This story is a work of fanfiction and any similarities to the characters of any television, film or literary work is... completely intentional. The author does not in any way shape or form profit from the following work nor claims any responsibility for the efforts of others. Said author acknowledges that they simply weren't cool enough to think of something like this on their own. The following story is a fanfiction cross over.
The Hunters
xx
In the beginning there was a crater, a really, really BIG crater. And upon a hillock looking down upon that cater there stood Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay. And Rodney said, "Let there be light." And there was. Illuminated by that light were his works and Rodney saw them and thought that they frick'n awesome.
Then He said, "Ack!" As his wife, Dr. Jennifer Keller-McKay planted her stiletto shoe on his ass and punted him off of the hillock.
And he rolled and he tumbled down the slope for an age and a day. His hands desperately scrabbled for a purchase in the shrubbery, arresting his descent mere centimeters from the edge of the crater, only just cheating death…
In his mind…
Actually there was still a further ten meters until the gentle grassy slope that overlooked the ancient impact crater leveled off and ended at a three meter high reinforced fence. McKay sprawled comically on the ground gasping for air as he glared at his equally pissed off wife of forty years.
Gathering himself he continued his internal dialogue as he shrieked…erm, bellowed, "What the hell was that for!"
Jennifer's visage grew stony as she carefully navigated over the ground toward him. She was dressed in a sleek red cocktail dress that showed of her still youthful body to great effect. Behind her a remote telemetry drone followed obediently.
Anxious not to be kicked again, Rodney hurried to his feet as his wife marched right up to him and, pointedly ignoring the remote hovering behind her, spoke in the coldest tone imaginable.
"Rodney, am I right in saying that on our fortieth anniversary you took your patient, beautiful and loving wife to see you test out a fucking nuclear bullet?!"
"It's a non-nuclear shell darling, a highly efficient, self-contained rubidium/naquada warhead that generates a sub-kiloton explosion that produces less radiation than an old style microwave. The potential yield is over three hundred percent that of a of what even my best calculations showed it would be…imagine a sub-kiloton explosion using only trace amounts of naquadah. Can you imagine what we could do with this- Gack!"
McKay's diatribe was curtailed by his wife's attempt at throttling him.
"Our fortieth anniversary Rodney! Our fortieth!"
Timidly, as though unsure of what to make of the quarreling husband and wife one of the test-pilots controlling the remote spoke haltingly through the drone's speakers.
"…Um…Ma'am, I think he's had enough…Ma'am? He's turning blue in the face."
"He… can… last… for… two… more… minutes." Jennifer offered her professional medical opinion as she wrung her husband's neck, though she still let him go after only a couple more shakes. Jabbing her hand over her shoulder she fumed. "Who is this person interrupting our personal time?! Why are there military templates down there?"
xx
What Jennifer was referring to was the squad of military BMT's or Bipedal Mechanized Templates stationed on the test site within the crater below. The Templates were a line of human piloted, limbed vehicles patented and mass produced by Rodney McKay and his company, McKay Enterprises.
Not egotistical at all...
Upon retiring from the Atlantis expedition with his wife, Rodney had found his skills in high demand by the IOA. His ludicrously large salary as a consultant and his experience in working with advanced technologies had made it easy to initially fund, and then later with the aid of a private investor, found a company that in the reconstruction efforts after the Third World War would make McKay a very wealthy man.
The BMT was arguably Rodney's most successful invention other than the radiation cleaning nano mist that he had designed and provided free of charge to Poland and other countries that were affected by radiation poisoning in the wake of the war. As a result, not only was Rodney one of Earth's richest men, but he also had a nice little Nobel Prizes in Physics to his name.
Take that Bill Gates.
The BMT was a highly customizable limbed vehicle made to perform a variety of tasks under a wide range of conditions. The design was based around a sealed, self-contained control module designed to protect a pilot from a wide range of hostile conditions. From this control module a pilot had access to a range of externally mounted cameras, sensors and in some designs, a detachable reconnaissance drone.
Many of Mckay's BMT designs also took advantage of another invention that he had been involved in creating, a gravimetric manipulator that while not very powerful, could be used to lift heavy loads by enveloping them in an antigravity field. Other applications made it possible adjust the buoyancy of a BMT as well as it's resistance to external pressures via the creation of a form of force-field.
