Requiem for a Dream
Written by Freefall Sunsoar

E-mail : freefall_sunsoar@hotmail.com
Archive : Anywhere! Just let me know, okay?
Series : Lord of the Rings (movieverse)
Rating : R
Pairings : Various
Warnings : Slash, sexual situations, violence, strong language

Disclaimers : I do not own LOTR in any way, nor do I claim to. It is the property of JRR Tolkien. Last time I checked, that was not my name. Please don't sue me, you wouldn't get any money anyways. I'm dirt poor.

Notes : This is my very first LOTR long fic. Yay me. I've had this idea in my head for a while, so I wanted to take my time while writing it to make it good.. At all costs I wanted to try and make this a non-Mary Sue fic, and I hope I have succeeded. Not that I really have too much against Mary Sues, but I really wanted to stay away from that in this fic.

On to something else now =3 My OC's are of a modern military background, so there's going to be a lot of army stuff. Now, I'm not an expert about things like this, so I did a little research on it. Hopefully I haven't made too many errors. Let me know if I have, okay?

And speaking of military, I personally have no opinion about Al 'Quieda or terrorists or Americans and their anti-terror war. I am simply using the situation as a set up for the story. I hope no one takes offense.

Enough rambling. Enjoy!

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CHAPTER 01 - Flash Fried
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"Rudolph to Fireball, what's your position, over."

"Fireball to Rudolph, I'm 120 meters from the opening and closing. Clarice is right behind. Over."

There was an audible sigh over the headsets.

"Something the matter Clarice? Over."

"Not at all Yukon," there was a pause, "These are the stupidest code names we've ever used. Over."

There was the sound of snickering ringing in her ears, which only made her sigh again. Why she had agreed to let Jack pick the code names for this mission was beyond her. This was a serious task, and it didn't help that her comrade could be heard giggling over the headsets every time he was referred to as 'Fireball'. Then again, it didn't surprise her much; he was an odd boy.

"Never mind the code names, " Yukon's voice snapped, his authority evident, "Focus on the mission. Fireball, Clarice, I want you to approach the rock cropping at the mouth of the caves with extreme caution. Rudolph and I will be right behind you."

"Roger that Lieutenant," Clarice replied.

"Roger," Fireball answered as well, "We'll be waiting for you. Over."

For the last three days the small unit of soldiers had been tracking a party of Al' Queida terrorists through the mountainous rock hills north of Kandahar. They had once been a much larger unit, consisting of fifty-five members of the Canadian Armed Forces, until that fateful night when the terrorists had gotten the drop on them. Only four of them had survived the rainstorm of bullets and grenade shrapnel, and now they were out for blood. They had lost so many friends and comrades that their sorrow made them blind to anything but vengeance.

Only hours after the attack the small group had said goodbye to their fallen friends and packed as much as they could carry with them. Guns, knives, grenades, flash charges, countless rounds of ammunition; they had enough firepower between them to blow up a small portion of Afghanistan. At one point Clarice had wished that they made hand held nuclear bombs.

It was a suicide mission, and they all knew it. Four of them would stand no hope against the group they were following; the lieutenant had estimated there were at least twenty-five of them. Poor odds at best. But she understood this, and simply wanted to take out as many of them as possible before joining her comrades in death

She would rather die honourably in a battle than ambushed in a tent. The others did not deserve the end they had met, and she would see it set right. However, despite the bold front she put up for the men, fear was always chasing through her bones, but she had to try and push it back. Every now and then her hand would break out into an uncontrollable quiver, and she had to stop and force herself to calm down. It would all be over soon.

They had tracked the terrorists to cluster of caves set deep in the mountainous country side, and were now preparing for their strike. The element of surprise was definitely on their side, and it gave them all some small comfort. They had made no attempt to conceal their tracks, so the lieutenant had come to the conclusion that the terrorists believed them all to be dead. No one would be expecting them.

Nightfall was approaching, and the sun was beginning its slow journey westwards. It would be dark in less than an hour, and they would have the cover of darkness to aid them as well. Clarice and Fireball had reached their target, and crouched behind a large mass of rock as they waited for the rest of their small team. About three meters on front of them the opening of a great cave looked like the screaming mouth of some black beast. There was no sign of the Al 'Quieda terrorists.

