I have tried not to post random writing stuff on tumblr that much. I used to live tweet my writing sessions sometimes and I felt a bit bad about the spamming. However, sometimes I just got to make a comment.
My WIP list is expanding exponentially, much like the universe .. something that Dr Rush no doubt approves of as a Rushbelle story is the latest on the list.
I was typing out the scenario. Shall I share it? Yeah why not I guess. Basically I have read fics where Belle is a civilian of varying different specializes, one where she was a Lt. but never one where she was a more senior military officer. I was thinking perhaps it would be interesting if she was a Colonel and fought Young for control of Destiny.
Now the problem from the fandom point of view is if Belle is a freshly minted colonel then she is definitely far closer to 40 than 30 and therefore all but eliminating the age difference. However, the age gap has been played with before. I’ve seen it increased and reversed and to be honest age is but a number. I mean their age gap is a couple of hundred years on Once, it’s not really the biggest factor in their relationship.
Anyway, to get back to the point I was going to make (I don’t half ramble sometimes) is I don’t do angst very well because my brain piped up at this point with a twist on the concept.
I have seen fics where Rush and Belle knew one another prior to Destiny, had even worked together and done mutual oblivious pining for one another. However, I have never seen a fic where they were already happily in a relationship.
Yup I don’t want to do the whole angst falling in love thing. I want them to be happily married. I want all the angst to come from external sources. The people that go “Rush is married? Who the hell would marry him?” and of course the stress of working together, which is against regulations but on the other side of the universe, regulations kinda go out the window.
Belle wouldn’t always support Rush in work decisions, she would give him orders he didn’t like, she would refuse his requests and then that could create conflict. There would be favoritism accusations, there would be trust problems given Rush’s reputation with the crew. People would judge her based on her relationship, not on her record.
I don’t know maybe that would make it boring because at the end of the day, they might fight but they would always make up. They love one another and nothing will change that, nothing will tear them apart because they are stronger together.
I just don’t do angst very well.
Not doing angst well is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned! And so many people widen the age gap by making Belle much younger, I see no reason not to make her older for a change. And it’s an interesting idea – presumably when they married, he was just a teacher and had no idea he’d ever be put in a position of coming into conflict with his wife at work. I’m not sure if I can see her as a military officer, when her motto is ‘no one decides my fate but me’. The military is all about surrendering any control of self to your superior officers.
Oooh thank you for your reply! 🙂
Erm also sorry I started typing out a reply and my mind went into complete overdrive as I started thinking about it. So this got kind of long.
I’m going to put it under a cut so it doesn’t clutter people’s dash and be annoying.
Thinking that he would never be in conflict with Belle at work – I had not thought about this! That is an excellent point 🙂 it’s interesting and now I’m thinking how they met. I’m thinking at college. She would be the undergrad and he would be a lecturers assistant studying for his masters/doctorate or something. He would beg her not to go because the military deploys people everywhere and they would be separated. Plus he would be terrified for her safety.
Then when she got into the Stargate program Rush isn’t an idiot. Belle would be saying she had a safe job studying “deep space radar telemetry” and then be coming home bruised and bashed up on occasion. That would be conflict to because he would be torn between his intense need to know vs his respect for Belle and knowing that she would tell him if she could.
Yup your point about Belle “No one chooses my fate but me” is another reason why I thought this twist would be interesting. It is a core part of her character. However, in my opinion that doesn’t mean she won’t take orders, she just won’t be forced into a cause she doesn’t believe in.
Belle does what she thinks is right regardless of the cost. I think we’ve seen that she will take orders, she’ll just do things her way. Jack O’Neill was kinda famous for that on SG1. RDA asked the actual Air Force General chief when he did a guest spot, whether O’Neill would have made it in the Air Force. The General laughed and said he knew many colonels who were much worse.
I kinda thought the background would run something like Belle opting for ROTC for a couple of reasons.
1) I think that means (I’ll have to check) that the Air Force would pick up part of her schooling. I could imagine maybe she wouldn’t be able to afford college otherwise.
2) She wants to see the world and thinks maybe with the military she could travel a bit.
3) She did kinda always want to be a hero, to show what she could do. The hidden Lacey part of her personality perhaps, pushing back against everyone who said she couldn’t do it.
I figure she never intended to make it a career but with her intelligence and perhaps her college major (not sure what to pick yet) she got recruited to the Stargate program. Not straight away. I’m thinking that she was going to quit when her eight years was up (I need to check that number) but they said before you do that, there’s someone that wants to talk to you.
That had to be like a dream come true. Not just seeing the world but the Galaxy! Also the whole Earth under impending annihilation would make for a greater good “have to do my part” and save the day thing. By this point she would be a Captain probably. I need to check the promotion rules to be sure I can get her to colonel in the time frame.
