Famous Persons in Blue Planet
| The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe. |
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The central figures of the Blue Planet universe are listed here. Please note that this article spoils the content of the Blue Planet campaigns.
Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius
Samuel Bei Cheow Keng
- Voiced by Isaac White
Commander of the 212nd Nightwolves and the protagonist of Age of Aquarius.
Philip Corey
- Voiced by Ransom Arceihn
A pilot assigned to the 222nd Nightwolves aboard the GTD Orestes, he flies on Samuel Bei's wing as Alpha 2 during the 14th Battlegroup's expedition to Sol. Corey is inquisitive and incredibly loyal, usually being the first in Alpha wing to conduct a quick scan of the area he is sent in and possessing slightly more knowledge regarding the workings of Allied warships than Bei. He will fulfill any orders given to him by Bei regardless of the odds.
During a short separation from his wing leader, Corey's flight record on board the GTD Temeraire first saw him filling up Bei's position as Alpha leader, followed by him being promoted from his original rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant-Commander shortly before being reunited with Bei during an attack on a Sathanas juggernaut spearheaded by the Orestes.
Along with Bei, Corey defected to the UEF shortly after the destruction of the UEFg Renjian and the beginning of the GTVA's invasion of Sol.
Mina Taylor
A pilot assigned to the 222nd Nightwolves aboard the GTD Orestes, she flies on the wing of Samuel Bei as Alpha 3 during the 14th Battlegroup's expedition to Sol. Her family came from the San Francisco Bay Area. Outgoing and loyal, Taylor constantly reminds Bei of what he has done for Alpha wing as a whole, keeping everyone together during their darkest moments.
During a short separation from her wing leader, Taylor flew on Philip Corey's wing as Alpha 2 while he replaced Bei as Alpha 1, and was promoted from Ensign to Lieutenant on board the GTD Temeraire shortly before being reunited with Bei during an attack on a Sathanas juggernaut spearheaded by the Orestes.
Along with Bei, Taylor defected to the UEF shortly after the destruction of the UEFg Renjian and the beginning of the GTVA's invasion of Sol.
Bei Wen Jian
The GTVA admiral who commanded the 14th Battlegroup aboard the GTD Orestes during its expedition to Sol. During the Second Shivan Incursion in 2367, he was assigned to the GTVA 3rd Fleet in Capella, commanding the GTCv Arifiel. His family consisted of his son, Samuel, his wife Mei-Ling and daughter-in-law Eriana.
Bei's ship, the Arifiel, was selected by GTVA High Command to organize the evacuation of Capella until the fleet's flagship, the GTD Aquitaine, was repaired following its retreat from the nebula system. It was during this initial stage of the evacuation when the transport carrying his wife and daughter-in-law and escorted by his son was destroyed by Shivan bombers.
After Samuel Bei's failure to defend his wife's transport, Bei Wen Jian estranged himself from his son, not speaking to him until Samuel reported to the Orestes as pilot in 2385. Relations were frosty and strictly professional between them until Samuel Bei, assisted by the Vishnans, saved the Orestes from the SD Lucifer in the Sol system.
It is revealed, shortly after he and his son led a successful attack on a single Sathanas juggernaut, culminating with its destruction, that Bei was capable of receiving and interpreting communications from the Vishnans, just like his son. However, he chose to keep this a secret.
After the events of Age of Aquarius, he was reluctant to carry out the 14th Battlegroup's original orders to invade Sol. When pressed, he quit his command, absconded with a shuttle, and defected to the UEF, but not before informing the battlegroup of their true purpose of coming to Sol.
Orestes Control
- Voiced by Dekker
What is known to most pilots serving the Orestes simply as "Orestes Control" is personified by this man in his late twenties. Matter-of-factly and to the point, "Orestes Control" conveys orders from GTVA Command and the Commanding Officer of the Orestes to all pilots under the Orestes's charge. He is incredibly level-headed even in the face of imminent destruction.
Katashi Iwakura
Squadron leader (and presumptive CAG) aboard the GTD Sanctuary. It was she, along with Commander Tell, who made first contact with the GTVA 14th Battlegroup in the N362 system, allowing the Sanctuary to escape the N362 nebula and return with the 14th Battlegroup to Sol. She presumably defected to the UEF, along with the Sanctuary, when the 14th Battlegroup began the GTVA's invasion of Sol.
Blue Planet: War in Heaven
Noemi Laporte
A UEF fighter pilot, she is the protagonist of War in Heaven.