The two of them used the opportunity to rest for a few minutes. The female soldier flopped backwards into a small sand dune, casting off her helmet, relieved to be off of her feet for the time being. She did not dare to pull down the tinted goggles over her eyes, nor the turtle-neck like face mask she wore; they did to excellent a job of keeping the sand from her eyes, nose and mouth. They had been moving through dry, acrid heat across broiling sand for three days, with little food and little sleep. Her back ached from carrying such a heavy pack, and there were huge blisters battling each other for real estate on her poor feet.

Why in God's name had she ever signed up to go to Afghanistan?

Oh, right. That stupid little voice in her head that told her maybe she could make some sort of difference. This would be the last time she ever listened to her conscience; that was, of course, if she lived long enough to have another opportunity to do so.

For the last three days she had been 'Clarice'. Many different code names had been given to her during her short years in the military, but her real name was Saidie Trevat. Nearly twenty-four now, she had joined the army after a few unsuccessful years of community college. It had been a hard road for her to earn the respect of her male counterparts, so hard that she had almost given up a few times. But in the end she had stuck with it, and continued to struggle against the popular opinion that women made lousy soldiers.

But that was the farthest thing from her mind. As many of her hazers lay as dead as her close friends, and she would have to face their killers soon. Saidie sighed loudly as she scrubbed a dusty gloved hand through her short-cropped brown hair. If she made it out of this alive, the first thing she wanted to do was to find a bathtub and soak for ten years.

"Are you alright Saidie?"

She looked up to see her companion watching her. He must have turned the volume on his earpiece down so the Lieutenant wouldn't hear him using her real name; their commander always insisted on code names during missions, whether they were briefly resting or camped for the night.

"Yeah, I think so. Just a little nervous I guess."

She assumed he was smiling before he readjusted the volume. "Me too. Don't worry though, it'll be over soon. We'll take care of those bastards and then we'll get to go home."

Sometimes she worried about his confident optimism. One day it was going to get him into trouble, or worse.

Ever since the first day they had met, she had always rather liked Jack Mitchell. They had become very good friends in a short period of time, and he had become a sort of second brother to her. He was four years younger than she , fresh out of high school and eager to 'fight the bad guys'. This had been his first major assignment, and Saidie was afraid it might be his last as well.

She would be the first to admit he was a good-looking kid; blond, unruly hair that screamed to be touched, eyes the colour of storm clouds, one of the most beautiful and genuine smiles she had ever seen on a man - he could have been in a boy band. Though it was hard to tell at the moment, as his features were all hidden behind his facial coverings. Some of the guys had teased him about being short - he stood at only 5'10, only two inches taller than she - but he took it all in stride. Jack never let anything get to him, and it was one of the things she admired about him.

Now one could assume that, as the few other women in the unit had, Saidie had a bit of a crush on him. She found him attractive, there was no question, and the age difference wouldn't have bothered her, but there was one nagging little detail that kept them simply as friends.

He was gay.

And it was fine by her if that was the way he chose to live his life. She had been flattered that Jack had confided in her about such a huge secret. The only thing many of the men in the military hated more than the increasing number of women were homosexuals. She had heard all the stories about the way gay men had been beaten and raped and even killed when they revealed themselves to their fellow soldiers. So when he had begged her to keep it a secret she had agreed never to tell a soul unless he said otherwise.

She was quite sure that no one else knew. Perhaps a few suspected, and some even mildly insinuated, but there had never been any flat out accusations. So they had kept it between themselves. A few people thought that they were having some sort of affair since they spent so much time together, and since Jack would always silently sling an arm over her and grin when asked, the rumor had spread. They protected each other, in combat and from within their ranks, and it was something she had come to treasure during her time in the army.

If they were both killed tonight, then she would die knowing that she had at least one friend with her.

For fifteen minutes they sat waiting, listening to themselves breathe and watching the sun slink beyond the horizon. During this time they heard nothing from within the caves, not even a single footstep. There was no light from torches or a fire, so they had to assume that they were camped deep within the stone. Jack had his AK-47 clutched close to him, finger on the trigger, ready to shoot anything that moved. The others were taking far longer than they thought. Jack was getting anxious.

"Yukon to Fireball."

Finally.

"Fireball here, over."

"Rudolph and I are approaching your position. ETA two minutes. Over."

