#with the idea of keller/mckay

[sga-owns-my-soul]

might fuck around a write a fic that’s half of season 5 re-written bc i hate how they ended the show

[dr-futbol-blog]

Sanctuary, Pt. 14

While Sheppard's picnic with Chaya is interesting in and of itself, it becomes really significant in a later context.

In The Shrine (S05E06) we learn that Rodney McKay doesn't really know what dating is. He has referred to girls he's dated a few times previously but his idea of what dating is and other people's idea of what dating is are not necessarily the same. We first see this with him and Katie Brown, as it seems like they don't really spend that much time together (and never even got to second base, far as we're told) but he still goes around telling people that they are dating because she's a beard. There's also the girl McKay claims to have dated (twice!, as in, two dates) in college and Sheppard says he stalked, the truth probably being somewhere in between. But it's made explicit in relation to Keller.

Keller starts falling for McKay when he's suffering from brain damage that alters his personality (which is disturbing in and of itself, but we'll circle back to that), preferring the "kinder, gentler Rodney McKay" that is the result of a parasite eating away at his brain. While he's in the hospital under her care, they have the following exchange:

Keller: Eating from the patient's tray is kind of frowned upon. McKay: Jennifer, we've practically dated. Keller: You bought me one drink. That's hardly "dating."

Rodney McKay thinks that buying someone one drink is dating. We also know from Trio (S04E16) that this drink was a beer (and that this happened a while ago). At the end of the episode, they have the following exchange:

Keller: You owe me a beer from the bar trick thing earlier. You couldn't figure it out, so… McKay: Well, there was no time! I would have figured it out! Keller: Yeah, well, eventually chimps would have been able to figure it out, but the thing is, you didn't, so I win, and you owe me a beer. McKay: I don't remember ever agreeing to the beer! Keller: McKay. McKay: What? Keller: D'you wanna have a drink with me or not? McKay: What – you wanna have a drink? Keller: You're not very good at this, are you? McKay: Uh, no. No, I'm not.

He's really, really not.

So, one beer = date.

Never mind that we've seen Sheppard offer to buy McKay a beer earlier in Quarantine (S0413):

Sheppard: Well, I'll... I'll buy you a beer later. We can celebrate. McKay: Yeah – or drown my sorrows should she say no. Sheppard: No, no, none of that. McKay: Right. Sheppard: Well, go get the girl!

At the end of the episode, McKay himself decides not to propose to her and they break up. He had sorrows to drown. Sheppard offered to buy him a beer. So far, Sheppard and Keller are one for one.

But then, in the very same episode as where McKay's idea of one drink equaling a date is laid out, we get this:

Sheppard: All right, look. It's a nice night out. Let's go have some beer on the pier, okay? McKay: I drink beer? Sheppard: A lot. Take this [six-pack of beer]. Come on, buddy. Let's go.

McKay, afraid that he is losing his mind, has waken up in the middle of the night to not find Sheppard with him where he was sleeping. Even though he is losing his memories to the point of not remembering the meaning of words, his feet have carried him to Sheppard's quarters through the corridors and hallways. Sheppard asks him out for a beer. He tells us that Rodney has had lots of beers with him.

Once outside on the pier, McKay has finished his beer and Sheppard offers him another.

McKay: I don't know. Should I have another? Sheppard: What could happen?

McKay takes the second beer. Again, in an episode in which we were explicitly told that to McKay one beer = date, where we're told that he's had one drink with Keller, he has two beers with Sheppard. Outside on the pier at night, wearing Sheppard's jacket. Outside on the pier at night like Sheppard and Chaya. So, according to his own definition, McKay was out on a date. But Sheppard was also out on a date, he explicitly calls it a "romantic situation" the first time. It is both of their idea of a date.

We are invited to make this connection. In this episode, Sheppard and Chaya have the following exchange:

Chaya: You said it yourself—we're both human. Sheppard: Yes. We are. And I'm really glad you didn't say "family," otherwise I'd have to leave. Chaya: Don't. Sheppard: I'm not going anywhere.

They are both lying. She is not human and he never had any intention of staying with her. He's saying it to her because it's something he himself longs to hear. More than anything he yearns for a friend that is with you always, a friend that never leaves your side. So he tells her this, because it's the one thing that would make him want to do anything for the person who said that. And while he's influenced by Chaya, there's something they desperately need from her. He's going all out on trying to get that sanctuary for his people.

And in The Shrine, he and Rodney have the following exchange:

McKay: John… John, I've never been so scared. I'm slipping away. I'm slipping away, and I don't know how to stop myself! Sheppard: Look, you're still here. All right? You're still here. McKay: Yeah. I am. Sheppard: And… I'm not going anywhere.

This is why this episode is so important. It gives context to this seminal scene in The Shrine (and 'shrine' is synonymous with 'sanctuary', they rhyme). We are not only told that Jennifer Keller pales in comparison to John Sheppard when it comes to loving (and yes, even dating) Rodney McKay, we are shown that what Sheppard was first pretending to be for Chaya, doing his damnedest to charm the socks off of her to protect his people and then did under some form of mind-control, he is genuinely this for Rodney. Rodney is stuck with him. He's not going anywhere.

And again, this is the thing that John Sheppard himself most desperately wants to hear. He wants someone to tell him this (McKay is more of a show don't tell acts of service kind of a person, but he'll get there eventually; Sheppard has to travel 40,000 years into the future to understand what Rodney has been trying to show him all along; he's not going anywhere). Losing McKay is literally Sheppard's worst nightmare, we see it multiple times over the seasons so here he tells McKay the most comforting thing he knows because he is just as scared as the other man is of him slipping away--if not more so.

We can also compare the way Sheppard acts in these scenes. When Chaya mentions loneliness, Sheppard nopes out of the situation immediately. He stands up, puts distance between them, refuses to even think about the concept let alone discuss it. Here, McKay is dying. While he's trying to be supportive, Sheppard knows this. He's leaving permanently. But regardless of this being his literal worst nightmare, Sheppard stays put. He stays there with McKay and tries to have the difficult conversation about good-byes. It's not easy for him but he does the work. If anything, by the end of the scene, they are even closer--both physically and emotionally.

However, while for Sheppard it's important to hear that someone is there for him through thick and thin, for McKay the thing he most desperately wants to hear--or better yet, be demonstrated--is that he's accepted for all that he is without him having to do things to earn this acceptance. That it's freely given and it includes him at his absolute worst. And while it's not something Sheppard has consciously figured out about him, he just does. McKay doesn't get it here, lamenting that he can't be his genius friend anymore. Sheppard accepts him when he's the smartest man in two galaxies and he accepts him when he does shit so dumb that his niece would feel ashamed to know him. He accepts him when he's kind and gentle and funny but he also accepts him when he's arrogant, abrasive, petty and jealous. Because all of that is McKay. All of that is the person he loves. And that's something that can only be demonstrated consistently over time.

But the point is, both McKay and Sheppard thought they were on a date on the pier. It is both of their idea of a romantic situation. And their date, the raw and honest human connection between them, is so much more important and significant than what they shared with these women. Their whole purpose is to exist as foils meant to make us recognize the real thing.

We don't get see Sheppard and McKay kiss on the pier, the scene fading out as Sheppard leans back real close to McKay. He does kiss Chaya. It's possible they would have wound up there even if she didn't have him under some sort of influence. She's attractive and he feels responsible for the lives of untold thousands, maybe millions of people that he thinks she has in her power to save. And yes, even if he wasn't under some form of mind-control, the kiss would still have been meant but to game her. Like Leeloo, the perfect being of The Fifth Element, Sheppard had hoped that if he could only come up with a reason for her to want to save mankind, they could all be saved.

It's not only the fact that Chaya is perfectly beautiful with perfect tissues that connects her to Leeloo. It's also later the fact that after she's done going through Weir's historical database, she's particularly disturbed by human propensity for war.

Chaya: But I've also been reading about your history. Even now, somewhere on your planet, you are at war. Sheppard: Well, yeah, that's true. Weir: I made no attempt to hide that fact from you. Chaya, we are definitely not perfect. Chaya: There's a lot about you as a people that I find disturbing. Teyla: Can that not be said of any people? Chaya: No. Every soul in Proculus is free from the hatred and the anger the people from Earth seem to feel for each other.

Earlier, she called Sheppard a warrior. He is a soldier that has participated in war. He's fighting a war right now. If we're later shown what the real thing looks like for John Sheppard, it appears that despite her attraction, Sheppard is also much too human for her to ever truly love. They are a different species, after all.

She dislikes war and conflict, and she's about to get a display of just how human John Sheppard is.

Continued in Pt. 15

[lightthewaybackhome]

Stargate-Atlantis S5: E10 & 11 First Contact & The Lost Tribe

I've now seen enough SG-1 to be happy to see Daniel Jackson. 😄 I love him and Rodney working together. It's very like Ronon and Teal'c meeting for the first time.

Woolsey: Todd has less baggage with me than you. 🤣🤣🤣

Woolsey leaves Sheppard in command and says: Try not to blow her up while I'm gone. Why would you say that???

I'm always uncomfortable when the teams split up.