Laporte was born to friends of Elder Martin Mandho. Her father was a fighter pilot, as was her uncle, Manuel Brie. As a child, she exhibited symptoms of schizophrenia which manifested as an "invisible friend". This eventually culminated in a psychotic episode in her early teens. Her mental condition eventually improved, and she joined the UEF Naval Academy when she came of age in the early 2380s to follow in her father's and uncle's footsteps. While she was in the Academy, her father was killed in a deck accident that set his spacecraft on fire; he asphyxiated after inhaling superheated air. In 2385, her mother developed a respiratory infection and died; the drugs required for her treatment became unavailable after military strikes by the GTVA.
In 2386, Laporte graduated from the academy and was assigned to the 170th Fighting Navajas on the First Fleet's UED Solaris. Under the command of her uncle, who was also her squad leader, she participated in many important missions, including the strike on the GTD Meridian and the defence of Rheza Station. Despite a low measured aggression profile at the Academy, her performance in these missions was excellent, and marked her for future tactical command; after Manuel Brie leaves the Solaris to train fighter pilots at Rheza Station, Laporte was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant and given tactical command of the Navajas for their final mission.
As more First Fleet assets were being reassigned to guard classified projects for the Council of Elders, Laporte requests -- and gets -- a transfer to the Second Fleet's UEFg Indus. Her desire for the Indus transfer may have had something to do with Lorna Simms being on board, as Laporte had developed romantic feelings for her.
After keeping Simms from self-destructing after a 400% casualty rate sends her into a deep depression, Laporte, along with the rest of the Indus, is tapped for inclusion in Task Force Wargods, a group tasked with taking the war to the Tevs. Laporte flies several sorties with the Wargods, including the capture of the GTL Agincourt and Earth's first contact with the Vasudan Imperium in 50 years. In addition, she and Simms were also sent, along with Elder Lin Taudigani, to meet with the Vasudans for preliminary peace negotiations with the UEF; however, the negotiations collapse after the assassination of Elder Taudigani by Tev forces.
Laporte was one of the few Wargods to survive after their disastrous attempt to destroy the GTD Carthage at Saturn. After the Indus makes a crash jump into deep solar orbit, she is rescued by the Fedayeen frigate UEFg Masyaf. Laporte transfers to the Fedayeen after her rescue.
During her time as a Fedayeen operative, she achieved her feats, destroying the Vasudan logistics convoy, killed Elder Henrikson, capturing or destroying the Carthage and retrieving data from Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere. All of these culminated in her infiltration of the Nagari network involving a dead Shivan specimen, where she learned that the GTVA invasion of Sol was in part to purge humanity of Vishnan-influenced leadership, and that the Vishnans' plans for humanity failed, resulting in the Shivans annihilating mankind.
Three days later, she presumably returned to the Indus for a final battle with Steele.
Lorna Simms
Leader of the interceptor squadron aboard the UEFg Indus. She is one of the squadron's two surviving original members.
As with many Martian unit commanders, she prefers to build morale and rapport with her subordinates on an interpersonal basis, involving them in games and hand-to-hand sparring matches. After three weeks of her squadron taking a 400% casualty rate in the course of the war, she becomes dangerously detached from her pilots, dehumanizing them by only giving them numbers instead of callsigns and forbidding the painting of names aboard fighters. This has detrimental effects on the unit's morale. Simms is eventually snapped out of her grief-fueled death spiral by Noemi Laporte and Karen Ng'Mei.
She is attracted to Noemi Laporte, but regulations forbid a relationship between them.
She suffers from radiation poisoning at the end of Part 1 of War In Heaven, and is being moved to the Second Fleet's radiation trauma center. However, it is revealed that she survives at the end of Part 2.
Manuel Brie
Squadron leader for the UEF's 170th Fighting Navajas aboard the UED Solaris. A fighter pilot for over two decades, the war between the UEF and the GTVA has worn down his nerves, and his reflexes aren't what they used to be at the beginning of his career. After Admiral Steele's blitz of Earth's orbital stations, Brie decides to retire from the front lines, transferring to a position on Earth-orbit Rheza Station training fighter pilots.
He is the uncle of Noemi Laporte.
Enabren Kassim
A pilot for the UEF's 170th Fighting Navajas aboard the UED Solaris. Although initially possessing bravado and machismo, grief over the deaths he inflicts as a fighter pilot eventually consumes him, and he takes to drinking heavily to dull his pain. Eventually, he is found drunk in his cabin during the GTVA's blitz on Earth's orbital stations, leading to his immediate court-martial and psychological discharge. He is sent to a government-run psychiatric facility.