"Copy that Yukon. We're ready for you. Over."

Saidie and Jack got to their feet and shuffled a few feet closer to the entrance of the cave. There were so many boulders jutting out from the earth that they had excellent ground cover. It would be maneuvering around in the dark caves that they had to worry about.

Eventually the soft padding of boot-clad feet could be heard behind them, and Rudolph and Yukon finally came into view. They maneuvered to the opposite side of the cave entrance, and Saidie could see that her teammates had already donned their night vision gear.

'Rudolph' and 'Yukon' were actually Private Shigure Miyashi and Lieutenant Connor Harolds, the other surviving members of the Canadian unit.

Saidie knew very little about Shigure. He was a quiet man who mostly kept to himself, about twenty-five or twenty-six perhaps; she was bad with ages. His family had moved to Canada from Japan, and they settled in Toronto. Like her, Shigure had joined the army after attending college. That was pretty much all anybody knew of him.

The second man, Lieutenant Harolds, she knew far more about. He had come into command fairly young, and was still in excellent fighting condition. Just shy of his middle years, his copper coloured hair had the faintest tinges of gray at the temples, and his eyes crinkled around the corners whenever he had a facial expression, which was rare. Through and through he was a military man; disciplined, strict, and set in his ways. She had yet to decide whether she hated him for it or admired him for sticking to his beliefs.

They had had more than one confrontation about a women's place in the military. It had been obvious from day one that he did not think a woman was capable of the same things as a man, and he was constantly on the few female soldiers in his command whenever they made even the slightest mistake or showed signs of fatigue.

Saidie quickly replaced her helmet, and pulled the night vision attachments down over her goggles; Jack did the same. It would be dark very dark in the caves, and difficult to find their way. A misplaced step could mean an even more untimely end.

Everything was bathed in a radioactive neon green, courtesy of the night vision, and she held her gun, an M-16 carbine, ready to fire. It was hard to remember exactly how many guns she had on her at the time, but as long as she had the M-16 and Old Faithful, her 9 mm Beretta pistol, she knew she would be fine.

Jack went in front of her, falling in behind Shigure and Lieutenant Harolds, and she watched as her comrades cautiously entered the cave. Guarding their rear, Saidie took one last visual sweep of the outlying rocks before she went in after them. The proverbial coast was clear, and the element of surprise was still with them. How long it would last though, she had no idea.

They picked their way through the darkness slowly, careful to stay hidden behind the stalagmites jutting from the cave floor. The terrorists had left them a clear trail of footprints and debris, so it was easy to track their path. They had taken many twists and turns, following the cavern and it's natural downward slope; the place was a maze. If they didn't have such an obvious trail, they could have easily gotten lost.

Nearly half an hour passed for the small group before they finally saw the faint glimmer of torchlight.

"There they are," Jack whispered over his head set, "Those bastards are going to pay for what they did."

"Easy Fireball," the Lieutenants voice answered him immediately, "Keep your emotions under control; a cool head might just see you out of this alive."

It was unlikely that any of them would live this out, but it was nice to hear a note of hope in the commander's voice.

"There is always hope soldiers," he continued, as if reading Saidie's thoughts, "But whatever the outcome, we do this for those who were taken from us."

Somewhere, far in the back of her mind, a voice was questioning her as to whether answering the slaughter with more slaughter was the right thing to do, but she pushed it back. Perhaps they were just aiding the cycle of violence, but she had committed herself to this course of action, and she would see it through to the end. There would be blood for blood. It might not have been right, but it was what they all needed to do.

They were in a long, narrow rock corridor, which was gradually widening into what looked like a larger chamber. The light was becoming brighter, and she would have estimated two or three large fires had been lit in there. But, as they approached, they heard no voices.

"Rudolph, Fireball, advance to the entrance, but do not go in. Wait for my signal. Clarice, with me."

"Roger sir."

Jack and Shigure moved like stealthy shadows towards the opening to the chamber, hovering just a few feet back from it, and disappeared behind some rocks. Advancing towards the Lieutenant, Saidie readied her weapon, squinting ahead into the chamber to discern shapes.

It was a peculiar thing, they way he stood there almost hesitantly when she dared to look up at Harolds. He was deep in contemplation, as if reconsidering what he was about to do. Never had she ever seen him doubt himself before, and it was slightly unnerving. So when he covered his headset and looked at her with that bizarre, unreadable air, she blanched.

