A Requiem for Leo Szilard (The End of the Universe Remix) by Valderys (PG)

[cinaed.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Radek Zelenka
Pairing: Radek Zelenka/Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Categories: Radek Zelenka, Ronon Dex, Radek/Ronon, McKay/Sheppard, AU, Angst, Character Death, Remix
Warnings: Character death
Author on LJ: valderys
Author's Website: None (as far as I could see)
Link: A Requiem for Leo Szilard (The End of the Universe Remix)

Why This Must Be Read: Written for gateverse_remix, this is an intriguing look at what might have happened if "Trinity" hadn't gone quite the way it did. valderys writes an excellent Radek, who listens, and watches, and examines the true consequences of the Arcturus aftermath.

Excerpt: The Wraith are dying. He should be happy about this. They are winning the war and elsewhere hiveships are crashing into one another, their remnants being drawn down into the nearby gas giant, or spiralling out into space. It is probably quite beautiful. Radek is sure that he should be happy about this, and somewhere, sometime, he is quite sure he is. But right here, right now – Atlantis is meant to fly, was built to fly. But she has not flown for ten thousand years.

The lower levels are groaning. There is a strange smell, like burning rubber, which is odd, no? Because the Ancients did not use rubber. So perhaps it is a universal smell. Burning hydrocarbons. Although the Ancients, of course, would have called it something else. There is the shriek of twisting metal, of over-strained systems. Radek would not like to say that Atlantis is being held together with spit and baling wire, because, right now, he wants some more baling wire – or chewing gum. Or even a bobby pin or two, like his sister wore in her hair when they were both still small. Even that would be a help right now.

The Weapon is holding up, of course. It is still blasting away. Lorne is in position for now, his shift, and Radek watches him concentrate, sees a kind of fierce joy on his face as he deals out destruction and death.