Nicholas Rush
{{canon}}
{{Infobox Character
|name=Nicholas Rush
|image=250px">
250px
|race=Tau'ri
|home planet=Earth
|gender=Male
|born=
|died=
|rank=Civilian Doctor
|allegiances=Doctor Nicholas Rush is a brilliant, albeit machiavellian, scientist and an expert in Ancient technology, comparable to the likes of Colonel Samantha Carter and Dr. Rodney McKay. He is a member of the Destiny expedition|team sent and later trapped aboard the Ancient vessel Destiny.
Biography
{{Expand}}Background information
Nicholas Rush was born into a poor family. His father worked in the shipyards of Glasgow. Rush was working two jobs until he earned a scholarship at Oxford. Prior to going to work for the Stargate Program, Rush was a college professor at the University of California, Berkeley and worked at Cornell University with Dr. Andrew Covel. Despite being a professor at Cal, Rush, prior to his visit to Novus, had never experienced an earthquake even though parts of the University itself lies directly on the San Andres Fault line. At some point he married Gloria Rush. He was recruited by Dr. Daniel Jackson to work on the Icarus project|ninth chevron project, which he would spend two years on. His wife died from cancer during this period, driving Rush to see the fruits of his labor at any cost. {{cite|SGU|Air, Part 3|Human|Epilogue}}He was a Cigarette|smoker before boarding Destiny and a heavy consumer of coffee, drinking several cups a day. He, and others in the same situation, quickly began going through withdrawal symptoms from lack of caffeine and Nicotine withdrawal|nicotine aboard. {{cite|SGU|Darkness}}
2009
{{Quote|Destiny|This ship - coming here - was my destiny. My life's work was to be here.|Nicholas Rush|Light}}thumb|left|Nicholas Rush on board the [[Destiny">
thumb|left|Nicholas Rush on board the [[Destiny''.]]
In 2009, Rush was stationed at the Icarus Base in order to research the purpose of the Stargate's ninth chevron. When Eli Wallace discovered the formula that would finally allow them to successfully dial the ninth chevron, he personally visited Eli, along with Lt. General Jack O'Neill, to recruit him into the program. The failure of Eli's formula to make a connection caused some friction between them, as Rush was set in his belief that the address they were using was right. While Eli was invited to a special dinner being held for the base's guests, Rush cried over a photo of his Gloria Rush|wife.
The Battle of Icarus Base|base was attacked shortly thereafter, threatening to destroy the planet. Rush, fearing that his life's work would literally go up in flames, enlisted Eli's aid in figuring out how to dial the ninth chevron. Accepting Eli's unconventional logic that the ninth chevron address was actually a code, he aborted the dialing sequence to Earth and successfully made a connection with the ninth chevron, unconvincingly justifying his actions by claiming that the blast from the exploding planet could have followed them back through the wormhole (he could have dialed plenty of active gates in the Milky Way if he was concerned for Earth). Unable to undo his actions, the remaining Icarus personnel were forced to evacuate through the gate, arriving on the Destiny - an Ancient vessel located in a Unnamed galaxy (Air)|galaxy billions of light years from home - with no way to get back.
After arriving on the Destiny, Rush was the first to begin exploring the ship. When he realized that the life support system was failing, he attempted a restart of the system, which he believed would restore normal operations. Eli attempted to dissuade him, believing that doing so could blow up the ship, and MSgt. Ronald Greer held Rush at gunpoint to keep him from implementing the plan, as Rush's actions were responsible for stranding them in the first place. Greer was ordered to stand down by Lt. Matthew Scott. Rush was allowed to attempt the restart, but it ended in failure.
Later, he was the first to use the long-range communication device (brought aboard by Colonel Everett Young) to inform O'Neill of the situation. Upon returning to the Destiny, he told the crew that O'Neill put him in charge of the expedition (which was at best a very liberal interpretation of O'Neill's orders). The crew did not take well to his self-appointed leadership, but Lt. Scott restored order, believing Rush to be their best hope of returning home.
