Little is known about Edward Miles, except for the fact that he has been involved in Starfleet Intelligence operations for over forty years.  He has always believed that with knowledge comes power, but conversely some knowledge cannot be gained without the power to acquire it.  The Endurance Project is the ultimate culmination of his dream to place Starfleet - more specifically, the human race - at the forefront of technological achievement in the galaxy.  To this end, he has worked hard at realising his goal - something he could not have achieved without the support of his personal aide, Alicia Newman, whom he has come to look upon as a surrogate daughter; however, he is careful not to let Alicia get too closely involved in some of the shadier dealings he has made in order to complete his vision.

Tybon is not your average Vulcan, a fact that applies right from his own name to his propensity to primarily avoid his own people and serve instead aboard mainly human-crewed vessels.  At 93 years of age, Tybon has only served with Starfleet for almost 30 years, raising in rank as he proved himself a loyal and resourceful officer.  Captaining his own Starfleet vessels, he has grown a begrudging respect for humans, creatures he finds act logically even within their own emotional irrationalities; in turn, those in his charge respect his authority and defer to his guidance, even when it appears he is indifferent to the safety or wellbeing of the crew.  Prior to joining Starfleet, Tybon spent many years on Vulcan in training and studying the ancient ways of his people... and many others.

Lea Austin has risen through the ranks of Starfleet remarkably quickly: at 34, she is poised to accept her own Captaincy, however she is reluctant to do so on the grounds that she feels she functions better "behind the scenes": one of those that makes things happen, rather than one who expects others to do it for her.  She has proven herself highly adept at combat, both physical and strategic; in Starfleet Academy, and in her work since, she concentrated her learning toward the Borg Collective, finding new ways and means of fighting against them.  In this pursuit, she met and befriended Dr Ilkya Sommers, an El Aurian, a race equally familiar with Borg offensives.  She also grew very close to a fellow officer, Craig Johnson, out of equal admiration for their respective combat techniques.  The relationship was not to last, though Austin still feels very strongly toward him; Johnson's posting aboard the Endurance gives her a chance to undo the damage.

Ilkya Sommers is 357 years old, and has devoted her entire life to medicine.  She practiced as a doctor on her homeworld before the arrival of the Borg, and after fleeing with the evacuees she joined Starfleet, where she continued to expand her medical knowledge to include as many species known to the Federation and allied races as possible.  Sommers likes to relax by cooking, playing sport, or just spending time with friends - which is basically anyone who comes into contact with her, due to her charming personality.

Alicia Newman is only 26, but showed talents in science from very early on in Starfleet Academy, which drew the attention of Starfleet Intelligence, specifically Admiral Miles who quickly snapped her up for his personal staff.  In the five years she has spent with him, she has concentrated her efforts solely toward making Miles' vision of a super-starship a reality.  She has had little contact with the world outside Starfleet Intelligence in most of that time, and as a result may seem a little detached from current events, including the Dominion War, and even the current whereabouts or wellbeing of her family.

Craig Johnson lives for a fight - he only joined Starfleet so he could exercise his considerable physical combat talents on hostile aliens.  One such mission, into Cardassian-occupied territory to release Bajoran captives, resulted in his losing his right eye, which was replaced by an implant that can scan all spectrums.  It was this incident which inured him into believing his reckless attitude would not only affect himself, which he didn't so much mind, but those close to him - and as a result broke off his relationship with Lea Austin to as not to hurt her in future.

Aarus has only been joined with the Billich symbiont for five of his 31 years, and is still a little overawed by the experience.  Prior to joining, he worked in an engineering workshop on the Trill homeworld, studying the rites of a host initiate in his spare time so as to give him a chance to learn the multiple-lifetime experiences of a symbiont.  He became the fifth host of the Billich symbiont, which itself had a keen interest in engineering and things technical, and with this meeting of experiences the joined Trill went on to join Starfleet to expand his knowledge.  He is extremely daunted to be working abord the Endurance, but is determined not to disappoint.

After losing his family during the Cardassian occupation, Lanit Joras remained faithful to the spirit of the Bajoran people, if not the actual religions practised by them, and toward this cause he endeavoured to join the splinter freedom-fighter group, the Maquis.  However, his activities were noticed by Starfleet and he was court-martialled for being a suspected Maquis sympathiser.  The tribunal found him a capable officer and pilot, but until he proved himself trustworthy he was, at 26, sent back to Starfleet Academy for two years' refresher training and subsequently only assigned to menial transport duty rather than being allowed to serve aboard a starship.  Lanit was not Admiral Miles' first choice for the post of helm officer aboard the Endurance, but he hopes to use the opportunity to prove himself.

Salk is an eager young cadet looking forward immensely to a life in Starfleet: his understanding of astrogation and multi-dimensional relational co-ordinates has already earned him great respect from his tutors and peers, and Admiral Miles recruited him, at age 21, before he'd even completed his final Academy examinations.  He met Lanit Joras during his re-training at the Academy, and the two became firm friends.  He has close ties with his family who remain back on the Bolian homeworld, and due to the limited contact necessary from serving aboard the Endurance, he misses them greatly.