A/N: The text should make it obvious, but this story starts at the end of episode four/beginning of episode five and will begin to take a sharp turn away from the plot of the anime from there. The events of episode five still occur, this is simply an elaboration on it. For the sake of everyone's patience, I will not be documenting that whole episode, the same events do occur while they are waiting for rescue.

Also, if any of you are interested in beta reading, please let me know. Having one would help me keep this going.


Shizuka had expected things to be different. This was supposed to be a quick search and retrieval mission, but the Gauna had turned to go after her squad instead of Sidonia. The abomination that stole Eiko's face seemed to dispatch the entire strike team with a single shot. She remembered her own panic as her Heigus engine started malfunctioning. She managed to eject just seconds before the engine overloaded. She remembered the panic of being floating weightless, drifting in the void. She couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything. The explosion had thrown her clear of the fighting. The rotation of her pod brought her around to see the chaos. She saw the Gauna fire a second shot. She remembered that panicked instant clearly. She remembered holding her breath, desperately hoping that Tanikaze had survived. The blue wake of his Tsugumori answered her through the afterimage of the Heigus blast. Then the Gauna began to disintegrate. It took her a moment to realize what had happened. Tanikaze had won. She could only stare open mouthed at the shroud left by the decayed enna. Tanikaze and the others were safe. She felt relief wash over her.

Then came the words that simultaneously horrified and thrilled her. "I'm going to go look for Hoshijiro." She called out once, telling him to leave her. It didn't stop him. She heard Command's desperate orders for him to come home, but it was too late. He'd followed her past the point of no return. She'd felt the same mixed emotion when he found her. She'd almost come to terms with her fate, floating out there, alone, until her time came. But it was wrong that he had to suffer the same fate.

Shizuka had expected things to be different. It was meant to just be a quick mission. A way to get back one of their precious few Kabizashi. She'd expected the outcome to be different. She'd expected that, if she died in the line of duty, it would be the Gauna that claimed her, not starvation, not dehydration. She'd expected her time with Tanikaze to be cheerful, hopeful, like it had been during the gravity festival. Strangely, she'd even expected the floating, the waiting for the end, to be different.

Every child thought about it. They grew up knowing that Sidonia's walls were all that kept them from the abyss. They each wanted to become a Garde pilot, and every Garde pilot at least considered it once. How torturous it would be, slowly withering away. And maybe it would have been, if she'd been all alone. But there was something else to it, too. The uniqueness of floating there in the infinite vastness. Before Tanikaze found her, when she was adrift in just her lifepod, she'd been able to let go of her fear and her panic for a time. It was as if the vista before her had sucked those emotions away, the same way the expanse would suck out oxygen or heat. The fight with the Gauna was a blur. The time adrift, she could remember clearly. It was as if she could see the entire universe. She'd been helpless, floating there, simultaneously a part of everything and distinctly separate.

It had been two days since he'd found her, and she was still processing what had happened to her. She was still piecing things together, sifting through the experiences. The experience of watching her squadmates fight a Gauna, unable to do anything to help, had been a unique sense of helplessness. It was so different from the sensation she'd felt when she had been floating, hoping that Tanikaze had given up and turned back. She'd been able to let go of herself, knowing her friends had survived the battle, and hoping that her own unresponsiveness would convince Tanikaze to give up.

He was right not to give up, though. Shizuka knew that they had to keep fighting, to keep going. The odds of Sidonia's centuries long task being successful were no better or worse than the odds they faced now. They had to keep fighting. "Hoshijiro?" A voice broke into her thoughts. Tanikaze had just woken up. She shifted, rolling over to look down at him where he was sitting behind her. She was slowly getting used to moving in microgravity. He was obviously just waking up, trying to rub sleep from his eyes. "Are you still awake? You need to conserve your energy."

"I know. Sorry, I've just been thinking," She rolled back over to face the stars, her thoughts still turning in on themselves, now that they had so much time and so little to do. "Why did you do it? Why'd you come after me?" She kept her tone even. It wasn't the same sadness that had colored her similar comments when he'd found her.

"What do you mean, why'd I come after you?" Tanikaze responded. Shizuka could imagine the look of confusion on his face.

"I'm just one pilot. En and Kunato were immobilized and you left them to come after me. You knew you probably wouldn't be able to make it back to Sidonia. Why?"

