…
"First get your facts; and then you can distort them at your leisure."
(Mark Twain)
…
SSV Normandy, May 5th, 2:27 PM, 2185
…
I stood quietly behind Joker as we waited for the reactor to come back up to operational levels, having gone completely cold during our repairs. It was a gradual build-up, the hum being heard through the deck plates as I watched the power levels rise on the main console.
"I hope you guys fixed everything, it's hard to avoid Reapers without our stealth systems." He remarked, a genuine, worried look clearly seen on his face.
"Trust me, we wouldn't be going back to Reach without it." I reassured, tapping the edge of Joker's chair rhythmically. "Besides, they'd be stupid to immediately engage the Normandy. As far as they know the Alliance is neutral in regards to all of this."
"I'm hoping you're right. I really am." Shepard said, walking up behind me without alerting me to his presence. "I've already brought the crew up to speed."
"Good, at least now we know there won't be any confusion." I nodded, feeling the gentle vibrations beneath my feet reach their apex as the monitor reported maximum power.
I could hear the heavy footfalls of boots behind Shepard and I, turning to see a Dan running forward with a length of wire hanging over his left shoulder. He was covered in oil, and a very clear singe mark could be seen on the edge of his jumpsuit's right arm cuff.
"We just… finished… the we...weapon systems." He panted, doing his best to catch his breath.
"Good. Hopefully we won't need them." Shepard replied, turning to face me as I gave him a singular nod. "Sean, will your friends be staying for the mission?"
"I already a-asked Dimitri and Lydia about it. They w-want to stay, and so do I." Dan interjected, getting my eyebrows to shoot up. "Lydia tol...told me she wants to see the l-looks on their faces in person."
"While I understand the enthusiasm, you guys really don't need to stick your necks out like that." I tried to reason, getting an annoyed glare from Dan. "Oh, don't look at me like that."
"You a-aren't getting rid of us that easily." He immediately said, walking over to the reactor readout and smiling. "Looks l-like everything's back in order, Shepard."
"Good... listen, I don't mind the three of you staying, but I insist you don't involve yourselves in our negotiations unless specifically called upon." Shepard insisted, giving a stern look to Dan, who appeared more confused than anything else.
"Don't in-involve yourselves? That b-bastard Gerrel tried to shoot all of us down, and yo...you expect us to take it lying down?" Dan replied with just enough anger to shock me. "What do you take me for? Some p-pencil neck? I want to be there, damnit!"
"I know how you feel about the situation, but it's already going to be tough enough getting Sean into any negotiations without them trying to arrest him on the spot." Shepard reasoned, giving me a quick glance as Joker turned his head to look at us. "Don't make this more difficult than it has to be."
Dan sighed deeply, baring his teeth for a moment as he looked down at the deck plates.
"Fine. I'll l-let the others know to keep a low pr...profile." He agreed, putting both hands into his pockets, shooting me a brief look as he turned around and walked away, obviously annoyed. Once he was out of visual range, I cracked a smile, shaking my head.
"Is he always like that?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest as I faced him.
"No, thank Christ he isn't." I exclaimed, plunging both hands into the pockets of my coat. "Oh, that's right, you never really interacted with Dan, have you?"
"Thankfully, no." He nodded, getting the left corner of my mouth to curl up. "Does he expect me to be impressed?"
"Don't take it personally, he doesn't mean to do it." I reassured, Shepard obviously not looking convinced.
"I forgot what it was like working with all of you." He shook his head, more than a little shocked.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, I think he's actually smarter than my entire team put together." I remarked, getting one of his eyebrows to shoot up in a mixture of surprise and confusion. "There are only three things holding him back. He's lazy, he's unpredictable, and he's a complete idiot when it comes to social cues."
"And you still keep him around after outbursts like that?" He replied, managing an even more confused expression.
"Of course, he's a vital part of my team, and my best friend since high school. Hell, I dragged his ass through college with me, can't just give up on him now." I reinforced, taking in a deep breath. "He's got his quirks, just like anyone else. You understand that better than anyone, Commander."
"That's an understatement." He shot back, turning to face Joker. "Are all systems ready to go?"
"Everything's in the green, just waiting for your permission to fire up the engines." Joker answered, sounding amused.