Sheppard saying Daniel and Rodney make a good team has to be him poking. He's too good at studying people to not realize they aren't working well together.

Daniel and Rodney are chuckling because they think Sheppard isn't as smart as them, but when things go bad, Sheppard is just as quick as Rodney to put it all together. I also think this is interesting considering Daniel's experience with Jack. Jack is good at what he does, but constantly requests the dumbing down of things and even admits he has no idea how the stargates work. Sheppard seems to generally grasp the science stuff and listens when Rodney is rabid fire explaining. So I think Rodney is giving him a hard time, but I think Daniel actually thinks he's as jockish as Jack, who Daniel loves, but still. It was an interesting moment.

I always thought it sad that Todd thinks Atlantis betrayed him. I mean, he's always coming up with layered plans that are almost betrayals, but it wasn't Atlantis.

I love that Ronon's first thing is arming Keller.

John sends Teyla to safety, not only protecting his people, but I think to command if he dies.

Also, there is a serious lack of Lorne in this episode .

Episode 11: The Lost Tribe

See! It opens with Teyla getting everyone to safely. Sheppard knows what he's about.

Sheppard bodily protects Radek.

Radek: we lost the control room. That is bad.

Teyla: we did not lose you. That's good.

😭😭😭

I love that you can feel the horror of the device through Todd's reaction to it. He's ready to do anything to shut the device down. Anything.

Sheppard leaves with the Travelers and, this time, has a chance to explain why he's leaving Teyla behind. He trusts her to lead Atlantis while he's gone.

When Ronon is shooting up the engine room, I wonder if Keller had a hard time not switching to Kaylee? 🤣

Daniel talking to the Asgard is *spoiler warning* when you watch Atlantis before SG-1.

Todd refuses Sheppard's offer to join forces, tries to manipulate Keller, sets the Deadalus on a collision course, and abandons it. Meanwhile, McKay and Daniel work together. Sheppard joins the Travelers. Ronan retakes the Deadalus. What Atlantis has, that Todd doesn't, that can't be beat, is trust. Trust in each other.

Ronon gets rejected by Keller. I honestly don't think him and Keller made a great pair. He needs a very special sort of woman.

Great two episodes.

Needed some Lorne.

[angsty-violet]

Radio Silence

“When did we lose contact with Colonel Sheppard?”

“35 minutes ago.”

“You swept the area?”

“We found his footprints at the spot he was checking out and nothing else. It looks like he just up and disappeared.”

Woolsey sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face. Let’s send out three teams and pull from other missions if we have to. It’s unlikely he actually disappeared, and our best bet is that planet. Nobody should be alone, work in pairs, and check-ins every half hour.”

Lorne nodded, taking it all in, making plans on who to send.

“Where are the rest of Sheppard’s team?”

“Still looking, sir. They didn’t want to leave while there was still a chance they could find him.”

Woolsey shook his head but wasn’t surprised. Teyla, Ronan and McKay were as loyal as they come, and they would not risk leaving Sheppard behind if there was even the slightest chance they could recover him.

“I’ve been doing my best to track him, but there’s so much interference.” McKay glared down at his equipment like it was to blame for Sheppard being out of contact.

“Keep trying. We can use any lead we find.” Teyla kept her voice soft because she knew that despite the annoyed face he was putting on, he was very worried about Colonel Sheppard. It was his way of covering up his feelings.

Ronan said nothing, his eyes constantly scanning the terrain, hoping to catch sight of their Colonel.

When John opened his eyes, he was lying face down in a pile of soft dirt. He groaned at the sore feeling in all of his body. He moved slowly, gingerly and took in his surroundings.

The ravine he had slipped into was steep, with soft dirt in every direction. John was a little surprised that it hadn’t all fallen on top of him when he had slid down it. That was good, of course, but he had made a lot of movement when he fell. That could be enough to trigger a rockslide. So he couldn’t try to climb back up.

John looked around for his stuff and started digging through his pockets. The longer he went without finding his radio, the more worried he got. There was no way he was going to be able to get back up that hill on his own. He needed help, and if he couldn’t call for it over the radio, he was stuck, hoping they’d find him.

Ronan had wandered away, feeling restless while McKay did his thing. He was confident that McKay could find Sheppard given enough time, but he wasn’t in the mood to do nothing while he was at it. He had already swept the area but figured it couldn’t hurt to do it a second time.

This time, there was no rush to his movements, which might explain why he had caught sight of a small piece of fabric snagged on a tree. Ronan frowned and inspected it. There were a dozen people checking the woods, so it could’ve come from anyone, but Ronan would take any lead he could get.

He tracked where the person would’ve come from and where they would’ve gone by the angle of the snag.

Ronan got very concerned when he realized that the most obvious direction would’ve been down the steep ravine. There was little to no way to get down from the top without risking the whole bank caving in.

He dithered for a moment and then called, “Sheppard.”

“Ronan!” Sheppard’s voice was slightly muffled and pained sounding, but he was clearly alive.

“I’m going to call for help.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I don’t know what happened to my radio or the other half of my stuff, but I don’t think I can get up this stupid hill without help.”

Ronan inspected it and agreed. The dirt on the sides was very soft and partially waterlogged. A wrong move could start a mudslide.

“This is Ronan.”

“Ronan, you find something?” Teyla’s voice was carefully emotionless.

“Yes, I found Sheppard. He’s down a ravine. I’m along the tree line, a straight line from where you are.”

“We’re coming right now. Is he hurt? Do we need to call in Keller?” McKay’s voice wasn’t nearly as grating as it normally was.

“Let me check. Sheppard!”

“What?”

“You hurt?”

There was a pause. “Yeah, my leg. Not sure if it’s broken or not.”

Ronan relayed the information.

“I’ll get Lorne to get Keller out here. It could be dangerous to move him. Hey, what happened to his radio?”

“It’s not on him. Probably somewhere along the way down. Could be impossible to find in the mud.”

“Right.”

Getting Hauled out of a ravine in a hoist was not the highlight of John’s day. However, it definitely beat out lying at the bottom of it, hoping to be rescued.

Keller had immediately started checking him over as soon as they had him on solid ground. Once she had ensured that John’s leg wasn’t broken, she got Lorne and Ronan to help haul him back to the gate. It was an exhausting procedure. It might not have been broken, but the sprain was agony to try and walk on.

They walked him slowly back to the gate with the teams that had been placed to look for him on the planet following behind. John admitted, at least internally, knowing that Woolsey cared enough to send multiple teams to look for him.

Which, normally, it was much worse than just falling off a cliff. Kidnap, torture, etc. Maybe Woolsey just didn’t want to get reprimanded for not taking every possible avenue to get him back. Or, maybe there was some real affection there from the current head of Atlantis.

They didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, but the original dislike had settled into casual disagreement and occasional camaraderie.

As they walked him through the gate, John looked up to Woolsey’s office and smiled at the sight of the man waiting for his return.

[stargatelov3r]

For the ship game. Favorite stargate shit and stargate NOTP, whichever they are :-)

thank you so much for the ask! I already did my favorite ship (i assume that's what you meant ;) here but i'll do another one just for fun :)

Elizabeth/Ronon

Ship It

What made you ship it? it's so hard to remember this! but i think at some point i was just like "hm, i think Elizabeth deserves some good dick, let's see... oh yeah, what if she got together with Ronon every once in a while?" and that's basically what this whole idea started but the more i started to think about it the more i found that things between them actually might work out?

What are your favorite things about the ship? - they are both extremely sexy - they both have a hard time asking for the things they need in a relationship but weirdly i think that if they got together they would get better at it, especially if it started as a friends with benefits thing because then the whole thing would be based around talking about each other's (sexual) needs and i think that would translate into a romantic relationship as well - ronon is literally the only person who manages to fluster elizabeth! especially in the beginning when she tries to talk to him and he just... doesn't? it's hilarious to watch and i'd like to think that Elizabeth is wrecking her brain about how to get him to talk or how to get through to him - they care deeply about the people close to each other and i think they would Care! So! Much! about each other if they were in a relationship. just... so much... i could write more but i'll stop now

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

again, i feel like just shipping them is an unpopular opinion? bc not a lot of people do ship them?

And maybe the idea that they are fuck buddies at first is unpopular as well but to me it makes total sense: she doesn't want to get attached, she can't do relationships in her position. he has lost everything at some point and now slowly gaining things back. he lost the love of his life and maybe doesn't want to get emotionally involved. but he *does* respect Elizabeth, he is incredibly thankful that she let him stay in atlantis... there is so much!

now let's get to my NOTP

I'm not sure I have a definite NOTP? But there are some ships that bug me and one of them is McKeller which is what i'm gonna use for this ask

Don’t Ship It

Why don’t you ship it?

a lot of people have talked about this before but for me they just don't vibe. It's not that i don't think that fundamentally different people can't find some common ground and maybe get together, it's that Keller sees McKay and thinks "i can fix him" even though he doesn't need fixing, you know?

Now, McKay is far from perfect, but she tries to change him into that person that would be the perfect boyfriend for her.

2. What would have made you like it?

for one i think if they had stopped wanting her to change him and if they had not pushed it that much?

also if they had made him her only love interest without sprinkling ronon and (in cut scenes) Vega in there as well.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I used to not dislike them when i was first watching SGA, does that count?