"Tell me Private, do you regret what you are about to do?"

She big her lip, and thought about it for a minute. "It is a choice I made Lieutenant, and regardless of whether I think it is the right course of action, I have pledged to follow you to the end. If this is our end Sir, then I do not regret it. We will have our revenge."

He sighed, somewhat sadly, and nodded slowly. "Yes, we will have it."

Nothing more was said, and she knew it was time. They would go to their deaths, but they would do it for those they had served with. If nothing else, she thought it would be an honourable way to go. Taking in a few breaths to steady her faltering nerves, she moved silently behind Harolds towards the chamber entrance.

/Please don't hate us for what we are about to do God, / she prayed internally, /If I come to your Gates tonight, I come without regret. /

One more deep breath, steadying her finger against the trigger.

"On my mark gentlemen ... and lady," he added in as an afterthought, "on my mark."

She barely perceived Jack and Shigure as they ghosted through the shadows, pressed against the wall of the chamber entrance. They were mere inches from the entrance, guns held ready.

"We are ready," Shigure said calmly.

"NOW."

The two young men moved as tightly coiled springs that had suddenly been released, charging into the chamber like some long forgotten warriors. Jack had let out some ridiculous war cry before it was drown out by the sound of automatic machine guns. Harolds signaled her forward, and together they burst into the gunfire mere seconds after the other two.

Only, when they arrived, they were met with no enemy fire. She searched through her scope for a target, but found none, only an eerie silence after Jack and Shigure stopped firing into nothing.

It was bright in the cavern from the roaring fires, and the night vision was not necessary anymore; they were making her partially blind. Hastily she removed it, and gasped in surprise when she took a good look around the chamber.

Scattered on the ground were the bodies of the terrorists, all of them dead. The other three looked equally shock, Jack so much so that his mouth hung slack jawed in surprise. It seemed someone had taken care of their quarry for them.

"What is this?" Shigure breathed aloud, half to himself, "How is this possible?"

Lieutenant Harolds was the first of them to regain his senses. He walked to the closest body and knelt beside it. Not a single bullet hole or discernable wound. There was no blood on the man, or any of the others for that matter. The commander was studying the terrorist's face when Saidie dared to come in for a closer look herself.

The man ... no, she had to correct herself, the boy - he could not have been any older than Jack - stared back at them with glazed, lifeless eyes, his face frozen in a perfect picture of shock. His hand was clutched to his chest, fingers still curled tightly in the fabric of his clothes, as if he were having a heart attack or a stroke. His fear was evident, and Saidie couldn't help but feel slightly nervous.

"They're all dead," Jack announced tonelessly, walking carefully through the bodies, his gun always pointed to the ground, "All of them."

"H-how? How did this happen. We've been on them for the last three days, we would have noticed if anyone else was following as well."

"No visible wounds on any of them," Shigure added as he briefly inspected a few of the bodies, "There is no blood on the ground, no signs of struggle. Whatever happened to them, it happened quickly and without warning. They had no time to counter attack."

Saidie stood hastily. "Do you think whoever did this is still here?"

"Perhaps," Harolds replied warily, "Keep up your guard, don't relax for a minute. Just because they are dead it doesn't mean we are safe."

Silence stretched in the great chamber, overcoming the four that still lived. It was a massive place, the roof nearly thirty feet above them with huge stalactites like jagged teeth. It stretched back farther than the fire's glow, and it was impossible to tell how far back it went. For long moments the soldiers simply looked back and forth between each other and the bodies.

"What will we do Sir?" Jack asked as he kicked an arm out of his path, "It seems that someone has done our avenging for us, so we've got nothing to do here. Do we head back to -"

"Pick up all the arms and supplies you can carry with you," Harolds interrupted, a bitter taint to his voice, "We'll make for the foothills just outside the cave and camp there for the night."

"Yes Sir," the three privates intoned immediately. They knew that tone; he was quite unhappy, and it would be foolish of them to disagree. Besides, none of them were eager to stick around.

Wordlessly they went about the grim task of searching through the bodies for anything useful. Saidie snatched up a few long knives, subtly curved and etched with Arabic along the blades - much better than Canadian standard issue - about six or seven frag grenades, and two U.S. standard M-1 carbine rifles which were in excellent shape; likely pilfered from American soldiers.

