Steven Caldwell is a Colonel in the United States Air Force and the Commander of the Daedalus.


Biography

Caldwell led the reinforcements to aid the faltering Atlantis Expedition members several months into their entry into the Pegasus Galaxy. He and his ship arrived at Atlantis just in time to rescue the then-Major John Sheppard from his suicide mission to destroy one of the Wraith ships in orbit over the besieged planet. (ATL: "The Siege, Part 3")

When several senior members of the Expedition returned to Earth, Caldwell was led to believe that he would take over the command of the military contingent of the Expedition. He later found himself rebuffed when the head of the Expedition, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, adamantly refused to accept any other military officer than John Sheppard, who received a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in response to her insistence. Caldwell escorted the senior members back to Atlantis, but some friction continued to occur between Caldwell, Weir, and Sheppard in regards to Sheppard's position. (ATL: "The Intruder")

Caldwell did not want to rescue Ronon when he was taken prisoner and given to the Wraith during an away mission, as he believed the risk was too great. He also implied that John Sheppard's team gets into trouble often.(ATL: " Sateda") His hesitation to put his crew at risk again was understandable since shortly before he had been asked to take his badly battered ship and crew to try to stop the two wraith Hive-ships heading to Earth. (ATL: "No Man's Land")

Caldwell continued to travel back between Earth and Atlantis, making supply runs and helping to defend against the Wraith. In time, it was discovered that Caldwell had been compromised by a Goa'uld working for The Trust. Atlantis was nearly destroyed as a result, but after Sheppard tazed him, Caldwell managed to regain control of his body long enough to tell them the desperately needed access code to save the city. Hermiod was later able to remove the symbiote with beam technology. How long he was under their control is unknown. (ATL: "Critical Mass"). Following this, his relationship with Sheppard and Weir greatly improved. Some time later, Caldwell led the USAF Daedalus, alongside the USAF Apollo, in a strike against numerous Aurora-class Warships controlled by the Asurans. Using their new Asgard weapons, they were able to destroy seven of the Warships, before participating in the Battle of Asuras, where victory was finally secured. (ATL: "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

Caldwell also led the Daedalus to confront Michael's cruiser when it was in orbit of M2S-445, where his research facility was compromised by members of the Atlantis Expedition. Michael's cruiser was about to escape into hyperspace, but there was intervention on the Daedalus' part when it used its Asgard plasma beam weapons to stop it. The battle went to the Daedalus as it once again used its beam weapons to destroy Michael's cruiser, along with other Hybrids onboard. (ATL: "Search and Rescue")

Soon after, while shuttling members of the expedition to a meeting with the Wraith known as Todd, he, along with the rest as the Daedalus's crew, were incarcerated after Todd believed that the Atlantis Expedition had activated the Attero Device. Thanks to the timing of John Sheppard aboard a traveler ship, he and the Daedalus were saved. (ATL: "First Contact"), (ATL: "The Lost Tribe")

Caldwell later attempted to stop the ZPM powered Hive Ship before it was completed but his ship was utterly outmatched. (ATL: "Enemy at the Gate")