Many of them weren't impressed that John inherited the role of CO after Sumner was taken. He had a reputation - someone who couldn't obey orders shouldn't be in a position to be giving them. The fact that his first act as CO was to order a pointless suicide mission was only the icing on the cake. At least he wouldn't be CO for long.
And then the gate activated and their missing men came home.
It was a moment many of them played again in their minds later, when a mission went south, or an order seemed unreasonable, or life in the Pegasus Galaxy was that little bit more insane than usual. Their CO would walk into a Wraith Hive Ship for any one of them, and that knowledge did more to ensure their loyalty than anything else ever could.
2: Under siege
Too many of them had served under the kind of CO who sits behind a desk and gives orders, never risking his own life in the field despite asking his men to do so. Assignments such as those are the ones with the highest transfer rates, and often the highest casualty rates. Atlantis, however, is not one of those assignments.
An awed quiet falls over the marines in the jumper bay as their CO flies off on a suicide run, completely prepared to sacrifice his own life for a chance to save theirs. When the Wraith advance again they are grim, determined.
The least they can do is to ensure that he didn't die for nothing.
3: From a new perspective
Naturally there is tension when a new military contingent is stationed permanently on Atlantis to boost the numbers and replace those they have lost. But there is a lot less tension then there could have been. The new soldiers, fresh from the SGC, fit in and adapt to their new CO remarkably well. After all, most of them served under General O'Neill. Sheppard seems positively sane by comparison.
4: Exiled from home
There's a rumour going around the SGC that Atlantis' command staff have a plan. A statistically improbable number of marines on duty that day suffer from temporary and selective blindness.
They are of course terribly surprised when a Jumper is stolen.
5: In the face of hard choices
Sound carries in the corridors: half of Atlantis hears Sheppard go ballistic at McKay when replicators bring Elizabeth Weir back from the brink of death. Only a small security detail hears the initial refusal earlier, but word travels fast.
It's an easy principle to understand, that personal feelings and friendships must always be secondary to the greater good - especially for those in a command position. But it's a difficult one to follow. And everyone on the base silently asks themselves if they could have made the same decision.
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Date: 2009-06-11 08:03 pm (UTC)Many of them weren't impressed that John inherited the role of CO after Sumner was taken. He had a reputation - someone who couldn't obey orders shouldn't be in a position to be giving them. The fact that his first act as CO was to order a pointless suicide mission was only the icing on the cake. At least he wouldn't be CO for long.
And then the gate activated and their missing men came home.
It was a moment many of them played again in their minds later, when a mission went south, or an order seemed unreasonable, or life in the Pegasus Galaxy was that little bit more insane than usual. Their CO would walk into a Wraith Hive Ship for any one of them, and that knowledge did more to ensure their loyalty than anything else ever could.
2: Under siege
Too many of them had served under the kind of CO who sits behind a desk and gives orders, never risking his own life in the field despite asking his men to do so. Assignments such as those are the ones with the highest transfer rates, and often the highest casualty rates. Atlantis, however, is not one of those assignments.
An awed quiet falls over the marines in the jumper bay as their CO flies off on a suicide run, completely prepared to sacrifice his own life for a chance to save theirs. When the Wraith advance again they are grim, determined.
The least they can do is to ensure that he didn't die for nothing.
3: From a new perspective
Naturally there is tension when a new military contingent is stationed permanently on Atlantis to boost the numbers and replace those they have lost. But there is a lot less tension then there could have been. The new soldiers, fresh from the SGC, fit in and adapt to their new CO remarkably well. After all, most of them served under General O'Neill. Sheppard seems positively sane by comparison.
4: Exiled from home
There's a rumour going around the SGC that Atlantis' command staff have a plan. A statistically improbable number of marines on duty that day suffer from temporary and selective blindness.
They are of course terribly surprised when a Jumper is stolen.
5: In the face of hard choices
Sound carries in the corridors: half of Atlantis hears Sheppard go ballistic at McKay when replicators bring Elizabeth Weir back from the brink of death. Only a small security detail hears the initial refusal earlier, but word travels fast.
It's an easy principle to understand, that personal feelings and friendships must always be secondary to the greater good - especially for those in a command position. But it's a difficult one to follow. And everyone on the base silently asks themselves if they could have made the same decision.
Few come up with satisfactory answers.