"Because you're my friend." Shizuka smiled at his frankness. He said it as if it was the most obvious thing it world. "Sidonia wouldn't be the same without you there."

"That's it?" She wasn't entirely sure what she meant by the question. Her emotions towards him were different from what she felt for others. Stronger. Was he just her friend? Was that what she wanted? It was strange to her that she was even thinking about something like this, but what other time would there be? A thin metal skin and what scraps they had for supplies were all that separated them from the abyss.

"No. No one should have to be left behind. Pilots are supposed to protect Sidonia. How could I go back knowing I'd left someone to die?"

Shizuka didn't respond immediately. She knew the answer. Humanity was at war, and sometimes war means making hard choices. Sometimes, people had to be left behind for the greater good. Some lives were worth more than others. Sidonia was, at it's heart, a military ship, and Shizuka was a soldier.

Tanikaze's voice filled the silence. "My life isn't worth more than yours, Hoshijiro. If we're fighting to preserve humanity, then that has to mean all of humanity, doesn't it? We can't stop fighting just because it looks bad. Leaving one person behind because they're not likely to be able to make it isn't any better than abandoning Sidonia because of how unlikely we are to beat the Gauna. We've spent centuries as a race beating the odds. If that's so much of what Garde pilots do, why shouldn't we dedicate ourselves as much to saving one pilot if it doesn't endanger everyone else?"

Shizuka had to admit, Tanikaze was the most idealistic person she'd ever met. It was strange that he'd turned out like that with no human contact apart from his grandfather. Grandfather Tanikaze must have been a great man. Then, maybe the lack of human contact was exactly what made him so protective of people. He'd gone so long without, maybe people meant that much more to him. She'd have to get to know him better if she ever wanted to know for sure. For now, she'd made her mind up about at least one thing. She rolled back over to face him, her smile still on her face. "Thank you for saving me Tanikaze," hoping it sounded as sincere as it felt. "I'm sorry if I'm not good company. The past few days have just given me a lot to think about."

"It's alright, I understand," he replied, smiling with relief. "It's been rough for both of us. Why don't you try and get some sleep? Maybe that will help you some."

Her mind was settled for the time being. He didn't have to tell her twice.


Four days of intensive cleanup and rebuilding was doing nothing for the smell that permeated the whole of Sidonia. The casualty numbers were staggering. Everyone who could be spared was helping to rebuild the damaged areas. En was glad to be kept in the classroom during the cleanup. Being around her sisters made things easier. In the days since the battle she'd had to learn to ignore gossip about what exactly happened. Her sisters had stopped asking after the first day, when she'd made it clear she wasn't going to violate protocol. The rest of the cadets in their class took a bit longer. It frustrated her, but at least she understood why they asked. It was either her or Kunato, and nobody wanted to talk to him right now.

Classes certainly felt strange without Hoshijiro. Tanikaze's absence was noticeable, but it didn't weigh as heavily on most of the cadets. Not because he wasn't mourned, he simply hadn't had time to become a fixture in their lives the way Hoshijiro had. En was just glad none of her sisters had been lost in the Gravity Event. Izana hadn't been handling the things as well as she and her sisters had. Hou and Ren had reached out to her, to try and cheer her up. En had stayed away. She just wanted to get back out there and fight. It felt useless being cooped up in class while restoration work was being done. She wasn't able to do anything in her last fight with the Gauna, and now she wasn't allowed to do anything back on Sidonia. It was starting to drive her crazy.

She didn't understand the need for pilots to know the history of the wars. The fact that there were five hundred Seed ships sent out, the fact that the last ship they encountered was the Aposims, didn't seem like they had much bearing on the war at hand. It wasn't peacetime anymore. Stories of the past could only help so much. The lecture continued in much the same vein, and En only paid it partial attention. They were dismissed at the end of the hour, instructed to meet again in two hours time to continue their combat simulation training.

En started towards the exit of the classroom well before any of her sisters, who were obviously feeling much more chatty than she was. She was almost to the door when she heard one of them calling for her.

"Hey En! Where're you going?" En turned to find Shou coming after her. "You're not going to leave us here, are you?"

En, still feeling mood over being trapped in the room, managed to put a smile on her face for her sister's sake. "It looks like you have plenty of company. You're going to try and cheer up Shinatose, aren't you?"

Her sister nodded, "You sure you're doing alright? You've been a bit off ever since you got back."