Otherwise I don't really have anything to say (:

[halestrom]

McLeppard Regency OR Single Dads?

im gonna do BOTH bc i can!.

MCLEPPARD REGENCY

Okay so this one is more of a vague idea. I love Regency AU's, esp in like a semi-bridgerton show style where the only thing regency about them is the clothing/pining no touch and no time era racism/sexism yadda yadda ya. But basically, Evan and Rodney were childhood sweethearts and they fell in puppy love but then Evan went Off To War and time passed and stuff happened and they drifted apart. While Evan was away the Sheppards moved in next door to the McKays and everyone thought it was so lucky that they both had single sons to MARRY THE FAMILIES TOGETHER and so John and Rodney are like...kinda Swan Princessing it at this point. They think each other is cute but Cannot Stand Each Other

CUE EVAN RETURNING FROM WAR AS A HERO. (John was also at War Bc I Said So) but Evan is more dramatic about it. And he and Rodney still like each other a lot, but Rodney likes John also but he won't say anything.

Basically, a fuck tonne of pining, no touching except for brushes of hands and longing sighs. Ther might be some letters, a little bit of angst, and then they all fall in love and ride off into the sunset together.

SINGLE DADS

Okay, this is post canon Atlantis, John is Old and Whumped Badly enough he can't actually function and so retires back to Earth. Drinks more than he thought, wham bam thank u man, suddenly John is a single parent bc the Mom was like cute kid but not for me in a totally reasonable way. The kids name is Amelia Teyla Sheppard but she is four in the story and loves lizards and so john calls her Liz (which tickles him bc Elizabeth). he's chilling, loves his old team but doesn't talk bc the long distant rates between galaxies are HORRIBLE.

Rodney comes over and is like. HEY ATLANTIS IS GONNA BE INDEPENDENT HOLY FUCK WHY DO U HAVE A CHILD and one thing leads to another but John ends up back on Atlantis with a TBD job, a four year old. And Rodney also has a kid from some Ancient Machine that he named Carson John but everyone calls him CJ and he's a year old and doesn't speak but when he does its creepily clear. like perfect english.

Basically its a slow brady bunch love story where John's living his best life as silver fox dad on Atlantis and Ruining Peoples Days when he's sexy silver fox in board shorts playing with his daughter in a pool and Rodney's enjoying having his BFF back, especially a BFF who is a pro at kid stuff now. Bc John always gives it his all

Feat: Teyla/Lorne dating but Kanaan is also around so Lorne and Kannaan are bff's. John's bitch best friend is Jennifer Keller who is still on Earth and people getting second chances at happiness.

Ronon snorted, before dropping a hand to Amelia’s head and squeezing slightly. “Hey, baby Sheppard. Guess what this is” “Your hand,” Amelia said, trying to tilt her head back. “No, it’s a brain sucker, guess what it’s doing,” he said with the same sort of joy John remembered from when Ronon had first been retelling bad jokes the marines told him. “It’s starving.” “Why do you need my brain Uncle Ronon?” Liz asked, turning and staring up at Ronon with a frown. “I don’t,” Ronon said, dropping his hand away and looking a little put out. “The brain sucker does.” “But it’s your hand,” Liz said before her face cleared in understanding and she wrapped her arms around his legs. “It’s okay, Uncle Ronon! I can share my brain with you if you need one! Daddy says I’m smart so I can be smart for us both!”

[azeriairis]

I'm going to do a refresh on my Stargate Astrology Ask Game, I'm in the process of creating a more complete star chart for each of the characters. As such the range of Questions are somewhat more expanded. My charts will have the signs associated with the following bodies: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. If you want you can ask for a more general reading of a character's chart, a specific planet (which includes the Sun and Moon) reading, or a relationship analysis. For specific Planets I won't do Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto due to their positions as Generational planets that have little to do with an individual's chart (except in houses which I cannot determine without birthdays to the minute). And for relational analysis I'd also like an Idea of what sort of Relationship you are asking about (such as romantic, familial, friendly, rivals, etc). I will eventually include other systems, but for now It's just the Tropical Zodiac (I will update this post when I am familiar enough with other systems to interpret them in a somewhat decent manner).

I got this idea to begin with from seeing this post by @hearteyesmcgarrett

For characters without known dates I will use the dates of their actor's birth, and for characters with ranges I will determine which potential option I feel is most accurate. Below is a list of characters who I have charts for, and I will keep it updated as I complete people's charts.

SG-1:

Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c

SGA:

Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Elizabeth Weir, Aiden Ford, Carson Beckett, Ronon Dex, Richard Woolsey, Jennifer Keller, Radek Zelenka, Evan Lorne

SGU:

Nicholas Rush, Everett Young, Matthew Scott, Tamara Johansen, Eli Wallace, Ronald Greer, Chloe Armstrong, Camile Wray

[chaniis-atlantis]

Rising From the Dead to Post Two New Chapters!!

This one is the third chapter of my "Bar Verse" Titled "You're Too Sweet for Me" (John Sheppard/Todd the Wraith)

And this one is a second part to an Evan Lorne/John Sheppard fic called "Pretty Fucking [Blank]. This new part is called "Big Fucking [Blank]

Big Fucking [Blank] (3745 words) by Chaniis

Chapters: 1/3

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con

Relationships: Evan Lorne/John Sheppard

Characters: John Sheppard, Evan Lorne, Jennifer Keller, Rodney McKay, Las Vegas Wraith (Stargate)

Additional Tags: Blow Jobs, Face-Fucking, Oral Sex, Episode: s05e19 Vegas (Stargate Atlantis), Rough Oral Sex, Prostitution, Poker, Wraith (Stargate), Pining John Sheppard, Denial of Feelings, Mutual Pining, Self-Esteem Issues, the story continues, John Sheppard is a prostitute, Evan Lorne is a detective, John Sheppard is a Detective, they are solving the vegas case together, this is their get along shirt, Implied/Referenced Abuse, neither one of them is wholly prepared to deal with the other, but oh they try

Series: Part 2 of Fucking [Blank]

Summary:

After blowing Evan in a bathroom stall, John Sheppard hasn't the slightest idea where things go from here. Luckily, Vegas and the weird shriveled-up bodies have a plan of their own.

The story continues.

[eirian-houpe]

Chain of Command - Act 1

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Teyla Emmagan/Michael Kenmore Characters: Richard Woolsey, John Sheppard, Jennifer Keller, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Original Stargate Character(s), Original Stargate Wraith Character(s), Michael Kenmore Additional Tags: Angst, Traditions, Drama, Canon Typical Violence, Politics, Bureaucracy, Conflict Series: Part 2 of SGA Virtual Season Five Summary:

When the IOA replaces Carter as the head of the Atlantis Expedition, and the first thing that happens is the alienation of long standing allies, in spite of Sheppard's best efforts, trouble can't be far behind. Woolsey's command is given a baptism of fire when the Alpha team is ambushed off world, and hampered by a lack of intel they truly are on their own.

Chain of Command - Act 1

Refocus.  Prioritize.  Defend.

"The I.O.A. is initiating a new policy: immediate recall of all base personnel. From now on, we'll be focusing entirely on the defense of this city.  Furthermore, Doctor, your department is going to be scaled back. Without the Gate Bridge, and with the need to keep at least one ship in orbit at all times for defensive purposes, re-supply is going to be difficult. We need to prioritise."

"I don't understand this. I'm already under-staffed as it is."

"Only because you've over-extended yourself with all these humanitarian efforts and your continued attempts to find an antidote for the Hoffan drug. Once you have refocused your attention back to the medical needs of this base and its personnel, I don't think you'll have a problem."

Woolsey and Keller – The Last Man

Act 1

  Ronon shifted uncomfortably as he looked around the briefing room at each of his friends.  It had been less than twenty four hours since their desperate attempts to find Teyla, and the subsequent deadly battles with the Wraith after being rescued from the ruins of Michael's facility.  Their injuries, at least the physical ones, had barely begun to heal, but at least they had had some time to bond and to begin to assimilate what had happened.

Of course, then came the inevitable – the inquisition.  Carter had delayed as long as she could in sending the report to Stargate Command.  She must have known it would not be a favorable response, not with the outcome as it was.

He sighed as he turned his head to the seat usually occupied by Teyla.  He missed her.  He missed her intelligent opinions, framed within the culture and experiences of the Pegasus galaxy.  He missed the gentleness and concern she showed for everyone that suffused her words and, even when she was critical of plans and ideas, made people feel that their voice had been heard.

Her place was occupied by Halling.  As a representative of their Athosian allies, and having been held captive for so long by Michael, he was able to provide them with invaluable insight and information.  Ronon knew that without the Athosians' knowledge, to augment his own, the Atlantis Expedition would be perilously uninformed.

"We were not the only ones," Halling said in answer to a question that had just been asked of him, "but we were kept apart from the others."

"Why?" Sheppard asked.

"Which of us can truly claim to know that one's mind?" Halling asked in response, speaking of Michael.

