"Supreme Commander, we have achieved orbit."

The disembodied words floated between the two occupants of the Command Deck.

"Find them," snapped out impolitely from the enthroned figure of Thor.

"The Council ruled this so," Freyr calmly stated, hoping to head off his Commander's rare fit of temper.

"That does not make what we did correct."

"They are..."

"...Our future. O'Neill could be the salvation of our entire civilization. Did no one take that into consideration?" Thor turned his deliberately veiled eyes to his companion to emphasize his displeasure of this action without his knowledge. He continued. "And the other humans at Stargate Command?"

"All memory of the abduction was expunged per usual protocols when dealing with prima..."

"...Young. They are young."

"Apologies."

"Supreme Commander, the humans have been retrieved." The bodiless voice flowed across the darkened deck to fill the pregnant void between its two occupants.

"And?" whispered Thor.

"They are unharmed, except for the one called O'Neill. The healers are with them now."

Thor reached out for a shell to begin transport.

"We come."

Two small forms emerged from the bright transporter beam at the edge of a strangely ordered chaos.

Four very large medical pods stood in rank across the room. Each contained a figure. Only the closest was open. A virtual crowd of Asgard Healers ringed it; intent on the tall, rangy, grey haired figure it contained. One of the group broke from the cluster to approach the newcomers.

"Commander Thor, greetings," the grey alien bobbed his head in abeyance.

"His condition?"

"Better than we hoped. The trauma will be healed within the time allotted," confirmed the Healer

"And his... their memories?"

"Gone. They will experience only an unexplained loss of time," explained the Healer.

"Thank you. Return to O'Neill."

"All will be as it was. A planet of humans were saved without violation to the Treaty," reasoned Freyr.

Thor slowly blinked.

"No one thought to ask for O'Neill's help? Did we learn nothing when we read his every thought after taking the Archive from him?" Thor's eyes closed as his head bowed, not in thought but perhaps in shame.

"This was no different from our other encounters with humans," countered Freyr.

"This is true and in that truth lies our dishonor. O'Neill proved that Earth's humans are on the cusp of becoming a force of good, yet we use them because we can, because we have superior technology to force them to our will. Is that not what the Goa'uld do? And how are we any better?"

Freyr's eyes widened at his Commander's impassioned speech.

"We have committed a grievous error."

"Yes, we have. One I will try to correct. Never will I allow O'Neill, or any other human to be used again. They have much to teach us. They can show us what we have lost on our journey to becoming the Asgard, the last remaining race of the Great Alliance. As they become the fifth great race."