Welcome to my first ever fanfiction story! Mass Effect is easily my favorite video game series. After reading many of the wonderful ME stories here on fanfiction I have finally decided to write my own. As the description states my OC is not a SI. He has a personality of his own that does not reflect mine, nor will he be an OP god-like character like most SI's have. This story will be mostly canon, but will get slightly AU as we move through the games. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Mass Effect. The amazing story and all of Mass Effect's characters belong to Bioware and Ea. This story is meant for entertainment purposes only and is not used for monetary gain.
Have you ever looked back at a memory you regret or makes you angry? Despite it having ended years ago you let the emotions you felt then consume you, almost as if it's happening all over again? I used to do that a lot. When I was taking a shower, or just about to fall asleep, or bored as I walked home from class; I would relive my least favorite memories for no other reason than to imagine, what if? What if I had reacted different, or thought it out before acting so irrationally; maybe I would still be friends with that one person, or not made a fool of myself in public that one time. Maybe I could have saved more people.
After a while, I stopped asking myself those questions; stopped reliving those memories because worse memories made me forget the first ones. After all these years, all these lives I've lived, all the people I've met, people I've loved, lost…. killed. I guess part of me stopped caring. What used to be an innocent, thoughtful person became a cold-blooded killer so quick I had to shut down that part of my brain. You know, the part that asks What if?
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I woke up with a horrible taste in my mouth. Rolling to my side, I realized that the horrible taste was from puke … I had just rolled on top of. When the smell hit me, it forced me to vomit for who knows what time.
Raising myself to my hands and knees, I focused on breathing deeply. I blocked out the smell and the taste in my mouth and concentrated on stopping the world from spinning around me. After a few moments it eventually stopped so I turned and sat down with my back against a pile of boxes. I slowly opened my eyes, giving them time to adjust to the flood of light, and took in my surroundings. I was sitting in an alleyway of sorts in what appeared to be a busy city. Neatly paved roads, sidewalks on both sides of the street, streets lined with shops and restaurants and lots of traffic lead me to conclude.
Okay, why am I sitting in a dirty alley and throwing up, I thought to myself. What sacred me was when I tried to think of the last thing I could remember doing absolutely nothing came to mind. No late night partying or anything like that. Hell, I couldn't even remember my childhood! At first I thought I had taken some super fucked up drugs, but realized drugs never really were my thing.
The more I thought about myself, the more I realized I didn't remember anything. Before I could have a panic attack, I forced myself to remember the easy things.
My name, Jason Sherman, easy enough. My family? Nothing. Where was I born? Good Question. Man this sucks.
Sighing irritably, I decided a walk around would be a good idea. Ditching my now disgusting jacket, I began my stroll in the crisp morning air. I stopped and stared at myself in the front window of a store. My face, well… I looked like me. I think. I definitely didn't recognize the plain white shirt tucked into a pair of blue jeans that stopped just at the top of my black running shoes. I looked to be about six feet tall, slightly tanned skin, and had a decent amount of muscle. I'd guess I weigh in at about 170 pounds. I'm not body-builder status, but I'm certainly not skinny or fat. All in all I'd say I looked about as normal as I think I remembered.
Rubbing my face with my hands, I let out another deep sigh. I really needed to get my memory back. I dropped my hands and stared at them for a moment before turning them over. When I did, an orange glow surrounded my arm and what appeared to be a home screen popped up as a 3D hologram. Staring in disbelief for a moment, I swiped the home screen with a single finger and the screen slid to the side like a touch screen tablet or phone. A display of different applications appeared and I had no idea what any of them did.
Shrugging, I began walking towards what i thought should be the market district of the city. It was then that it struck me I had no idea exactly where I was. Seeing a black and blue stand with a sign that said 'News' on top I quickly crossed the street and went to buy a paper. To my surprise, there weren't any newspapers at the stand. Instead, there was a scanner and a sign that read 'Newspaper - 1 credit'. Going on a whim I put my left hand under the scanner and to my surprise the orange tool on my hand lit up with a message, 'Payment accepted'. The message disappeared and was replaced with the cover page of the paper.
Elysium Gazette? Not exactly original, I thought with a grin. Scanning the top of the page the year was 2176 CE. So, I'm on Elysium.