Karen Ng'Mei
Leader of a gunship squadron aboard the UEFg Yangtze. She has served as the de facto CAG for the Yangtze since the original CAG became a psychological casualty. A good friend of Lorna Simms', she encourages Noemi Laporte to snap her out of her guilt-fueled death spiral after three weeks of very heavy casualties in Simms' squadron take their toll.
She is presumed killed at Saturn when the GTD Imperieuse ambushes the Yangtze, along with the other frigates of TF Wargods, as they were attempting to destroy the GTD Carthage's battlegroup.
Robert Byrne
Admiral Robert Byrne is currently serving as Commander In Chief, UEF Home Fleet. While he is an able Commander in the field, his true area of expertise lies in the administrative side of his duties. During his first tenure as CO of 1st Fleet, and continuing through his stint on the Space Policy and Warfare boards, his efforts were instrumental in streamlining the UEF Navy's procurement and logistics support. His greatest achievement, arguably, was the successful approval and subsequent completion of the Solaris project, which marked the return of the Destroyer ship class to Sol space. However, while he was a respected, if not exactly liked, CO during peacetime, his shortcomings as a leader during combat make themselves felt as a notable slump in 1st Fleet's Morale. His subordinates fear that his apparent passivity, especially when compared to 3rd Fleet's Admiral Calder, or 2nd Fleet's Admiral Netreba, will eventually lead to a defeat-in-detail of the Federations' armed forces.
Kyle Netreba
Kyle Netreba is the current Commander In Chief of 2nd Fleet Mars. Among the triumvirate that commands the UEF Navy, he is the least "military" officer. Originally trained as an engineering specialist (software subspecialty), he switched to the command track after he demonstrated good leadership skills during an incident in which he had to take command of a frigate after its command staff died during combat. His market-based algorithms for logistical handling earned him the praise of the Council of Elders, a lasting relationship with scientist-elder Svetlana Henriksson, and eventually a place in the Admiralty.
His leadership style is unorthodox. He has structured his command less like a traditional fleet, and more like a design bureau, hand-selecting 2 Fleet's ship captains for their ability to think and act independently. Yet the outbreak of the war saw an abrupt shift in his disciplinary approach, including crackdowns on traditionally lax Martian standards. Some suspect Netreba sought advice from Admiral Calder on wartime conduct.
During the war against the GTVA, Netreba found himself in a difficult position. Calder and Byrne used his fleet as a reserve asset pool for their own very different priorities, and Netreba feels increasingly dissatisfied with this position. His cooperation has not always been rewarded, either in terms of assets for his own OrBat or rest and repair time for his crews and ships. Between having to guard assets that are nominally in 1st Fleet's remit, and supporting offensive actions by 3rd Fleet, his own command and the abilities of the people within it are being wasted, a state of affairs that he feels threatens 2 Fleet's effectiveness as a unit.
While the Admiral is unsatisfied with Admiral Byrne's strategic directives, and much more comfortable with Admiral Calders' aggressive strategies, his ability to work with Admiral Calder is limited. Given their vast differences in command styles, this comes as no surprise. Where 2 Fleet relies on each element acting independently in support of a broad strategy, the Jovian Rim Fleet relies on detailed pre-battle planning and pre-rehearsed maneuvers that can be executed with a minimum of forethought. Whether or not the two commands can overcome these structural differences and produce results when acting in concert will probably be one of the deciding factors in determining the wars' outcome.
Hans Maxwell Calder
Admiral Calder, currently serving as Commander In Chief, Jovian Rim Fleet, is the last officer of the GTA. He has served both the GTA and, after the collapse of the node, the Jovian Systems Republic for more than 5 decades. Among the three Admirals that command the UEF Navy, he is the archetypical warrior. He has drilled the people under his command relentlessly, and as a result, 3JRF was able to hold back the GTVA assault for nearly 18 months. Only the arrival of the 15th Battlegroup under Admiral Steele made it possible for the GTVA forces to deal a decisive blow to 3rd Fleet, and force the Jovian Systems Republic to surrender. Admiral Calder is known for his utter disdain at what has become of his once-beloved GTA, and he uses all his knowledge of GTA (Now GTVA) combat tactics and strategies to devastating advantage.
