Laura Cadman
{{Infobox Character
|name=Laura Cadman
|image=250px|Laura Cadman">
250px|Laura Cadman
|gender=Female
|home planet=Earth
|born=1972
|race=Tau'ri
|rank=Captain
|allegiances=Laura Cadman was a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and an expert in explosives. After seeing active service during the Gulf War and with the Secret Service, she served as an instructor for a time before being assigned to the Atlantis expedition. She was later promoted to captain and assigned to the George Hammond.
Biography
Background information
Born on Earth in the year 1972 to an unnamed Laura Cadman's mother|mother and Laura Cadman's father|father, little is known of Cadman's life before she completed a degree in electronics. {{Cite|ATL|The DVD Collection 71}}She was, however, a track star during high school and learned to tap dance. {{Cite|ATL|Duet}}
After joining the USMC and enthusiastically completing her basic training, Cadman's experience in modern computer technology led her to study as a bomb disposal expert. These qualifications required Cadman to be in perfect physical health, and have normal color vision. She later passed all of her aptitude tests with high scores, and was granted the security clearance of 'Secret' thanks to her flawless personal background. This meant that Cadman could be cleared for assignments to critical nuclear duty positions. thumb|left|A picture of Cadman with her family.">
thumb|left|A picture of Cadman with her family.
With even more study, Cadman soon became an expert in high temperature and energetic materials technology, providing her with an in-depth knowledge of not just the properties, effects, and storage of high explosives, but also the ability to identify and detect unexploded bombs. Becoming an explosive ordnance disposal specialist, Cadman served her country in the Gulf War with an outstanding service record. Following this service, Cadman went into a support role for the US Secret Service, where she was known to be assigned to VIP missions.
Cadman quickly became the top expert in both researching and identifying ordnance, as well as detecting the presence of chemical agents. Because of this, she became an instructor for other recruits, training them in the preparation and maintenance of EOD tools, equipment, and vehicles. Having already reached the rank of lieutenant, Cadman was proficient in operating emergency contamination control stations as well as emergency personnel decontamination stations and locating buried ordnance. After her stint in the US Secret Service, Cadman joined Stargate Command under Cheyenne Mountain. {{Cite|ATL|The DVD Collection 71}}2005
thumb|right|Cadman and [[Meredith Rodney McKay|Rodney McKay">
thumb|right|Cadman and [[Meredith Rodney McKay|Rodney McKay are captured by a Wraith Dart]]
Cadman was later assigned to the Atlantis expedition when reinforcements were sent on the Daedalus. She, together with Dr. Rodney McKay, were culled by a Wraith Dart on the planet Thenora during an offworld assignment. Before the Dart was able to leave through the Stargate, however, it was shot down by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. Dr. Radek Zelenka was able to access the Wraith beaming device in the Dart and found two lifesigns, but could only rematerialize one with the power in the Dart's damaged energy cell. Sheppard picked one lifesign at random and Zelenka rematerialized it. It turned out to be McKay, who promptly collapsed.
The Tau'ri returned to Atlantis with the damaged Dart in tow, where McKay woke up in the Atlantis infirmary|infirmary only to start hearing Cadman's voice in his head. Somehow, Cadman's consciousness had been transferred into McKay, while her body was still dematerialized in the Dart. She could see and hear what he could, and could talk to him, but only McKay could hear her. McKay thus seemed to be crazy as he started talking to "himself". Cadman started distracting McKay, talking to him while he was trying to work. Eventually, Cadman proved able to control McKay's body if he let her. She used this ability when McKay fell asleep, asking Dr. Carson Beckett to accompany McKay on a date with Dr. Katie Brown and going for a run before heading to her room, as she was displeased with McKay's mattress. McKay was angered that his body had been used without permission, as well as the fact that Cadman had undressed him as she slept in the nude. Cadman later helped McKay out on his date, taking control of his body when he got too nervous and kissing Katie.