En shrugged, "I've just felt useless letting everyone else do all the reconstruction. Figured I'd do something helpful with my time for a little bit."

Shou's eyes lit up with understanding. "You're going to go see the little sisters, aren't you? Alright, well, say hi to them for me. I'll let the others know you're alright."

En's smile brightened some. "Thanks Shou, I knew I could count on you," were her last words to her sister as she left the room. She made her way down the twisting corridors of Sidonia with a practiced ease. It took her half an hour to make her way through all the detours to get back home. At least, home before they'd made it to cadet school.

She swiped her card through the reader on the side of the door and waited until she heard the door unlock. Sidonia was very careful about who was allowed to see the Honokas, especially before they turned four. En and her sisters had been allowed into the cadet program at that age, and each of them had proven very successful. They should be though, they'd been born to be pilots. Eleven clones who were meant to serve as Sidonia's guardians. It didn't bother her, though she knew at least one of her sisters wished they had a little bit more freedom in their lives. En was the oldest of the Honokas, at least in role, if not in fact. She would do anything to protect her sisters. What better way to do that than from the cockpit of Garde?

There was an orderly waiting to greet her as she came through the door. En couldn't help but smile a little as the orderly hesitated in addressing her, having to look at his datapad. "En, it's good to see you again." He was new. Their old guardians could pick out any Honoka by name. "I'm assuming you're here to visit the little ones." She nodded to him. "Alright, if you'll just follow me."

At least the man skipped all the warnings visitors usually had to sit through. She could have recited them for him, if she'd wanted to. He led her through familiar halls, past training rooms, bed rooms, until they came to a room she remembered fondly. He opened the door, and she stepped into a room with what seemed to be a dozen pink haired six year olds running around, with toys strewn everywhere.

"En!" One of the little ones called out, moments after she'd stepped through the door. The little girl ran over and wrapped her arms around En's legs. Each of the older Honokas came by to visit the little ones when they could, typically once or twice a week, and each one had one or two little ones that seemed to attach to them more than the others.

En reached down and picked the girl up, bringing them face to face. "You've gotten so big Kasai! You're going to be as big as me pretty soon." The littler girl just giggled as En stepped into the room, spinning around for Kasai's sake. Setting the girl back down, she sat down with her and let the younger one find something to play with. Most of the other girls were too engrossed in their own games to say anything to her. En didn't take it personally, she was sure she did the same thing to some of her guardians four years ago.

Kasai came back with a few of her favorites, old, beat up model Gardes, and handed one of them to En. En obliged, following Kasai's instructions as the Gardes followed an imaginary Gauna. Kasai mimicking the sound of Heigus cannons until Kasai decided that the Guana had finally had enough, and the Gardes returned home triumphant. The instruction of the Honokas was single-minded, if nothing else. Kasai sat down next to En, and leaned against her older sister.

"Did you really beat a Gauna, sis?" Kasai asked, looking up at En.

En tried to keep the surprise off her face, to mixed success. "What do you mean, Kasai?"

"Well, we heard the teachers talking about how someone destroyed a Gauna, and they said you were out there. They keep saying that it was someone else, but we all just know it has to be you!"

En didn't know what to say. She didn't want to let down her little sisters, but she wasn't sure she could live with lying to them. They'd find out it was Tanikaze eventually. "No, I'm sorry, it wasn't me." Kasai's face fell at the news. "It wasn't me this time Kasai, but I'll be out there again. I'll get the next one, don't you worry."

"Two." A serious look came across Kasai's face.

"What?"

"You have to get one for me, okay? Two."

En just chuckled and smiled at her younger sibling. "Alright, Kasai. Two."


After a week of floating there, doing as little as possible, Nagate and Shizuka had settled into something of a routine. Nagate spent most of his time in the back of the cockpit, letting Shizuka have the front. She needed access to the light, and, despite his restlessness, Nagate knew better than to waste energy just to stretch his legs. They still switched every now and again. They still had plenty of oxygen and water, but they were running very low on food.

They were in less typical positions, both floating near the middle of the cockpit, their heads less than a foot apart. "What happened that day when you walked in on the women's photosynthesizing chamber? You don't seem like you did it on purpose. You haven't peaked at me once while we've been here, at least not on purpose." A few days ago she would have been too insecure to ask him, but now she was barely blushing. The six days they'd spent here had bonded them. She was almost comfortable photosynthesizing around him. He'd taken to laying down with his face as near to the far wall as he could while she did. It was sweet of him, even if it did make the conversation more difficult.

