Author's Notes: First off, the usual copyright stuff. We don't own anything related to Mass Effect or NCIS alike. Second off, this is set after the series is over for Mass Effect, so expect spoilers if you haven't played them before. As for NCIS, I am not nearly as well versed as I'd like to be since I fell way behind on the show, having only watched up to Season 7, where Ziva was rescued from the terrorist group that had been holding her hostage. So this, will be taking place in no particular time between then and just as Jenny Shepard took over for NCIS as the director. Whether or not she was still alive when events transpired to bring the team to their new present time has yet to be determined.
On a much more personal note, I am REAL happy to be writing again. I've been….depressed and unmotivated for a long time, but some days it gets worse than others. To put a long story short, I think it's been this way long before my asshole dad was finally incarcerated when he tried to break into my mother's house, because of the years of emotional and verbal abuse he put me and my family through. It's only now in recent months that I'm getting some much needed help for said long running issues, and this is, you could say, a means to celebrate letting some of that go. It also explains why I rarely finish anything I've ever started though, but I sincerely hope to change that once the therapy starts up in November.
But all that aside, let's get this show on the road, shall we?
Summary: When a mission to a research facility goes horribly wrong, the resulting fallout from an unstable energy reaction sends Gibbs and the team to a very distant future. Now, four years after their initial arrival, the team takes on crimes of the future as they go up against aliens, galaxy wide mercenary gangs, shadowy intelligence organizations, and more. It's just another day at the office as far as Gibbs and his highly trained team of Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents are concerned. The name on the building might have changed, but the job remains the same.
Blind Woman's Bluff Part 1
The Citadel, Kithoi Ward
The Taralos Amphitheater
March 2nd, 2195, 4:24 PM Local Time
Nine years. Nine years and the Citadel was still a wreck. Granted, most of the galaxy was still in shambles after the Reaper War, but things were much better these days than they'd been, especially for people like Oriana Lawson. The raven haired violinist was all smiles as she looked up to the empty seats on every side, knowing that the place would be packed in three days time when the performances began. Excitement, the hope for a bright future, knowing that things were on the mend after the most brutal, merciless war the galaxy had ever seen was over, all of this and more made many all too happy to put their petty differences aside, and Oriana was more than happy to give them another reason to continue the peace that had been so hard won as she turned her gaze towards the multi-racial symphony orchestra that had been assembled for the coming performance.
But like her sister, Oriana knew true talent when she saw it as her steel blue eyes fell on the chestnut brown haired woman that was just sitting down in front of a matte black grand piano. The young woman, eighteen, gray eyed, creamy pale skinned, was blind. It was from a genetic defect, one that even their advanced genetics research hadn't been able to fix in time to make a difference while she was still in the womb, but that didn't stop Wendy Watson in the slightest. The little smile she threw towards Oriana, sensing her gaze upon her, only proved what she already knew about the masterful pianist.
"Wendy." She said in greeting to the woman in a modest white dress that did little to detract from her beautiful figure. If anything, Oriana felt slightly underdressed when compared against the black, low cut ensemble that her sister had sent from a very exclusive asari styled dress maker on Illium. The fact there was an emergency shield generator hidden at the waist was just Miranda being her usually paranoid, overprotective self. She had noticed, naturally, but at a glance and if you didn't know what you were looking for, the casual observer would never see the thin layer of emitters woven through the otherwise very soft fabric.
"Ms. Lawson." Flexing long, delicate fingers, Wendy smiled as Oriana rolled her eyes at her. "Yes I know, call you Ori, but I'm stubborn and too respectful for such informality."
"Are you sure you're blind?" They shared a laugh that drew a few amused glances from their fellows. It was an old song and dance between them, one that never failed to draw smiles out of their fellows within ear and eye shot. Oriana paid them little mind as she closed the distance between her and Wendy, her hands loosely crossed across her stomach as the soft sounds of keys being struck with precision filled the air.
The slight cock to Wendy's head as her face scrunched up in concentration told Oriana not to disturb her. But that didn't stop Wendy from speaking in turn as her fingers continued to dance lightly across the piano, each key turning a pale blue as they were pressed before the light disappeared once her fingers moved on. "Sounds a little out of tune to me. Too high on the hertz on the C key, too low on the E. Either it's an internal mechanical problem or someone programmed it wrong. I'm leaning towards the latter."
