Reese was listening intently to the briefing on the alien threat and trying to ignore the snarky comments from his flight partner. Stanton had glommed onto him when he first joined the squad, saying he made good eye candy in his flight suit. She had named him "Johnny Rocket" and declared he would be her new wing man. Reese privately thought the name was rather stupid, but he had quickly learned that nobody crossed "Killer Kara." She was nasty, bad tempered, and rather bloodthirsty. Hence the rest of his squadron consisted of "Squid", "Odie," and "Snookums." Snookums was the living proof of why it was a bad idea to get on Stanton's bad side. John thought that the other pilot must die a little inside every time he heard his call sign.

He tried to keep his thoughts on the mission and away from worry about his ex-fiancée, Jessica. Reese had been planning a lifetime with Jess once upon a time. That is, until the day everything changed – the day he got his rejection letter from NASA.

No cushy job in Florida piloting the space shuttle for him. Instead he could be posted anywhere in the world in a war zone. He couldn't have Jess waiting for him back at base, never knowing if he would return from his latest mission. She deserved better than that. So he broke up with her (it was for duty damn it, not cold feet). But he never stopped loving her.

She hadn't taken it well, and claimed the dog in the breakup. It was especially awkward as Reese had yet to be stationed overseas. They still constantly ran into each other as Jessica was a nurse in the base infirmary.