Chapter 25

Two brief flashes illuminated the ceiling and rails at the upper level of the jumper bay, and a moment later Teelac leaned over the barrier and beckoned for Sheppard to join her. He wasted no time in doing so, his trembling legs thankfully just strong enough to propel him up the two flights of stairs to the same level she was on, the effort leaving him breathless.

When he reached her, she was securing the two fallen soldiers with zip ties obviously taken from Atlantis' supplies. 'I hope they can forgive me,' she sighed as he approached. 'I trained with Needan here. We've been friends for years. He'll see this as a betrayal of his trust.'

'He'll be fine,' Sheppard grunted. Much as he'd warmed to this girl over the past few days he had no time to listen to nostalgic stories and self-recrimination right now. He stumbled up to the cannon itself, peering into the large cabin behind it that was presumably meant to protect anyone firing the weapon from the force of its pulse. It was a massive piece of equipment. It would have taken a lot of brute force to haul it up from the gate room to the jumper bay. He figured he probably wasn't the only person aboard Atlantis with aching shoulders. He rotated them to try to ease the burn, only managing to aggravate it instead.

From below, the sound of footsteps echoed up to him. He squatted down beside the cannon and looked to Teelac. She nodded to acknowledge his wordless instruction and moved to the rail, peering over it. He saw her posture relax before she even told him the good news that it was Solvaat coming to join them.

Sheppard, too, breathed easy for the moment. He slipped inside the cabin and into one of the seats inside it, looking over the controls. They were cumbersome compared to the sleek Lantean technology he was used to, and worryingly complicated. And he realised now he had no idea how to work the thing.

He put down his weapon on the top of the control panels, his fingers hovering poised over the buttons. 'Teelac, how the hell do I start this thing up?'

She poked her head around the door, then slipped into the seat beside him, scanning the panels before them. 'I haven't been trained to use this...I...I'm not sure.'

'This one looks like it might turn it on.' Solvaat had joined them, and swung in through the door, pointing to a blue switch on the right. 'Blue signifies power on, yellow is off, so that one will turn it off again.' He gestured now to another switch just below the first.

'That's a start!' Sheppard flipped the large blue switch on the right of the panel in front of him, and everything lit up, accompanied by a low, skin-tingling hum. Sheppard looked at his two companions. 'I take it that's a good sign?'

'It's operational,' Solvaat shrugged. 'As you said, it's a start.'

The humming grew steadily louder, signifying a charge building. It sent Sheppard already uncomfortable aches and pains to a new level of irritation. 'So how do we fire it?' he asked.

'I'm not certain,' Solvaat admitted, casting his gaze over the control panel. 'I just know it takes time for the pulse to build. This gauge shows the power levels.'

Sheppard looked at the display he'd pointed to; a blue line was rising, almost at the half way point on its climb. 'How high does it need to be before it'll be strong enough to take out everyone in the tower?'

Solvaat and Teelac looked at each other blankly, then shrugged.

'C'mon, guys! You're killing me here!' Sheppard pleaded. His own head was so screwed up with infrasound and drugs he couldn't fathom it out alone. He really needed their input.

Solvaat climbed fully into the cabin and closed the door behind him, sealing them all in. The relief from the physical aspects of the charge was instant, thought the noise was only slightly reduced. He slid into the cramped space behind Sheppard's seat, his head scraping the roof. 'I know if you send it too high the pulse will kill anyone on the next two levels down, so we shouldn't allow it to climb to more than half way between where it is now and the maximum level.'

'Okay,' Sheppard nodded. 'So how do I fire it when I'm ready?'

Again, his question was met with a resounding silence.

Resisting the urge to scream, he tried again. 'Lemme word it this way...if you had to guess which button t—'

At that moment the door was ripped open and Teelac disappeared with a squeal. A shot rang out and then there was no Teelac in sight, only Sarayah and a 9mm aimed right between his eyes.

'Get out, John,' she said with eerily unexpected calmness. 'It's time we took that little trip in a jumper we talked about.'

He stood as tall as he could in the confined space and raised his hands. 'Get behind me,' he told Solvaat. 'If I get out she'll shoot you.'

'I hide behind no man,' Solvaat grunted, not budging.

'You do if you want to live,' Sheppard countered. The man thankfully took note and squeezed himself further behind him.

