Larrin

Larrin
Biographical information
Race	Traveler
Gender	Female
Political information
Rank	Commander
Allegiances	Travelers
Out of universe information
Appearances	"Travelers", "Be All My Sins Remember'd"
Actor	Jill Wagner

"You got the whole tough-as-nails routine down pat, but exposing your own people to killer radiation… Takes a special kind of lady to do that, doesn't it?"

―John Sheppard

Larrin is a starship commander from a race of technologically advanced Pegasus Humans known as Travelers. In 2007, Larrin captured John Sheppard in his Gateship and took him to a damaged Ancient Aurora-class battleship they had found drifting through space.

The Travelers were attempting to repair the ship but needed some of Sheppard's DNA to create an adapter so they could use the Ancient technology without the Ancient Technology Activation gene. While Sheppard escaped and managed to take the Lantean ship into hyperspace, Larrin managed to persuade Sheppard to stop by flooding the bridge with radiation. She later discovered Sheppard sent a distress signal to alert Atlantis, which ultimately led a Wraith cruiser to track and attack the Ancient ship.

While destroying the Wraith ship, four individual Wraith made it on board the Ancient ship. Three of them were killed, but the remaining one survived and fed on Larrin. However, Sheppard convinced the Wraith to give back her life force, in return for his freedom. Eventually, other Travelers found Larrin's location and Sheppard convinced her to let him go.

A few months later, Larrin, along with the Aurora-class battleship in the Travelers' possession and several Traveler vessels aided the Atlantis Expedition in defeating the Replicators and destroying their homeworld. In 2008, she sent Katana Labrea to Atlantis for their assistance, since their first permanent settlement on a planet was destroyed due to the Attero device.

Biography

Early life

Larrin was born into the Travelers, a technologically advanced race of Humans living in the Pegasus galaxy. Larrin's people long ago took to space in an effort to escape the Wraith, living their entire lives on board a fleet of ships. Though their nomadic lifestyle was originally a defensive action, by Larrin's time, it has become a part of their culture. By 2007, Larrin had become the commander of one of the ships in the Traveler fleet but the fleet was aging and her people lacked the resources to build new ships. Despite strict population controls, they were running out of space and needed to find new ships.

At some point the Travelers discovered a derelict Aurora-class battleship which had been left in orbit of a dwarf star for thousands of years. They were soon able to access the ship's logs and learned that the ancient Lantean vessel had been abandoned by its crew after a Wraith attack had left it with a radiation leak from the main drive, along with damage to sublight engines and communication systems. Hoping to utilize the vessel to house some of their people, the Travelers attempt to restore it to operational status. Though they were able to use shield emitters to keep key areas of the ship clear of radiation, their efforts to restore the ship proved unsuccessful and, after two months of work, Larrin's chief science officer, Nevik, had been unable to restore full power to the vessel. The Travelers began work on a control interface adapter which would allow them to operate the vessel. However, in order for the device to work, they needed genetic material from somebody with the Ancient Technology Activation gene. Hearing rumors that a new group of Humans had arrived in the Pegasus galaxy and was using Ancient technology to fight the Wraith, they set up a network of spy satellites around dozens of worlds with spacegates in the hopes of making contact. (SGA: "Travelers")

Capturing Sheppard

"You really should cooperate. Be a shame to have to do too much damage."

―Larrin

File:When Sheppard met Larrin.jpg

Larrin meets the captive John Sheppard.

The Travelers' gambit soon paid off—one of the spy satellites detected the Gateship of Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard during a resupply mission to a paradise world and Larrin took her ship to intercept. Emerging from hyperspace as Sheppard returned to the spacegate, Larrin's ship picked up a communication between his Gateship and the city-ship Atlantis, revealing the pilot's identity. Larrin could not afford to let him escape through the spacegate so ordered her ship to open fire, shorting out the Gateship's systems and leaving it disabled. The Gateship was brought aboard Larrin's vessel, before the Travelers returned to hyperspace, heading for the Lantean battleship.

Larrin's crew took a sample of the captive's blood before he was taken to be interrogated. Though Sheppard had the ATA gene the Travelers required for the control interface adapter, they were still unable to replicate the necessary control signals. Nevik suggested that their chances would be improved by reverse engineering the control signals from Lantean technology that had already been initialized, but this would require Sheppard to control the ship while they recorded the control signals. Larrin eventually halted Sheppard's physical interrogation and allowed him to be fed, though she continued to question him throughout. When he remained uncooperative, Larrin decided on an alternate method of persuasion and had Sheppard taken to the hangar. On Larrin's orders, the hangar bay doors were opened to space, leaving Sheppard protected only by a force shield. With the threat of ejection into space if he failed to cooperate, Sheppard reluctantly agreed to help Larrin's people restore the Lantean vessel in exchange for Larrin's assurance that he would be released afterwards. (SGA: "Travelers")

Sheppard fights back

"You know, none of this would have happened if you would have just cooperated. You'd be home by now, and I'd be headed back to my people with a ship that could house a thousand men, women and children."
"Well, if you had asked for my help in the first place instead of attacking me…"
"We couldn't risk it."
"Risk what?"
"You might have said no."

