As the battle ship gains on Alisana, the crew of Atlantis look away from the monitors and lower their heads with sadness, none of them can bare to watch.
Alisana sits squeezed in a tight ball behind the console of her ship, she's crying and has her hands over her ears gently rocking back and forth as the battle ship approaches.
Suddenly Atlantis' alarms go off again.
"Now what?" shouts Sheppard.
"I don't know." shouts McKay tapping buttons on the console.
Then a bright blue flash is seen beaming through the windows of Atlantis, they move to the windows and as they look out in to space they see a hyperspace window off in the distance.
Seconds later a ship emerges from hyperspace at great speed and immediately opens fire on the battle ship as it flies around it, it comes to a stop positioning itself between the battle ship and Alisana's ship.
The rate of fire is like nothing they've ever seen, hundreds of energy blasts a second pummelling the battle ship.
Alisana sees the flash of the weapons fire reflecting on the wall in front of her, she turns and grabs the top of the console and slowly lifts herself up to peek out of the window to see what's happening.
The battle ship shakes with each blast and the Commander loses balance swinging from side to side, panels and consoles explode around him.
"Waaarrrrrrrrrrrgghhhh!" screams the Commander looking at the ship outside.
As the glass of the main bridge window begins to break, the Commander gets to his feet and turns around, he runs heading out of the bridge as the weapons fire breaches the ships armour and the battle ship starts exploding from the front.
The Commander runs through the corridors of his ship, chased from behind by explosions as his great battle ship is quickly being blown to pieces, he reaches the room that is filled with blinding white light and he runs inside seconds before the entire ship explodes.
As explosions fill the battle ship from front to end, the mysterious ship outside stops firing, soon the battle ship explodes in to a massive ball of fire and vaporises.
Everyone on Atlantis is in awe at what just took place.
O'Neill leans over to Carter, "You saw that right?" he asks.
"Yep." replies a stunned Carter.
"Just checking." says O'Neill.
Alisana slowly stands up, her mouth is open a little in disbelief, then a light circles around her and she's transported to Atlantis.
Chaya and Lya are transported away.
As Alisana appears on Atlantis, she let's out a deep breath, and everyone hears it and turns around.
"Alisana." shouts Raina as she runs over and hugs her tightly.
Everyone smiles with happiness and relief, "You're ok." says O'Neill, "She's ok" he says.
"Yes Sir." says Carter.
Alisana and Raina stop hugging and walk over to the others, Alisana stops and with a smile she looks at O'Neill.
O'Neill shakes his head, "Come here." he says and he pulls her in for a hug, "Both of you, come on." he says as he pulls Raina in too.
"What happened?" asks Alisana.
"We're not sure." says O'Neill.
Just then, Chaya and Lya reappear on the lower gate level, they all walk over to the balcony railings and look down.
Chaya and Lya look up at them, then they look back and step aside.
A woman appears, dressed in what looks like a long silver gown with gold circular patterns on it, she looks up at everyone and then looks directly at Alisana.
O'Neill and Alisana glance at one another, O'Neill lowers his eyebrows as if thinking, then he turns and walks down the stairs with Alisana while everyone watches in wonder.
They reach the bottom of the stairs and approach the woman, the woman smiles at Alisana and she smiles back.
"Did you save me?" asks Alisana in a soft voice.
"We did." replies the woman.
"Thank you." says Alisana.
The woman gives her a gentle nod, Lya looks up at Raina standing at the balcony, she holds out her hand and indicates to Raina to come down and join them, Raina looks at Teyla, "It is ok." says Teyla.
Raina slowly makes her way down the stairs, O'Neill turns and sees her approaching so he steps back, Raina then stands next to Alisana and holds her hand.
Chaya steps forward, "Alisana" she says, "Do you know who she is?" she asks.
Alisana shakes her head, "No." she says.
"She's Furling." says Lya as she also steps forward.
Alisana stands shocked at what she was just told, she believed they were all dead and battles with her emotions for a second, then overcome with joy she runs forward and embraces the woman.
"I thought the Furling's were extinct?" asks Mitchell.
"Obviously not." replies Daniel.