"You sure? How….nevermind, I forgot who I'm talking to." Oriana corrected herself with a light chuckle that was matched by the bright smile on Wendy's face. "I'll have someone come along to get it ready for the show. Hopefully it won't take long."
"I imagine it won't, Ms. Lawson." Oriana's raised eyebrow only earned a little knowing grin from Wendy. She couldn't help but wonder if the pianist knew more about her ties than she was letting on with the way she'd said that. "I'm blind, not deaf Ori. You should never answer an email if you don't want someone to eavesdrop on the keys you press."
"Human bat woman." Oriana retorted, amused even as she made a mental note to soundproof her office in the foreseeable future. That thought led to another that had her chuckling at herself. "And now I'm turning into my sister."
"That's not-" Oriana only had a split second to register the dawning horror on Wendy's face as she got to her feet and ran right for her. "Get down!" She shouted as she grasped Oriana around the shoulders before dragging her down to the hard metal floor.
Ka-crack!
Earth, USA, Washington
Washington D.C., outside city limits
5:41 PM Local Time
How his house had survived the times and the war, a war he'd been four years late for, Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs did not know, nor did he really care all that much as he ran a sander across the wooden beams of the boat he was building. His dark basement was one of the only things that had remained relatively unchanged. The rest of the house had been knocked down and rebuilt with all the modern trappings, so he had put a bed roll out next to the stairwell leading up to the rest of the house. He wasn't about to be surrounded every hour of every day by all this time's computerized crap. He had enough of that just walking into the office these days. Hell, the omni-tool doohickey on his right hand was all he'd tolerate on a good day, and that was only because it was somehow able to interact with the tiniest gesture of his fingers and hand, making it a near natural extension of himself. McGee had tried to explain the technical details shortly after their...arrival, but Gibbs hadn't had the patience to listen to another stream of technobabble from the otherwise talented agent. And right on cue, no sooner had the thought crossed his mind did the orange holographic display activate without his input, pulling up a priority message alert from the Navy Yard. Putting the hand tool down with a heavy sigh, Gibbs flicked a finger across the alert, opening the message at the same time.
Gibbs, it's Tony. New boss wants us to hitch a ride to the Citadel. Transport shuttle leaves in about two hours from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Vid call briefing on the flight.
P.S. Boss, scuttlebutt says we were called out by name.
That got an arched silver gray eyebrow from Gibbs as he closed out the message before he grabbed his sidearm from beneath the wooden table, where he still kept most of his hand tools. Once it was holstered and strapped to his hip, he grabbed his gray coat and slung it over one shoulder, flipping the light off on his way upstairs. He really hoped someone had a good explanation for ruining his weekend plans. The short drive to the airport was at least enjoyable for the grunt. He had to give the future this much credit, they certainly knew how to get around in style even if he again wasn't a fan of all the technical BS attached to the dashboard. Finding a place to set his ride down, Gibbs met the rest of his team in front of the transport shuttle, waving a physical badge at the guards standing by just as they began to approach.
"Tony!" Gibbs called as he spotted the man dashing up the tarmac towards the shuttle, his bags bouncing against his back with every hurried step.
"Sorry boss, McGeek Spaceflight wouldn't go above the speed limit. I swear, you'd think he'd be ecstatic, driving a flying car right out of Bladerunner, but he instead drives like a little old lady going for her weekly rummy game." Tony shot towards his longtime friend and partner who only scoffed at the Italian just ahead of him as they boarded the shuttle together.
"And as I told you DiNozzo, I wasn't about to try and drive past a krogan behind the wheel of a transport semi. Have you seen the documentaries detailing the Rachni Wars? Pretty scary stuff what they're capable of." The fear and awe in Timothy's voice was unmistakable as the computer tech hurried along.
"Nope. I was more interested in the asari during our integration classes." Timothy countered, a megawatt grin on his face as he tossed one of his bags towards his partner, who grunted when it hit his stomach before he'd been able to get his hands on it.
"Of course you were." McGee muttered, knowing full well where his partner's 'interests' had no doubt been geared towards.
