Match Game characters

Also known as Scorandum

Appears from the start

A Jeraptha Ethics and Compliance Office captain whose stealth cruiser clears Build-A-Gung by fabricating the appearance of a Sentinel. His carefully arranged deception spares the approaching Jeraptha fleet from a needless battle.

Also known as Kinsta

Appears from the start

Scorandum's junior Jeraptha officer aboard the Ethics and Compliance Office stealth cruiser. Kinsta assists during the operation that drives hostile forces away from Build-A-Gung.

Also known as Joe, Bishop

First appears in chapter 2

Valkyrie's commander and leader of the human special mission. Working with Skippy, Bishop coordinates Earth's deterrent display while hostile senior-species fleets watch the planet.

First appears in chapter 2

An Elder AI and Valkyrie's essential technical advantage. He directs a damaged Sentinel during the demonstration at Earth and helps make a limited defense appear overwhelmingly powerful.

Also known as Smythe

First appears in chapter 2

Commander of Star Team Alpha. Smythe leads the covert boarding of Admiral Reichert's flagship while the surrounding fleets are distracted by Earth's Sentinel display.

Also known as Reichert

First appears in chapter 2

A Maxolhx admiral aboard the flagship targeted by Star Team Alpha. His command ship becomes the focus of the humans' attempt to redirect the crisis around Earth.

Also known as damaged Sentinel, Earth's Sentinel guardian

First appears in chapter 2

A damaged Elder war machine used in Earth's defensive display. Skippy directs it to move the dangerous cloud away from the planet, making the machine appear to be a powerful guardian.

Also known as Simms

First appears in chapter 3

A Valkyrie officer and operational planner who works closely with Bishop. She helps shape the political deception intended to keep the Maxolhx and Rindhalu focused away from the hidden Elder threat.

Also known as Kong

First appears in chapter 4

The senior colonel commanding Flying Dutchman. Bishop brings him into the restricted planning and explains that Earth's apparent Sentinel protector has serious limits.

Also known as Skippy's Earth submind

First appears in chapter 6

An Earth-based offshoot of Skippy assigned to converse with the damaged Sentinel. Its companionship is meant to ease the dangerous isolation of the newly aware but unstable machine.

First appears in chapter 6

Valkyrie's ship AI. Bilby independently reviews Skippy's alterations to captured ship systems, providing the crew with another technical judgment about work vital to Earth's security.

Also known as Chotek

First appears in chapter 7

A human diplomatic intermediary involved in talks with the Jeraptha. Bishop gives him the public explanation of Earth's Sentinel defense while withholding its most dangerous operational weaknesses.

Also known as Nert

First appears in chapter 8

A Jeraptha contact released from restricted duty after blame for the Sentinel crisis shifts away from humanity. Promoted and returned to service, he is assigned as liaison to the Mavericks.

Also known as Urkan

First appears in chapter 11

A restored Maxolhx military leader who favors consolidation over an immediate war against the rogue fleet. He treats compromised ship AIs and possible Rindhalu opportunism as greater near-term dangers than delay.

Also known as Major Frey

First appears in chapter 11

A major serving with Star Team Alpha who is worn down by sustained operations. She speaks openly about the toll of her work, prompting Bishop to advise professional support and Skippy to recommend time away from duty.

First appears in chapter 14

A suspected damaged Elder intelligence associated with a secret Rindhalu site. The human team believes it exploited the wormhole network to send the signal that awakened the Sentinels.

Also known as Iliath

First appears in chapter 15

A Maxolhx officer selected by Admiral Urkan for restraint and sound judgment. Her promotion places her in command of the 17th Assault Squadron near the center of Hegemony power.

Also known as Jates

First appears in chapter 16

A representative of a reformist Kristang faction serving with the human team. He seeks Alien Legion transport and logistical support for his faction's proposed expansion, but the request is refused.

Also known as Perkins

First appears in chapter 16

Leader of the Alien Legion and commander of the Mavericks. Perkins rejects Jates's request for another occupation, arguing that his faction has not yet achieved lasting reform on the world it already controls.

Also known as Chica

First appears in chapter 17

A human operator who works closely with Perkins and knows Jates well. Perkins asks him to watch for changes in Jates's conduct without confronting or punishing their alien colleague.

Also known as Adams

First appears in chapter 17

A trusted human special-operations soldier promoted to master sergeant. Bishop selects her for a sensitive mission with the Mavericks but does not yet disclose the operation's full purpose.

Also known as Smythe's suit AI

First appears in chapter 20

A limited emergency combat assistant secretly installed in Smythe's powered armor by Skippy. It restores damaged suit functions and helps the isolated colonel interpret the battle around him during the Ardu ambush.

First appears in chapter 22

An officer supporting the extraction from Ardu. She recommends tactical nuclear strikes to disrupt the planet's air defenses and receives authorization to employ them while the stranded operators ascend toward Valkyrie.

First appears in chapter 23

Valkyrie's pilot during the escape from Ardu. Reed regains control of the tumbling ship and guides it back toward orbit using its reshaped shields and boosters.

Also known as Czajka

First appears in chapter 26

A human destroyer officer supporting the Mavericks' search for another cache of Elder equipment. He questions whether Jates's resentment may be causing him to conceal important information about the target.

First appears in chapter 28

A heavy cylinder discovered beneath a cache of counterfeit communications nodes. The Mavericks initially identify it only as a possible Elder AI container whose nature and condition remain uncertain.