After a long embrace with the woman, Alisana looks back and lets go of the woman, wiping the tears from her face she holds out her hand, "This is Raina." she says, Raina approaches.
"Hello, Raina." says the woman, "My name is Venori.".
Alisana holds Raina's hand, "There were others, but we could not save them." says Alisana.
Venori steps back and reaches out to Chaya and Lya, "We can." she says.
Chaya, Lya and Venori hold hands in a triangular shape, they close their eyes, take a deep breath and look to the skies.
A white light flows around Chaya, a green light around Lya and a Blue light around Venori.
Carter notices a glow through one of Atlantis' broken windows, she walks over to it and looks out, the others see her walking over and follow her.
Looking out of the window they see streams of orange light flowing out from the battlefield towards the planet, as the streams of light reach the planet, the light surrounding Venori, Lya and Chaya goes dim and they break the triangle.
A beep is heard from an Atlantis console and again McKay goes over to check it out, Carter follows and they both look at the screen, they see a digital image of the planet and at the side a counter is shown and the numbers are going up.
"Life signs." says McKay.
Carter smiles at McKay then runs over to the balcony railing, "Sir." she shouts, "We're picking up life signs on the planet." she adds.
"Come with us." says Venori.
O'Neill thinks they're leaving and steps forward, "Err..wait..just a..." he says.
As O'Neill is talking, Venori, Chaya, Lya, Raina, Alisana and O'Neill are transported down to the planets surface.
"..second." says O'Neill as he looks around in confusion, as he turns he sees hundreds of people around Alisana's age standing on the planets surface looking a little lost.
"They're Novum." says Raina in a happy tone.
Alisana and Raina hug in excitement.
O'Neill walks over to them, "Excuse me...hello...hi." he says, "What's going on?" he asks.
"They brought the Novum back." says Alisana.
"That's good." says O'Neill as he looks to the Novum and then lowers his head and let's out a breath.
Alisana notices O'Neill's strange expression, "Aren't you happy?" she asks.
"What, no. I mean yes..of course I am. I'm a little confused, how did you do this?" asks O'Neill.
"O'Neill, the Novum were not dead, their physical forms were converted to energy so they could be controlled, using our combined abilities we were able to reverse that." says Lya.
"Ah." says O'Neill, "Well why didn't you do that in the first place?" he asks.
"It required all of our abilities." replies Lya.
"So what...you were just waiting for the Furlings to show up?. You could have told us they were coming." says O'Neill, "If we'd known, we could have held off the Verdain a little longer, we lost a lot of good people out there" he adds sounding a little frustrated.
"We didn't know they were coming." says Chaya.
"It was Alisana who brought us here." says Venori.
"Me?" asks Alisana who thinks for a moment, "The crystal?" she says.
Venori steps over to Alisana, "Yes. It was activated when you touched it, the moment our people were alerted to your presence we came as quickly as we could." says Venori.
"You came back for me?" says Alisana.
"And the others. Your loss was devastating to our people, to all our people's, but we never gave up hope that one day you would be returned to us, we have been searching and waiting for millions of years." says Venori, "Our people can't wait to meet you all." she adds.
"So what happens now?" asks O'Neill.
Venori looks at O'Neill and then transports everyone back to Atlantis, this time in to the control room.
"They're back." says Woolsey, "General, is everything ok?" he asks.
"It's fine Woolsey, don't worry." says O'Neill.
Venori steps forward, "On behalf of all our people I want to thank you for all you have done to protect our children." she says, "It will not be forgotten and we are forever in your debt." she adds.
Everyone smiles and nods at Venori, "You're welcome." says Woolsey.
"Many of all our people's have been lost, we can not bring them back, nothing can make up for their loss but I would like to do something to help you." says Venori.
Venori uses her abilities to repair Atlantis and all remaining ships in the fleet, making them as good as new and healing all the wounded crews.
Communications start coming in over the radio.
"General, what just happened?" says Swanson.
"Atlantis, this is the Daedalus. Care to explain what's going on?" says Caldwell.
O'Neill is happy to hear their voices "Err Yes, stand by." he says, "Thank you" he says to Venori.
