Shocca nods fervently during Arc's sermon. "Yeah!"
Yes, dwell on the doubt. Persist the hesitate. Long reflection leads to the best actions, or choices to not act.
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Nirin considers Arc's impassioned argument for what seems like an incredibly long time, long enough for the detonator to float down to the floor and roll to a stop. Eventually Nirin answers "I know of this Stellar Degenerator you speak of as well as the Ark above. Mortal contrivances of no greater significance upon the fabric of time. That they may wipe out entire civilizations is simply the result of the cascade of mortal decisions that produced them. The normal functioning of things, if you will. The Starstone is entirely different in nature, eternal, touching more than you perceive." Nirin softly shakes its head "Than you will ever perceive. From such a perspective, you cannot appreciate the mistakes being made." Nirin listens to Arc's attempt to speak of time and fate with a parent's patience for a child's stories.
"That the Starstone must not remain here in the hands of Golarion's descendants is an un-deniable truth, I am afraid." It smiles faintly "You speak of convincing me not to act to avert catastrophe, and yet I can see you yourselves will not sit idly by and allow the potential ruin you anticipate to fall as it may. It is contradictions like those that make mortals interesting. And terribly annoying."
"Very well. I find I have lost my appetite for forcing the issue. " Nirin draws a black, rune etched blade out from what seems like a portal on the surface one of its wings and effortlessly stabs it into the floor. "You seek a few more moments, as mortals always do. You will have them. But I leave behind Skyndi, one of my two swords. You will take him, and by seeing him remember that you must endeavor to make this right, or I will return again to ensure it."
Yes, dwell on the doubt...
... with a parent's patience for a child's stories...
Shocca's eyes grow wide as she takes in the moment. Magic sword, magic sword, magic sword! She takes a deep breath in. "And by make it right, you mean pull the starstone from the center of this station that requires it for life and give it to another civilization?" She cringes a little as she finishes that statement. "We'll, uh, see what we can do. After we stop the death ship shooting at our home." She smiles meekly, deciding not talking might be the best choice at the moment.
Having turned Nirin, and with Arc accepting the sword, Ajithu decides to say no more. What he's feeling can hardly be called relief, though. He sends a telepathic missive to Arc and Shocca.
So... it seems we have to figure out how to move the Starstone now. How hard can it be?
"And by make it right, you mean pull the starstone from the center of this station that requires it for life and give it to another civilization?"
"Yes." Nirin's tone is absolutely serious "If you have any sense, you will. It need not be this moment, or the next, but before the end of your fleeting lives, do so."
To Arc, Nirin says "Skyndi is not an honor, but a responsibility. Do not forget that." before offering a final nod to the three of you. Then in between one moment and the next, it vanishes, taking with it all of the explosives and leaving only the blade behind.
Well, we have recently been chatting with the leaders of the station... If our fleeting lives last that long. Shocca's go wide at the sword. She takes a few seconds to appreciate the moment and the location and her breath. Then, she heads over to the terminals to see what she can find.
Before the end of our lives... perhaps we can find a different fate in that time. Assuming we all make it out of our current debacle.
The terminals here are about as damaged as the other equipment, but there's enough remaining functionality to catch just a glimpse into the research done on the Starstone here. In better times, it would likely be fascinating to explore this data in more detail. Right now all that's clear from the terminals is that they're getting only intermittent readings from the Starstone - as if it's flickering in and out of this dimension. Whatever the Ark did to the Starstone when it fired that energy beam through the Station, it wasn't fully effective, to both the detriment of the Station and the Ark's plans. From the few readings you can get from the Starstone, it seems to be slowly stabilizing itself once more. What you can't quite determine however, is what happens if the Ark fires its displacing beam a second time before the Starstone can recover. Likely nothing good.
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Before the end of our lives... perhaps we can find a different fate in that time. Assuming we all make it out of our current debacle.
"Which we are one step closer to resolving, as we've stopped the...forcible relocation...of the Starstone from happening. Let us resolve one crisis before puzzling through another. Shocca, status report?"
