Rush willing to sacrifice the remaining crew

[garhkal]

As much as I do not like Rush, I really like Rush. I hate the things he does and says, but then it makes sense. He evaluates things on facts, and not so much what if's. This is how it is, this is what has to be done. The end.
Eli on the other hands see lots of "what ifs" and tries to hold on to them. He could not bring himself to sacrifice people, even if it was for the best. He would try his best to do whatever he could to keep people alive.
That being said... we know Eli would never be in control... he couldnt make that kind of decision. Even if he knew it was for the best... or if people agreed to be sacrificed...

Agreed. While some hate people that are logically pragmatic, it also made the best sense tactically. Military people understand that sometimes you have to sacrifice people to achieve your goal.

I saw Rush's willingess to sacrifice the crew as sort of a commentary on Young's failure to sacrifice Telford when the Lucian Alliance first boarded the ship. If he had done that, this whole thing would have been prevented (thus a lot of good drama and action would not have happened lol), lives on both sides would have been saved. Rush was willing to do what Young could not do, and Young's decision was just one life.

It does bring young's inaction more into light... And also proves to others that young does NOT have the gumption to do what is necessary.

Not sure. It's easy to sit back and try to be rational about something like that but until you are in the situation it's pure speculation. Part of me would like to think I could be coldly rational and sacrifice those people. Another part of me hates that part of me.

Agreed. Parents face that all the time.. logically it is best to let your kid(s) do what ever and learn from their mistakes (it is how most of us probabily learned).. but too many these days seem to want to shelter them from any harm.

Also, the only two they knew for sure were still alive (Scott and Greer) already gave the "blessing".

I noticed Brody did not budge to follow rush's order until scott called in and gave consent to do it..

[Lt. Jeffer]

I think i would have done the same i would be an tough decision but this was the only way
Its ironic that Rush was in the same situation like Young in Incursion

[Kaiphantom]

I saw Rush's willingess to sacrifice the crew as sort of a commentary on Young's failure to sacrifice Telford when the Lucian Alliance first boarded the ship. If he had done that, this whole thing would have been prevented (thus a lot of good drama and action would not have happened lol), lives on both sides would have been saved. Rush was willing to do what Young could not do, and Young's decision was just one life. I think it amplified that Young wasn't supposed to be in command, and I hope we look more in depth into Young's military history in the future to see what makes him tick.

This.

I find it interesting people were trying to portray Young as not stupid for refusing to risk one life to save everyone else. And then turn around and say Rush was brilliant for being willing to sacrifice 3-4 others to save the rest. I mean, there was still a chance Telford still could have been saved when the LA boarded. But a radiation pulse was basically going to kill everyone.

So, which is it? Is Young bad for refusing to risk one life and trying to save everyone? Or is Rush bad for making the call to sacrifice 3-4 people to save the rest?

On the sliding scale of cynicism vs. idealism, I think we can safely say where SGU falls now: cynicism. There is no place for idealism in this universe, since Rush was right and Young was wrong.

[jelgate]

I think its a little unfair to say Rush was dead right and dead wrong. Rush had the advantage of having all the intel of the situation of the Lucian Alliance attack. Something Young lacked in Incursion.

[Kaiphantom]

I think its a little unfair to say Rush was dead right and dead wrong. Rush had the advantage of having all the intel of the situation of the Lucian Alliance attack. Something Young lacked in Incursion.

How can you say that? Telford told Young they were coming. They had procedures in place to deal with (ala vent the gateroom). You don't get better prepared than that.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Kai,

How can you say that? Telford told Young they were coming. They had procedures in place to deal with (ala vent the gateroom). You don't get better prepared than that.

Exactly. What Young appeared to lack was the nerve to do what he had to do.

[talyn2k1]

It wasn't even a matter of Young having to sacrifice Telford. All he had to do was vent atmosphere from the gate room, wait for everyone in there to pass out, then restore the life support, get Telford and put the LA in a secure room before they wake up. When you are deprived of oxygen you don't die the second you pass out. This was the one big thing that bothered me in Incursion as the solution seemed so simple and sacrifice-free.

[Aurora24]

The situations that Rush and Young faced were somewhat different. Young thought he could still salvage the situation while saving his friend's life, while Rush knew the only way to retake the ship and rescue his people was to put the Lucien Alliance members in a surrender or die situation. Rush was counting on the Lucien Alliance to members to save themselves by surrendering, which is something most sane people would do in that situation. What he hadn't taken into account was that Dannic was clearly insane, and willing to risk being killed to keep control of the ship. His people, on the other hand were not willing to take that risk. So, pragmatically speaking Rush did the right thing under the circumstances. Besides which, even if Rush had returned the shields to full strength it is likely that everyone on our side would be killed with the exception of Rush and possibly Eli. I'd like to think that if I were in that situation, and trapped outside hydroponics I would agree to the plan (of course at the same time I would hope and pray that the LA would surrender).

