Chapter 6: Belated Rediscovery
13:19 – 14 A.E.
Pelruan – Town hall
Lewis put his papers aside as he prepared to take a little breather from his work. A little corner of his mind nudging him to head over to the bar and get some hooch – a notion he quickly dismissed with a shrug.
There seemed to be some commotion going on outside, but it's been going on and off these last few days, ever since Pelruan became a member of that Protectorate. More than a few had fallen in love with the various machines and gadgets those folks from Musashi introduced into their daily lives. Most working in the fields expanding farmlands or clearing away trees to prepare for the former. The removed trees would be turned into lumber. Nothing would be wasted – as it should be.
He ignored the hubbub and reclined to rest. But before he could close his eyes in relaxation, the door was blown open with enough force to make the mayor jump from his chair. It was Will, he came in as though he got an army of tax collectors flying up his ass, "Lewis, come quickly!" the man said in a manner of great urgency.
The mayor groaned as he mentally picked himself up, "What is it this time?"
"A helicopter has been sighted. It flew over by the reactor just a few minutes ago, and now it's heading this way."
"Hold on..." Lewis waved a hand as if to will the man to slow down, "What kind of helicopter are we talking about here?"
"Those who've seen it closest says it's a King Raven."
A Gunship?! "Go back outside and tell the guys to arm themselves. I'll be with you in a sec..."
Will nodded and quickly left, shouting to someone just outside line of sight – which left Lewis to his thoughts as he left the desk to retrieve his trusty shotgun. We're either dealing with Stranded who've managed to salvage the thing... or COG. It'd be great if it's the latter... but after fourteen years, and the dire straits they seem to be in, what's the chance of them coming by? Lewis set his eyes on the communications' device given to him by Masazumi. He considered calling for help, but decided they wouldn't be able to come fast enough – he could hear the approaching rotorcraft already.
This is something the village will have to deal with by themselves.
The mayor armed himself and ran out to join the rest.
13:22 – 14 A.E.
Above Pelruan
"If that does not look promising..." Dom commented after he had leaned out to take a look at the sprawling town below as Gettner brought the raven across its' length, he almost immediately spotted the COG flag withered by old age at the top of the flag pole in the center of town. "... then I don't know what is."
Marcus acknowledged the sighting with a low grunt-like hum, though his attention was more on the crowds down there now rapidly disappearing into the buildings – replaced by scores of armed people. He also saw a whole lot of dogs barking their heads off at the intruding rotorcraft.
"Aw hell no." Cole muttered under his breath for a change. "I tell ya all, I've not come to shoot another pooch."
"Trained guard hounds, Cole." Bernie noted, "These ain't no wild dogs."
"What are you seeing down there?" Gettner asked, "Any sign of whatever made those things out there?"
"No." Marcus said. All who could scanned the village, a large gathering of one to two-stories buildings. "Low technology level, judging by roads and low-rise buildings."
"No factories, and no labs aside from the bio-chem lab at Toxin town." Baird glowered at the man-made landscape. He tried to identify anything that might've produced those machines out there. They had to come from somewhere. But the apparent lack of such facilities pissed him off to no end. "Shit. Either those things were imported somehow, or there are underground bases Prescott's not aware of."
"Just farmers and fishers." Bernie observed with a shake of her head, indicating the harbor filled with trawlers, and all of the farmland they came by on the way in.
Marcus had his mind on what they needed to do next, and called the pilot; "Find us a place to land. Preferably outside town. We'll do this by the book."
She was less than enthused, "The natives are looking awfully restless - you sure?"
"We'll be suitably non-threatening."
A few of the others rolled their eyes at that. Gears are universally poor at looking harmless. It is physically impossible to make them look like they just dropped by for a nice chat.
Within minutes, Gettner reluctantly brought them onto a cliff just out of town. An elevated piece of ground with a good visibility. In all the time it took to get there, people all over the village had started to turn out. The armed villagers all homing in on their position.
Delta hit the ground one by one, Marcus moving on ahead. "Delta - stay back." he ordered calmly, "Wedge contact formation, and low-key. Anya, Bernie, you're with me." He chose them specifically because they look the least threatening out of all of them.
Ahead, the villagers already approached. Around thirty of them – all armed with a semi-exotic variety of firearms – all moving as one like a moving roadblock of bodies.
