Gen. Jack O'Neill

Your name or online alias: Cerie
Your email: superxconductor@gmail.com
Another preferred means of contact: superxconductor
Character's Full Name: Jack O'Neill
Character's Canon: Stargate
Character's Canon Point: Stargate Atlantis 3x11 - "The Return pt. II"
Character's Journal Name: has_2ls
What would you like your character's tag to be?: jack o'neill

Answer the following questions in no less than 300 words but no greater than 1000 words put together...
Character's background (their past and present):

Jack O’Neill’s entire life, in one way or another, has been tied up with the USAF since he turned 18. Raised by a single mother in Minnesota, Jack always wanted to fly and the best way to make that happen was to enlist, so he did. He ran special ops in the Middle East during the 1980s, got married, had a kid and life was, well, pretty damn perfect. But bad things don’t always happen to bad people and Jack’s life was no exception to that. His son, Charlie, accidentally shot himself with Jack’s service weapon and that single event sent his life into a major tailspin. He grew distant from his wife, eventually divorcing her, and took on a suicide mission with the USAF for the Stargate project: go through the gate to a planet named Abydos, blow it up, save the world. It was a fool’s errand and Jack was fool enough to take it.

A strange thing happened on Abydos, though, and Jack pulled through the mission having made a friend in Dr. Daniel Jackson and of the Abydonian people, especially Skaara, who reminded him of his son. While he still tendered his resignation to the Air Force, he was in a better place, and things were finally looking up. When interest renewed in gate travel and in Abydos, it’s Jack that they recruit back to the project and in spite of his reluctance, he ended up commanding the flagship team, SG-1, along with Jackson, Captain Samantha Carter and Goa’uld-supplicant-turned-ally Teal’c.

Over the next ten years, Jack would save the world over and over again, first from the Goa’uld, semi-immortal beings who touted themselves as gods and thought of humans as cattle and later against the Replicators and eventually against the Ori, a threat even more dire than the Goa’uld. He saw the gate program evolve from one trip to one planet to trips all over the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies and rose in the ranks from colonel to two star general and the director of Homeworld Security, the last stop in Earth’s defenses. Generals don’t normally get to engage in gate travel and when the IOA and Homeworld Security want to oversee the progress in Atlantis personally, Jack jumps at the chance to do something other than sit behind a desk. Little does he know that the Asurans, Pegasus Galaxy’s form of Replicators, have hijacked Atlantis and left the team there with little option other than to blow up the city: Jack’s standing orders.

Character's personality:

While far removed from the suicidal bordering on insane man he was just after the death of his son, Jack is far from the model of a USAF general. He is irreverent, sarcastic and has a blatant disregard for authority in spite of the fact that he is, for the most part the authority. He isn’t good at compromise or negotiation and in spite of all this, he gets the job done.

Jack is doggedly determined, even when a logical person would give up, and closed doors are something to be blown through with C4 instead of a stopping point. He is loyal to his team and self-sacrificing and would much rather blow his own ass up than see anyone under his command injured or compromised. He isn’t the smartest guy in the room (Carter and Jackson have that sewn up) and he’s not always the brawniest but he has enough dedication and guts to pull himself through the diciest of situations, especially when the odds are not in his favor.

While Jack is the first guy to admit he’s not very bright, he has a tendency to play down his intelligence so that others underestimate him and he’s excellent at reading people and judging character. He’s damn good at keeping a secret, which has served him well in both personal and professional endeavors and he keeps his emotions close to the chest both out of professional necessity and to protect himself. Jack has trouble forming close relationships and when threatened, pushes away those he loves instead of risking another devastating loss like his son. Generally speaking, he’s more likely to make light of a serious situation with an off-color joke than have any heart-to-hearts just before a firefight and he doesn’t like considering the possibility of failure. He can, and will, make decisions for the good of the many rather than the few but he tries to make those situations come up few and far between.

While his individual qualities don’t exactly lend themselves to making a great leader and a brilliant military tactician, there’s more to Jack O’Neill than the sum of his parts and he’s always going to put himself between those he loves and danger, even if it means taking a bullet or three and it’s that selflessness that makes him the general that Earth needs running the show.

Character's skills/abilities/powers:

Jack is a career Air Force man and has spent time in special forces as well as in admin. He's got familiarity with flying most standard USAF planes in addition to alien tech from the Goa'uld and the Asgard. He carries the Ancient gene, which means he can use Ancient technology.

Any special equipment your character is bringing along? This includes weaponry, magic items, etc.: His side arm, a zat (energy weapon) and his uniform.

Are you bringing your character to ten_fwd from another game? If you are, which game?: n/a
If you answered yes above, briefly summarize how they were changed by and what challenges they faced in the climate of their previous game(s): n/a
Why do you want to play this character in Ten Forward, and what do you plan to do with them?

I think there is a depth to Jack that many people (myself included) can miss on the first glance. While it is insanely fun to play a witty, sarcastic character, there is a subtlety to Jack O'Neill that can only truly be explored through in depth writing and character development. The environment of the game, taking Jack from a heated situation in his own canon that he is in the midst of handling, is enough of a stressor that Jack would be able to evaluate his own motives and methods of engagement and perhaps let his team (or what is there of his team) know that he actually does care about them. I hope to be able to develop meaningful CR with the SG-1 characters currently in game: Carolyn Lam and Jonas Quinn.

One of the things I truly enjoy about pan-fandom RP is the ability to interact with people from another fandom and I have missed being able to do this with Jack since I haven't had him in a proper game for quite a while. Additionally, Jack is familiar with Star Trek in his own canon and I feel like he would be absolutely fascinated with winding up on the Enterprise and be able to jump into gameplay easily from day 1.

Writing Sample #1: Here
Writing Sample #2 (optional): Here

I have more if you need them!