#Wraith Hive Ship

[spockvarietyhour]

Stargate Atlantis "Enemy at the Gate"

[bed-wed-behead-your-fave]

A wraith hive ship from Stargate Atlantis

[lightthewaybackhome]

Underground (S1: E7)

R: Maybe we should offer a sense of humor in trade.

S: Sure. They can have yours.

R, forced laugh: Oh please, my sides. You slay me.

S: I'm thinking about it.

Roll opening credits.

"They have the spirit of explorers and the hearts of warriors." - Teyla

This is one of my favorite lines. It sums up the Atlantis team so well.

What struck me this time was how hard it would be to be in Elizabeth's position. She has to trust her people. Every mission goes great until the mission starts. They just never know what might happen when they walk through the gate, and Elizabeth has to trust the mission leaders to make wise decisions and get everyone home, even when things go sideways.

Also, the Genii kinda remind me of the Wraith, always a plan within a plan within a plan. Thankfully, Sheppard is good at chess.

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Lost Boys, Pt. 13

While Sheppard is trying to fight his way to Ronon and Teyla, it is unclear what Ford's plan is or whether he even has one, as they seem to have been heading away from the dart bay. There is an interesting transition from McKay mentioning his different gut feeling to Sheppard reloading his gun, pushing in a new magazine while he is holding the weapon against his body. There is something undeniably phallic about the action and the juxtaposition of the scenes invites us to ask what the feeling in Sheppard's gut is like.

Sheppard: Ford, what's your position? Ford! Ah, damn it!

Sheppard tries contacting Ford again but they are in the middle of a firefight and Ford is unable to answer him and this, not knowing what has befallen Ronon and Teyla, seems to inconvenience Sheppard but is far from incapacitating him. He is on a mission and has been trained to function under extreme pressure. Sheppard is far from desperation or the end of his rope here, doing his Rambo-routine. He uses a flashbang to blind the the wraith drone to get past it, shooting it for good measure as he passes, and seems to be doing well until he is caught by surprise, a drone guard shooting him in the back.

They all fight valiantly but are eventually overcome by the wraith that have the upper hand due to sheer numbers, and all of them are stunned. This gives the episode a ring composition, the beginning matches the end. The difference is that now Kanayo is among the people that are stunned rather than doing the stunning, and McKay and Ford have switched places, Ford stunned along with the team and McKay waiting to hear from them in Ford's cave compound. We also get another gratuitous crotch shot as Sheppard is dragged away by the guards, and this the third time in the episode that he is flat on his back. For what ever reason, the camera seems to linger on his... package.

While they are all rendered unconscious, Sheppard is the last one of them to stir because he is also the only one not taking the enzyme. McKay had said that the wraith enzyme made Ford "almost immune" to the wraith stunners so while all of them had been knocked out, the effects seem to have been shorter in everyone else. He looks almost angelic as he sleeps with his head on Teyla's lap, for a brief moment he looks to be in peace. Yet the cold reality of their situation creeps into his consciousness soon enough.

Teyla: Are you alright? Sheppard: We're in a holding cell? Teyla: Yes. Sheppard: On a hive ship? Teyla: Uh-huh. Sheppard: Well, then, no. I'm not doing so good.

This is the second time in the episode that Sheppard has been rendered unconscious by a wraith stunner, and we may compare the way in which he comes to. Here, he basically wants to know where they are. He asks Teyla to give him a sitrep. When they had first stirred in Ford's cave, his first question had been to make sure that the others were alright ("You guys OK?"), with McKay giving him the answer because it is from McKay that Sheppard wanted to hear the response most of all. It was McKay that Sheppard had first looked at as they came to. It is confirmed by this scene, because when McKay is not here, the well-being of everyone else is not his main concern. His main concern seems to be getting them out.

But this is also the second episode in a row where we have found Sheppard waking up from an unconscious state in a holding cell, and the previous time he had woken up to the sound of McKay's voice. And while he had told McKay "I feel better already" in a sarcastic tone upon hearing that McKay had come to rescue him, the sentiment had been genuine. He had felt instantly better hearing McKay's voice.

Here, he wakes up to the cold reality that McKay is nowhere near, and he volunteers the information that he is not doing so good. It is rare for Sheppard to make such confessions, which is testament to just how not good he is currently doing. Especially when he is out on the field, out on a mission with his men, with people serving under him, Sheppard understands the importance of keeping up morale and leading by example, of projecting the character of a fearless and unflappable leader even if it was not what he was feeling inside. For some reason he seems unable to perform this role currently.

Ford: I can't believe you screwed up! Sheppard: I did what? Ford: You set off the alarm. You ruined the mission. Sheppard: The dart went on auto pilot the second I got close to the hive.

The enzyme had been making Ford paranoid from the very beginning and longer exposure to it has seemed to have done nothing to lessen the impact. The moment Sheppard is up Ford gets in his face, blaming him for everything that had gone wrong. Sheppard is offended by the notion because by taking McKay hostage Ford had completely tied his hands. Everything that he had done, everything that he was doing, was in the interest of getting McKay back to Atlantis safe and sound, and the young soldier's accusation that he would have sabotaged the mission on purpose when he had so carefully tried to do everything he could to ensure their safe return was really starting to turn his gear.

Sheppard: You're lucky I was able to get you out! Ford: Well, why would it do that? Why would it go on auto pilot? Sheppard: That's what jumpers do when they gate to Atlantis. Ford: Well, why didn't you say something?

Sheppard has ample opportunity to throw McKay under the bus here. McKay is not with them, so he could easily blame McKay for what had happened even if he did not truly think it, if only to shift the blame. Certainly McKay had not known that the dart would actually be used to fly into a hive and if he had, he might have been able to do something about the autopilot. He had not thought it necessary and hence had not even attempted to disengage it. It would be so easy for Sheppard to tell Ford that McKay had not had time or opportunity to do anything about it, or that Ford himself had been the reason that McKay had been unable to fix the issue. But that is not what he does. Sheppard does not even think that any of this is even remotely on McKay and even if it was, he would defend McKay against any insinuation that anything that had happened could have been prevented by him. Because McKay is not the guy who opens doors and hacks computers for him. That is not what they are.

Sheppard: Why didn't I say something? Ford: You want me to fail. You want me to look bad! Sheppard: Yeah, that's right, you snot-nosed brat. I put my team's life on the line just to prove you wrong!

Note that now that McKay is not here, he is not in any type of danger that might be triggered by Sheppard's actions toward Ford, he lets him have it. He does not hold back, calling Ford a snot-nosed brat, letting him in on what he really thinks about him and his antics. McKay was the only reason he held his tongue earlier, McKay was the only reason he went along with this plan and now that it seemed like the plan had been a complete and utter bust, he had no reason to hold back.

Ford is was correct in thinking that McKay was Sheppard's motivation for doing "the right thing". Ford's only saving grace here was that Sheppard hated the wraith even more, and there was still a part of Ford that was human. And even though both Sheppard and McKay had tried to tell Ford what a bad plan this was, Ford's question of why he had not said anything is offensive to him because by holding McKay hostage, Ford had forced his hand. And what Sheppard lets slip here at the end is interesting. He thinks that he put his team's lives on the line. He did not do it for Ford but he does seem to feel like that is what he had been forced to do. And he had done this, all of this, for McKay. He had put his team's lives on the line to keep McKay safe. That is what he tells us here. That is what he confesses.

Dex: We've got company. Wraith: Move away. Dex: What do you want? Wraith: The one who flew the ship. Dex: Why don't you start with me? Sheppard: Wait, wait, wait! You want me.

Sheppard and Ford's verbal brawl is interrupted by the arrival of the wraith. Ronon, who has been held captive on a hive before and who hates the wraith probably most of any of them (and they all have plenty of hate for the wraith), steps up to them and challenges the the wraith. We see here how protective Ronon is of Sheppard, fully intending to make the wraith go through him to get to Sheppard. And while he may like Teyla well enough, he would definitely help her out and look out for her when needed, it is Sheppard that Ronon is guarding. It is Sheppard that Ronon feels he owes his freedom to.

And let us just underscore this point: Ronon does protect McKay until the very final episode of the show but he is doing it for Sheppard. He is protecting McKay because of his gratitude to Sheppard, because he is trying to repay what he sees as a life-debt to him. This, how fiercely protective Ronon is of Sheppard tells us that he must see how important McKay is to him. Because Sheppard would so gladly throw himself in front of a bullet for McKay, in order to keep Sheppard safe Ronon also has to protect McKay. In Search and Rescue (S05E01), when Sheppard thinks that his actions have led to McKay being killed, Ronon tries to keep him alive by the sheer of power his will. But he is unable to protect Sheppard here as the wraith stun him to get him out of the way, and Sheppard volunteers to go to spare the others.

Something interesting happens then. The wraith had told them that they were looking for the human that had piloted the dart, which is fair enough. They are not used to humans using their technology or attacking their hives, so interrogating the one that had done the unthinkable, had accomplished something that had never even been tried before, makes sense. But the wraith clearly smells Sheppard before being satisfied that this is indeed the person they are looking for.

