SGA Ficlet: Cast Away
Feb. 2nd, 2026 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kat_lair***
Title: Cast Away
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Character: Radek Zelenka
Tags: Ficlet, Stranded
Rating: G
Word count: 668
Summary: When Radek regains consciousness, the puddle jumper is empty.
Author notes: Written forlomelinde for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomtrees. This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, you should absolutely tell me about it.
Cast Away on AO3
When Radek regains consciousness, the puddle jumper is empty. He staggers to his feet, feeling dizzy and slightly nauseous but lacking in any visible, tangible injuries that would explain why he’d passed out in the first place. There’s no bump on his head, no blood anywhere and nothing hurts per se, except in that vaguely bruised way that happens when a man in his middle years falls down onto an unforgiving surface.
Even his glasses are intact, thank someone for small mercies. He curses heartily in Czech just to pierce the oppressive silence and then conducts a thorough search of both the cockpit and the cargo area of the jumper.
The results are as depressing as he knew they would be. It’s not like there are a lot of areas to hide in a craft this size and design and the chances of some of the crew just playing peek-a-boo for a prank are… Well, they’re not zero, but they’re not much above that either.
Radek is alone. In a puddle jumper. In space.
He’s never been as grateful for the obligatory ‘basics of jumper handling’ lessons Sheppard had enforced on all personnel, regardless of their gene status, than he is now as it allows him to ascertain that the craft itself at least is not in any immediate danger. It seems to be holding steady about hallway to their original destination of P4X-3379, just… immobile. And lacking in crew.
Radek had started the trip with Lorne and his team, all five of them in good spirits, taking the jumper through space for the last part of the journey, rather than a Gate, in order to demonstrate its capabilities. P4X-3379 was interested in trading transport technology and Radek was very interested in getting his hands on their ships.
He could probably figure out enough to pilot one of them if he needed. But, without the Ancient gene, Radek can’t restart his current one. Modifying the puddle jumpers to be universally driveable jumps to the top of Radek’s mental To Do list. He tries the comms next, which should work for anyone, first the subspace communications systems which gives him nothing but silence – ‘jammed’ Radek thinks, deliberately so – and then the radio transmitter even though he knows he’s out of range for Atlantis and P4X-3379 both.
A visual scan out of the windows finds no floating corpses and without access to the ship’s sensors, Radek can only hope that whoever transported the others out, didn’t just dump them in space. The chances are high that his missing colleagues are at least alive somewhere, even if not necessarily enjoying the circumstances. If someone wanted them dead, then simply blowing up the jumper would’ve…
Radek freezes, hand still pressed against the window, as a chilling thought clears out any lingering fog in his mind. The jumper and Radek are intact for a reason. Because whoever is behind this wants both of them, the ship and the person with the most technical knowledge of it but no gene to allow him to escape, and very little physical ability to resist.
Someone is coming for them. And probably soon.
For a few seconds, Radek allows himself to panic, to feel like a rabbit in a snare, heart beating wildly, cold sweat springing up. The sympathetic nervous system reaction is inevitable, necessary even, but needs to be channelled. He cannot afford to get stuck in a freeze response, and until the people behind his predicament actually get here, there’s no one to fawn on to buy time or favours. Which leaves him exactly two options.
Radek is an engineer. He can take a problem and break it to its composite parts and solve each one in turn. This is no different really. Even the looming, unknown but probably imminent, deadline is something his years on Atlantis have prepared him for.
So let them come. Radek will either not be here when they do, or he’ll be ready for a fight.
He gets to work.
***
Title: Cast Away
Author:
kat_lair Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Character: Radek Zelenka
Tags: Ficlet, Stranded
Rating: G
Word count: 668
Summary: When Radek regains consciousness, the puddle jumper is empty.
Author notes: Written for
lomelinde for fandomtrees. This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, you should absolutely tell me about it.Cast Away on AO3
When Radek regains consciousness, the puddle jumper is empty. He staggers to his feet, feeling dizzy and slightly nauseous but lacking in any visible, tangible injuries that would explain why he’d passed out in the first place. There’s no bump on his head, no blood anywhere and nothing hurts per se, except in that vaguely bruised way that happens when a man in his middle years falls down onto an unforgiving surface.
Even his glasses are intact, thank someone for small mercies. He curses heartily in Czech just to pierce the oppressive silence and then conducts a thorough search of both the cockpit and the cargo area of the jumper.
The results are as depressing as he knew they would be. It’s not like there are a lot of areas to hide in a craft this size and design and the chances of some of the crew just playing peek-a-boo for a prank are… Well, they’re not zero, but they’re not much above that either.
Radek is alone. In a puddle jumper. In space.
He’s never been as grateful for the obligatory ‘basics of jumper handling’ lessons Sheppard had enforced on all personnel, regardless of their gene status, than he is now as it allows him to ascertain that the craft itself at least is not in any immediate danger. It seems to be holding steady about hallway to their original destination of P4X-3379, just… immobile. And lacking in crew.
Radek had started the trip with Lorne and his team, all five of them in good spirits, taking the jumper through space for the last part of the journey, rather than a Gate, in order to demonstrate its capabilities. P4X-3379 was interested in trading transport technology and Radek was very interested in getting his hands on their ships.
He could probably figure out enough to pilot one of them if he needed. But, without the Ancient gene, Radek can’t restart his current one. Modifying the puddle jumpers to be universally driveable jumps to the top of Radek’s mental To Do list. He tries the comms next, which should work for anyone, first the subspace communications systems which gives him nothing but silence – ‘jammed’ Radek thinks, deliberately so – and then the radio transmitter even though he knows he’s out of range for Atlantis and P4X-3379 both.
A visual scan out of the windows finds no floating corpses and without access to the ship’s sensors, Radek can only hope that whoever transported the others out, didn’t just dump them in space. The chances are high that his missing colleagues are at least alive somewhere, even if not necessarily enjoying the circumstances. If someone wanted them dead, then simply blowing up the jumper would’ve…
Radek freezes, hand still pressed against the window, as a chilling thought clears out any lingering fog in his mind. The jumper and Radek are intact for a reason. Because whoever is behind this wants both of them, the ship and the person with the most technical knowledge of it but no gene to allow him to escape, and very little physical ability to resist.
Someone is coming for them. And probably soon.
For a few seconds, Radek allows himself to panic, to feel like a rabbit in a snare, heart beating wildly, cold sweat springing up. The sympathetic nervous system reaction is inevitable, necessary even, but needs to be channelled. He cannot afford to get stuck in a freeze response, and until the people behind his predicament actually get here, there’s no one to fawn on to buy time or favours. Which leaves him exactly two options.
Radek is an engineer. He can take a problem and break it to its composite parts and solve each one in turn. This is no different really. Even the looming, unknown but probably imminent, deadline is something his years on Atlantis have prepared him for.
So let them come. Radek will either not be here when they do, or he’ll be ready for a fight.
He gets to work.
***
no subject
on 2026-02-03 06:11 am (UTC)💜