Having localized the life-support problem to the air filtration system, namely the CO2 scrubbers, and a large hole in one of the Ancient shuttle|shuttles, Rush suggested that someone on board would have to sacrifice themselves to essentially "plug" the hole since the airlock doors were damaged. Rush began reviewing the personnel, attempting to find the one whose absence would least affect their chances of survival. His efforts were preempted by Senator Alan Armstrong, who took it upon himself to sacrifice his life to seal the damaged shuttle. With that problem dealt with, he focused on trying to repair the scrubbers. Destiny would eventually drop out of FTL in range of a Desert planet (Air)|desert planet with the necessary materials, and Rush joined the away team to search for them.
thumb|right|200px|Rush tells [[Ronald Greer|Greer">
thumb|right|200px|Rush tells [[Ronald Greer|Greer to shoot Jeremy Franklin|Franklin.]]
The heat of the desert planet eventually became too much for Rush to handle. He gave his remaining water to Scott and asked to return to the Stargate alone. Scott, however, ordered Greer to escort Rush back to the Gate and continued on his own. Expecting Greer to share his water on the trip back to the gate, Rush incited an altercation. It ended quickly, since Rush could not overpower Greer and Greer couldn't just shoot him. Hearing over the radio from Eli that Andrea Palmer, Sgt. Curtis, and Dr. Jeremy Franklin intended to go to another Planet (Air, Part 3)|nearby planet, he and Greer returned in time to stop Franklin, though they arrived too late to save Curtis and Palmer. Scott eventually managed to locate the necessary materials, and Rush helped to integrate them into the failing life support. {{Cite|SGU|Air, Part 1|Air, Part 2|Air, Part 3}}thumb|left|Rush collapses after a nervous breakdown.">
thumb|left|Rush collapses after a nervous breakdown.
With that problem solved, Rush shifted focus from life-support to the ship's power reserves, which were depleting rapidly. Short-tempered due to lack of sleep, caffeine withdrawal due to lack of coffee, and nicotine withdrawal due to lack of cigarettes, he drove away any attempt to help him. When power failed completely, he broke into a rant while explaining the situation to Colonel Everett Young. This devolved into a nervous breakdown, and Rush collapsed, remaining unconscious for about ten hours. He woke up in time to learn that the ship was on course for a potentially livable star system, only for the ship to instead end up on course for that system's Star (Light)|star.
Young arranged a lottery to determine who would be allowed to use the shuttle to escape the doomed ship. Rush had Young take his name out, saying that Destiny was his destiny and he wanted to die on the ship. Rush spent his remaining time in his room reading. He eventually realized that their impending deaths were behind schedule, and discovered that the ship in fact plotted a course into the star on purpose to recharge its reactors. This posed a problem, as the Ancient shuttle was about to be left behind, but Rush managed to activate the subspace communication array to contact them. Eli Wallace's planetary slingshot calculations were then transmitted to the shuttle so they could reach the ship in time. Later, Young invited Rush to join their celebration, but Rush refused, not seeing anything worth celebrating. Young speculates that Rush might have known all along what the ship was doing, but the others don't share his opinion. {{cite|SGU|Darkness|Light}}Several weeks later, Rush and several others determined that the ship's water supplies were disappearing at an impossible rate. The ship stopped at Hoth|an ice planet, allowing Colonel Everett Young and Lt. Matthew Scott to collect more water. Meanwhile, Rush