Fic help.

[Sealurk]

Very likely the same loadout as the other ships of the class, though as far as I remember we have only seen the railguns in operation.

I fully expect it to have Asgard plasma beam weapons, as their presence on the Daedalus and Apollo reasonably suggests a fleet wide refit (though it is conceivable they were fitted with them ahead of schedule because of the Asuran threat).

Missiles with conventional and nuclear warheads (Mk 3, Mk 8 and possible Mk 9?) are almost certain since the Hammond appears to have the same Vertical Launch System as other 304s, and we know for sure there is a complement of 302s on board. Whether the Hammond has a bomb bay and the capability for Horizon deployment, or even the actual munitions, remains to be seen.

[Skydiver]

here's some info

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/promo...fficerprom.htm

down at the bottom is generals....basically if you make it to 1 star and can't get promoted to 2 star within 5 years, you retire. They have the mandatory retirement to continually 'make room' for other officers to rise to General. Unless you happen to make it up to 4 star, being a general is a relatively short term job, because either you go up within 5 years or you retire. it also says to even make general you have to serve one 'tour' in command of a facility that's 'jointly staffed'....in other words that's not just one branch of the military. With the marines at the SGC and possibly on atlantis and the Hammond, she'd meet the qualifications.

http://www.military.com/MilitaryCare...fficer,00.html

as you see, fewer and fewer make it up the ranks.

[SF_and_Coffee]

one place where the show kinda fumbled, Sam, as a major was eligible to be promoted by season six (if you presume show season = one year in the world), but didn't get promoted until season 8.....given someone in her career, she probably woulda been fasttracked,

Actually, she wouldn't have been fast-tracked, because she came in via the Academy (according to canon sources), and started out as a 2nd lieutanant with just a Bachelor's degree, same as any other Academy grad. So her doctorate would have been achieved while she was in the military, and once you're in the pipeline, you can't skip ranks or spend less than the legally-mandated TIG. Also, you have to look at the average time it takes to be promoted rather than the minimum eligibility, not to mention that pin-on date (the actual promotion ceremony) is later than the date when one passes the promotions board. The combination of those things can account for the date of her promotions both in Season 3 and Season 8.

I'm only using Sam because she's a convenient example....however, if you're writing a fic and you want your OC to be a captain....well they better be around 30 years old because - if I interpreted it right, they have to have at least 9-11 years in service to even be eligible to be promoted.

You're off by one promotion. As can be seen right here, promotion from 2nd lieutenant to 1st lieutenant comes at 18 months to 2 years, and promotion to captain comes roughly 2 years later, at 4 years of service. Between 9 and 11 years of service is where the promotion to major comes along. So if someone was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant (whether via the Academy, ROTC, or OTS) at the age of 21, then he or she could easily be a captain at the age of 25.

[Choo1701]

ah, thanks. couldn't keep track of which O- was which rank.

Thats cool.

Now about the NCO ranks ... ...

(okay, don't know why, but NCO ranks do sort of 'confuse' me. Hey, i'm a stupid civilian, cut me some slack! )

[SF_and_Coffee]

ah, thanks. couldn't keep track of which O- was which rank.

still boils down to minimum ages, and if you happen to be a 30 year old captain in the air force....take the hint and leave gracefully

Well, again, it depends on what age one entered. You might be a 30-year old-captain who was first commissioned as a 2nd looie at 23, so you've only been a captain for 3 years now... or you might have been commissioned at 25, in which case you just became a captain last year. IIRC, you can be commissioned a 2nd lieutenant at any age up to 35.

Ana,
who at the age of 26 and with an Associate's degree under her belt but not many prospects in the civilian world at the moment, considered enlisting in the USAF, finishing her BA while enlisted, and then trying for a slot in OTS.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I made the presumption of people joining at first eligibility, thus if you're a person that made 2lt by the time they were 20 or so, if you're a 40 year old that's still a captain, your career is toast.