The control module rested atop a sealed pod that contained the Template's power generation module, usually a highly efficient, rechargeable hydrogen/rubidium fuel cell or in some military designs a micro-fusion reactor.
Beyond that, a wide range of limb designs could be applied to the modules that combined to form the BMT's torso. Various fully and partially articulated limb designs were used that had varying degrees of freedom. They were moved by hydraulic actuators, myomer bundles or some combination of the two. Some designs were not truly bipedal. Terrestrial Construction BMT's utilized modular threads or heavy duty wheels as an alternative to a hydraulic actuator in a wide based leg. Construction BMT's possessed up to eight arms depending on the model with each of the arms possessing a universal attachment socket for a variety of tools.
Law Enforcement and some Military BMT's were constructed from the same Bucky-Steel/ Titanium alloy composites as the civilian models. They did however also possess more sophisticated antigravity emitters impeded in their chassis. These allowed the BMT's to hover lightly over a surface and skate across relatively flat ground at high speed. In an urban environment land speeds were in excess of 80 km/h depending on the terrain. The vehicles were virtually silent when moving in hover mode. These BMT's functioned in environments that would bog down or otherwise obstruct a conventional main battle tank, even the more modern designs created after Disclosure.
Because of the concentration of gravitons below it, Military BMTs were well capable of surviving in a mine field and clearing out mines were often a function that they performed on Earth. The limbs on these designs were powered by electro-reactive myomer bundles and as a result, in battle BMT's were noticeably more maneuverable and adaptable to terrain than other types of armor.
BMT's could also be equipped for limited spaceflight, though they were not escape/re-entry capable. They functioned under water with a fluid jet propulsion system and as such Worker BMT's were a fixture in both underwater construction as well as service and repair applications in the TFSF space docks.
With a total height of 5.67 meters Military BMT's were capable of traveling through a Stargate due to their geometry while kneeling in Ready Mode. Their shields and armor gave them a higher survivability against directed energy weapons compared to a conventional main battle tank which until a few years after Disclosure was of a design thhat did not even allow passage through a gate without an unfeasible amount of preparation.
So the BMT's greatest customer after the construction industry was the Federation Military. This was true to such a degree that the Lohengrin's armor plating had been appropriated without fuss for use in the new chassis of the Series II Wolverine military BMT line. The five meter tall Template looked like a squat sumo wrestler with its thick trinium alloy armor covering the myomer bundles and hydraulic actuators that made the Wolverine the terror of alien ground forces.
The starship armor had only been one of the new modifications to the BMT. A wish-list of weapon modifications had also been supplied to the design team. Most of these were covered by other contractors leaving McKay Enterprises with only one project.
Jennifer's nuclear bullet…
xx
"It is so not a nuclear bullet!" Rodney complained seemingly missing the cause of his wife's meltdown. "It's a micro-fusion shell for use as artillery and it's perfectly safe, heck it's even safer than the energizer module on the Wolverine "
The remote trembled. "What? What did you mean by that? I'm sitting on the energizer module Dr. McKay!" One of the pilots squawked through the device's speakers.
"Oh shush, the armor around that module is even thicker that in the control capsule." Mckay scoffed, "Sure the reactor is a lot more stable than it used to be, but the safe-fail system doesn't matter if the core is breached by a HEAT round."
The pilot wasn't mollified by that answer. "I'd feel a lot better if these things had an ejection system." The man sulked.
"Rodney…"
Dr. MaKay leveled his best glare on the remote. "A core breach would vaporize anything within twenty meters, incinerate anything a further thirty meters out than that, not to mention shrapnel from the pressure wave. An ejection pod that could survive that kind of damage is unfeasible, thus we seek to avoid such an event."
"Rodney…"
"Better armor and better shields means the power core is better protected and has a higher chance of shutting down safely if damaged." The scientist continued raving.
"Rodney…"
"A safer power core means less chance that an exploding reactor will kill you! Of course I would have liked to have used a less volatile power source but you military guys were the ones pushing for a longer operation time, you ungrateful a-AAAaahhhH!!"
"Rodney, are you ignoring me, on our anniversary, for some argument about your toy?" Jennifer asked sweetly.
Normally he would have complained about a society changing invention being called a toy but his wife had him by the balls.