"You have it. Get us moving." He nodded back, walking to the comm panel on the wall and opening a line to the whole ship. "Attention, this is the Commander. We're leaving this system, and may be entering potentially hostile space. I want all stations manned, weapons armed, and damage control on standby."
He quickly shut off the intercom, turning to face me again.
"You've cleared everything with the Admirals, right?" He asked, a more serious expression on his face.
"I've already talked to them, don't worry. My XO, Dixon Clarke, will keep the Saint Luke in tip-top form until we return." I replied, smiling as his eyebrow shot up again.
"I thought Dixon Clarke was one of the Cerberus techs we picked up on Pragia?" He questioned, looking concerned as the hull shuddered, the engines firing back up. "You trust him enough to make him the XO of your ship?"
"You trusted Miranda enough to keep her as yours." I nodded back towards the CIC, as she moved between consoles to make sure everyone was at full attention in their stations, her hair tied into a simple ponytail as the dim lights from the nearby screens lit up her face.
"Good point." He smirked, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. "I suppose we need all the help we can get these days."
"Heh, with all the crazy people knocking around your boat, I'm surprised that your even bat an eyelash at any of this anymore." I chuckled, thinking back to when I had been part of the crew months ago. "That being said, I'm surprised the Alliance wanted Jack of all people to be a trainer in Grissom Academy."
"I'm surprised that she didn't go. They offered her a full pension and plenty of other benefits." He replied, shaking his head. "Either she really likes that hole underneath Engineering, or she actually likes working with us on the Normandy."
"With the way she is, it could be anything." I sighed, watching the Saint Luke pass by the cockpit windows. "I hope this all ends better than it started. We've got plenty of problems, and this doesn't need to be one of them."
"If it comes down to the worst-case scenario, just remember what I told you and be ready." He remarked, filling me with a strong sense of reluctance.
The plan for everything going south was quite simple. If we ended up in a situation where we were under attack or threat of capture, I would trigger a small beacon hidden up my jacket sleeve, signalling that we were compromised. While we were traveling to the system, the Saint Luke and twenty other ships would be waiting on standby, armed and ready to jump in and launch a preemptive strike against the ODPs, Liveships, and the Admiralty's flagships alongside the Normandy. This was not an outcome I wanted, but I knew the risks involved. If we managed to eliminate most, if not all, of the Admiralty in a single attack, we could possibly convince the rest of the Migrant Fleet to stand down.
For obvious reasons, I hadn't told Mara or the rest of my team about this contingency plan. I trusted all of them, but they didn't need to worry about me more than they already did. Such an attack would be risky enough as it is, and I knew Mal, Koris, and Pistis would be there to back me up if shit hit the fan. In all honesty, I'd be lucky to come out of such a scenario with my life intact, but I knew something had to be done either way.
Whether it be peace or war, the Admiralty had to make a choice. We knew where we stood, it was time for them to decide what direction this would go.
…
SSV Normandy, May 5th, 3:29 PM, 2185
…
Sitting in my old spot in the mess hall, I quietly rolled my empty aluminum cup back and forth on its side, unable to find anything else to ease my mind. Based on the cup's movement on the table, I had determined that the angle of the surface was off by two degrees, downwards towards the port side of the ship. It hadn't been like this before, and something about that bothered me. To any other person it would have been unnoticeable, and just as insignificant, but for some reason this, along with the dozens of other changes around me, really began to take their collective toll on my psyche.
It felt significantly different around here, the atmosphere, the people, had all changed in the months I had been absent. Everyone seemed even more on-edge than I did, and were far more serious than I remembered. It was an odd, disorientating feeling. I suppose to them I was just as different, especially considering the "weight" my name now held in the Confederation, but I didn't feel any different than I had months ago.
"Son of a bitch…" I muttered under my breath, my frustration with the table pushing me to the brink as I forced myself to stand up and force my mind to change its current focus.
I looked up at the ceiling, noticing that one of the electrical access junctions had its panel removed, allowing it to be seen and possibly tampered with.
"Goddamn it!" I yelled, pulling one of the chairs over and using it to climb up for a better look.
The inside of the access junction was empty as I suspected, and the panel that was supposed to be covering this part of the junction sat against the wall, seemingly forgotten about. Sighing deeply, I grabbed it with annoyance, carefully lowering it back down and tightening the four star knobs that locked it in place. I stepped down from the chair, satisfied now that there were no holes in our ceiling.
