stargateficrec | „Firepower“ by Penknife (Teen And Up Audiences)

Show: SGA
Rec Category: Team
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Aiden Ford, Ronon Dex
Pairings: none
Categories: Gen
Warnings: none
Author on LJ:

penknife
Author's Website: „Penknife's fic at the Archive of Our Own“
Link Firepower by Penknife

Summary by the author: How Rodney stopped worrying and learned to love his P90.

Why This Must Be Read:

There's a noticeable difference between the „I have no clue how to fire a gun properly and you're there to protect me“-Rodney from the beginning of the series and the leather-clad guy who handles his P90 with almost casual professionalism and even takes point occasionally by the time S5 comes around.

This story sheds light at the beginning of this development. The focus is on how Rodney changes when he becomes the member of a team - first with Ford, later with Ronon - while the team itself grows into a working unit.

I like how the author skillfully manages to make the reader see and feel people's emotions and mindsets without actually talking much about them.

John hands him the P90. "Try this," he says. "Watch the kick."
It's more like wrestling the gun than shooting it at first, and Rodney thinks he must look absurd, but John is being patient with him. Rodney can't help finding that suspicious.
"Why are we doing this?" he asks eventually.
"You have to ask?"
"Now you want me to … what?"
"Be ready for whatever comes up," John says. "If one of us goes down, we'll need covering fire. You can do that."
"No, I can't."
"That's what you think," John says, as if he thinks he knows something that Rodney doesn't.