'I won't shoot him if you come with me to a jumper, John. You have my word,' Sarayah told him, her smirk all too apparent.

Sheppard couldn't stop the doubtful raise of his eyebrows. 'Your word? And that's supposed to be worth something?'

'John,' she purred, climbing up a couple of steps to the cabin and crouching in the doorway. 'You already know I can shoot you without killing you. You're only delaying the inevitable. Save me some time and yourself some pain and come with me now, before I put a bullet in you and drag you out anyway.'

He'd set his gun down on entering the cabin and hadn't had time to reach for it. Now his exit was blocked too. This situation called for something rash...but he was pretty good at rash; he'd relied on it more than once in these past few years. 'I've never liked the inevitable,' he quipped, making it look like he was about to do as she asked. 'I think it's the predictability...'

To her obvious surprise he kicked her back and threw himself out of the cabin, landing on top of her, the force of his body colliding with hers knocking her to the floor. He tried to keep her pinned while Solvaat leapt down behind him, but since he was carrying injuries and that dose of sedatives she outclassed him in both strength and skill. She fired a shot past him at the Atrascan, forcing Solvaat to back up and take cove, while Sheppard struggled to gain control of her weapon. The initial surge of adrenalin that had fired him from the cabin dissipated as she rained blows on him, flipping him over onto his back where she could take more leverage. His abused and leaden limbs refused to keep up with the instructions from his brain as he tried to fight back, using every ounce of energy left in him to reverse their position again and attempt to pin her wrists.

Sadly, the rumour that mad people didn't know their own strength proved itself to be true. She kicked him off, slamming him against the cannon, so she could scramble away, Sheppard threw his whole bodyweight after her, tackling her flat to the floor again. The stunner shot Solvaat fired at that same moment hit his right arm and side and left him numb while she took only a minimal amount of the power and scrambled away to the cover provided by a neighbouring jumper.

It took a few moments longer for Sheppard to come well enough to his senses to stop fighting Solvaat and allow him to drag him back to the safety of the cannon's cabin. He threaded his arm through a bar on the inside of the door designed to help open and shut it.

'Are you all right, Sheppard?'

To be honest he wasn't sure, his body felt weirdly detached down one side, a faint tingle in his fingers and toes. He couldn't even dredge up an answer.

The door lurched.

Solvaat dug in his heels and pulled against it, closing up the tiny gap that had opened. Outside, Sarayah launched into a tirade of expletives and thumping that shook Sheppard to his senses. His adrenalin surged again, clearing the fugue.

'I'm sorry, Sheppard,' Solvaat yelled over the din of the building charge and Sarayah's onslaught. 'I didn't dare fire my own gun in case I hit you, but I found the Wraith weapon near the cannon. Teelac must have dropped it there. You leapt just as I fired at her. You were in exactly the wrong place at the wrong moment.'

'Yeah, it's an occupational hazard when I'm around Sarayah,' Sheppard shouted back, trying to rub some of the sensation back into his numb arm. He paused a moment, listening to the grating pitch of the cannon. He checked the gauge. It was at the half-way mark.

'It's high enough...we should fire it,' Solvaat shouted.

In an instant, Sarayah fell silent. The two of them stared at the door, listening. The hum masked any noises she might be making out there.

'Do NOT let go of that door,' Sheppard ordered, returning his attention to the controls. There were numerous dials and switches and buttons, but nothing that jumped out at him as the one he needed.

'Okay...so...what do I do.'

'I...still don't know, Solvaat confessed. 'This is far more complicated than any weapon I have ever been asked to use.'

Sheppard pressed a few buttons, but nothing happened. 'What happens if we don't fire it?' Sheppard called, feeling the vibrations in the cabin now rattling up through the seat and into his aching bones.

'I don't know, but I doubt it will be good,' Solvaat yelled back to him.

Through the corner of the windshield Sheppard noticed movement. He started, fearing Sarayah was returning to force open the door, but what he saw was in some ways even worse. The jumper beside them was rising and manoeuvring into the centre of the jumper bay. She'd set the automated departure sequence in motion.

'No!' Sheppard began frantically flipping switches, but nothing worked. It had to be a specific combination, and the people who knew it were still lying unconscious on the floor outside the cannon. 'Come on! Gimme a break, will ya?'

The bay floor opened up and the craft began to sink through the opening.

'She's leaving the station,' Solvaat shouted, releasing his grip on the door at last.

