Dancers, being openly disgusted by their appearance and questioning why Geary allied with them.
- Jerkass: Possibly the biggest in the Senate.
- I Reject Your Reality: Wilkes refuses to acknowledge Geary’s ample evidence about the Defender Fleet and calls him a liar, although it’s unclear if he really can't accept the magnitude of the disaster or is trying to avoid punishment for his role in the fiasco.
- Insistent Terminology: He thinks the nickname "Kick" is insulting and wants to call the species the bov-ursoids.
- The Napoleon: A short man who is belligerent and demeaning towards Geary, a man considered to be the Alliance's greatest hero.
- Straw Civilian: One of the biggest examples, blaming the fleet for everything that goes wrong.
Senator Nakamura
A descendant of Lochlan Nakamura, a main character from The Genesis Fleet, and Desjani's godmother.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing; She’s introduced greeting Geary warmly and having an insightful discussion about art while mentioning her ties to his wife. Then she starts shrilly accusing him of being a threat to the Alliance while possibly trying to hide her own suspected ties to the Defender Fleet.
- Blue Blood: Nakamura is descended from one of Kosatka’s most prestigious families and is very proud of that fact.
Senator Dara
A Senator seen in Boundless.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Dara has a face full of old worry lines and expresses disgust and exasperation at how paranoid elements of the government keep making new problems when they already have so many.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Dara feels nothing but confusion and disgust about the utilization of the dark ships and the paranoia that motivated their creation.
Senator Kim
Another senator who appears in Boundless.
- Good Old Ways: Kim questions Geary about the past beliefs and policies of the Alliance with clear curiosity, respect, and nostalgia.
Other Politicians
Ambassador Rycerz
The lead diplomat attached to Geary's fleet in Boundless.
- Badass Bureaucrat: Ambassador Rycerz shows a resourceful streak regarding fruitful negotiation strategies and handling the civilian officials who give her a hard time.Ambassador Rycerz: Once we leave there, heading for Dancer space, Macadams won't have any means of of communicating with his backers except through me or you approving any message he wants to send on your ships. At that point, Dr. Macadams is going to find his responsibilities redefined in ways that effectively sideline him so the other specialists can actually try to do their jobs.Geary: What if Macadams refuses to accept that?Rycerz: Don't you have jails on your fleet ships? What do they call them?Geary: Brigs? You'll want me to arrest Macadams and throw him in the brig?Rycerz: (grinning) Tell me you don't already like the idea.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Rycerz has to handle many complicated and sometimes unreasonable orders while dealing with lots of strong-willed people with varying agendas and concerns that can seem unreasonable or risky. She's often suffering from a headache. However, she's also a bit of a Badass Bureaucrat.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Downplayed, but Rycerz shows up to provide a political presence in the fleet who can both support Geary and argue with his decisions one book after Rione's death.
Council President Kennedy
The head-of-state of Geary’s homeworld, Glenylon.
- Nice Guy: During Geary’s homecoming, he comes across as welcoming and complimentary without being sycophantic. He also wants to believe the best about the various alien races Geary has encountered (although like so many others, he’s a bit put off by the Dancers' appearances) and quickly agrees that Geary is better informed about that than he is.
President Astrida
