"I looked into the possibility of some sort of exception," he admitted, though his tone made it clear that he had failed. "You have to understand, the Wraith outnumber us by a shocking degree. Our only real advantage over them is our technological superiority, so the council has made protecting our secrets a top priority. We don't allow representatives of other races aboard until we've made a decision regarding whether or not to help them. The only exception is when a member of the crew claims someone as a personal servant. Once that happens, they aren't considered a security threat anymore. There are probably 50 personal servants aboard right now, from five or six different worlds."<br/><br/>He forced himself to stop there, rather than admit that those servants were from worlds that the ship had decided not to aid. By this point, it was almost certain that those handful of people claimed as possessions were the last of their race left.<br/><br/>"If this is too much, I understand. It was wrong of me to put this kind of pressure on you. I should be the one trying to convince the others to act, not you." He was aware that on earth, the words might have been used to try to pressure someone to make a choice, but he meant them sincerely. He was asking a great deal from someone who wasn't a diplomat or government representative, far more than it was fair to ask. In his excitement over what he had seen of life on this world, he had gotten ahead of himself in a way that wasn't fair to her.<br/><br/>Slowly, his hand started to ease back, withdrawing the metal bands.