The steely eyed glare that Gibbs leveled on both him and Timothy as he turned to regard both men had them giving him hurried apologies. Once his equipment and personal belongings were loaded on the shuttle, Gibbs found a seat just behind the front row, where a vid screen was located just behind the cockpit. From his seat, he could see Ziva's car pulling up just beside his own before the former Mossad agent gracefully exited the vehicle, waving a hand towards them to show she was present and accounted for. Slinging her own bags over her lithe, deceptively powerful form, Ziva soon climbed aboard with Gibbs saying as she passed by, "You're late."
"My apologies Gibbs, traffic was congested. Apparently, someone thought it a good idea to go for a joyride just as I was getting ready to leave my apartment block. The police on the scene were not letting anyone by even when I flashed my badge, so I had to detour several blocks before finding my way here. Do we know why we were called to the Citadel?" Ziva asked, clearly irritated as she began to get her things squared away in the overhead compartment.
"Nope, but scuttlebutt says someone high up the food chain wanted us to get this case." Tony replied as he to began to put his bags away, while making it a point to stay out of Ziva's way since unlike Kate, he was actually afraid of the Mossad agent. He also respected her a great deal more given how many times she had saved his life, as well as the lives of most of the team at one point or another. But like most people that preferred to keep breathing, he knew better than to get in her way.
"Do you make it a habit of listening to scuttlebutt, Agent DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without looking up from his seat, his arms crossed and his eyes closed as he settled in for the long flight.
"No, boss. Only when it might be important."
"Vid connection established." McGee stated as he finished tapping at his own omni-tool on his left wrist, drawing their gazes towards the front as an eerily familiar face appeared on the monitor. Gibbs was no longer slouching in his seat as the director for NCIS appeared. The red hair was lighter, the face a little softer, but the stern, front focused eyes and the way her face was set in such a determined, neutral expression that just oozed strength was hard to forget.
"Director." Gibbs said in greeting with a minute nod of his head.
"Gibbs." The Director replied as a second image appeared next to her own, that of a raven haired woman as she and another woman hit the deck. "This was taken a little over an hour ago on the Citadel, in the Taralos Amphitheater in the Kithio Ward. Three days from now, there's going to be a mutli-racial symphony orchestra performing to raise money for reconstruction efforts of various colonies across the Traverse. The project head is Oriana Lawson, sister to one Miranda Lawson, a former Cerberus VIP and rumored to be the second to the Illusive Man himself before his body was found on the Crucible during the final stages of the Reaper War. Miranda would go on to help shut down the remnants of her former boss's terrorist network, but she's not the one you're to investigate."
Tony's interest was immediately piqued as security footage was soon pulled up, showing that both Oriana and the other woman were okay as they stood and ducked for cover as more bullets rained down upon the stage, the rest of the symphony having already scattered. "You want us to investigate the sister?"
"As well as any of her associates, find out who has a reason to have wanted to put a high powered sniper round through her skull. And Agent DiNozzo, these people are extremely dangerous, if this does indeed have something to do with her sister. Cerberus-"
"Was a pro-human terrorist group, responsible for countless assassinations, blackmail and extortion cases, and rumors abound they also had a hand in the 'accidental' exposure across several colonies to element zero in an effort to make more biotically capable children." Ziva and McGee both looked towards Tony in surprise, impressed that he actually knew half as much as he had spewed forth in such a rapid fashion. "What? Oh I see, no I wasn't just hot for teacher. I even took notes."
"Glad to see that you actually paid attention to the important things." The Director remarked calmly. "It appears as though I've underestimated you." Tony's smirk died when he registered the sarcasm beneath her otherwise neutral tone, but she had since turned her attention towards Gibbs once more. "And Agent Gibbs, try not to cause an international incident. Get in, do your job, get out. Most of the symphony members are ex military, retired after the War." The subtext was that they'd likely be sensitive to being under fire again after surviving the Reapers, which meant having navy cops nosing around would fray already thin nerves.
"Oh don't worry Director, I can walk softly." Gibbs assured her, but his assurances didn't sound all that sincere to anyone on the shuttle. "Who's the other girl in the footage?"
"Wendy Watson, a blind pianist prodigy. If not for her hearing the cock of the rifle before it was fired, we'd need Doctor Mallard to do an autopsy instead of having you do an investigation."
"Unless she was in on it." Ziva stated, and nearly immediately regretted it when Gibbs turned his steel eyed glare on her next. Unlike most people however, she didn't wilt as she leaned forward in her seat, one leg elegantly crossed at the knee. "Oh come on Gibbs, it wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened."