―Larrin and John Sheppard

File:Locked up Sheppard.jpg

Larrin visits Sheppard in the brig.

Larrin ordered Nevik and Silas to accompany Sheppard to the bridge of the Lantean vessel and begin work on the sublight propulsion, while she went to check on the status of the shield emitters keeping the radiation at bay. However, Sheppard still did not trust the Travelers and had no intention of cooperating with them. Instead, he initiated the ship's engines with the inertial dampeners offline, sending Larrin flying to the floor as she made her way to the bridge and allowing Sheppard to overcome his guards. Picking herself up, Larrin attempted to contact Silas and Nevik, only to realize what had happened when Sheppard responded instead. Sheppard activated the ship's hyperdrive and Larrin was unable to prevent it from jumping to hyperspace.

Larrin managed to persuade Sheppard to bring the ship out of hyperspace by shutting off the shield emitters protecting the bridge, flooding it with radiation. However, before he surrendered to her, Sheppard adapted the damaged communications array to send a Morse code distress signal and shut down the propulsion and navigation systems, stranding them while he awaited rescue ships from Atlantis. Nevik was uncertain whether they had sufficient data to complete the interface and take control of the ship, but Larrin refused to trust Sheppard near the controls while they took additional readings. Suspicious of Sheppard, Larrin instructed Nevik to check the subspace communications array and the Travelers discovered Sheppard's deception. They were unable to deactivate the signal, however, before it was picked up by a Wraith cruiser, which entered the system and moved to intercept them. (SGA: "Travelers")

Wraith troubles

"You sure you want to go through with this? I mean, if you don't make it, I'm going to feel responsible, and, well, I really don't need the guilt."
"I'll be fine as long as you don't shoot too early. I'm sure that's not the first time you've heard that from a woman."
"On the other hand, I might be able to live with it."

―John Sheppard and Larrin

Realizing that his plan had backfired, Sheppard offered to use the battleship's weapons against the attacking Wraith. Larrin agreed and released Sheppard from custody, sending him to the weapons control room while she went to join the others on the bridge. Before Sheppard could activate the weapons, however, the Wraith opened fire, destroying the bridge and killing both Silas and Nevik. Unable to reach the bridge or contact her comrades, Larrin headed back towards the weapons control room. By the time she arrived, Sheppard had destroyed the Wraith vessel and moved on to the auxiliary control room. Using the controls there, he sealed Larrin inside the weapons control room, informing her that he intended to wait for a rescue to arrive, despite her concerns that more Wraith may be on the way.

Sheppard saves Larrin from a Wraith who is about to kill her.

Larrin attempted to escape the room by using her knife to trigger the door control circuits. When Sheppard responded by cutting power to the room, she used her particle magnum to blast a hole in the door. Again, Sheppard stopped her by erecting a force shield to cut off her route to him. Frustrated, Larrin tried again to contact Silas and Nevik, but Sheppard assured her they were dead. When she didn't believe him, he activated the ship's internal sensors, confirming that nobody was alive in the forward section, but discovering a life sign in the next section to her. Believing it to be one of her crewmates, Larrin headed towards the life sign, only to be confronted by a Wraith, one of four who had managed to escape the destruction of their ship aboard a Wraith Dart and board the Lantean vessel. Larrin quickly drew her gun, but the particle magnum was knocked from her hand by the Wraith, forcing her to fight unarmed. She was soon overpowered but, as the Wraith pulled his own handblaster, Sheppard arrived and used Larrin's gun to shoot him. Though Sheppard had brought a portable scanner, allowing them to track the other three Wraiths, the encounter had left Larrin's weapon drained of power and the Wraith's had been damaged.