In the holding cell, all of the others are on the wraith enzyme and Teyla and Ford are both part wraith. All of them should have been more interesting targets for interrogation, especially in light of what Jace had told McKay earlier about the wraith being afraid of Teyla's ability to tap into their psychic network. But something about Sheppard smells different. And out of all the people in the holding cell, Sheppard is the only one with the Ancient gene. That is the thing that makes him different. And if they do have a particular scent to them, we might ask if the pull the Ancients feel toward each other is based on smells, is based on pheromones. We do not know what Sheppard smells like to the wraith but likely to other people with the gene, he has to smell pretty good. People are drawn to him.

Ford: It's alright. There's always a way out. Dex: If he dies, you die.

As they lead Sheppard away he almost turns to look back but then does not, and as per usual, he has no good-byes or final words to impart them with. Ronon's line to Ford here is interesting because it is not only verbal confirmation of how protective he is of Sheppard. Here, we see Ronon tell Ford something that Sheppard had thought earlier on the planet when Ford had given him his gun back. Sheppard had thought it, had tried to communicate it with the look in his eyes, but had been unable to say it out of fear that McKay might end up paying for any wrong move on his part. He had not said it but it is obvious that he thought it here: if he dies, you die.

The episode ends with Sheppard being escorted to what is likely not originally an interrogation area since the wraith likely do not interrogate a whole lot of humans in their hives, but instead is some kind of a holy of holies, a platform where the wraith queen receives audience. What is notable is that the platform is shaped like a vulva, and it is not coincidental because, as discussed previously, the wraith imagery draws a lot from the monstrous feminine and there is symbolism in bringing Sheppard forcibly to his knees on the altar of female sexuality, as he is here.

I will discuss more with the next episode but even further with Epiphany (S02E12) how there are heavy hints of Sheppard having suffered sexual violence at the hands of women in positions of authority in his youth. This theme is never verbalized but it keeps coming up again and again. And where the wraith in general represent the dark and frightening side of female sexuality, it is never more apparent than in the figures of the wraith queens.

Sheppard had watched Colonel Sumner suffer at the hands of one of their queens and he had personally had to make the call to take the life of his superior officer rather than to let him continue suffering at her hands. And now it seemed like the same fate awaited him.

Queen: Kneel!

The queen seems to use her psychic powers to bring Sheppard to his knees, to compel him to submit. And as we end the episode with a cliffhanger, it seems a though Sheppard is unable to resist her in this. We had started the episode with McKay asking Sheppard if he would rather not be on a tropical beach planet with tall blonde women, and he would really, really rather not be anywhere with this tall blonde woman. He really quite misses wasting his time listening to McKay right about now.

So, the name of the episode. It is an obvious reference to Scottish playwright J. M. Barrie's play/novel Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (1904) / Peter and Wendy (1911), where the Lost Boys are Peter's companions in Neverland -- but who are the "lost boys" here? Ford is certainly one of them, as he is explicitly described by Sheppard as MIA in the episode. Ford has also gathered up a group of misfits around him that he calls "wildmen," so all of these boys are probably more or less lost. Then there is the team who are also MIA for most of the episode, officially declared so by Weir at the end. While Teyla is obviously not a boy, this is lampshaded by an exchange Lorne and Weir have when the team first fail their scheduled check-in:

Lorne: Well, you know those guys. Weir: What do I know about those guys?

They are further called guys by Ford and even Sheppard himself several times. In this regard Teyla is also a "lost boy," and having been kidnapped, all the boys are lost. In a sense, all of them are also orphans, even though later on we discover that Sheppard's father had actually been alive the whole time, because Teyla and Ronon have both lost their families to the wraith.

Peter Pan is an orphan boy that never wants to grow up, who loves to fly and who travels with a fairy. Understandably the gay community has embraced this story and it has deep roots within the LGBT+ subculture. Peter Pan -syndrome, arrested development and delayed adulthood is also something that was often associated with gay men, especially back when many social institutions connected to adulthood and maturation, like marriage and adoption, were still out of the reach of non-straight people. Traditionally, the role of Peter Pan was also played by a woman, inserting an undeniable element of queerness into Peter and Wendy's relationship which is naturally only teased, never consummated, on stage. In fact, Barrie claims to have written the role for a woman originally.

If Peter with his love of flying can be associated with Sheppard, then it is easy to connect Wendy with her abusive father to McKay, and for some reason McKay seems to be connected to female roles a lot more often than Sheppard. In fact, when we are finally revealed "the game" they have been playing behind the scenes all these years, McKay's avatar is a blonde woman because that is his internal self-representation, whereas Sheppard's leather daddy is not so much a representation of Sheppard as it is of his desire--and it is ironic that people very often read their strategies in the game as completely opposite to this, as Sheppard self-representing as a gruff bear that is shorter than him and balding, and McKay as being attracted to blonde women just because he says he is even though it is more admiration and appreciation he feels toward them.

The subtext of Peter Pan has been discussed in literature for a long time, and in fact it may have represented the kind of escapism as "the game" did for both McKay and Sheppard:

There are similarities between Wendy and McKay even more than in their abusive fathers. Like McKay, Wendy hesitates at first to fly off to Neverland with Peter but she comes to enjoy her adventures. Ultimately, however, she chooses to go back to her parents and accepts that she has to grow up and we will return to this later, but twice we witness McKay make the choice of going by the socially more acceptable route to his own detriment, and it is left up to the audience whether we see the tragedy in the fact that Peter Pan never wishes to grow up or in the fact that Wendy makes the choice to grow up and is forever shut out of the magical land untouched by death. And like McKay in this episode, Wendy is held hostage by Captain Hook. Let us also note that the most recent adaptation to this episode (the 2003 film) also features what is called a hidden kiss (that is not very hidden at all) that gives Peter the wherewithal to save the day. And it is preceded by Captain Hook telling him, "You die alone and unloved, just like me," which we know is also Sheppard's fear. There are certainly elements of the story of Peter Pan both here and in the next episode that takes place inside the "pirate ship".

The title might also contain a reference to the motion picture The Lost Boys (1987) featuring vampires as an allegory for gay youth, and the film has well-known and rather blatant homoerotic subtext. Everyone from the creators to the actors to the gay director have acknowledged that the film's undertones are very nearly overtones, and the film has served as the awakening of many non-straight teenagers:

As the AIDS epidemic raged on and Ronald Reagan’s conservative moralism further ostracized the “other,” it wasn’t a stretch to read the film’s undead bad boys—with their leather get-ups and embrace of a chosen family—as stand-ins for the gay community in the late ’80s.

This reading is problematic in the same vein as reading Ellia's story as an allegory for homosexuality is problematic in that both the wraith and the vampires are evil. The film takes its name from Peter Pan, the ever-youthful vampires living in the same suspended youth as the lost boys of Neverland. The fact that Michael, the brother that is infected by the vampires is only saved by his refusal to feed is a reflection of Regan-era attitudes toward homosexuality.

The film acknowledges non-normative sexualities but inserts a curative element into the story, at the heart of which is a kind of moral panic over those uncontrollable urges of gay youth. And yet the aesthetic of Ford's wildmen borrows heavily from the film, his ragtag team of misfits clad in leather and grime. It is fitting also in the sense that Ford's men have been transformed by an enzyme extracted from the space vampires, and while it is never textually acknowledged, the boost that the enzyme gives them actually ultimately comes from the people consumed by the wraith. It is human life essence, years of another's life, that they have become addicted to. In a sense, the lost boys are also all the people that have been culled by the wraith.

However, the titles most often seem to reference both Sheppard and McKay, the two of them in particular. They are the actual lost boys here, trying to find their way back to each other but unable to get there. By the end of the episode we see explicitly what has been true for them for a while now--circumstances conspire to keep them separated, away from each other. Without McKay, Sheppard is lost. And with Sheppard gone, McKay loses himself. Without each other they are both lost.

And in this regard, there is another potential reference that I find interesting. In 1985, during the height of the AIDS epidemic Michael Lassell wrote an award-winning collection of poetry called Poems for Lost and Un-Lost Boys. Among the poems is one entitled How to Watch Your Brother Die that is about something that we have seen the show dance around: how difficult it is to grieve a lover when the world does not acknowledge your relationship.

Watch the tears well up in his eyes. Say, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what it means to be the lover of another man.” Hear him say, “It's just like a wife, only the commitment is deeper because the odds against you are so much greater.” Say nothing, but take his hand like a brother’s. [...] Call your wife on the telephone. Tell her, “He hasn’t much time. I’ll be home soon.” Before you hang up say, “How could anyone’s commitment be deeper than a husband and a wife?” Hear her say, “Please. I don’t want to know all the details.” When he slips into an irrevocable coma, hold his lover in your arms while he sobs, no longer strong. Wonder how much longer you will be able to be strong. Feel how it feels to hold a man in your arms whose arms are used to holding men. Offer God anything to bring your brother back. Know you have nothing God could possibly want.

Likely their intention was just to make a Peter Pan reference, that is by far the easiest interpretation of the title. But while our boys may have been lost at this time, they were trying to find their way back to each other, to become unlost. These poems may explain why Sheppard and McKay make the kind of choices they do, again and again. The commitment is deeper because the odds against them are so much greater. Theirs is the bond that is deeper than words.

