REVIEWED:  All That Matters, by Astheblackrosewilts. She(or he) is a teenager, and so we have an obvious lack of experience combined with over-angsty drama queen hormones. I remember. I was there once.

This fic see-saws between angst and gothic death dealing, all with an overdose of melodrama. While this is definitely Not exclusive to teenage writers, it's damn near a prerequisite and makes for awful stories.

TYPE:  Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis crossover(as if mixing these two really counts as a crossover); AU; Deathfic

WORST OFFENSE:  "Telling" not "Showing," blinding the reader to the what and why and leaving no clear answer at the end. Coming in a close second are the characterizations, especially Jack O'Neill's.

THE WTF MOMENT:  It's in the Genre listing the author places above her fic. Among drama, established relationship, angst, and AU, she lists romance. Romance? Read the story and tell me where the romance is because I've missed it completely.

PLOT SUMMARY:  Jack's *supposedly* ordered by Kinsey to kill some people, except he doesn't actually kill anyone. He just gets to watch. What's his role in this fic other than that? There isn't one. The thankfully short story starts off with Daniel begging Jack "not to do this," whatever this is, so this sets up the supposed angst portion of events. And there's something that Daniel's alluding to just off-camera, as he keeps looking to the right and Jack keeps looking to his right. Is someone there? Is there a ghost? Did they leave the pizza uneaten? But alas, we don't know what's there.

Daniel continues to argue, and his final argument is,

‘They love each other.’ The archaeologist cried out desperately, please don’t do something you’re going to regret Jack. He prayed silently as he made one last ditch attempt to make him see reason.

Ya know, aside from bad grammatical structure and punctuation making it hard to determine who's talking till the end of the sentence, the declaration, "They love each other," is not generally a sound argument. And is this likely to come from someone like Daniel? In case you're wavering, the answer is a resounding no.

Anyway, here's Jack's answer,

‘And I love you.’ And that’s why I have to do this… Please Daniel, Jack pleaded silently, don’t make this anymore difficult than it already is, ‘do you think I’d be doing this if I could think of any other way out of it?’

Ditto on the commentary on characterization, grammar, punctuation, etc.

So, Jack sees the "uncompromising" look in Daniel's eyes, "knowing that he would never be forgiven" and he leaves for the gateroom.

In the gateroom, Jack "gave the order to start communications" (meaning the gate's open) and he talks to Weir, over in Atlantis, so apparently there are speakers in the gateroom that allow for communication through the wormhole...

Elizabeth Weir’s voice came through the speakers as clearly as though she was standing in the same room as him and not in another galaxy but he realised as he confirmed that it was safe for her to come through, along with two of the members of her senior staff that it didn’t matter how far away she currently was, he had just condemned her.

I'm awarding a prize to the author for the longest incoherent, run-on sentence I've seen in while.

So, Jack's just condemned Weir. I don't know how exactly. He's not in charge of anything. Anyway, Weir, Sheppard, and McKay come through the wormhole and...

Then the last image of his lover burned into his mind and his resolve hardened.

Do we know why this is? No. We're further treated to a little more vague "background" with,

He kept that image fixed firmly in place as members of Kinsey’s private army stepped forwards holding all three at gunpoint and led the list of acts of which they were guilty.

"Led" the list of acts? Um, no, that'd be "read" the list of *charges* for which they were supposedly guilty. ::shakes head:: Anyway, we're told that the SGC is run by a private army. So what the hell is Jack doing there? I dunno.

The acts(charges)?

Murder.

Treason.

They were growing paler by the second and then the last one came and John and Rodney both froze.

They were both guilty of partaking in a homosexual relationship while in the service of the US military.

Partaking. *snort* Makes me think they ate the wrong ice cream. Never mind. Besides, if Kinsey ever thought to execute anyone, I think some Bible thumping would enter into it, not the US military.

Moving on...

Elizabeth was hostile now, John was still, his eyes furious but fixed on his lover worriedly as he watched Rodney struggle and verbally rip those holding him to pieces.

After restructuring that sentence so I know what the author's saying, I'm snickering at the idea that McKay's verbal poison is enough to make a difference.

Then the list stopped and the punishment was read.

Execution.

John’s eyes widened and he moved faster than any of them had expected actually managing to twist out of the hold he was in and go for his gun before he was shot, twice, through the chest and the head.

Rodney screamed but was quickly silenced too.

Okay, so they're out of the way. One more to go.

Elizabeth froze as she watched two of her best men and friends taken out in a split second. Then she looked up at Jack, her eyes burning with hatred and betrayal as she met his eyes, paying no attention or not caring as he lifted his own shackled hands to illustrate his point.

Ah, so Jack's under restraint? Why aren't we told this at the beginning? Well, because teenage writers like to be vague and then hit you with all the bad logic at the end. And since this is some dictatorship where private armies and wholesale slaughter are the order of the day, then why are we given that opening scene of angsty non-Daniel crap? For the melodrama, of course.

So, Liz is shot, then Jack thinks,

Could he live with this?

No, probably not… He though of the man who was currently holding a gun to his lover’s head. But Daniel would.

Jack’s expression didn’t change as he looked away.

And that was all that mattered.

And that's the end. Seriously. That's the end. Do we know what that stuff at the end meant? No, but I'm led to believe that Jack's going to commit suicide and leave Daniel to face Kinsey's wrath.

So, what am I left with at the end of this fic? Well, aside from a horrible need to scrub my brain with bleach, I'm left with the obvious fact that this is what the author thinks could happen, in or out of an alternate universe. Nothing like a lack of logic and facts to get in the way of a badly-executed gothic melodrama where almost everyone dies and no one knows why. At least in Hamlet, that last part is clear.