Gettner muttered something incoherent in alarm. The extra fuel-tank that had been added to the raven's frame was much too exposed for her liking. A few stray shots and the whole thing could turn into a fireball. She is the type of woman who takes all damage done to her bird personally, like it was a part of her own damned body.
Before they got very far, a warning shot was sent flying over his head, and Marcus for a split moment remembered all the times his superiors noted he should put on a helmet instead of a do-rag, but that thought quickly passed. He raised an arm to keep the others from letting their reflexes ingrained by many years of more or less constant fighting take over, "Hold your fire Delta – Stand down!"
He kept his rifle low, not aimed at anything but the ground at his feet as the townsfolk approached – probably encouraged by the lack of hostile response. The guy leading them seemed to be the old fellow with sandy hair who fired that warning shot, "Who are you? Identify yourself!"
"Sergeant Marcus Fenix, Coalition of Ordered Governments. Why don't we put our guns down and talk this over?"
"Anyone can get a full rig these days. Prove it."
Marcus cocked his head slightly, "If I give you my earpiece, I can probably get Chairman Prescott himself to talk to you."
Admittedly, that wouldn't cut it with most. Stranded would simply be assholes about it, but after a moment of eye-contact, the man lowered his weapon. "Damn... after all these years..."
Careful not to use rank, he introduced himself; "I'm Marcus. This is Anya Stroud and Bernadette Mataki. Want to catch up on the news?"
"Gavriel. Lewis Gavriel. Head of maintenance at the naval base. Been here since before the COG decommissioned it more than twenty years ago. I'm sorry, but I didn't think you'd come all the way out here if the latest news are true."
"You know about our situation?"
"Mostly rumors by the Stranded. Says the COG's now in Port Farrall, in dire straits from the sound of it." Lewis scratched his head, a little embarrassed, "The Stranded have been circulating those news lately, but we only learned of it first from the Vice President of Musashi. Were they... wrong?"
"... Right on the mark, actually." Behind him, Anya and Bernie exchanged glances. Marcus narrowed his ice-blue eyes, "Now, what's this about 'Musashi'."
"You've... not heard of it?"
Marcus looked to Anya, who shook her head in confusion.
"I guess there's much ground to cover. We've got a bar downtown, we can talk there if you'd like. You can bring the rest of your men too - fellow COG citizen are more than welcome in our town."
He gave a nod, and waved for the rest of Delta to approach. "Alright. Let's talk."
13:55 – 14 A.E.
Pelruan – Ellen's bar
"Oh... my god." If there was some cheer here before, it was all gone now. Instead, a shocked silence filled the space. Most of the locals close enough to listen could not utter a word in their horrified disbelief, only Lewis managed to apply words to it. "She said things were bad... but I never thought it was... this bad."
Anya nodded solemnly, not asking who he was referring to. She had told the essential details, of why they ended up in Port Farrall, and the estimated number of casualties – by percentage – along with the fact that even though the Locust had been dealt a near-fatal blow, there are still an unknown number of stragglers about. She did not expect him to be able to take in the sheer scale of the destruction Sera has suffered these last fourteen years, it was enough that he started to understand how serious a crisis this is. "We have to rebuild Sera from scratch. We're starting over with the few we saved."
"I guess..." the mayor closed his eyes shut, as if to banish the monstrous mental images he got from what Anya had told him, "... I guess you want us to come back to the mainland, then." his voice had turned into a hoarse whisper, "Things are desperate, but I don't think very many would leave. I... I rather like it here."
"Lewis. Nobody's asking you to leave." Anya leaned in a little and braced herself, an act echoed by Dom in particular. "For now, the mainland's much too dangerous. We want to bring the remnants of Jacinto here, before we lose everyone."
"Sorry... but..." Lewis' brows furrowed as he took this in, "How will we feed an entire city? We're just a small community. Even with the new machines, we'll be severely hard-pressed to-"
"-We got our own supplies." she told him quickly. Not much of it, but some. "And our people are well-versed in food management, so we won't leave you starving."
"And what about your camp?"
"We could use the VNB. Lewis, you surely know it better than anyone else.. Is it habitable?"
"Mothballed. Hydroelectric power, run-of-river. This island was chosen for the base location specifically for sustainability, in case the worst happened. And that surely came to pass... didn't it?"