[goodwhump-temp]

John Sheppard Whump - SG: Atlantis

1x01 Rising - Almost shot out of the sky, angry, scared/confused 1x02 Hide and Seek - Tazed, choked 1x04 38 Minutes - (Wraith bug attached to him) knocked unconscious/jolted, intense pain from multiple attempts to remove it, heart stops 1x08 Underground - Kidnapped by Chief O'brien (🤓) 1x10 The Storm - Alone, worries for friends 1x12 Defiant One - Stuck with McKay + nerd, shot, runs into forcefield (knocked down forcefully) 1x13 Hot Zone - Sacrifices self, caught in explosion 1x14 Sanctuary - Held psychologically captive, angry 1x19 The Siege pt. 2 - Shocked unconscious, almost killed by wraith, passes out, sacrificing himself ---------------------------------------------

2x01 The Siege - Fails to save a friend, guilted 2x02 the intruder - Piloting ship taken over by wraith virus, guilt/depressed about Ford 2x03 Runner - Shot/captured by Ronon, shot in the hand, increased guilt about Ford 2x05 Condemned - Jumper shot down, captured, hurts his knee (by being dumb) 2x08 Conversion - Infected with wraith retro-virus, slowly turns into a bug, shot by Ronon 2x09 Aurora - "Captured," shocked by force field multiple times 2x10 The Lost Boys - Kidnapped/stunned unconscious, threatened by the Lost Boys, poisoned, knocked down by an aggressive-drugged Ronon, guilted, Kidnapped/stunned unconscious AGAIN, weak/sore, taken by the Wraith and painfully 'willed'/torture 2x11 The Hive - Stunned unconscious, painfully willed by the queen, guilted 2x12 Epiphany - Stuck in a place where time moves faster/ages quicker/alone (6 months), evolves into bearded John, seriously injured by monster (unconscious + seriously bleeding) multiple times 2x16 Long Goodbye - Possessed by a bitter old man, shot in the shoulder, shocked unconscious and captured, painful convulsions, weak 2x17 Coup D'etat - Genii trap, collapses, captured/tied up ---------------------------------------------

3x01 No Mans Land - Captured, tired 3x03 Irresistible - The only one who isn't in love with Lucius, shot unconscious (sleeping so peacefully wtf), imprisoned 3x04 Sateda - Tranquillized unconscious, captured (+ nice talk with Tayla :)) 3x05 Progeny - Fingers in the brain torture 3x06 Real World - Angst for Weir 3x07 Common Ground - Captured by Kolya, life sucked out of him, exhausted 3x09 Phantoms - Trapped on a planet, Afghanistan PTSD, guilt about the death of another friend, apologizes a million times for literally shooting everybody 3x12 Echoes - Ears bleeding, tortured/hospitalized with equally deaf McKay 3x13 Irresponsible - Western duel against Kolya (gigachad) 3x16 Ark - Almost sucked out into space, collapses from lack O2, sacrifices himself, crashes the ship, exhausted 3x17 Sunday - Beat up by Ronon during training 3x18 Submersion - Freaked out, painfully controlled/willed by wraith lady, exhausted/sore 3x19 Vengeance - Gets in a banter fight with Michael face to face, gets smacked around by a huge bug ---------------------------------------------

4x01 Adrift pt.2 - Emotional about Weir 4x04 Doppleganger - Infected and knocked down by crystal, exhausted, in everybody's nightmares (effects relationships), really beaten up/thrown by himself, dangerously high heart rate 4x05 Travelers - Captured, beaten, threatened, shocked unconscious 4x06 Tabula Rasa - Infected, loss of memory/clueless, shocked unconscious & tied up, exhausted 4x10 This Mortal Coil - Bleeding, Ronon caused injury, captured, acts dead 4x11 Be All My Sins Remember'd - Shocked unconscious, captured 4x12 Spoils of War - Shocked unconscious, painfully willed by Wraith queen (another nice talk with Teyla) 4x15 Outcast - Dad died, emotional, choked unconscious, weak 4x20 The Last Man - Trapped in the future, walking through a rough sandstorm, collapse, weak, trapped in a building collapse ---------------------------------------------

5x01 Search and Rescue - Trapped under rubble, chunk of concrete stabbed in the abdomen, denies surgery, in pain the whole episode 5x02 Seed - Injected with experimental drug with high risk, convulsing, in serious pain, flatlines, crashes into the city, stabbed in the stomach by tentacles 5x03 Broken Ties - Punched unconscious by Ronon, captured, 5x05 Ghost in the Machine - Thrown across the room and wall, weak 5x06 The Shrine - Emotional about McKay 5x08 The Queen - Captured 5x10 First Contact - Stargate explosion 5x11 The Lost Tribe - Caught in Stargate explosion, weak, glass shards in the back 5x13 Inquisition - Knocked out 5x14 The Prodigal - Hanging off a building, badly beaten up by Michael 5x15 Remnants - Abducted, knocked unconscious, beaten, arm chopped off 5x19 Vegas - Dies (Alternate reality)

[sga-owns-my-soul]

Fic Idea Adoption!

i have way too many ideas for fics and i know i won't ever get around to writing them all so i'm putting some ideas up for adoption!! i may or may not write these eventually, but they're too good of ideas to leave sitting in my notes app forever, so i'm releasing them to the void! anyone and everyone is welcome to use them, and feel free to be as ambiguous with the prompts as you want! no particular order but nsfw ideas are at the bottom for anyone who wants to avoid them!

(if you do use any of these, i would love to read the fic!! you definitely do not have to but please feel free to send me anything you write off this list!!)

-john takes rodney to earths moon

-john and rodney find the ancient equivalent of speed. they do Everything

-au where ronon gets earth to repeal dadt bc john tells him it's why he can't be with rodney and ronon goes I Must Fix This (he enlists teyla and lorne and maybe cadman)

-rodney asks ronon to go with john to earth (outcast coda)

-rodney goes on bill nye saves the world after stargate declassification

-evans biggest fear is having to shoot john (and maybe getting a promotion bc of it?) and john finds out

-rodney’s ‘torture too hideous and intimate to recount’ is him being tortured, just for them to realize that torturing his team is a better way to break him

-teyla living out ‘the chosen one’ trope

-what happens to sora after the eye

-au where meredith(female!rodney) comes to atlantis instead of rod and not only is rodney horribly disturbed, he’s furious (and strangely confused) as to why everyone apparently likes him more as a woman

-todd is weirdly obsessed with this strange human he meets, and is determined to get closer to him

-the team is most excited about catching up with todd when they get the confirmation atlantis is going back to pegasus

-everyone complains about rodney’s moods bc no one can complain about the infinitely worse in every way sheppard bad moods, that make everyone on the base wish they were on a hive ship being eaten by two wraith at once

-au where ronon ends up on athos at the same time the wraith come and he sneaks through the gate with the intention of just sneaking away on the next planet but whoops it’s atlantis (ronon pov)

-rodney keeps a memorial for every single scientist lost in his lab and radek shows it to new scientists who start complaining about rodney not caring and risking their lives

-reaper au where’s he’s fed the fuck up with these two stupid men who never actually die when they’re supposed to and it’s more annoying than anything now bc he still needs to show up

-au carson comes to atlantis and is HORRIFIED by becketts retrovirus research and the hoffan drug bc “does the hippocratic oath mean NOTHING here???”

-au where rodney can’t admit to himself what john means to him, until something happens that brings all the alternate rodney’s that have lost their johns to atlantis, and they all fall apart when they see john alive, and john and rodney have to have a Conversation (mcshep? maybe ambiguous? idk yet)

-rodney sees john as three separate entities: the Colonel, who is Professional Important Official Man; sheppard, who is his friend/team lead that he hangs out with and goes on missions with; and john, who he’s always seeming to have very intimate moments with that make him question a lot of how he feels

-early days in the city, elizabeth is sick of the marines shitting on the scientists for not being tough and the scientists for shitting on the marines for not being smart so she makes them try to solve a fake crisis from the other side and everyone is like aww shit this is harder than it looks

-that thing where tough men pretend they don’t care much about someone but then the person gets hurt and Tough Guy go a little feral and then holds them close and whisper pet names (sweetheart, baby, darling, etc) but it’s john and/or ronon after rodney gets injured

-the more important something is to john, the harder it is for him to talk about it, and rodney starts to realize how hard it is for john to talk about what rodney means to him

-a bunch of au sheppards get brought to atlantis and one on them is terrified of flying

-rodney has always said biology was beneath him, but then ford almost died, and was… different, from the wraith. and rodney knew he had to find a way to help ford, maybe find a way to fix his mental problems while keeping the physical benefits. rodney and carson find a way to save ford and sheppard is so thankful he kisses them both

nsfw ideas:

-ronon suggests some planets for trading when they get low on supplies that have an interesting trade system. it seems too good to be true and they wonder why telya hasn't taken them until they find out that they trade goods for sex

-au where john is hired as a spy for atlantis and he seduces people in pegasus to get intel for the city

-sometimes rodney just grabs john (by the hair, throat, back of the neck, chin, etc) and asks who he belongs to and john instantly melts

-rodney decides to be a tease on a mission and teyla and ronon think mckay is just really pissing sheppard off when he pulls mckay away for “privacy” but really he’s just super horny and wants to fuck (or, teyla and ronon don’t realize that their fighting is foreplay)

[adriankyte-writes]

Share your head-canon time!!