joined the effort to discover the source of the drain, which was revealed to be a colony of dust bugs Scott had accidentally brought back with him from the Desert planet (Air)|desert planet. He deliberately kept this information from Young, as Young needed to focus on retrieving more water, against Eli Wallace's protests, then sternly informed Eli that grown-ups sometimes needed to lie for the greater good. While Scott was in the crevasse trapped, he expressed more concern for the ice than for the safe rescue of Scott. He also helped to develop and enact a plan to remove the bugs from the ship. {{Cite|SGU|Water}}
When the International Oversight Advisory put a plan forth to return the crew home, he expressed major concerns over the dangers it presented. When Colonel David Telford assumed command (using the Long-range communication device) to enact the plan, he helped under great reluctance, doing everything he could to slow Telford's implementation of the plan, as Telford's rush to enact it put the entire ship at risk. Following Sgt. Hunter Riley's injuries, he confronted Telford on the safety of the plan, blaming Telford for Riley's fate (though Telford asserted it was Rush's fault). Rush was present when Telford's team attempted to dial the gate. When it appeared the plan was doomed to failure, Telford's team left the ship. Making sure they had all left, Rush then ended the experiment, having staged the entire show as an elaborate ruse to get rid of Telford and prevent a catastrophic incident. Colonel Everett Young would later have Eli Wallace investigate the possible success of this plan, which ended in failure in every scenario Eli ran. {{Cite|SGU|Earth|Life}}
During a routine exploration of the ship, Rush and MSgt. Ronald Greer discovered the Destiny interface chair, a device similar in purpose to the Repository of knowledge encountered by Lt. General Jack O'Neill. Rush advocated having someone sit in the chair, reasoning that its more primitive design might not be fatal to humans as the later model was, and that the data it contained could grant them full control of the ship. Colonel Everett Young forbade any access to the chair, and asserted that the only person Rush would get to sit in it would be Rush himself. Rush attempted to force the issue by faking the discovery of a planet similar to Icarus Base, but Young remained steadfast in his refusal and Rush's deception was soon uncovered by Eli Wallace. {{Cite|SGU|Life}}
thumb|right|Young confronts Rush about framing him.">
thumb|right|Young confronts Rush about framing him.
When Sgt. Spencer committed suicide, Rush was the first to find his body. Seeing it as an opportunity, he took Spencer's gun and hid it in Colonel Everett Young's room to frame him for murder. Rush knew the charge would never stick, but would create enough reasonable doubt to remove Young from command. This put Camile Wray in charge and gave him the freedom to research the Destiny interface chair. This in turn gave Dr. Jeremy Franklin the opportunity to sit in it, rendering him catatonic. Young blamed Rush for Franklin's state, under the belief that Rush was hoping for someone to sit in the chair out of desperation. When Eli Wallace uncovered Kino footage that showed Spencer's suicide and Rush's theft of the weapon, which Rush had tried to delete from the archive, he reported it to Young. Young confronted Rush alone on a Gravel pit planet|planet with a Nakai fighter|damaged alien ship, and attacked him when Rush proved wholly unapologetic about the frame-up. Young knocked Rush unconscious and left him on the planet. {{cite|SGU|Justice}}thumb|left|200px|After discovering Rush is a prisoner, Young attempts to free him.">
thumb|left|200px|After discovering Rush is a prisoner, Young attempts to free him.