Anyway, Belle would still be herself. Warm, kind, her door would always be open and she would be willing to listen. I think she would be a much more open leader, in terms of communication and also a lot more logical. I can just see her rolling her eyes and saying “if this were a book then …” and Rush going “but it’s reality sweetheart” and Belle saying “yeah but these cliches become cliches for a reason” and then Rush thinks about it, realises she’s right, kisses her and calls her a genius as he dashes off to fix whatever the problem is.
Yeah I might have thought a bit too much about this, oops.
I don’t know if it’s a field that could get you to colonel rank, but she’s got a canon interest in other languages; maybe she started out at least as being an interpreter?
I like that!
I wrote out a response to this and then our power blipped and I lost it all. So first thanks for discussing this with me, it’s a lot of fun to chat about stories and characters, I appreciate it 🙂
I wrote a lot and then I wrote a snippet which popped into my head so I’ll go under the cut again. Snippet is in rough form, just typed it in my phone but figured I would share it anyway.
Anyway, basically I looked it up. If Belle gets an ROTC scholarship she commits to 4 years active service. 4 years service is usually the amount of time needed to make Captain. They mainly give out scholarships for technical or foreign language majors. So languages is an awesome idea!
Candidates are also required to complete 24 hours of study of maths and physical science – I know how she meets Rush!
Having a talent for languages would get her into the Stargate program. She could learn Goa’uld or Ancient etc. fast and become an asset to any off world team. With her love of reading she could be the “cultural” expert, sort of like the Dr Jackson position.
To get promoted beyond Captain (or certainly to colonel) she would need at least a masters degree. The Air Force has a tuition assistance program and she could do it via correspondence (probably) and that would require committing to more years in service. I’m still a bit fuzzy on the rules for this, I shall Google more. Belle loves learning though so I can certainly see how getting a masters degree would be attractive to her.
I did look up and between the ranks after the initial ones there’s 2-3 years minimum service before promotion. On SG1 it took Carter 10+ years to go from Captain to Colonel (I’m not sure how long she was a Captain).
So by the time SGU happened the Stargate program had been operating for 12+ years. Depending on when Belle joined the program will affect her rank when she enters it.
Oh man I want to write this so much now. I came up with this sweet little exchange earlier of when they were doing the initial test dial to Destiny and of course chevron nine will not lock.
*****
(Just wrote this on my phone so it’s not final and probably rubbish)
Frowning, Rush reached over and changed the last symbol on the dialing computer, from the Icarus point of origin, to the symbol for Earth.
“Rush what are you doing?” Young demanded. “I told you to shut it down!”
“Just disproving a theory,” Rush told him, watching the gate spin, practically holding his breath.
The gate hit the Earth symbol and chevron nine – locked. There was the familiar kwoosh of the unstable vortex of the outgoing wormhole before it settled into the shimmering blue puddle. They had done it!
Rush groaned. “Well I just lost a bet with a certain colonel.”
“Colonel Carter?” The airman asked, shooting Rush a curious look, as he directed the MALP through the Stargate.
“No, not that Colonel,” Rush replied absently.
His eyes drifted over the crowd of people watching the successful test. Her chestnut colored hair, carefully tied back in a tidy bun, caught his eye first. She gave him a knowing smirk and Rush smiled softly. Belle would never let him hear the end of this, he had been so certain he was right and that her notion was fanciful. His theory was grounded in science; hers had been based on a logic leap, which admittedly had made sense, but had no basis in fact.
Still it was of no matter, losing a bet with Belle had much the same result as winning and it had been an extremely long six months.
*Pats myself on back for a good suggestion* I can see her and Rush challenging each other to good-natured but still competitive ‘who can translate this first?’ contests. Go for it! OUAT hiatus is the time for SGU fics!
I love all of this! and the snippet was wonderful =D I’ll look forward to the rest of the fic if you want to write it c: @still-searching47
Oh yeah I am definitely going to write this! Thank you so much for your kind comments, I’m grinning now 🙂
I just starting posting a WIP, I got RCIJ, an original novella and original novel to write before September. So when I will write it is the question, the next two months are kinda busy but I have patience issues, in that I have zero patience.
I kinda wish I could just write all the time, or plug my brain into the PC and let the stories out because there is never enough time. Although I think all writers think that 🙂
As soon as I finish RCIJ I will probably start. I am super tempted by all my WIP ideas (I got 4 others) but no this one will be my second I think. So I’ll start in a couple of weeks probably. No promises, I never make promises unless I’m sure I can keep them but hopefully that will work out.
Fun!
