History Main / YouAreInCommandNow

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 [[EverybodysDeadDave dead]], indisposed, or unavailable.

This is most likely to occur in the navy or its {{Space Opera}}tic [[SpaceIsAnOcean 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. TrappedBehindEnemyLines is another possibility, as is the characters becoming prisoners of war, where under UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar, the senior-most commands, even if none of them belonged to the same unit prior to capture.

** [[spoiler:Happened ''yet'' again four years later when Hange decides to sacrifice herself to stall the Colossal Titans long enough so her friends can escape, she decides to appoint Armin as the new Commander, increasing his personal burden considering he was chosen to be brough back to life instead of Erwin.]]

** Murrue does this again in the sequel, offering command of the Archangel to Commander Waldfeld (who joined them towards the finale of SEED but commanded his own ship during that time) who both outranked her and had a good two or more years worth of combat experience than she did despite her service in the last war. Waldfeld rejects the offer for both the same reason as Mwu (he's only pilot other than Kira, and Cagalli, who as the leader of Orb shouldn't really be out fighting) and because he was a Commander of Zaft, their enemy from the last war, and therefore isn't as familiar with an Earth ship as an Earth Soldier would be. Of course it's worth noting at this point rank on Archangel is just a technicality as they are operating independently of any actual army anyway.

** [[spoiler:Julian Mintz, a mere Lieutenant, becomes the military leader of the remaining [[TheFederation Free Planets Alliance]] military]]. It is a multiple subversion actually: Officers higher than him are still around, but they just cannot choose whom among them will [[spoiler:takes Yang's mantle]] (first subversion), so they chooses [[spoiler:Yang's foster child]] to act both as a figurehead (second subversion) and to arbitrate between them when they don't agree with each other, so while he seems to be a powerless puppet, he IS giving orders to people higher than him in the hierarchy and they willingly obey such orders. (But then again, [[spoiler:It's the [[MildlyMilitary Yang Team]], and they ALWAYS put [[BadassCrew competence above hierarchy]]]].)

* ''Anime/SakuraWarsTheMovie'': Maria Tachibana temporary takes Ichiro Ogami's place as the Flower Division's captain [[spoiler:until he returns to Tokyo to help the Flower Division stop Brent Furlong's plans for good]].

** In ''ComicBook/TheCondemnedLegionnaires'', one mysterious enemy is attempting to kill the Legion girls with a weird, unknown plague. Since the Legion are dealing with an emergency situation and most of members are sick or unavailable, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} is appointed as temporary leader.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' has the kaiju factions from [[VideoGame/GodzillaDestroyAllMonstersMelee Godzilla: Unleashed]] present with even more kaiju thanks to it being an amalgam-universe. When most of the higher ups of the benign Terran kaiju's faction are taken by Dimension Tide to Equestria, Gamera reluctantly takes command as ''regent'' while the ''King'' (Godzilla) is away.

** Hiruzen Sarutobi is heavily injured [[spoiler:fighting Fugaku Uchiha during the clan's insurrection]], and while he survives, he's forced to step down as Hokage, naming Jiraiya his successor. Jiraiya is reluctant at first, but ultimately accepts if only to prevent Danzo from seizing the position.

* In ''Fanfic/ToTheStars'', a brutal example sees two magical girls moved to seperate units due to their relationship. Then, after command is wiped out, one of them is automatically promoted, invalidating the unit seperation created and leading to her being left with no choice but to send her girlfriend's unit into the meatgrinder. She does not survive.

* ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'': Just before she leaves for a special visit to Orville's precinct for the day, Oprah leaves Precinct 13579 in the hands of Olive, Otto and Oscar, in a three-way leadership. This puts Olive and Otto in particular at a disadvantage, as Oprah refuses to listen to their inquiries about Carlos and who he is.

** With Cross and the other Straw Hat members of the [[BenevolentConspiracy New World Masons]] incommunicado during the two year TimeSkip, Tsuru takes over ''de facto'' leadership of the organization.

*** There's another, more subtle instance of this a few minutes earlier. After Darth Vader shoots down two of Gold Squadron's Y-wings during their trench run, the lone survivor — Gold Five — radios Red Leader to report their destruction. Red Leader responds with "I copy, Gold Leader," acknowledging that as the sole surviving member of the squadron he became its leader. At least, [[RedShirt until Vader shot him down too a few seconds later]].

* The ''Film/StarTrek2009'' movie has this happen to ''every single character''. At least five different characters inherit command of at least two different ships during the movie. Russian whiz kid Chekov is the only one of the main characters who ends up in his position without someone else getting sick or flat out killed, and he is briefly given command of the ''Enterprise'' when everyone else is away.

* With much {{foreshadowing}}, this happens to [[NewMeat Sergeant Savage]] in ''Film/WeWereSoldiers'', leaving him in command of a platoon cut off from the rest of their battallion overnight. In RealLife, there were higher-ranking men present, but they were all pinned down, and he happened to be next to the [[CommunicationsOfficer radio operator]], meaning he was the senior man able to communicate with the Battallion HQ.

* ''[[Literature/SeafortSaga Midshipman's Hope]]'' by David Feintuch is all about this trope. Deconstructed and subverted as well. The United Nations Navy is very strict about the chain of command and under what circumstances command can legally pass from one officer to next. Any violation of this is considered mutiny and punishable by death. Nicholas Seafort is the senior midshipman on a space ship that is sent on a multi-year voyage to visit a space colony in another star system. On the way there the Captain and senior lieutenants are killed in an accident and the surviving lieutenant takes command with Seafort having to take on the role of the XO. The new Captain dies a month later from an agressive cancer and Seafort is the senior line officer on board. The ship's doctor and chief engineer have higher ranks but are not line officers so they cannot take command unless Seafort resigns command. However, Seafort is a strict believer that oaths are sacred and his oath to the Navy means that he has to follow the regulations to the letter and there is no regulation that would allow him to resign the Captaincy.

** ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' has two examples. First he gives a historical example: during the capture of the ''Chesapeake'' by the ''Shannon'', a midshipman was technically in command when it surrendered, but got cashiered for desertion because he had gone below deck. Then he explains a possible case where a third lieutenant (cadet/ensign) could end up commanding a division, and notes that "you'd buy the farm" if it happened.

** He also wrote a book around this trope, ''Literature/StarmanJones.'' The eponymous character signs aboard the passenger liner ''Asgard'' as a steward (and has to forge papers to get that position). He gets a position as apprentice astrogator because of his ability and because the ship is badly short-handed in astrogation. At the end of the book he winds up as captain because the original captain, astrogator and assistant astrogator have all died and only an astrogator can hold command of a spaceship that is underway.