After coming to, Rush's first act was to explore the Nakai fighter. In doing so, he triggered a homing beacon which summoned the Nakai. They took him prisoner, Nakai mind probe|probing his mind for information on Destiny. When Colonel Everett Young took control of Everett Young's Nakai host|one of the aliens through the communication device, the Nakai mothership|mothership Rush was on confronted Destiny. It attacked, and one of its fighters kidnapped Chloe Armstrong. Young attempted to use the communication device to free Chloe, but ended up freeing Rush instead. Rush instructed Young in the use of the alien mind probing technology, learning the identity of his rescuer but also breaking the communication link. Rush used the mind probe on the alien to find Chloe's location and teach himself to use their technology, then killed the alien. Unable to get back, Young tried to destroy the mothership. Rush, meanwhile, escaped the ship with Chloe shortly before it went to FTL. In private, Young and Rush decided to bury their rivalry for the sake of the crew. Rush, however, still did not trust Young to be in command, and schemed with Camile Wray to remove him. {{cite|SGU|Space}}When the opportunity came, Rush and Camile Wray launched their plan to isolate the military and force them to surrender. While Colonel Everett Young and Lt. Matthew Scott were using the Ancient shuttle to destroy a Nakai fighter that was attached to the hull, Rush started to transfer control from the Control interface room to a Research lab. This caused the shuttle's Docking clamps to fail. Rush was forced to stop the transfer prematurely so they could dock, losing control of life support as a result. He then bargained to have Eli Wallace brought over to his side, requiring Eli's assistance in bolstering the shields for an impending alien attack. The true reason behind his mutiny was that the aliens implanted a Tracking implant|transmitter inside his chest, and he feared that Young might kill him trying to remove it. Young managed to end the mutiny during the attack and ordered the transmitter removed. Chloe used the Long-range communication device to switch with Dr. Brightman, who with the aid of Lt. Tamara Johansen was able to remove the device. Destiny managed to weather the assault and escaped into FTL. {{cite|SGU|Divided}}
When Destiny dropped out of FTL near an Uncharted star, Rush used the time to strengthen the shield in unexplored sections of the ship. One of the teams found a Ancient maintenance robot|robot which Rush decided to leave be while he dealt with more important matters. In his off time, he also began work on carving a chess set. Colonel Everett Young tried again to bury the hatchet with Rush, expressing his own fondness for the game. {{cite|SGU|Faith}}
thumb|right|Rush uses the interface chair.">
thumb|right|Rush uses the interface chair.
A short time later, Rush and Dr. Adam Brody modified the Destiny interface chair so Rush could use it safely in an attempt to glean the ship's Destiny master code|master code. Once in the chair, his experience took the form of a lucid dream of his days just prior to joining the Stargate Program. Treating it as a distraction, he ignored the vision of Gloria Rush despite her failing health, though he did take some time to comfort her. Eventually, he realized that the number 46 kept appearing everywhere he looked. Realizing that this was the key to deciphering the master code, he left the program, stopping to have a heartfelt conversation with the vision of his wife about his immoral behavior. He then devised a program to decipher the master code based on what he learned. {{cite|SGU|Human}}During his time in the chair, a team consisting of Lt. Matthew Scott, MSgt. Ronald Greer, Eli Wallace, and Chloe Armstrong were stranded on a Ruins planet|planet and unable to return to Destiny before it jumped to FTL. With the help of the other scientists, Rush was able to produce a map of the gate system in the galaxy, and Destiny's position relative to it. With the knowledge that Destiny was about to leave the galaxy, Rush and Lt. Vanessa James led a rescue mission to attempt to retrieve the lost away team. They split to cover more ground when it became clear that Destiny had bypassed numerous gates. James' team found Greer, while Rush came back empty-handed. Unfortunately, Rush's team dialed in just when Scott, Eli, and Chloe, who had managed to find an alternate route, were trying to do the same, blocking them. Destiny left the galaxy before they could dial again. {{cite|SGU|Human|Lost}}
thumb|left|200px|Amanda gives Rush a comforting hug.">
thumb|left|200px|Amanda gives Rush a comforting hug.
Rush quickly discovered that Destiny lacked the power to make the trip across the void. Rush proposed using the Long-range communication device to bring aboard Dr. Amanda Perry, a hyperdrive specialist. The Nakai used this opportunity to take control of Lt. Vanessa James and sabotage the Faster-Than-Light engine. This gave Lt. Matthew Scott, Eli Wallace, and Chloe Armstrong the chance to dial back in. Eli gave Rush back his glasses, which he had lost on the Nakai fighter from which he was abducted. Eli, Rush, and Perry managed to repair the drive. The aliens attacked Destiny before the system could be restarted, but with the help of Dr. Jeremy Franklin and the Destiny interface chair, Destiny was able to enter FTL again and make the journey across the void. {{cite|SGU|Sabotage}}Some time later, Rush was one of several people infected with Alien tick|hallucination-inducing ticks. His hallucinations took the form of an invasion by the Nakai. Meanwhile, MSgt. Ronald Greer's hallucinations took the form of another mutiny by Rush and Camile Wray. Seeing Greer as an alien, Rush fled into a supply room, followed by Greer. Greer in turn was followed by Wray. Seeing Wray as an alien, too, he stabbed her with a screwdriver before being knocked out by Greer. Greer was subdued before he could kill either Rush or Wray, and Rush was also restrained when he began attacking everyone in sight. The ticks were removed by Lt. Tamara Johansen, restoring them to normal. {{cite|SGU|Pain}}
thumb|right|200px|Rush is [[Lucian Alliance torture device|tortured">
thumb|right|200px|Rush is [[Lucian Alliance torture device|tortured by Kiva.]]
