SGA fic: "Midway" tag

[xparrot]

"Midway," as naye's amazing picspam/review attests, was awesome, awesome, and also awesome. This is simple mathematics: Ronon is awesome. Teal'c is awesome. Ronon vs Teal'c is awesome².

So naturally this fic...doesn't have either of them. Yeah, I know. It's just, they're men of few words, but they say everything that needs to be said. And John doesn't, so much. So there you are.

Also, sheafrotherdon wrote a lovely slash tag to the ep, which bears more than a passing thematic resemblance to this story; she manages to say the same things in half as many words, and with hot sex to boot, so if you're McShep inclined do go read it.

SGA: Tenets of Leadership in Vacuum {4,370 words}
PG-13, gen, ep tag to 4x17, "Midway"
John wouldn't necessarily say that hanging out with Rodney was less stressful, but it did tend to leave fewer visible bruises.

Read it on AO3

Comments

[made-of-toast.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this. It felt like I was watching a bit of the episode that should have been there. Great job!! :D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it! (your icon is very special, as it blinks at me...)

nicely done

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

I really liked the language here, and the argument.

Re: nicely done

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad it worked for you!

[snarkydame.livejournal.com]

*squeak* Take this, and match it with the look on Rodney's face from the time Sheppard gave him the order to the time he found him in the space suit, and you get . . . utter brilliance, apparently. ♥

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, thank you! (I may have studied that look to write this. A lot. A lot a lot. Such a great moment!)

[witchofthedogs.livejournal.com]

Because you're stronger than me, John thought. Because he'd picked the best of the best to be his team, all more skilled than him, smarter and faster and stronger and better, and every day he asked and expected them to do what he could not.

Yes.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

What gets me is the fact that John's marines might have been still alive. Agh.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

That disturbed me, because I doubt the Wraith were taking the time to eat all of them...with the self destruct time limit they didn't have much choice, but still. The cavalier deaths of non-major chars on TV always tweaks me out...

[thisissirius.livejournal.com]

this is very well done indeed!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Tense and sharp; I really love their conversation, how much is said that we'll never see (but should).

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you - yeah, the team needs to have a chat with Sheppard about this, sooner or later...

[naye]

Wow. Beautiful. True to character - great voices. Loved a LOT. Wanna hug both of them. Awww, boys. Would say more, but head is killing me. *hugs*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

So glad you enjoyed it! <3 (hope your head feels better! *long-distance massage*)

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

A very, very tense conversation and one that I could see Rodney having with all that built up frustration. Those were some very vital points and I don't think John realizes the consequences to his Team, whenever he orders them to do something that would kill him.

Of course John's the leader, but he has double standards, willing to do anything or bend every rule to save one of them, but tends to forget that might feel they have that right too, but are thwarted by the command structure.

Thanks goodness I think they would disobey him, if given a chance. John's not expendable, and I don't think he has a death wish, but his friends care about him, and it is a painful thing to endure. Great dialogoe, characterizations spot on.

Thank you, very well done.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, the team needs to talk with Sheppard about this, sooner or later. I agree, he doesn't have a death wish, he fights too hard to survive for that - but he'd rather be dead himself than live with losing one of his team, and he's selfish enough to try to make them the ones who'd have to go on without him. I love him for that character trait, but it's awfully hard on his friends who love him...

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Dang: I wish we'd seen this on screen! I really didn't like the episode, but your tag? I like that, a lot.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you did like it! (the ep had a lot of plotholes, which I could let slide and go with the ride, but there's been other eps I haven't been able to do so even if everyone else enjoys 'em, so I understand the feeling!)

[nakedwesley.livejournal.com]

I'm glad Rodney didn't back down and that coming to terms wasn't easy for either of them. They both have good arguments here and there aren't always easy answers. Nice tag!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, the story is really just meta written out as fic, they have so many issues to work through, if not solve because there maybe are no solutions, this is just who these people are...

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

This was good. Painful, as it should have been, and good. I love that you touched on John's not letting Rodney sacrifice himself when he'd asked.

(I'm falling asleep right now, so I'm not sure this comment makes full sense, but I really liked this tag. It brought depth to the episode which is always good.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, so much of John & Rodney's relationship, and John's character, comes down to "Miller's Crossing" for me, the beautiful selfishness of John's, "I can't," and then he makes Rodney do the opposite in this, and I can't help but think Rodney's got reason to be angry...

[gaffsie.livejournal.com]

Like witchofthedogs I found John's thoughts about his team to be spot-on. That's exactly it!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm so glad Sheppard worked for you - he's a tricky bugger to figure out!

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

*flails* I love this so much. It's so good having all this _said_, and in a way that doesn't sound out of character. It's about Rodney being mad as hell and not going to take it any more, and being snarky and still Rodney, while needing to say all that. And I love your Sheppard, who gives as good as he gets but can still be floored by Rodney. They just work, so well. Perfect.

*mems + recs*

And friends so I don't miss more like this :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! and that it didn't sound too OOC to you - they don't usually talk this much, but these thing needed to be said, and Rodney has to get them out sooner or later, so...

Thank you so much for the rec, too! (tiny correction - the fic's title is actually "Tenets of Leadership in Vacuum"...uh, yeah, I know...I hate coming up with titles so tend to end up things like this ^^;;; anyway, I am so very thrilled to be rec'd, you made me all giddy & bouncy!)