* ''Creator/JohnRingo'' has fun with this at a higher level in ''Literature/BlackTideRising'', invoking the National Constitutional Continuity Coordinator to specify the person with the authority of the US President in the event of an emergency, which the survivors in the book all agree that a zombie apocalypse qualifies. Frank Galloway was the Under Deputy Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Arms Proliferation Control, and was 112th in the list of officials defined in the line of succession, as all 111 other people are believed dead [[spoiler:there are two people higher on the list who are just out of contact, who show up eventually]].

* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheFallOfGondolin'': When the hidden city is all but conquered by Morgoth's forces, King Turgon declares everybody must follow his son-in-law Tuor now, since he will lead the survivors to safety. Turgon, though, intends to stay in his tower until the bitter end.

* In ''Literature/OnTheBeach'', we are told that, following nuclear exchanges in WorldWarIII, "command got down to very junior officers indeed". Mentioned is Major Chan Sze Lin as being in command of what was left of the Chinese strategic forces when the Australian Prime Minister contacted him in a last ditch attempt to salvage some of the world.
* A central element of the ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' series by Taylor Anderson is how people are forced to accept new responsibilities. The most literal example to this trope is how the destroyer ''Mahan'' takes a 10 inch shell to the bridge, killing all of its officers. When Captain Reddy makes contact with the ship, an engineering officer is the captain.

*** ''Literature/{{Titanicus}}''. Cally Samstag finds herself in charge of the remnant forces of activated 26th, a third line unit reduced from over 60 members to 18 in one engagement, with every officer dead. Erik Varco represents something of an inversion to the trope: he leads his battered remnant armour squadron because he was already in command when a traitor Warlord Titan annihilated them.

*** In ''Ghostmaker'', when a small group of Ghosts were protecting some wounded Volpone {{blue blood}}s, Culcis, one of the wounded, got up despite his injuries and got some of his fellows to follow him, and volunteered that they could shoot. When he appears again in ''Necropolis'', he has risen in rank, and tells Corbec that the doctor was kind enough to mention his part in the defense, which had gotten his officers' eyes on him.

*** Later in the battle, Gaunt is temporarily "promoted" to be the supreme commander of all Imperial forces in Vervunhive, despite the fact that he's only a Colonel-Commissar. This is because the other ranking officers are either dead, disgraced, or members of a Tank regiment (and apparently an Infantry commander always takes precedence over a Tank officer). However, after the battle, he is restored to his regular rank, though he keeps the city's ceremonial power sword.

** William King's Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Grey Hunters''. Ragnor finds himself in a position to attack some enemies from behind, and relieve some hard-pressed Space Marines. He launches the attack and orders them to follow his flare to escape. They obey, and then he is told that the force includes Berek, the commander of their entire mission. Fortunately, while Berek is a bit of a GloryHound, he is just; he praises Ragnor's quick thinking and says he is grateful (in fact, it leads directly to his FieldPromotion).

** In an interesting use, John Geary finds himself in command of the Alliance space fleet by virtue of being the most senior captain after the higher ups are all killed. Interesting because he got the promotion 100 years ago and, it was believed at the time, posthumously. The fact that he was even there to receive command was dumb luck when the fleet picked up his stasis pod on the way to battle.

* In F. M. Busby's ''Zelde M'Tana'', the eponymous character comes on board a starship as part of a slave cargo. Due to a mid-voyage mutiny, a relationship with the new captain, some dramatically convenient casualties, and, to be fair, a whole lot of work on her part, she winds up in command. And then they have to send her away as soon as the XO is well enough to replace her, because while she's done a good job, there would be too much resentment from the ranks to keep her on.

*** It has been suggested that Pellaeon may not have been ''the'' most senior officer remaining after Endor, as Thrawn suggested to him that the Emperor had been using a mild version of the battle coordination Force technique perfected by Joruus C'baoth on his senior command officers to bolster their efficiency, and that when he died, the backlash robbed those commanders of their own independent ability and effectiveness. Pallaeon may not have been have been targeted by the Emperor's abilities, or have been less susceptible than most, so when he had the initiative to sound a retreat, the other remaining captains and officers lacked the willpower to analyze the situation for alternatives or do anything else but obey.

** Shortly before ''Literature/StarTrekDestiny'', Ezri Dax was serving as a lieutenant commander aboard the newly-launched ''Aventine'' when a Borg attack killed the captain and first officer, causing Ezri to take command by default. As she manages to save the ship with minimal further casualties, and with Starfleet busy with the larger Borg incursion, Ezri is given a full promotion to captain and permanent command of the ship. [[spoiler:Ezri's death in ''Literature/StarTrekCoda'' leads to her longstanding second-in-command Sam Bowers taking command; he bitterly notes the irony of Ezri's captaincy beginning and ending with this trope.]]

* ''You're in Command Now, Mr Fog'' by Creator/JTEdson tells how, as a 17 year old freshly-promoted first lieutenant, Dusty Fog found himself in command of a company during the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar after the commanding officer is killed by an enemy sniper.

* In ''Literature/RedStormRising'', fleet staff officer LTCDR Toland ends up conning the USS ''Nimitz'' after two missile hits kill the admiral, the captain, the rest of the staff and everyone in the CIC, despite being a reservist who hadn't commanded anything bigger than a Boston Whaler in nearly ten years. He was alive, he was on the bridge, and the XO was busy with damage control.

* ''Literature/AnArmyOfTheDead'' has Sorcerer-Captain Emorc taking command of the remnants of the Cynian Army, after the vast majority get killed in a [[CurbStomp battle]], including every officer aside from him.

--> Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be "in command" of the mission if I were the only remaining person.\\

* in ''Literatrue/PerryRhodan'' there must be quite a lot of these, simply because of the length of the series. One really early one: Captain Perry Rhodan of the space force finds alien tech, and after he makes his own world power with it, he becoms general, then president AND chief of armed forces.
** Another example is the Russian invasion of Venus. The fleet goes there the hard way, without alien tech, and when Rhodan finds out he just swoops in and shoots all the landed rockets. On the way bck he also destroys half of the second wave by accident. The survivor split into 3 groups, the ones who just want to settle, the ones who want to capture the fort they were sent to capture and the ones which want to rule over the rest with the helis and tanks which the second wave had. The Rhodan comes back, and flies low over one of the camps. That group is now mostly destroyed, and some guy who happened to be on patrol is now the leading officer.

