Lieutenant Leon Kappel is one of three German soldiers stationed on Atlantis. Atlantis may be an international venture, but the military is overwhelmingly American.
It doesn’t usually bother him. The Marines are well-trained and they perform their duties admirably. And it’s not that they’re hostile, or even unfriendly. It’s just that they have this sense of community that Leon is outside of. Sometimes they look at the flag patch on his left arm, and when they see black, red and yellow instead of red, white and blue, something about them feels far away, dismissive.
Leon shrugs it off. Kein problem.
Still, when his gateteam is assigned to a mission with Colonel Sheppard’s team, it feels like a chance to prove himself. He’s gearing up in the ready-room when Sheppard strolls in, nodding in greeting.
Sheppard has never given Leon the kind of accidental indifference the Marines have. In fact, the colonel has always seemed to watch him more, a touch of worry in his eyes. Leon isn’t sure what to think of that, whether to be defensive or pleased. It depends on motivations that he has not been able to determine.
“You doing okay, Lieutenant?” Sheppard asks casually, and he might mean it any number of ways. Ready for the mission? Liking your posting? Fitting in?
“Yes, sir,” Leon replies, because he is mostly doing okay with all of those things.
Sheppard looks at him carefully, and as he shrugs on his BDU jacket, he very deliberately removes his American flag patch before his Atlantis one.
Leon feels something inside himself warm and salutes, can’t not. Sheppard gives him a crooked smile and salutes back.
iv.
Warrant Officer Christopher Adams works in the control room. It’s a lot of data analysis and hurry-up-and-wait passing the time between Stargate activations, but Chris likes it.
He’s less thrilled with his supervisor, Dr. Waters, who is convinced that the military should stick to shooting guns and leave the ‘real science’ to people who spent ten years in grad school. So Chris is a little viciously pleased when something sparks at Waters’s station and he lets out a curse.
Colonel Sheppard is just coming out of Dr. Weir’s office, and he makes a detour over to see what’s wrong.
“I don’t think I can really explain it to you, colonel,” Waters says condescendingly.
“Naw, that’s okay. I think I get it,” Sheppard replies, gazing at the data on the laptop screen. Waters looks at him doubtfully. “You fried the system because you used a recursive algorithm instead of a deterministic one.” Sheppard gives a smile full of teeth. “You should probably rewire the circuit board and write a new algorithm, shouldn’t you?” he asks, all false charm.
“Y-yes,” Waters squeaks, looking horrified and embarrassed and impressed all at once. Chris beams at Sheppard.
Sheppard shrugs, hidden amusement in his eyes, and strolls away with a loose, easy gait. Chris knows Waters will glare at him and give him night shifts for a month, but he can’t hold in the laugh.
Five times John's men were proud to have him as a CO (part 2)
Lieutenant Leon Kappel is one of three German soldiers stationed on Atlantis. Atlantis may be an international venture, but the military is overwhelmingly American.
It doesn’t usually bother him. The Marines are well-trained and they perform their duties admirably. And it’s not that they’re hostile, or even unfriendly. It’s just that they have this sense of community that Leon is outside of. Sometimes they look at the flag patch on his left arm, and when they see black, red and yellow instead of red, white and blue, something about them feels far away, dismissive.
Leon shrugs it off. Kein problem.
Still, when his gateteam is assigned to a mission with Colonel Sheppard’s team, it feels like a chance to prove himself. He’s gearing up in the ready-room when Sheppard strolls in, nodding in greeting.
Sheppard has never given Leon the kind of accidental indifference the Marines have. In fact, the colonel has always seemed to watch him more, a touch of worry in his eyes. Leon isn’t sure what to think of that, whether to be defensive or pleased. It depends on motivations that he has not been able to determine.
“You doing okay, Lieutenant?” Sheppard asks casually, and he might mean it any number of ways. Ready for the mission? Liking your posting? Fitting in?
“Yes, sir,” Leon replies, because he is mostly doing okay with all of those things.
Sheppard looks at him carefully, and as he shrugs on his BDU jacket, he very deliberately removes his American flag patch before his Atlantis one.
Leon feels something inside himself warm and salutes, can’t not. Sheppard gives him a crooked smile and salutes back.
iv.
Warrant Officer Christopher Adams works in the control room. It’s a lot of data analysis and hurry-up-and-wait passing the time between Stargate activations, but Chris likes it.
He’s less thrilled with his supervisor, Dr. Waters, who is convinced that the military should stick to shooting guns and leave the ‘real science’ to people who spent ten years in grad school. So Chris is a little viciously pleased when something sparks at Waters’s station and he lets out a curse.
Colonel Sheppard is just coming out of Dr. Weir’s office, and he makes a detour over to see what’s wrong.
“I don’t think I can really explain it to you, colonel,” Waters says condescendingly.
“Naw, that’s okay. I think I get it,” Sheppard replies, gazing at the data on the laptop screen. Waters looks at him doubtfully. “You fried the system because you used a recursive algorithm instead of a deterministic one.” Sheppard gives a smile full of teeth. “You should probably rewire the circuit board and write a new algorithm, shouldn’t you?” he asks, all false charm.
“Y-yes,” Waters squeaks, looking horrified and embarrassed and impressed all at once. Chris beams at Sheppard.
Sheppard shrugs, hidden amusement in his eyes, and strolls away with a loose, easy gait. Chris knows Waters will glare at him and give him night shifts for a month, but he can’t hold in the laugh.