I closed out of my omni-tool and continued my walk towards the market district. After a few short minutes I arrived at the front of a few shops. Before I could decide which one to look at first, a loud siren began playing throughout the city. It sounded almost like a hurricane siren. Moments later tons of rusty, old looking ships began to fly over the city. All around me people stared up at the sky with horrified expressions. Some began screaming, others ran for safety.
Me? I just stood there like an idiot and watched.
There must have been a military base near by because soon people dressed in uniforms with guns began to direct the civilians, attempting to prevent a mass panic. One in particular stood out among the rest. A rather beautiful woman was standing on the fountain ledge in the park in the middle of the market square directing a group of soldiers in an attempt to set up a loose perimeter of the square. She had red, short cropped hair that just reached her shoulders. She wore black armor with red stripes and a white N7 painted on the right side of the chest. Deciding she looked like she knew what was going on, I approached her.
"What is going on?" I called as I jogged over.
"Batarian raid" was the short answer.
Batarians? But that meant... Oh shit
She must have seen the realization of what that meant dawn on my face because she smirked before saying, "All civilians should hide in the stores around the square. We will keep them occupied until reinforcements arrive".
"I want to help" I stated plainly.
She scoffed before looking me over, "Are you trained in combat?" she asked me. The truth was I wasn't sure. But I'd rather die fighting than cowering in fear.
"I've fired some small arms and rifles before" I responded. That I knew was true. I had a vague memory of shooting many different guns, but I wasn't sure when or where.
She looked at me for a moment before responding. "I don't think this is a good idea".
I looked around us for a moment. Then I looked up. "There is easily thousands of them up there and only six of you. You look like you could use all the help you can get".
She seemed to digest that for a moment before shrugging. She pulled a pistol off of her hip and held it out to me, "Ever fired this one before?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow.
I took the weapon out of her hand and ran my hand along it. Luckily I had, though despite not know how I knew this, I knew this was a Striker Mk 4 pistol.
"Striker Mk 4 pistol. 15 shots before overheat, received an accuracy rating of 51 out of 100, moderate damage but reasonably controllable recoil" I rattled off as I checked to make sure the safety was on and looked down the sights.
The woman in front of me now had both eyebrows raised but quickly recovered. "You see that stone wall over there shaped like an 'L'? I want you there. Watch for Batarians approaching from the south side" she said as she pointed in what I assumed is the direction of south. I nodded before jogging over and taking a knee behind the wall.
"Oh and Civvie?" she called to me.
I looked back at her with a questioning look.
"Keep your head down and listen to my every word" she commanded.
Geez, this woman has the aura of a commander. Wouldn't want to get on her bad side, I thought. I nodded and took a deep breath. Most of the soldiers around me laughed at my reaction, assuming it meant I was nervous. A few gave me concerned or pitying looks, almost as if they thought I was already a goner.
Honestly? I wasn't nervous at all. The amount of adrenaline running through my body made me feel ready for battle, almost as if I was anticipating it.
The commander took cover opposite the path from me behind a similar 'L' shaped wall and gave me a slight nod. All around me had become quiet, the air felt slightly colder as everyone prepared for what was coming. I scanned the streets ahead of me, never poking my head too far out of my cover.
We were taking cover behind the walls that separated the stone walkways from the patches of flowers and other shrubs in the park. Four streets converged into a single one that surrounded the park. If the Batarians came from one or even two directions, we would have plenty of cover to hold them off. If they came from more directions we would be absolutely screwed.
"Contacts, southwest" someone called out. I quickly followed everyone else's eyes and spotted the incoming Batarians. I could see about 50 or so of them, slowly walking towards the square in an unorganized group.
"Hoover, Malovich. Start this party off with some grenades. Focus on the tighter groups. Brennan, you're our only other biotic. I want you on support. Barriers are a priority on the more intense side of the fighting. Throw singularities if you can catch at least three of them with one. Benson you see the one in the red coat?" the commander relayed to nods and 'yes ma'am'.
"Yes, ma'am" Benson replied.
Take his head off with that sniper of yours as soon as the grenades go off" the commander replied. "Dean, you and I are going to then move up to the outer wall. Brennan you take my spot"
A round of 'yes ma'am' once again accompanied her orders.
"What about me?" I asked.