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"Things are... not good, but fine, here. The Starstone is tough, it can heal from that blast. But we need to prevent another blast from destabilizing it before then." She takes a good long look around, knowing the answer but wanting to find another. "Perhaps there's some way to protect it from here. If not... we may need to prevent the Ark from firing it's displacing beam a second time the hard way."
"ahem"
The overall damage to the system and data here leave Shocca unsure on what exactly could be done to heal or protect the Starstone. Given that this place is at the center of the Station and fully enclosed by layer upon layer of metal and life, it may be that the options are limited.
Just as you're pondering this and recovering from your brush with Nirin and the other threats in the area, you hear your comms crackle to life "Come in. Can you hear me?" It's weak, but it sounds like Lin Camulan. His normally stoic voice is tinged with relief "I'm guessing that if I'm getting through to you, you've made more progress on the auxiliary generators than the engineers did. Some of the Station's systems are coming back online too. What's the situation down there?"
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"Lin? Lin, it's Arcalinte. Yes, the situation's...weird: time-space distortions, Azlanti spies, a Hound of Tindalos, de-aged skittermanders and a fey attempting to steal the Starstone itself! We've largely resolved the immediate threats, but the time-space distortions probably won't fade until the Starstone's recovered," Arcalinte says into the comm. "What's your status?"
Camulan asks a few bewildered questions about the oddities you discovered before catching himself and saying "We'll have to worry about all of that later." He clears his throat and says "The battle against the Ark is not going well. We have reinforcements coming in via conventional Drift travel, even without the Starstone serving as beacon. But even if we're capable enough to tangle with the Ark's drones, the main ship itself swats aside anything we try to do against it. I'm convinced we need to think smarter rather than go for a full assault." From his tone it seems not everyone agrees with him. "That priest of Eloritu that Ms. Nott hired seems convinced that you're meant to play another role in all this, and considering all you've managed for us so far, I'm inclined to believe her. Get yourselves back up to the Plenara and I'll meet you there with the others. It's time to talk strategy."
Well, we have recently been chatting with the leaders of the station... If our fleeting lives last that long.
Guess our lives did indeed last that long. Shocca picks up her things and makes for the door. "On our way, Lin!" As the group jogs back up, she sticks close to Arc. "Yeah, you seem to have some experience with boarding dangerous enemy capital ships... any pointers?"
"Talk." They need us to take a dangerous, sacrificial risk, I presume. Ajithu sighs, knowing he's going to do it anyway.
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Well, we have recently been chatting with the leaders of the station... If our fleeting lives last that long.Guess our lives did indeed last that long. Shocca picks up her things and makes for the door. "On our way, Lin!" As the group jogs back up, she sticks close to Arc. "Yeah, you seem to have some experience with boarding dangerous enemy capital ships... any pointers?"
"Have good friends at your side, the blessing of the Dawnflower and a whole lot of luck," Arcalinte replies.
He looks at the time distortions still lingering in the air.
"Ajithu-Ko...do you think we can use these distortions to reverse what happened to these engineers? Much as it pains me to say it, I do not believe I'm ready to become a father at this time."
I'm... I'm not sure. Let me see...
Ajithu concentrates on the temporal energy nearby. Did Nirin take it with them?
The temporal distortions near the Starstone seem to be persisting despite Nirin leaving. Ajithu's educated guess is that they're a byproduct of whatever happened to disrupt the Starstone and will fade in time. The temporal clouds have shown that they can alter the immediate timelines of objects. There's no telling if they'll restore the skittermanders to their original ages or send them even earlier on their own timelines, at least not just from observation.
Shocca frowns. "We can't just leave them to their fates. Unlike the frozen group, we have no way of knowing if these will be fixed on their own. " She shakes her head. "We're about to go see the most powerful people on this station. Surely they have pocket technomancers who can bring these skittermanders back to their proper age once all of this calms down." While we probably don't have the time to spend experimenting, I'm more afraid that pushing one of these babies into a time cloud will result in a fetus coming out... She opens her arms to Arc. "I skipped motherhood intentionally, but I suppose I can stand-in until we get to the surface."