'I know that!' Sheppard snapped, continuing to try different combinations of controls. 'I have to stop her!'

'Stop her? Why? Parhaadon is undoubtedly dead, and without Sarayah here I am in sole charge of the troops. I can call off the invasion. You don't need her.'

Solvaat had no idea how much Sheppard wished that was true. He flashed a furious and desperate look at the man, then continued frantically trying to operate the pulse. 'It's complicated. Just help me stop her.'

The jumper had disappeared from view. Through the opening, the tell-tale blue flash of an event horizon engaging shone out, illuminating the jumper bay. It was too late; she was going.

'Crap!' He was about to try more combinations when what Solvaat had just said sank in. Instead, he hit the switch to turn the device off, feeling immense relief through his whole body as the rattling buzz died down to silence.

'Contact your people in the control room...find out where she went,' he barked, throwing open the door and wobbling off toward the nearest jumper. He was barefoot and dressed in nothing but his blood-stained scrubs, but he didn't have time to worry about that. They had to track her now while she was still figuring the ship out. Kitting himself out with a uniform wasn't an option.

'You're not seriously considering going after her?' Solvaat called, jumping down behind him.

'You know anyone else who can fly one of these things?' Sheppard quipped.

Solvaat did as he asked, contacting those troops in the control room. 'Did anyone see the address that ship travelled to? Was it Atrasca?'

A voice answered instantly. 'No, Sir. It wasn't Atrasca. I only memorised four symbols before it shut down.'

'Dammit!' Sheppard hissed, grinding to a halt.

'Will the control room have no record of it?' Solvaat asked hopefully.

Sheppard leaned his back against the jumper and letting himself slide down to the floor. 'It'll be contained in the data logs, but by the time we get McKay in to retrieve it she'll be long gone. Sarayah is frighteningly good at covering her tracks. We've lost her...dammit!'

A groan halted his self-pity in an instant. His head snapped up and his eyes locked on Solvaat's. He hadn't even stopped for a second to consider Teelac. He'd simply assumed she was dead, as it seemed had her colleague.

There was a smeared blood trail on the floor, and the two of them followed it, finding an injured but very much alive Teelac hiding behind another of the jumpers. 'I managed to roll as she fired at me,' she explained as they approached. 'The projectile clipped my side...' Sheppard squatted beside her and lifted her jacket, revealing a deep, oozing wound over where her kidney would be. 'I don't think it is serious...'

Sheppard forced himself back onto his feet and retrieved the first aid kit from the rear of the jumper shielding her hiding place. He pulled out a pressure dressing and Solvaat helped him apply it. 'Don't worry. Carson –' He stopped, the thought of what had happened to Carson striking him again. The doctor would not be helping this young woman now. 'We'll get you patched up.'

He stood up, swaying slightly at the change in altitude. 'Before, you said with Parhaadon dead and Sarayah gone you could take charge. Are you sure he's dead?' he asked the grizzled Atrascan, watching the wry smile creep across his face.

'The last time I saw him, he and Sarayah had just had a blazing argument. Then, with events at their most precarious, he suddenly disappears to do something else and apparently hands control over to Sarayah in his absence. How does that sound to you?'

'Like he's dead,' Sheppard admitted.

'I suspect his body will turn up eventually...hopefully before the stench overpowers your beautiful city,' Solvaat chuckled. 'He's really no loss to us, I assure you.'

'So, can you do it...take control and call it off?'

Solvaat smiled and nodded. 'Trust me, many here will be very relieved to hear this is all over.'

He strolled away, giving the command. His whole body posture spoke of his relief to bring the invasion to a close. Sheppard was glad that he and apparently some of the others hadn't completely lost their morals. Absolute power was seductive; once you'd had a taste of it, you started to crave more. Perhaps it was a good thing the leadership on Atrasca was so greedy at keeping power to themselves and not devolving it through the ranks. It allowed people like Solvaat to remain untainted.

'Sheppard,' Teelac whispered, the effort involved in speaking clearly etched on her young features.

He looked down at her. 'Yeah?'

'I'm sorry about your doctor friend. He was a good man.'

Her words brought a wave of emotion to the surface, one he struggled to keep in check. 'Yeah...yeah, he was. But you need to think of yourself now. Leave worrying about him to me.'

Solvaat finished speaking, and turned back to his companions. 'It is done. The troops are standing down.'