Allright SGA fans and fanfic writers.

Wraith in zero G combat...GO!

K, so wraith live on spaceships. Born and die, only hit planets to cull or hibernate. The rest of the time they are in space. We know their ships have gravity, but what happens if it is damaged and they lose gravity? They fight a lot, both against humans and against each other, so zero g combat is a thing yes? I don't remember a single episode of Atlantis where the wraith were in zero gravity. (Logistically the hair probably would have been a nightmare.

Personally, I think that since they are space dwelling they have adapted to incorporate zero g into their combat style. When boarding they intentionally sabotage gravity generators (yes this will be in a fic with more details...eventually.) Because they have a hive mind they are able to communicate where they want to move and basically swarm through the corridors of a ship kind of like a school of fish. The ones closest to the walls brace on the wall and the others basically springboard off of them and spread the momentum propelling the group through the air.

What are your thoughts? Tangentially do wraith do spacewalks? You would think so, but we've never seen anything that looks like a space suit, so how does that work.

I'm tagging folks just for fun, no pressure to answer.

@bagheerita @chaniis-atlantis @chaos-monkeyy @idkaguyorsomething @sgatazmy @all-mighty-yaoiyuri @aintgonnatakethis @annwayne @darklysnarky

[existence-is-useless]

I abandoned and deleted my fanfic where the the Jaffa nation are requested to help with the Wraith and, thanks to updating the hyper-drive engines, a fleet of Jaffa ships wage war on the Wraith. There would be scenes of Jaffa helping, what they assumed would be weak humans but, seeing their strength of will, even after most of their people were wiped out and being forced to flee their planet, they still resist the Wraith.

But the Jaffa realize just how strong the human spirit is, and the people of Pegasus began to have hope that just maybe the Wraith could be stopped. But things get worse when the Genii, who made a deal with the Travellers to help fix their ships, end up betraying them and stealing their ships. Their full plan is truly revealed. The reason they were building nukes and had so many spies over the galaxy, and built their cities underground, wasn't because they wanted to blow up Wraith ships. Their true plan was to send the nukes to every known planet, which their spies would be able to learn all of them. Then they would fake it to make it look like their world was also bombed. With the complete extinction of every world (or so they thought but nobody knew about the space gates until the Atlantis Expedition showed up) the Wraith would have starved to extinction.

Now that they have the Traveller ships, they can implement their plans as well as launch attacks on planets with space gates. So the Jaffa now have to face a war on two fronts, stopping the Wraith and the Genii. With the possibility of extinction, the Wraith would be more open to Dr. Keller's attempt to stop the Wraiths need to feed on humans and instead survive on regular food, but that gets problematic when a Goa'uld takes possession of a Wraith queen and, with her increased mental abilities, takes over a Jaffa ship as well as several Wraith hive ships. Which starts a three-way civil war with the new Wraith, who's trying to create peace with the humans and the Jaffa, the old fashioned Wraith who are doing everything they can to take control of a Jaffa ship that could fly them to the milky way, and the new Goa'uld, who wants to bring their race back into true power using the Wraith as their new hosts.

All of which resulted in a massive space battle over a planet with Wraith, Jaffa, Genii, and Goa'uld, all fighting each other for the fate of the universe hanging in the balance.

[autistic-crypt1d]

My favorite SGA episodes:

S1 E10 & 11 - The Storm & The Eye

Bro this episode is so cool I cannot even begin to describe it anyway other than AJSNDJSKSKFJ. First of all THE DRAMA, I mean, the way they set the scenery up for these episodes is so good. The coming storm, the wind picking up, the crashing waves, empty city. The bacon conversation between the 2 guards right before the Genii come in is hilarious and I love it. The fact that Sheppard is left as the sole person who can retake Atlantis and save Rodney and Elizabeth is so intense. The way Rodney and him work so seamlessly even while entirely separated is just beautiful, I mean, he immediately knows he somehow has to warn Sheppard of what they're after. The way he slickly leans on the intercom knowing Sheppard will take care of it, AHHH. Not only is every single scene of Sheppard running around sabotaging shit and taking out the Genii who come after him absolutely enthralling, but the emotion he displays when Kolya tells him he's killed Elizabeth, the rage. I cannot get over him yelling over the walkie, completely ignoring the torrential amounts of rain and wind bombarding him. He is a badass and everyone knows it.

I'm just constantly in love with the moments where we're shown just how brave and selfless Rodney is capable of being, how he really is inside. I mean, dude stands between Kolya with his gun, a man he knows will kill, and Elizabeth, AHHH. Not to mention, he's always hilarious even in these situations I mean, "Oh would you look at this?! That is just never gonna be useful again!" (And Sheppard knowing that he was absolutely gonna whine about that). Rodney is a drama queen through and through but I love him.

I also thoroughly love the fact that Rodney put up that danger sign and Sheppard is just like "yup, that'll work".

Rodney's arrogance in the face of danger is always so entertaining, but what I love more is how his team members are always the ones trying desperately to get the person like 2 seconds away form murdering him, not to. Like the way Elizabeth, this tiny woman, grabs onto Kolya as he's about to throw McKay off the platform while he's continuing to sass him is so funny. Then it's immediately wholesome as she runs over to him after he's released.

Teyla, Carson (poor Carson), and Ford all meet up with Sheppard just in time for the last grounding rod to be separated and everyone on Atlantis realizing there's only one place to go and everyone, both sides are going to be there, THE INTENSITY DUDE.

I'm not a fan of Sora, but I have to say, the hallway scene when she confronts Teyla, WOW. I mean the intensity of emotion she displays, the blind anger??? That combined with the fact that Teyla doesn't blink an eye once. She knows she can take her down if she has to, but she doesn't and that is what is so badass. Her priority getting Carson to safety, she has nothing to prove to Sora.

And finally, the gate scene where the Genii evacuate and only Kolya is left standing in front of the portal, Dr. Weir held as a human shield. Kolya makes one fatal mistake, thinking that John Sheppard would miss. He takes him out (temporarily unfortunately), releasing Elizabeth, Teyla and Carson get to safety, and Rodney fuckin McKay saves the day in spectacular fashion as always. A beautiful, absolutely thrilling set of episodes.

S1 E19 & 20 / S2 E1 - Siege pt. 1, 2 & 3

Part one is heartbreaking, I mean we start off so hopeful with the discovery of the satellite. They've done the recon, they know what's coming and when and the satellite is in the perfect position and best of all, the wraith think it's still broken. Everything is coming together, right up until the point Peter gets stuck on the station, there's no time left and they all know it. Even in the way they say they'll see eachother afterwards, they know that's not true. Peter knows he is about to die and he goes to work anyway and he takes out a hive ship. This is a moment of pure joy and hope for everyone, they actually destroyed a hive ship. There's hope again, hope that they can actually win this fight, but it's short lived. The satellite malfunctions, the circuits overloaded and it can't fire again. Rodney tries to come back for him but it's too late, the hive ships know that he's there. It was always going to be too late but that doesn't ease the devastation of watching the satellite be destroyed. It doesn't ease the loss of their friend. Rodney relays this information to Atlantis and the loss of the satellite is devastating, but finding out Peter was aboard, that is what killed their hope. Not to mention that while all of this is happening, back on Atlantis Bates has been attacked and people suspect Teyla due to an earlier altercation. We find out that there's a Wraith in the city and he's been there since the dart incident episodes ago doing god knows what. They're about to be in an all out war and the enemy is already inside. The interrogation provides nothing, as we know of wraith, they fear nothing. Never in the history of this show do we see a wraith beg for their life, no, they smile. They smile because they have no doubt in their minds they will be avenged, that the people who killed them will be fed upon by their brethren soon enough.