After using the Long-range communication device to switch with Colonel David Telford, Rush began seeing pieces of Telford's memory which indicated he was a spy for the Lucian Alliance. He advised Colonel Everett Young of the situation, and arranged to switch with Telford during the next scheduled contact with Earth in order to confirm his suspicions. He successfully made contact with the Alliance, pretending to be Telford, but was betrayed by his lack of knowledge of their procedures. He was kidnapped and taken off the planet in a Tel'tak. He was Lucian Alliance torture device|tortured by Commander Kiva into revealing his identity, then taken to their Lucian Alliance outpost|base, a recreation of the Icarus project. Rush was forced into completing their work into dialing the ninth chevron, while Telford was interrogated by Young on Destiny. Rush stalled as much as he could, which gave Young the time he needed to break Telford's brainwashing and get the location of the Alliance base. The George Hammond was dispatched to rescue Rush, but this instead forced the Alliance to dial ahead of schedule, reaching Destiny at the expense of blowing up the planet.
Upon arrival, Telford and Rush were returned to their own bodies. Rush managed to escape the conflict that followed, and remained in the Control interface room as Young attempted to resolve the situation. He continually advocated a quick and decisive solution, since the Alliance had hostages and would kill them no matter the circumstances. Young insisted on trying to rescue them, which put them at odds. Matters were further complicated by a nearby Binary pulsar system|binary pulsar, which emitted regular bursts of Gamma rays that were slowly depleting Destiny's shields and disrupting power, foiling one of Young's attempted rescue plans. A solution was discovered, but Young had to surrender to Kiva in order to implement it. Telford, working as a mole in her ranks, had Rush and Dr. Adam Brody move to another area of the ship so he could transfer control back to them after Kiva had secured the hostages in one location. His plan was interrupted before he could fully implement it.
Telford's efforts were not entirely in vain, as Rush had been given enough control of the ship to affect the power systems. Using this, he drew power away from the shields, in order to force the Alliance to surrender lest they die from the radiation. He and a small group hid in the Hydroponics lab, which would provide enough protection for them to survive the radiation burst. Despite the fact that some of the crew were still outside, Rush persisted in his plan, and the Alliance surrendered to save themselves. {{cite|SGU|Subversion|Incursion, Part 1|Incursion, Part 2|Intervention}}thumb|left|200px|Rush discovers the [[Destiny Bridge">
thumb|left|200px|Rush discovers the [[Destiny Bridge.]]
