![]() This is the premise of the original Mobile Suit Gundam: Bright Noa, a mere officer trainee with no battle experience whatsoever, is forced to become The Captain of the Cool Starship White Base when nearly all of his superior officers are killed in the first episode surprise attack by the Principality of Zeon, and the one survivor (the captain) succumbing to his wounds shortly afterward.(In really chaotic situations, it may dawn on him that he is giving orders to superiors - at which point, the highest-ranking superior generally tells everyone to follow their plan. In fiction, the situation is often adequately chaotic that the one that actually gives orders may find himself pressed into command and leadership. At least in modern times, doctors, lawyers, and clergy also cannot be placed in command over combat units, even if they are the only officers present - in such cases the most senior NCO would assume command, or even the most senior enlisted man. note Unless otherwise designated, i.e., the XO is always second-in-command and the OPS officer is always third, regardless of rank. In Real Life, if there are a number of survivors of the same rank, the most senior of them holds command. Trapped Behind Enemy Lines is another possibility, as is the characters becoming prisoners of war, where under The Laws and Customs of War, the senior-most commands, even if none of them belonged to the same unit prior to capture. This is most likely to occur in the navy or its Space Operatic equivalent - it requires that the plot be isolated enough from the rest of the military that they can't just respond by immediately sending a replacement of the appropriate rank. A character, working in the military, is suddenly forced into duties that by all rights ought to belong to someone of much higher rank everyone who ought to be doing those duties has unexpectedly found themselves dead, indisposed, or unavailable. ![]()
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