And welcome to the flist, the more the merrier!

[pavaneofstars.livejournal.com]

I really liked this! :D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[sholio]

I finally sat down and read it ... and, not surprising, I love it! You just have such a fantastic handle on John ... I can't *wait* to read your long one, because I really think that, as short a time as you've been writing them (or maybe even because of that?) you're one of the best Sheppard writers in the fandom. You just have such a fantastic way of conveying the fundamental dichotomy that makes him who he is, the laid-back friend who is also capable of killing people and ordering men to their deaths. I feel like, as a writer, you really get Sheppard's shades of gray; and where a lot of people end up writing him as a one-note character (a hero, without the dark parts; a dork, without the competent parts; etc) in your stories he comes across as quirky and paradoxical as he does on the show.

I love the way that you address the aspects of the space station scene -- that some of the soldiers might still have been alive, the parallels to Miller's Crossing, the difference between being suicidal and self-sacrificing, and why John might or might not have done the same in Rodney's position. Nice character analysis, nice John and Rodney interactions -- it was a little painful and a little fangirl-goo-inducing at the same time. ^_^

Edit: also:

"Four isn't a crowd," John said, "it's a team."

... is just a FANTASTIC line!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it~! Always makes me 'specially happy to know you're liking my stuff ^_^

I think I'm at a definite advantage writing Sheppard, coming into the fandom and canon when I did - s4 has been especially illuminating for Sheppard. The first fic I wrote was the "Miller's Crossing" tag, and that ep establishes certain details of his char stronger than anything before, really.

It's odd...I love Sheppard, but Rodney is still my favorite character, absolutely. I tend to get impatient when I read fic, or for that matter watch eps, where McKay's not playing a major role...which is ironic, given that I'm writing things like the Sheppard/Nancy thing, which didn't feature Rodney at all. John's just...really interesting to write, I guess. Rodney's pretty much an open book; he's complicated but his issues are all on display. While as Sheppard is so closed that it takes a long time to realize just how bizarre and twisty he is inside. The pilot episode established that his code is 'leave no man behind' but understanding just how much he means that... And the dichotomies, yeah--that he's a commanding officer and he lead the Marines in "Midway" to their deaths, and while I think that affects him it doesn't stop him...and yet if their positions had been reversed, I don't think John could have pushed the button on Rodney, the way he ordered Rodney to do.

...Anyway, yeah. John is pretty fascinating. (The long McShep story I'm working on is Rodney-focused, but it's got a fair bit of John-angst...)

[highonstargate.livejournal.com]

I really loved it! For they have there own guilt to work out. And how there friendship evolved over the course of 4 years!:D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, they've come a long way, both of them...

[incidental-fire.livejournal.com]

Very nice. You really captured their voices, and I can absolutely believe that is what Rodney would be thinking.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! I'd love to see Rodney bring this up sometime...

[thrace-adams.livejournal.com]

This was really well done. The angst meter was starting to peg and then Rodney made the comment about the grandkids reading him the reports and I had to laugh! Great story

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yeah, it's not in-char for them to be angst-angst-angst all the time...even if their lives do get pretty rough...

[raiining.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was well done. I liked that it was, well gen-ish, and they could have a real discussion like this. Excellent!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (yeah, gen-ish is the word for it...I find it hard to take off the slash-goggles when writing these days, even if I don't make it explicit... ^^;)

[roga.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was great! I love how you handled the issue, asking all the tough questions and not going for the easy or melodramatic answers. Rodney's frustration is understandable, but yeah, so are John's choices, even if they do seem suicidal from the outside. And I love how, in the end, you made it all about trust - John's trust in them to obey, but also to survive, and not to obey if necessary, as well as his trust in himself. Wonderful.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! They've both got points, and they both care so much, just in ways that conflict at times. And yes...I think that John might have more trust in his team than in himself, really...

[greyias.livejournal.com]

Awww, boys! There was some definite dangling issues at the end of "Midway", and I love how you addressed them here. Rodney wanting to punch John, but resisting ("abusive husband" cracked me up), and that while they sort through the issues, the anger is still simmering under the surface, as it would be.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yeah, I think Rodney actually might've punched John if John had handled that situation any differently...but punching out a guy who's not defending against it, that's not Rodney McKay, even if Sheppard kinda deserved it. John does what he does out of love, but man it can be hard on those loved ones...

[trishkafibble.livejournal.com]

This is not "made of win". It is made of love, pure and simple, and I have no words to describe it. Thank you.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you~! ^_^

[deaka.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this - it was very true to them, that only something this *intense* could force them to actually confront the matter rather than joking around it. And I liked that there's not an easy fix, which is as it should be in something this complicated. They both make good points, but I find myself kind of siding with Rodney in a way, because I'm not sure that John could do what Rodney had to, whatever he says.

Very interesting, and a great read. Thanks for sharing!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! The boys don't really talk often, but they need to sometimes, and with things getting as tough for them as they have this season, I think they might try. And yeah, I don't think there's really a right or wrong side to this argument - John knows that he's not always fair to his team, but he cannot be other than who he is. And Rodney understands, but that doesn't mean he has to like it...

[katikat.livejournal.com]

Oooh, nice! I love fics where Rodney and John argue, especially when they are both "right", just looking at the argument from different angles.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love some conflict between the boys myself, as long as it's resolved...