"Then it's usable."
"I need to put this to the vote. I'm just the town's representative."
"Of course. But I can't overstate this enough; Vectes could save humanity."
He acknowledged that with a slow grim nod. "Saving humanity. That's on Musashi's agenda too, by trying to bring us back together."
"Let's talk a bit about that, shall we?" Baird asked. He had been leaning against the wall just a few feet away till now.
Marcus made him step back with another glare. "Tell us about them."
Lewis nodded, "We first saw them a few days ago, when the Stranded from across this island tried to attack us. A warship that belonged to the Musashi navy stepped in and forced the scum to leave without bloodshed."
"Navy... so it is a nation?" Anya inquired, she looked at the others to see if there were any signs of recognition, but there were still none.
"A city-state." the mayor corrected. "An island-bound city-state. I guess there was one out there all along, that never got embroiled in the war."
"That is very strange. Because I've never heard of it untill today."
"Neither did I, but it exists – there's no question about that. Apparently they used to maintain strict isolationism until recently, and founded the 'Musashi Protectorate' after they found out how serious the situation is out there, specifically to facilitate reconstruction of our ruined world."
"Do those machines out there come from Musashi?" Baird interjected with his question.
"Yes. Gifts so we can boost our food production. Food is exactly what they are most interested in importing."
Anya realized this would make the food situation more difficult. These folk not only needed food for themselves, but to engage in trade with Musashi – on top of now being needed to help sustain the remnants of Jacinto when they eventually arrive. But now that they entered the topic of the machines, she brought up a question Baird probably burned to ask for an answer to: "And what about that tower we saw? What's it for?"
"It's a reactor." Lewis answered with not nearly the amount of details desired by the assembled Gears.
"A reactor?" Baird parroted. "Of what kind?"
"I don't really know myself. But it works, and that's good enough for us. But you know... I'm not sure how most of their stuff works. They're so advanced, it is as if they are using magic."
Anya leaned in a bit more, "What do you mean?"
"You know that warship I told you about? What I did not tell you, is that it flew. An actual flying ship."
"Huh. Sure you weren't watching an airship?" Baird snorted unbelievingly. "You know, those with the big-ass envelopes filled with lighter than air gases."
"It definitely was not an aerostat, corporal." Lewis bit. "And then there are those 'sign frames' of theirs, or that's what they call the things at least."
"What's that?" Anya asked.
"One wave of a hand, and a screen just pops up in thin air. I... I lack the words to properly explain." Some of the terror from earlier in their conversation still remained, but it had been largely replaced by awe.
"Tell us more about them. Anyone in particular?"
"A few, but first and foremost their Vice President. She was the one who convinced us to join the Protectorate. Masazumi Honda's her name. She is startlingly young for a politician, but her skill and dedication are undeniable."
"Young?"
"Can't be anymore than eighteen. Same goes for their treasurer... and their clerk... and the one who commandeered the warship." the mayor narrowed his eyes as he thought back, "... They're all so... young."
The same thought went through every Gear in the room. Eighteen is awfully young for someone in a governmental position. "I see." Anya almost coughed as she tried to picture a government run by teenagers.
"I've got a communications' device in the town hall by the way. You can contact them now if you'd like." Lewis offered.
"I'm sorry, but now's not the time. It's a job for the Chairman, not us."
"I understand. If you'd like to inspect the VNB right now, I can get Will to fetch the keys and show you around there."
"We would greatly appreciate that. Also, if it's not too much trouble, we could use someplace to stay."
"Of course. We could prepare a room for you at the town hall, or would you rather be billeted with families?"
"The former will do, thank you."
Marcus leaned invisibly towards her as the mayor got up and excused himself, and muttered under his breath; "Take Bernie and Dom to check the base. The rest of us will go and take another look at the reactor."
"Be careful."
The man let out a reassuring grunt, just in time as the bar's owner brought another round of liquid refreshments to the gathering as the crowd started to break up with the conclusion of this meeting – many leaving lower in spirit than they did coming here.
Deep down, she desperately hoped the worst had been put behind them – and that a future of growth and recovery awaited them - Locust or not.
15:23; 17th June; 1648; Testament Era
Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" - The Musashino bridge; Inadequate HQ
They were already deep in a meeting when the news came in. Those involved being the entirety of the Chancellor's board, plus Masazumi and Neshinbara of the Student Council.