Part 2 is in one word, intense. The hive ships are still on the way, slower, but none the less inevitable. They've lost their only weapon against the incoming armada and they're faced with the reality they have to evacuate the only place capable of returning them to the milkyway, and destroy centuries of data. Then, just as they're dialing the alpha site, they get an incoming wormhole. Earth has sent help. The colonel guy bugs the shit out of me but the plan is good. The daedalus is on it's way with a new ZPM, 4 days, that's how long they have to hold out. The way Sheppard stands up for Weir to the Colonel is beautiful, they have their moments butting heads but he respects her and he'll be damned if she gets cut out of this. Now, with military and volunteering personnel recalled back to Atlantis the preparation begins, the city and its citizens being decked out in artillery. Hope is once again starting to appear, but no one is sure how this will turn out, they know what's coming for them but every single person is ready to try. 4 days alone against the armada. They've deployed the mines and initialized the chair but my god does it ever go wrong. They find out there are only a few dozen drones left, presumably depleted from the original war on atlantis, and now the mines are in danger. The Wraith have sent asteroids hurtling towards the atmosphere, taking all of them out in one fail swoop. Not only have they lost their first line of defense, but the radiation is blocking their sensors, they're blind. Now if only someone suggested they keep some of the mines (oh wait SHEPPARD DID). Now it's revealed that Colonel Sumner was a friend of Colonel Everett's and he is pissed at Sheppard. We know, and Sheppard knows that he did the best he could that day. Killing Sumner was the most merciful thing he could've done in that's situation and as much as I dislike Everett, the way he finds out how true that is, is awful. The moment of truth arrives, a wave of darts in inbound and the great city of Atlantis goes dark. The only light being that of the moon and artillery from both sides. Amidst it all McKay and Sheppard are together as always, trying to get the chair online as darts make runs at the city. For the first time Everett starts to get a glimpse at what he's up against as an entire group of his soldiers are taken by a wraith beam, no way to fight back, just gone. The first wave of darts is defeated, they've survived the night but it is far from over. The hive ships are still on their way and there are wraith in the city. Both Athosian and Expedition members alike begin searching the city while Rodney and Zelenka attempt to retrofit the puddle jumpers to be driven by the chair. The only way for this plan to succeed is for Elizabeth to broker a deal with the Genii for a Nuke. She of course succeeds because she's a badass, and another plan is officially on its way, BUT, another problem, the devices are incomplete. The next wave of darts is here and the jumpers aren't ready. "So long Rodney" you could write this off as Rodney being the person who happened to be in the room when he decided to man the jumper manually, but I think we all know that's not the case. He's run off in silence without so much of a word to anyone more times than I can count, but Rodney, he has to say goodbye, even if it's a crappy one. Now we see Colonel Everett backed into the corner, alone with a Wraith. He shoots, but it doesn't stop, it keeps walking towards him and you can see the look on his face change as he fires round after round into it. He knows he's about to die, and he's terrified because he knows how it's going to happen. More and more wraith are entering the city in numbers they can't hope to defend against. "You let Sheppard fly that jumper?" God he is so heart broken in this moment, he never had the chance to stop him but Elizabeth, she had the opportunity and she didn't. I don't think he ever could've truly forgiven her for that if he'd died.

Part 3 is the culmination of everything so far, the wraith are not just at the doorstep they are inside the home, they have surrounded the house and there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Everything they have tried has only prolonged their deaths and Sheppard is on his way to take a hive ship out with him. At the last second he's saved by the Daedalus, but Ford is not so lucky. His squad is cornered by wraith and with his final breath, one of the soldiers let's go of a grenade. Ford and the wraith that had latched on to feed are sent hurtling over the railing into the ocean below. The daedalus brings a moment of relief to the expedition as it prepares to join the fight. They take on the final hive ship as darts continue to bombard the city, this fight isn't over yet. We find out that Everett has been saved by one of his downed squad members, but he is not unscathed. The daedalus takes put the final hive ship with a beamed nuke, but they're not done yet. The darts get in formation and take a ballistic approach towards the city in a last ditch effort. Rodney and Teyla manage to get the ZPM safely to the gate room only for McKay to forget how they work and almost get them killed. Once all is said and done Atlantis survives another day and all that's left is to clear out the rest if the wraith in the city. Now is when we find out just how bad Everett's status is. He's aged significantly, leaving him bedbound and ill. His new understanding of what happened to Colonel Sumner leads him to apologize to Sheppard for his accusations. There is no break as we find the condition of Ford, a wraith attached to his chest, both having been floating in the cold ocean for hours. This has been days of constant activity and it's still not over. The cruisers that fled brought reinforcements, 12 hive ships headed straight for Atlantis and they'll be there in a little over a day. Sheppard decides they should go on the offensive, attack them before they get there and they do. They manage to nuke 2 ships but then we see a perfect example of the level of intelligence the wraith possess. They manage to enact counter measures in a matter of minutes to prevent them from beaming the nukes aboard. The daedalus has no choice, they have to retreat. Ford... his storyline makes me so sad, especially in this episode. The character we love so dearly, this boy who has seen war and conflict and violence and is still so full of joy and love loses himself before our very eyes. Before the eyes of his friends and there's nothing they can do to stop it. He attacks his friends, his fellow soldiers and he can't stop. He's lost all control over himself and it's heartbreaking. Amidst all of that, the hive ships have arrived and they've gathered in formation over Atlantis and have begun to fire. This is a horrifying glimpse into what the war 10,000 years ago must have been like. The amount of firepower being exerted on the shields will deplete the ZPM within days, the ancients had 3 but that's not much more time. Sheppard comes up with the idea to cloak the city and Rodney executes it perfectly, faking their deaths to the wraith and all others. Truly, truly an incredible series of episodes.

S2 E13 - Critical Mass

A Goa'uld infiltrates Atlantis planting a bomb somewhere in the city (or at least they think so). This episode gets so wild, interrogations, suspicion, fear, a race against the clock and the entire episode is just so enthralling. Plus we get a hint of how the Goa'uld fear the possibility of wraith getting to the milkyway (I'm going to do a post about the stack up between Wraith and Goa'uld in a fight here if you're curious as to my thoughts on that)

They manage to relay the message to the Daedalus and then to Atlantis in time but "there's a bomb in Atlantis that'll be triggered by dialing Earth" is not super helpful.

They remove the ZPM but once the virus program realizes the gate is no longer an option if forces their hand by calling the wraith. If they don't connect it again, the wraith will destroy them, if they do, the program will overload the ZPM and destroy them. The hunt for the spy in their ranks is so intense, Kavanagh is almost tortured, the city is about to be destroyed. This all culminates to them finally finding the spy, but it's not a human spy, there's a Goa'uld inside Caldwell! Ronon has to absolutely wail on him, then he gets tazed by Sheppard until the symbiote is hurt enough for Caldwell to break through and give them the code. It's so intense and I love it.

S3 E4 - Sateda

Now this episode is amazing, it's a combination of heartwrenching and completely badass. The team comes across a village Ronon stumbled across during his years as a Runner and as a result it was culled. The villagers recognize him and they're captured (Rodney escaping with an arrow in his ass). Ronon manages to bargain for Sheppard and Teyla's freedom, but they're unable to return fast enough to prevent the wraith from capturing him and wiping out the village.

The wraith makes Ronon a runner once again, but they take out the gate. They won't let him leave alive this time. Now Ronon is faced not only with the threat of basically endless waves of wraith coming to kill him, but also the memories of his home world where they've dropped him. For the first time we see glimpses of what Sateda used to be like, what his life here was like. It's such a heartwrenching experience to see him fighting for his life while remembering the destruction of his previous life at the hands of the very wraith who did it. I mean god, watching him come across the bodies of his fellow soldiers and be forced to strip them of their armour and weapons just to survive...

We never find out much about the other runners aside from Kiryk, but even then we don't find out much. I find it hard to imagine a runner surviving longer than Ronon had honestly, and I believe that's why the wraith that made him one wants him so badly. It's a point if pride at this point, he's evaded them for years slaughtering the wraith who've come after him.

Seeing Ronon try and fail to convince his wife to leave is devastating. She couldn't bear to leave the people who needed her behind even knowing none of them would survive. To make matters worse, we see him watch her die right in front of his eyes. The scenes where he's taking out the shrapnel and remembering her death brings me to tears every time.

The way Ronon immediately slumps down onto the ground once he realizes Sheppard and the team have come for him is just so AHH!

S4 E17 - Midway

This episode is so damn good, first off I mean, we get the absolute treat that is Teal'c and I'm THRILLED. Not to mention we get to see him AND Ronon together and that is just a trip. Teal'c matches his energy and holds his ground and I love him. Ronon is very off putting to pretty much anyone whose not his team or someone he isn't comfy with yet. This is very apparent many times and his meeting Teal'c is no exception. He's immediately threatening and guarded, but does this throw Teal'c off? Hell no!

These two have clashed the entire time so far and now it's time to go back to Earth. There's of course the 24 hour hold on the midway station, nothing too crazy right? WRONG, the wraith show up! Now all that's standing between Earth and a wraith take over is Ronon and Teal'c. These two are undeniable badasses and forces of nature and we get to see that front and center here and I love it. I mean, these two entirely on their own, take out all the wraith that stormed the SGC. That's a lot of wraith!! Not to mention they're awesome as hell while doing it. I just love this episode a lot and I love Teal'c and Ronon a lot. Also, the least irritaing/infuriating episode with Kavanagh in it.

S5 E10 & 11 - First Contact & The Lost Tribe

I love this episode so much. Right off the bat we get Daniel again. Love that mf. There are also 2 intense ass plotlines happening simultaneously here with Daniel and Rodney being kidnapped by rogue Asguard (like, holy shit), and then the activation of the Attero device causing Todd to panic and take over the Daedalus leaving Keller and Ronon to try and take it back!

Ok so we've got Daniel and Rodney discovering the ancient lab, being the hilarious duo that they are. Everything is fine until this strange ship shows up. Not only is this a ship that they've never seen before, but it completely bypasses Atlantis's shields. Then we see 3 suited up aliens leap from the ship onto the tower. Fall damage? Never heard of it. These things completely ignore the strike team Sheppard and Teyla lead, taking some sort of device straight through the floors of the tower while getting shot at. They head straight for Daniel and Rodney and there is no hesitation and no stopping them. One of them sacrifices itself to shield the other 2 while they get away with Rodney, Daniel, and the device and it's over before they even know what's happened.