"Well you must be able to make some kind of guess," Sheppard said, and Ronon could hear the irritation mounting in his friend's voice.  He knew Halling was doing his best and was unused to these kinds of situations and wanted to try and help the man out, but he couldn't find the words.  He couldn't even think of what Teyla might have said.

In the end it was McKay that spoke.  "Sheppard, I know you're worried, we all are, but grilling Halling about something he can't tell you is counter productive," he said, "I lay for hours watching Michael working and—"

Ronon glared at him, cutting off whatever had been about to come out of his mouth.  He knew Rodney McKay well enough to know that, more often that not, the man's mouth ran away with him, and if he was talking about Michael's work then the chances were that he would let slip about Lorne's condition.

It was the one thing that Sam had, quite deliberately, left out of her report to Stargate Command.  She'd called them all together after she'd sent the data-burst that had contained the report and had explained to them that she felt it would be against their, and certainly Lorne's, best interest to tell them until they were sure they had no other choice.  Every single one of them had agreed to mention it to no one outside of their small select group.  Not even other base personnel.  Jennifer was to have sole responsibility for Lorne's care so that not even her medical staff would be involved and risk compromising their silence.

"And what, Doctor McKay?" All eyes, including Ronon's own, turned to face the new Commander of the Atlantis Expedition. 

"Well," to give McKay his due, he almost sounded convincing, "I was just going to say that I couldn't even begin to guess at Michael's motives for anything – even having been so close to him.  The Athosians, I'm sure, didn't get to see much of Michael himself.  Right, Halling?"

"It is as you say, Doctor," Halling answered, "It was usually his soldiers that came to do his bidding."

"Indeed, Michael's soldiers…" Woolsey's voice held a good deal of suspicion and his posture was threatening as he leaned toward McKay.  Ronon couldn't help but glance at Doctor Keller, wondering why she had been called to the meeting, and a very uncomfortable feeling began to stir, snakelike, in the pit of his belly.

**

    The night was uncomfortably cold. The frost crept along the ground and condensed the air around their feet, some kind of arcane breath that came as a precursor to the arrival of the Haradian Hag… and arrive she would, for the Red Star had appeared in the heavens several hours before.

Miran walked through his people, watching the way each of them huddled together with their families, perhaps for warmth, but mostly out of fear.  He had no family, and neither did he feel fear, only anger; anger at their continued subjugation by the Haradian people and frustration at his own people's apathy, their unwillingness to fight back.

Once again the Red Star had appeared, and once more they had all gathered, lambs to the slaughter, awaiting the coming of the one who would sniff among their young womenfolk, and select the one that would be expected, willingly, to make the sacrifice for all of them, and go with the Hag to the Haradian city, to suffer the ancestors-only-knew what kind of torment and torture.

He stopped walking and pulled his jacket closer around him against the cold.  His eyes still moved among the crowds of people, seeking out the one for whom his anger, his need for action, burned most brightly.  She looked up and met his eyes in the same moment.  She was huddled with her mother and father; with her brother, who also met Miran's gaze. Not tonight… please not this time, his expression said.

Lisstha stood resolute.  Afraid, yes, he could see it in her eyes, but he knew she would not falter or fail to do her duty by her people if The Choice should fall on her.  None of the young women would.  None of them dared, and for most of them it had become so ingrained, so expected, that not a single one among them would even consider marriage until they had passed through three such nights as these without being chosen.

It had become their tradition, a way of life for them, as had accepting those others that the Haradia,'s brought to their settlement, expecting to be cared for, to be subsumed into their community as wives and foster sisters, husbands and foster brothers, but it was wrong… and sooner or later the others would see it – when the last of the elders passed as smoke beyond the Ancestral Ring – and would finally hear Miran's words, and stand with him against their Haradian masters.

The low hum that shook through their bellies filled the air for a moment and in the distance a flash of light split the darkness.

"She is coming."

"The Hag is coming."

"It is time."

The many frightened whispers began to pass among the villagers, as much a part of the ritual as was their gathering out in the cold to await their tormentors.

"And we will stand ready," the young women answered together.

As he watched Lisstha's lips move to shape the words, Miran's fists clenched at his sides and his eyes filled with angry tears.

"No," he cried and began to push his way through the crowd of people, who had started to draw together as the time approached.  "This is wrong.  Can't you see that?"  He broke through to the front of the crowd and turned to face them, spreading his arms wide.  "How many more of our young women must we let them take?  How many more lives must they destroy before you—?"

"Peace, young Miran," Dannad, the eldest of the leading council stepped forward into the space alongside him.  He held out his hand toward him.  Miran knew it was meant to be a calming gesture, but it only enflamed his anger still further.

"Don't patronise me, Dannad," he virtually spat the words in the elder's direction.

"No one is patronising anyone," Dannad answered softly, genuine in his concern, "but we all know how much you feel for young Lisstha and that it is understandable, given that, why you would speak this way."

Lisstha stepped away from her mother's arms, coming forward to appeal to him.  "I know you want to protect me.  I'm not afraid."

"You should be." he told her, reaching out, first to her and then to all of them.  "You should, all of you, be afraid – and angry too.  There's no need for this.  We shouldn't have to—"

"Miran, please…" Lisstha's light touch against his chest cut him off.  He automatically covered her hand with his to hold it there, to feel its warmth against where his heart beat wildly inside of him.  "Do not speak this way.  She is coming and could hear you, and then you know what will happen if she does."

"But Lisstha—"

She reached up then, to cup her hand around the back of his neck and draw him down to meet her waiting, but suddenly fierce, kiss.  All resistance in him melted away and he wound his arms tightly around her, deepening the kiss, shameless before the entire village in the way his frightened, needful hunger possessed her, made her his.

When the kiss broke, she leaned her head against his, breathing hard and whispered, "It will be all right."

He did not have the time to reply.  From the edge of the village came the sounds of footsteps, slow and labored, and the rustling of the deep grasses that grew there.  He spun around to face the direction of their coming, holding Lisstha close against him as he peered into the darkness along with the others.

The Hag came, as she always did, supported by two men.  Both carried weapons strapped against their thighs, though they never had to use them.  The fear of the Hag, and what defying her would mean for the village, kept the villagers away from them, away from the old Haradian woman.

He felt the old woman's eyes on him as though a physical touch.  Against every instinct he turned his head, raised his eyes to look on her.  Of themselves his arms tightened protectively around Lisstha and he shivered in near revulsion.

The crone was quite simply the most ancient creature he had ever seen.  Her bones were bent and twisted with the effort of supporting her withered flesh for so many years.  Her hair, what little she still possessed, was as grey as the frosty air that oozed along the ground ahead of her.  However, where her eyes should have been filmed and milky with age, they remained piercing and sharp, pale and faded certainly, but possessed of a fire that burned from somewhere within the old witch.

"Let the women… stand forward," she said and her voice, little more than a whisper, poured ice over every nerve he possessed.

**

    "So what exactly are you saying, Doctor McKay?" Woolsey asked, his voice precise in the way he schooled the inflection.

"I'm saying that I haven't yet had the time to talk to Zelenka about what they saw, about the sensor data, about anything that happened aboard Daedalus, so I can't help you."

Sheppard frowned again at the combative way that Woolsey was proceeding with the debriefing.  He was almost acting as though he was trying to make everyone angry and insecure.

"But every indication is that the Wraith now possess some kind of super-weapon capable of destroying a ship with a single shot," Woolsey said.

"No," Rodney countered, holding up a hand, finger raised. "That could have been a lucky shot.  Michael's ship could have suffered an overload.  There are any number of things that—"

"The report from the officer aboard Daedalus says that the beam was reflected back by Mi—" Woolsey began to argue.

"He also reported," Rodney snapped, "that the sensors on the Daedalus were down.  So you're talking about human perceptions.  People often misinterpret—"

"We all saw it, Rodney," Sheppard sighed at having to contradict Rodney, but he had to stop McKay from playing into Woolsey's hands and making a total fool of himself.

"All right!" The exasperation in the scientist's voice rang out across the room.  "Even if, and I still think it's a pretty big if, the Wraith have developed some kind of new technology, fine!  They're using it against each other and against Michael.  We don't know of its effectiveness against non-wraith technology.  So, great, they're blowing each other out of existence.  Let them!"  He threw up his hands.

"My point, Doctor McKay," Woolsey went on, apparently unruffled, "Is that while you have been busy with whatever it is you have been doing these last – how long is it, three years, four? – the Wraith have continued to grow in both number and military effectiveness and—"

"All right, that's enough!" Sheppard couldn't hold off any longer.  Not with Woolsey getting so personal.  "If you're about to suggest that the members of my team have been sitting around on their asses while the Wraith have been running freely around the galaxy you just better be prepared for the indigestion you'll get when I shove your words so far down your bureaucratic throa—"

"Are you threatening me, Colonel Sheppard?" Woolsey snapped indignantly, "because if you are—"

"You know my reputation, Mister Woolsey," Sheppard emphasized the civilian title just a little.  He hadn't meant to be quite so graphic in his rebuttal of the man's insinuations, but truth be told, Woolsey had always irritated him, and was getting completely under his skin now.  "Even if I were, when I last looked, strategy and ordnance research came under military jurisdiction and I'm still the ranking military officer in command of this expedition so—"

"For how much longer is the question though, isn't it, Colonel?" Woolsey said.