"You look more pent up than the fresh meat during their first week on Purgatory." I heard someone remark, as I turned to see Jack standing in the doorway.
She looked quite different than she had before. The most obvious change was hair she had grown. Though it was still quite short and shaved on the sides, it changed her profile quite a bit. She also changed her wardrobe, ditching the old fatigues we had provided for what looked like some customized boots, black pants, an orange undershirt and a studded leather jacket.
"Oh, you saw that, huh?" I chuckled, quickly rubbing my hands together before putting the chair back. "I guess everyone's nerves are overtaxed, especially mine."
"You look like you're ready to pop." She immediately shot back, looking surprisingly concerned. "Guys like you never know when to sit the fuck down and breath."
"Maybe you're right… I don't know." I shrugged, sitting back down as she walked over to the counter and pulled out an MRE. "Between the Reapers and the Admiralty, it feels like the whole damn world is caving in on me sometimes."
"You egghead types are always so pent up. I learned a long time ago that you can't control shit, so there's no point in trying." She replied, sitting down across from me as she ripped open the packaging on her MRE. "As long as I'm moving, I know I can go with the flow."
She sounded somewhat different. Still just as direct and impersonal as before, but with more clarity and openness than before.
"I heard you got a job offer a few months ago to work at Grissom Academy as a biotics instructor." I said as a quizzical, almost uncertain look appeared on her face, preparing the flameless ration heater for her food. "Why'd you turn it down? I thought you hated being around all the military types."
"Maybe I didn't want to be around a bunch of snot-nosed kids all day, or maybe I didn't want to be held down by a bunch of fucking rules and regulations." She remarked, staring into space for a few moments before her expression softened. "Either way, I made my choice and I'm not backing down from it."
"I can respect that, but there must be something that made you want to stay." I urged, wanting a straight answer from her. "You could have gone anywhere after the assault on the Collector base, but when all was said and done you decided to stick around."
Once more, she looked down at the table, her expression shifting a few times as she processed her thoughts.
"I don't know… I guess after everything we went through to beat those bug freaks on Fehl Prime and on the other side of the Relay, I started liking it here." She said in a softer voice, letting a smile form on her face. "I guess all those stupid talks you forced me into worked after all."
"Yeah right, all I ever did was annoy you." I replied in a humble tone, allowing myself to smile as well. "Sounds to me like you found a sense of belonging, of comradery. Something that finally gave you purpose."
"Don't go all "romantic" on me, I'd just rather be here than out there, especially with all the crazy shit happening with those squids." She denied, ripping open the cracker pack and popping one in her mouth. "Even after all the shit I've seen out there in the Terminus, watching them pummel a city like that was… surprising."
"I can't even imagine how bad it must have been." I shook my head, letting out a long sigh as I leaned my elbow against the table. "I've only seen the Reapers through vids and images, never in person."
"I bet there'll be plenty of chances to see one up close soon." She nodded, staring forward as she drank from her water bottle.
I knew she was right, and part of me was definitely worried about fighting them head-on. We only had a handful of advanced ships to fight with right now, and losing any of them would be devastating. I prayed that all the work we had done these last few years wouldn't have been for naught, and hoped that when the time came to fight them, I'd be focused and ready for the challenge.
...
SSV Normandy, May 5th, 4:32 PM, 2185
…
I stood alongside Shepard, Tali, and Miranda as we made our final jump, Reach appearing as a small dot in the distance that slowly grew bigger. I couldn't see it from here, but I knew plenty had changed.
"Activate stealth systems, relay communications through the tight-beam transmitter." Miranda ordered to the crewmembers around us as the unique hum of the large cloaking devices embedded in the hull could be heard activating alongside the internal heat sinks. "You're on the line, Shepard."
He stood at full attention, taking a deep breath as he held his hands behind his back.
"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. I am here on behalf of the Systems Alliance Navy requesting an audience with the Admiralty Board." He spoke in his usual, diplomatic tone.
For nearly thirty seconds, the line hung open with a dead silence, lacking any static due to the operational nature of the tight-beam transmitter. I held my breath the entire time, wondering if we'd suddenly be reduced to free-floating particles suspended in the vacuum of space.
"Normandy, this is Admiral Han'Gerrel." A voice finally came, replacing one form of anxiety with another. "I was under the impression that we had made ourselves quite clear during our last meeting that we no longer welcomed the Alliance in our space."