Sheppard nodded, and although he trusted Solvaat himself, he had to check with McKay that all the soldiers were on board with the new orders.

'McKay...sit rep?'

'The Atrascans have lowered their weapons...Is it over?'

Sheppard closed his eyes as the adrenalin that had been keeping him going seemed to leave him all in an instant. Despite the surge of exhaustion threatening to floor him, he replied, 'It's over, Rodney. Stay there, I'm coming to you.'

He stood on legs that by rights should not have held him and stumbled over to Solvaat. 'You want me to help you get Teelac to the infirmary?'

'No, I have some troops on the way to assist with that. You should go be with your own people. Once Teelac is comfortable I will contact Atrasca and let Danteeras know our decision here.'

'That's not gonna go down well,' Sheppard huffed.

Solvaat shrugged. 'I'll cite the collapse of leadership as the cause of our surrender...hopefully that will be excuse enough.'

Sheppard held out his hand. Solvaat frowned, but put his own into it and let Sheppard give it a firm shake. 'Thank you.'

'You have nothing to thank me for,' the older man grunted. 'This invasion should have never happened.'

Never had a truer word been spoken.

oooOOOooo

The journey to the chair room was painful and exhausting, but still nothing compared to the torture of seeing the tear stained faces of his two friends kneeling beside Carson when Sheppard arrived at the chair room. The medic lay on his side, a deep crimson pool of blood beneath him spilling from a wound almost central to his torso. His pallor and lack of movement were so uncharacteristic that it stopped Sheppard in his tracks for a few moments, the tragedy too much to absorb. Carson was dead because he had been too out of it to work the control chair, and although he knew it wasn't entirely his fault, the burden of responsibility weighed heavily on his shoulders. If he could have just stayed conscious a little while longer...

He knelt beside Elizabeth, who dragged him into a hug he wasn't expecting or in any condition to take, but didn't have the heart to end. She thankfully pulled back just a few seconds later, wiping tears away and taking a couple of deep breaths before speaking to him.

'I don't think he suffered. He...he just dropped and then didn't move...' she stammered, clearly struggling to keep her composure.

'Like that makes this better?' Rodney snapped, then his face crumpled. 'I'm sorry...it's just...he didn't deserve this.'

Sheppard shook his head, trying to contain his emotions to be strong for them both. 'No...no, he didn't. I should have been here to stop this...'

'John! You couldn't have done more to help if you'd tried,' Elizabeth assured him. 'Besides, Sarayah would have shot someone today no matter what you did...she can't help herself.'

Because of me, Sheppard thought, but this time he kept that feeling of guilt to himself.

In that moment of silent contemplation he heard an almost imperceptible breathy groan.

Sheppard stared, watching Carson. He didn't dare believe he'd heard that. A quick glance toward the others showed their shared disbelief. Elizabeth leaned in and grasped the doctor's shoulder. 'Carson?'

He groaned again, this time a little louder.

Both Elizabeth and McKay let out a quick burst of laughter, a totally inappropriate response, but one Sheppard had seen many times when near miraculous events had happened. This ranked right up there with the best of them...until Carson very quietly rasped, 'I...I can't...feel...my legs...'

The manic grin on McKay's face fell away. 'Oh, God!'

The things Sheppard had seen and overheard while flying med-evacs in Afghanistan instantly kicked in. 'I'll get help, Carson,' him promised him, pushing up. 'Stay with him, Elizabeth. McKay, fetch a first aid kit and put a pressure pad on that wound. But don't move him!'

McKay nodded. 'Where are you going?'

'I'm gonna get the medical team from wherever they got dumped, and anyone else I can fit in the jumper. It's time for our people to come home.'

He asked the closest Atrascan for his radio, contacting Solvaat as he made for the door. 'Solvaat. Carson's alive and I need to get medical help for him fast. Can you get someone in the control room to dial up the planet you sent my people to?'

'Sheppard, you're in no condition to –'

'I don't need to hear your opinions on my health right now!' he snapped, stepping into a transporter and sending it to the jumper bay. 'There's no time to think about whether I'm fit for this or not. My people need to see someone they trust or we'll waste valuable time getting them back here. I'll rest when this is done.'

A pause followed, then Solvaat responded with, 'I'm on my way to the control room now. I'll give the order to dial.'

