Dex poked the fire with a stick, obviously gathering his thoughts as the Atlanteans watched him. Then he looked at Mitchell.
"When you introduced yourself, you used the word Colonel."
She nodded.
"That's my rank – my military designation."
He looked at Sheppard.
"You're a colonel as well."
Sheppard nodded.
"Ford here is a Lieutenant."
Dex looked at Teyla, expectantly, but she shook her head.
"I am not in their military – nor am I from their home world."
"But you travel with them."
She nodded.
"It is a mutually beneficial relationship."
"We're discussing you, Mr. Dex," Melony said, not wanting to allow things to get too sidetracked.
"Specialist," he said.
"Excuse me?"
"That is my rank," he explained.
"You're military?" Ford asked, not really surprised. The guy definitely had some kind of training.
Dex nodded.
"Yes. I-"
"Is that food?" Rodney asked before Ronon could explain any further, looking at the meat that was spitted on the sticks over the fire. "Because it's been a long time since breakfast and I'm really-"
"McKay…" Sheppard couldn't keep the disbelief out of his tone, but Dex merely nodded and reached out, taking one of the spits off the fire with an experienced hand and handing it over to Rodney, who promptly dropped it with a yelp. Luckily, he dropped it in his lap so it wasn't wasted.
"It's hot."
Rodney gave him a sarcastic glance.
"Thanks."
That didn't stop him from picking it up again, and pulling the first piece of meat off, however.
Melony turned back to Dex.
"So you're in the Military?"
"I was." He said, softly. "The Wraith attacked my home world decades before we were expecting them. Long before our plans to try and safeguard our population were in place, and completely without warning…" He paused, looking at the fire with a pained expression. "I don't know who – if any – escaped. I was caught fairly quickly."
Not surprisingly, Talon said to his host. I doubt he's the kind of man who was going to hide under a rock somewhere and wait for the fight to go away
Melony agreed, although her expression didn't change as she watched the man.
"The next thing I knew, I was on one of the Wraith ships – a hive ship. They took me to a room, and stripped my-"
"Wait…" Rodney held up a hand. "This isn't going to be one of those abduction stories about them doing all kinds of weird sexual things, is it…? Because I'm eating, and I-"
"Rodney."
He looked over at Mitchell, who looked annoyed. Annoyed enough that he fell silent, and looked at Dex.
"Sorry."
He didn't answer, looking at McKay as if he wasn't sure what to think of him. Which added him to a long list of everyone else who wasn't sure what to think of Rodney McKay.
"He won't interrupt again," Mitchell said, giving McKay a pointed look. "Please, finish…"
Dex looked over at her, and finally nodded.
"They stripped off my shirt, and I was certain one of them was going to start feeding. I've seen it done, you know? It's not pretty…"
The Atlanteans, for the most part, were nodding. They'd seen it done as well – and Melony knew first hand just how much it hurt.
"One started to…" Dex shuddered with the memory, despite the fact that he was trying to be very dispassionate about the ordeal, telling them about it as if telling a story. "But he stopped."
"Why?" Rodney asked, interrupting despite himself. Since it was a good question, however, no one even glanced at him. They all wanted to know, too.
"They pushed me down onto a table," Ronon said, staring at the fire once more. "And did some kind of surgery on me – implanting some kind of device. And then they released me."
"What?" Ford asked.
"They put something in me – I can feel it, I know it's there – and then they let me go. And now they're following me. Hunting me."
"A tag…" Melony said.
He looked up at her, questioningly.
"A transmitting device…" she clarified. "So they could track you."
He nodded.
"Wherever I go… they're there. Always."
"How long ago was this?" Teyla asked.
"Seven years."
"And you've been running all that time?" She asked.
He nodded.
"I had no choice. If I stop, they catch up to me. They always find me. Then I kill them. But others come…" he shook his head, and Melony could see just how exhausted he was – despite the way he tried to hide it. "Always, they come… so I keep moving."
"There have been stories of others like you," Teyla said, sympathetically, resting her hand lightly on his arm for just a moment. "None have escaped, though. I thought it to be simple stories meant to frighten."
"It's frightening me…" Rodney said, looking a little green.
"I came here," Dex said, "Hoping that the small population on the planet would make it unattractive to the Wraith and hoping to find a place to hide for a while and rest. The Wraith haven't been active the last few months, and I thought maybe I-"
"The Wraith have been all but annihilated," Sheppard said. "They can't be active."
"They still came…" Dex said. "I killed one… I thought he was the only one." He looked at Mitchell. "You found one in the forest?"
"Dead," she confirmed.
"Then that makes two," he said. "There could be more."
"Or they could have been taken care of by whatever it is that killed that one we found," Rodney said.
"I can't take that chance," Dex said. "The longer I stay, the more chance there is of putting the villagers by the Stargate into jeopardy. I'm surprised they haven't been attacked already. One time I stayed just long enough for a hot meal and the Wraith destroyed-"
"The Wraith can't attack like that any more," Sheppard said. "They're gone."
"So the stories say…" Dex said, shaking his head. "It doesn't change anything – even if it is true. They're still coming after me."
"They're following the transmitting device," Melony said.
"Yes."
"So why don't you take it out?"
"Do you think I haven't tried?" Now the look he shot her was pure frustration. "I have. I can't reach the spot on my own, and I can't stop long enough to find someone to-"
"Take your shirt off," Melony said, interrupting.
"What?"
"Do it."
She moved over to the fire, coming in behind him as he obeyed, stripping his shirt and the odd jacket he'd been wearing. His back and shoulders were well-muscled and scarred – but in the center of his back was a hideous looking scar that was either left over from the initial operation, or from his attempt to take care of the situation himself.
Probably a mixture of both, Talon said.
The others all peered at the wound as well, curious despite themselves. Even Rodney.
Mitchell reached out and ran her finger along the largest of the scars, and thought that she might have felt something under his skin. There was no way she was going to try to do anything, though. She wasn't a doctor, and neither was Talon.
But you just happen to be on very good terms with a talented one, Talon said, slyly.
Yeah.
"We can take care of that," she said aloud. "Probably."
Dex turned to look at her, his expression a mixture of hope and distrust.
"Why would you do that?"
She shrugged, understanding his question but not really having a good answer that wouldn't sound dumb or condescending.
"I'm missing the help take an alien transmitter out of the soldier's back merit badge," she said, patting his shoulder and moving back to the other side of the fire. "You don't want to keep it, do you?"
"No."
"There you go, then. I just happen to know of a very good surgeon with reasonable rates."