"I was told to practice with my gravity belt. Commander Seii had me checking the strengths of the railings all over the area. I guess I wasn't paying attention. I didn't do it on purpose, honest." His voice turned a little defensive at the end, but he knew that the question was more curious than accusatory. "Actually, it never occurred to me to look out for one. Growing up in the underground, we never had to worry about women or photosynthesizing. I'm still adjusting to all that."

"I understand." Shizuka hadn't really given much thought to how different things must be for Tanikaze now that he had moved to the surface world. Aside from some issues when he first arrived and when he tried to escape the hospital, he seemed normal, if a little awkward. "What was it like growing up down there all by yourself?"

"I wasn't always down there by myself. My grandfather raised me for a while."

"You've mentioned him a few times. He sounds like a good man. What was he like?" Shizuka had been trying to develop a mental image of the man for a while now. Whoever he was, he had to have at least been very resourceful. Keeping himself and Tanikaze fed for years without anyone noticing was an accomplishment in its own right.

"He was a tough man. I remember there were a few years where we were constantly on the move. He didn't want anyone from the circus finding us. I'm not sure why we stopped, but I guess he figured they weren't looking for us anymore. He never really told me much about why we couldn't go up to the surface or why they might be looking for us, but I stopped asking after a while. Those days were actually a lot of fun. We'd adventure through new tunnels everyday, but somehow we never got lost. I know it sounds miserable, but it was actually a lot of fun. I miss those days. After we stopped running, we kind of just stayed in place for a while. I did a lot more training on the simulator after that."

"If you were always on the run, where did you get food?"

"Honestly, I don't really know. Once we stopped moving, he would go off for a while and come back with rice. Before that, I'm not really sure. He just always kept us fed. I was too young to ask where it came from."

"Do you know your grandfather's name?"

"No. He was always just grandfather to me. I never even thought to ask. I guess he kept that from me for the same reason he kept us on the run. There had to be something going on, but I don't have any idea what it was. Maybe one day I'll start to piece those things together. Everything's been so strange since I got here. You were there when Ochiai picked me up from the police station. I still don't know why the Captain took an interest in me, or why they gave me the Tsugumori. I'm glad, but I'm not sure I understand."

"She must have believed that you spent as much time training on the Mark Seventeen as you said you had."

"Yeah, I suppose. I'm just glad to be able to protect people." He paused for a moment. "Hey, Hoshijiro, why did you go with me to the police station that day?"

"It seemed like you needed someone's help. Besides, I didn't feel like spending the rest of my day with Kunato."

"Why were you with him, anyway? You two don't seem like friends."

"We're most likely going to be two of the next four pilots to graduate from the cadet program. I was trying to get to know him some before then, in case we ended up the same squad. He was a little. . ." she hesitated, deciding how charitable she wanted to be, "a little creepy. He wanted me to come by his place later on in the day. He said knowing the head of development might come in useful."

"Does he have any friends? I still don't understand how he got away with hitting Izana."

"He broke your arm, too," Shizuka quickly reminded him. She had been much more worried about that than Izana's leg. A normal person would be out of the piloting rotation for weeks with that kind of injury. "And no, I don't think he has any friends. I kind of pity him, really. He said his dream was to be a hero to Sidonia. He wanted to pilot the Tsugumori. And he could be a hero one day. He's one of the best pilots we have. He just needs to figure out how to be nice to people first."

"At least he has the right goals." Nagate thought for a moment, then continued, "You think that's part of why he doesn't like me? That I got to fly the Tsugumori?"

"I don't think he likes anybody. He doesn't know how to show it, at least. But it can't help."

"What about your childhood? I can't imagine what it'd be like growing up on the surface."

"My childhood was pretty boring. My parents kept me through school. They encouraged me to follow my dream of becoming a pilot. I wanted to protect people. A lot of us do. The program's hard to get into, though. There's almost five hundred thousand people on Sidonia, and only two hundred fifty six or so pilots and cadets combined. There's sometimes a few extra right before people are graduated to full pilot status, and there's always more pilots than there are Gardes, just in case someone's hurt and there's an emergency. I was lucky."