Sheppard half-jogged to the nearest jumper once in the bay. He didn't hesitate to close the rear hatch and drop into the pilot seat, neglecting the preliminary checks it was protocol to run through and instead setting the craft straight into its launch pattern. It manoeuvred out to the centre of the bay and descended through the receding floor panels, lowering itself down in front of the 'gate just as the first symbols locked in. The aches and pains of his ordeal had kicked in big time now he was sitting still, but he gritted his teeth and told himself to suck it up. Carson needed him; he could buckle on his own time when this last job was done.

The third symbol had just locked into place when the gate stopped dialling, the process interrupted by an incoming wormhole taking precedence over the instruction.

Sheppard watched as the seven symbols illuminated an unfamiliar address, hearing Solvaat's voice over the radio he'd dropped into the co-pilot's seat beside him. 'It's coming from Atrasca. Stay in your craft, Sheppard, and let me deal with this.'

That sounded like good advice to him. He really had no desire to get into a disagreement with anyone else right now.

The wormhole connected, bathing the gate room in its brilliance, and for just a few brief seconds Sheppard held his breath as Solvaat darted from his place in the control room and down in front of the jumper, ready to greet his incoming comrades.

One large, rotund man stepped through, flanked by two armed guards. 'Drop your weapons. The invasion is over.'

No one argued. Clearly this man held some sway. Was he the supreme commander he'd been hearing about? Sheppard had never actually seen the man before, not even in his visions, so he didn't know for sure. But he had to be someone important.

Then, as the few Atrascans in view from his windshield lowered their guns, Ronon came through, armed and ready to fight. No matter what had been discussed on the other side of that wormhole, the Satedan had apparently chosen to expect the worst.

Sheppard heaved himself out of his seat and shifted his weary butt to the back of the jumper, slamming his palm into the controls and lowering the rear hatch.

Ronon relaxed the moment he saw Sheppard, and gradually more and more Atlantis personnel came through behind him, Teyla included. The relief Sheppard himself felt was immeasurable. He'd been hoping his colleagues were unharmed, but Sarayah had deceived him so much he'd begun to fear the worst.

On seeing him, Teyla hurried forward, stopping short of throwing her arms around him, but only just. 'John...you are hurt.'

'It's just a few scratches,' he lied, knowing the blood caked on his scrubs told a very different story. 'Good of you all to join us.'

'We are sorry it took so long,' she apologised, her expression deeply etched with her obvious concern. She reached out as if to stroke his arm, but even the thought of that made him flinch and she dropped her hand away.

He looked back at the crowds coming through the gate, realising they were only military personnel as the gate shut down. 'Where's everyone else?'

'On Medulsa...we thought they would be safe there under Alishia's care.'

'We need to go get the medical team. Carson's hurt...seriously hurt.' He was already turning from her when she caught hold of him, finally daring contact.

'Let me bring them back here. Major Lorne can pilot me to the village. Your place is here, resting.'

He wanted to argue, he really did, but now, with the very real opportunity to let someone else take over, his body rebelled and his legs crumpled, only Teyla's swift reflexes stopping him from hitting the floor hard. Ronon was there in an instant, helping to lower him down.

'Major,' Sheppard croaked. 'You heard the lady. Get her to Medulsa.'

'Yes, Sir,' he heard Lorne respond, then listened to him run up the rear jumper hatch to fire up the craft.

'We will go now. Ronon...make sure John is taken to the infirmary.'

'I will...now go,' he nodded, his green eyes fixing on Sheppard's as the rest of the room went a little fuzzy. 'You want me to carry you?'

'No...I can walk.'

Sheppard heard the jumper rising and the 'gate beginning to dial. So he barked an order for the rest of the Atlantis military personnel to start gathering up the Atrascans' weapons and let Ronon guide him out of there. He didn't like letting go of the reins at a time like this, but he'd reached his limit for physical exhaustion and he knew right now he couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag if he needed to. Hard as it was for him to relinquish responsibility, he knew he had to sleep and trust that someone else would do what needed to be done for Carson and the city.

oooOOOooo

Later, on Atrasca, Sarayah sat in her stolen and cloaked jumper and brooded. Once again, her wishes to show Sheppard how much she loved him had been thwarted by that voice that had always plagued her, and now she had to begin her plans again. She had been running over her visions of the future for the past hour, trying to think of some event, some other contact she could make that could produce the result she desired. Nothing in particular struck her as the ideal opportunity. Most peoples in the Pegasus Galaxy were technologically retarded and so of little use to her. Nothing about them would capture the interest of the Atlanteans and give her a doorway in.

