Chromatic Scales by Khriskin [Villains challenge]

[khriskin]

TITLE: Chromatic Scales
FANDOM: Stargate Atlantis
LENGTH/RAITING: 375 words, PG-13
FEATURING: Kate Heitmeyer
PAIRING/WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: Sometimes she wishes she'd said no. Written for sga_flashfic Villains challenge.

The hardest part wasn't watching them die, it was watching them change.

Kate had dealt with combat zones before, if she hadn't the SGC would never have sent her, but never anything like this. This was war with no possible retreat, a continual siege against the unknown unpredictable horrors of the universe. In that first frantic year there was no time for anything but damage control; no time for subtly or learning curves, just the exponential stress and psychological duct tape to carry them through until she could tear out the foundations and rebuild them right.

The marines adapted the fastest, although no more easily, they just compressed their trauma into nice neat packages marked 'open later' and kept soldiering on. The non-combat military took their cue from the marines and from those civilians who'd long ago accepted the chaos of war into their daily lives.

She knew how to deal with those; how to keep them on the even keel that wasn't 'all right' but wasn't broken either. The ones she couldn't deal with were the true civilians, those who'd never expected to live each day, each hour, each minute in constant expectation of disaster.

Some days she would have given anything to undo the past; tell the SGC no instead of yes. It had been the challenge, the lure of the unexplored that called to her from the far side of the universe, but it wasn't worth this. Wasn't worth watching soldiers and scientists tempered and refined, watching them let go of their ideals, morals, oaths... all in the name of survival.

They'd come through the gate solid in the knowledge that they were the Good Guys; white hats, white horses and a 'great responsibility' to save the world. That was gone now, leaving behind a brutal pragmatism and the realization that they were the Good Guys because anyone who thought differently had a habit of turning up dead. They were the galaxy's last superpower and they used that ruthlessly as the years wore on. And if their hats had turned more black than grey, they didn't seem to notice anymore.

She kept them afloat, kept them moving forwards, and some days she wondered if she wasn't the biggest villain of them all.


"STARGATE ATLANTIS", "STARGATE SG1" and other related entities are owned, (TM) and © by MGM TELEVISION and DOUBLE SECRET PRODUCTION in association with GEKKO FILMS and THE SCIFI CHANNEL. All rights reserved. No copyright infringement is intended nor implied.

Technorati tags: writing | fan fiction | fantasy | stargate atlantis | the unforgotten country | fanfic

Comments

[kaj-22.livejournal.com]

Ouch but fantastic!

[khriskin]

I'm glad you liked it! ^_^ For some reason my Muses keep trying to make this into a remake of the Dark Side challenge... *grin* ^_~;;

[mardahin.livejournal.com]

Very interesting take on the challenge. Nicely done, and an intriguing allusion re: galactic superpowers and the true level of soot that's built up on the nice shiny ideals the expedition once sported.

[khriskin]

I'm glad you liked it! ^_^ I was thinking of all the shady choices and deals they've made over the seasons (I haven't seen most of the second half of 3 yet) and I realized that the folks in Atlantis can't help but realize the chasm between how they see themselves and how the galaxy sees them. Good intentions so quickly disappearing behind choices they had to make or chose to make, and how hard Kate must be fighting to keep them all from snapping under the pressure of the disconnect.

[mardahin.livejournal.com]

I think it all boils down (at least to a degree) to what I call the Pegasus Double Standard. Everyone on the Expedition is trapped between two conflicting moral standards: the Pegasus Standard, which can be summed up as "Whatever it takes to survive and avoid being eaten", and the Earth Standard, which demands that they adhere to things like the Geneva Convention and that arms deals and nuclear bombs are bad things (never mind genetic experimentation). It's a mess just waiting to happen, because no matter which side you choose, you're going to lose.

The "true" civilians are definitely going to be the ones who suffer the most, and more importantly who are going to have the most trouble if they ever get forced to move back to Earth - some of the learned behavior patterns they've picked up aren't going to go away, and what saves your life in Pegasus gets you committed on Earth.

Again, great job. I love Kate, and I love playing with her. Glad someone else does, too.

[blue-underwing.livejournal.com]

Ditto :)

[khriskin]

Thanks! ^_^ I'm glad you liked it!!

[kodiak-bear.livejournal.com]

that they were the Good Guys because anyone who thought differently had a habit of turning up dead

Ouch, but very true. I like this!

[khriskin]

They do have a rather impressive body count for being 'good guys'... ^_~;; History is written by the winners, but the winners are all too often aware of just what they had to do to win.

I'm glad you liked it! ^_^

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

Excellent stuff! Short, but bitter...

[khriskin]

Thanks! ^_^ I'm glad you liked it!

[valderys.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! Precisely how I feel about the moral double standards they've got going on in Atlantis. I'm not even sure the writers have realised it even, which is sad. At least Kate recognises it, so kudos to her...

[khriskin]

I've always been a little confused with the way the writers portray her onscreen. Kate is the only person there that's trained in recognizing the various psychological coping mechanisms and what they mean. She's watching these people fall to pieces around her and it's her job to keep them sane. Elizabeth keeps the city running, John keeps the military running, Radek keeps the scientists running... but it's Kate who keeps the people going.

I'm surprised they didn't ship in a whole army of psychologists when contact was reestablished. ^_^;; Atlantis is really really broken when compared to 'normal' life, but everyone keeps treating them as if they were still the same.

And now I must go feed the plotbunnies, for lo, I think they just had another litter. *sighs* ^_~;;

[briar_pipe]

Yesyesyes, this is exactly my problem with how Kate is written! It was true in Michael and it remains true now. You should definitely watch Echoes; it might make you cringe, but it definitely crystalized some of my concerns over the portrayal of Atlantis' wartime psychology on screen.

Thank you for writing a Kate I can believe. I can hear these exact thoughts going through her head.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

Love! Ha, I admit to many a time when I actually get so annoyed with the writers (and characters themselves) laboring under the belief that they are Totally White Hats that I want to jump into my screen and strangle them all. But I can settle for fic like this. ;)