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"Yeah, I'm not about to risk experimenting on children. We'll bring them up and see if maybe Cambrisa knows something we don't. At least, if we can't restore them, they'll have a whole extra life to live ahead of them."
He takes the lead in escorting the party, children in tow, back out of the depths of Absalom Station, taking one last lingering look at the Starstone before leaving.
It couldn't hurt to try one of them in a temporal cloud... Oh, okay. Fair enough. Perhaps you're right that they will have a technomancer.
It takes some coaxing but eventually you get the quartet of baby skittermanders to release the bundle of torn wiring they've been playing with and instead join you. They swiftly clamber up onto the three of you, mouths searching for any free hair or scales to gobble up. Eventually you're able to keep them occupied with some batteries, which they suck on relentlessly (and thankfully harmlessly).
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The trip back up to the surface level of the Station is tricky but far less ominous than the trip down. The Downlow's lights are back on and nervous clusters of local residents are back in the streets. They ask for news on the explosions and the battle above - it seems widespread infosphere access is still down. On the surface, sections of the Station are lit, while others remain illuminated only by the flashes of weapons fire above. It seems at least that emergency responders are out in force - previously burning buildings have been extinguished and you see teams of volunteers and medics helping those with injuries. You're occasionally greeted, but most are busy with the immediate problems they're trying to help address, and your passage is unobstructed.
The area around Jatembe Park is particularly serene, as a cool glow emitting from within seems to be healing individuals nearby as an enormous giant wanders about reinforcing structures and righting fallen objects .
Unfortunately the same can not be said of situations elsewhere. You overhear that bored devils in the Grand Gardenia District built a thorny edifice through several residential properties and decorated it with corpses before their summoner was able to dismiss them. Meanwhile in a docking bay near the Click Clack Club, a standoff between a dragonkin businessman and a group of local citizens trying to commandeer his shuttle came to a head. While a group of Stewards and a courageous angel intervened to protect the citizens, the situation erupted into violence that led to the deaths of not only the dragonkin's private security but also Stewards and the aforementioned angel. To top it off, the dragonkin escaped the Station alone in the midst of the fighting in his shuttle, only to be shot down by stray weapons fire from the ongoing battle.
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You arrive back at the Plenara and enter the Star Chamber, where just a few days earlier you'd helped coordinate the distribution of the Pact's allied fleets. Where before that legendary meeting room had been orderly and neat, it's now lit by magical floating lamps and is packed with Stewards and other groups working on coordinating a response to the ongoing crisis. You weave your way between desks and clusters of wide-eyed people to meet up with Lin Camulan at the far end of the room. He waves and gestures for you to join him in a small side room.
Once out of the hustle and bustle he wipes the back of his hand across a sweat-drenched forehead and says "Glad to see you're looking fresh. We've got Ms. Cambrisa and some of the best mystics on the Station working on divination after divination, and they just informed me that they see a path through this. Seems like it's going to be a long shot, but I can't say I'm surprised. Ready to meet them? The Directorate will also be there, since it sounds like we'll need the whole of the Armada involved."
"Whoa... we did our best but.. whoa, there were a lot of problems. The station will take a while to recover from this day." She shakes her head at the news, somber. Those darn devils...
Entering the Plenara as a trio, Shocca sneaks a glance at each of her teammates. "A long ways from our shuttle to a mysterious snowy pleasure planet, huh?" Her attention snaps back to Lin. "We have a talented mystic of our own, though he's been a bit more hands on today. Yes, we are ready to do our part. Speaking of not our part..." She gestures wildly to Arc and the four skittermanders.
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Unfortunately the same can not be said of situations elsewhere. You overhear that bored devils in the Grand Gardenia District built a thorny edifice through several residential properties and decorated it with corpses before their summoner was able to dismiss them. Meanwhile in a docking bay near the Click Clack Club, a standoff between a dragonkin businessman and a group of local citizens trying to commandeer his shuttle came to a head. While a group of Stewards and a courageous angel intervened to protect the citizens, the situation erupted into violence that led to thethat led to the deaths of not only the dragonkin's private security but also Stewards and the aforementioned angel. To top it off, the dragonkin escaped the Station alone in the midst of the fighting in his shuttle, only to be shot down by stray weapons fire from the ongoing battle.