[SciFiRick]

It wasn't even a matter of Young having to sacrifice Telford. All he had to do was vent atmosphere from the gate room, wait for everyone in there to pass out, then restore the life support, get Telford and put the LA in a secure room before they wake up. When you are deprived of oxygen you don't die the second you pass out. This was the one big thing that bothered me in Incursion as the solution seemed so simple and sacrifice-free.

I think it is worth mentioning that Young decided not to vent the atmosphere in the gate room not because it was his friend Telford but he thought that he would be killing Rush. Young wasn't even looking at the monitor. Brody is the one who said to look when Telford's body came through the gate. That leads me to believe that Brody even thought that Young should see this before pushing the button to vent the gate room.

Remember, Young did not know that the communication stones disconnected the link when Telford's body came through the gate. When I saw Young's facial expression after Rush told him about the disconnect, I got the impression Young would have went through with the plan. IMO, I think if Young KNEW that Rush was back in is own body that he would have followed through with the original plan.

I am not saying your comment is wrong by the way. It is a logical thought and should have been considered. I guess you have to ask yourself, Will everyone pass out at the same exact time? Remember, Young waited for Rush's body to die and then he looked at his watch before telling Brody to open the door. Would there have been enough military guys to revive everyone. All the civilians were not in the defense area so they would have been no help. If it worked out perfectly that would have saved both Telford & Rush. But then what do you do with all the prisoners, how do you feed them? You gain their supplies which Destiny now has anyway but did not include food or water. The crew was already back on rationing.

[coZma]

Rush just did what Young should have done 3 episodes ago. If he would have risked sacrificing Telford none of this would have happened .It's a bit ironic that the civilian did what the commanding officer was trained to do but hey, such is life, people mischoose their careers every day....

[Blackhole]

I saw Rush's willingess to sacrifice the crew as sort of a commentary on Young's failure to sacrifice Telford when the Lucian Alliance first boarded the ship. If he had done that, this whole thing would have been prevented (thus a lot of good drama and action would not have happened lol), lives on both sides would have been saved. Rush was willing to do what Young could not do, and Young's decision was just one life. I think it amplified that Young wasn't supposed to be in command, and I hope we look more in depth into Young's military history in the future to see what makes him tick.

I agree.

[Girlbot]

Rush is Destiny's Nixon. Too scary to challenge

[Blackhole]

It wasn't even a matter of Young having to sacrifice Telford. All he had to do was vent atmosphere from the gate room, wait for everyone in there to pass out, then restore the life support, get Telford and put the LA in a secure room before they wake up. When you are deprived of oxygen you don't die the second you pass out. This was the one big thing that bothered me in Incursion as the solution seemed so simple and sacrifice-free.

I agree that would have been the best tactical solution.

If he had given the scenario more thought he could have had two soldiers in spacesuits in the adjacent room (also in vacuum) ready to go in with resuscitation equipment. As soon as Telford is seen they go in and put an oxygen mask on him. I doubt the the arriving force would be much of a threat if they arrived to a hard vacuum. I would think it would immediately incapacitate everyone. The possibility of Telford arriving with the LA invasion force should easily have been anticipated.

[Blackhole]

I think it is worth mentioning that Young decided not to vent the atmosphere in the gate room not because it was his friend Telford but he thought that he would be killing Rush. Young wasn't even looking at the monitor. Brody is the one who said to look when Telford's body came through the gate. That leads me to believe that Brody even thought that Young should see this before pushing the button to vent the gate room.

Remember, Young did not know that the communication stones disconnected the link when Telford's body came through the gate. When I saw Young's facial expression after Rush told him about the disconnect, I got the impression Young would have went through with the plan. IMO, I think if Young KNEW that Rush was back in is own body that he would have followed through with the original plan.

I am not saying your comment is wrong by the way. It is a logical thought and should have been considered. I guess you have to ask yourself, Will everyone pass out at the same exact time? Remember, Young waited for Rush's body to die and then he looked at his watch before telling Brody to open the door. Would there have been enough military guys to revive everyone. All the civilians were not in the defense area so they would have been no help. If it worked out perfectly that would have saved both Telford & Rush. But then what do you do with all the prisoners, how do you feed them? You gain their supplies which Destiny now has anyway but did not include food or water. The crew was already back on rationing.

All Young had to do was order the stones immediately disconnected as soon as the gate connected. That would have take Rush's life out of the equation.

[SGeff]

this is a right thing to do as a leader, if Young had done it earlier there would be only one man dead, Telford.