"You stay right there and behind cover. No more than three shots before you duck back down. Understood?" she asked me with a look that said, if you don't I'll knock your head off.
"Yes ma'am" I replied.
"Good. Lets move".
I watched with bated breath as Hoover and Malovich rose out of cover and tossed a couple of grenades each. They were back down behind cover before they even went off.
Time seemed to slow down for a moment as the grenades soared through the air. Time sped right back up as soon as the grenades landed in the middle of the Batarians. An earth-shaking explosion followed and then shortly after was the loud report of a sniper rifle. The grenades were thrown with surgical like precision, landing in the middle of the densest parts of the group. The Batarian with a red coat's head exploded like a watermelon.
Despite our initial surprise advantage and the apparent organization of the Batarians in front of us, they quickly recovered and took cover behind abandoned cars and the corners of buildings. Following her instructions to the letter, the soldiers around me moved with the speed and agility of a well-oiled machine. Doing my best to help out, I was one of the first on our side to pop out of cover and take three shots. This had multiple effects on the Batarians. I was able to take the shields down on one Batarian, but didn't do enough to do any real damage. Our sniper managed to readjust his aim and take him down as well. Unfortunately, now the Batarians knew were I was and some began to fire on my position. Ducking down quickly, I heard the mass-accelerated rounds ping off of the stone wall I was behind.
I paused a moment for the soldiers around me to draw attention off of me before popping back up and firing again. Once again I was only able to take a Batarians shields down before I was forced back into cover.
Damn it. I really need to invest in a shield, I thought irritably.
"Dammit Civvie. You can't do all the work on one alone with that thing. Wait for one's shields to go down and then strike!" the commander yelled back to me.
Realizing what she meant, I waited for one to pop out of cover and to lose his shields. As soon as the first bullets pinged off of his shields I popped out of cover and took aim. Two more bullets hit his shield before I fired. My first shot hit him in the chest, taking down his shield. I quickly adjusted and fired two more bullets in rapid succession. The first went through his right shoulder. The second, however, punched through the middle of his four eyes. He dropped dead without a single sound.
Getting back down behind cover, I realized just how deeply I was breathing.
I just killed someone! I yelled at myself. I hadn't even considered I would have to in this fight. What scared me the most was that it didn't bother me. I would have thought for sure killing someone would have a serious impact on me, but I felt nothing.
"Get back in the fight Civvie!" the commander yelled at me.
Realizing I had stayed behind cover for a few moments too long, I shook the uneasiness I was feeling aside. Time to worry about that after I get out of this.
I quickly jumped up and took aim on another unprotected Batarian. Just after I pulled the trigger, ending his life, I watched a grenade sail over the battlefield towards us. Or more accurately, at me.
"Grenade!" someone yelled as everyone took cover.
I quickly ducked back down behind cover watching the grenade fly through the air in what felt like slow motion. It sailed over my cover and landed right behind me. Turning, I threw my hands up in a last second attempt to protect myself. I felt a tight strain on the back of my head.
Someone screamed, "NO!" and then there was an Earth-shattering BOOM and darkness.
I am dead. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead. I repeated over and over. However, no pain came. In fact, I'd say besides the ringing ears I was perfectly okay. I opened my eyes to see the smoke had cleared. Somehow, I was covered in a purplish glow.
A biotic barrier, the realization hit me. I looked up to Brennan to say thank you, but she was slowly shaking her head. Eyes wide. Confused, I looked at the commander.
She was looking at me with mixed expressions. She clearly looked confused, but I also thought she looked mad. Like really mad.
As time slowly sped back up, everyone around me turned back to the fight. At this point there were only a handful of Batarians left to deal with. Deciding my heart had taken enough for now, I sat down with my back to the wall and focused on slowing my breaths and left the professionals to do the rest. Soon, the sounds of gunfire ceased around me.
Before I knew what was happening someone was standing in front of me and lifting me by my shirt collar.
"What the hell was that civvie? When were you going to tell us you were a biotic!" the commander shouted in my face.
I stared back at her dumbfounded. It was Brennan who spoke up.
"Ma'am, I don't think he knew. He got it up only at the last second and didn't even have his barrier activated throughout the fight".
The commander looked at me with eyebrows raised, as if to say 'Well?'.
"I had no idea" I replied.