Now we get Keller and Ronon alone on the Daedalus as Todd has knocked out the bridge crew. It's up to them now to regain control as wraith beam aboard.

Part 2 starts off wild with the Daedalus taken over and the stargate exploding in the control room with Sheppard and Radek inside. Now both groups have realized what this device is doing and are trying to fix it before millions die, problem is, Todd wants to destroy the facility with Daniel and Rodney still inside so Sheppard and Zelenka along with the Traveler ship are trying to beat them there! Meanwhile Daniel is discovering that they're being held captive by Asgard. This is mindblowing because so far we've seen zero evidence of them in the Pegasus galaxy and now we find out that they've been hiding out here for a long ass time. We also find out that they have been conducting experiments on humans like Loki did and have sorta stabilized their cloning defects.

The fact that they came to the Pegasus Galaxy and took advantage of the war in order to hide and experiment and did nothing to help the Ancients win makes me so mad. What if they could've won with their help?

My god the tension at the end portion of this episode is wild!!! The Daedalus has been retaken but it's on a collision course with the facility, Sheppard and the Traveler ship arrived but their drive is burned out, the Asgard have left the facility, but they took the control device with them leaving Daniel and Rodney with no way to shut it down. Rodney of course figures out another way, but that means going inside the chamber that is currently full of volatile lighting.

They of course succeed and in such a fantastical way with the Traveler ship opening a hyperspace window to travel through the planet with the Daedalus and Daniel almost dying while they shut off the device.

Overall, I love these episodes so much, the intensity, the sass between Daniel and Rodney, it's so good.

S5 E14 - The Prodigal

This episode is so intense and just awesome in general. Atlantis is under siege from Michael and his hybrids, Teyla and her baby have been taken captive, and everyone but Ronon and some gate room personnel are trapped outside this stun bubble thing. Sheppard, Rodney, and Zelenka immediately get to work and as soon as Ronon is awake he starts formulating a plan. The fight scene between Ronon and Michael is amazing as always, not to mention him yelling for Teyla to run and being the reason she's able to get her and her baby to safety before he gets hurled over the railing. That man can take a beating god damn. Sheppard and Rodney quickly get to work trying to shut down the stun bubble but Michael starts the self destruct timer, expediting their timeline. Teyla's escape is fantastic I mean the stress you can see on her face is so amazing, she's a fighter and always has been but she has to get her baby out of there, she has to leave Ronon to fight Michael by himself and it's killing her. Once they finally do shut it down (avoiding Sheppard's suicide run), they can finally storm the gate room. Michael makes a run for it but Sheppard is so not letting that happen, the jumper bay doors are closed, the gate room is retaken, there's nowhere for him to run anymore. They end up on this balcony and it's one of my favorite fight scenes of all time, the moonlight, the height, the batman like scenery, fists flying, it's so intense. We've been waiting for this moment for so long, the final confrontation and BOOM, Teyla enters. Her face is stoic, she is determined and no one will stop her, he will not get away this time. She lands every hit with no mercy and when he finally topples over the edge, gripping on only by his fingertips, she kicks him off. It's so intense and such a fitting end to his storyline in my opinion, for it to end in Atlantis where it started and to be ended by Teyla.

S5 E20 - Enemy at the Gate

Ah the finale of Stargate Atlantis. I'm really sad the show ended prematurely but this episode is still amazing. Not only has a hive ship started to successfully integrate a ZPM into it (a feat which if fully completed, would make it virtually impenetrable), but because of their new advanced sensors they've also picked up the signal with Earth's location from the alternate reality. Now there's an incredibly advanced hive ship on it's way to Atlantis and 2 ships have already failed to stop it. It's up to Atlantis to save Earth and the Milly way now. Sheppard is sent to Earth ahead to operate the chair in case they don't make it in time but that communique also contained the location of the chair and they immediately destroy it. Earth is defenseless so Sheppard takes a suicide run at the hive (again), only to be saved by Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, and Lorne gating aboard from a stalled Atlantis. They all make it out alive (although Ronon did briefly die and I cried), thanks to the spectacular arrival of Atlantis via the wormhole drive. They buy enough time in a fantastical battle above Earth for them to escape and the hive is destroyed. The scene of Atlantis on Earth is so beautiful and the whole main cast on the balcony, just fantastic.

If you can't tell, I love this show so much and if for some reason you're seeing this and haven't watched it yet, please do, it's amazing.

[neostriatum]

Recursion Fractal

[Dreamwidth] [SquidgeWorld]

They had their differences, of course, even if he could see the multiplicities of similarities.

-

Jeannie was so, so curious. He had been, too - still was - but watching her marvel at Atlantis felt like entering the city for the first time again. Touching the door frames, or peering at the ceilings, or staring out the enormous windows to the ocean around them wasn't something she did often. As much as they they argued amongst themselves, his sister was still a scientist at heart and just as focused as he was on their problem of the day.

But still, he kept the glances to a minimum, letting her absorb the truth of the city's existence at her own speed. It was something they had discussed, when they were younger, before all of the things that had come between them. Neither of them could afford a telescope at the time, but they'd climb to the roof in the summer, cling to the edges of it and marvel at the stars while they speculated what those stars might look like and the planets revolving around them.

And here both of them were, not only far away from those summertime stars that kept them company at night, but in a different galaxy entirely, one far enough away even the best of household telescopes a child could get their hands on couldn't see. He ducked his head down, focusing on the figures his computer was telling him from the latest round of testing on the device, instead of listening to Jeannie marvel with Radek about how the city stayed afloat.

Wherever the other Rodney was, he at least wasn't soaking up all the attention of Jeannie and everyone else. Probably the other him was schmoozing his way through an untold amount of expedition members, shredding whatever reputability he had scrummaged up here - which wasn't much, but he had become accustomed to living here, and the idea of going back to Earth because everyone decided they liked an alternate universe version of him sucked.

Jeannie was listening intently to Radek as he described something to her. Whatever was in his hands was obscured by all the crap they left on the work tables, but it was probably a scanner because that was one of Radek's favourite things to show off to the new scientists. And, yeah, he could understand it, the way Radek was thrilled and Jeannie marvelling.

She was the first, and perhaps – at least in his lifetime – the only, person outside the program to know any of this existed. It left him with some complicated feelings he was sure their resident psychiatrist would love to chew on, chiefly of which was the spark of generosity he felt. If they had time, he would have loved to show his sister everything from their internal publishing house for their research, to meeting the Athosians, to seeing the wreckage of the hive ship they found so early in their time here. But merely being on the Daedalus had terrified Jeannie, before the tentative curiosity had overlaid the edges of her fear, buffering it into awe. To meet a wraith, or at least the database holograms of it? The dangers that they still found within Atlantis, merely exploring storage areas or deserted labs, was enough for his throat to tighten in anxiety. That was his only baby sister standing there on the other side of the lab. He had to get her out of the city as quickly as possible. Looking at his computer, and the figures that needed dissecting for analysis, he transferred it to his portable computer, intent on finding his alternate self. Everyone needed a solution to this problem, and quickly.

-

Author's Notes

Fractal (Wikipedia):

In mathematics, a fractal is a geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scales, as illustrated in successive magnifications of the Mandelbrot set.[1][2][3][4] This exhibition of similar patterns at increasingly smaller scales is called self-similarity, also known as expanding symmetry or unfolding symmetry; if this replication is exactly the same at every scale, as in the Menger sponge, the shape is called affine self-similar.[5] Fractal geometry lies within the mathematical branch of measure theory.

Recursion (Wikipedia):

Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself.[1] Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in mathematics and computer science, where a function being defined is applied within its own definition. While this apparently defines an infinite number of instances (function values), it is often done in such a way that no infinite loop or infinite chain of references can occur. A process that exhibits recursion is recursive. Video feedback displays recursive images, as does an infinity mirror.

For @ficwip's Genuary event! The minimum was 500 words, so I tried to stick to that for some short-form fic practice.

[batsyforyou]

John Sheppard Platonic Cuddles 

Similar to how he let that wraith worshiper cuddle into his side on the wraith hive ship (Lost Boys was the ep. I think)

He’d let a friend cuddle into his side 

Like a side hug situation because those are for friends and it requires less intimacy 

Unless your Teyla/Elizabeth you just get awkward hug 101 

You should only expect to receive a cuddle/hug from this man when you are either 

A. injured and possibly dying (Most common hug available) 

B. Grieving a loved one and crying 

C. He lets you hug him when he is feeling down in private only. Either in his quarters or on the catwalk he runs with Ronon. You have a 50/50 chance of "why are you hugging me" or "another awkward hug 101"

He doesn’t really trust others easily but he loves his friends like they are his family because to him they are.

More Stargate Atlantis

[spockvarietyhour]

Wraith Battle over Earth, "Enemy at the Gate"

[aintgonnatakethis]

wip excerpt time

Thank you for tagging me, @wolgerrswraith!

Only did a little writing in this morning's session, but hopefully I can get some more done tonight.

