Originally posted by SeekerOfAUTMN
reply to post by nenothtu
Neno probably learned some of the hard lessons on Khala-whatever-that-planet's-called.
Sometimes you gotta do what's wrong to do what's right.
Oh and happy fourth of July to whoever is celebrating it. Not sure where everyone is from, but enjoy yourselves anyway.
Me... I have some explosives to go set off.
Yeah, he learned some hard lessons on Khalamzadar. But he also learned 'em on Black Rock, Wotan, Ninkidu, and several other battlefield worlds over
time. I swear, one day I'll get to writing a character history, and leave it vague enough to add stuff that pops up in the future (like Black Rock -
I'd have never built that in to his original specifications, since it was Badger's concept), and specific enough to peg his reasonings.
For neno, this isn't a matter of right or wrong, it's a matter of what's effective, and insures the ship and crews arrival alive on the other side
of the battle, and helps insure against the necessity of future battles, because he really doesn't like fighting, but one does what one is good at.
The more thorough the victory, the less likely a repeat performance in the future.
He doesn't like fighting, because people get killed and things get torn up, and one day, one of those people getting killed is gonna be him. He'll
do whatever he feels necessary to push that date with destiny as far into the future as he can, as long as it doesn't endanger the crew of "his"
boat.
He feels it's "his" boat, because he's tasked with the safety and security of the Penelope.
I guess it might be a matter of "right" and "wrong", but his perceptions of those concepts don't necessarily agree with what is determined to be
"normal".
It's "right" for "his" people aboard Penelope to survive and thrive. That include every man-jack aboard. He tends to feel more responsibility
than is actually his.
It's "wrong" for "his" people to be killed or threatened.
He's often harsh and abrasive with those same people he serves because it gets their attention, and helps them to develop their own survival mindset,
even if only out of fear of what HE might do to them.
Kind of like what drill sergeants used to do to recruits, he's cruel to be kind.
He's really a pretty simple man, and has pretty simple views, but to some, such as Studious, and perhaps Luder and Badger, those "simple" views may
be well nigh incomprehensible.
He DOES have a heart, but he ain't gonna let you see it if he can help it. In his mind that might compromise his combat effectiveness.
His sense of duty, honor, and loyalty is WAY too overdeveloped, but may not always coincide with the common definitions of those concepts.
That's why he didn't mind completely and totally obliterating the NI ships. They were a threat, and had to be dealt with on a permanent basis, so
THOSE NI agents would never become a threat again. That's also why he's going to back up Asher just as far as he is humanly able to push it.
Besides, he made a pact of sorts with Asher in the captain's ready room in the NI interview episode. His sense of honor and loyalty won't allow him
to back out of it now that Asher's apparently in the grease.
Through thick and thin. That's what Brotherhood is about. If you abandon a brother when he needs you the most, you're a waste of otherwise perfectly
good skin.
[edit on 2009/7/5 by nenothtu]