Not long after, Rush's program to break the Destiny master code|master code worked. Using it, he gained access to the Destiny Bridge|bridge, from which he could control all of Destiny's systems. However, he decided to keep this information to himself. Without a trained crew, he wanted to understand each system first. More importantly, he did not trust Colonel Everett Young, believing him unfit to lead the mission. While on the bridge, he was haunted by a vision of his wife Gloria Rush (Destiny avatar)|Gloria Rush, who questioned his decisions and motives at every turn. A vision of Dr. Jeremy Franklin (Destiny avatar)|Jeremy Franklin also appeared to him, serving to question Rush's technical deductions. With his new control over the ship, he stopped Destiny at a Planet (Aftermath)|planet with an inactive Stargate, as the crew needed food supplies desperately. The Ancient shuttle was sent to the planet, but Rush failed to account for the severity of the atmospheric turbulence, which damaged to the shuttle and caused it to crash. While the shuttle team worked to fix the gate, Rush brought the ship out of FTL as soon as possible in order to reach them. Though successful, Sgt. Hunter Riley died from his injuries, which Rush blamed himself for. The ship then notified him of an approaching object, which it dropped out of FTL to meet. {{cite|SGU|Aftermath}}The object the ship detected was a Seed ship, which for some reason was dead in space. Destiny docked with the ship, and began downloading a large amount of data. Rush was more eager to explore the ship than analyze the data, but Colonel Everett Young insisted that Rush decode the data as quickly as possible. He managed to excuse himself and visit the Destiny Bridge|bridge, from which he detected a large amount of reserve power, enough to dial the Stargate to Earth. He decided not to tell anyone, reasoning that they would figure out on their own, which they did. Meanwhile, an Ursini|alien was discovered on the ship. Rush was sent over to the ship to facilitate a power transfer, while Lt. Tamara Johansen was brought in to examine the alien. After it woke up, Rush gave advice in communicating with it, with little success. When the power transfer to dial the gate began, the rest of the aliens stunned Rush and reversed the transfer, threatening to drain Destiny permanently. Rush was carried out by MSgt. Ronald Greer, and upon reviving immediately went to the bridge to disconnect the two ships before the power drain reached an irreversible state. Colonel David Telford, who was attempting to counter the power drain from the Seed ship, was stranded. The vision of Gloria Rush (Destiny avatar)|Gloria Rush wondered whether Rush had broken the connection out of concern for the ship or to save his dream. {{cite|SGU|Awakening}}
A few days later, after discovering an unmanned Ursini spaceship, Rush and Colonel Everett Young went on board the ship to examine it. Rush accidentally enabled the sublight engines by mistake, and the ship began to accelerate away from Destiny. Rush then enlisted the help of Dr. Amanda Perry (via Ginn) and indirectly told her to go to Destiny's Destiny Bridge|bridge. But when Eli Wallace, Dr. Adam Brody, and Dr. Dale Volker discovered the bridge, Rush was forced to fight Young and tell him about Destiny's mission. Later, Simeon killed Perry/Ginn and left the ship for an Planet (Malice)|unknown planet. Rush, bent on enacting revenge for the death of Perry, followed Simeon through the Stargate. After a long chase on the desert planet, Rush finally killed Simeon by shooting him in the head. {{Cite|SGU|The Greater Good|Malice}}
After Dr. Robert Caine and the other civilians who remained in Eden returned to Destiny in an Ancient shuttle, Rush discovered that the vessel was in a fresh factory condition. {{Cite|SGU|Visitation}}
During the Drone attack on Destiny, Rush thought it would be effective to double-cross the Ursini and flee from the situation. He later studied a Berzerker drone with Eli Wallace to find a way to defeat the Control Ship. After the Ursini committed suicide, Destiny finally fled. {{Cite|SGU|Resurgence|Deliverance}}
Before dialing Earth in a Star (Twin Destinies)|Star, Rush convinced Colonel Everett Young and ten others to stay on board the ship. However, a malfunction caused everyone but Rush to evacuate through the Stargate (the malfunction caused the wormhole to jump to an alternate reality 2000 years in the past). Rush then traveled twelve hours back in time to warn the crew not to dial Earth while in the star, because it would destroy the ship. However, the future-Destiny was stable for the time being, and the future-Rush convinced the past-Rush to go to the future-Destiny from the past-Destiny to salvage parts. {{Cite|SGU|Twin Destinies}}
After Rush's former colleague Dr. Andrew Covel came on board to see the message in the Cosmic microwave background radiation, Rush discovered that Covel hijacked the Long-range communication device. Rush immediately undid the hijacking, but not before Covel and Senator Michaels (senator)|Michaels were briefed on how to disable the Lucian Alliance naquadria bomb|Naquadria that was implanted in Homeworld Command by the Lucian Alliance. {{Cite|SGU|Alliances}}
2010