"There's got to be more to your childhood than just becoming a cadet."

"I suppose. I grew up in one of the more well off districts. My parents made sure I always had what I needed. They were strict, sure, but they took care of me. I wasn't very adventurous as a child. I guess I'm still that way, but I'd like to think that piloting has changed me, some. I don't know. I feel like my childhood was pretty normal. I had my issues, but I'm happy with where I am. I just wish I'd visited my parents more often. I haven't seen them in months. May not get another chance."

Nagate rolled over to look her in the eyes. "Hey, don't talk like that. Of course you'll get to see them again. You can visit them as soon as you get back."

She found herself almost blushing at the proximity of their faces. She didn't push away. She didn't do much of anything. She trusted him. "We'll go see them together."

"Wait, why do you want me to go?" His shock showed clearly on his face.

"I'm sure they'll want to meet the hero who saved me."

Tanikaze's reluctance only lasted for a few moments. Something about being in a family setting sounded pretty nice to him. "Alright," he conceded. "We'll visit them together."


"I know he's Hiroki's son, Lalah. We're not going to leave him out there. We haven't fought a Gauna in centuries. We can't afford to lose any pilots unnecessarily, especially ones with enough skill to kill Gauna on their own." Kobayashi respected Lalah as much as anyone, but there were times her old squadmate tried her patience. The running of Sidonia had to be handled with care. "But we also can't afford to send out Gardes to help them while Sidonia is falling apart around us."

"Then what are you going to do?" Lalah waved her mechanical arm as much in frustration as to threaten the captain. They both knew where they stood. Lalah knew that Kobayashi wouldn't hurt her, and Lalah would always, begrudgingly, accept the captain's decisions. Still, that didn't stop her from being loud about it. "How are you going to do something to save him and do nothing at the same time?"

"I never said I was going to do anything, Lalah. The pilots are fuming at the fact that we left those two behind. I've instructed Ochiai to do whatever he needs to do to facilitate that anything they try to do to rescue the lost pilots. I shouldn't be hearing anything about it until after it's accomplished."

"You're just assuming that someone's going to violate protocol to go after them? What makes you think they're not too afraid of you to try anything? You do like to keep an iron grip on this place."

"At least I care enough to be a part of the ship, unlike those annoyances. They won't abandon him, Lalah. He's their hero right now."

"I told you to stop using my first name, Meru." Hiyama almost growled the other woman's name. She had to admit though, Kobayashi was probably the only person on the ship who wasn't intimidated by an angry bear. Most of the time. Lalah hadn't truly lost control in a long time.

"There's a reason I wear this mask," Kobayashi raised lifted the mask she was holding towards her face, partially to hide her flinching at hearing her first name. It had been decades since anyone had used it. "I don't wear it just to hide who I am, just to keep my age a secret. I don't have to have recognition for what I do. I have to keep a strict rule over Sidonia because we can't afford anything else. How long do you think this ship could last if it was divided, Lalah? If we had to deal with infighting like our ancestors did? We were almost wiped out because one man got it in his head that it was a good idea to throw away the Kabizashi. How bad do you think things would get if I lost control of this place? I can't risk that, and you know it. Things don't happen on this ship without my knowledge. They just don't. But there's a difference between punishing something lightly and ordering it. I can't break the rules for Nagate. I can't jeopardize Sidonia. But if the pilots happen to get away with breaking procedure and going after him, well, I can give them a slap on the wrist and move on. They don't have to like me, but they have to respect me. So if I have to be unpopular, so be it. Sidonia can't stop for anyone. We can't afford to get caught, and we can't afford to fail. We may be the only people who found the Kabi. That means that the half million people on this ship may be the whole of humanity. There may not be anyone to pick up the pieces if we fail."

Lalah huffed, but said nothing. She'd come here to demand that the captain do something for Nagate and Shizuka. In Kobayashi's own way, she was. Lalah knew she wouldn't get anything else out of this conversation, but she couldn't bring herself to leave without saying anything. She sighed. "Alright, I understand. But you made yourself his guardian. I know you did it so you could use him as much as because you cared about him, but you're supposed to be looking after him. I'm holding you accountable for whatever happens." Lalah didn't wait for a response, she just turned and stormed out of the room. She stayed in a huff the whole way back to the dormitories, only cooling off once she'd had a chance to sit down. Funnily enough, no one said anything to the angry bear.