"Bullshit. Look how strong it is. He'd have to have an L2 amp to make one that strong and those are military only. You mean to tell me you weren't aware you had a bio-amp in your head?" she yelled at me.
I got to be honest. I wasn't a big fan of being screamed at for saving my own life. I got angry.
"NO! I had no idea whatsoever! I can't remember a single thing outside of today!" I yelled.
That made her put me down, however her skeptical look did not leave her face.
"What else can you do?" she asked me angrily.
"I just said I can't remember anything outside of today" I replied, slightly more calmly this time.
She didn't seem too happy with my answer, but gave up all together. She turned back to her squad.
"Apply any medi-gel if needed and get back into position. Any other forces around here will have heard that".
"Yes ma'am" her squad chorused.
As they ran through their personal checks and repositioned themselves, the commander began checking the equipment of the Batarians we had just cut down. She came back with a few rifles.
"Here" she said to me as she tossed a rifle at me through the air.
I expertly caught it with one hand around the handle. Checking it out, it appeared to be a standard Mk 1 Terminator assault rifle. It was pretty beat up, but the scope worked just fine.
Tucking my pistol into one of the loops in my jeans, I shouldered the rifle and readied myself for fight number 2.
It wasn't long until the next group of Batarians approached. We quickly and rather uneventfully dispatched the smaller group of thirty or so. I soon found I didn't like the hard and unpredictable kick of the assault rifle and stood it up against the wall next to me. I much more preferred the precision and predictable kick of the Striker.
The next few groups that came across us were even smaller than the second and hardly fought together. To say we put them down easily would be an understatement.
It wasn't until hours after our first fight that a massive group of Batarians approached us.
"That's a lot of Batarians" I mumbled aloud.
Approaching us from three separate directions, spread out pretty evenly, the Batarians slowly and methodically closed in on our position. It was clear they knew where we were, unlike the past few groups. One stepped forward, omni-tool held activated in front of him.
"That is enough you pathetic worms" his voice boomed from the speakers of his omni-tool, "lay down your arms and surrender and you need not die today. You have three seconds to comply, or we will kill you all".
"Ideas, ma'am?" Malovich asked.
"Kill them all" the commander growled.
Dean was the first to react. He quickly popped up out of cover and fired on the apparent leader of the Batarian group. His shot was slightly off, merely braking his shields and clipping the side of his head. He went down, but was definitely not dead.
Deciding to join the fight, I tried to focus on the sensation i felt earlier when I had activated my barrier. Surely I could do it again if I focused. After a few moments of concentrating, and a "Hurry up!" shouted by the commander, I finally got my barrier reactivated.
Let's do this, I thought as I inwardly smiled. I stood up out of cover and began firing. I had every intention of taking advantage of my 15 rounds before a cool down was necessary. Since I was located on the left side of our formation, I decided to start there and work my way inwards. I lined up my sights on the furthest Batarian I could to the left and pulled the trigger rapidly four times. The first three shots broke his shield and the fourth went through his chest, hopefully where his heart was. I snapped to another target and repeated the process, putting him down as well. A sudden influx in fire my way forced me down in cover.
"Don't get cocky now that you have a barrier, Civvie" the commander shouted to me with a grin.
Ignoring her, I focused back on the fight. I noticed the commander was definitely a seasoned veteran. She fought methodically, wasted no energy or time with her movements, and despite focusing on what she was doing she appeared to see the entire battle around her. I also noticed she was a strong biotic, evidenced by the multiple biotic abilities she was using. Despite having never seen these moves before, I knew what they were. Warp, Throw, and Lift appeared to be her favorite moves. She was disrupting their lines, throwing and lifting our enemies out of position with relative ease. Brennan was also using similar moves, however at a much slower pace. They both used their biotics in combination with their assault rifles in a terrifying display of power.
Getting a little curious, I tried to mimic her movements when she used throw. Concentrating on that feeling in the back of my head again, I applied what i thought were similar hand gestures with as much emphasis as I could. Instead a dark blue sphere of energy erupted from my hands and crashed into the middle of a group of Batarians. Four of them were suddenly picked up off of the ground and were floating in space.
The commander and I quickly opened fire on them while they were in their helpless state. We quickly killed two of them before the mass effect field I had created looked to waver. At that moment, the commander shot a warp at them. The resultant blast propelled them backwards into their fellow pirates, killing the two in the explosion.
