John needed a beer. He thought Ronon could use one too. They had all been called to the conference room for the test results and then Beckett radioed to say he had a wee emergency and would be coming, but a bit late.
Elizabeth and Kate had tried to make small talk but Ronon was, well Ronon.
So here they sat in oppressive silence.
Finally, Carson bustled in and as soon as the doors were closed announced, "Not a bit of Wraith."
Everyone looked to Ronon, but except for a miniscule head nod which Elizabeth may have imagined Ronon didn't respond. So, Carson continued. "I tried to match portions to the DNA samples we have from working on the Hoffan virus, Ellia, our various prisoners, even Teyla."
Keeping in mind his audience Carson paired down his explanation. "The basic building blocks for DNA is the same for all of us and if we went strictly by the blocks you could make a case that we all have Wraith DNA but as for specific genes ... I ran Ronon's DNA through the Ancient's medical database and it came back Satedan, interestingly enough it came back with not only Ronon's family mark first but several others in smaller percentages, which tells me that Ronon has other clans in his lineage."
Laying a hand on Ronon's forearm Carson dropped the bomb. "The fact that the Ancients had such detailed notes on the lineage of the Satedan people and I recalled mention of an Ancestral Priestess gave me pause and I searched further into the database.
Apparently, the Ancients did their own experiments on the Satedan people using the iratus bug. Being human themselves and quite accomplished in genetics they spliced and diced those building blocks I was talking about so well they could add specific genes but they made several mistakes, the largest being they cut out the ability to have females naturally - the iratus bug hive having only one queen.
With the war with the Wraith going badly all the Ancients must not have agreed to the research or at least the continuation of the research; because the geneticists had made up markings that only they could decipher to track who they did what to. A small note in the criminal proceedings recorded these markings as what is today, Satedan clan marks.
No record of the actual research remains except to say why they did what they did: as a means of ... " Beckett had to look away from Ronon, "creating an enhanced human to fight the Wraith..." that sounded way better than what the data base had called the Satedan experiment: an expendable army, which took too long to create, a precursor to the Asurans, whoever they were.
"The summary file that noted the criminal proceedings did mentioned that the geneticists had to make retribution to the Satedan people before they'd be allowed to evacuate to Earth. All three geneticists involved, or at least those recorded as being on trial for continuing the experiment, I mean research, where female."
"The Ancestral Priestesses." Elizabeth gasped.
Kate was watching Ronon closely to see how he was absorbing the information that the revered ancestors had been using their worshipers as lab rats. Ronon sat stoically until Carson was done then silently rose from his chair and left the room.
"Ronon!" John yelled.
"Let him go. He needs time to come to terms with all of this."
"But he's not Wraith that's good."
"Yes, Colonel. But he's just been told that his family markings, which have obviously been a thing of pride to have lasted over 10,000 years are nothing more than illegal experiment numbers, that the Ancestors who if not revered currently had to have been thought of as gods to warrant priestesses, used his people like guinea pigs. Who knows how they gave the Satedans retribution? What did they do to ensure a feminine population?
We know the Wraith evolved from the iratus bug due to the carelessness of the Ancients, where these the same geneticists that posed as Ronon's gods?
Carson was wonderful in making a distinction between the iratus bug and the Wraith, but Ronon is smart. When he works out the language translation and puts that with his cultural history and what he's learning here about the Wraith, Teyla, and Carson's retrovirus he'll know, if he doesn't already, that although he doesn't have Wraith DNA both he and the Wraith share genes from the iratus bug; is that slim distinction enough?" Kate looked around at those still sitting at the table, "He will need to see me privately."
-OO-
Ronon strode out of the room ensuring the doors closed behind him before heading for the technician known as Chuck. The information Dr. Beckett had delivered unfolding slowly in his mind, not Wraith stood out the most prominently and the huge relief that followed that thought amazed him. Teyla had Wraith and she was ok, Ronon thought that whatever the results he would have been ok too, but now he was thinking he might not have dealt with it so well.
Chuck wasn't in his chair, some other person was; Ronon stood behind the little man until he was acknowledged, which didn't take long. "Can I help you Specialist Dex?"
"I'm going through the ring, give me a return code device."
"You want a GDO?" the little man scurried down to the field prep room with Ronon immediately behind him. Holding out the GDO he nervously asked, "Is this what you want?"
Ronon took it and asked, "Does it work?"
"Yes, of course. I wouldn't give you a faulty one. Do you have a code?"
Ronon nodded, actually he had Teyla's code and McKay's as they were the ones usually imputing the code when the team came home. He would have to get his own code, apparently he hadn't been trusted enough to even have a device, but no matter he'd keep this one.
Herding the little man back to the control room Ronon mumbled, "I should only be gone a small amount of your time. I'll send the code and you'll let me return."
"Yes, yes; as soon as I receive your code I'll turn the field off and you'll see a green light here," pointing, "then you can come through. Not until it's green though and you should have your radio on incase we need to talk to you first."
Ronon nodded again and having have left his radio in his room he just borrowed the little man's.
Upon returning to the control room, Ronon noticed they had garnered quite a bit of attention, no matter, Chuck was back and ignoring the little man Ronon went straight to him. "Going off world, coming back."
Chuck nodded, "Got your GDO? I don't have an actual code for you but you can use Dr. McKay's as he isn't going anywhere or Teyla's."
"Good."
"Where do you want to go?"
"Doesn't matter."
Chuck nodded and took that to mean Ronon would choose his own destination once he left Atlantis, "I'll send you to Athos, Teyla's old planet, it was hit by the Wraith but no one should be there now."
Ronon nodded his thanks and headed down to the ring.
Once the kawhoosh settled back into place Ronon strode through the ring again thinking about what Dr. Beckett had said.
John, just coming out of the conference room questioned all those in the control room, a sinking feeling already in his stomach, "Who was that and where were they going?"
"Dex sir, destination undeclared, to return in an unspecified short amount of time." Chuck announced, he had assumed since they had all been in the conference room together the Colonel would already be aware of Dex's mission, of course this could be a secret mission and the Colonel was just putting on a show. Whatever was going down, Chuck knew to stay out of it and report the facts.
"So he's coming back?"
The insecurity in the Colonel's voice startled Chuck but he responded anyway, "He has a GDO and we planned on him using either Teyla's or Dr. McKay's code."
"He took my radio too."
John nodded at the nameless tech and made his way to go find Teyla tossing over his shoulder, "Chuck, I'd appreciate a call when he returns."
"Yes, sir."