Literally…
Nervously he looked from the fixed smile on his wife's face to the small hand that had him at her mercy. Uneasily he squeaked. "Happy Anniversary Dear."
In the distance, special incendiary rounds were fired into the air. At a certain height, they exploded to form complex and breathtakingly beautiful patterns in the sky that were calculated by McKay and a ballistics expert working under him to spell out 'I love you' in a symbolic design.
Jennifer's eyes widened at the display and she brought her hands up to her cheeks and flushed with pleasure. By her side Rodney collapsed to his knees with a wheeze. The explosions had startled her into clenching her fist, and she hadn't exactly let go when she pulled her hand away either.
"Oh it's so beautiful Rodney, Rodney? Rodney Honey?! Are you all right? Say something! Oh! Just breathe, breathe!"
A short distance away the drone wobbled in silent commiseration.
xx
Saturn-Dione L4 point, Helene Lagrange Point Space Dock
In the quiet moments, he remembered.
"I need a medic up here now!"
Blood…not his blood…
"Shields are at 20 percent and holding. The Sun Tzu is drifting, all systems inactive."
A tremor rocks him as inertial dampeners fail to outlast against the full force of a blast…
"Good God! They're launching nukes! Area 51 reports that soldiers have been beaming in!"
His vision obcsured by smoke he hears only the words …
"The Odyssey is hit! All nuclear ordinance can be confirmed destroyed but the Guang Xi brought their shields down to critical levels! They won't survive another pass!"
His blood runs cold…
"Status on the weapons." His snap order cuts through panic.
"Port plasma beam cannon is down, reading irregular surges in starboard cyclotron, ventral rail guns are offline, main engine is off-line."
"Hyperdrive?"
"Hyperdrive Window Generators are online."
"Sir, Saturn Defense line detects an incoming Ha'tak IFF identifies it as FJA Yavin; War Minister Teal'c in command!"
"Guang Xi is preparing to launch missiles, they're targeting the East Coast!"
"Set Hyperdrive for a micro-jump. Jump us into position between the Guang Xi and target!"
"Sir, we'll be deep within Earth's gravity well, we might not survive re-entry at that speed…I see, Yes Sir!"
His eyes leave no doubt of his intentions.
"Ops! Open all VLS hatches, deactivate weapon safety protocols authorization Homer-2-1-9-Charlie-6. Preprogram the Guang Xi in as the target. Fire for effect, I want a full saturation strike using all our remaining weapons. It wouldn't do for us do go down with all our ordinance still on board now would it?"
Stop them at all costs, three hundred lives weighed against millions.
"Sir , Yes Sir!'
"Engaging Hyperdrive on your mark!"
"Mark!"
Through it all his eyes were on the burning wreck of the Odyssey.
The ship hadn't gone down after all and they called him a hero, yet, in his mind.
The fire still burned…
A polite clearing of a throat caught his attention. To his left stood the General Commander of Ad Hoc Fleet One, General Le Croix, looking at him intently, reflexively, Colonel O'Neill came to attention and saluted. His posture easing after the general returned the gesture bade the colonel to follow out the door.
The two men walk for a time in silence through the well lit walkways of the station. They crossed onto one of the moving conveyors located within the Bowels of the military base excavated out of Helene. The nickel and iron mined from the asteroid 16 kilometers in diameter had been used to construct the fragile-looking external docking moors and cages used by workers to perform light repairs and apply finishing touches to ships. Refueling them and loading ordinance without the risk of an internal explosion.
Twenty recessed hangers had been excavated out of one side of the irregular spheroid. Each one capable of allowing worker to construct or perform heavy repairs to two Daedalus-class Battle cruisers at a time. Another, larger hanger bay was capable of holding anything up to and including the kilometer- long McKinnon Super Carrier.
Since the complex honeycombed the massive spheroid, linking hanger bays to storage rooms, fuel dumps, fusion power plants and habitation zones, rail cars, elevators and conveyor belt-ways were a necessary fixture for those moving between distant locations like the General and Colonel.
Breaking the silence the General remarked, "Your file makes for a very interesting read Colonel."
Having nothing to say and composed enough to know that an answer wasn't expected the Colonel maintained a respectful silence.
"Fifty-five years experience working for special operations, a college education, a doctorate in Astrophysics, Astronomy and Strategic Planning, I can see why you came highly recommended." Le Croix remarked looking at O'Neill.
