A Word about McElligott
Two recent comments compelled me to expand a little on McElligott, the character. Please keep in mind that Roy's story is chronologically before Eric Olafson's story and while I have greatly expanded on my original story, the core remains the same. At its very center, like a red thread throughout all my stories is the fall of the Old Dark One and his resurrection as the 'New Dark One'.
All stories occur in the "same Universe" and all stories are supposed to be puzzle pieces in a larger whole picture.
The Prophecy of a previous universe, the upper and lower realms, the Arth, and the rise of the Nnnth to become the Narth. The Brothers of Sateer and the First Empire and the Cosmic Elders...all are parts of this, my Space-Opera. While the stories of some of my heroes are self-contained, their actions and reactions and their legacies might be important to the whole puzzle.
Eric's saga is at one end, and Xeno Activities at the other, but Eric's story is not complete as per se. There are many questions and conditions that have their answers in previous stories.
So are the 200 Immortals of which Stahl and McElligott are part off. But who was the Guardian? Why did he come to Earth? Why are there so many humanoid and human species in the M-0 Galaxy? Did the Guardian select and elect Rex Schwartz or Hector Vargas? Who or what selected Cherubim and what is her real task?
These questions are all answered in my "Blueprint" and now I am using an imaginary chisel to carve that blueprint into detailed pieces and stories.
The Guardian selected among other people, an old British Officer. A former Submariner and an Admiral. Unlike Stahl, who was indeed just a United States Marine Lieutenant (that is not exactly a very advanced high rank by all measures of things), McElligott was an Admiral and an "old man" before the Guardian picked him, for the specific task to be the Administrator to build the United Earth Fleet.
Imagine for a moment, an old British officer that went through the rigorous training of HMS Raleigh, went to fine War Academies and has risen to become an Admiral is confronted with a "simple" United States Marine Lieutenant and an alien entity no one really understood at that time made them "equals".
That caused a certain amount of frustration and anger from the very start.
While over the centuries the two men have come to a working understanding there has not been a real friendship.
Things are not helped when the daring-do gung-ho marine hogs much of the limelight. It is a very real thing by the way. Everyone is able to name sports, pop and movie stars, but most are hard-pressed to name three scientists. History books remember war heroes (and villains) but hardly record or recall the ones that built the tanks, ships, armies, and navies those heroes used to gain that fame.
McElligott is not stupid, quite the contrary. He grew up in a world where East and West fought a Cold war with spies and espionage. Where the dirtiest tricks were used by both sides to gain the upper hand. This is what he was thought in his Academy and this was part of his training as a Submarine commandant.
That means he relies much more on intelligence and clandestine tools than Stahl does. This does not mean that he has not the best of the Union's interests at heart, but unlike Stahl who sees everything in Black and White. McElligott sees many shades of Gray (Hence the "Gray" Ghosts, they too see more than one shade).
So, with all this said, McElligott is no angel and has more than one very established character trait, but he is not a "mindless villain" for the sake of it. Yes, he thinks of Stahl as a Buffon and an upstart... and he secretly envies the man. All of which culminates in the "Hearing" btw.
I wanted to shine a little light on McElligott, as this method of Chapter by chapter telling of a story, is not the same as telling it Novel by Novel and in this context, some of his motivation is quite explainable and natural. However, some of it might not be entirely his own and that is a mystery and plot that will be revealed eventually.
Ad Astra
Vanessa Ravencroft