thumb|left|Laura Cadman kisses [[Carson Beckett|Carson">
thumb|left|Laura Cadman kisses [[Carson Beckett|Carson in Rodney McKay's body "Just in case"]]
Soon after, however, McKay had a seizure and fainted. It turned out that their constant fighting over control was having a negative effect on McKay's vital functions. One of them had to let go completely, resulting in death, or both of them would die. Cadman volunteered, but McKay, in a flash of inspiration, figured out how to use one of the Stargate's control crystals to separate the two. Because they were unsure if the process would work, Cadman once again took control of McKay's body to kiss Beckett in case she didn't get another chance. Luckily for the two, however, the procedure worked and Cadman was returned to her own body. {{Cite|ATL|Duet}}After the ordeal, both Cadman and McKay returned to their separate quarters to take some time for quiet reflection. {{Cite|ATL|The DVD Collection 71}}
A few weeks later, Cadman, along with six other Marines is assigned to a rescue team led by Major Evan Lorne for the Atlantis Reconnaissance 1|First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team and Doctor Radek Zelenka on M32-3R1. While the team's Puddle Jumper is landed for repairs, Cadman approaches McKay who she notes is exhausted. Having not talked to McKay since they were separated, Cadman tells him she respects his persistence and the fact that he stands by his friends as they did for him when they were stuck together. Cadman tells McKay she really just was trying to help him with Katie, recognizing that McKay really likes Katie and is shy and afraid of rejection rather than being a complete jerk. To McKay's surprise, Cadman expresses regret that he probably had trouble getting dates in high school and she sincerely offers him any advice she can give to help him with Katie. Cadman even offers to tell Katie the truth about what happened on the date so she will understand McKay's strange behavior. Later, Cadman and the rest of the rescue team locate Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon and Zelenka trapped in a labyrinth on the Holy Island. After Sheppard establishes radio contact with the rescue team, they take out the two Wraith guarding the enterance to the labyrinth, allowing the team and a group of survivors from the Games of Life to escape. As the group makes their way to the Puddle Jumper, Cadman takes up position with Ronon to cover the team, making a joke about the size of her P90 compared to Ronon's particle magnum. During the firefight, Cadman kills one Wraith and flushes out a second who is taken down by Sheppard. Boarding the Puddle Jumper, Cadman is squished in as there are eighteen people on board. The Puddle Jumper comes under attack from the High King's Wraith cruiser, but Sheppard tricks the High King in a game chicken into running his cruiser into the planet's energy shield, destroying the cruiser. After returning the people from the Games of Life to their homes, the Atlantis team returns home. {{cite|SGA|Death Game}}
Cadman was later scheduled to leave on the Daedalus when it returned to Earth but rejected the trip, making a request to Lt. Colonel John Sheppard that she stay on Atlantis for a longer amount of time. When the Atlantis expedition was informed that there had been a bomb planted somewhere in the city by an agent of The Trust, it was because of Cadman's wish not to leave, as well as her expertise in explosives, that Dr. Rodney McKay suspected she was the agent. Sheppard quickly rose to defend her, however, saying that she was one of his most trusted officers and also questioning McKay's logic, as he more than anyone would know if she was a traitor. Cadman proved herself loyal, however, by lending the expedition her expertise in finding the bomb. Indeed, it was Cadman who eventually discovered that there had been several deletions made to the command log by Colonel Steven Caldwell, proving that it was he who had set the bomb. {{Cite|ATL|Critical Mass}}
Cadman's relationship with Dr. Carson Beckett went on for some time and, during the crisis with the Ancient time dilation field, the two had a date planned. {{Cite|ATL|Epiphany}}
2006
That date was apparently successful, as the two had another planned while the Atlantis expedition were experimenting with Michael Kenmore, a date which Dr. Carson Beckett felt important enough to mark on his calendar. {{Cite|ATL|Michael}}Their relationship would not last forever, unfortunately, as the two had broken up by the time the crew of the Tria evicted the expedition back to Earth. Though Dr. Carson Beckett, while on Earth, was encouraged to call Cadman by both Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Elizabeth Weir, he stated that the relationship didn't work out possibly due in part to their first kiss being carried out through Dr. Rodney McKay. Cadman later tells Lorne that their relationship ended before Beckett was Misbegotten|captured by Michael and cloned. {{Cite|ATL|The Return, Part 1|Stargate Atlantis: Allegiance{{!}}
Allegiance}}
2009
After returning to the Pegasus Galaxy, Doctor Jennifer Keller tells Doctor Eva Robinson that very few Marine Lieutenants made it home in one piece. She identifies Cadman as one of those who did, stating that Cadman finished a two-year tour on Atlantis and went home safely. {{cite|SGA|Legacy: Homecoming}}Cadman, now a Captain, returns to the Pegasus Galaxy as part of the crew of the George Hammond. While on Atlantis, she briefly catches up with Major Evan Lorne. During the Raid on Atlantis, Cadman is still in the city and takes command of a security team that meets Zelenka and the surviving Control Room technicians after they escape. At Zelenka's request, Cadman assigns some men to guard him on the way to pull the ZPM. After the attack leaves Lorne seriously injured and out of commission for a while, Colonel Samantha Carter agrees to let Lt. Colonel John Sheppard borrow Cadman for a while to replace Lorne, though she refuses to let Cadman stay on Atlantis permanently. During the Battle of the Frozen Planet, Cadman leads a security team in case any Wraith beam into the city, but it proves to be an unnecessary precaution. {{cite|SGA|Stargate Atlantis: Allegiance{{!}}
Allegiance}} When Cadman joined a team to mount an attack on Queen Death and rescue Doctor McKay from the hive ship, she was forced to join Sheppard and Zelenka in evacuating to a hive controlled by Guide while Ronon and Keller took an escape pod to a nearby planet. With Teyla once again posing as Guide's Queen Steelflower, she introduced Cadman to the Wraith as She Who Is Wreathed in Plants of Victory, a kinswoman of She Who Carries Many Things (the Wraith name for Colonel Samantha Carter), essentially identifying Cadman as Carter's relative. (Stargate Atlantis: Secrets)
Appearances
{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" width="100%" ! Appearances for Laura Cadman |- | In chronological order:Equipment
{{Expand}}Weapons
Other equipment
Behind the scenes
Curiously, Cadman's quarters, as seen in "Duet," feature a considerable amount of paraphernalia related to the United States Marine Corps, including Marine recruiting posters and a photo by her bed showing her in a Marine dress uniform. Despite this, Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 71 identifies her as a member of the U.S. Air Force. This is most likely an error on the part of the DVD Collection writer. In the Stargate Atlantis: Legacy series she is depicted as a Marine as well as in Stargate Atlantis: Death Game.External links
{{Source images2}}Category:Americans>Category:Americans Category:Marines>Category:Marines Category:Lieutenants>Category:Lieutenants Category:Captains>Category:Captains Category:Atlantis expedition members>Category:Atlantis expedition members Category:Atlantis military personnel>Category:Atlantis military personnel Category:George Hammond crew>Category:George Hammond crew Category:Recurring Atlantis characters>Category:Recurring Atlantis characters