"I don't think so," Sheppard said, refusing to allow himself to be baited on that particular subject.  "No one wants the job, Richard.  Why do you think they sent you?"

There was silence in the room for several seconds and Sheppard sat back with an almost satisfied smile on his face.

Eventually Woolsey said, "Well, Doctor McKay, when you do get a chance to look over the data from the Daedalus concerning the new Wraith weapon, I'd appreciate your insights and your opinion of how we might best be able to defend against them."

"Of course," Rodney said, and he glanced over at Sheppard in silent gratitude.

"While we're on the subject of the Wraith," Woolsey shrugged further back into the fabric of his uniform, "perhaps you'd care to enlighten me on the one you've consulted with on several occasions."

"Todd?" Sheppard frowned, "Nothing to tell."

"That's not my understanding of the situation," Woolsey argued, "In fact, during the recent months, Colonel Carter's reports have indicated that you've collaborated—"

"Collaborated?"  Ronon snapped in question.

Sheppard cringed and quickly put in, "I'd hardly call it that," he shifted a little in his seat, "we merely suggested that if he were to share any Intel he might have on Michael's whereabouts then we might be able to—"

"Colonel Sheppard, you gave him our research on the Hoffan drug." Woolsey leaned forward.  "Isn't that right, Doctor Keller?"

"Some…" the doctor began stammering out her answer, clearly caught off guard, "I mean… that is… it wasn't all of it, just—"

"We determined what would be the safest part of the information to give to him and that was all we did," Sheppard said, his irritation leveled at Woolsey's continued efforts to undermine their actions, particularly with so much at stake and so little time remaining quickly rising to an almost unbearable level.

As much as Woolsey had obviously read the mission and field reports, he did not at all seem bothered by the time constraints they were facing according to the information Sheppard brought back from his visit to their future.

Woolsey continued his inquisition, shuffling another set of files to the top of his stack and asked, "And what of the attempts to find a cure for Doctor Beckett?"

"Well," Keller started to answer as Woolsey turned a baleful eye in her direction.  "With everything else that's been happening, I haven't really had the chance to engage in further research, I—"

"You see," Woolsey sat back, his hands resting on either side of the stack of files in front of him, "this is exactly the kind of thing that proves my point."

"And your point is?" Sheppard folded his arms in lazy defiance.

"Colonel Sheppard, the activities pursued by this expedition have, to date, been entirely too reactive.  We need to refocus our attention on the current needs of base; prioritize our efforts by those that will most effectively alleviate our needs and, above all, defend the personnel and technology of Atlantis against hostile—"

"It isn't just about Atlantis any more," Sheppard argued, glancing toward Halling.  "Take a look around you."

"That's as may be," Woolsey began, but Halling interrupted when he paused for breath.

"It is true, Mister Woolsey, that when the people of your expedition woke the Wraith; once more when you helped the people of Hoff refine their virus to be employed against them, and then again when you tampered with the programming of the machines you call the Replicators, your people subsumed everyone into your troubles."  He held up his hand to prevent Woolsey from interrupting.  "While neither I, nor my Athosian brothers and sisters hold you to blame for these things, I do believe you now have a responsibility to help defend all the people of this galaxy against the threats they now face."

Woolsey's face darkened as he seemed to be gathering words in defense against what Sheppard knew to be the truth.

"Halling's right," Sheppard said, irritably, trying to bring the argument to an end.  "Look, we don't have time for this.  Daedalus' sensors confirm Rodney's information – that Michael launched several ships before his cruiser blew.  He was on one of them, I'm telling you, and he woulda had Teyla with him.  Our priority now is finding out where those ships went so that we can finish what we started and get out there to rescue Teyla.  She's counting on—"

“I'm sorry, Colonel Sheppard, but I can't authorize another rescue mission," Woolsey said, quietly, but firmly authoritative. "The loss of life has been too great already, and we can't waste any more time—"

"Waste!"  Halling's chair flew across the room as the usually quiet and placid Athosian jumped to his feet.  "Waste?  How dare you!"  He started to come around the table toward Woolsey in a manner that was anything but placid.  Sheppard had to confess to being more than a little disappointed when Ronon quickly put himself between the two men.

"Take it easy, Halling, he didn't mean it like that," Ronon said in a soft growl, and with a look at Woolsey that was equally as, if not more, threatening than Halling's demonstration.

Halling angrily pushed Ronon's hand away from his chest.  "He meant it exactly that way," he said, and then looking past Ronon to address Woolsey once more, added, "Teyla Emmagan is the leader of my people.  We have shown nothing but friendship and loyalty to the people of your expedition, Teyla more than any other, Mister Woolsey.  If our assistance, if our friendship truly means so little to you that you would leave her to the mercy of one such as Michael, then in her place I shall make sure that you must suffer our presence no more!"

Trembling visibly, as though the outburst had left him drained, Halling said not another word, but turned and left the briefing room.  The automatic doors were nothing but a sigh behind him and Sheppard was certain that Halling would have been more satisfied if he could have slammed the door behind him.

**

    Miran boiled with impotent rage, held immobile by the press of villagers who, not wanting to let go of their daughters and sisters until they had no choice otherwise, had surged to form a tight semi circle behind the line of women who stood forward for The Choice.

He could barely see where Lisstha stood with her arms wrapped around herself.  She stood between a younger woman to one side and another, like herself, to the other.

Flanked by protective guards, the Hag walked slowly down the line of women. Every now and then she would reach out to squeeze a pinch of a woman's arm, or to turn her head from one side to another, much as would a farmer checking cattle or beasts of burden.  When she did, the women did their best not to cringe, but each of them did none the less.  Mostly, however, the Hag waved a small, flattish box in front of each one and paused before moving on.

Miran held his breath when she reached Lisstha.  As if she felt the lack of breath in his lungs, Lisstha turned her head to peer in his direction and recoiled only slightly when the ages-old hands reached out to test her young flesh.

He knew it was deliberately meant as a taunt; that the old witch had seen him with Lisstha when she stepped into the clearing.  Following hard on that realization his rage sparked and once more caught aflame as he understood that, given what she must have witnessed, the crone would more than likely settle her choice on Lisstha, right or wrong.  The inertia that held him snapped and he pushed his way forward.

"No!" he cried even as the old Haradian woman announced her choice.

"This one," she said.

"You can't, she—"

"Will stand as the one chosen from your village," one of the bodyguards snapped.

"Please, Miran," Lisstha wept as she spoke, "I'll go, I—"

"It was your last time, Lisstha," he pleaded, with her, with the villagers, even with the Hag herself, "her last time!"

"Her fate," the crone whispered, already retreating with one of her guards.

"Ensure that she is brought to the stone at the proper time," the remaining guard ordered, as he too withdrew.

**

    The senior staff meeting had degenerated into chaos after Halling's angry departure.  Both McKay and Sheppard had followed him, whilst Ronon had only been discouraged from taking out his gun and shooting Woolsey when Jennifer had physically put herself between the big Satedan and the new base commander.

"Leave it, Ronon," she said softly, pressing one of her hands against his chest, much as he had done Halling.  The other she pressed against his hand that had already closed around the grip of his weapon.  "He isn't worth it."

Ronon shook off her contact and stormed from the room, hardly placated by her words.  For several moments afterwards there was near silence in the room.  She quickly gathered her papers, nervous and wanting to leave.

Before she could, Woolsey said, "Thank you, Doctor Keller."

"Believe me, Mister Woolsey," she answered with a good deal of hostility in her own voice, "I didn't do it for you, and if I were you, after a thoughtless comment like that, you'd be better to just stay out of everyone's way."

"Much as I appreciate the advice, Doctor," Woolsey answered with a calm irritation that reminded her uncomfortably of her father, "I'm not here to be liked."

"Good," she started, gathering up the rest of her paperwork.  "Teyla is a good friend to the people of this base, so making comments like that is going to make certain that you won't be."

"It wasn't just a comment, I assure you," he countered, "It's a standing order."

"Well," she began to head to the door, "I'm sure you'll realize sooner or later that you'll have to… to… un-order it."

"Look, Doctor Keller," Woolsey moved a little in front of her to stop her departure.  "Teyla has been with Michael for weeks now.  There's no telling what he's done, or will do, or even if she's still alive."

"You heard what Colonel Sheppard said," she argued, even though she knew she should just walk around the man and leave, as the others had done.  "He will have taken Teyla with him and—"

"You don't know that," Woolsey said, "He was perfectly happy to leave others behind."

"—and he didn't hurt the others."

"Didn't he?" Woolsey said.  As she watched his eyes narrow in suspicion, Jennifer felt her stomach tightening in worry.  Was he fishing, or did he already know?

"No," she lied, "he didn't do anything to either of them, in fact, he healed Doctor McKay's wounded arm quite expertly and from what Rodney said, had tried to help Major Lorne too."

"My point is—"

"No, my point, Mister Woolsey, is that I have patients to attend to and don't have time to stand around and argue with you about things that may or may not have happened."

Without waiting for him to answer and make her tell yet more lies, Jennifer pushed past him and slipped between the opening doors.

