Charles Kawalsky

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Major Charles Kawalsky

Summary

Major Charles Kawalsky was a member of the first team to go through the stargate to Abydos, was given command of SG-2, but died when he was taken as a host by a Goa'uld symbiote.

Character Biography

Charles "Charlie" Kawalsky was a career Air Force officer. In 1982, while a Captain, he was part of a covert operations unit with Jack O'Neill (2.04 "The Game Keeper"). This particular mission O'Neill remembered as being one of the most screwed up ops he had been involved with. They were in Eastern Germany to extract a Russian. However, they did not have good intelligence on the size and firepower of the forces guarding the Russian. The leader of the mission, Colonel John Michaels, died.

In a strange trivial bit of canon, although Charlie knew Jack O'Neill back in the 1980s (2.04 "The Game Keeper"), one year after the first Abydos mission, Charlie reverted to calling Jack "Colonel" and said he never knew he had a son all the while through "that" [Abydos] mission (1.01 "Children of the Gods, Part 1"). Perhaps they lost touch in the intervening years between these special ops days and the first Stargate mission to Abydos, or it is a discrepancy within the show.

In any case, Kawalsky reunited with O'Neill as second in command on the first Stargate mission to Abydos (Stargate: The Movie). Their mission, as he understood it, was to recon the area and return. When discovering that Daniel Jackson did not immediately know how to dial home, he shoved the archeologist in frustration. After Daniel got dragged by a runaway mastadge, Kawalsky went with O'Neill to help him. They then met Skaara and many of Kasuf's tribe.

Kawalsky and the others enjoyed the hospitality of the natives, including unwittingly witnessing Daniel's marriage. The next day, they tried to rejoin their companions, only to discover the others were attacked. Kawalsky himself was captured and thrown into a prison cell, where he rejoined Ferretti, O'Neill, and others. The group escaped from Ra during the scheduled "public execution", assisted by Daniel Jackson and Skaara and other Abydonian boys.

They hid in caves. While there, it was Kawalsky who discovered writings that helped Daniel Jackson discover the seventh symbol that would get them home. When the team and the newly formed rebels staged their counterattack against Ra, Kawalsky and Ferretti were stuck outside the pyramid with Skaara and the Abydonian boys. They took cover and fought against Ra's death gliders until they were out of ammunition. At that point, Kawalsky ordered the group to surrender, but before the enemy captured them, the group was rescued by Kasuf and the rest of the Abydonians revolt.

When they returned, their mission reports reflected that the bomb detonated, and Daniel Jackson along with other members of their team were killed. Ferretti, Kawalsky, and O'Neill were called back to the Stargate facility (now called the SGC) when a glowing-eyed alien attacked the facility through the Stargate (1.01 "Children of the Gods, Part 1"). Kawalsky and Ferretti kept their silence about Daniel Jackson surviving with the Abydonians for the approximate year since the original mission. When Hammond realized the truth, he sent the three, along with three others, including Capt. Samantha Carter, on a reconnaissance mission to Abydos and to retrieve Daniel Jackson.

After reuniting with Skaara, Daniel, and his wife, Sha're, they learned the Stargate could go to other places besides Earth and Abydos. Daniel led O'Neill, Carter, and Kawalsky to the Abydos Cartouche. When they returned, they found the pyramid had been attacked by the glowing-eyed alien. Ferretti and another soldier were wounded, and Sha're and Skarra were captured.

They quickly dialed back to the SGC to return home. With Ferretti's critical condition, Kawalsky remained at Lou's bedside. When Ferretti awoke, he gave the SGC their second confirmed Gate address (1.02 "Children of the Gods Part 2"). To Kawalsky's pleasant surprise, O'Neill had recommend he get his command. Major Charles Kawalsky was to be the first commander of SG-2.

Their first mission was to serve as backup to SG-1, led by O'Neill, as they gathered intelligence about the enemy and hopefully rescued Sha're and Skaara. SG-2 remained by the Stargate, staying overnight on this strange world that Charlie dubbed "Planet Kawalsky" [Chulak]. When SG-1, Teal'c and the escaped prisoners came towards them under heavy fire, SG-2 destroyed one glider and provided cover fire for them to get to the Stargate.

During the ensuing battle, one of Kawalsky's men, Casey, was hit. While Kawalsky tended to him, he didn't notice an immature Goa'uld symbiote fleeing from its dying Jaffa. The symbiote burrowed into Charlie, but he only thought he'd wrenched his neck.

Kawalsky complained of constant headaches. (1.03 "The Enemy Within"). Despite the pain, he looked forward to commanding SG-2's first solo mission. Because of the Goa'uld's immaturity, it could only gain control of Kawalsky's body for limited intervals. When this would happen, Charlie would black out. Charlie recovered to find himself standing in the Gate Room with no idea how he got there, or more alarmingly, trapped in an elevator with an unconscious Captain Carter.

Strapped down and monitored by Doctor Warner, Kawalsky panicked at this invader to his body. He felt guilt at the people the Goa'uld had injured and killed when using his body and begged Jack and General Hammond to kill it. A sympathetic Hammond complied, ordering the procedure be done over Colonel Kennedy's objections.

O'Neill visited Kawalsky at his bedside before the operation, where Charlie asked if it was not successful, that his body would be cremated to utterly destroy the Goa'uld in him. Although O'Neill tried to deflect the morose conversation with humor, he agreed to Kawalsky's wishes. The last thing Charlie said before he went under anesthesia was a request to General Hammond that he be killed if the operation was not a success. He wanted to awaken whole or not wake up at all. Hammond agreed.

Although the operation was initially thought to be successful, they only extracted a shedding of the symbiote. The Goa'uld mimicked Kawalsky, so no one would suspect, then tried to escape through the Stargate using Kawalsky's knowledge of the access codes. Teal'c grappled with him in front of the open wormhole, partially in the event horizon. O'Neill ordered the wormhole shutdown, taking off part of Kawalsky's skull and killing both him and the symbiote. When Teal'c expressed his regret to O'Neill, Jack replied "my friend died on the operating table."

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Actor

  • Stargate: The Movie: John Diehl
  • Stargate SG-1: Jay Acovone (pictured above)

--Aurora 16:40, 25 August 2007 (PDT)

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