"Things have changed, and you know that." Shepard immediately replied, a new look appearing in his eyes. "I know about this schism between your people, and I want to help put a stop to it. The Reapers have begun their invasion, and we need to work together if we're to have any chance of stopping them."
"Those traitors are no longer "our people", and you'd do well to remember that, Commander." Gerrel practically spat back as Shepard and I made concerned eye contact with one another. "That being said, we've had a recent development, and your arrival may help us."
"Help us? A moment ago you were talking about how we weren't welcomed here." Shepard replied, sounding just as confused as I felt.
"While we stand on our original position, we've reached a point where we're unable to communicate amicably with our… former compatriots." Gerrel spoke, immediately making me angry. "While I'm sure you have your reasons for being here, given your connections to Dr. Michaels and his team, I'm willing to re-open negotiations with the Alliance if you send those who now work with the enemy a message on our behalf."
"That depends on what kind of message it is." Shepard replied, giving me another odd look. "Would you be willing to meet me aboard the Normandy with the rest of the Admiralty? I'm sure we can work something out."
"Only on the condition that you remain docked to ODP Cairo for the duration of our negotiations." He responded after a few seconds of dead air. "We must take precautions in uncertain times like these. I'm sure you understand."
"Fine, I'll agree to your terms. We already have the docking procedure, so no need to transmit the program. Over and out." Shepard agreed as the line went dead and he turned to me. "Any of that make sense to you?"
"Not at all." I shook my head, still feeling the anger welling up in my throat. "That was a good load of bullshit about "communicating amicably", their first communique in months involved ripping us out of FTL, threatening me and my people, and shooting at us when we tried to leave. If that's considered amicable communication by his standards, I'd hate to see what a declaration of war looks like."
"This could work to our advantage." Tali reasoned, pacing back and forth as she turned towards Shepard. "He may still believe you are ignorant to the events of the last few months. That may allow us to catch him off-guard with a recording of the battle."
"I would proceed with caution. A few of the Fleet's ships appear to be repositioning themselves around the ODP." Miranda warned, her cold, steely face looking at us with sharp eyes.
"That's not all. I'm getting warning signals from the Gravity Drive, something about being too close to the planet." Joker announced, getting me to jump over to the console to look at it myself.
"They've deployed more of those gravity well generators." I said in a grave tone, slowly shaking my head as I accessed the controls for the Gravity Drive myself. "Looks like they're not taking any chances with us… Jesus, based on these readings, they've got a dozen interdictors running simultaneously."
"So there's no getting away if they decide to keep us here." Shepard nodded, running one of his hands over the top of his head before crossing both arms. "I guess we'll just have to make it count."
"Shepard, we don't have to keep going. If we turn around and hightail it out of here, we can get out of the system before they fully engulf us with those fields." I suggested, a sudden sense of apprehension clearly felt in my gut.
"No, we've come too far to back out now. One way or another, we're ending this war here and now." Shepard said with determination, bringing my spirits back up slightly.
"Very well. I'll wait down in the crew quarters with the rest of my team, watching the cameras. When you're ready, look up and give us the signal." I finished, getting a single nod from him as I walked back towards the elevator.
As I nodded to Miranda and stepped into the elevator, I sucked up what reservations I had and prepared myself for whatever outcome was coming. Shepard was right, and for once I felt more like a hindrance than anything else. While I knew deep down that I wasn't truly at fault for what happened with Xen's ships, I still felt a sense of responsibility towards the Quarians that had surely perished in the attack. Not long ago I likely would have gotten along well with many of them, but now that ship had sailed.
As I hit the lower deck, the elevator doors opened, revealing a shockingly quiet deck with only two people running routine maintenance as we flew towards our destination. I walked into Engineering access, where Dan, Dimitri, Sira, and Lydia were waiting for me, gathered around several screens they had set up to monitor the Admirals when they arrived.
"So, they let us through, huh?" Dan mused, crossing his arms as they shot my varied expressions. "I'm s-surprised we're still in one piece."
"At this point, anything could happen." I warned, not wanting to bullshit any of them. "They've got a dozen of those "interdictors" running right now, so we're not going anywhere fast if shit hits the fan."