"There's something you're hiding, Doctor," Woolsey's voice followed her through the doorway, "And rest assured, when I find out—"

Too angry to be intimidated she spun around and slapped her hands against the sides of the closing doors, halting their progress.

"You'll what, Mister Woolsey?" she snapped, "Fire me?"

"Well—"

"Everybody needs a doctor, and on this base, I'm it.  And as far as medical decisions go, they're mine as well."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Woolsey asked sounding as puzzled as he was irritated.

"Just…" she turned away quickly as she felt her face starting to flush with color, in guilt, "Just stay out of my infirmary," she snapped and then stormed away.

**

    The meeting hall was awash with villagers as it always was after the visit from the Haradian Hag.  Families huddled together in happy relief and elders served chunks of bread and hot tea from massive cauldrons hung over the central fire.

It seemed to Lisstha, who stood with her family apart from the others, that they always forgot that such times left one family facing a loss.  Today that fell to her and along with the fear of what was to happen to her she felt crushed by the weight of guilt for all the times that she and her family had behaved as the others were now.

A brief scuffle by the doorway of the hall drew Lisstha from her dark thoughts.  Her heart sank still further however when she saw Miran.  He was standing at the front of a small group of men, all of them trying to push their way into the hall.

"Turn back, Miran."  One of the villagers stepped forward again to block Miran's path.  "Your kind is not welcome here.

"My kind?" Miran spread his arms and turned full circle before the villagers, who were gathering now to make an audience for his foolishness.  "When last I looked, Agrig, I was still of the village; still just like you."

"Not since you've been preaching rebellion," Agrig answered looking around at the villagers for support.  A brief murmur answered his searching, but Lisstha found it hard to tell if it was one of assent or disagreement.

"Rebellion?" Miran spat the word in disbelief, then added in a voice of appeal, "What I advocate is for us to defend ourselves."  He walked forward then, pushing past Agrig to take the center of the hall as his own.  "Far too long we have let the Haradians rule us with fear; take our young women; make us take in—"

"Have a care, Miran," another of the villagers stepped up to face him.  Lisstha recalled the man clearly.  He was Ynek, and before this last year she would have expected he would have been one of those men standing behind Miran.  Early in the last year, however, he had taken to wife one of the others the Haradians brought, from time to time, to their village, and now Ynek and his wife had an infant daughter.

"It is not the outsiders I blame, Ynek," Miran answered earnestly, "your wife and others like her have been an asset to our village."

Lisstha considered Miran's words on many levels.  What he said was true and, whilst his words soothed and appeased Ynek's growing temper, knowing Miran as she did she was sure that he did not mean them in quite the positive way that Ynek had heard them.

With the Haradians taking many of their young women, and the others rejecting love and marriage in the wake of the fear which had crushed even her own strong spirit, births had begun to decline.  The village had started to die.  If it were not for the outsiders that were brought, it would probably already be gone.  Lisstha began to wonder just why the Haradians needed the women of her village quite so much as to go to so much trouble.

"We cannot hear your words, Miran," Ynek told him, "You know what will happen if we try to defy the Haradians.  We all know."

"It is a threat, Ynek, and a threat alone that has kept us subjugated for generations," Miran said.  The frustration was clear in his voice.

"You don't know that.  You can't." One of the older men stepped forwards, still cradling his grown daughter at his side.  "There are histories of what happened before, when our grandfathers defied the Hag and brought destruction on the village.

"Tales," Miran said and turned to face the man.  "And with no more certainty of truth than the threat of the demons the Haradians say they will bring."

"It is not the demons we need fear," one of the elders spoke up, "the Haradians themselves are more than capable of destroying us, and demons can be banished.  No, it is the attacks that will come from the Haradians that would undo our lives if we stand against tradition now."

"It is not tradition," Miran said angrily.  "It is slavery."

"No, Miran.  We cannot take the risk.  The tradition this year will stand and I am sorry for your loss." The elder glanced at Lisstha.  She looked away, trying to banish tears from her eyes.  Had she then hoped that Miran would persuade them to defend her right to stay with her people?

"Wait," Miran tried once more, "there is more."  He turned to face all of the villagers now, his expression fervent.  "I have been visited."

"Visited?" One of the women frowned in puzzled concern, and looked over at her husband to add his voice to the question.

"What do you mean, 'visited'?" the man asked.

"An angel," Miran said, "He came to me and offered us a way to bring help to the village if the Haradians come.  Don't you see…?  A sequence of sacred drawings on the altar beside the Ring of the Ancestors that will summon help to our cause.  With help we do not need to submit to the Haradians any more."

"How can you be so sure he is not one of the demons the Haradians can bring if we do not do as they command?" another of the villagers asked fearfully.  "You should beware of speaking with creatures beyond our ken."

"He was no demon, Marton," Miran said confidently, "He has offered us freedom and asks nothing in return.  He recognizes it is wrong to be slaves to any others.  He gave me a device," he held up a small black box.  It did not look like anything of use to Lisstha.  "He said that once the Ancestors' Ring shows the blue of the light, we should hold the nub and speak into this to summon the others that will help us."

Lisstha sighed.  Now he was speaking madness.  His grief at the thought of losing her had scrambled his mind.

"Miran, please stop," she stepped away from her mother's arms and came to him then.  "Can you not hear the madness in your words?  How much do you think this hurts me?  That you cannot see past your own sadness to the safety my leaving will bring to the village.  I do not want this memory to take with me, Miran.  I have loved you, and will always, no matter what befalls me when I leave, but I do not want to remember you insane with your grief."

"Lisstha speaks sense, Miran."  The elder stepped away from a quiet conference he had been having with a number of the village husbands.  "We all of us understand your grief, but for your own safety, my friend, I fear we have no choice but to secure you until you can find your right mind again… find your balance."

"Grieve for me, please," Lisstha said softly, "But do not insult what I do with talk of things that cannot be."

**

    He watched from the shadows between two buildings as they led Miran away.  Perhaps he had been wrong in his choice of whom he would use to bring about that which was desired.  Perhaps he had not seen the rashness in the man – only the way he was driven in his love for the girl.  If Miran could not persuade his fellow villagers to act, then he would have to try a more direct intervention, as he could not afford to fail in his own mission.

[dedkake]

it could’ve started like this: a mcshep get-together per episode

82/100: the seed | kind of a big deal, g, .7k

The sight of the infirmary is comforting, even if John’s head is spinning and his body feels like lead. Somewhere to his right is the sound of fingers on a keyboard, and when John turns, he finds Rodney frowning down at his laptop. That’s even more comforting than the infirmary itself.

read it on ao3 | entire series & notes

[sga-owns-my-soul]

🔥 Miller's crossing au 👀👀

ooooh this fic.... i have so many thoughts about this fic and i genuinely could go on forever about it so i'll try not to make this too long 😅

so this fic came from the idea of what if rodney didn't bother asking john for permission first? what if he just fed himself to todd straight away? what would johns reaction be to that? all the times in the show we think we're about to lose rodney, you can see how much it's killing john. in doppleganger, when he thinks rodney's dead, he's completely defeated. he's fully expecting everyone to blame him and hate him and for his entire world to be ruined because rodney is gone. in search and rescue, john gives up on everything until keller says rodney and lorne made it out, and then john is IMMEDIATELY fighting to get back out there- without rodney, john loses his will to live. he gives up without rodney (look at epiphany!!! he straight up SAYS HES DEPRESSED!!!!) but i also think that, in the context of rodney dying to save jeannie, jeannie would be desperate to hold onto anything that's left of her brother- and obviously a huge part of that is john and the team and atlantis

so what happens when you take a depressed john sheppard and a grieving but determined jeannie mckay miller?

this fic follows john through his grief of losing rodney and how he slowly pulls himself away from everyone, ready to cut himself off from everyone and everything, but jeannie miller is stubborn and she has mckay genes and little sister energy so she yells at him to get his shit together, and bc this is john sheppard (who thrives off of being yelled at by a mckay) it actually works

there's so much angst and pain and i've cried so many times while writing this but there's also so many heart warming moments (and madison being so fucking adorable god i love her she's such a sweet kid) and its going to have a very happy, fluff filled ending and i genuinely cannot wait to finish it and share it omg

okay this is getting long enough so i'll end it here but if you want to hear more please feel free to ask because i genuinely can go on about this fic for forever i love it so much!!!!!

[nine-fingered-entity]

deja vu: doing camp nanowrime again this year with a fanfic

[ragingpancake]

How To Woo Your Scientist In 100 Cookies or Less

Rodney has a secret admirer. Prompt fic. See end of fic for prompt. ~1800 words.

The first time it appears is the morning after the ridiculous mission to M5-X847 (more accurately described as ‘Planet of the Bat-Shit Crazy Natives and Their Ridiculous Trading Ceremonies’ in the privacy of Rodney’s own mind and in the not-so-nearly private mess hall whenever anyone else brings it up). It’s left sitting on his desk by his absolute favorite computer on a folded up napkin from the mess hall, taunting him.

He’s still staring at it as if it holds the secrets to recharging a ZPM, the cure for male pattern baldness and the name of the man Carly Simon wrote a song about when John ambles in for his obligatory weekly hour of light switch duty.