McKay steps forward, "Erm, we had to blow up a ZPM out there, you wouldn't happen to have any of those would you?" he asks.
"Rodney." says Sheppard.
"What." says McKay.
Venori grins at McKay and then makes a ZPM appear on the console next to her.
McKay picks up the ZPM and smiles, "Thanks." he says, "Got any more, because we could use some spares" he says.
"McKay." says Carter, in disbelief that McKay could even ask.
Sheppard shakes his head, "Unbelievable" he mutters under his breath.
Raina and Alisana laugh at McKay.
"So what's going to happen to the Novum now?" asks O'Neill.
"They will join their people." says Lya, "Although their families are long gone, they're still our children and we will take care of them." she adds.
"Where will I go?" asks Raina.
Raina is part Nox and Alteran.
"That will be your choice." says Lya.
"This is great, now that you're back we can catch up on everything that we missed." says Alisana.
"I can't wait to explore the galaxy, I have so much to see." says an excited Alisana as she turns to O'Neill.
Venori's facial expression changes slightly.
"Is something wrong?" asks Alisana.
"Alisana, we can not stay." says Venori.
Alisana is confused, "What, why?" she asks.
O'Neill senses that they need to be alone, so he silently ushers everyone to move away and leave them to it, Lya and Chaya take Raina and stand over by the railings.
"Our people have a new home now, a great distance from here. We must return to them." explains Venori.
"That's ok, I can use the Stargate to explore and visit Raina and the others." says Alisana.
"There are no Stargates in our region of space. We chose our new home because it is isolated, away from danger and it allows us to live in peace." says Venori.
"So if I go I won't be able to come back, I won't be able to see Raina?" asks Alisana.
Venori gently shakes her head, "No." she says regrettably.
Alisana looks over at Raina for a few seconds, then back to Venori, "What about the ship?" she asks.
"It took an enormous amount of power to get us here, and we only did so because we knew we had to get here urgently. We have enough power to return home, but it will be difficult to do it again." explains Venori.
Alisana is upset she won't be able to return but she accepts it, "I want to say goodbye." she says as she turns and walks towards O'Neill and the others.
"Alisana." shouts Venori.
Alisana stops and turns, the others heard the shout and look over as Venori walks over to Alisana.
Venori rubs Alisana's head and shoulder, "I said WE must return." she says, "I mean our people out there on our ship. If you come with us it will be your choice, we will not force you." she adds.
Alisana is in a bit of a thought conflict, "I'm not ready." she says, "We all had our lives taken away from us, I still have so much I want to see and do." she adds with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Venori wipes away Alisana's tears and gives her an understanding smile then stands up straight, "Then you must stay." she says.
"What about our people, I don't want to abandon them." says Alisana.
"Our people will understand. You're right, you were robbed of the experiences you should have had, and now that you have a chance to follow your passion and experience everything you've dreamed of, you must take it." says Venori.
Lya, Chaya and Raina come over and join them.
"We will care for her." says Chaya.
"You can stay with us on Gaia." says Lya.
Alisana smiles a little then turns and waves to O'Neill to come over, O'Neill points at himself, "Me?" he says and then he makes his way over.
"This is Jack...I mean General O'Neill." says Alisana, "His people are explorers, if it's ok with you, I would like to stay with them." she says.
O'Neill gives Alisana a puzzled look, "Stay...W..what?" he says.
"Alisana has expressed a wish to remain here. With you." says Venori.
"She has?" replies O'Neill, "When you say...with you...you mean?" he says.
"Your people." says Alisana.
"Ah." replies O'Neill, "I see." he says.
"The Nox and Alterans will watch over her, but she will be in your care." says Venori.
"Can I?" asks Alisana.
"Err...I errr..." says O'Neill, "Carter?" he says, and Carter comes over.
"Sir?" says Carter.
"Alisana wants to stay with us...and explore the galaxy." says O'Neill.
"Really." says Carter.
"What do you think about that?" asks O'Neill.
"Well..." says Carter, then she looks at Alisana who's silently saying please with her mouth, "Well she has shown a great interest in technology, I would be happy to work with her. Sure why not." says Carter.
