Abandonment Challenge: Left to Fend by Springwoof

[springwoof]

Was watching that moment in Before I Sleep where the Ancients abandon Atlantis and Weir is left behind, hiding.

Inspiration for this fic hit like a hammer: What would Elizabeth Weir do if she was abandoned? Anything she had to...(Caution for the very spoilerphobic: very tiny spoilers for Season 2, nothing you can't get from the promo commercials

Comments

Um, Wow.

[neocatholic3000]

Yes. Wow. Take the people we've met, take their darker/ practical/ ruthless/ survivor traits, magnify times 11, and this is what you would get. I could also see that not many of them had strong ties to Earth in the first place.

I love this future-world you created (though I wouldn't want to live there. :)

Re: Um, Wow.

[springwoof]

Thanks for the nice comment! I'm glad you liked this future world. Success and survival--but at a price, right?

wags,
springwoof

[crystalheaven]

This... this was amazing. Loved the OC's, and the original cast? The slant-to-the-dark-side they have is both believable and scary as hell.

Loved this. You're going to do back story's and the like, right? Tell us how John's the way he is, how Teyla died, How Rodney lost his eye. Right? Right???

*huggels* This so kicked ass.

[springwoof]

So pleased you liked it! I'm glad the OCs worked, too.

Um, no, right now I have no plans to go back and "fill in the blanks" with this story. Sorry.

If it preys on your mind and you would like to write the backstories, feel free to go ahead. I'd love to see what you imagined happened to them. Obviously what happened to Rodney and Teyla (poor Teyla! so sorry I killed you! *pets*) was big and traumatic. Obviously John did something noble and self-sacrificing to protect Atlantis (where have we seen him do something like that before, hmm?). I'd be delighted if you filled in the blanks.

Thanks for the lovely feedback!

wags,
springwoof

[dr_dredd]

Wow. What in heck happened to make everyone so dark? It's a great extrapolation from what we've seen so far -- John's dark side in systematically shooting the Wraith, Rodney's anger when confronting Chaya, etc. I'd also love to see some backstory here.

[springwoof]

I'm so glad you liked it!
Please see above for the backstory answer (sorry).

What in heck happened to make everyone so dark?

I dunno if I'd think of them as dark so much as scarred by what has happened to them. Remember what Rodney said: Earth abandoned us in a really nasty place. We’ve gotten fairly nasty as a consequence, just to survive.

What price survival, eh? And I wanted to convey that not only were they surviving, but thriving (though maybe constantly only one or two steps away from disaster--poor Elizabeth, her problems only keep getting bigger...)

Thanks for the nice comment!

wags,
springwoof

[dr_dredd]

Dark versus scarred. Hmm. All I know is that this isn't the same Elizabeth who agonized over violating the Geneva conventions by using Steve in a research protocol. Essentially, she's become what she fought against before.

Thank you for a thought-provoking work!

[springwoof]

Hmmm...

this isn't the same Elizabeth who agonized over violating the Geneva conventions by using Steve in a research protocol.

you're definitely right there...

Although she protests it hasn't made a difference, having absolute power like she has now (literally decides who lives or dies)...it would change a person, wouldn't it? And I don't think those kind of changes are ever for the better

[tayawulf]

Wowzers. First, I am absolutely blown away by this fic. Second, I'm amazed by how much thought you obviously put into the futurebuilding. Third, I am both fascinated and repelled by the future you built. I mean, slaves on *Atlantis*?! *Political officers* on UN ships?! This is the frelling Stargate Mirror Universe, right?

(Between Carson's (Spock's) beard and Rodney's (Sulu's) scar, it really could be the Mirror Universe. hee!)

Again, I just love how much thought you put into this: obviously most of the US is gone, and the fight against the alien invasion lead to a coalition between China and India, though with the political officer being Chinese, they're probably the dominant nation on Earth...

(Sorry, I'm a poli sci major...this type of alt-future fascinates me...)And man, what you have done to our crew! Disembodied John, nasty Rodney, Empress Elizabeth, dead Teyla... Obviously they still love each other, and they love their children, and have a functioning society... But they own slaves, which enrages me, and this almost-

[springwoof]

I'm very glad you liked it.

This is the frelling Stargate Mirror Universe, right?(Between Carson's (Spock's) beard and Rodney's (Sulu's) scar, it really could be the Mirror Universe. hee!)

You know, I hadn't thought of that, but you're absolutely right! I guess subconsciously that ST episode did "inform" my work.... cool insight!

I'm glad you caught a lot of the implied backstory about what happened on Earth from the hints I dropped and Ramkumar's delicate
Earth’s…political alignments are different than you may remember...

I'm glad that you also picked up on the fact that the Atlantis crew is more than just their collection of scars...Obviously they still love each other, and they love their children, and have a functioning society...yeah, for all the darkness, they do still love each other and have a functioning society...they're still trying...

Thanks for the thoughtful comment!

wags,

springwoof

[dr_dredd]

Do they really love their children? The scene where little Johnny begs Elizabeth not to "enforce" him freaked me out a little. Who would do that to their kids?

[morena_donn]

Oh, I don't know, I saw that as a means of frightening the Taur'i, and possibly the child. I have a feeling that enforcement for children is considerably different than it is for adults.

The part that had me shuddering, as a parent, was how they could so casually send the kid off with Sora, after all she'd done.

I know she'd been mindwiped, and was considered harmless, but she was still resentful, and a slave. Not someone I'd want looking after my kids, but there's certainly precendent for that set-up in Earth's history.

[morena_donn]

Oh, that was fantastic. Very realistic, if a bit unsettling, portrayal of the future under those circumstances.

Love how you used little Johnny and the continued snaaark betwen John and Rodney to show they'd been changed, but not completely transformed.

[springwoof]

So glad you liked it!

yep, the snark goes on, the snark is deathless...

wags,

springwoof