James Swallow - Nightfall

“Time to go,” she said.

Laaro bowed slightly. “Safe journey to you, voyagers.” He stepped off the porch, crossing through the bright, hot sunlight, marvelling at the spacecraft.

Keller reached for the gear bag at her feet and halted. When she spoke again, her voice was low and quiet. “Just so you know. After you came back from the Aegis , when I checked everyone over?” She threw a look toward Teyla’s belly. “You’re both okay, despite the pounding you took.”

“The children of Athos are a resilient people.” Teyla glanced at the doctor and sensed an unspoken question in the woman’s eyes. “As are the Herunni. If Laaro is anything to go by, I believe they will thrive, even without the protection of the Asgard.”

The doctor gathered up the bag and the two of them made their way toward the waiting Jumper. “The sickness won’t come back,” she replied. “I’m certain of that. As for everything else…” Keller smiled ruefully. “Well, we did just completely dismantle their entire belief system in a matter of days.”

“We showed them the truth.”

“Yes we did. I hope that’ll be enough.” The doctor paused. “I just wish. There was so much we could have learned from Fenrir. There are so many things we still don’t understand about the Asgard, even with the Odyssey core.”

Ronon was standing on the ramp waiting for them. He caught the last few words of the conversation. “Fenrir paid his debts in full,” said the Satedan.

Teyla’s eyes widened. “It surprised me to hear you say that. After all that he put us through. After what he did to you.”

“I’m not forgiving him, if that’s what you think,” came the reply. “But I understand why he did what he did. I know what its like to be isolated from your own kind, to be lost, to want more than anything to just go home…” He shrugged. “Can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same in his position.”

The Athosian woman felt a stirring of emotion and swallowed hard. “No being should be so alone.”

“Whatever Fenrir did,” said Keller, “whatever choices he may have made in the past, he gave the last moments of his life to save others. If that’s not atonement, I’m not sure what is.”

Colonel Carter was the last one to step up into the Jumper, and as she did so Ronon folded his arms. “So. Can we go home now?”

Glancing back from the cockpit, Sheppard nodded with genuine feeling. “Yeah, I reckon so.”

Carter hesitated. “One second, Colonel. There is one last loose end to deal with.”

“Oh, right,” said Sheppard. “ That . It’s not a problem. I sent Lorne and McKay out to go pick it up.”

“Are you sure this is the place?” said Rodney, squinting at the display on the handheld sensor device. “I mean, there’s nothing here!”

Major Lorne frowned and surveyed the open span of savannah around them. “I’m telling you, this is it.” He pointed. “Look. The grasses here are all compacted. And there’s a burn ring where the drives scorched the ground. This is where the colonel put us down.”

McKay shook his head. “When Sheppard plucked us off the Aegis with that UFO’s transporters, we came straight down out of orbit! He could have dropped us anywhere.” He sniffed. “And it wasn’t his best landing, I have to say.”

Lorne gestured at the ground. “No, this is it, I’d bet my oak leaves. I’m telling you, there should be an Asgard shuttle parked right here.”

McKay walked forward, waving his arms. “Look, see, nothing! Even if it was cloaked like a Jumper, I’d still bump right into it.”

The major was silent for a moment. “You don’t think it…left on its own, do you? Can Asgard ships do that?”

“Of course not,” Rodney snapped. “We’re talking about a faster-than-light spacecraft! You couldn’t pilot something like that without a thinking, reasoning intelligence on board!” No sooner had the words left his mouth that he found himself suddenly wondering. “Um…”

Unbidden, McKay and Lorne both turned their heads to look up into the clear sky; and for a second, just for the smallest of moments, the scientist thought he saw a tiny flash of light like sunshine off silver, vanishing into the distance.