Her efforts over the past few days had exhausted her, and knowing she was safe from prying eyes, she allowed herself some time to sleep and rejuvenate...

...and in her dream, she saw herself in the corridors of Atlantis. But she felt...different. She could see beyond the most immediate walls, hear the thoughts of dozens of people, experience their emotions and memories at a touch. Not that she was touching them in the usual sense of it. She was like a spirit, insubstantial, passing through others as if they posed no barrier. She reached out with her senses, listening to what they told her. Seeking out the one thing she longed to reach...

And there he was, John Sheppard, sleeping in his room and totally unaware of her presence...

Her eyes snapped open, and for a moment she felt deep sadness to find she was just her same old corporeal self. The dream had felt so real...his closeness had been tangible. It was a different dream from any she'd had before, and the more she mulled it over, the more she realised this wasn't an image fed to her from the Sarayah now imprisoned back on Earth. Her former self had never been free to roam aboard Atlantis in that state. This dream had been something entirely new and different.

From her vantage point on a rise overlooking the hidden entrance to the Atrascan facility she watched a few troops and vehicles come and go about their duties. She curled her lip, remembering the times she'd spent with many of the high-ranking males here just to worm her way into their trust and their hierarchy. The recollections sickened her now, even more so than they had before. Those encounters had all been for nothing. She was no better off now than when Sheppard had departed Medulsa two years ago. Those men had used her and she had got nothing of value in return, in fact, with the experimental 'gate now close to operational, she was in a worse position than she had been two years ago. She should never have handed it to the Atrascans. She should have destroyed the thing and gone out after Sheppard on her own. There had been ample opportunities to kidnap him...but that wouldn't have made him love her. Now, that plan, too, had gone awry. All she'd ever wanted was to be with Sheppard, but now she'd pushed him further away. He hated her and would no doubt do everything in his power to put her through that 'gate.

So blow it away.

She could do that. One well placed drone would do untold damage to the Atrascan facility, she was certain. But she wasn't practiced with those things yet. She couldn't be sure she could get it into the facility far enough to destroy the device. And if she didn't destroy it completely, that wretched McKay would no doubt put it back together again. Why hadn't she killed the whining little wretch when she'd had the chance?

If you can't destroy it, maybe you can use it against the Atlanteans.

She held her breath for a moment, letting that idea blossom and grow. Perhaps this latest dream had been trying to tell her she would do just that. Those images had to have been of the future, a future where she would travel the corridors of Atlantis unchallenged. She'd learned enough from her previous dreams to know what had happened when Sheppard had put the earlier version of herself into the 'gate. He'd thought the words 'Go to Hell', and the power needed to send her to his own personal hell had overloaded the 'gate generation device, destroying it. With nowhere else to go, the 'gate had stored itself in the next most complex device available. The other Sarayah's body.

But she didn't know whether she should try to send herself to Earth. What if it went wrong and she ended up stranded on a strange planet without any special powers to protect herself? She'd witnessed the violence out there in Afghanistan. Some of those people had been monsters; if she got trapped amongst them she might not survive. But perhaps the trip to Earth wasn't key in all this. Perhaps all she had to ensure was that as she entered the wormhole to travel the device was destroyed before the process was complete. With nowhere else to go, she would be the nearest, most complex unit available for it to store itself in. As long as she travelled somewhere primitive...like Medulsa. Her pulse raced at the thought of returning there with such strength and taking her revenge on those who had turned against her.

And now you have the ATA gene.

Her breath caught again. Yes...yes, she did. And that might mean that people like Sheppard and the late Dr Beckett would not be able to control her this time. This was beginning to feel like a plan...an entirely new plan and successful plan. She could use the experimental 'gate to empower herself beyond the constraints of any human invention and then no one could stop her having the life she dreamed of with Sheppard.

And this time no one would really mean no one.

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. Everyone in my house was struck down with a sickness bug that basically left us unable to do anything for a few days and after mopping up after two sick kids while being ill myself, I had to then catch up on all the work I'd fallen behind with for my business. Hence the lateness of this update. The joys of real life! So thank you for your patience. Please review and share your thoughts. :)