"The overlapping fields have completely scrambled the Gravity Drive's safety mechanisms." Lydia pointed out, monitoring it through her omni-tool. "Trying to use it here without a full re-modulation would definitely result in a failed jump."
"I already talked to Pistis about that, he doesn't believe that's possible without putting massive amounts of stress on the Drive." I pointed out, feeling the rumble of the ship's RCS systems as we neared the station. "Either way, we're here to stay."
"What if we used the MES to boost the frequency of the Gravity Drive's magnetic field?" Sira suggested, quickly tapping the tips of her fingers together. "If we synced their frequencies, it may be enough to overcome the interference."
"Doing so would damage emitters, and would not be guaranteed success." Dimitri debunked, not sounding at all convinced. "It would leave Normandy vulnerable to attack as well."
"Well, I'm n-not just willing to sit on my ass and do no...nothing." Dan shot back with a surprising amount of venom in his voice, opening his omni-tool as we made solid contact with the station's cradle arms.
"What are you doing?" I quickly questioned, immediately worried.
"I wrote the subrou...routines for the Cairo's emergency V.I. sy-system, and should still have the backdoor I built into it." He explained, immediately setting off all my alarms.
"Don't you dare!" I yelled, grabbing his arm and twisting it to stop him from doing anything else with his omni-tool.
"Ow, what's your fucking problem?!" He shouted at me as Sira and Lydia took cautious steps backwards. "If I use the backdoor, I might be able to disable the ODP!"
"Yeah, and if it doesn't work and they detect an intrusion, they'll blow us to kingdom come!" I rebutted, knowing that they'd be looking out for anything unusual with us back here in the system. "Clear your fucking head and think before you act, we're not here to make things worse than they already are."
He glared at me for several seconds as I held his arm up, obviously not agreeing with our course of actions. He eventually gave up, letting out an annoyed sigh as he looked back at Dimitri and his sister.
"Fine. Fuck it." He finished in a defeated tone, stomping off back towards the crew quarters as we stood and watched.
"He hasn't changed a bit." Lydia shook her head, crossing her arms. "I'll make sure he doesn't try anything, but I doubt he will."
"I appreciate it." I nodded with a weak smile, turning to watch the exterior view as two shuttles pulled into the station's landing bays. It didn't take a genius to tell who must have been on them.
After several minutes of waiting, we finally spotted the Admirals walking through the cradle arm towards the ship. Shepard was already there waiting for them, hands in his pockets as Tali, Miranda, and James stood behind him.
Gerrel, Raan, and Zadie were all there of course, along with Kar'Danna, who they must have promoted to Admiral, and someone I hadn't expected to see again. Admiral Daro'Xen. The fact that she was still alive was both infuriating and a relief. That wasn't for lack of trying from the looks of it though, given the singe marks all over her suit.
"Commander, it's good to see you again." Gerrel greeted in an unusually friendly manner, offering Shepard a handshake which he slowly accepted. "Our patrol ships reported news of the Reapers invading Alliance space. I'm sorry we didn't hear you our before, and to hear of the losses you've incurred."
"The past doesn't matter, what does is putting aside our differences and uniting against this threat before it's too late." Shepard focused, nodding as they all walked into the ship, eventually ending up in the briefing room.
"Interesting modifications, Commander." Zadie pointed out, easily spotting several of the changes Alliance engineers had implemented to the ship. "Would I be correct in assuming the ship is armed with the new Thanix cannon?"
"Please, now is not the time for such busy talk, Admiral." Raan refocused, getting Zadie to slump her shoulders slightly. "Commander, I insist you begin with any lingering questions you have for us. We must clear the air if we're to cooperate with each other."
"In that case, why don't we start at this "communications breakdown" you mentioned? What happened?" He immediately dove in, crossing his arms. "Alliance intelligence was under the impression that you weren't talking to each other at all. How does it "breakdown" more than that?"
Gerrel looked back at Xen, who quickly walked to the front while keeping her back straight.
"We intercepted a large ship commanded by Doctor Sean Michaels en-route to Reach, hoping to stop them before they arrived. We believe they intended to strike at our ODPs and clear the way for a Geth invasion force." Xen "explained", both confusing and pissing me off. "When we demanded he turn back and cease hostilities, he opened fire on my ships, destroying two, including my own, and severely damaging five others."