Kobayashi tossed her mask aside, it suddenly feeling much heavier in her hands. There was a reason she enjoyed the anonymity of her own face. No one recognized the captain without her mask. There were no expectations, no decisions to be made. But she'd signed up for this. Centuries ago, she and the others made a decision. Their lives, their deaths, were no longer their own, but Sidonia's. The Committed seemed to forget that, thinking Sidonia was there to keep them alive, that they were the heart of Sidonia. Staying on the outside had helped Kobayashi maintain perspective. It wasn't the eight multi-centennials in dark, hidden room that were at Sidonia's heart. It was the children that went to fight humanity's war, the mothers and fathers who struggled to keep their houses together, their children fed. It was the little people, not the big ones, who had to be protected.

She also mourned her own decision to leave Nagate behind. Everything she'd said, every defense she'd made to Lalah had been completely true, and if she had to make the decision again, she would. But that didn't mean Lalah was wrong. She had decided to become Nagate's personal guarantor. She'd decided that long before Nagate had emerged from beneath the city. She was the closest thing he had to a mother, and always had been. Hiroki may have raised him as a grandson, but Kobayashi knew that the 'grand' was just to explain away Hiroki's own appearance. Nagate was, for all intents and purposes, Hiroki's son. And that made him hers.


Izana couldn't believe they were doing this. It was eleven days since Nagate and Hoshijiro had been left behind. It was two days since Hou had first told her about the plan to save them. Izana couldn't believe it then, and she couldn't believe it now. She especially couldn't believe that Samari Ittan was the one behind all of it. She'd always pictured Samari and the other pilots as being so distant from the mere cadets. And maybe they were, most of the time, but Nagate had killed a Gauna, and that transcended those kind of boundaries.

And somehow, the plan to take all two hundred and fifty-six Gardes had worked. Izana still couldn't believe that Nagate Tanikaze, who'd been ridiculed as 'the Underdweller' just weeks before, was suddenly so unilaterally appreciated that every single pilot was willing to suffer the captain's wrath when this was over. She was overjoyed that her friend was finally being appreciated.

The logistics of the 256-Clasp formation had been time consuming, but the speed of it was something she'd never experienced before. It had been the most important part of the plan. It would take at least an 128-Clasp formation, but the 256 was the only one they'd been sure would have enough power to be able to get them home. Still, even with Sidonia behind them, she couldn't escape that knot in her stomach. They had no way of knowing if Nagate and Hoshijiro were still alive. Nagate couldn't photosynthesize, so what should be weeks of rations would only last them a week and a half - two if they stretched them. They didn't even have any way of knowing if he'd found Hoshijiro. Izana shook her head. She couldn't help anybody by worrying.

There was surprisingly little radio chatter floating around between pilots. She supposed a lot of it would likely take place on private channels, since flying wasn't too difficult once courses were laid in. Starting and stopping clasps could be tricky, but unless they had to change direction, actually flying wasn't too difficult. En had supplied them with the projected path Hoshijiro would have been on after she ejected from her Garde. Izana still had no idea how they'd managed to launch every single Garde on the station without somebody doing anything to stop them. There simply weren't that many launch tubes.

"I've got something here," Samari's voice broke through the silence on the public channel. Izana was on the far end of the formation, so she assumed her sensors just hadn't picked up on it yet. A few seconds later, Izana saw it too. The Tsugumori's signal was right around where it had been projected to be. They were still too far out for a visual, but Samari's transmissions weren't getting any responses. Izana tried not assume the worst, but she couldn't think of very many reasons that Tanikaze would be maintaining radio silence. Was his broken, like En and Kunato's had been? But he'd radioed that they would need to send somebody for Kunato and En, hadn't he?

Samari's laughter cut through everyone's thoughts. She'd just picked up the visual on her cameras. "I guess they decided to take a walk." Izana couldn't figure out what Samari might mean by that until her own visual came into view. There they were, Tanikaze and Hoshijiro, floating on the Tsugumori's shoulder, floating in each other's arms. Izana was too relieved to be insecure over how close they were. They were safe. That was all that mattered.


A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first installment in this. I hope to have many more to come. I will try to maintain some sort of dialogue with my reviewers either through these or through pms. Thank you in advance.

Also, I understand that Meru is not a japanese name, but I do feel that the reference is fitting and couldn't resist making it.