Raina steps to Alisana and fights her corner, "And she is very smart." she says.
"Oooo...err...fine..ok..yes, you can stay." says O'Neill.
Alisana is happy and gives O'Neill a really quick hug, "Yes, thank you." she says.
Everyone is watching from the other end of the room.
"What is going on?" asks Teyla.
"I think she's staying." says Ronon.
"Really, she's not staying here is she?. That's all we need is immature teenagers running around wrecking the place, have enough of that with Zelenka." moans McKay.
Zelenka's ears are burning, "What did he say?" he says.
"Nothing, get back to work." says McKay.
With Venori's blessing and O'Neill's permission, Alisana has decided to stay with them in the Milky Way so she can live her dream of exploring the galaxy and play catch up on everything she's missed.
Raina has decided to return to Gaia with Lya, she will also remain in close contact with the Ancients and perhaps one day ascend, but like Alisana, she wants to experience life first.
Some of the Novum on the planet who are part Furling have decided to return home with Venori and were transported to the Furling ship, the other Novum have decided to remain under the care of the Nox and Alterans.
Venori, Lya, Chaya, Raina and Alisana are gathered near the Stargate.
Alisana and Raina give each other a big hug, "I'll see you soon." says Alisana.
"When you come and visit, I want to hear about everything you've seen." replies Raina, "Stay out of trouble." she adds.
Alisana giggles, "I will." she says.
As McKay dials Gaia on the gate console, Alisana gives Lya and Chaya a hug and they then leave through the Stargate with Raina.
"Are you sure about this?" says Venori.
"Yes." replies Alisana.
Venori smiles and then holds out her palm, a crystal appears in her hand and she passes it to Alisana.
Alisana looks at it curiously, "What is it?" she asks.
"It is a beacon, if you ever need us, or you wish to come home, activate it and we will come." says Venori.
"I understand." says Alisana.
"It is time for us to leave." says Venori.
Alisana gives her a smile, but it's an upset smile as she tries to look brave, water glistens in her eyes.
Venori pulls her into a long embrace, Venori then gently holds the sides of Alisana's face and strokes her hair, "You are a very brave girl and your people are so proud of you, so very very proud. Although we will be a great distance away, we will always be with you." says Venori.
They stop hugging and Venori's fingers gently slide off Alisana's chin as she steps back.
"See you soon." says Venori.
Alisana watches as a light beams around Venori and she transports back to the ship, a few moments later the ship slowly moves away, then enters hyperspace.
Alisana lowers her head clutching the crystal Venori gave her, she has tears dropping off her face and feeling both happy and sad.
O'Neill and Carter are standing at the balcony watching, they see Alisana standing there alone so they make their way down the stairs towards her.
"Hey." says O'Neill.
Alisana turns and quickly wipes away the tears, "Hi." she says with a brave smile.
"You alright?" asks O'Neill.
"Yeah." replies Alisana with a nod.
Carter goes over and puts her arm around her, "Don't worry I'm sure you'll see them again." she says comfortingly.
They start walking back towards the stairs, "You know, there's a tradition we have on Earth when some ones feeling a little down." says Carter.
"Tradition?" asks O'Neill.
"Yes, Sir." replies Carter.
"What's that?" asks Alisana.
"You eat a big tub of chocolate ice cream." replies Carter.
"Ice cream?" asks Alisana who doesn't know what it is.
"It's very special food, it makes you feel better. Want to try some?" says Carter.
"Sure" says Alisana with a smile.
"Ok let's go." says Carter, "Coming Sir?" she adds.
"Err no, I'll pass." says O'Neill.
Carter and Alisana head up the stairs, "So err...how old are you anyway?" shouts O'Neill.
"We don't really keep track, but it'll be hundreds of years before we reach your age." replies Alisana.
"Ah." says O'Neill.
Carter laughs and continues heading up the stairs with Alisana.
The Verdain have been defeated, the Novum returned, and peace restored to the galaxy...how long that peace will last is any ones guess.
As for the fate of the Commander, well, that's another story.
THE END.