Rush learned that Dr. Amanda Perry's consciousness was fixed in the Long-range communication stones, which were being used by Chloe Armstrong. To solve the problem, Rush downloaded Perry's consciousness into Destiny's memory banks. {{Cite|SGU|Hope}}He later transferred his own consciousness to Destiny's memory banks so that he could be with Dr. Amanda Perry. He became angry at Eli Wallace, who had placed Perry and Ginn in a quarantined section of the memory bank to save his life. {{Cite|SGU|Seizure}}
Later, the Destiny Destiny expedition|expedition encountered People of Novus|people who claimed to be their descendants (from the alternate timeline that was created during the dialing-star attempt). When Colonel Everett Young agreed to transport the people to their homeworld Novus, Rush complained about the waste of CO2 scrubbing. {{Cite|SGU|Common Descent}}
When the Destiny arrived at Novus, Rush found many boxes that contained a Novus CO2 scrubber substance|scrubber substance. Elated, Rush took the boxes to Destiny, where there would be clean air for years to come. {{Cite|SGU|Epilogue}}
When the drones started to Drone Blockade of Destiny|blockade the stars in Destiny's path, Rush worked with Eli to find another solution, trying to go to a star off of Destiny's path, but finding it blockaded too. Rush supported Eli's plan to use a blue giant star to recharge and insisted that he and Eli were the most qualified to perform the task. During the preparations, he let Eli decide who would pilot the ship and who co-pilot, letting him take lead as it was his plan. When Eli tried to free Lisa Park from the garden and its taking too long, Rush convinces him that he can't waste anymore time on it as he needs Eli to focus on piloting the ship. Eli reluctantly agrees and the two pilot the ship through the star. When Eli panics and doesn't believe he keep ahead of the variables, Rush encourages him, telling him that he's the only one that can do it. They successfully pilot the ship through the star, but the dome breaches. While Eli rushes to rescue Park, Rush finally manages to open the door for them and cools the ship off, starting with the Gate Room so the crew can return. When they return ten minutes early, Rush meets them and informs Young of their success. He also tells him that he checked Eli's calculations through the journey through the star and they were completely perfect and calls it genius, but asks Young not to tell Eli that he said that. Rush explains that while they have now successfully recharged, the tactic isn't likely to work again. {{Cite|SGU|Blockade}}
thumb|Rush in stasis.">
thumb|Rush in stasis.
Using Destiny's sensors and the drones communications frequency he and Eli learned from the drone they captured, Rush and Eli discover that the drones are blockading every planet in Destiny's path with a Stargate in order to attack them while they are resupplying. Rush reports with Young to Telford who explains that Earth is unable to resupply Destiny and the crew can't go off the path to find other planets because there is very little chance of finding one in time. On the ship, Rush proposes attacking the drones in order to resupply. Modulating the shields using information on their weapons frequency taken from the captured drone, the crew Destiny attack on Drones|attacks a Control Ship at a planet. While Rush's tactic initially works, the drones get around it by doing suicide runs on the ship before Destiny gets in position to destroy the Control Ship. However, the crew isn't able to collect much supplies and Eli proposes the crew enter Destiny's stasis pods for three years and bypass the rest of the galaxy. Rush disagrees, but as he doesn't have a better plan, Young decides to go with it unless Rush can come up with anything else in 24 hours. He isn't able to, but explains to Chloe that he worries that bypassing the rest of the galaxy could cause them to miss out on an important part of the pattern Destiny is seeking. The crew starts to enter stasis, but it is discovered that eight of the pods are damaged and unless they can be fixed, eight people will have to remain out of stasis. Initially unable to do so due to the drones blockading the only planet nearby that has what they need, Rush helps implement a plan come up with by Park to draw the drones in using a shuttle and then detonate its engines once close to destroy the Control Ship that shows up. Eli and Rush remote-pilot the shuttle and successfully destroy the Control Ship. After the pods are fixed, all but the senior staff, including Rush, enter stasis and the staff has a final dinner together. Rush is surprised when Young, while describing the crew as a family, refers to him as the "crazy uncle who always comes through." Afterwards, after all but he, Eli and Young enter stasis, Rush discovers that one pod is too badly damaged to fix in time and that one person could remain out for two weeks to try to fix it before having to shut down life-support and die. Rush volunteers, not expecting Young to allow it, but is surprised when he hears from Young that Eli has decided to do it instead. Rush is unable to convince Eli not to do it, despite admitting that Eli has great potential and hates to see it wasted and enters stasis with Young, addressing Eli as "Mr. Wallace" when saying goodbye to him. {{Cite|SGU|Gauntlet}}Alternate timelines
thumb|Rush holding the [[skull of his counterpart from an alternate timeline.]]
