Dan Drake (AKA Slobodan Draculic)

Early Life
Born in Sarajevo, Slobodan's family were poor farmers in Serbia who wished that their son could have a better life. He remembers little of this time, but what little he does remember of his parents he does appreciate. His parents saved up as much money as they could, and eventually sent him to live with his cousin in Washington, DC in the late 80s. Slobodan changed his name from Slobodan Draculic to Dan Drake in orer to sound more "American". The young Dan Drake seemed quite bright for his age, but there were many problems to be overcome.

Dan hardly ever talks about his former life, but many comments he has made over his time in Atlantis leads one to believe he was involved in drugs, which wouldn't be that surprising given that Washington DC was going through the "Crack Era". Despite this, Dan succeeded in getting his Masters in Structural Engineering and eventually joined the Marine Corp of Engineers. When he was around 12 years old, he received news that his parents had been killed by a sniper during the Bosnian War. He has expressed his intense desire to hunt down the killers, but has yet to elaborate more than that to his friends.

A Sapper by trade, Dan has given a great deal of time and effort into learning about how buildings and structures work, as well as how to bring them down, He's been hinted at havin experience with IEDs and shows an equivalent love of explosives as Laura Cadman. Because of his upbringing, Dan is quite proficient at hand to hand combat and short to medium range firefights. In every encounter with an enemy he's had, Dan's been able to get out of it relatively unscathed. He's also been shown to be more willing to bend or break rules if it benefits the mission, as has been seen under Ronon's command, as well as Alicia's.

Perhaps because of this, his age versus his rank is disproportionate compared to most of the others. He has often shown disdain for authority and its quite possible his attitude has given him a low glass ceiling. Also different to most of the other Rogues, Dan is not a USAF soldier, but rather a Marine under the USMC. As such, he's had much more training with rifles and frontline combat and it often shows during skirmishes.

Atlantis
Dan has often been shown to be willing to do more than the others, Ronon was witness to Dan torturing a Hybrid in order to get the location of the surviving Athosians as well as the location of Michael. When asked, Dan simply shrugged off the effect the event had on him and it hasn't been mentioned since. Dan is also very sure of himself, more than willing to defend his opinions and decisions, he often butts heads with his CO, Alicia Vega. Often, he teases her with suggestive quips and remarks given their rogue status, but as of 2009, nothing has happened between them. This doesn't transfer to the women though, and Dan has had confirmed relations with several Travelers consistinng primarily of the Nursing staff. When questioned, he's adamant that it is nothing more than 'stress relief'.

Dusty once asked him if he'd ever loved anyone, and he surprised her by saying that no, he never had nor does he think he ever will. Given his philandering ways, he could just be telling the truth. A heavy drinker, Dan has shown a lighter side of him with art welding, as well as playing cards (albeit badly) Oddly, he's found a bit of a closer friendship with Rafaela Esposito, almost the polar opposite of his personality. Dusty has commented to Rafaela on this and any impropriety has been flatly denied.

Dan's relationships with others often depends on what he's done recently. He can be anything from a loved comrade, to a hatest nuisance. The command staff rarely pays much attention to him beyond professional but he likes it like that. His headbutting with Alicia goes further than personal, as he was in a competition with her over who had killed more Shade. He ended up winning spectacularly by destroying an unknown number of Shade in a mission to a Nursery Planet. The side effects of that mission lasted several months with neither of them speaking.

During the mission with Chuck and Laura to Centaurus, Dan found out he'd become something of a celebrity to the Olim by destroying a Shade Nursery planet singlehandedly. He was particularly pleased with the name they'd bestowed upon him "Dan Drake, the light that extinguished the Shade."

Relationships
One of the more unique aspects of Dan is that he's quite adamant about not looking for a committed relationship, He's confirmed having relationships with at least three women, but none are anything more than physical. When asked why he never tried anything with her, Dan answered Reyna with the cryptic answer of 'you look like the type to fall in love' which left her more confused than anything. Being the only male of AR-1, he's often teased by the women over his position and obvious enjoyment. Despite a rocky start, Dan inadventantly proved to Dusty that he did care when he assualted Nevas for making a suggestive quip about his teammates. Dusty later convinced the others that Dan was mostly harmless, and they've been amicable ever since.

Of worthy note, Rafaela and Dan often spend time together as Rafaela is still nervous around the Travelers and prefers to hang around the Earthborn with a few exceptions.