“Ooh, cookie,” he says. Rodney smacks his hand away with a squawk of indignation.

“Mine!”

“Well, are you gonna eat it or just stare at it?”

Rodney settles for the latter while John unfairly makes Atlantis and all of her Ancient Tech roll over for him like the complete slut she is. Besides, he argues silently, it wouldn’t be the first time someone’s tried to kill him with baked goods. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Fifty nine minutes and fifty eight seconds later, John plucks the cookie off of the napkin and pops it into his mouth, crunching loudly and spewing crumbs everywhere.

“What did you do that for?” Rodney bellows.

“Just makin’ sure it was safe and citrus free,” John says with a toothy grin. “Next time, you’ll know. Cya later buddy,” he says and ambles back out of the room without a care in the world.

“Next time? How do you know there will be a next time?” Rodney yells after him. “How do you know?”

—-

There is, oddly enough, a ‘next time’. The next morning when Rodney stumbles into his lab, bleary eyed after a late night watching terrible movies and eating horrifyingly greasy food (thank you, Daedalus) with John, there’s another cookie sitting innocently on his desk, silently begging to be eaten. He’s still worried about the possibility of an assassination attempt but he rationalizes that no one is really going to use precious chocolate chips just to murder him so he lifts it up, sniffs it and then shoves it greedily into his mouth.

Less than hour later, he’s still alive and wishing he had another.

—-

By the fifth cookie, Rodney stops checking for the possibility of citrus-laced baked goods. Clearly, someone finally appreciates his genius and has decided the best way to thank him is to ply him with delicious sweet treats.

For once, Rodney doesn’t complain.

——

“Another one?” John asks, eying the 30th cookie longingly. “How many is that now?”

“I don’t know. I’ve lost count,” Rodney lies.

John just snorts in response.

——

“This is getting out of hand,” Kavanagh gripes. “How come we’re not allowed to eat around the computers, but he never says anything about that damn cookie appearing every morning? Why doesn’t Sh—”

Radek steps on Kavanagh’s foot and Miko’s elbow catches him in the side. Kavanagh squeaks and then miraculously falls silent.

Rodney eyes his scientists suspiciously “Why doesn’t who do what?”

“Nothing,” Radek says. “Is nothing but idiotic mumblings of a jealous man.”

“Jealous. Yeah, right,” Kavanagh snorts under his breath.

Rodney is still not convinced and he spends the rest of the day trying to bully Kavanagh into telling him exactly what’s going on.

Kavanagh is gleeful at the idea of knowing something that Rodney doesn’t.

—

“Hey Rodney?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you ever wonder who’s sending you cookies?”

Rodney eats the last bite of his cookie and glances over at John. “Not really, no. Don’t really care either, as long as they keep coming.”

“Oh.”

John goes back to touching uncatalogued Ancient tech while Rodney practically has oral sex with the left-over chocolate on his fingers. Rodney’s so caught up in his little delicious world that he doesn’t even notice when the device starts glowing in an ominous way.

“Uh… Rodney.”

Three seconds later, John’s unconscious on the floor and Rodney’s yelling into his headset for a medical team.

——

The next day, there is no cookie.

——

By the third cookieless day, Rodney decides that maybe Atlantis was the secret Cookie Fairy, because whoever it was is clearly pissed off that he almost killed John.

——

“I brought you something,” Rodney announces as soon as he palms the door to John’s room open. It’s the only room, other than his own that he’s ever been able to get into without resorting to screwing around with the crystals. He’s never questioned it, but now he’s grateful that John never had the urge to lock him out.

“Been stockpiling the goods from your Cookie Fairy?” John asks grumpily. Rodney cuts him slack because he knows he still has a killer headache from that damn piece of Ancient Tech.

“No,” Rodney says. “I uh, actually made these for you, and by ‘made these for you’, I really mean I bribed the kitchen staff with an extra ten minutes of hot water in the mornings but um, yeah. I got them. For you.”

John gives him an odd look and Rodney wonders if maybe there’s brain damage that Keller missed on the scans. Wouldn’t be the first time, he thinks bitterly.

“It’s just… you seemed to always be hanging around when I had my cookie and I uh… know that I wasn’t exactly willing to share with you even though I know chocolate chip is your favorite. But that’s not the point. The point… the point is… I screwed up that day. I should have been paying more attention to what you were doing and I wasn’t and I’m sorry and, and, and will you just say something and stop looking at me like that?”

John gives him a slight smile. “Thanks Rodney. You wanna watch a movie?”

For the first time since the cookies stopped coming, Rodney feels like he can breathe again.

——

The next morning, there’s still no cookie, though Rodney really didn’t expect there to be. He doesn’t even really care, because while he acquired the cookies for John the previous evening, he’s the one who ate almost the whole damn plate and if he never sees another chocolate chip cookie again, it’ll be too damn soon.

He has a lot of catching up to do because ever since John got hurt on his watch, he hasn’t exactly been able to concentrate on his work and damn if it hasn’t piled up already.

He powers up his computer and scowls at the stack of papers littering his workspace. Grabbing a handful, he flips through them and then discards them like the complete and utter trash they are. Kavanagh never could finish up the simplest of equations.

He’s just about to log in to the network with the corner of a piece of paper sticking from under his keyboard catches his eye. He frowns and pulls it out. The handwriting is vaguely familiar.

Meet me at the East Pier. 1800 hours. -Cookie Fairy

Rodney doesn’t know whether to be flattered or frightened. He just hopes that whoever the Cookie Fairy is, they’ve forgiven him as easily as John has.

——

The doors to the East Pier slide open with ease and Rodney can’t stop the nervous flutter in the pit of his stomach. The sun is already beginning to set in the Lantean sky, casting a gentle glow over the calm water. Leaning against the railing, there’s a familiar set of slouched shoulders and a crop of dark, messy hair.

“John?”

He turns and gives Rodney a nervous grin. “Hey buddy.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand. What are you… what are you doing here?”

He holds out the plate of chocolate chip cookies. “Uh… surprise?”

For once, the great Rodney McKay is completely speechless.

John clears his throat and shifts nervously from one foot to the next. He sets the plate of cookies down on the railing and rubs at the back of his reddening neck. “So I guess you… Uh, I guess this really isn’t what you were expecting.”

“No,” Rodney says dumbly, because he really wasn’t. Miko? Sure. Simpson? Maybe. But John Sheppard? John fucking Sheppard? Not in a million years. “Why?”

”M5-X847."

“The marriage ceremony? The one where they made you put stupid flowers in your hair and, and, and…”

“That’s the one.”

“But why?” Rodney asks, because he needs to know.

“Because I wanted it to be real,” John blurts out. His ears are absolutely flaming at this point and Rodney’s sure they’re going to spontaneously combust if they get any brighter. “I needed… I needed you to know and I didn’t know how to tell you so I…”

“You baked. For me.”

“Every day.”

“Until you got hurt.”

“Well, yeah. It was kind of difficult when standing long enough to get to the bathroom was a chore. I was… I wanted to tell you that day, but you didn’t… you said you didn’t want to know.”

“I was afraid it was Kavanagh or some other equally terrible person!”

“Why would Kavanagh bake you cookies?”

“I don’t know! If could have been part of some nefarious plan to clog my arteries and send me to an early grave via horrendous heart blockage!”

John just stares at him. “Seriously?”

“Hey, it could happen.”

“Rodney, shut up,” John says and then he’s suddenly there, his lips pressed to Rodney’s.

It’s wonderful and terrifying and so right.

Rodney makes a little noise of surprise against John before he relaxes into his the kiss, reaching up tentatively to card his fingers through his silly hair.

When they break apart, they’re both panting.

“Was that… was that okay?”

“I don’t know,” Rodney says. “I think… purely for research purposes, you understand, I’m going to need you to kiss me again.”

“No problem,” John says and he leans in to kiss Rodney again.

——

By the time they’ve finished kissing, they’re both shivering in the chilly night air. John’s hair is messier than usual and Rodney’s lips are red and swollen.

“Seriously though,” Rodney says, burrowing closer to John’s side as John drops an arm around his shoulders. “Cookies? Really?”

“I figured that at least when it came to you, the old saying was true. The way to your heart is definitely through your stomach.”

“So you thought you could woo me with cookies?”

“It worked though,” John says triumphantly.

Rodney grins. It worked.

“Hey, next time, you think you could do peanut butter?”

“Shut up, Rodney,” John says fondly

“Why don’t you make me?”

“My pleasure.”

Prompt

:One day you come into work and find a cookie mysteriously placed on your desk. Grateful to whoever left this anonymous cookie, you eat it. The next morning you come in and find another cookie. This continues for months until one day a different object is left--and this time there's a note.

[rubadubdub3nunsinatub]

Rewatching Hot Zone and it's wild to see Rodney being more mature than Sheppard. Honestly Rodney at his best.

He keeps his team together. Is thinking big picture and immdiatle goes to work the problem and is distressed as his team members die. He's thinking about his sister and admits he has an idea that may not work but is good enough it may lead to something. Even though he want to make up some elaborate lie honest truth is pretty good too.

