SGA Saturday

I cannot begin to describe how much I agree with all this!

And once developed, you can't put that kind of independent thinking back in the box as if it had never existed.

This is very true. And we get to see only little shades and shadows of it in Show. Even during The Siege - with Col. Everett standing right there - John turns to Elizabeth and tells her he thinks he knows where they can get more nukes, and how Elizabeth just knows that he's talking about the Genii and Everett is sort of looking between them like watching a ping-pong match. Or retaking Atlantis after the Ancients return. (I'm currently doing a series rewatch to pick up on all these moments).

They *have* to honor the SOS-IDC because - yeah, it's kind of a deal, like the title "will you pay" says. A deal they made beween themselves - they go out in the danger, they make sacrifices, they can expect to be "paid back" by Atlantis not letting them down, no matter what. It's kind of an unspoken, inofficial "contract", a promise nobody ever gave but all of them keep.

Yes! Exactly this! Because every time they go through the Stargate they are attempting to provide for the city, for the people who live there. And if they couldn't trust the citizens of Atlantis to have their back when they place themselves in danger like that the entire system would fall apart. And honestly, I believe that given a little more time alone in Pegasus like the first year, and the entire first wave would have gone "native" on the SGC and Earth.

They might have accepted Earth's help in defending Atlantis, but it would have been more like negotiating with another advanced civilization instead of the place they came from. And even with regained contact with Earth, I honestly believe that the expedition (at least the remaining first wave and a handfull of the newer personnel) is treating Earth like some overly aggressive/intrusive trading partner. They get food, medicine, ammunition and fresh bodies in exchange for research and technology.

John and Rodney and Radek, and a few others from the first wave would be those unofficial leaders dealing/trading with Earth. They were apart of the original power structure that saw them all through the first year alone. The choices they made kept them all alive, made sure that they didn't just survive but had actually begun to flourish a little. It's a responsibility that I see John shouldering no matter what administrative changes happen (protecting them from mission commanders and Caldwell - though I think Caldwell over four seasons is kind of an adopted Atlantis citizen). John would make sure that the best interest of Atlantis' citizens were served no matter what Earth/IOA/SGC might have to say in the matter. The same goes for Rodney.

And I did write the background! Tomorrow's a Gift (http://sga-saturday.livejournal.com/109831.html) is the other side of what's going on with Kav and why he decided to use the SOS-IDC. And I have this strange feeling that this is going to be a series of stories that I'm going to keep writing and exploring now. Partly because I like the subject material, but also because of your comments. It's like feeding my muse with real facts and now I just really want to *fix* some of the things that happened in Show.

Edited: because if i'm going to go through the trouble of giving a link i should actually put the link in the html code so it works and i don't look like an idiot