Sheppard cracked an eye open, immediately wishing he hadn't when it became clear he was on a Wraith hive and the wet, spongy substance below him was the insides of the ship. Not in the manner of the feeding pods - there were no restraints for example - but he was lying in a large depression in the floor, the sides curling gently downwards to cradle him in burnt-soggy warmth. This was a weird sort of cell. He'd have to be sure to make a quip about what they'd done with the place.

Tagging: @wyked-ao3 @lancedoncrimsonwings @thestalwartheart @generic-whumperz @words-after-midnight

[wintergirl83]

Watching Stargate Atlantis for the second time and having watched SG-1 for the first time previous to this I have issues with some of the Atlantis Characters.

Weir was part of Stargate Command for a short time but supposedly read all the mission reports (she mentions this numerous times). And I’m sure McKay read his fair share including anything Carter wrote, but knows very little of the Stargate and Ancients. Had he even been through the gate before this?

So why in Sanctuary Elizabeth didn’t understand what happened when the Ancient ascended and went through the Stargate I don’t know. She’d have known all about what happened to Daniel.

And in Before I Sleep Weir and McKay don’t know about time travel being possible when Weir at least would’ve known about SG-1 travelling back to to the 60s and again when they went back to Ancient Egypt. McKay would’ve read Carter’s work on this at least.

Sheppard’s team seem to go into situations haphazardly to say the least. Every episode I’m watching I’m thinking how SG-1 would’ve handled it. O’Neill would’ve blown that wraith hive ship to pieces at the start of the series but not before Carter and the Asgard created a virus to destroy all wraith ships in the process.

And in Home didn’t anyone think it weird that Stargate Command said the Asgard were just developing a ship that could travel that far to check on them? The Asgard and Stargate Command had that technology for years before that. That whole storyline about not being able to get back is crazy when the Asgard and Stargate Command have ships with hyperdrives.

Sheppard seems to be a character that’s thrown in at the deep end being the only Major and the only highest ranking officer after the first couple of episodes. He flew O’Neill into Antarctica right at the start and didn’t even know about the Stargate. Any Major going into that situation should’ve at least read mission reports and gone with SG-1 on a few trips through the Stargate. Why only send one Colonel and one Major to Atlantis? Carter as Captain knew more than he did.

My thoughts for now at least…

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Hive, Pt. 17

Running in front of the group, Sheppard seems to be leading the team toward the dart bay. He stops to check whether the coast is clear, and Ronon and Teyla come to a halt on the opposite side of the hallway from him. The alarm is still sounding in the background but it seems like in spite of the emergency the wraith are preparing to cull the nearby planet, or so Teyla is able to inform them.

Teyla: The culling is beginning. Sheppard: We've got to stop them. Dex: How? Sheppard: Stay here. When I give you my signal, get out in the open.

While Sheppard seems to have cared very little about the culling so far, now he feels like they have to put a stop to it, and we have to wonder what changed his mind. His plan seems to be the same as it always was, to get back to the dart and to scoop Ronon and Teyla on to get them out of the hive. It may be the fact that, as the wraith are preparing to cull the planet, it is not longer an abstraction but it has suddenly become very real. It might also be that he thinks that by planting the idea to the queen that her rival has designs against her, it might now be easy to sow discord between them, and so why not take the opportunity. But it still seems like getting away is the most important thing to him, and so he tells the two of them to wait while he goes and grabs the dart. And it seems like his plan hinges on finding the very same dart that McKay had fixed up for him, because it is doubtful Sheppard would be able to work pure wraith tech out of the blue.

While Ronon has the blaster that Sheppard had given him and Sheppard himself seems to have a hand gun in his thigh holster, none of them are wearing their radios which the wraith had taken from them at some point -- even though the wraith might not even have understood what they are, given how the communicators of the native Pegasusian Genii are attached to their wrists and resemble watches. And so they have been unable to receive the hails from McKay, which McKay is correctly (and with not a little wishful thinking on his part) able to intuit. But it is also interesting that McKay arrives at their exact condition, raising the question of whether the Ancient gene allows for some weak version of a psychic link to exist between bearers of the gene. It could even be that some part of McKay's subconscious mind is able to draw this information from Sheppard directly without him ever being the wiser to it. Regardless, McKay is correct but has no evidence to show for it.

Caldwell: Jumper One, what's your status? Lorne: We're unable to establish a radio link with Colonel Sheppard or the others on either of the hive ships. McKay: Which doesn't necessarily mean they're not on either of the ships. Look, they could have had their, their radios taken from them. Caldwell: We can't make that assumption. Return to the Daedalus immediately. McKay: Almost there now. Caldwell: Good. We need to take those ships out before they start culling.

Caldwell seems to be getting antsy with the two hives spitting out darts for the culling that is about the commence, and so he orders Lorne and McKay to return. It is Lorne that has to break in the news that they were unable to contact Sheppard and the team, and we do not see McKay's face as he fills the Daedalus in. We only see his face as he jumps in with plausible excuses for why they were unable to hail them, far from ready to give up on Sheppard. Upon being ordered to return, McKay replies to Caldwell with the kind of attitude as a teenage boy might have when ordered to do an unpleasant task; he is going to do it even though he really, really does not want to. His eyes seem red when he looks down, trying to keep himself together.

Sheppard: Oh, I sure hope that worked.

While the Daedalus is preparing to engage the hives, Sheppard manages to scoop up Ronon and Teyla into the memory device of the dart. He flies out of the hive along with the other darts, no one paying attention to it since he is going the same way as everyone else.

We again find Sheppard talking to himself in the cockpit, and we can note once more that even though Sheppard cares about Ronon and Teyla, he cares about them a lot, he is not in any way incapacitated by not knowing what has happened to them. He says that he sure hopes that they are alright, where we have seen multiple times that he would never even take chances like this with McKay's life. When he wanted them to get off of the Ancient weapons platform in Trinity (S02E06), he made McKay climb into the jumper first. When they were extracting McKay from a wraith memory device in Duet (S02E04), he snapped at Zelenka to get them out immediately because he could not stand not knowing for one more second whether McKay was alright or not. And much as he might try to pretend, he was nowhere near alright not knowing how McKay was right now.

Caldwell: Max power to the shields. Are we within transport range? Kleinman: Yes, sir. We have a weapons lock on coordinates inside the first enemy vessel. Caldwell: Deploy warhead.

As McKay and Lorne have returned to the Daedalus and now walk together to the bridge with grim determination, we do not see McKay's expression as his face is hidden in shadows. He parks by the Canadian weapons' officer, knowing that he is the one that is going to deploy the nuke that they will attempt to destroy the hive with. It seems like if this is going to be the thing that kills Sheppard, he needs to be close to it. He needs to be there for it.

But note that McKay does not say anything. He is incapable of speaking because everything inside him is telling him to stop them from doing this. Rationally he understands why they have to do this, why they need to do this. There are potentially hundreds of thousands of lives on the line, not to mention Atlantis and Earth, as they later come to recognize. Taking the hive out is important. But for McKay, Sheppard is infinitely more important. We see McKay curling his hand into a fist as he stands by the weapons' officer, doing his self-soothing thumb thing.

Kleinman: The enemy has engaged counter measures to block our transport. McKay: They're jamming us again! Kleinman: We're under fire. Caldwell: Forward rail positions, return fire!

It is only as they come upon a problem that McKay is suddenly moved to action, having actually already anticipated this issue earlier because he had gone through all possible scenarios in his mind prior to them getting here. And instead of of telling Caldwell he told him so (albeit he does give him a look as he passes), he gets on trying to figure out something they might do to overcome the problem. When there is a crisis, when he has to think of something to save them in a pinch, McKay is able to act. When he can focus on a problem instead of the thought of what might have happened to Sheppard, he stays functional. As long as he does not have to stop, he does not have to feel.

Sheppard: This is not good! Not good, not good.

It is unclear whether Sheppard was ever alerted to the presence of the Daedalus because his visibility is restricted by the canopy that McKay had warned him about. Given how expertly Sheppard is maneuvering the dart, however, we should be able to conclude that he had found the dart that McKay had "souped up" for him and that the wraith had not yet disassembled McKay's patches to the tech. What Sheppard can see is that there are a whole lot of darts flying all around him, coming out of both hives, and we once more find him talking to himself in the cockpit. He repeats the words "Not good" like they are a mantra, using it to keep himself calm. And seemingly with no conscious thought, on pure instinct, he makes the decision to turn his dart around and return toward the one he had left from, flying against the grain and the stream of the darts coming out of it. He had come up with the plan earlier of dividing and conquering, pitting the queens against each other, and seems now to have come to the conclusion that it would take only a small nudge to set off a chain reaction.

The Daedalus is under heavy bombardment and like he had done while they were parked near the Ancient warship Aurora, McKay is standing by a read-out of the scanners. There does not seem to be a whole lot he can do, sparks flying on the bridge as they take on fire.

Lorne: How much of this can the shields take? McKay: Not much! They're already down twenty percent. Caldwell: Our people have been in wraith hands too long. We have to assume they've been compromised and that the wraith know that Atlantis wasn't destroyed. We need to win this.