* Because AnyoneCanDie in ''Literature/GrentsFall'', this is in full effect. By the end of the story, not only do [[spoiler:Osbert and both of his wing leaders]] die, but [[spoiler:after General Arthur Hicks's wing is virtually wiped out, low-level commander Edwin One-Hand is the wing's highest remaining leader]].
* {{Exaggerated}} in ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'', largely due to massive LoopholeAbuse by {{Artificial Intelligence}}s dealing with situations far outside their programming. In ''Mutineer's Moon'', Dahak (the artificial intelligence of the ''Utu''-class ship ''Dahak'') kidnaps Colin. According to Fleet regs from the long-gone Fourth Imperium, children of crew born on deployment are legally crew, and all Terrans are descended from the original ''Dahak'' crew, so once Colin is aboard, he becomes the senior (and only) crewman aboard. He is given an acting promotion to Senior Fleet Captain so he can lead operations against the original mutineers, complete Dahak's last commands and prepare to defend Earth against an AlienInvasion. Then in the next book, he comes up against the somewhat less mentally-flexible AI Mother, commander of Fleet Central from the Fourth Empire (successor state to the Imperium). [[spoiler:In order to gain access to Fleet Central, he identifies himself as the senior surviving military and civil official of the Empire, and activates the Fourth Empire regulation, Case Omega. As the Imperial dynasty is gone...[[UnexpectedSuccessor that makes him the Emperor]].]]
* Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/Timeline191'' series has multiple incidents of this through out the various wars. Sergeants start in charge of squads and are eventually commanding companies as attrition removes everyone of higher rank.

** Except for seasons 1 and 3, Jack is never actually working for CTU. Nevertheless, by the half-way point of the first episode, the situation is already dire enough that Jack is put in charge.

* In one two-parter of ''Series/BarneyMiller'', Barney is suspended for trying to negotiate with tenants of a condemned hotel rather than using force to remove them. This leaves laid-back Nick Yemana in charge, and his immediate reaction? "[[OhCrap Oh my God.]]" (Nick's tenure as acting-captain was limited to calling it a day immediately after his elevation and wearing a suit jacket to work--the department sent an interim officer the next day.)

** His son, Lee, is appointed CAG by Colonel Tigh as he is the highest ranking pilot on board, despite [[AllThereInTheManual background material]] saying that Lee is a reservist.
** After the deaths of Admiral Cain and Colonel Fisk, there's no-one to take command of the battlestar ''Pegasus'', so Admiral Adama appoints Barry Garner, an engineer, as its commanding officer. This doesn't work out very well, as Garner treats the crew more like parts of a machine than as human beings and jumps straight into a Cylon trap. On realising how [[ThePeterPrinciple out of his depth he is]], Garner hands command to Lee and returns to the engine room to help with repairs.

** Daenerys leaves Daario Naharis and the Second Sons in command of the newly renamed Bay of Dragons (formerly Slaver's Bay) to oversee Meereen, Yunkai, and Astapor's transition into democratic city states.

* Happens to Bullock twice in ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', the first time when Captain Barnes is knifed out of action protecting Gordon from [[spoiler:a resurrected Theo Galavan]] near the end of Season 2 and the latter when [[spoiler:Barnes is permanently incapacitated due to being infected by the virus in Alice Tetch's blood]] approximately one third of the way through Season 3.

** At various points throughout the show Harm, Mac and Singer gets the chance to be Acting JAG for short whiles. Sturgis takes over as Acting JAG for an extended period of time between Admiral Chegwidden's retirement and General Cresswell's appointment.

* Hawkeye has to take command of the eponymous unit in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' several times during his stay in Korea. It always [[TyrantTakesTheHelm ends]] [[MilitaryMaverick badly]]. Then there's [[{{Jerkass}} Frank Burns]] -- which is worse. The only temporary commander of the 4077th that is tolerable is Major Winchester, and that's because he uses his times in command to loaf (and doesn't interfere with day-to-day operations).

** The plot of "Hands on a Desk Chair" kicks off when Oprah is forced to leave Precinct 13579 on a top-secret mission and doesn't bother to name a stand-in Director in the meantime. Orchid, Olympia, Otis, Ocean, Coach O, Oona and Owen fight over who gets to be the stand-in Director while Oprah is gone, and by the end of the episode, Orchid is deemed the winner -- but it doesn't last long, as Oprah comes back a minute after the agent sits in her boss's chair.

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': In "Radio Bombay" [[SoundToScreenAdaptation (remade for television as "The Hurricane")]],, Mr. Conklin puts Miss Brooks in charge of Madison High School when he's away for the morning. HilarityEnsues.

*** "Catspaw": A landing party that includes Scott and Sulu is taken prisoner. Kirk assigns himself and Spock to the rescue party, which ''also'' gets captured. This leaves Assistant Chief Engineer Lt. [=DeSalle=], an obscure character that most viewers have never heard of, in command of the ''Enterprise''. ([=DeSalle=] appeared in a grand total of 3 episodes.) Robert Bloch's original script had everyone senior to Uhura off the ship, and left her in command, but ExecutiveMeddling wouldn't allow for a black woman being put in command of the ''Enterprise''.
*** "Amok Time": After the blood-fever affected Spock apparently kills the captain, Dr. [=McCoy=] invokes this trope.

*** "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds The Best of Both Worlds]]" puts Riker in command when Picard is kidnapped and assimilated by the Borg. Troi even quotes this trope. Unlike most examples of the trope, Riker is not only an experienced officer, but is the ship's 2nd-in-command already, so him taking over when the captain is incapacitated in any way is just business as usual. When Starfleet hears what has happened, they not only don't relieve Riker of command (there isn't anyone more qualified than him on board anyway), but give him a ([[StatusQuoIsGod temporary]]) field promotion to Captain.

*** "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]" has Lt. Castillo taking command of Enterprise-C after Captain Garrett is killed, since he is the only remaining bridge officer still alive.

** Jiyi Christu was a mere Star Captain in Clan Jade Falcon left behind on Sudeten when Malvina Hazen took nearly the majority of the Falcons to Terra in 3150. After receiving no word from Terra for months, word of the Jade Falcon defeat by Clan Wolf got out and Jiyi realized he was the highest ranking Jade Falcon left. He declared himself Khan and immediately began trying to rebuild the Jade Falcons into something that was free of the [[AxCrazy insanity]] that Malvina had promoted during her time as Khan.
** Several systems away from Jiyi, Merchant Factor Marena realized that there were no warriors at all on her planet and decided (not without reason) that the problem with the Clans was due to them being [[ProudWarriorRace run by warriors]], so to fix things they needed a civilian who's answer to every problem was not "open fire!" And so she founded the Alyina Merchant League, where a civilian government commanded the warriors.
** Far from those two, Star Colonel Othar was left as the highest ranking warrior in Wolf Empire territory. After receiving word that the Wolves had won the Battle for Terra, he rejoiced, but when no orders came for him he was left to his own devices and began trying to build up new warriors and equipment stockpiles for Clan Wolf.