The Colonel resisted shifting uncomfortably under the general's scrutiny. Blandly he answered. "Technically Sir, I only actually spent twenty years working in special operations."
The General was unperturbed, "I said experience, and that you certainly have, it's why I asked for you."
O'Neill lifted an eyebrow. "Sir?"
The General looked to one side where a forty meter long display showed a real time image of space outside.
"Six planets, Earth, Tagrea, Galara, Pangara, Hebridan, Orbania" The General said. "Thirteen colonies of various sizes, Twenty-three Protectorates, Five provisional members, not counting Atlantis." He sighed as he continued. "The Goa'uld remnants, rogue Jaffa warlords, the Lucien Alliance, the Vanir, the Wraith, and a couple of other hostile races that we've only seen indirect signs of."
Looking at the Colonel Le Croix added. "To protect those assets and allies we have 261 Battle cruisers divided among twelve fleets and one Ad Hoc fleet. That's five hundred Heavy cruisers, eight carriers, nine hundred destroyers, nearly a thousand frigates and tens of thousands of fighters, support craft and transports."
Turning away from the Colonel and stepping onto a deceleration track, he was followed followed by O'Neill, the General then spoke the harsh truth. 'It's still not enough."
"Our combined arms initiative on Earth was simple in concept but terribly difficult to implement. In fact, we still hadn't completely worked everything out when the Federation opened up admittance to the senior members." Giving a forlorn sigh the French national gave his frank opinion on the state of things. "The logistics is all buggered up, it's hard enough keeping up the pace of construction, now we're running up against a wall as far as experienced crews are concerned. Of our allies only Hebridan and Galara can provide the fleet with able bodies in anything even remotely resembling a realistic timeframe."
"Cross training takes time sir," O'Neill observed. "Less time for terrestrial forces than space fleet operations but even then it takes time, we'll have to invest in the education provided by the Tagrean and Pangaran academies. The Orbanians are helping us with that."
"And in the meanwhile all we can do is chase off probing raids on the Federation back into Lawless Space." The General finished with a snarl, and O'Neil frowned not happy with that thought either.
"Am I to assume sir that this has something to do with my new posting?" O'Neill asked as they crossed into a maglev car that sped along a shaft leading to another section of the station.
The General remained silent as the train car sped through the airless void before decelerating. Instead of opening the doors for its passengers to step out, the train began to move upwards like an elevator for a few minutes before stopping. The doors opened into an empty observation deck made out of a transparent material, overlooking a vast, dimly lit void. The darkness was oppressive and O'Neill cautiously followed General Le Croix into the unnerving room.
Striding confidently into the shadows the General spoke to the following colonel. "The best defense is a good offense. The First to the Sixth Fleets are busy defending the Senior Member worlds while the Eight, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Fleets are busy defending our colonies and Provisional members. Seventh and Twelfth Fleets are fighting the Wraith, scouring Pegasus for Ancient technology and ferrying supplies to and from Atlantis"
Coming to a stop at a mirror-like wall the general turned and faced the colonel. "That just leaves Ad Hoc Fleet One to watch over our scattered Protectorates and off-world allies... Lights!"
O'Neill's eyes widened as he stared past General Le Croix's shoulder at what his superior officer knew was already there, the man continued speaking unperturbed. "This is why JFSOCOM had you and your entire regiment transferred over to my command. Ad Hoc Fleet One in addition to its duties as a space based support for our allies and Stargate Operations will also provide cover for Military Intelligence and Task Force Hunter."
Smiling crookedly at O'Neill's gob smacked expression Le Croix continued. "Our assignment is to be Commander of the Flagship of TaskForce Hunter, officially named Ad Hoc One Subdivision Fox Four."
Hovering alone within the cavernous hanger was what looked at first like a standard Odyssey refit Daedelus battle cruiser, only this one was painted in a matte black coating that seemed to drink up the light in its midnight darkness. There were no windows visible, even the command dome seemed to be covered over in thick armor. There were a few extra weapons that reminded him of blocky Tollan Ion Cannons and several dark black bumps, almost unnoticeable, that studded the vessel's surface. Add the extra antennas that jutted out from the bow and laterally from the sides of the hangers pest description that Jack could give to the ship that he was looking at was Predator.