"Can you do that again?" the commander asked me.
"I can try" I replied with a smile.
I began throwing singularities rapid fire across the battle, however I noticed two things. One, after throwing about two more singularities i suddenly felt a lot more tired. Two, they got weaker the more I threw in rapid succession.
"Not like that! You need to give yourself a few seconds to recharge before you just throw another. You'll drain yourself too quickly!" she scolded me.
Shrugging, I went back to shooting the bad guys. I wonder what other abilities I have. Trying not to get too distracted with my thoughts, I thought hard about what other abilities I had and how I got them. Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in my head, forcing me down to my knees with my head cradled in my hands.
"You okay? Are you hit?" the commander asked, worried.
Brennan came running over to me, stopping in a crouch to check on me. "He appears to have over exerted himself. The pain will subside in a few moments" she said.
I hadn't over exerted myself. I had a brief flashback to a completely white room with a one-way mirror in it. I was using my biotics to move objects of varying weights around the room. I heard someone say, "Impressive" but I wasn't sure who. I stared at my reflection in the mirror in shock. I looked to be about ten years old. With the memory came an influx of information passing through my brain, as if there had been a blocker in my brain and the memory removed it. I began to feel angry, the kind of anger you feel when you rehash memories you've long kept suppressed. Suddenly, I knew exactly what I could do with my biotics.
Slowly rising to my feet, I glanced at the commander.
"Cover me" I said with a grin before I vaulted my cover. Locking in on my target, a rather large, ugly looking Batarian was just aiming his rifle at me. I quickly sent out a shockwave that stumbled him and the others around him. I then prepared myself to charge, like bending a giant rubber band, before snapping into action and exploding into the front of the still stumbled Batarian. The force of the impact was enough to kill him instantly, but the resulting biotic explosion resulted from the impact was enough to blow his buddies around him apart as well. By now the twenty or so remaining Batarians that made up our left flank began to concentrate solely on me. The incoming fire forced me to vault over the car I had just charged through and let myself recharge for a moment.
"Are you crazy?" the commander shouted at me from her position, "You just completely exposed yourself and our left flank!".
"Help the others. I got this!" I yelled back.
I formed a grand plan of what my next move was going to be, envisioning how awesome it would look to an observer. After a few moments of rest and checking to make sure I still had my barrier, I got back into motion again. I charged into the center of a group of seven Batarians, sending my victim flying through the windshield of a parked car further down the street. I then activated my annihilation field and drew my pistol. The remaining Batarians around me were engulfed in the blue biotic flames that erupted from the ground in a five meter radius around me, so I focused elsewhere.
I snapped my pistol from target to target, letting loose four bullets each until it overheated. The fourth target surprisingly only took three shots, but I chalked it up to weak shields and moved on. My annihilation field finally shut off and I slid back into cover behind a severely charred car. I had successfully finished off half of the remaining force on this side, but now my biotics and pistol were on cool down. Reattaching my pistol to my hip, I quickly drew my assault rifle off of my back and sprayed bullets at the Batarians on the other side of the street in an attempt to keep them in cover. It mostly worked, except one managed to get around behind me. I heard the click of his gun as he prepared to pull the trigger and a slight laugh. Doing the most dangerous thing a biotic can do when they don't have a shield, I dispelled my barrier in a nova blast around me, launching the Batarian into a street lamp and knocking him out.
Now I'm really screwed, I thought as I prayed for a bit of luck. A few Batarians slowly got out of cover and advanced slowly on my position. Throwing out a singularity I managed to catch all three of them and carefully peaked around the car to take them out with my assault rifle. That done, I switched back to my now cooled pistol and began to take slightly more accurate potshots at my opponents. I managed to keep them at bay long enough to reactivate my barrier. With a smile, I sent a shockwave at the remaining Batarians through the car I was behind. Hearing the grunts of pain from them, I took that as my cue to rise up from cover and advance on the last two Batarians. Without their shields, one shot to the back of the head as they writhed on the ground in pain ended their misery.
I turned back to the remaining fight to see most of the remaining Batarians had congregated into one group and were trying to make one last attempt to breach our line. I ran from cover to cover until I rejoined the soldiers.
"How's the situation over here?" I asked.