"Awesome," she heard Jack mumbling, and looked over to see him examining a 9 MM sten sub-machine gun with a silencer; the brief smile on his face reminded her of a child at Christmas time.

They remained for about another half hour until the Lieutenant told them they would be leaving. His expression remained sour, and Saidie suspected that he was disappointed they had not gotten there in time to die. There were more here than they had estimated, at least thirty, and there would have been no way that they would have lived. Perhaps, she thought dourly, that he hadn't planned to live at all, and this was supposed to be some heroic last stand to compensate for his losing his unit.

It must be hard for him, she thought, to have survived when almost his entire command had been wiped out.

She understood what he was feeling though. Their survival seemed empty now, knowing that they hadn't been the ones to kill the terrorists who had slaughtered their friends. Somehow she felt as though justice had been denied.

"Shigure," Lieutenant Harolds snapped when he realized the Japanese was not with them, "We are leaving now."

The man in question was standing farther back into the cavern with a blazing torch.

"Wait a minute Sir," he called back, "There is something here. Bring more torches."

Saidie and Jack glanced at each other, and then at the Lieutenant. Grudgingly he nodded at them, and the two younger soldiers grabbed some of the spare wood the terrorists had brought in to make torches. Harolds followed them, but did not bring a torch of his own.

"This had better be good private. I do not want to waste ... time ..."

If finding all of these dead bodies had not been a shock to the Canadians, what lay further back in the cavern was nothing short of breath taking. They had not noticed it at first, as the firelight had only managed to highlight its outskirts. Now that they brought some additional light, they could make it out clearly.

Sitting in the centre of the chamber was a massive stone tower. It reached to nearly the full height of the cave, and was almost as wide. It was as if the cave itself had built up around the structure.

"Holy shit," Jack exclaimed in a monotone, unable to tear his eyes away.

"I thought I could see a structure of some sorts back here when we first came in, but I was so overcome with shock that I didn't think to investigate it until now," Shigure said, also in amazement, "And now I am glad I did."

"What is this thing? I have never seen or heard of anything like it before."

"There are many treasure undiscovered on this Earth," he replied, a hint of wonder in his usually stoic voice, "This is simply one of them. The Al Quieda must have been hiding its existence."

"It's beautiful," she breathed in near disbelief, "But how did it end up this cave?"

"Perhaps it was buried in some great disaster," the Japanese youth mused, "Look over there, there are petrified trees on the slopes."

Cautiously the group approached the ruins, torches in one hand and a gun in the other. Saidie noted that Shigure had picked up a large black box, and it was now strapped to his back above his pack. She would ask him about it later.

There was a path up the tower, which wound around its side and out of sight of the Canadians. They presumed it went all the way to the top, which was also out of sight, but there really was only one way to find out. The younger soldiers all seemed eager enough to check it out, but Harolds hesitated at the approach.

"It could be dangerous," he surmised dryly, "For all we know whatever finished off the terrorists could be waiting for us at the top. I do not think we should waste our time here."

Jack frowned. Clearly he was anxious to explore the ruin, and Saidie couldn't blame him. She wanted to see it for herself. The boy took a step towards the commander, and she suddenly had this feeling that he was going to say something he would regret.

"Sir, with all due respect, I think we owe it to ourselves to at least take a look. How often do you get the chance to see something so mysterious?"

"And with all due respect Private," he stressed the word meaningfully, "I am in charge of this mission, and I say it is over. The Terrorists are dead, and now there is nothing left for us to do here. We can report this back in the morning."

"And how are we going to do that? All our radio equipment was destroyed. We don't have any ways of contacting anyone."

"I found this transmitter among the dead," he held up a battered looking radio, "I believe I can have it operational in the morning. We will leave now, an make for the -"

"But Sir," he snapped back, "I really think -"

He was cut off when Shigure put a hand on his shoulder, and mumbled something to the effect of "let it go". Jack tensed at the contact and looked briefly back at the other before shaking him off and glaring back angrily at his superior. Shigure shook his head in disappointment and backed off to stand next to Saidie.

"You are not here to think Private, this mission is over. You will follow my orders, is that understood?"