** In the ''Trespasser'' DLC, it turns out that Varric went back to [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Kirkwall]] and started funding efforts to clean up and rebuild the city, since the nobles are too busy arguing over who wants to be viscount (i.e. no one) to do the job themselves. [[spoiler:Eventually one of his projects is stalled because of the still-empty throne, and Varric sends a letter complaining about it. The nobility take both this message and the fact that he's been singlehandedly organizing the city as him 'volunteering' for the position and promptly elect him as viscount, to both Varric's surprise and Bran's chagrin.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', Squall Leonhart finds himself summarily shoved into command of the entirety of Balamb Garden, though in this case it's because of a combination of Garden's role changing from "military academy" to "active fighting force" and a case of BecauseDestinySaysSo: [[spoiler:Headmaster Cid is acting on advance knowledge of the StableTimeLoop that includes Squall's defeat of Ultimecia]]. Considering that Squall is an emotionally stunted seventeen-year-old and wants to be in charge about as much as he wants a hole drilled in his head, it goes pretty well.

* In the first ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'', Comodore Luft Weizen is on both ends of the trope at different points in time. First, he delegates command of the Elsior and the Moon Angel Wing to his protegé [[TheHero Tact Mayers]], believing that he will do a better job than himself. Later on, the attack on Fargo by Eonia's fleet and the Black Moon results in most of the Imperial fleet's higher ups being killed, so Luft ends up becoming the fleet's admiral by default.

* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' has the soldier Marcus, convicted of abandoning this post and branded a traitor, getting a field promotion when the commanding officer dies. This is a case of practicality: Marcus is chosen because, despite his treason, he is still hands down the best, most qualified soldier in the squad, despite being absolutely hated by the Gear commander. Dominic, Baird and Cole all follow Marcus not because he's in charge, but because he ''knows what he's doing''. Baird initially puts up some resistance, but even he comes to see the wisdom of having Marcus in command.
* ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'': After the King's BolivianArmyEnding at Hyrule Castle, princess Zelda initially just runs damage control to save as many as she can; but after unlocking her power at the battle of Fort Hateno, she rallies the troops to start the counter-attack, with a RousingSpeech that includes the line "you are mine to lead now."

*** Happens to [[PlayerCharacter Ryder]] during the prologue mission. He/she isn't even second-in-line for the position of human Pathfinder (Cora is) and hasn't had Pathfinder training. However, Alec's decision to pass the title onto his son/daughter is done for plot related reasons that become apparent much later. (Namely [[spoiler:that the Ryder twins are symbiotically tied to the ''highly illegal'' (but [[BenevolentAI benevolent]]) AI that Alec Ryder coded up for the Andromeda mission]].

*** Director Tann was an ''accountant'' and something like ''eighth in line'' for the position of Director. Everyone above him was killed during the Nexus' run in with the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Scourge]] [[spoiler:or was assassinated shortly after]]. To say that Tann is ill-suited for the position is...a fairly serious understatement. The amount of characters who actually ''like'' Tann can be counted on one hand, although, following Ryder's successes as Pathfinder, Tann does become more [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure reasonable]] over the course of the game.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', ''you'' are summarily promoted to mission commander when [[spoiler:Commander Gore is killed in action. His last act is to entrust completion of the mission to you and,]] from that point on, all crewmen will follow your lead. Even Arthur, your ship's artificial intelligence, will only issue missions to you and advise you as best as he can based on his role as mission analyst, but doesn't actually have any authority over you. It gets to the point when [[spoiler:Gore is resurrected, and he briefly returns to your ship, but he only challenges your decisions (on an unofficial level) if you, personally, prove to be a threat to humanity]].

*** This is how the Starfleet player becomes captain of their own ship, starting off the game as an ensign. The ship in question is a small one with a crew of only 200, and it's specifically noted that the Borg who boarded it while the player was assisting another ship wiped out the officers first, leaving the player as the ''only'' surviving officer of that crew. (This is also noted as unusual behavior by the Borg and eventually explored later on in a high level mission.) Once the player reports in to Admiral Quinn to get his battlefield commission formalized, the Admiral outright admits that they've been reduced to this by how pressed Starfleet is to deal with their various border conflicts.

*** The Romulan Republic's Admiral Kererek mentions that the Romulan Star Empire made him an admiral after the Hobus supernova to fill vacancies left by the destruction of Romulus. Before that he was a desk jockey working in logistics and ship deployment [[{{Reconstruction}} (which admittedly is a pretty good background for a high-ranking flag officer to have)]]. He joined up with the Republic way later.

** Happens also with ''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander'', though the situation seems a bit silly if you think about it. Your character has been a commander for only 3 months when the Captain is killed by a supernova. Starfleet sees fit to advance you to rank of captain, give you your own first officer, and loan you Captain Picard for advice for a few missions. A possible justification for this is only implied and not outright said: Starfleet is sorely undermanned in the area of the galaxy where the game takes place. To wit: you only see about a dozen other starfleet ships, but fight hundreds of Cardassian ships.

** In the Sith Empire, PragmaticVillain Darth Marr absorbs the power bases of the fallen Darths [[spoiler:Decimus and Baras]], both of which had to do with different aspects of the Imperial military. Together with his own preexisting Sphere, he becomes the de facto commander-in-chief, and immediately sets himself to stabilizing the front, where the Republic is making rapid gains. This, combined with the Sith Emperor's [[spoiler:apparent death]], and the fact his singleminded devotion to protecting the Empire's territorial integrity means the other Dark Councilors trust him more than they would most Sith, means he becomes the de facto co-regent of the Empire alongside [[spoiler:the Sith Inquisitor]].

* ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine'': Second Lieutenant Mira Nero is the highest ranking officer left on Graia, and will remain so unless her superiors suddenly rise from the grave. In her own words, [[DeadpanSnarker "So far, they seem content to stay put."]]

** This happens to some [[Characters/WarcraftPlayerCharcters players]] as part of ''Legion's'' Order Hall campaign, where the player is given leadership when the previous leader is killed, most famously when [[spoiler:Tirion Fordring]] is killed. With warlocks, after the mistaken summoning of a pit lord, the player is the only one who survived, and has to rebuild their order by themselves.

** The original CO of Blue Team was Captain Butch Flowers, but when he died of aspirin overdose, Church became the unofficial leader. Said aspirin may have also been given by a time-traveling Church from the future, but that's neither here nor there.

* ''Webcomic/DriveDaveKellett'': After [[spoiler:the Continuum destroys Tesskil and]] kills most of the Tesskan leadership [[spoiler:and 99% of the ''species'']], including their leader, the Grand Voss, Emperor Cruz [[http://www.drivecomic.com/archive/110707.html stops a random Tesskan guard and informs him he's the new Grand Voss]]. Granted, this is in part due his thinking that Tesskans are all equally unsuited to this kind of position.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Lorelei Signal", all the male members of the crew are incapacitated. Uhura takes command of the ship and leads a landing party to rescue the male senior officers with Nurse Chapel as Chief Medical Officer and second-in-command. Uhura is never actually ''given'' command, and her commandeering the ship is technically mutinous (and she justifies this in the ship's log), but her superiors commend her actions once she rescues them. She also gets left in command in "Bem" when Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Sulu are all part of a landing party.

* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MightyDucksTheAnimatedSeries'' combines this with TakeUpMySword. The original team leader Canard sacrificed himself to save the others, but not before giving his magitek mask to Wildwing, albeit it wasn't until the next episode where Wildwing embraced his role.

* A minor variant in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The season four premiere has the Royal Guards tell Twilight that she's in-charge due to being the only available princess (Celestia and Luna are missing, and Cadence is occupied with ruling the further along the north Crystal Empire, leaving her unavailable in short order). This is a minor example due to her leaving immediately after giving only an order or two.

** When the Battle of the Bulge begins all the higher ranking officers of the division are absent. When one of the officers starts complaining about this, the ever-competent Major Winters quietly tells him to concentrate on organizing his men and finding ammunition and winter clothing for them, instead of wasting time waiting for superiors who might never turn up.
** Dick Winters does this several times throughout the war. He drops into Normandy as a 1st lieutenant in command of a platoon, but ends up commanding the company because his CO is MIA (turns out, the CO never even set foot in Normandy -- his plane blew up on the way). Later, when Major Horton is killed during Market Garden, he becomes battalion XO.
** Some time after he becomes Battalion XO and while he's still a captain, Winters acts as 2nd Battalion CO while Strayer (the actual CO) performs the duty of an absent Regimental Officer. This results in Winters having to contend with going up against the 1st and 3rd battalion [=COs=], who are both lieutenant colonels, when it comes to acquiring resources for both the missions to which his battalion gets assigned as well as provisions for his men.
** Notably, with few exceptions, Easy Company had little problem with sudden loss of leadership: if someone of high rank was injured or otherwise unable to continue fighting, the company would quickly adjust for the loss and continue the mission. The one time leadership became a problem ([[spoiler:When Lt. Dike froze with indecision during the attack on Foy]]), Winters turned to Lieutenant Speirs, told him the trope and sent him out to lead Easy Company, who followed him with no problems.

** The USS ''Nevada'' (BB-36) spent most of the attack under the command of Lieutenant Commander Francis J. Thomas, who not only coordinated the defense of the battleship, but also got her underway and attempted a dash for the open sea. When it became apparent that ''Nevada'' would sink before she could clear the channel, he ordered her run aground to avoid blocking the entrance to the harbor. At the same time, Ensign J.K. Taussig assumed command of the ship's AntiAir batteries when the communications lines between them and the ship's command center were damaged. He [[{{determinator}} continued to coordinate the air defense]] of ''Nevada'' even after losing a leg in an explosion, until being evacuated by [[TheMedic Navy Corpsmen]] that had been called for by his gun crews.
* The events of ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington The Short Victorious War]]'' by Creator/DavidWeber, where Captain Harrington assumes command of a battlecruiser flotilla when her admiral is incapacitated in a pitched battle despite another admiral being present, were likely [[FantasyConflictCounterpart inspired by]] the actions of US Navy [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_McCandless Lieutenant Commander Bruce McCandless]] aboard the heavy cruiser USS ''San Francisco'' (CA-38) during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]]. With the death of Admiral Dan Callaghan, Captain Cassin Young, and ''San Francisco''[='s=] XO (as well as Admiral Norman Scott aboard USS ''Atlanta'', accidentally struck down by friendly fire from ''San Francisco'', though nobody was immediately aware of it in the confusion except a the men who found Scott's body), the US fleet was in disarray. He was not the seniormost surviving officer aboard ''San Francisco''. The senior surviving officer aboard was Lieutenant Commander Herbert Schonland, the ship's Damage Control Officer. Schonland was far too busy keeping the crippled cruiser afloat, and told [=McCandless=] to "carry out the Admiral's orders," effectively giving command to [=McCandless=] (though necessary, this could have been interpreted as Dereliction of Duty and/or Deserting his Post In the Face of the Enemy for Schonland). When the fighting subsided, Captain Gil Hoover of the light cruiser USS ''Helena'' took command of the remaining ships as the senior surviving officer afloat. Though costly, the battle was a victory for the Americans, and [=McCandless=] and Schonland's actions saved ''San Francisco'', with both men receiving the Medal of Honor.

* There are numerous recorded instances from World War II in the Pacific of a ship being hit on the bridge and the senior surviving bridge officer assuming command. This often happened even when they were not the senior surviving officer aboard the ship, because those officers not on the bridge but more senior might be needed at their normal posts to keep the ship moving and floating. Perhaps the most extreme example was that a warrant officer (not even an ensign) effectively commanded the Japanese heavy cruiser ''Mogami'' for a couple of hours during the Battle of Surigao Strait because the surviving more senior officers were all directing damage-control or keeping the badly mangled engines running.

* Sports teams have at least one Captain and one Deputy/Vice Captain appointed or elected as the leaders of the playing group at the start of a season, even in sports where being a Captain means little or even nothing in the laws. Due to injuries, suspensions or being sent off, this can result in players who are normally not one of the picked leadership group having to takeover. A example in some Japanese teams is that the Captain is whoever the oldest or longest serving player on the team is, which can mean with transfers or retirements that a player can be promoted to Captain overnight.
* The British Royal Navy created a specific law in 1745 that mandated the death penalty for any and all officers found to have "not done his utmost" in fighting the enemy. This was done in response to the actions of Lt. Baker Phillips who suddenly found himself in command of the HMS Anglesey. The ship's captain was negligent in preparing the her for battle and was taken by surprise by the French, who immediately killed all of the senior leaders of the Anglesey except for Phillips in a withering broadside. Phillips surrendered the ship after a brief and futile fight, and was later executed by the English for cowardice. Phillips' execution was wildly decried in the newspapers of the time as being unfair, and so the laws were duly amended to warn everyone down to the lowest midshipman of what might happen to them.

* In Creator/DianeDuane's ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novel ''Literature/DoctorsOrders'', Dr. [=McCoy=] is given the con during a First Contact mission as part of a joke by Kirk. Then Kirk disappears into a temporal anomaly, a Klingon warship shows up, and Starfleet regulations won't allow [=McCoy=] to hand over command to any line officer until relieved by Kirk or Federation brass. Which means he's stuck in command in the middle of a major crisis with everyone's lives depending on his command training (which he does not have) and military ability.

** At the end of the trilogy, when Thrawn dies, Pellaeon takes command of the fleet, and several books set later have him reporting to or working with various high-ranking Imperial [[VillainOfTheWeek villains of the book]]; he always survives their inevitable deaths, and since he's actually very competent he becomes Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet by the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology. That's somewhere between Thrawn's and Vader's level of authority. That's right, Pellaeon becomes the most powerful man in the Empire, or [[VestigialEmpire what's left of it]], by being unspectacularly good at his job and surviving ''everyone'' who outranked him. It does take years and years of work -- he's in his sixties in the Thrawn trilogy.

