Title:"For her hand, he would..."
Author:Rodlox.
Pairing:Miko/Ronon.
Summary:When is it a good price? How much do you want to defeat the Wraith?
Author's Notes:Well, Fififolle, you did ask for this pairing...granted, you didn't ask for this plot. :D
MIKO:
Dr. Weir asks, "Did they say if they were amenable to a trading relationship between our people and theirs?"
Dr. McKay chuckles.
"Doctor?"
"Well," Rodney says, "lets just say 'amenable' doesn't begin to cover what we were offered."
"What he means, Elizabeth," Colonel Sheppard says, "is that the anthrarch offered us complete access to everything in his little empire."
"Strange definition of 'little,' Major, given that the Os' Empire covers three neighboring star systems and uses every drop of energy put out from their suns." Like any proper Type II Civilization, I think to myself. "Besides which, the anthrarch didn't offer us access per se."
"He didn't?" Dr. Weir asks, looking at Major Sheppard. "Then why -?"
"Because it's the same thing."
"No, it's not," Dr. McKay says, shaking his head. "There's a big difference between being given access to something, and actually being given that same thing."
At that, Dr. Weir is not the only person at this table who is taken aback. Dr.s Beckett and Biro are as well. "He offered ye the empire?" Dr. Beckett asked.
"Yes he did." And there is the hint of irritation, a flicker of discomfort that most would not have noticed, or dismissed it if they had seen it. "Granted, we won't need the entire thing, just the scientific know-how and their weapons. No reason to take the rest of it."
"What did he want in return, this absolute ruler?" Dr. Biro asks. Absolute, unquestioned, and inviolate. Everything he does, is instantly entered into the records as a new tradition.
"That's the problem."
Dr. Weir stands up, leaning on the table. "The Os' have the technology we need if we're ever going to defeat the Wraith," she says. "Dr. Beckett's been eager to take a look at their medicines, as has Dr. Biro. From what you've brought back of their engineering schematics, Rodney, they had surpassed the Ancients in some fields. So I say that if we've got something that he wants, then surely -"
"He wants Dr. Miko Haraldursen." Very much so.
All eyes turn towards me.
"Oh," Dr. Weir says, sinking into her chair.
If it is the only way to achieve victory, then I volunteer myself. I will go willingly, however poorly I think of the anthrarch as a person. I know I would be well-treated...some of those who are already his wives were the ones who told me of the anthrarch's intentions towards me. Slowly slowly I stand up from my own chair at the far end of the conference room table. "I..."
"No!" Ronon interrupts me, slamming his fist against the table with such force I think even Atlantean crystalline tables crack.
"Ronon," Colonel Sheppard says, "we -"
"No," he repeats.
"Ronon," Dr. Weir says, her voice as sympathetic and diplomatic as it once always was and can be now and again, "I would think that you, of all people, would want a way to be rid of the Wraith once and for all."
He glares at her. As far as I know, he has never glared at anyone...stared, yes, though never glared.
"You think I want to do this?" Dr. Weir asks. "A year ago, I wouldn't have even considered the Os' proposal. But with everything that's happened...I don't think we should ignore anything that might help us achieve victory." I understand, Dr. Weir, I do. With you at the helm of Atlantis, we have tried diplomacy, medicine, subtlety, and outright aggression...and the Wraith have shrugged off the effects of them all.
And above all, Earth is too busy in the other galaxies to spare much time for Pegasus. We are all on our own.
"Aye," Dr. Beckett agrees. "I'll admit my serum had its faults... but the Os' are offerin' us a way to improve the serum and it's delivery system a hundredfold."
"Not to mention," Colonel Sheppard says, "weapons that'd turn Wraith armadas into dust."
Ronon just looks at all of them, his face implacable, but far from unreadable. Thank you, my knight. Your gesture is heartfelt, I know, but...this must be done. We cannot surrender.
RONON:
They all just walked right out of the room when they saw they couldn't convince me we shouldn't go through with their begglet of a plan. Doesn't mean they're going to stop their plans. I wasn't even a top-of-the-line soldier back on Sateda; I'm nothing here. Sheppard calls me a friend, but ignores friendship when it's convenient. Teyla too, arguing beside Weir, saying her people and others of our galaxy have lost too much to turn away this opportunity.
Everyone walked out so I'd be alone, psychological tactics. But she didn't walk out: Miko.
"I should go."
"'Go'?" I repeat, questioning. In satede, there'd be no confusion, I'd know if she meant she needs to leave the room, or has to go back to that anthrarch. Her answer tells me its the latter. "No," I say, just as firmly, though not as forcefully as before.
"It is for the best," she tells me. "If I go, then the Wraith will be defeated. That is what we have been fighting for for all this time, has it not?" When you put it like that, it seems almost reasonable...but it's still not reasonable. "What more could we possibly want?"
In answer, now that I'm close to her, I draw her to me, lifting her up and kissing her. Not for long, not with any force, though there's an intensity racing through me and it feels like it races through her as well. As we finish the kiss, I slowly draw her away from me, setting her back down on the floor. My hands linger on her arms...so she doesn't fall over, of course.
Okay, so I'm worried, not that I show it: if she knows anything about Satedan culture, she'd know she's within her rights to kill me for my impetuousness. "You should stay here," I say. "I'll keep them all away from you," just in case they try to hand her over to that Os' begglet.
"I appreciate it, Ronon," she tells me. "But the Wraith have no word for retreat."
"So?" Beckett'll cure them all eventually.
She sighs, a tired sound that is still music. "On Earth, there's an old saying about my people, that the Japanese have no word for surrender. The first nuclear weapon used in wartime, the most advanced device on Earth for several decades, was used against the Japanese homeland. My people have a word for retreat, though, and for honor. Do the Wraith?"
"None that I know of." No word for honor, definitely. Retreat, I think is a synonym for 'we're full, so we're leaving.'
"Then short of the solution offered by the Os', how can we hope to win?"
"We stick together." Okay, so I'm taking advantage of the double entendre of the English 'we.' In satede, I'd either have to say 'we as a people' or 'we as a couple.' I'm glad that guy Webster invented their language. "We don't hand over those who mean the most to us."
Her face doesn't soften, because it was already soft. "Ronon...I am a scientist without a subject matter here. On Earth, I studied life in the Antarctic ice. Here I shuttle about, helping first him and then her in whatever they're working on. I was able to come to Atlantis precisely because I wasn't on the cutting edge of any discoveries, nor did I have any pressing ties to family or friends or colleagues. By any definition, I am expendable."
"Not to me," and, to reinforce my point, I step further into impetuousness: my hands running down her arms until my hands wrap around hers in a gentle foil. Miko looks at me, and I brace myself for her knocking me to the ground. What was that Earth saying I overheard the other week? Oh yes, Not until the tenth date. I swear, McKay and Cadman should just hug already.
"One more game of chess?" she asks me. I turned down Weir as a playing opponent because I don't care for her company; Miko, though, is perfect. I nod, a gesture I learned from her. I love chess with Miko.
the end.