"You mean since you stopped following orders and went off on your own? Dean and Malovich are down but stable. Brennan and I are just about at the end of our biotic capabilities for this fight, and Benson took a round through the shoulder" the commander recapped in a clipped tone.
The gravity of my actions finally struck me. While I had thought I was making it easier for them to focus on the other two flanks while I cleaned up the left, I had made things a bit harder. Dean was laying on his side while Benson kept checking on a bullet wound in his back.
"He took that while covering you" Benson said.
He must be the reason why that fourth Batarian only took three bullets. Shit, I thought with a grimace.
The commander cut off my thoughts, "I need your head back in the game. Move up to that wall there. I want you priming as many of these bastards with singularities as you can. Go!"
Nodding, I moved into position and began systematically tossing singularities. Some of them tried to move up to a better position, but I cut them off with a shockwave that the commander detonated almost instantly. It was clear that numbers was the only advantage they held over us. The experience and training of the soldiers and the higher level of our gear easily allowed us to turn the tide of battle.
Just as we cut them down to just ten combat capable, in atmosphere fighters flew over head. A cry from the soldiers around me proved these were alliance fighters. Reinforcements were finally on their way. We fought with renewed strength and easily crushed the remaining Batarian forces.
Once we had finally dispatched the remaining enemies, I sat down hard in the dirt. Man I'm tired, I thought with a heavy sigh. I'm not sure how long I sat there in a daze, I barely noticed when Benson came over to me and checked on me, but eventually the commander appeared at my feet. Looking up, she smiled at me before sitting down next to me.
"You did well today. For a civvie" she said with a chuckle.
I laughed, but said nothing. I knew what was coming next, and I wasn't sure how to explain myself.
Sure enough, the commander took my silence as submission and finally asked me, "Where did that come from? The biotics? The incredible accuracy? The knowledge of that pistol".
I waited a few moments while I mulled it over in my head. I could lie and make up some crazy background but I could tell she would see right through that. So, I decided for the truth.
"I'm not sure. When I woke up this morning, I could barely remember who I was. I have no recollection of the past before today, except one sudden flashback I had earlier" I responded slowly.
"You mean when you went down with that head pain?"
"Exactly. I'm not sure what happened, but it unlocked some memories and information that was stored away in my brain" I responded. I continued before she could ask her next question, "I'm not sure what to make of it, or what it means, but I will figure it out".
She looked at me carefully as I looked out over what was just moments ago a battlefield. In the distance, a large group of alliance marines were approaching in a uniform march. The commander stood up and began walking towards them. She paused and seemed to consider something for a moment before activating her orange tool in her hand and typing something on it. My tool pinged with a new message from 'Jane Shepard'. Before I could check it she turned back to me and offered me a hand up. I took it.
"I sent you my contact information on your omni-tool. If you ever need any help give me a call. You deserve it after your actions today" she said with a smile.
I nodded before she turned and greeted the approaching soldiers. That conversation confirmed two things for me. One, they hadn't trusted me at the start of this fight and hacked my, what I now knew was called an omni-tool, for information on me. And two, I had just made a very powerful ally.
(Two days later)
Citadel News
4:00 pm. Citadel time
In a bold move, Batarian pirates from the Skyllian Verge have attacked the Human sanctioned colony of Elysium in a brash attempt to gain control in the Verge. The part of the Alliance Second Fleet that is stationed near Elysium was out on patrol at the time of the attack and did not return until several hours into the invasion. Small pockets of resistance stemmed the flow of death and destruction wrought by the Batarians.
They're calling her the Lion of Elysium. One Jane Shepard, who was on leave on Elysium during the attack, managed to rally her squad of six soldiers in the market district of the capitol for several hours, saving countless lives and buying ground forces much needed time to organize a campaign to retake control of the planet. Shepard, who has been promoted to the rank of Commander, has not been available for comment.
Rumors have been spreading of the possibility of a counter-strike operation against the Batarians by the Humans. No word yet from Human officials as to the truth of the rumors.
And thus the first chapter of Sherman's Effect concludes. I treated this first chapter almost like a game's prologue. There is much about Jason that we do not yet know, but everything will come to light eventually. Also, Jason will have much more difficulty fighting well trained, organized enemies. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed! I review with what you thought or if you noticed any problems would be much appreciated!
Until next time.