The two Humans began moving, but Sheppard soon detected that the Wraith were between them and the auxiliary control room. Since he didn't have time to deactivate the systems before coming to rescue Larrin, the Wraith would be able to take control of the ship if they reached the controls first. With no other weapons, Larrin suggested using the ship's drone weapons against the Wraith. Sheppard returned to the weapons control room while Larrin followed the Wraith and drew their attention. With the Wraith in pursuit, Larrin headed to a hull adjacent section and instructed Sheppard to open fire as she sealed the door to the next section behind her. Sheppard's shot blew a hole in the hull, killing two of the Wraith. However, the third had split off from the others and made his way to Larrin. Taking her by surprise and began to feed upon her life force, keeping her alive only long enough to question her. When Sheppard couldn't contact Larrin, he headed to her location, and was able to sneak up on the Wraith and press Larrin's empty weapon against his head. Sheppard took the Wraith's handblaster and ordered him to restore Larrin's life force, before allowing him to return to the Wraith Dart and head for the nearby spacegate. As Sheppard helped Larrin to her feet, she kissed him, using the distraction to relieve him of the Wraith's weapon before using it to stun him. (SGA: "Travelers")

Retaking the ship

File:Travelers5.jpg

Larrin seduces Sheppard in order to get his handblaster.

"Are you suggesting an alliance?"
"Well, I'm not asking you to dinner, but yeah, something like that."

―John Sheppard and Larrin

Larrin headed back to the auxiliary control room, arriving shortly before three Traveler ships arrived, having used probes to locate the Lantean vessel. Larrin instructed them to send technicians to help her get the hyperdrive back online and a security team to take Sheppard into custody. When the hyperdrive repairs were nearly complete, Larrin visited Sheppard in the ship's brig, telling him that they had managed to gain control of propulsion and navigation systems using the data they had already acquired. However, although this would be enough to eventually reverse engineer the other systems, she still believed the process would go faster with Sheppard's help and was unwilling to let him leave. Sheppard claimed that the ship would do little to improve the longterm chances for her people and suggested an alliance with Atlantis to take advantage of the war between the Wraith and the Replicator. Larrin decided to release Sheppard, allowing him to leave aboard his Gateship before the Travelers jumped to hyperspace with their new ship. (SGA: "Travelers") Larrin subsequently became the commander of the new vessel though the Travelers struggled to restore all of its systems to working order. (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

Reunion with Sheppard

Larrin interrogates Sheppard.

"The last time we worked together, I said I'd let you keep a few secrets. But not anymore. If we do this, we go all the way. No holding back."

―Larrin

Some months later, a Human colony which regularly traded with the Travelers was wiped out. At first the Travelers assumed that the population was culled by the Wraith, but a closer investigation revealed that the planet had been completely leveled, a tactic inconsistent with a Wraith attack. A few weeks after the colony's destruction, the Travelers detected a group of seven Wraith Hive Ships orbiting a single planet. Assuming that the Wraith were planning something, Larrin took her ship to investigate. Upon emerging from hyperspace, however, Larrin was surprised to discover that the Wraith had departed, leaving only a single vessel in the area—a Gateship piloted by Sheppard. Larrin contacted the colonel and agreed to allow him to land aboard her ship to talk.

Larrin went to the ship's hangar to meet Sheppard but, when his team emerged from the Gateship along with a Wraith who was working with them. Larrin ordered her guards to fire on the Wraith, but Sheppard stopped them and Larrin had Sheppard taken and restrained while she questioned him. Sheppard explained that the Replicators had taken to wiping out Human colonies in order to cut off the supply of food for the Wraith, and that Atlantis had been forced into a temporary alliance with the Wraith in order to attack the Replicator homeworld of Asuras and end threat. Realizing that the Replicators were responsible for the attack on the Travelers' trade partner, Larrin agreed to consult the Traveler Governing Council in exchange for Sheppard's promise of help in fixing the remaining systems aboard her ship. Larrin's efforts resulted in at least six Traveler vessels agreeing to join the allied fleet, including her own. (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

Battle of Asuras

"Good seeing you again."
"I bet it was."

―John Sheppard and Larrin

Larrin, aboard her ship during the Battle of Asuras.

Larrin visited Atlantis while Tau'ri scientists helped her crew to bring the ship to full battle readiness and attended a briefing on the battle plan given by Rodney McKay. The plan called for FRAN, a Human-form Replicator created by McKay to beam to the Replicator homeworld and absorb their nanites into her, fusing all Replicators together in a single mass. McKay would then lead a team to overload several Zero Point Modules around the mass, forcing an explosion that would cause it to compress further and create what he described as a "Replicator fusion bomb" which would destroy the entire planet. Around thirty Replicator ships were believed to be in orbit and the allied fleet would be responsible for keeping them occupied while McKay implemented his plan. The Wraith Hive Ships would spread evenly around the planet while the other vessels, including Larrin's own ship filled in the gaps. Larrin requested that Sheppard be assigned to her ship in order to control the Ancient weapons. Both Sheppard and Colonel Samantha Carter agreed.

