Orpheus by Domenika Marzione (R)
Rec Category: John Sheppard
Pairing: None
Category: John Sheppard, Alternate universe, George Hammond, Original characters, Gen, Novel, Action-adventure, Atlantis, John Sheppard & Teyla Emmagan friendship, Dark
Warning: Major character deaths, marine language
Author on LJ: http://miss-porcupine.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: http://www.offpanel.net/dmz/sga.html or http://delicious.com/dmzfic
Link: http://www.offpanel.net/dmz/sga/orpheus.html or http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/825339.html
Why This Must Be Read: In the wonderful and bittersweet Orpheus, Domenika Marzione, aka miss_porcupine, explores with her customary grace, dry humor and realism what would have happened if Elizabeth HADN'T stood up to the brass and fought for John as military commander of Atlantis over Caldwell. The events of "Intruder" go quite differently and to their detriment, as might be expected. A bitter and pining for Atlantis John tries and fails to resist the SGC's attempts to pull him back in again. When O'Neill come to John and asks him to act as interim military commander, under General Hammond(!) as acting expedition leader, John can't say no to going home even though he knows he'll probably be discarded again when they no longer need him. The author's world building is as meticulous as ever; the Atlantis John returns to is a very different place in every way and he must adjust quickly. Those that were left behind had to adapt to searching for the missing Daedalus and doing without the replacement people and supplies the ship was carrying to rebuild the expedition after the siege.
This story would be a must-read for the genius of the Sheppard and Hammond command alone. Their laid-back styles, humor and philosophies mesh perfectly and I got a little teary reading Hammond's scenes. This is also a must-read as a fantastic, fast-paced and realistic action-adventure, as expected from this author. John Sheppard never leaves a man behind and he and Hammond undertake an ambitious and carefully planned offensive against the Wraith to find the Daedalus and the survivors of her final battle. There are serious consequences to the SGC and Elizabeth's fatal decision for everyone. The changes wrought as a result in all the characters, both canon and her beloved originals, broke my heart and intrigued me. This story packs a wallop; I was openly sobbing by the end yet events unfold the best and only way possible under the circumstances.
My favorite parts (besides Hammond and John together) are the reunion between John and Teyla, seeing how John has coped and successfully rebounded in his new command in Iraq (I could be happy with a whole story of just that) and John dealing with his subordinate officers in Atlantis with the skills and confidence in his command that he gained in his absence from Atlantis. He's not the same John Sheppard in this AU but it some ways he's a wiser and better one.
Also: When you finish, don't miss the deleted scenes, Yoni's perspective on events, McKay's, and Kate Swinson's.
A snippet of John in Iraq...
August 2005
"-- in luck. It's only ninety-five at 1030," Breibauer said with a remarkably straight face as they passed the thermometer attached to one of the HESCO barriers outside the office. "Means it should only be hundred-ten, hundred-fifteen by the time we're spinning up."
John smiled; laughing would expend too much energy and make him sweat. He'd never really been anywhere that would've prepared him for the middle-of-the-oven heat of southwest Iraq in summertime, a point well past where the fact that it was a dry heat made any difference. He'd sweated it out in the War on Drugs once upon a time, but the jungles of Colombia were a far cry from here, where a talcum-fine dust got into everything (absolutely everything, inside and out) and the heat never failed to stun him.
Of course, Air Force rotations were short enough that there were very good odds that he still wouldn't be used to it by the time they were redeployed back to Japan. A move that was coming up sooner than later; they already knew who was coming in to replace them and even had a tentative date.
John hadn't spent too much time thinking about Japan, though, beyond having his stuff sent from Peterson to Kadena. He'd shown up two weeks before his new unit's mobilization date and it had been all he could do to focus on assuming command of his squadron -- and grasping that he actually had command of a squadron after being on Big Air Force's shitlist for so long. Getting his head around that and doing his best not to fuck it up -- it had been a long time (and felt like even longer) since he'd been in an actual aviation unit-- had taken the edge off of the worst of his culture shock. It was still there, of course, in spades, but it wasn't as all-consuming as he'd imagined. Back to flying ships that didn't anticipate your thoughts, leading airmen instead of marines, hours of flying to get around one planet instead of near-instantaneous galaxy-trotting, and a group commander who didn't know what to make of the circumstances behind his newest officer. Well, that part wasn't too different, except for the fact that his predecessor here had simply gotten appointed to a Pentagon sinecure instead of getting the life sucked out of him by alien vampires.
If Sumner had died by anyone's hand but his own, John almost could've made a joke about the similarity there, too.
"Ninety-five? Almost a cold front," he finally replied because he was trying to work on talking more. His headquarters staff had largely gotten used to him not saying much and realizing that it wasn't coldness or displeasure, but he still didn't want to get a rep for being too much in his own head. He hadn't meant to turn into one of those silent types, but it was still easier to listen than to speak.
Everyone knew that he'd come to the unit from some classified project, but the assumption was that he'd been working for the CIA and even if he was in a position to correct them, he probably wouldn't. Thinking about Atlantis still hurt too much. He refused to speculate what might be going on back in Pegasus, whether Rodney and Teyla were following someone else around the galaxy, or how the fight with the Wraith was going beyond the obvious fact that they hadn't shown up on Earth. He could keep control of his thoughts during the day -- life was just too busy here to daydream -- but at night, he still dreamed of Atlantis, still missed falling asleep with the quiet, comforting buzz of her in his head and in his bones.
