Grace Pirie

From a moderately wealthy family, Grace Pirie was the youngest of four sisters, and did not want to follow in any of their footsteps, nor the footsteps of her parents. Charmed by a Black Fleet officer she met at a party, she was enchanted by the uniform, the sense of honour and duty, and the sense of command he exuded. Suddenly liking the idea of being a military wife, she felt the best way to meet a military husband was by joining the military.

On being assigned to the training craft "Black Wreath" she found herself bunking with a woman, Diana Qiang, and a man, Nash West. She was uncomfortable having a male bunkmate, but Black Fleet generally, and the Quartermaster specifically, didn't seem to care much about separating cabin assignments by gender, and she gradually accepted his presence.

West was killed by the "Pandale Bomb" during the surrender of the pirate junk "Flying Fish", leading Pirie to feel a deep guilt about having made his life more awkward than it needed to be. Seeing that West's replacement was also a man, Malcolm Wrath, she decided to make him feel as welcome as possible, while making sure he didn't get any false hopes about any romatic possibilities between them, still harbouring her wish to marry a tall, handsome officer with career prospects.