"You didn't meet the last blind pianist we worked with." Tony said before Gibbs could give Ziva a piece of his mind. "Nine year old girl, hell of a kid, had ears like a bat. She helped us locate her mother by listening to a live video feed while Abby and McGeek here isolated her exact location."
"Her mother was audibly crying and begging for help throughout most of the ordeal." McGee chimed in next, and while it didn't change Ziva's opinion, she understood what they were getting at.
"That little girl's been gone for nearly two centuries, McGee." Ziva countered gently, reminding them all that they were all in the same boat. Despite her efforts, it was still a blow to them to be reminded that they were stuck in a time not their own, and that Ms. Watson was far removed from the little girl they'd once known, however memorable their brief encounter had been.
Gibbs summed up their thoughts all the same as he sighed out, "Yeah, yeah I know."
"First time on the Citadel?" Several hours flight and a very brief layover later, Gibbs, well rested and yet only in a slightly better mood, stared down at the security detail that was awaiting their arrival. The speaker's smile didn't fade though as the turian met the Gunny's stare, a respectful nod passing between them. "C-Sec Lieutenant Commander Daxio Maximus, sniper 1st class in the Turian Hierarchy, most folk call me Dax. Served at the front on Palavan until I took a shot to the right leg." Tapping a taloned finger against the cybernetic prosthetic in question, Dax looked up after pulling his pants leg back down to conceal the artificial limb. "Heard about you Gunny, word is you're also a sniper."
"You'd be right. You the officer first at the scene of the shooting?"
"I was sir." Dax replied as he fell in step besides Gibbs, all business as he began to lay out what he'd been able to discover. "Both Ms. Watson and Lawson are pretty shaken up, but the latter is the one you'll want to focus on, before her big sister comes to town with blood in her eye."
"I take it you know about her ties then." It wasn't a question as Gibbs checked the recording program on his omni-tool that made note taking quite a simple affair while allowing him to focus on the officer's facial expressions and tone of voice. Once he was sure it was working, he turned his gaze away from the omni-tool and leveled it on Dax's tattooed face. Tall like any turian, Daxio's facial markings were a deep red, a series of whorls and lines that emphasized a pair of piercing green eyes set in the officer's face. Dressed in C-Sec officer blues, Dax was lightly armored but the twin hand cannons on his hips and the long barreled rifle strapped across his back were hard to miss, even if they were currently collapsed for easier transport from point to point.
But if the turian noticed he was being scrutinized, Dax didn't react to it as they continued to walk down the deck towards the registration desks, located in front of the first of several security checkpoints. "It's one of those things that every agency knows, but no one likes to talk about. Former terrorists turned heroes, having gained a measure of well earned infamy, thus making them virtually untouchable. Oriana Lawson is a saint compared to her big sister, but even I have to admit that Miranda's done a lot of good since turning on her old associates."
"Doesn't mean anything she did before should be forgotten or forgiven, Officer Dax." Gibbs countered, but he knew that he wasn't here for Miranda. "But I didn't come halfway across the galaxy to talk about her, not unless it actually involves this case."
"I know, so to get back on track, everything we have on Oriana's troupe is being sent to Agent McGee there. Witness statements, photos of the crime scene, including everything we could find at the sniper's perch on the third floor balcony. No image of the shooter, not even a flicker of a face, which means-"
"The sniper was cloaked." Ziva chimed in as she caught up with Gibbs and Dax who both turned to regard her. "Military grade tactical cloaks allow the user to appear as if they're completely invisible to every form of surveillance. If they're using a cloak, that means-"
"They're ex military or they have access to military grade equipment. Ziva!"
"Go over everything at the crime scene?" While it was a question, Ziva was fairly certain she knew the answer, which was just as quickly confirmed by the little flash of a grin on Gibbs' face.
"Take DiNozzo, have him sketch and start interrogating the members of the symphony, starting with the two victims. McGee!"
"Pull security footage, and compare them to the ones we were sent. Maybe we'll get lucky and get an image of the sniper or find discrepancies between the two, on it boss."
"And have phone and financial records sent back to Abby, have her and her assistant go over everything from three weeks before the symphony arrived to now, have her report anything that looks hinky." While technically no one used phones anymore, the intent was the same as far as Gibbs was concerned.