Chiwetel Steele
Admiral Chiwetel Steele is the Fleet Officer of the GTVA's 15th Terran Battlegroup and Commanding Officer of its flagship, the GTD Atreus. Steele is a master strategist and well-intentioned extremist, able to play an unusual game of "subspace chess" with the top brass of the Federation and emerge triumphant, as well as single-handedly dealing with two of the Federation's three fleet Admirals on his own, and makes no secret about his intentions to end disputes as quickly as possible by full-scale attacks in order to minimise casualties on both sides. Steele's competence ironically outstrips his ability to secure the loyalty of his subordinates, who find him unnerving and erratic in spite of considerable personal charm, but in many cases the results he gets have earned him both considerable political clout and significant command credibility.
Cyrus Severanti
Admiral Cyrus Severanti, Commanding Officer of the GTVA 13th Battlegroup, was the first Theater Commander in Sol. Originally deployed to Sol as backup for Admiral Bei's 14th BG, Admiral Severanti found himself in a difficult situation. With the most powerful ships in the fleet unavailable, and with considerable confusion on all levels of his command structure, he nonetheless pursued the mandate given to him by the GTVA Security Council with skill and determination.
Unfortunately, his slow, methodical, by-the-book approach was countered at every turn by Admiral Calder and the Jovian Rim Fleet, who used Admiral Calders' understanding of the GTVA psyche and the system-wide subspace surveillance net to always stay ahead of the Alliance fleet. After 18 months of uphill battles, Severanti was finally in a position to mount a major assault against 3rd Fleet positions, only to have his thunder stolen by the Security Council's decision to deploy the 15th Battlegroup under Admiral Steele in support of the 13th.
Severanti's subsequent actions, taken rashly in an effort to reassert his authority in Sol, lead straight to his flagship being ambushed by a UEF Frigate division, and he had to withdraw to Delta Serpentis to effect the necessary repairs, where he was reassigned to the GTVA Space War College to head the Advanced Tactics Course.
Anita Lopez
Admiral Anita Lopez is the Commanding Officer of the GTD Carthage. She is a veteran of the Second Shivan Incursion, and has been in command of the Carthage for the past 15 years. She is noted for her fierce loyalty to her crew, her ship, and the GTVA, in that order. In sharp contrast to Admiral Steele, her command style is based on her instinctive understanding of interpersonal relationships, and her ability to inspire a genuine esprit de corps among her subordinates. Where the 15th Battlegroup is characterized by fast personnel rotations, the Carthage and her escort fleet are noted for their stability. Under her leadership, the Carthage and her Battlegroup (formally known as Combat Evaluation Detachment 2, 2nd Fleet GTVA, informally as "The Carthage Clan"), although composed primarily of Capella- and even Great War-Era ships have become one of the GTVA's premier front-line forces. She was captured or killed in Her Finest Hour.
Vicmouth
An agent for the UEF Council of Elders. Evaluated Noemi Laporte's Nagari sensitivity while pretending to be evaluating Laporte's psychological state. A copy of his subsequent report came into the hands of Bei Wen Jian.
Martin Mandho
At the time of the Great War, he was associated with Galactic Terran Intelligence. When the Isolation began, he became a college professor in the Federation of African States. In the spring of 2345, amidst the post-Isolation economic collapse, he met with the spiritual leaders of the fledgling but ascendant Restoration Party and the surviving pilots of the mission to destroy the SD Lucifer. Within two years, he was one of the founding members of the Ubuntu Party, who would rule post-Isolation Sol. In 2350, he gave a speech to the UEF Council of Elders. Sometime between 2350 and 2386, he became a member of the Council. In 2384, he taught Philosophy of War to Admiral Robert Byrne at Xia University on Earth. He has been friends with the Laporte family since at least the mid 2360s, and has known Noemi Laporte since childhood. He is also a friend (or at the very least a colleague) of Elder Lin Taudigani.
Al-Da’wa
The leader of the Fedayeen. A gestalt consciousness of those who access CASSANDRA.
Thorn
The analyst of the Fedayeen. The Heart.
Vidaura
The Counselor. Prior to being taken to the Fedayeen, she was in prison as a serial killer. She gets into the heads of others.
Kovac
The Warrior. Laporte seems to get along well with Kovacs well.
Falconer
The Berserker. Her relationship with Laporte starts of cold and hostile until she starts warming up to Laporte at the end. She was found by the Fedayeen and is known to use knife metaphors.