* In ''[[Literature/StarTrekStargazer Valiant]]'', Michael Jan Friedman has a certain Second Officer Jean-Luc Picard (who would have held the rank of Lt. Commander at the time) on board the Stargazer. Captain Daithan Ruhalter and First Officer Stephen Leach are killed and critically injured, respectively, suddenly forcing Picard into the position of temporary CO. He doesn't exactly have an easy time of it, but since future canon has him as the Captain of the Stargazer, he eventually gets a two-grade jump to Captain.
** Subsequent novels reveal that not everybody was happy about the promotion. Specifically, Admiral Arlen [=McAteer=] has his own vision of Starfleet, and it doesn't include young upstart captains like Picard. While [=McAteer=] can't demote Picard himself, as Picard reports to Admiral Mehdi, he can set tasks for him that would reveal Picard's incompetence or lack of experience, forcing Mehdi to reverse his decision. This is ironic, considering the books go into great detail to show [=McAteer=] himself as overly-ambitious, seeing nothing wrong with ambition himself (to the point of disliking [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] for his criticism of it).

*** "Amok Time": After blood-fever affected Spock apparently kills the captain, Dr. [=McCoy=] invokes this trope.

*** The premise of the series is that the original Starfleet crew is blended with the absorbed Maquis, and three members of the main cast receive their positions following the catastrophe that created that situation. The EMH gets promoted to the status of ''sentient being'' as the result of this trope.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Following Danzo's death, the Leaf votes to have Kakashi become the Sixth Hokage. Before he formally enters into office, however, Tsunade wakes up from her coma and is allowed to resume her tenure, much to Kakashi's relief.

* This turns up more than once in the Literature/HonorHarrington series:
** In the short story "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington", the story of Honor's middie cruise, an ambush of a pirate ship GoesHorriblyWrong. Honor's ship is heavily damaged, the Captain is critically injured and the Exec is taken out of action by battle damage. It's up to Honor -- a midshipwoman fresh from the Academy -- to recover from the enemy attack and save the ship.
** In ''The Short Victorious War'', during the Battle of Hancock, Honor's battlecruiser (which is the force flagship) is badly damaged and the Admiral commanding the Manticoran force is critically wounded. Protocol calls for her to transfer command to the senior surviving captain, but if she does that she risks further damage to the Manticoran squadron and might lose a chance to trap the attacking Havenite forces. So she simply keeps giving squadron orders, giving the other ships and captains the impression that she's still relaying orders from the admiral.

* The British Royal Navy created a specific law in 1745 that mandated the death penalty for any and all officers found to have "not done his utmost" in fighting the enemy. This was done in response to the actions of Lt. Baker Phillips who suddenly found himself in command of the HMS Anglesey. The ship's captain was negligent in preparing the her for battle and was taken by surprise by the French, who immediately killed all of the senior leaders of the Anglesey except for Phillips in a withering broadside. Phillips surrendered the ship after a brief and futile fight, and was later executed by the English for cowardice. Phillips' execution was wildly decried in the newspapers of the time as being unfair, and so the laws was duly amended to warn everyone down to the lowest midshipman of what might happen to them.

* During the final days of World War II in Europe, the distinction between the political and military leadership of Nazi Germany vanished completely as the defense of the country became less a military objective and more Hitler's fanatical desire to avoid defeat at all costs. Naval and air flag officers found themselves in command of army units as the ''Wehrmacht'' collapsed into ad-hoc divisions consisting of regular army, Waffen-SS, ''Volkssturm'' militia, sailors, police, and Hitler Youth. In April 1945, as the Red Army began their encirclement of Berlin, Hermann Göring attempted to invoke a secret decree naming him Hitler's successor so that he could assume command of what remained of the Third Reich. Hitler responded by stripping him off his offices, and when he learned that Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler attempted to negotiate with the Allies, he made his decision to commit suicide. In Hitler's last will and testament, the office of ''Führer'' was thus split into its previous offices of President and Chancellor, with Hitler naming Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as President, along with supreme commander of the armed forces, and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels as Chancellor. Then Goebbels killed himself shortly after Hitler, leaving Dönitz in command of a nation that was being invaded from all sides. At this point, his only major order was a general retreat to the West so that German troops could avoid being captured by the Soviets, and nearly one week later, he finally surrendered.

* During UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and the War of 1812, the British wore, like everyone else, BlingOfWar, especially their officers (even though the Americans were no different in this regard). The Americans, used to hunting, could aim (both with their own hunting rifles, and well-packed muskets), and would choose the most visible targets. As a consequence, after the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of New Orleans, certain British regiments were under the command of the senior ''private''. (This is a an exaggeration, while a disproportionately large number of officers where lost, no regiments lost their entire complement of officers. After Bunker Hill, the closest is a Battalion being commanded by a Captain, normally a company commander. After New Orleans, Several Companies where temporarily commanded by Sergeants, due to the loss of both the Captain and all Lieutenants. Sill a valid example of this Trope, however)

* In ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', Sgt. Colon finds himself in command of The Watch after ALL his superior officers head to Überwald.[[note]]Commander Vimes is there on a diplomatic issue. Capt. Carrot goes on leave to pursue Lt. Angua, who has run off to Überwald for personal reasons. Given that he had the rank, and skipping over him would involve Nobby, who's even less appropriate to the role...[[/note]] It rapidly goes pear-shaped, to the point where Colon provokes the first Watchman's strike. At least he knew ahead of time he wouldn't do well.

** [[spoiler: Julian Mintz, a mere Lieutenant, becomes the military leader of the remaining [[TheFederation Free Planets Alliance]] military]]. It is a multiple subversion actually: Officers higher than him are still around, but they just cannot choose whom among them will [[spoiler: takes Yang's mantle]] (first subversion), so they chooses [[spoiler: Yang's foster child]] to act both as a figurehead (second subversion) and to arbitrate between them when they don't agree with each other, so while he seems to be a powerless puppet, he IS giving orders to people higher than him in the hierarchy and they willingly obey such orders. (But then again, [[spoiler: It's the [[MildlyMilitary Yang Team]], and they ALWAYS put [[BadassCrew competence above hierarchy]]]].)

* ''Fanfic/AgesOfShadow'': The Fourth [[HighPriest Himinion]] rises to power by [[spoiler: [[KlingonPromotion assassinating]] his predecessor, [[DarkMessiah Boaz]]]], which pisses [[FallenHero Jade]] off enough that she kills him almost instantly, then randomly selects one of the stunned onlookers and declares him the Fifth Himinion.

* ''Fanfic/NightOfTheShy'': By royal decree, Twilight Sparkle becomes Princess of Equestria in light of [[spoiler: Celestia and Luna's deaths]].

** After a prominent Clan Head, [[spoiler: Hiashi Hyuga]], dies during the same event, his wife has to take the mantle. Then later in Chapter 58, in light of [[spoiler: Hinata awakening the Tenseigan]], they decide to step down as the clan head and name [[spoiler:Hinata]] as the new one.