Larrin's group rendezvoused with the rest of the allied fleet before proceeding to Asuras. Upon emerging from hyperspace, they quickly engaged the Replicator ships in orbit. The fleet took damage during the battle, including the loss of a Traveler vessel, but Larrin's ship was able to survive until the Replicator mass grew so great that it began to draw the Replicators on the orbiting vessels towards it. When McKay triggered the destruction of the mass, Larrin took her ship to the rendezvous point, escaping to hyperspace before the planet was destroyed. After returning Sheppard to Atlantis, Larrin declined his offer to stay longer while the few remaining systems were brought online, claiming that she had other business to attend to. When Sheppard asked how he could contact her in future, she promised to keep in touch with him through Atlantis. (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd")

A new colony

"I'm a lot more charming when my friends aren't about to die."
"That's not what Larrin said."
"See, she does talk about me!"

―John Sheppard and Katana Labrea

By 2008, the Travelers had decided to establish their first planetside colony in a hundred generations. However, the colony was wiped out when its Stargate exploded, killing 3,000 Travelers and destroying two ships, including their Aurora-class battleship. Though Larrin was needed to help deal with the aftermath of the explosion, she hoped that the Tau'ri may be able to explain why this and other Stargates were exploding and sent Katana Labrea to Atlantis to seek their assistance. The destruction of the Stargates turned out to be a side effect of the Attero device, an Ancient weapon designed to destroy Wraith ships upon entering hyperspace, which had recently been activated by a lost Asgard tribe called the Vanir. Labrea teamed with Sheppard to help end the threat and destroy the advice. Before she left Atlantis, Sheppard told her to offer Larrin his help in establishing another colony. (SGA: "The Lost Tribe")

Personality and traits

"That was so strange. To have your whole life fading away, and then to suddenly have it back again. It actually felt kind of good."

―Larrin

As a member of the nomadic Travelers, Larrin spent her whole life around spaceships and was capable of both operating and repairing their systems, including hyperdrives. As a commander she was dedicated to her people and was willing to do whatever it took to further their goals. She showed no hesitance in abducting Sheppard and was willing to use both physical torture and threats to make him cooperate. During his interrogation she threatened to eject him into space and suggested that a similar fate had befallen the last man to cross her. Larrin was also willing to use her looks to her advantage, making use of Sheppard's attraction to her to relieve him of his weapon before turning it against him. She blamed Sheppard for their encounter with the Wraith aboard the Lantean vessel, believing that it wouldn't have happened if he had cooperated with her. Despite their differences, however, Larrin was willing to consider working with Sheppard in the future and agreed to let him go. (SGA: "Travelers") The two did later work together during the Battle of Asuras, though Larrin continued to provoke Sheppard upon their reunion by restraining him during the meeting and remained noncommittal when he inquired how to contact her in future. (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd") Despite this, she sometimes spoke of him and Atlantis to her fellow Travelers, among them Katana Labrea. (SGA: "The Lost Tribe")

Behind the scenes

Larrin was created for "Travelers", the fifth episode in the fourth season of Stargate: Atlantis, written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. Larrin was envisioned by Mullie as a foil for Sheppard and the writers took care to ensure that there was a good reason for her actions and that the character did not come across as a villain. Likewise, Sheppard was intended to frustrate Larrin, who would be used to having men willingly cooperate with her. Since the episode called for the two of them to become trapped and forced to work together, the writers needed an actress who had good chemistry with Joe Flanigan and could help to carry much of the episode. Jill Wagner was ultimately selected for the role, based partially on her performance in Blade: The Series. An older actress was also cast to play the older Larrin after he life force was drained by the Wraith. Some dialog between Larrin and Sheppard was initially flagged by the network as overly sexual; after discussing the lines with Mullie, Wagner was told to deliver them as throwaway lines to keep the tone of the episode light. The prop used for Larrin's gun weighed around five pounds and, in some scenes were Larrin is walking with the gun strapped to her waist, Wagner can be seen holding on to it to prevent the weight pulling her pants down.

Larrin appeared again later in season four, in "Be All My Sins Remember'd" by Martin Gero, an episode which was intended to tie together several elements from the first half of the season, including the Travelers. Wagner, among other guest stars, had limited time available and all her scenes were shot in a single day. Larrin was intended to appear again during the show's fifth season, in the episode "The Lost Tribe", also written by Gero. However, by the time the season went into production, Wagner was hosting the game show Wipeout and was unavailable for filming. As a result, the character of Katana Labrea was introduced to stand in for Larrin as commander of the Traveler vessel which appears in the episode and Larrin is only mentioned.

External links

• Larrin on the official MGM website. (backup link)