Saidie couldn't help but be reminded of one of those nature specials on the Discovery channel, where the stupid tiny lions challenged the great big dominant male. Though somehow she doubted this would end in Jack having a chunk bitten out of him, she didn't like where it was going.

"I came here of my own free will Lieutenant, you did not give an order for us to follow you here."

The other two Privates watched with silent grimaces; this would not end well. Jack's voice was getting angrier, and the look on the superior officer's face was enough to sour milk.

She wasn't sure, but Saidie suddenly felt the slightest of breezes brush against her face. It was warm, but it gave her a chill along her spine. Where had it come from? Surely, she had thought, they were too far back in the cave for the night time winds to reach them. Perhaps it was nothing.

"I am your commanding officer Private Mitchell, and I am still in command."

"I thought we were coming here on common ground," the youth snapped back, "To take revenge for what happened to everyone else. This was supposed to be for all of us, not just you."

There it was again, stronger this time so she was certain of it. The wind ruffled her cammo shirt at the hem, sending sickly little sensations crawling across her belly. Shigure had picked up on it too, she noted, as he was glancing around them curiously, holding out his palm to gauge a direction.

The argument continued.

"You are out of line soldier."

"And you are full of shit Lieutenant."

Now it degenerated into indiscernible yelling, and Saidie decided her earlier Discovery Channel metaphor was more than apt. But she was more concerned about where that mysterious wind was coming from. It seemed to be getting stronger with every passing minute, and her concern grew with it.

"Behind us," Shigure muttered to her quietly, not wanting the Lieutenant's wrath to be redirected towards them, "It's coming from those ruins."

Along with its increasing force, the temperature was rising as well, up to the point where it felt like they were out in the desert sun at midday. It felt most unnatural, as if there were something foul behind it. The two of them dropped their torches to the cave floor and slipped on their night vision.

Unnoticed by the other two, who were still deep in the depths of their fighting, they crept a little closer to the old crumbling tower, peering up to top. That was where it was coming from.

"What do you think it is Shigure?" she asked her companion cautiously, a finger resting heavily on the trigger of her gun, "You don't think ..."

"It is what was responsible for killing these men?" he finished her thought grimly, "I sincerely hope it's not. But it is the logical place for whomever the killer is to run to. We didn't see signs of anyone else coming or leaving. Maybe the Lieutenant is right in his hesitance to go up there."

When they strained their eyes to get a glimpse at the top of the tower, they could just make out ... something. Neither of them were quite sure what it was, but Saidie could have sworn it looked like a little twister. There was definitely movement. Shigure reached back into his pack and retrieved his binoculars.

"What do you see?"

There was no response at first, but all of the colour drained out of the Asian's face. Shaking, he handed the binochs over to her and suggested they leave immediately.

Nothing could have prepared her for what was on top of that tower. It was some sort of twister, a mass of dark clouds swirling with alarming speed. Like a whirlpool it seemed to be expanding, and it was now encompassing the entire top of the structure, slowly making it's way over the side and down the slope.

"We have to leave," Shigure said loudly, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards their comrades.

Harolds and Jack, surprised by the man's sudden outburst, momentarily forgot their argument and looked to the other two in confusion. It was at this point that they were noticing just how warm it had gotten in the cave, and the intense breeze that made them both feel sick.

"What is going on? Miyashi, what are you doi -"

"Sir, we have to get out of here. There is something on top of that tower. Something most unnatural."

Saidie pitched the binoculars to Jack, who seemed terribly lost and confused at to what was happening. He took one brief look at the top of the tower, cursed loudly, and then chucked them to the Lieutenant.

"Mother of God," the older man whispered when he caught a glimpse of the rapidly approaching vortex, "We make for the entrance now. All of you, run as fast -"

But it was too late. There was a brilliant flash of light, so blinding that they thought their eyes might be burned out of their heads. It engulfed the entire cave mercilessly, and the Canadians had no chance.

They were dead.

TBC in Chapter 02 - Middle Earth


Notes : Err, don't worry. It would be a pretty short story if they were actually dead. Well, I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter of what will be many to follow. I want to aim to have new chapters done every week - two weeks. I have to be realistic, ya?

Comments and constructive critisism can be sent to freefall_sunsoar@hotmail.com. I like getting responses. Please let me know what you think!