* Implied to have happened in the backstory of ''Fanfic/BelatedBattleships''. When Jersey is introduced to the current [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander,_U.S._Pacific_Fleet COMPACFLT]], VADM Williams, she thinks aloud that one of the few possible reasons why a three-star is occupying the four-star billet in question is because everyone more senior is dead. Not that she finds the other most likely reason - so much of the fleet having been lost that a three-star is all it needs - much more comforting.

** And in ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' the Everyman narrator, Mannie Davis, ends up in control of the Lunar Revolution's government [[spoiler: and wins the Revolutionary War]] when the [[MagneticWeapons old catapult]] is destroyed and communications between the Lunar government and his secret military base are cut off by Earth's bombing. This situation was anticipated, so Mannie was given appropriate orders and plans.

* ''Creator/JohnRingo'' has fun with this at a higher level in ''Literature/BlackTideRising'', invoking the National Constitutional Continuity Coordinator to specify the person with the authority of the US President in the event of an emergency, which the survivors in the book all agree that a zombie apocalypse qualifies. Frank Galloway was the Under Deputy Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Arms Proliferation Control, and was 112th in the list of officials defined in the line of succession, as all 111 other people are believed dead [[spoiler: there are two people higher on the list who are just out of contact, who show up eventually]].

* Because AnyoneCanDie in ''Literature/GrentsFall'', this is in full effect. By the end of the story, not only do [[spoiler:Osbert and both of his wing leaders]] die, but [[spoiler: after General Arthur Hicks's wing is virtually wiped out, low-level commander Edwin One-Hand is the wing's highest remaining leader]].
* {{Exaggerated}} in ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'', largely due to massive LoopholeAbuse by {{Artificial Intelligence}}s dealing with situations far outside their programming. In ''Mutineer's Moon'', Dahak (the artificial intelligence of the ''Utu''-class ship ''Dahak'') kidnaps Colin. According to Fleet regs from the long-gone Fourth Imperium, children of crew born on deployment are legally crew, and all Terrans are descended from the original ''Dahak'' crew, so once Colin is aboard, he becomes the senior (and only) crewman aboard. He is given an acting promotion to Senior Fleet Captain so he can lead operations against the original mutineers, complete Dahak's last commands and prepare to defend Earth against an AlienInvasion. Then in the next book, he comes up against the somewhat less mentally-flexible AI Mother, commander of Fleet Central from the Fourth Empire (successor state to the Imperium). [[spoiler: In order to gain access to Fleet Central, he identifies himself as the senior surviving military and civil official of the Empire, and activates the Fourth Empire regulation, Case Omega. As the Imperial dynasty is gone...[[UnexpectedSuccessor that makes him the Emperor]].]]

** At the end of Season 5, [[spoiler: Tyrion is given governance of the city of Mereen, while Dany is missing and Jorah and Daario look for her, with Varys and Grey Worm at his side]].

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', the player's [[StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter Warden ally]] -- [[spoiler: Alistair, Loghain or Stroud]] -- may find himself the senior Warden in Ferelden ''and'' Orlais [[spoiler: if he survives the Fade trip instead of Hawke. Bonus irony points if it's Alistair]].

** ''[=MechWarrior=] 4: Black Knight'' has you promoted after the 2nd campaign during a WhamEpisode [[spoiler: where the party contracting your services betrays you and attempts to destroy the unit so they don't have to pay up]].

*** The revised Starfleet tutorial now has the player as the designated first officer of a training crew fresh out of the Academy - the captain was the only officer of any real rank on the whole ship. Cue a disastrous encounter with some Klingons which results in the captain getting captured and killed, and everyone on board looking to you for direction. As with the original opening Starfleet mission, the player then reports in and is formally given command because Starfleet is in desperate need of even moderately effective command staff - ships are a lot easier to make than capable officers, and Starfleet is facing problems from all sides.

* The British Royal Navy created a specific law in 1745 that mandated the death penalty for any and all officers found to have "not done his utmost" in fighting the enemy. This was done in response to the the actions of Lt. Baker Phillips who suddenly found himself in command of the HMS Anglesey. The ship's captain was negligent in preparing the her for battle and was taken by surprise by the French, who immediately killed all of the senior leaders of the the Anglesey except for Phillips in a withering broadside. Phillips surrendered the ship after a brief and futile fight, and was later executed by the English for cowardice. Phillips' execution was wildly decried in the newspapers of the time as being unfair, and so the laws was duly amended to warn everyone down to the lowest midshipman of what might happen to them.

* Lt. Havoc finds himself in this position towards the end of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', [[spoiler:with the added complication that he's also pretending to be Mustang, a Brigadier General.]]
* Done in repeatedly in ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes''.
** Played straight at the beginning of the series when Yang Wenli is given command of the 2nd Fleet by his severely wounded commanding officer during the height of the Battle of Astarte as he's the highest-ranking officer left who's not incapacitated. He then proceeds to save the fleet from complete destruction.
** [[spoiler: Julian Mintz, a mere Lieutenant, becomes the military leader of the remaining [[TheFederation Free Planets Alliance]] military]]. It is a multiple subversion actually: Officers higher than him are still around, but they just cannot choose whom among them will [[spoiler: takes Yang's mantle]] (first subversion), so they chooses [[spoiler: Yang's foster child]] to act both as a figurehead (second subversion) and to arbitrate between them when they don't agree with each other, so while he seems to be a powerless puppet, he IS giving orders to people higher than him in the hierarchy and they willingly obey such orders. (But then again, [[spoiler: It's the [[MildlyMilitary Yang Team]], and they ALWAYS put [[BadassCrew competence above hierarchy]]]].)
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** In the movie ''[[Anime/BleachTheDiamondDustRebellion The DiamondDust Rebellion]]'', Rangiku has to take temporary command of Squad 10 after Captain Hitsugaya turns up missing. She does a damn good job of it, too.
** In canon, Lieutenants Izuru Kira and Shuuhei Hisagi take command of their squads after their captains, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen, turn traitor. Momo Hinamori would've done the same due to her squad after her own captain, [[BigBad Sousuke Aizen]], was also revealed as a traitor, but she was both physically and emotionally unfit for duty at the time.
** After [[spoiler:Yamamoto's death, Shunsui Kyoraku]] becomes the new [[spoiler:Captain-Commander]].
* Invoked by Commander Erwin in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' to avoid being executed by saying that the Military Police will then have to deal with [[spoiler:the two Titan shifters attacking each other]], amidst all the other problems involved, calmly telling them who is in charge of what as the guns were pointed at him.
** Happened again after his [[spoiler:own death at the hands of Zeke which resulted in Hange becoming the new Commander of the survey Corps.]]
*** [[spoiler:Happened ''yet'' again four years later when Hange decides to sacrifice herself to stall the Colossal Titans long enough so her friends can escape, she decides to appoint Armin as the new Commander, increasing his personal burden considering he was chosen to be brough back to life instead of Erwin]].
* ''Manga/{{Dragonball}}'': In the backstory, there was a council of gods. An attack by a monster left only the youngest and least experienced alive, after which he assumed command of the CelestialBureaucracy and all divine responsibilities. This causes major problems later, as it turns out that his superiors died and left their responsibilities to him before they could inform him what all of those responsibilities ''were''.