"So, another ship has been lost?" Futayo asked, not terribly pleased. She regarded the clerk, who had announced the loss with a deep frown – till she finally set her gaze back on the holographic map of the region they were gathered around. "Location?"
Neshinbara added a dot at the Stranded ship's last known location. It brought the number of ships lost over the last few days up to four.
The Chancellor's board primary concern is Musashi's defense and security, and all of its members viewed the latest information with uttermost severity – except Toori, of course. As the captured ships and crews (presumed to be dead) belonged to the Stranded clans under the Protectorate's banner, the board is obligated to see it as an attack against the Musashi itself.
Futayo took a single authoritative step closer to the map and indicated the number of attacks with the wave of an arm, "These, are the attacks sustained thus far, all in the eastern parts of the island chain as you can see. Little is known of the attackers thus far. All we have, is a name: The Lesser Islands Free Trade Association, or LIFTA."
Free trade. Masazumi mentally scoffed at the name. It's just a gang of pirates and looters.
Her cousin continued, "With so many territories to watch over, most spread out, we are currently suffering from overstretch. This leaves the pirates with a distinct advantage: They can capture ships and begone before we can respond. The question is, how do we deal with this without weakening the security across the region?"
No one answered at first, but the samurai waited patiently for an answer.
Neshinbara, the one most familiar with history, responded first. "Many different measures have been taken to reduce the threat of piracy in the past. Primarily to either bribe the pirates into not attacking, or removing them militarily. Each with its own share of potential problems."
"Such as?"
"If we choose to bribe them, it's possibly they might still continue their unlawful work. It's like feeding the proverbial troll. If it works and stops the attacks, it could earn us the animosity of their victims for not going far enough to stop them." the clerk took a deep breath as he finished summarizing the first set of problems, then moved on; "Respond militarily on the other hand, and we'll earn the animosity of surviving pirates - as well as that of those who will think we went too far."
"Plainly put." Masazumi said, "We should try to find some middleground between the two, and hope it will be enough."
"Nay. Zero tolerance!" Ulquiaga firmly stated. "We displayed our capacity of restraint well enough at Vectes. Now it is time to show our military will and resolve. Find the pirate strongholds and wipe them out!"
"I sincerely hope you're kidding, Ulquiaga." Masazumi responded, deeply annoyed by such a bloodthirsty solution. "I'd prefer something less violent."
"We could try to negotiate." Nate suggested. "They got to have a leader we could contact."
Tenzou resolutely turned down the notion, "I most apologize for this harshness, but these are mere brigands, Lady Nate. Criminals. We must not negotiate with such people."
"You wish to kill them all, then?"
"Why turn it into such a bloodbath?" Naomasa shrugged nonchalantly. Her calm demeanor cut clean through the tension. "Boats are one of their most important assets, correct?"
"Why, of course." Masazumi said. It had already dawned on her what the 8th Special Agent was going to suggest, or at least a part of it. "The Stranded who live along the coast and on the islands need boats, both for fishing and transport."
"Exactly. We do not need to negotiate, nor do we have to decimate their strongholds. All we need to do is sink their boats. With the world in its current state, they got no easy way to replace losses, so they'll get the message fast: Either they back off, or they will lose their whole fleet."
"I see." Futayo regarded the engineer with approval. "But it still leaves one thing to decide: How much of our forces should we dedicate for such an effort?"
"May I offer some input on that?" Margot had raised a hand, with a broad smile across her lips.
The samurai gave a curt nod, "Feel free."
"I believe we only need a couple of ships for this – each with its own complement of hexen to assist in the search for enemy targets. The only problem is identification..." she looked to her lover, as if she got the answer to that little problem.
"Well..." Naruze held up one of her pens for everyone to see, "... we could mark allied ships for that purpose in mind. If it ain't got no mark; sink it."
Futayo nodded as she listened, "That could work, but would take some time to execute."
"Not necessarily." Masazumi scratched her cheek as something occurred to her, "We could contact each clan representative and get them to secretly allocate their most trusted subordinates to add the markings – just in case there might be infiltrators about."
"It's a good idea... but..." Neshinbara shook his head, "...we need markings they cannot copy. Spatial drawings for example."
"That won't be a problem." Naruze assured them, "I can mobilize the manga club to speed up the process."