"On it boss." McGee replied, catching on despite this as he fought the urge to correct Gibbs' terminology of what was the preferred method of communication these days. "Agent Dax, know where I can get ahold of-"
"I'll lead the way once we get to the theater, kid." McGee smiled, grateful for the offered assistance as Dax picked up the pace to the nearby C-Sec issued van.
"You know it's nice." McGee mused as they piled into the dark blue van before the vehicle lifted off the ground with a soft rumble as the element zero powered thrusters came to life.
"And what's that McGeek?" Tony asked as he strapped himself in besides a quietly amused Ziva.
"The locals cooperating with us instead of trying to impede our investigation."
"Sure it has nothing to do with the fact Officer Dax here sounds like a certain, handsome scoundrel of a tight pants wearing captain, McSerenity?" Dax laughed loudly at that while McGee tried to stumble across a defense against his partner's playful accusation.
"Oh don't worry about it kid, I've been called far worse things." Dax said as he patted McGee's shoulder before leaning back in his seat as much as his rifle on his back allowed. "So what's ya thinking Agent Gibbs?"
"How 'bout you let us get through some of the witness interrogations before you start asking leading questions, LT Commander." The chastisement was enough to return them to the matter at hand, and that was to find their mystery shooter.
The Citadel, Kithoi Ward
The Taralos Amphitheater
March 3rd, 2195, 2:04 AM Local Time
The theater was bustling with activity. No matter where they looked, the agents could see C-Sec officers scurrying about, visibly scanning every nook and cranny with their omni-tools in hopes of finding and collecting evidence. Yet Ziva and McGee couldn't help but notice that most of the other officers weren't getting up close and personal with most of those same surfaces they scanned.
If Gibbs had accompanied them he certainly would have frowned in disapproval of them walking across his crime scene in such a manner. The most obvious clues such as the bullet holes in the tribune were easily visible to the naked eye, but the officers currently investigating the large room were looking for clues that could help identify the perpetrator.
"This wasn't a professional." Ziva stated the moment she laid eyes on the crime scene.
"Why so certain?" McGee asked, more to see where her thoughts had gone than any shred of doubt in her assessment of the scene. She had proven countless times before that she knew her craft, and she'd been a very quick study under Gibbs' tutelage.
"He shot multiple times, and yet no shot hit the target. The first shot was planned, calculated, but once he missed his target, he panicked. Look, the rest of the bullet holes are spread out erratically. He simply pulled the trigger in hopes of hitting her instead of taking aim again." Jabbing a finger towards the stage and the area around it, Ziva waved her hand dismissively at the nearest officer as he gave her a strange look. "Perhaps if certain people actually got up close they'd notice the finer details."
"It is two in the morning for these people Ziva." McGee was quick to point out as he finished taking pictures of the scene. "Most of these guys have likely been up all shift. Doesn't help there's no day night cycle up here, people get up, go to work, go out, and go back home at all hours of the day. This station truly never sleeps as a result."
"That is still no excuse for sloppiness."
"Of the processing of the crime scene or the shooter's performance?" McGee asked, uncertain as to what Ziva was truly upset about.
"Both!" Realizing how that had likely sounded, Ziva cleared her throat, slightly embarrassed for the outburst, and glanced towards the other officers who made it a point to quickly look elsewhere. It was then that she saw something just beneath one of the front row seats. Cocking her head to the side, Ziva knelt down and glanced under the chair before waving McGee over. Pulling out an evidence bag, she took it from him without needing to look where his hand was before she picked up the object she had located. "Piece of cloth, likely from a sash of some kind. It must have gotten caught on something when the shooter tried to escape." She said as she brought the material out into the open. It was hardly more than a scrap, but the deep blue color with the hint of some kind of darker thread pattern was distinctive to the woman.
"It's quarian." One of the nearby officers said, which earned him two probing stares from both Ziva and McGee. "There's a couple of quarian techs with the troupe. Personally I'd not trust them within a light year of something this big, but Ms. Lawson has...funny ideas about people."
"You mean she's not xenophobic." Ziva all but spat out in open disgust of such backwards thinking.
"You spend enough time around a suit rat you'd know better too."