"Normally it looks indistinguishable from an ordinary Batch II Daedelus but we switched off the holographic projectors off to show you her true face." Le Croix explained. "It's the carbon/neutronium/naquada alloy the Asgard were using in their hull designs only since we've only got a limited supply from Pegasus our scientists added a little human ingenuity."
Gesturing to the ship the General continued. "It's a micrometer thick layer of nano-platelets bound together by a weave of trinium coated bucky-tubes, the same stuff we use in the GravLevs. The Naquada alloy absorbs incoming energy and uses a fraction of it to increase the structural integrity of the platelet, the excess energy is distributed by the weave across the hull, similarly strengthening the armor. What ever excess energy is left over from that is used by construction nanobots to restore damage to the hull at a rate proportional to the energy expended in destroying it." Le Croix grinned, it looked painful. "You wouldn't even dent an antenna if it were hit by a MAC triple burst."
The General's turned predatory. "Anubis refit Ha'tak won't even leave a scratch." His grin turned somber though, "Dematerialization beams and anti-matter weaponry are this system's bane though. The neutronium is far too complex in structure to be materialized using beaming technology so you are limited to what's in the material stores and what the nanobots can salvage from the hull. So what do you think?"
Seeing that he was still being completely ignored by the Colonel, General Le Croix huffed and dryly added. "The engineers call her the Big O."
Before O'Neill's eyes a section of the hull changed, photocells coated onto the surface of of clusters of the nano-platelets activated, revealing letter by letter the name of Colonel O'Neill's one true love.
Orion, the Hunter
xx
A Further Note on TFSF Fleet numbers and Disposition at the time in this story.
261 Daedelus-class Battle cruisers
6 Planets in full membership of the Terran Federation
13 Fleets
6 Systen Defense Fleets protecting assets within each Senior Member world's home system
4 Roving Fleets assigned to protect and explore the systems within and surrounding each Member World's claimed territory in addition to defending colonies and providing aid to Provisional Members.
2 Fleets with Assigned Carriers to protect Interests within Pegasus Galaxy.
Ad Hoc Fleet assigned Patrol duties of Protectorates and less advanced allies from raiders. It is composed of 20-35 Battle cruisers depending on fleet assignments, training classes and the alert level of the fleet.
15-20 Battle cruisers per fleet
38 Heavy cruisers
1 Carrier per System Defense Fleet
68 Destroyers divided per fleet into five flotillas
76 Frigates divided per fleet into five flotillas
258 Multi-role Transports
236 Orca Orbital Lift Vehicles less in a roving fleet
608 fighters per fleet less carrier squadrons in a Roving fleet
1 Mobile Terrestrial Tactical Base per Carrier
Commonly divided into five sub-formations, four Wolf formation and one Bear formation
Tactics:
Fleets are geared toward fighting raiders and the Wraith. Wolf formations race after raiding bands cutting off escape and launching massed, fire for effect, strikes or quick, in and out slashing attacks upon single targets depending on the strength of the enemy. Bear formations are based around Carrier with eight destroyers assigned to defend the carrier from enemy cruisers and fighter craft by launching mid-ranged attacks with mass-drivers utilizing a variety of projectile types and long to close-ranged missiles.
A destroyer is a swift and highly maneuverable spacecraft with weaker shields than a heavy cruiser and less powerful weaponry than a battle cruiser. However these vessels make use of massed strikes of high-yield nuclear weapons either followed of preceded by shots from a rapid fire MAC capable of unleashing triple bursts of ceramic-tungsten-carbon rounds designed to act as either a 900 metric ton kinetic strike weapons, high-speed fragmentation rounds or as a shell for an enhance nuclear mine.
Carrier tactics involves either extending fighter cover over defended area supported by one frigate per squadron or directly engaging enemy fighters that survive destroyer anti-fighter flack. With the ranged support of Frigates fighters may be ordered to engage at range or otherwise strike at targets of opportunity such as orbital facilities, damaged warships or terrestrial targets.
Carriers also carry MTTB's a heavily shielded all-terrain, orbital entry vehicle docked within the kilometer long Carrier's most heavily protected central hold. The 300 meter long MTTB provides a secure area within hostile territory to beam in troops by the battalion. It was a 5,000 individual capacity with space for light vehicles, aircraft, armor units, gun ships and naval units from any service in the terrestrial military.