"Jud. All that's left is to convince the Stranded to keep from going out to sea till the markings are applied."
"And then the hunt can begin." Ulquiaga growled approvingly.
Masazumi looked to the half-dragon with something akin to concern. For security reasons, no non-humans should meet with the Stranded yet, she was worried he might do something brash.
"If that is all..." Futayo made a gesture that if she was armed with the tonbokiri, its butt would hit the floor with a resounding boom, "We should embark on preparations immediately. Any word before we proceed, Chancellor?"
Toori maintained that silly grin, his eyes closed mirthfully. "Hm~ Sure. It all sounds good. Doesn't it, Horizon?"
"Jud." the automatic doll leaned into view with that flat response, "We look forward to your success."
"Thank you, Lady Horizon, Lord Toori." Futayo said and dipped her head ceremoniously. The rest bowed slightly as well out of simple formality. "Now." she turned back to the rest with a sweeping motion, "Let us begin."
They responded in unison: "Jud!"
17:23 – 14 A.E.
Vectes – Pelruan reactor
Marus looked over the monolithic structure. It seemed so out of place that it looked a whole lot larger than it actually is. He had led his half of Delta through the outskirts of Vectes' wilderness for the last couple of hours to get here – the raven's fuel is too precious to waste. If something went belly-up, it only had enough for a trip back to Port Farrall.
Baird was already at work by the wall, with a hand placed hard against its flawlessly flat wall. Searching for... something. A screwdriver hunt from the other hand, which he butted against the wall. He was eager enough to check the reactor out, but seemed to be at a loss now – which was both surprising and alarming.
"Problem?" Marcus asked.
Cole however was greatly confident about Baird's chances, "He's just getting his groove on, don't you worry." But he was in for a surprise as Baird eventually returned to them:
"Tch... I'm just a fraud." Shit had truly hit the fan if Baird so willingly put himself down like that – it hit the others' faces like a full-blown punch. "Can't tell if this shit's a machine... or a rectangular block of metal with paint on top. The only things that says it ain't the latter... are all those cables, and the faint hum coming from inside."
Marcus watched him evenly, "Then how about you find a way inside?"
"I've circled it, been looking for a way to get in. But there is nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. No sign of screws or bolt. No door. No gap. There's always a measure of instrumentality in every piece of machinery, a sort of internal blueprint – that is how people copy the tech of others. But this piece of crap got no instrumentality at all. It might just as well be a block of metal."
"Alright. I get the picture." the sergeant rumbled.
"How about there's a trick to it?" Cole offered with a shrug.
Baird glowered at the structure and frowned. Barely even listening to Cole as he thought aloud; "They call it a reactor... but of what kind? It's not an Imulsion rig. Not a nuclear reactor. It doesn't get power from the wind, nor is it geothermal. Asked of how deep it goes, and it runs no further than twenty-five feet deep – give or take. This shit has got to be something."
Marcus grunted an acknowledgment, and decided to finally press his earpiece. "Control, this is Delta." It was about time to report back.
Once again, Prescott answered his call, "We hear you Delta. What do you have for us?"
He groaned inside, and made sure to keep it down. "We have arrived at Vectes, and just a while ago made contact with the folks of the local village of Pelruan. All COG citizen who were cut off after the hammer strikes."
It was a case of insane luck to say the least, and those back in Port Farrall were also surprised, judging by the brief silence that followed, until the Chairman broke it with great enthusiasm, "Absolutely extraordinary-"
"Anya's inspecting the naval base along with a local as we speak – you'll hear it from her if this island's the solution." he continued as if he did not hear Prescott's response. "But I'm calling in for a different reason. Do you have any world maps or history books handy?"
He got his response to that, this time it was Hoffman; "Why?"
"I need you guys to look up a single name." Marcus stated bluntly, "Musashi. I repeat; M-u-s-a-s-h-i."
Prescott gave it a thought and replied, "I daresay there exist no country nor geographical location nor town by that name. What is it?"
"Apparently, it's an city-state based on some island out there. The locals are currently engaged in some trade agreement with them." he did not mention about the Protectorate. That would be Anya's beast to wrestle with. "That's where all these new tech came from. Mostly agricultural robots, and a reactor of unknown type."
"Unknown? What is Corporal Baird's take on it?"
