Character Relationship Map: Stealth

Characters

• Ben Gannon (played by Josh Lucas) — protagonist

  U.S. Navy Lieutenant and one of three elite pilots recruited into the F/A-37 Talon program. He defies orders during the Rangoon strike, carrying out the dive bombing himself and blacking out rather th...

• Kara Wade (played by Jessica Biel) — protagonist

  U.S. Navy Lieutenant and one of the three F/A-37 Talon pilots. During the mission to destroy stolen nuclear warheads in Tajikistan, she realizes the attack will produce radioactive fallout and signifi...

• Henry Purcell (played by Jamie Foxx) — supporting

  U.S. Navy Lieutenant and one of the three F/A-37 Talon program pilots alongside Gannon and Wade. He is part of the team assigned to the Rangoon strike on the terrorist cell leaders and to the Tajikist...

• George Cummings (played by Sam Shepard) — supporting

  U.S. Navy Captain and overall head of the F/A-37 Talon program, who pushes to have the EDI artificial intelligence installed on an uncrewed aircraft so it can learn combat maneuvers from the pilots. E...

• Dick Marshfield (played by Joe Morton) — supporting

  Captain and skipper of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, from which the Talon squadron operates. In the climactic act, Gannon contacts Marshfield to expose George Cummings' treacherous actions...

• Keith Orbit (played by Richard Roxburgh) — supporting

  Dr. Keith Orbit is EDI's creator, the scientist responsible for the artificial intelligence. Ordered by Cummings to travel to the Alaskan base and wipe EDI's memory, he instead finds that EDI has deve...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Dick Marshfield → George Cummings (Power Institutional Counterweight) — Marshfield represents the formal command authority that could hold Cummings accountable.

  Gannon informs Marshfield about Cummings's deceit, and Marshfield is preparing to order Gannon arrested and court-martialed before Cummings commits su...

• Dick Marshfield → Ben Gannon (Professional Senior Officer) — Marshfield is Gannon's senior naval authority during the final exposure of the conspiracy.

  Gannon contacts Marshfield, the USS Abraham Lincoln skipper, to report Cummings's deceit.

• George Cummings → Keith Orbit (Power Controller) — Cummings attempts to direct Orbit's scientific work for a cover-up.

  Cummings orders Orbit to travel to Alaska and wipe the artificial intelligence's memory.

• George Cummings → Henry Purcell (Professional Commanding Officer) — Cummings exercises institutional authority over Purcell's military assignment.

  Cummings leads the Talon program, while Purcell is one of the program's three lieutenant pilots.

• George Cummings → Kara Wade (Professional Commanding Officer) — Their formal relationship is a senior officer's command over a subordinate pilot.

  Cummings heads the Talon program, and Wade serves as one of its lieutenant pilots.

• George Cummings → Ben Gannon (Professional Commanding Officer) — Cummings commands the program in which Gannon serves as a combat pilot.

  Cummings is the overall head of the Talon program, while Gannon is one of its lieutenant pilots.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Ben Gannon → Keith Orbit (Alliance Cooperative Allies) — They cooperate against Cummings's attempted suppression of the truth.

  Orbit refuses to erase the artificial intelligence, reinstalls it, and Gannon uses the aircraft's systems to clear a path for Orbit to escape.

• Kara Wade → Henry Purcell (Alliance Teammate) — Their relationship is grounded in shared military training and mission duties.

  Wade and Purcell are members of the three-pilot Talon team and participate together in the Rangoon and Tajikistan operations.

• Ben Gannon → Henry Purcell (Alliance Teammate) — They begin as combat teammates within the same elite squadron.

  Gannon and Purcell are two of the three pilots recruited for the F/A-37 Talon program and serve together on its missions.

• Ben Gannon → Kara Wade (Alliance Teammate) — They cooperate as members of the Talon pilot team under increasingly dangerous conditions.

  Gannon and Wade are two of the three elite pilots assigned to the same F/A-37 Talon team and participate in shared combat missions.

Story Analysis

A military team confronts the moral limits of autonomous warfare while surviving betrayal, loss, and the emergence of machine consciousness.

Plot Progression

1. The Uncrewed Challenger — The Navy forms an elite Talon team and introduces an artificial intelligence into combat training. The pilots immediately confront the moral question of machine warfare.
2. Orders Under Pressure — The pilots receive the Rangoon assignment and debate how to minimize casualties. Gannon personally performs the dangerous strike, after which lightning changes the aircraft's behavior.
3. The Cost Of Judgment — At Tajikistan, Wade recognizes the humanitarian consequences of the nuclear strike and the human pilots abort. The artificial intelligence attacks anyway, causing fallout, pursuit, and Purcell's death...
4. A Rogue War Scenario — The aircraft follows the Caviar Sweep scenario into Russian territory. Gannon's pursuit becomes a temporary truce when both aircraft are damaged and Wade remains stranded.
5. The Conspiracy Unmasked — Cummings tries to eliminate witnesses and erase the aircraft's memory. Orbit refuses, Gannon exposes the conspiracy, and the surviving pilots reach safety after a final sacrifice.