* In the final episodes of ''Anime/{{Godannar}}'', [[spoiler:Dannar Base founder Tatsuya Aoi takes Kagemaru's place as commander after the former saves it from the Mimetic Beasts]]. By the time of the epilogue, [[spoiler:Shizuru Fujimura assumes command of the base while Kiriko and Kagemaru search for a cure for the Insania Virus infection]].

*** The series basically starts with this. The planet of Tanith is destroyed as the new regiments are shipping out, and most of the soldiers are killed. When Gaunt asks for the senior office among the survivors, two troopers come forward and tell him that all the officers and [=NCOs=] were on the planet and are dead. Gaunt promotes the older one to colonel and the younger one to major, and tells them to select new officers from the men as they see fit. This is less arbitrary than most examples, Gaunt reasons that if they were the ones chosen to deliver the news to him, then they must command considerable respect and trust from their comrades.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': During the early stages of the Battle of Axum, Sergeant Lazarus of the Imperial Guard is given what is intended to be a temporary FieldPromotion to major after his CO is assassinated by a Jedi. By the late stages of the battle, Major Lazarus finds himself becoming the new leader of the Imperium's remaining ground forces by default due to being the only high-ranking officer who hasn't been captured or killed by the Jedi.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': During the early stages of the Battle of Axum, Sergeant Lazarus of the Imperial Guard is given what is intended to be a temporary FieldPromotion to major after his CO is assassinated by a Jedi. By the late stages of the battle, Major Lazarus becomes the new leader of the Imperium's remaining ground forces by default after everyone else within the chain of command is either captured or killed by the Jedi.

* In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague3000'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} becomes TheLeader of the team after Franchise/{{Superman}} and Batman get killed in the BigBad's first attack.

* In ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' story ''ComicBook/TheCondemnedLegionnaires'', one mysterious enemy is attempting to kill the Legion girls with a weird, unknown plague. Since the Legion are dealing with an emergency situation and most of members are sick or unavailable, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} is appointed as temporary leader.

*** "Disaster" puts Troi in command[[note]]She carries the rank of Lieutenant Commander[[/note]], as the most senior officer left on the bridge (despite the fact that she has no command training, which gets addressed in a later episode). This is one of the areas where Starfleet breaks from current-day practices. Troi would most likely have been a staff officer and would not have taken command. Ensign Ro would have, especially since she was a command division (line) officer.
*** "Descent" leaves Dr. Crusher in command of a skeleton crew while everyone senior to her has off-ship duties. Unlike Troi, however, Crusher has taken and passed the Bridge Officers' Test, and she becomes the first Starfleet (acting) captain to defeat The Borg in combat. (In an AlternateTimeline, she eventually gets her own command--the medical ship USS ''Pasteur''.)
*** "The Arsenal of Freedom" has Geordi in command, and puts him in conflict with the more senior Chief Engineer Logan. When Logan tries to pull rank, Geordi states that he is in command until he is relieved by either Captain Picard or Commander Riker. This is TruthInTelevision, as Geordi would be considered the Officer of the Deck as delegated by (and thus may only be relieved by) the captain or XO. Humorously, Picard refuses to accept command back until Geordi gets his ship back in one piece (he ordered a Saucer Separation to protect the civilians on board), so he gets to be captain a little longer until the saucer is retrieved.
*** "Remember Me" has Dr. Crusher quickly ascend the ranks as everyone else on the ship ceases to have ever existed in the local universe due to her being caught in a NegativeSpaceWedgie.
*** "The Best of Both Worlds" puts Riker in command when Picard is kidnapped and assimilated by the Borg. Troi even quotes this trope. Unlike most examples of the trope, Riker is not only an experienced officer, but is the ship's 2nd-in-command already, so him taking over when the captain is incapacitated in any way is just business as usual. When Starfleet hears what has happened, they not only don't relieve Riker of command (there isn't anyone more qualified than him on board anyway), but give him a ([[StatusQuoIsGod temporary]]) field promotion to Captain.
*** "Tapestry" reveals that this is how Picard got his first command. He was serving as a bridge officer on the ''Stargazer'' when the captain was killed and the first officer was injured. Picard took command and salvaged the situation. In the aftermath, Starfleet Command was impressed enough with Picard's actions that they promoted him directly to captain and gave him command of ''Stargazer''.
*** "Gambit" shows first Riker taking command when Picard gets killed [[spoiler:(kidnapped, actually)]], then Data becomes captain when Riker is taken. This leads to much drama when Data promotes Worf (who openly questions his command decisions) to first officer.

*** [[spoiler:Happened yet again four years later after her death/sacrifice which resulted in her appointing Armin becoming the new Commander, increasing his personal burden considering he was chosen to be brough back to life instead of Erwin]]

** Likewise in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. In the Winterhold College, you go from greenhorn student to arch-mage after [[spoiler:the previous arch-mage is killed by his deceitful advisor, you singlehandedly ends a world threat, and the Psijic Monks back you]]. Among the Companions, you start as a fresh Shieldbrother/sister and end as Harbinger after [[spoiler:avenging the previous Harbinger's death (which you indirectly caused), reforging their prize artifact, and ending a curse]]. The Thief Guild sees you join as a simple cutpurse and end as Guildmaster by [[spoiler:killing the previous Guildmaster after revealing his treachery, joining the Nightingales, returning an incredible Daedric artifact, and restoring the guild to its full glory]]. And you join the Dark Brotherhood by inadvertently stealing one of their hits and end up leading them after [[spoiler:legitimately assassinating the previous Matron, proving that you are the Listener, performing the greatest and most elaborate assassination of the era, and bringing the Brotherhood back to its glory days]]. Unsurprisingly almost all of these involve the deaths of the original leaders of the groups.

** Mostly justified in that he tends to be the calmest person in any given situation and can quickly analyse a situation and come up with a plan. [[spoiler: And then subverted when he has to be ''told'' that a commander can't just give orders, and has to ''inspire'', and the stoic, withdrawn Squall has a span of a couple of minutes to figure out how to ''do'' that.]]

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': In "Radio Bombay", Mr. Conklin puts Miss Brooks in charge of Madison High School when he's away for the morning. HilarityEnsues.

*** "Descent" leaves Dr. Crusher in command of a skeleton crew while everyone senior to her has off-ship duties. Unlike Troi, however, Crusher has taken and passed the Bridge Officers' Test, and actually enjoys command. (In an AlternateTimeline, she eventually gets her own command--the medical ship USS ''Pasteur''.)