Pairing: None
Category: John Sheppard, Alternate universe, George Hammond, Original characters, Gen, Novel, Action-adventure, Atlantis, John Sheppard & Teyla Emmagan friendship, Dark
Warning: Major character deaths, marine language
Author on LJ: http://miss-porcupine.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: http://www.offpanel.net/dmz/sga.html or http://delicious.com/dmzfic
Link: http://www.offpanel.net/dmz/sga/orpheus.html or http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/825339.html
Why This Must Be Read: In the wonderful and bittersweet Orpheus, Domenika Marzione, aka miss_porcupine, explores with her customary grace, dry humor and realism what would have happened if Elizabeth HADN'T stood up to the brass and fought for John as military commander of Atlantis over Caldwell. The events of "Intruder" go quite differently and to their detriment, as might be expected. A bitter and pining for Atlantis John tries and fails to resist the SGC's attempts to pull him back in again. When O'Neill come to John and asks him to act as interim military commander, under General Hammond(!) as acting expedition leader, John can't say no to going home even though he knows he'll probably be discarded again when they no longer need him. The author's world building is as meticulous as ever; the Atlantis John returns to is a very different place in every way and he must adjust quickly. Those that were left behind had to adapt to searching for the missing Daedalus and doing without the replacement people and supplies the ship was carrying to rebuild the expedition after the siege.
This story would be a must-read for the genius of the Sheppard and Hammond command alone. Their laid-back styles, humor and philosophies mesh perfectly and I got a little teary reading Hammond's scenes. This is also a must-read as a fantastic, fast-paced and realistic action-adventure, as expected from this author. John Sheppard never leaves a man behind and he and Hammond undertake an ambitious and carefully planned offensive against the Wraith to find the Daedalus and the survivors of her final battle. There are serious consequences to the SGC and Elizabeth's fatal decision for everyone. The changes wrought as a result in all the characters, both canon and her beloved originals, broke my heart and intrigued me. This story packs a wallop; I was openly sobbing by the end yet events unfold the best and only way possible under the circumstances.
My favorite parts (besides Hammond and John together) are the reunion between John and Teyla, seeing how John has coped and successfully rebounded in his new command in Iraq (I could be happy with a whole story of just that) and John dealing with his subordinate officers in Atlantis with the skills and confidence in his command that he gained in his absence from Atlantis. He's not the same John Sheppard in this AU but it some ways he's a wiser and better one.
Also: When you finish, don't miss the deleted scenes, Yoni's perspective on events, McKay's, and Kate Swinson's.
A snippet of John in Iraq...
August 2005
"-- in luck. It's only ninety-five at 1030," Breibauer said with a remarkably straight face as they passed the thermometer attached to one of the HESCO barriers outside the office. "Means it should only be hundred-ten, hundred-fifteen by the time we're spinning up."
John smiled; laughing would expend too much energy and make him sweat. He'd never really been anywhere that would've prepared him for the middle-of-the-oven heat of southwest Iraq in summertime, a point well past where the fact that it was a dry heat made any difference. He'd sweated it out in the War on Drugs once upon a time, but the jungles of Colombia were a far cry from here, where a talcum-fine dust got into everything (absolutely everything, inside and out) and the heat never failed to stun him.
Of course, Air Force rotations were short enough that there were very good odds that he still wouldn't be used to it by the time they were redeployed back to Japan. A move that was coming up sooner than later; they already knew who was coming in to replace them and even had a tentative date.
John hadn't spent too much time thinking about Japan, though, beyond having his stuff sent from Peterson to Kadena. He'd shown up two weeks before his new unit's mobilization date and it had been all he could do to focus on assuming command of his squadron -- and grasping that he actually had command of a squadron after being on Big Air Force's shitlist for so long. Getting his head around that and doing his best not to fuck it up -- it had been a long time (and felt like even longer) since he'd been in an actual aviation unit-- had taken the edge off of the worst of his culture shock. It was still there, of course, in spades, but it wasn't as all-consuming as he'd imagined. Back to flying ships that didn't anticipate your thoughts, leading airmen instead of marines, hours of flying to get around one planet instead of near-instantaneous galaxy-trotting, and a group commander who didn't know what to make of the circumstances behind his newest officer. Well, that part wasn't too different, except for the fact that his predecessor here had simply gotten appointed to a Pentagon sinecure instead of getting the life sucked out of him by alien vampires.
If Sumner had died by anyone's hand but his own, John almost could've made a joke about the similarity there, too.
"Ninety-five? Almost a cold front," he finally replied because he was trying to work on talking more. His headquarters staff had largely gotten used to him not saying much and realizing that it wasn't coldness or displeasure, but he still didn't want to get a rep for being too much in his own head. He hadn't meant to turn into one of those silent types, but it was still easier to listen than to speak.
Everyone knew that he'd come to the unit from some classified project, but the assumption was that he'd been working for the CIA and even if he was in a position to correct them, he probably wouldn't. Thinking about Atlantis still hurt too much. He refused to speculate what might be going on back in Pegasus, whether Rodney and Teyla were following someone else around the galaxy, or how the fight with the Wraith was going beyond the obvious fact that they hadn't shown up on Earth. He could keep control of his thoughts during the day -- life was just too busy here to daydream -- but at night, he still dreamed of Atlantis, still missed falling asleep with the quiet, comforting buzz of her in his head and in his bones.