"Interesting, that's not how he, Koris, and Mal explained it." Tali said with narrowed eyes on Xen, not sounding at all amused as they began looking at one another with differing body language. "He told us his ship was forcibly ripped from FTL by a modified Gravity Drive during their shakedown run to Turviss. He was threatened by you, then fired upon while attempting to leave, forcing him to defend himself."
"Gerrel, is this true?" Kar questioned, leaning towards him as Shepard stared hard into the camera, giving us the signal as we began walking, still listening through our earpieces. "Your intelligence reports said nothing about a shakedown run."
"Commander, surely you must know of the crimes they've committed. Not only have they chosen to align themselves with our enemies, they've turned the Raloi people against us with their lies." Gerrel pleaded in a completely different tone, sounding as if he had been caught off-guard as he practically ignored Kar'Danna. "Do you really believe everything a reckless maverick like Doctor Michaels says? He's endangered his own people on multiple occasions, stolen weapons and other classified materials, and assaulted his superiors."
"I even have a full report detailing the attack if you wish to see it, Commander." Xen chimed in, attempting to lend Gerrel some credibility. "I can assure yo-"
"I don't need any reports, I have all the evidence I need right here." He shut down, playing the recording of the attack on the Saint Luke in full detail, including the radio conversation between me and Xen.
"Han'Gerrel, Daro'Xen, explained yourselves!" Raan immediately demanded in her raspy voice as the playback ended, sounding beyond pissed off, angrier than I had ever heard before. "This was no interception, this was an act of war! The two of you lied to us!"
"This is preposterous! You don't know if that footage is real or not!" He attempted to defend with all the anger he had left as we all stood outside the door, ready to come in at a moment's notice.
"Then how about eye-witness testimony?" Shepard shot back, opening the door to reveal we were there. "Admiral Michaels is very curious as to why exactly he was put in a situation where the lives of his crew, wife, and child were all put in jeopardy."
I could tell from body movement alone that Raan, Zadie, and Kar had no idea this had been what actually happened. They looked completely flabbergasted.
"Leaders in both the UTT and Geth Collective are all on-edge as a result of your attack." I piled on, watching Gerrel clench his fists as I stared daggers at all of them. "I'll be up front with all of you, I don't give a shit about anyone's feelings about the past. I've listened to all of you drone on and on about the past for years, and I don't know why. Yes, it happened. Yes, it was terrible. That doesn't matter anymore!"
"You have no idea what my people have gone through!" Gerrel shouted at me, getting within two feet of me as I kept my arms folded behind my back. "You've done nothing but cause trouble since the day you came begging us for asylum!"
"Shut the fuck up. I came here in good faith, hoping to end this stupid conflict once and for all. The Reapers don't care if we fight together or separately, they'll try to kill all of us either way." I replied in as calm as a tone as I could, looking him square in the face. "None of us want to fight you, yet you've manufactured conflict like a machine on an assembly line. As far as I'm concerned, the fact that you'd lie to your own people goes to show you little you really do care about them."
I stepped to the side, walking past him to address Raan, Zadie, and Kar directly.
"I want to extend an offer to you and the entire Flotilla. In exchange for the cessation of all hostilities between the United Confederation and Migrant Fleet and your support in fighting the Reapers, they will return ownership of Rannoch and the old colonies to all Quarians. The choice between war or peace is yours. I hope you make the right one." I finished, walking out of the briefing room.
At that moment as I walked away from the quiet room, I felt an odd sense of satisfaction. I knew what I had done was reckless and possibly stupid, but it just felt good knowing I had gotten that off my chest. Luckily for me, it turned out to be the right call, going in there the way I did.
Two hours later, Gerrel and Xen had been publically removed from their positions as Admirals within the Migrant Fleet, and the Neema traveled to Rannoch for the first time in over a hundred years.
May 5th, 2185 at 6:48 PM marked the moment where the Morning War officially ended between the Quarians and the Geth.
…
A/N: Happy belated New Year, everyone! We're starting off on a high note here. I'm hoping this'll be the year where we finally reach the conclusion of the story, and I have all of you to thank for sticking with me this long. I'd never be able to do this without your support, and I thank every single one of you for the favs, follows, and reviews. Every one of them means a lot to me, and I really can't thank you enough. Happy 2020!
As always, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Please leave a review telling me what you think of the story so far, and stay tuned!