Shows: SGA
Rec Category: Apocafic
Characters: John Sheppard & Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett, Elizabeth Weir/Kate Heightmeyer (if you squint), Evan Lorne, Radek Zelenka, Aiden Ford, Stackhouse, Kavanagh, Chuck, Miko Kusanagi, Halling, Jeannie Miller, Wraith characters
Categories: Gen (close McKay & Sheppard friendship)
Words: 23,979
Warnings: The author chose not to warn (although there's secondary character death, there's no major character death)
Author on DW: troyswann
Author's Website: MSSalieri on AO3
Link: A Sudden Moon on AO3
Why This Must Be Read: This is a canon-divergent AU in which survivors of the expedition are forced to flee to a desolate alpha site when the Wraith take Atlantis and occupy it, leaving many expedition members behind, captured, and Sheppard lost. It's a powerful fic, with the main POVs being Elizabeth's as she desperately tries to hold the survivors together in the face of disaster while grappling with impossible life and death decisions, and Rodney's, as he mourns Sheppard in stunned rage, then undertakes a desperate Hail Mary ploy on which the fate of the expedition, Earth, and the Milky Way galaxy depend. The characterizations and writing are wonderful, from Elizabeth's exhausted determination to Kate and Radek's strength and humor, to Rodney's complex, fracturing psyche as the effects of his plan take hold. It's a tough read in places, but hang in there for the ending. Very much recommended.

( the fic summary )