"Ziva, Ziva." McGee wisely got between her and the small minded human before she could decide that he'd be better off with a broken neck. That didn't stop him from giving the C-Sec officer a piece of his mind though once Ziva backed off. "Thanks for your input officer, I'll be sure to pass a kind word or three to your superiors."
"Do what you will, agent. They'll know who to trust."
Once they had collected what they could find, they left to grab the video surveillance footage, with Ziva fuming every step of the way. "You'd think after all these years people like him would have died out."
"Ignorance is still a problem apparently. It's human nature to fear what we don't understand, it doesn't help that the Council allowed rumors and false propaganda to spread about the quarians centuries ago."
"Over a mistake they made that cost them their home world, yes I'm aware. That doesn't excuse his behavior."
"You shouldn't." Tony, who had thus far been uncharacteristically silent, piped in. "Still, we should try to avoid bad blood with the local law enforcement. I'll try to bridge the gap." He announced and promptly made his way towards a rather well endowed asari that was busy putting up barriers around the bullet holes and graced her with a charming grin before he began to quietly talk with her. Drawing in his note book with one hand, he gestured first towards the crime scene and a moment later towards her, to which the C-Sec officer began to blush.
"Bridge away." McGee muttered under his breath before returning his attention to Ziva. "And trust me Ziva, I'm not a fan of it either. Unfortunately, even if we say something to his superiors, they likely won't do a damn thing about that officer once it happens again and we're long gone." Ducking their way into the security office, McGee sighed as he nodded his thanks to the tech that moved aside when he flashed his badge. "Thanks. Okay, pulling up the security feeds for the last few days. Hopefully we get lucky and find something we can bring back to the boss."
"And if not, maybe I can beat out some frustration on that ignorant sack of-" McGee's heavy sigh was enough to silence Ziva, but not quite enough to defuse her lingering irritation as he began to sift through hours and hours of video data.
"Is she always like that?" Dax asked as he slipped into the small, computer packed office just behind them. "And I see you found the place alright."
"Sorry Dax, but you wouldn't wait around either with a boss like ours, and yes, she is." McGee replied without ever looking away from the bank of video monitors in front of him. He was taken aback though when he saw something almost immediately after Oriana's people began to file into the theater their first day there. "Oh no."
"What?" Ziva asked as she turned her attention to the frozen image that McGee had blown up for closer examination. "Oh. Don't say a word."
"Wasn't going to, wasn't about to give that guy the satisfaction." The image he'd blown up showed a quarian tampering with the security on an emergency exit on the third floor. Despite the grainy, pixelated image, there was enough of a clear picture to make out the hood and the three fingered hands of the very slender, skinny humanoid shape.
On a guess, McGee was willing to bet that when the door was opened, no alarms or sensors would be activated, allowing him to slip in and out, almost completely undetected once the job was done. "Image is too grainy and pixelated to get a positive ID from here, but he's certainly got his hands on a security node just outside that emergency exit. Probably gave himself a number of clearances into the system, which would allow him access to areas normally restricted to the public."
"Then why didn't he delete the camera's footage of himself?" Dax asked before Ziva could do it herself as they both leaned in over McGee's shoulders.
A quick shrug and they backed off, giving Timothy some breathing room. Once they were no longer breathing down his neck, McGee continued. "Probably didn't know it was there, or perhaps it's not part of the same network. The camera angle suggests it's looking down from a nearby street corner rather than attached to the theater itself. But even then I think he'd be smart enough to gain access remotely if he could give himself access like that."
"Or I'm right and he really is an amateur." Mused a no longer angry Ziva as she casually played with a knife she normally kept at her waist.
"Or that." McGee conceded easily and shrugged. "Certainly wasn't stupid enough to overlook something like this, so probably new, which begs the question. Who hires a newbie to kill someone as prominent as Oriana Lawson?" That was the question, and Gibbs they knew would not rest until he had an answer.
End Notes: I'll admit, I've never written anything like this before. I've done plenty of stories, but no mysteries of any kind, so this is flexing creative muscles I didn't even know I had. It's been pretty amazing and fun though, hehe. It helps that I have a very excellent partner and dear friend in the form of Nomad-117, although we both miss Archer83 a great deal. Long story, RL has gotten in the way of his ability to get online in the slightest, but we hope he's doing okay on his end. At any rate, here's hoping you guys enjoy despite our amateurish level of skill in doing something this unique, at least for us. See ya!