"He can't make sense of it, sir." Marcus grumbled, and fully expected a shocked silence to occur. "Wherever the hell they came from, they got a seriously high technology base. And I got a hunch they can do far more than this."
"Threat-level?" Hoffman demanded.
"Unknown. The villagers keep referring to an airborne battleship though. As for its firepower - also unknown. They never saw it fire a shot."
It was bad news. And made him remember of a time when his father held a speech where he criticized the COG for narrow ways of thinking in regards to warfare – which could someday come back to bite them in the ass. And it did. The navy had been largely neglected all this time, and that's gonna cost them if conflict arises.
"Delta." the colonel moved on. "You got a new objective: Threat assessment. We need you to investigate and discern whether they are a threat to the Coalition. Whichever approach you decide on is your decision. Direct communications, or by ways of infiltration if at all possible – though, if you choose the latter."
"If we get caught, the Coalition will deny any involvement, and we'll be on our own." Marcus nodded, "I got it." he could almost feel Hoffman echoing his motion, but much more grimly.
"Keep us updated, Control out."
"Copy that." he looked back to the others. "Great."
No shortage of high-risk missions, even with most of the grubs dead.
18:01; 17th June; 1648; Testament Era
Above England
Though it is far smaller than the country it was based on, England was still an imposing hovering landmass. Francis looked down on its upper surface with some slight trepidation from the deck of his ship, Walsingham wordlessly at his side.
A short time after Oxford had regained their collective footing – in a manner of speaking that is, they were quick to hide England from direct view, by shrouding it with dense mists.
Up ahead, the "Granuaile", Grace's ship, slowly approached them. And behind it, the half-wolf could see a satellite of sorts illuminated by warning lights – surrounded by portions of the English fleet – the location of the strange hole reportedly.
The other ship settled alongside his. From there, Grace O'Malley was quick to come on board in a burst of green light. "Welcome back." she managed to greet despite the donut she got in her mouth.
"Good to be back." Francis responded with a raise of his shoulders, "But our mission's in shambles. We've searched the whole damned region, and found no trace of the phenomenon. Islands, mainland and ocean floor. But nothing."
"I see." Grace slumped, "Guess it was too much to hope for."
"On the other hand, Musashi's been a bunch of very busy ants with the natives."
"We've noticed. But our Queen has decided to take no action as of yet."
"The natives are a bunch of savages anyway. I'm legitimately surprised they haven't taken a harder approach to them."
"Musashi doesn't have great military prowess to begin with." Grace shrugged without worry, her confidence well-founded. "The only reason they got weapons was due to their status as mercenaries earlier, which gave them the privilege to acquire medium to heavy-class weaponry. The natives on the other hand aren't a threat."
"Good to know. What of the hole?" he gestured almost lazily to the satellite.
The dryad shrugged, "... We are still studying it. It's not all that big, but we've found no way to manipulate it thus far."
"How big is it?"
"At most, enough for a kobold to pass through - if we're lucky."
"Then-"
"Anyone we send through would be doomed to die if we try it though. It goes without saying that the hole's far above sea-level on the other side as well. Even if it survived the fall, it would still have to swim all the way to the mainland."
"An impossible task."
"Quite." Grace looked back at him evenly, "Anyway, since you haven't found the phenomenon yet, the Queen want you to go back out there, and search through neighboring regions."
"Oof, figured as much. But we will need extra supplies."
"And you shall have it. My crew is getting ready to bring it on board."
"I do hope plenty milk has been added."
"Milk and meat." she rolled her eyes, "Both have been taken care of. Just... don't let any natives see what species a portion of it came from."
Francis waved his claws casually, "Huh, of course."
"Well then, I bid you good luck on your little expedition Francis Drake." Grace briefly saluted, just long enough for him to respond in kind before she vanished back to her ship in another burst of bright green light.
Numerous ropes extended from respective ships as their crews went to work to bring the new supplies in. But Francis did not watch for long, his maw stretching to show off a toothy grin as he turned to Walsingham – who continued to observe without a word. "I'll be in my quarters till we're ready to go."
The automaton responded in the affirmative with the opening of a sign frame.
Satisfied, he went down below deck without another word.
Author notes: The rate at which I update my stories aren't among the quickest. Got other stories and projects that I need to pay attention to too. Thanks for the reviews thus far.