Rodney is naturally predisposed to cowardice and when he goes off to save the day he bitches and complaines but he never hesistates to go and he does care about people. I'm going to have to go back and watch s01e02 to see how Rodney picks up a gun for the first time to get a good reference point but later on we see he's pretty ok with gearing up and shooting aliens even though he's a scientist (like Daniel but not quite).

What I'm say is that that was a good Rodney Mckay and I wish his character got a nicer development arc. Like still Rodney but a lil less harsh and a lot less sexual harassment and a lil better to his friends. But still Rodney Mckay.

Because honestly when he and Keller hook up he hasn't developed a lot. And if I was a young doc on Atlantis I would not get with middle aged asshole. You had liked him for a while?? Girl nah it takes years to warm up to that guy.

[cammitchell]

Mcshep Jones Diary: A short? fic written to incorporate the devastating love affair that could have been between Regular John, Regular Rodney and Bug John. 

I’m seriously not a great writer and never have written a fic before so I apologise in advance for inevitable grammatical errors...but after a memorable discussion with some friends, I decided to go ahead and attempt to write a fic to try and re wire your brain to forget the travesty can*n love triangle that occurred in season five. 

I was going to write the whole thing and release it at once, but that was before I decided it was going to be five chapters long. So here are the first two chapters, plus the title for the third chapter. I have so many ideas for this fic and it keeps getting longer, so it might end up being greater then 5 chapters. 

nb. Keller fan/s should probably skip this one

MCSHEP JONES DIARY

CHAPTER: 1-2 / 5 

Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, Rodney McKay/ Bug John Sheppard, Jealous!Sheppard, Nsfw, Bug themes, Rodent themes, Keller jealousy  

thank you @sassycordy  for this masterpiece that will remain the cover of this fic, thank you for your service to this community. 

also thank you @sassycordy​ and @rodneymckays​ for coming up with this beautiful concoction of a love triangle. i hope i do you both proud. 

Chapter (1/5): A Skip in One’s Step

Rodney McKay has always been known for his tenacious wit, sass and relentless sarcasm, not to mention blatantly obvious undying love for John Sheppard and extremely heightened selfish attitude. But when it comes to his work, he always takes pride in everything that he accomplishes and invents, after all, with great power, comes great responsibility. (pls don't sue me Disney). Great responsibility that McKay genuinely loves claiming when he does a great job - but when he fucks up, he puts the same amount of effort he conjured up to do the work to begin with, into blaming someone else. Yet, despite these flaws we still love the beautiful bastard.

There was one experiment, if you can call it that. That went terribly, terribly, horribly wrong. Seriously, he fucked up. But this time... was he utterly overwhelmed and full of shame or pleasantly surprised with the outcome?  

John and Rodney are on their way back to the Stargate, which is within walking distance, from some routine trading deals with the townspeople of a planet called “Ohtoconfessmyloveforjohnsheppard BX93″. This is the sort of thing that can be done by one person, but because there were trade deals involving advanced ancient technology, Rodney needed to be involved and because there were some town folk who were particularly not fond of Rodney and his spicy attitude, like at all, John needed to be there. On the journey back, Rodney was admiring the fauna and mountainsides of the world. 

With a smile on his dial and a slight skip in his step, Rodney gazes at John momentarily

“Isn’t this scenery extraordinary?… reminds me of the journey from Rivendell to The Mines of Moria, If you ask me.”

John, whilst chewing on a strand of wheat pretending to be ashamed and avoid showing any signs of his closeted deep admiration of Rodney’s dorky behaviour, elects to respond with a slight “hmm”

Rodney continues to babble on about the resemblances of the lord of the rings and their current path back to the gate, so much so that he doesn’t see where he is walking. Suddenly, Rodney feels a massive jolt and is pulled backwards so hard and fast he didn’t even get a chance to process what was actually happening until after he realised he was on the ground.

After throwing Rodney behind him to stop him from falling into a large crevice on the path right in front of them, John rips the wheat from his mouth and grills him.

“Are you okay? Why weren’t you watching where you were walking!” John was fuelled with anger and concern, mostly anger due to the fact that he was openly proclaiming his emotions “by accident” and that is NOT what John is about. He does his best to hide his emotions, but when he lets it slip, he makes sure everyone knows that it’s not his fault, everyone else just makes him angry. Kind of like a slightly less angry, space batman. 

“I’m fine. Uh… thanks.” Rodney, slightly embarrassed but also increasingly smitten that John threw him back the way he did.

“Good. Just watch where you are going.” John extends his hand out to Rodney and helps him off the ground, dusting the dirt and excess grass off of him in the process.

John leads the remainder of the way back to the gate and Rodney mimics his pace just slightly behind him. Thank god he was facing the other direction Rodney thought, because Rodney’s cheeks were so red and bright from being so smitten, as he played back in his head what just happened. John just saved his life, again. This time however, it hit different. 

Chapter (2/5): Keller who? 

Rodney has always been a genius when it comes to inventing something new or coming up with a plan that would save everybody under a lot of pressure. Particularly after the time when he experienced super human powers at the expense of Ancient technology, the adrenaline from that still hasn’t worn off. 

Pondering about his lab around midnight, McKay had a lot going through his mind. Nothing out of the ordinary, thinking about his next off-world mission, a new invention that could grant him a Nobel Prize, John, John’s butt, the last jello. But one particular thought eventually overcame him. 

McKay took a quick glance around the lab, to make sure nobody was around before he started speaking to himself

“What am I going to do about Sheppard? I mean... uh that’s stupid.” he paces back and forth “I just, my feelings are all over the place and I uh...I need to uh...” McKay begins snapping his fingers as if the act of doing so has any kind of influence over improving his ability to make a decision. 

“I know what I’ll do! I’ll just approach him and tell him exactly how I feel, ah ha! I am a genius!”

“... oh wait, that’s a terrible plan. I can’t do that. Bad plan, very bad pla-”

Keller approaches him out of no where “What’s a bad plan?” 

McKay jumps around in fright as if he was dipping his feet in the ocean and some seaweed touched his leg “Oh my god, Beller you scared the crap out of me!” 

“It’s Keller.” Keller proceeds to fold her arms as she is feeling unimpressed.

“Whatever. Listen how did you even get in here?” said Rodney in a snarky manner. 

“I walked... through the door?” Keller replied.

“Oh.” Rodney was tapping his fingers against the laptop he was clutching and looked around, awkwardly. There was a long, extremely uncomfortable silence. It was so long and uncomfortable, that even the crickets stopped due to discomfort. 

McKay gestured to look at his wrist that didn’t have a watch on it and continued “Well would you look at the time, there’s a really urgent project I have to get started on... so if you don’t mind.” 

Keller glared at him, but acknowledged and left the lab. 

“Right, how can I tell Colonel Sheppard how I feel without telling him how I feel?...” suddenly, Rodney’s eyes began to light up and a grin started to form on his face. 

“That’s it. That’s it, I’ve figured it out. I’ll clone John and make him jealous by forming a relationship with John’s clone, then by pure jealousy he’ll be forced to confess his feelings for me- AND - AND I WOULDN’T EVEN HAVE TO SAY A THING! I’M A FUCKING GENIUS!”. 

Chapter (3/5): Defcon Bug

(TO BE CONTINUED)…

[atlantis-scribe]

Keller for the ask game please?

first impression: KAYLEE!! and you have Simon's job now?! (sorry, I'm an old Firefly fan so my thoughts basically ran around the obvious and distracting lack of monkey wrench in Miss Jewel Staite's hands hehe)

impression now: my opinion of her as a character both in her own right & in how she's written really plummeted after watching Brain Storm. that episode still makes me feel a lot of weird & negative feelings and it's still a damn surprise every time I remember that it was written by Martin Gero, who used to be such a fantastic name to see at the beginning of an episode if you're a McKay fan. she could've been such a cool addition to the expedition, though! Keller certainly had that spunky gumption that people who survive Atlantis & Pegasus seem to be made of, so it's a shame the writers never seem to have figured out what they wanted with & for her

favorite moment: I really love her in The Shrine, I really do. her determination to save her patient (er, Dubious Brain Surgery In A Cave notwithstanding) is such an echo to how much she & Rodney wanted so badly to save Elizabeth half a season prior that while it would've been a cop out & an easy way to find a solution, I wanted her to find a cure if only to see that drive not be trumped by magical radiation no one even knew about

idea for a story: it'd be nice to write/read about a character piece that tackles the pressure of being a young prodigy being thrust into such an important position with a beloved predecessor everyone you work with is still grieving in this active war zone in another galaxy. (also!! I wanna know more about her dad!)

unpopular opinion: her actions & decisions during The Shrine are actually the more reasonable ones and NO ONE is allowed to bully her for them (fite me)

favorite relationship: Teyla!!! that is a sisterhood (maybe even a girlfriendship? who knows!) that could've grown from the seeds of Elizabeth Weir's loss & legacy

favorite headcanon: that she's perfectly aware how unnerving she comes across to Colonel Sheppard (with or without the Rodney factor) and finds pleasure in unsettling him from time to time (I just really want her self-aware & in charge of her own narrative, dammit!)