Sheppard had to admit that he never would have come up with such an idea, and the fact that a woman like Jennifer Keller had forced him to re-evaluate his first impressions of the young doctor. Ever since she and McKay had gone against his orders with Elizabeth and that whole replicator thing, John had kept Keller at arm’s length, but now he saw that she wasn’t someone who made the hard calls blithely. In the face of certain death, she had saved lives, albeit in a very unconventional manner — something the IOA would be sure to bitch about when his report went back to Earth.
One of the Wraith showed yellowed fangs as he approached. “You will kill us?” he demanded. “Now you have what you want from us?”
Ronon toyed with his pistol. “Hey, that’s an idea.”
The alien shot him a venomous glare. “I saved your life!”
“And that’s why you’re still walking and talking,” Sheppard broke in. “When we make a deal, we keep our word.”
Lorne nodded in the direction of the open Stargate. “That’s your exit. If I were you, I’d take it.”
Sheppard mirrored the major’s nod. “What he said.”
“What about our weapons, our communications devices?” said the Wraith. “We need them.”
“No you don’t,” the colonel replied. “Use your psychic hotline to dial up a rescue.”
“How do we know the place you are sending us to is not a death-world?”
Ronon grunted. “Huh. I should have thought of that.”
“You’re just gonna have to trust us.” Sheppard replied. He gave Gaarin a nod and the Heruuni drew back the big cats, making a path for the prisoners. “Listen, it’s last call for you guys. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” To underscore the statement, Ronon brought up his particle magnum and gestured with it. John continued. “You healed my people and Gaarin’s people, and for that you get a free pass. That’s the extent of the conversation that you and me are going to have. Do I make myself clear?”
The Wraith exchanged looks with its kindred, and then without further comment, they shuffled up the steps and began to file through the shimmering wormhole.
Sheppard waited until the talkative one was about to step up and called out. “Oh yeah, there’s just one other thing.” The alien paused on the threshold, eyeing him coldly. “The Aegis may be gone, but this planet is now under the protection of Atlantis. So if you’re thinking of hooking up with some of your buddies and swinging by for a little payback, don’t. ’Cos we’ll know about it, and that’s not something you want.”
The Wraith paused, letting the others of its cadre pass through the gate and away, until it was the last one on Heruun. “Enjoy your victory while you can, human,” it said. “But remember this. Sooner or later, the Asurans will turn their attacks from my kind to yours, and when that day comes, you will wish that you had let us take the Asgard’s weapons to defeat them.” Without waiting to hear a reply, the alien stepped through and vanished into the ripples.
Sheppard gestured to Allan and the lieutenant severed the wormhole from the DHD podium.
He heard Lorne give a dry chuckle. “Sore losers.”
The colonel didn’t look away from the silent Stargate, the Wraith’s words echoing in his mind. “Yeah. Guess so.”
Carter watched the people working around the fringes of the settlement’s central oval, clearing the wreckage created in the attack by the Wraith, starting down the path toward setting their lives back on track. The young boy Laaro wandered past and threw her a serious nod, which she returned along with a grin. The youth tried very hard to pretend he was old beyond his years, but she had seen him revert to the child he really was when Sheppard had reunited him with his mother and father. The raw, open happiness Sam witnessed there had brought a lump to her throat.
We did some good here, she thought to herself. In the end. For a moment, Carter wondered what she would have done differently, if she could step back to before the mission to M9K-153 had been given the go. She looked away and shook her head. Second-guessing yourself won’t fix anything you do wrong. General Hammond had told her that the first time she had taken command of SG-1. Every leader makes mistakes. The real test is if you don’t make them again.
Sam sighed. Command of the Atlantis mission was nothing like she had expected, and in some ways, everything like she had expected. Every day was a challenge, and just this short jaunt into the field — and into the grip of certain danger — reminded her with potent force just how much had changed about her life.
No. I wouldn’t change the orders I gave if I could. I did what I thought was right, I trusted my people to get the job done. And they did.
“Colonel Carter.” She turned at the sound of her name and found Takkol approaching her. His guards remained at a respectful distance, and she noted that there were fewer of them. Sam wondered what message that sent about the changes the man had been through recently.
“Elder,” she nodded.
“I wanted to thank you personally for the gifts you gave us. The supplies and equipment.”
“We can spare it,” she replied. “It’s the least we can do to help.” Carter sighed. “I hope you understand, we never intended to bring the Wraith here or upset the balance of things on Heruun…”
“I think… This would have happened sooner or later, would it not? The Aegis…” He stumbled over the word. “This… Asgard being. Eventually he would have left us and the Wraith would have returned. Perhaps it was better it took place now instead of in the future.”
Sam felt a pang of sympathy for the man. All the superiority and arrogance he had shown before was gone, and in their place he seemed uncertain and wary. “Change is always difficult,” she said, with real feeling. “But we have to embrace it.”
“I suppose so. My reticence was a mistake, Colonel.”
She answered without thinking, hearing Hammond speak once again. “Every leader makes mistakes. The real test is if you don’t make them again.”
Takkol accepted this with a nod. “Wise words. In looking back, I find I have made many such errors.” He looked away. “I was wrong about the nature of the Aegis. When Aaren and Kullid turned on our ways and went to the side of the Wraith… When Soonir, a man I thought to be nothing but a renegade and dissident, gave his life to save mine… I misjudged so much.”
“Things aren’t always what they seem. Being a leader can isolate you from that truth, if you let it.”
Takkol met Sam’s gaze. “Now I look around and all I can do is wonder how many other things I am mistaken about.”
“There are worse places to start. But what’s important is that you move on, and strive to do the right thing.” She was a little surprised by the conviction behind her own words. Am I talking to him, or to myself?
“You speak truth, voyager,” he agreed. “I allowed my rank and status to close me off from my people. No longer.” Takkol bobbed his head. “For that I thank you.”
From the blue sky overhead came a humming whine and they both looked up to see the barrel-shape of a Puddle Jumper loop past and fall into a steady hover. The outriggers retracted and the craft settled gently to the open wooden decking.
In the shade of the lodge’s porch, Laaro handed the small twists of animal hide and polished stones to Teyla and Jennifer. “These are for you and your friends,” he told them. “I made one for each of the voyagers, so that when you return to your great city you will have something to remind you of Heruun.”