thumb|180x180px|Future Rush tries to attack Telford
Appearances
{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" width="100%" ! Appearances for Nicholas Rush |- | In chronological order:Personality
Though he is a brilliant and very focused scientist, Dr. Nicholas Rush seems to lack the compassion usually seen with scientists involved with the Stargate Program. Having worked his way up from being a son of a worker at the Glasgow Shipyards to an important post in a top secret program, he is convinced that he is the right person to make decisions even when the consequences affect other people. He dialed the nine-chevron address from Icarus Base while the base was under attack to avoid the blast from the planet's destruction being transferred to Earth, unaware that he would strand everyone aboard the Destiny with no way to dial back to Earth. {{cite|SGU|Air, Part 1|Air, Part 2|Air, Part 3}}Rush is not afraid of speaking his mind, even if it will be met with disapproval and cast doubt on his morals. {{cite|SGU|Air, Part 2}}
. Although self-preservation seems to be one of Rush' dominant instincts, he often demonstrates courage and selflessness. When trapped on a planet with Squigglers about to close in on his team, Rush went through an unstable wormhole in an attempt to get help, knowing it would probably kill him. Captured by aliens, Rush used an interface device to gain the knowledge to escape the ship but delayed his escape to go back for Chloe, who had also been captured. Rush rescued her and fought off an alien that tried to recapture them. He ordered everyone to stay away from the Destiny interface chair until absolutely positive that it was safe. Franklin disobeyed Rush' order and sat in the chair, suffering grave injury. However, Rush later took the chance to sit in the chair after installing safety features that he hoped would protect him. During a lucid dream whilst using the device, Rush revealed to a dream version of Gloria Rush|his wife that he believed his morality died with her. She assured him he was still a good man. {{cite|SGU|Air, Part 1|Time|Life|Human}}
Although Young tried to murder Rush by leaving him behind on a desert planet, Rush saved Young's life on at least two occasions. Once was when Young was suffering recurring dreams induced by the ship that tested his ability to command. Young was failing the test and Rush overrode Destiny's programs to save Young. Rush also saved Young's life when they were trapped on an alien spaceship. They were forced to jump from the ship back to Destiny. Rush made the jump safely but Young landed badly and started spinning off into space. Rush ran after him and caught him, pulling him to safety. Rush also put his life on the line to disarm a bomb attached to Park's back, and suggested getting the Nakai to remove Nakai pathogen|their pathogen from Chloe despite the fact that it risked them learning whatever information Chloe had collected on Destiny's systems. By the end of the series, even Young was able to see past the callous and aloof front Rush presented to the world to see his inner courage and compassion for others. While it might be tempting to view Rush as a sociopath, the profile of a sociopath indicates an inability to love, which we know is not the case (he is shown very definitely to love his wife). He also has a drive to make decisions for the greater good (of humanity) rather than for individuals, but has more of the hallmarks of someone with an antisocial personality disorder than a sociopath.
Equipment
{{Expand}}Weapons
Other equipment
Vehicles
Notes
{{source images2}}Behind the scenes
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rush, Nicholas}}
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