Goneril Lear wasPegasus's Executive Officer until she was removed following the events at Aurora where her scheming almost led to global themonucleonic war. (Oops)
Before assuming her role on Pegasus, she had served for more than 20 years in the Odyssey Project Bureaucracy and was to be rewarded with command of her own ship. She lost her command opportunity when the Odyssey Project was downsized from twelve ships to nine, and instead took a position as Pegasus's first officer. To her supporters, she is a highly capable officer, the real brains of Pegasus command. To her detractors, she is a conniving bureaucrat with her own agenda who undercuts the captain's authority to her own ends.
She represents the archetype of Republicker rectitude and authority. Lear is also revealed to be a leader of a cadre of Centurions, members of a secretive order known as The Notorium, who have done the dirty work of the Republic Central Government for hundreds of years.
Biography[]
Goneril Lear was the eldest of three daughters born into the prestigious, influential Lear family of Republic. As a young girl, she scored very well on the evaluation tests administered at ages 7 and 10 and placed into the most elite educational units of the City of Alexander. She was admitted into the elite ranks of the Great University of the Republic and graduated with honors.
As a young attache, Goneril Lear was briefly posted to Sapphire. From the Republic Embassy in the Capital City of Corvallis, she was used as an intermediary between the Republic Government and the Democracy Movement. (Short Story: "Cherchez La Femme")
Lear joined the Odyssey Project in the Republic Year 1040 of the New Era. She rose to the position of Project Manager for Systems Integration on Pathfinder 3 for the planet Republic. She had been expecting to be given a command, but when the number of ships to be built was reduced from 12 to 9, she was instead offered the position of Executive Officer on Pathfinder 3, a position she took with the understanding that she would be in command should the commander be unable to continue.
The original commander of Pathfinder 3 (Pegasus) was killed in a shuttle accident. Lear was again passed over for command in favor of William Keeler. (Book 1: Meridian ) She continued in this capacity for the next six years of her life.
After Pegasus located the Chapultepec Starlock, Lear received orders from the planet Republic to gain new allies for the nascent New Commonwealth at all costs. Her diligence in pursuing these orders led her to make an alliance with a ruthless arms dealer on the planet Aurora, that nearly led to a global thermonucleonic war. After the incident, she was removed from command. (Book 5: Aurora ).
Lear was replaced in charge of the recovery operation that retrieved Pathfinder Six (Lexington Keeler) from a decaying orbit above a devastated planet. (Book 6: Crucible ) She was left behind when Prime Commander Keeler took Pegasus through the Chapultepec Starlock to the Orion Quadrant.
The planet Republic dismissed charges against her and discharged her from the Odyssey Project. She was then appointed as a General Ambassador of Republic to the New Commonwealth. She participated in Peace Talks that ended the First Aurelian War, and was then given the mission of gaining new allies for the New Commonwealth. She also participated in first contact with the alien Teklektetl species. During the Second Aurelian War, she participated in securing an alliance with the alien species known as the Lynx. (Book 11: Charlemagne).
Personal Life[]
She hails from the City of Alexander on Republic, is married to Augustus Rebbeck Lear, with two sons, Marcus and Trajan, and one daughter, Averill. She has two sisters, Cordelia and Regan, who remained behind on Republic.