Let’s talk about Captain Laura Cadman, shall we?
As our first ‘secondary character’ she is a really good one! I could have gone with Radek, and I may do a short post for him, but I really enjoyed Cadman’s screen time (as it were) in this book!
First of all, she is really good at going along with hair-brained schemes.
Which I believe is a must-have quality for anyone who joins the SGC in any capacity.
Case in point- Teyla claims Cadman is Carter’s heir. Thus setting her up for any future interactions she will have with the Wraith because the Wraith ALL know about Carter. They respect her too, even if they’ve only heard stories.
Cadman just stood there looking professional and didn’t betray Teyla at all.
Now, a really cool thing with this book (as has happened with a few others earlier on) is that we get to have flashbacks for characters. Cadman is one of them and when she goes to debrief Carter about what happened, we get to go back to when she and Lt. Ford (remember him?) went through SGC training together.
It’s fun to see that the SGC is still messing with their new recruits and making them prove themselves in a ‘foothold’ situation. It’s just such a classic.
Anyways, Cadman, and Ford of course, proved themselves and went on to either join an SG team or travel to Atlantis.
Cadman, amongst her other credentials, is one of the few Lt.’s to survive Atlantis and go back to Earth alive (I’ll have to check, but she may be the only one actually).
I like that we see how unsure of herself she is and how touched she is that Carter believes in her enough to have a private conversation to, essentially, kick her butt into a higher gear. Cadman is good, really good.
The fact that both Teyla and Carter see such potential in her makes me think that she very likely goes on to command her own ship. I doubt we would have gotten to see that far ahead even if the series’ hadn’t ended, but it’s fun to imagine (and write fics to explore such things).
Can you imagine Cadman going up against Guide? At this point in her life she’d be eaten alive (pun not necessarily intended) which means she would be even worse off dealing with the Queens. She has it in her. You can see it in how she reacts to things, adapting as needed without losing herself, she’s a good person who tries to do the right thing.
Sounds like Carter, doesn’t it?
The parallels are great when you see them, which is why I really think she’d get her own ship or command at least if she didn’t want a ship (she does, let’s be honest here). Carter would no doubt be right there during the ceremonies with O’Neill, beaming at how far Cadman had gone an dhow far she’d go yet.
Wouldn’t it be REALLY cool if the authors got to revisit the Stargate world and write new material where we got to see what happened? Even if it was one of those ‘alternate reality’ situations it would be fun because of how things are set up in the Legacy series’ you can tell there’s more that can be told.
In any case, enough for tonight because I work early tomorrow. I will see people next week!
The Dark Library 