Chapter 25
"The first thought I had when you contacted me and told me that a person as old as or older than the Ancients was contacting Ronon and requesting our help was 'They could make a good ally, might as well lend a hand'. I come to find that we are not in contact with this person, but that they are staying on Atlantis!" Colonel Caldwell said, his voice steadily rising in tone until he was yelling.
"This person has a name." John said.
"I'm aware of that Colonel." Caldwell said. "By her own admission, she feeds off of humans to survive. How does that make her any different from the Wraith?"
"Because," Ronon said, leaning forward so his palms were flat against the table. "Given a choice between a blood bag and a person, she'll choose the bag every time."
"Gee, Ronon, those look an awful lot like bite marks on your neck." Caldwell said and Ronon let out a low growl.
"What she and I do in private is our business." He said. "I'm not food, she doesn't treat me like food, and she definitely doesn't see me as food."
"Yes? What about every other person on this base?" he asked and looked back at Sam. "You are knowingly placing everyone on this base in danger! How do you know she won't start attacking people?"
"Steven, she's been here for three weeks now, if she was going to go on a rampage and start killing people, she would have by now."
"And you're so sure of that."
"Yes," they looked over, seeing M'Rhinna walk into the briefing room. "She is."
"This is a private conference Ms. Trin," Caldwell said. "You were not invited." She turned her attention to him, perking eyebrow at him.
"But it concerns me, does it not?"
"It concerns your standing on this base."
"Sam," she looked at the other woman. "Ask me to leave, and I will go."
"No one is asking you to leave, M'Rhinna."
"Not yet, anyway." Colonel Caldwell said and M'Rhinna looked at him. "I will be reporting this back to the I.O.A. and General Landry."
"Go right ahead, Colonel, I'm standing by my decision to let M'Rhinna stay here." Sam said.
"And if you're ordered to tell her to leave?" Caldwell asked.
"I'll take the order into consideration. I've already made my report about her Stephen and I've already forwarded it to the SGC. They have been made aware of her and her…special needs. They have also been made aware that she is continuing her research in what makes her kind immune to the Wraith and if the reason can be made into a drug or gene therapy." Sam said. "Something tells me they'll decide in my favor." She said.
"I hope you know what you're doing Sam." Caldwell said.
"I do." Sam said and he walked out of the conference room.
"He's…pleasant." M'Rhinna said.
"He's career military." John said.
"You and Sam are career military." She said.
"Yeah, but he's career military." John said.
"Ah, I see." She said. "If you'll excuse me." She said and turned, walking out of the room.
Caldwell raised his hand to touch his radio but stopped when he heard his name.
"Colonel Caldwell!" he turned and saw M'Rhinna walking swiftly towards him. "If I may have a word with you in private."
"Here is fine." He said.
"Very well." M'Rhinna said and took in a deep breath before speaking. "I want to know what conflict you have with me, and be honest, I can tell if a person is lying."
"I think you're dangerous and I think that you being here is no better than having a Wraith on the base."
"If I recall from mission reports, a Wraith was indeed on this base for an extended amount of time helping you in the defeat of those you called the Replicators." She said.
"Yes, that's true, but it was secured with bonds the entire time it was out of its cell. You are allowed to walk around freely, and I just don't think that's right."
"Colonel, I have heard this all too often. My species has been compared to the Wraith more times than you will ever know and as long as there's even a handful of us still alive in this galaxy, we always will be. I was held captive by a Wraith Queen for over ten thousand years, and not a day went by when she informed me of our similarities. Understand this, I am not Wraith, I will never be Wraith. I would rather my own life end than to hurt anyone on this base and that includes you, no matter how much you may dislike me. I am highly grateful for everything Samantha has done for me and asked for nothing in return except an alliance." She said. "I do not know how many of my kind, if any, are out there. Colonel, for all I know, I am the last of the Noctins. But if I am the last, I will make the most of the eternity I have left and try to find a way to help the humans of this galaxy and put an end to the Wraith threat. Do we have an understanding?" he nodded. "I'm not the enemy, Colonel Caldwell, and trust me when I say you really don't want me to be. Above all else, I am military. I was military long before I was science and I didn't get where I am by lying down and giving in to pressure and threats."
"Were you in control of your own army?" he asked.
"I was in control of my own fleet of ships in the war against the Wraith. I only hope one of them survived, but I am not holding my breath waiting to find one of my ships. A last act in case we were boarded by the Wraith was to destroy the ship so the Wraith wouldn't get their hands on our technology, because that would be very bad indeed."
"Because you have hyperdrive engines." Caldwell said.
"I don't understand that term you all use, 'starjump' makes much more sense than 'hyperdrive'. To answer your question, yes, Noctin ships carry starjump capabilities. My people saw the danger in the Wraith being able to travel and expand into other galaxies long before the Lanteans did."
"Did you try to tell the Ancients about this?" Caldwell asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yes, we did. We even warned them of the dangers before the Wraith became a fully functioning species, but the Lanteans weren't what you would call 'humble'. They were extremely overconfident and by the time they saw we were right, it was too late." M'Rhinna said.
"Why didn't you take action against the Wraith before the war?"
"We wanted to, but our High Council didn't want to get involved. They were still angry over the Lanteans inability to listen to advice, so they decided to do nothing. A decision that, in hindsight, proved to be catastrophic. My people were proud, Colonel, sometimes too proud for their own good."
"You say that if you are the only one left."
"The chances are small that anyone of my kind survived the devastation of the war and the years since. The only reason I did was because the Queen wanted me alive."
"Do you have any clue as to why?"
"No idea." M'Rhinna admitted. "The more I resisted the angrier she became, I fully expected her to kill me many years ago. I was valuable to her somehow and as you probably know, the Wraith are a patient race." She said and he nodded.
"Yes, they say that a lot."
"I also find that if you can get a Wraith to start a monologue, they will continue for hours. They do seem to like the sound of their own voice." She said and thought for a moment. "A bit like Dr. McKay, actually." The Colonel's stern demeanor cracked slightly and he allowed himself a small amused smile.
"He does seem to go on, doesn't he."
"You are lucky; you do not work with him for hours on end. I found my lab in the infirmary a safe refuge, but recently he has started working in there with me. He over complicates things and describes everything in many words when only a few would have sufficed." She said. "It is a rather…trying trait of his."
"I still don't like the fact that you feed off humans." Caldwell said.
"I have been using the blood supply of the infirmary as my food source. Have you brought the containment vessel from Earth that Samantha requested?"
"Yes, it's being held in one of the cargo rooms of the base."
"Then I will have to drink blood no longer, all I need to do is fill the vessel with the water of my home world and my dietary needs will be met." M'Rhinna said.
"There is so much we don't know about your kind."
"Ask and I will answer, I have no secrets."
"Have you ever killed a human while feeding?"
"Not intentionally. When my kind first reaches maturity and they have to imbibe blood to survive, accidents can regrettably happen, but we are trained to recognize when it is time to stop so the donor survives the encounter." She said and he nodded. "I am glad we had this talk, Colonel. I believe it has…cleared the waters, so to speak."
"What I think of you really doesn't matter, it's the I.O.A's decision that matters in whether or not you stay here."
"Even so, thank you for agreeing to speak with me." She and nodded once at him before turning and walking away.