Redshirts characters

Appears from the start

A junior crew member on the Universal Union flagship Intrepid whose routine assignment becomes fatal when a landing mission suddenly requires an expendable specialist. His death establishes the strange danger faced by low-ranking personnel whenever the ship's senior officers need assistance.

Appears from the start

An Intrepid officer who repeatedly survives landing missions while suffering conspicuous and unusual injuries. His presence is one of the signals that ordinary risk does not seem to apply equally to senior and junior members of the crew.

First appears in chapter 2

A newly assigned ensign and trained xenobiologist aboard the Intrepid. Dahl is observant, skeptical, and unwilling to accept the evasions of veteran crew members when he notices that away missions and encounters with senior officers follow an alarming pattern.

First appears in chapter 2

One of the ensigns arriving on the Intrepid with Dahl. Duvall combines practical courage with a readiness to test explanations that initially sound impossible, becoming a central member of the group investigating why their ship is so dangerous.

First appears in chapter 2

A technically skilled new Intrepid ensign who joins Dahl's circle. Hanson helps turn the group's suspicions into an investigation and brings an engineer's attention to effects that the ship's normal science cannot explain.

First appears in chapter 2

A new ensign who quickly becomes part of Dahl, Duvall, and Hanson's informal group. Hester is sociable and direct, initially treating the veteran crew's odd behavior as a puzzle rather than evidence that reality itself may be unreliable.

First appears in chapter 2

Another recently arrived ensign who socializes with Dahl's group. Finn's confidence and interest in immediate pleasures make him less cautious than companions who are beginning to fear unexplained assignments and sudden contact with the command crew.

First appears in chapter 3

The commanding officer of the Intrepid, given to forceful decisions during the ship's weekly run of crises. Abernathy and his closest officers appear protected by extraordinary luck even when the junior personnel accompanying them are not.

First appears in chapter 3

The Intrepid's senior science officer and one of the command figures whom ordinary crew members try to avoid. Q'eeng is repeatedly involved in urgent missions where technical problems produce implausible solutions and disproportionate danger for assistants.

First appears in chapter 4

Dahl's superior in the Intrepid's xenobiology laboratory. Collins understands the crew's habit of disappearing when senior officers arrive and advises Dahl about surviving the less rational demands that override normal laboratory work.

First appears in chapter 9

A reclusive Intrepid crew member who hides in the ship's service spaces and has spent years studying its casualty patterns. Jenkins lost his wife during an earlier incident and has developed an explanation for the strange force that turns selected missions into badly structured drama.