Well, it would be almost impossible to make 2nd Lt by the age of twenty, since you have to have at least a Bachelor's degree first, so already you're looking at being at least 21 unless you started college/Academy early. And then remember that a lot of officers went the route of first doing an enlistment, so that's 4 or 5 years or so, then getting out and serving in the Reserves or the Air National Guard while attending college for their BA or BS, and then going back in on active duty and hoping for a slot in OTS. I dated (rather seriously) a guy when I was 24-25 who was in the "ANG and college" phase of that kind of plan, having already served an enlistment. He was 25 when I met him, so he figured he was on track to be a 2nd lieutenant by 29 or 30 at earliest. And from what he told me, a LOT of people do it that way. The really young officers come either from ROTC* or the Academy, and they aren't the majority -- or at least they weren't then. This was around 1988-89, for the sake of reference.

* And you can enter ROTC up to the age of 27, IIRC, so not even all of them will be young. You can also enter the Academy up to a similar age.

If you're passed over enough times it's time for you to leave. That's how the numbers can get smaller and smaller. People drop out. Either voluntarily or as they advance to their highest attainable rank.

If you're passed over twice for the same officer promotion, you generally have to leave. (This may possibly be different if your first time before the promotions board for that promotion came below the zone.)

[SaraBahama]

Goa'uld/Tok'ra biology question:

We've seen Hathor 'create' new Jaffa with her large, gaudy, bellybutton jewerly (Jack experienced this). Does this mean that all Goa'uld queens can create new Jaffa at will?

[mathpiglet]

Good question!

From http://www.gateworld.net/wiki/Hathor, it suggests she can create at will.

[SaraBahama]

Good question!
From http://www.gateworld.net/wiki/Hathor, it suggests she can create at will.

But does that mean all queens have that power? It would be biologically convienent, as they need Jaffa to incubate their young. If this is true, then can a Tok'ra queen do the same?

[Skydiver]

well, hathor had a device, so i would presume that any goa'uld/tok'ra could manipulate and use said device to make a jaffa.

I don't think every queen needs to make pouches, since some jaffa are bred with them and they naturally occur.

[mathpiglet]

But does that mean all queens have that power? It would be biologically convienent, as they need Jaffa to incubate their young. If this is true, then can a Tok'ra queen do the same?

Didn't all the Tok'ra come from that creature they found? Do the Tok'ra have queens?

[SF_and_Coffee]

Didn't all the Tok'ra come from that creature they found? Do the Tok'ra have queens?

The Tok'ra, or nearly all of them anyway, are the offspring of Egeria, the Tok'ra queen who was found on Pangara. She was born Goa'uld, but had a change of heart at some point in adulthood, and bred her views into her offspring. The few Tok'ra who aren't her children are other former Goa'uld who had a change of heart like she did and defected from the Goa'uld to the Tok'ra, but unfortunately, none are queens. There are no other Tok'ra queens, in canon. This is why the Tok'ra are portrayed as a dying race.

(Of course, many of us in the fanfic community would like it to be otherwise, and so we have various plans in place to alter this...)

[WraithRichard]

(Of course, many of us in the fanfic community would like it to be otherwise, and so we have various plans in place to alter this...)

Or make extinction a bit less boring.

[SaraBahama]

The Tok'ra, or nearly all of them anyway, are the offspring of Egeria, the Tok'ra queen who was found on Pangara. She was born Goa'uld, but had a change of heart at some point in adulthood, and bred her views into her offspring. The few Tok'ra who aren't her children are other former Goa'uld who had a change of heart like she did and defected from the Goa'uld to the Tok'ra, but unfortunately, none are queens. There are no other Tok'ra queens, in canon. This is why the Tok'ra are portrayed as a dying race.
(Of course, many of us in the fanfic community would like it to be otherwise, and so we have various plans in place to alter this...)

It's become something of an obsession .
She's becoming more and more real in my head every day...

Or make extinction a bit less boring.

Extinction is overrated. The series allowing the Tok'ra (and the Asgard) to face this fate has always irked me a little.

[WraithRichard]

Extinction is overrated. The series allowing the Tok'ra (and the Asgard) to face this fate has always irked me a little.

I've always found it an interesting concept, but not well done in SG.