Only a brigadier general in command of fleet security and terrestrial operations, his or her staff and two battalions are actually on board a Carrier the other three brigade's worth of platoons and companies spread throughout the fleet, serving as security against boarders when not on the ground. The Brigadier General or depending on the situation a Naval Rear Admiral commands the security forces on board and while on board follows the commands of the General of the Space Forces which cannot be countermanded by any other vessel commander.
As such in the performance of his duties aboard the carrier in the absence of any orders from the General of the Space Force Fleet (GSFF) the Brigadier is required to accede to any lawful order from of the commander of the vessel he or she aboard unless the Order is proven to be unlawful or assessed by the Brigadier in his expert judgment to pose a reckless and unreasonable risk to the operational security and viability of his command. In both cases such a decision must be reviewed in a timely fashion by a representative from the office of the Judge Advocate General.
The platoon and company commanders aboard Space Forces vessels must likewise accede to any lawful orders in the absence of any countermanding orders from the Brigadier General or next surviving superior within the chain of command or face similar consequences. Orders from the GSFF that affect general troop deployment within the fleet or upon the surface must be passed to personnel through the recognized commander of the Security Forces. Likewise while the brigadier general/rear admiral is the highest ranking officer on the ground, any requests for space based artillery support or reinforcements from aircraft not under his or her direct command must be routed through the Fleet chain of command unless there is a request for an emergency beam out.
Frigates are under the command of a Major or space force Captain. They are a combined Galaran/Tauri design intended for search and rescue operations, supplemental artillery support for fighters and ground forces as well as Al'kesk killers, the last being it's original intended role in the fleet. Frigates can be cloaked and possess at least four Mark III warhead enhanced nuclear missiles in addition to a highly effective anti-fighter load-out. While not strongly shielded, under the cover of a carrier, with the mutual support of a fighter squadron or another frigate these warships can easily depopulate local space of udajeet fighters.
Fighters
The X-302 multi-role fighter was fazed out of usage by 2040 with the in introduction of the multi-planetary designed GTH-12 'Wagtail' atmospheric/extra-atmospheric fighter-interceptor and the Tau'ri Nigel & Lune Dragonfly Artillery Gunship. The first of these vessels is not only faster and more agile than an X-302, but more heavily shielded armed and better armored. The GTH-12 is composed from an extremely durable composite of molecularly fused, B-steel and trinium alloy that was light-weight, heat resistant and extremely stiff.
Powered by five naquada micro-fusion reactors with a fifty- year operational lifetime the GTH-12 strongly resembled a Tau'ri designed Grumman X-29 though nearly double the length at 25 meters. With two Hebridan multiple vector compressed plasma thrusters and a single Ion engine. An antigravity pod below the hyperspace window generator to deduce the fighter's apparent weight within a gravity well and two retractable gravimetric pods to aid in maneuverability and high velocity acrobatics both within space and in a planet's atmosphere.
The shorter, stubbier wings were augmented by a shield that hugged closely to the air-frame and could be deployed in a virtual wing configuration in atmosphere for increased performance. Weapons include two Hebridan designs, a pair of angle medium pulse lasers with wide firing angles, and two forward facing rapid fire helium based plasma cannons all of which was mounted on the fuselage.
The vessel holds 32 half meter long Tau'ri micro-fusion smart missiles equipped with a manetoplasmadynamic (MPD) motor and micro thrusters for tracking targets at long range. The missiles are fired from launchers below the gravimetric pods that retract from either side of the vertical stamaliser.
Each of the naquada enhanced fusion war head generates a 1 kiloton explosion from a pure fusion reaction. It creates a powerful electro-magnetic pulse, with little to no ionizing radiation, 85-92.2 percent conversion into thermal energy, incinerating unshielded objects within a kilometer of the blast leaving behind no unconsumed radioactive material. Fighters can also one Mark III nuclear missile carried under the fuselage.
Due to the GTH-12's ability to move and maneuver as velocities disorienting to a pilot even with inertial dampeners, twice the maximum velocity of an X-302, fighter pilots utilize a Galaran designed, non-invasive neural interface. This device ties into the navigation and targeting systems, scanning the pilot's brain to determine his or her intentions and in order to optimize systems in anticipation of a pilot's actions.
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xx
AN: I'll be busy for a while… review, review, I need a beta-reader.
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