McKay moves from the screen to the window, wanting to see what is happening out there with his own eyes. Caldwell reminds McKay that the security of Atlantis (and the Earth) is at stake, and what is really curious here is that Caldwell seems to be looking for McKay's go-ahead, for McKay's permission to open fire on the hives. This is curious because he had been prepared to beam in a nuke into the hive earlier, brushing right past McKay's objections that Sheppard and the others might still be in there but not have their radios on them.

Here, it now sounds as though Caldwell had been waiting for the last possible moment to hear from Sheppard and it was at this very moment that their time was running out -- although more likely he is trying to hurry McKay up to come up with something. It is also interesting that Caldwell uses the term compromised about Sheppard again, since the compromising of his command seems to have been a perpetual issue with Sheppard and his commanders. And here Caldwell finally seems to have come to appreciate that it is not who Sheppard loves that has compromised him but the fact that the wraith are a formidable enemy. By bringing the issue to McKay, essentially giving the decision to him, Caldwell seems to recognize the special regard McKay has for Sheppard (and the rest of his team).

McKay does not respond to Caldwell, again falling silent. He seems physically incapable of giving his consent to even the possibility that Sheppard might be destroyed, and while he has no arguments left to give, he is unable to give even his tacit permission to jeopardizing Sheppard.

We then get another interesting transition from McKay to Sheppard, with McKay cowering and drawing his chin down to protect himself from the sparks flying on the bridge of the Daedalus, to Sheppard looking up at his left and frowning. It is as though Sheppard noticed or picked up on something but he seems confused when he returns his eyes forward, he is not quite sure what he had just experienced. The juxtaposition of the scenes makes it seem like Sheppard had somehow sensed what McKay was experiencing here, even though he does not even know that McKay is anywhere near. Sheppard does not know what just happened, but something certainly did. His dart took no hits, he had no reason to look to his back left what with all the other darts flying into the other direction, so him having caught McKay's experience of the bridge under fire seems like the most likely explanation. And it is interesting that this is never acknowledged in text, we are never given confirmation that the Ancient gene works like this. And yet with this and Beckett's line about experiencing McKay's anguish earlier, it is heavily hinted at. They never mention it, they never verbalize it, because they don't get that it is happening. And yet.

Also curious is that as Sheppard arms the weapons system of the dart, we get another shot of his crotch as he is fondling the joystick because the director or cinematographer was extra thirsty when they were filming this, and we then get a view of the targeting system that coalesces into a phallic shape.

Sheppard is driving stick and there is a visual representation of a penis above him as he shoots his load into the hive. The symbolism here is not exactly subtle. And they brought McKay into this. Sheppard seemed to think about McKay just before he chose to do this.

Again, I don't know what to tell you. We could choose not to see this but, like. What is this? They put actual money and resources into making computer graphics to show us that Sheppard prefers this penis to the vulva that he started the episode kneeling on. He is much more at home driving stick. And from Sheppard unloading on the hive we shift back to McKay on the Daedalus, watching this go down with his eyes wide open.

McKay: Look! See that? Caldwell: What? McKay: It's a dart firing on one of the hive ships. Caldwell: Why? McKay: Sheppard!

It seems like McKay would recognize Sheppard's load blindfolded and with his hands tied up behind his back. McKay and Caldwell are looking out at the hives and the darts spilling out of them from the front window of the Daedalus, and McKay immediately makes the observation that that one dart among what seems like hundreds if not thousands has to be Sheppard. And let us underscore this: Caldwell is the captain of the Earth Vessel Daedalus. He is an Air Force Colonel that has probably seen more than one aerial battle in his day. McKay is a Physicist and an Engineer. Which one of them should have a keener eye on what is happening out there? Out of everyone on the bridge that are professionals, that are the best at what they do, it is McKay that spots Sheppard among all the other darts that look exactly alike, and he does it with no delay. Right away. Instantly. Forthwith.

And sure, we may put it out there that he is just that observant or that he saw it because he was looking for it, and he so intelligent that he was able to put two and two together and rationally come to the conclusion, but that does not explain the smile as he speaks Sheppard's name. And it is not relief that he feels here, that is washing over him. It is something more. He speaks the name with such reverence as though he had just seen the face of God, almost like he is having a religious experience. And this is long before he has had the chance of realizing what Sheppard was even doing here and why he was firing at the hive. It is merely the certainty that Sheppard is alive that causes him to feel this way.

We get another transition from McKay to Sheppard, both of their faces in close-up. They both seem perfectly post-coital here, a fine sheen of sweat on both of their faces. Both have their mouths slightly open as they breathe in, and we see Sheppard blink. Here, it could be from a sense of relief because his plan seemed to work as the hives start firing on each other. But it could also be that he is mentally saying his good-byes, thinking that this was going to be it. He was not going to make it out of here and because they are juxtaposed, because Sheppard is essentially looking at where McKay is just as McKay is looking at him out there in his dart, it suggests that his last thoughts were going to be about McKay. If he has to die then maybe he can at least take both of the hives with him, leaving the galaxy a safer place for McKay. He is sorry that it has to end like this. He is not ready for it to end.

Continued in Pt. 18

[goodwhump-temp]

Rodney McKay Whump - SG: Atlantis

1x03 Hide and Seek - First human trial (DNA manipulated), given a shot, pushed off a balcony, shot (in the leg/off-screen), "punched," verbally bullied, panicking, sacrifices himself, unconscious, sore 1x06 Childhoods End - Annoyed by children, held at arrow-point, exhausted 1x08 Underground - Captured & threatened by Bashirs best friend 1x09 Home - Stranded on earth, captured, unconscious, 1x10 The Storm - Held captive by the Genii, threatened, arm squeezed 1x11 The Eye - Hostage, thoroughly pissed 1x13 Hot Zone - In danger the whole episode, attacked by a vision ghost (schizophrenic), coping (emotional) 1x14 Sanctuary - argument with sheppard, didn't sleep, only person not in love with the fancy evil "priestess" 1x19 The Siege - Falls from a great height, "permanent back damage," offended, emotional (not about himself)

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

2x01 The Siege pt. 3 - Almost killed, forced to fight the wraith 2x02 The Intruder - Attacked by coolidge leak, scared by transport beam (is weird), sickened by Sheppards flying, attacked by wraith virus controlled ship 2x03 Runner - Captured/threatened by Ford, caught in a trap upside-down 2x04 Duet - Trapped inside Wraith dart, collapses, unconscious, hospitalized, another consciousness in his body; ego destroyer, angry, sore, fighting for body control, seizure, emotional, kisses Beckett, collapses 2x05 Condemned - shot down, chipped a tooth (?), captured, threatened 2x06 Trinity - Obsessive, makes Sheppard worry/pity, emotional 2x08 Conversion - Worried about Sheppard 2x10 Lost Boys - Kidnapped, threatened 2x11 The Hive - takes dose of wraith enzyme, passes out, goes through insane withdrawal, hospitalized, unconscious 2x14 Grace Under Pressure - Serious head injury, trapped hundreds of feet under water, hallucinating sam, cold and wet 2x17 Coup D'etat - Genii trap, collapses, captured

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

3x04 Sateda - Takes an arrow to the butt, immense pain, cared for 3x07 Common Ground - Scared by a mouse 3x08 McKay and Mrs. Miller - Alternate reality Rodney, emotional rollercoaster 3x09 Phantoms - Shot in the chest 3x12 Echoes - Worsening headache, nose bleed, passes out, deaf 3x14 Tao of Rodney - Hit by energy pulse (gene mutation), nervous, acting increasingly strange, insomnia, emotional, overstimulated headache, passes out, hospitalized, flatlines 3x16 The Ark - Almost sucked out into space 3x20 First Strike - Caught in explosion, visible face injury

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

4x02 Lifeline - Captured 4x03 Reunion - Attacked by wraith, alone, betrayed, shot unconscious, captured 4x04 Doppleganger - Faces greatest fear, flatlines/cardiac arrest, beaten up 4x06 Tabula Rasa - Deadly disease/lose memory, shot unconscious, running/hiding from militia 4x08 The Seer - sees vision of them getting captured 4x09 Millers Crossing - he and his sister kidnapped, threatened, great bonding with Sheppard 4x10 This Mortal Coil - Captured 4x12 Spoils of War - shot unconscious, captured, almost tortured 4x13 Quarantine - Panicking, ultimate pessimist --> causes his own heartbreak (how NOT to get a girl), L rizz 4x14 Harmony - Forced to guard a child, held at gunpoint 4x16 Trio - Falls, trapped in a cavern, in danger & panicks the whole episode 4x20 The Last Man - Old, depressing backstory, technically dead

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

5x01 Search and Rescue - Some face scratches, bleeding, panicks 5x02 The Seed - Panicking x100 5x03 Broken Ties - Captured 5x04 Daedalus Variations - Shot in the arm (worse than it sounds) 5x06 the shrine - Intense memory loss, serious pneumonia, coma, hospitalized, panicking/insanely emotional help infected, intense headache, surgery 5x08 The Queen - Captured 5x09 Tracker - Bonding with Ronon, chased and punched by a wraith, manhandled, sore, shot at 5x10 First Contact - Captured, sore 5x12 Outsiders - Captured 5x13 Inquisition - Knocked unconscious 5x16 Brain Storm - Freezing