Arcalinte gets a sad and frustrated look on his face as he hears what happened without their intervention.
"Even after all we've done, it still wasn't enough. Even if they turn on the Cycle to a new life, even if the dawn brings new light for them, it still feels like failure. Even if I know we can't be expected to bear the weight of the whole galaxy on our shoulders...can't be everywhere at once."
He looks down at Skyndi, now sheathed at his side.
"Can't be everywhen at once."
You arrive back at the Plenara and enter the Star Chamber, where just a few days earlier you'd helped coordinate the distribution of the Pact's allied fleets. Where before that legendary meeting room had been orderly and neat, it's now lit by magical floating lamps and is packed with Stewards and other groups working on coordinating a response to the ongoing crisis. You weave your way between desks and clusters of wide-eyed people to meet up with Lin Camulan at the far end of the room. He waves and gestures for you to join him in a small side room.
Once out of the hustle and bustle he wipes the back of his hand across a sweat-drenched forehead and says "Glad to see you're looking fresh. We've got Ms. Cambrisa and some of the best mystics on the Station working on divination after divination, and they just informed me that they see a path through this. Seems like it's going to be a long shot, but I can't say I'm surprised. Ready to meet them? The Directorate will also be there, since it sounds like we'll need the whole of the Armada involved."
"We're as ready as we'll ever be. I can't say I'm surprised either. At this point, long shots are the shots I'm used to taking, and if you're thinking what I'm thinking, this isn't my first long shot like this."
As Shocca indicates the skittermander whelps, he smiles and chuckles a bit.
"Engineers from the Starstone facilities: they got hit by one of the time-space distortions that ripped through the area when the Starstone was hit, and were...de-aged? We didn't have the mystical tools to reverse what happened to them, and didn't want to risk their lives by just experimenting with the remaining distortions in the area. Do you think Cambrisa or one of the other mystics assembled might be able to assist?"
The station will take a while to recover from this day."
It will be fortunate if it is indeed just a day. We're already spreading ourselves so thin for today.
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"A long ways from our shuttle to a mysterious snowy pleasure planet, huh?"
Indeed, things were simple before the burden of knowledge about what was waking.
Her attention snaps back to Lin. "We have a talented mystic of our own, though he's been a bit more hands on today..."
Hrm... yeah. Let's leave that be.
An image of him on the ground flashes through his mind. Then the topic of why and how he acquired his skills long ago, which he isn't interested in explaining to the leaders of the station today.
I don't have any alternatives to a longshot foretold be Cambrisa. Let us hear the details.
Camulan looks at the skittermander whelps in surprise, noticing them for the first time once they're pointed out. Arc's explanation earns a baffled shake of the head from him. "De-aged? I can think of some higher ups on the Station here that'd be sprinting down to the auxiliary reactor level if they heard about that." He gestures to a young man in a Stewards uniform nearby, inviting him over. "While some of them may be able to help, we need those mystics working on keeping us all alive right now. Trevor here'll take those skittermanders somewhere safe for now and keep them uh, fed, occupied." To his credit, the young man looks confused for only a moment before barking out his affirmation and coaxing the skittermanders out of your hands.
With the skittermander engineers in safe hands, Camulan leads you in to a smaller meeting room. You find the relatively unadorned space is crowded with a couple dozen individuals in seated and standing positions, mystics of all different faiths and organizations. They've surrounded themselves with the accoutrements and ritual paraphernalia specific to their faith, leaving the already small-ish room feeling utterly chaotic. To the side, the members of the Directorate are sitting at a fold-out table, discussing the insights gained thus far.
Cambrisa joins you at the entrance and follows you over to the Directorate, her floating chair keeping her from knocking over candles and statues and effigies of all kinds. She addresses the party "You have been busy, and thanks to that the fight continues. Still, the outcome of our collective divinations has not been pleasant to perceive. I hope you'll be able to help just a little more."
She raises her group to bring the Directorate in to the discussion as well. "In this dark time we've called upon the aid of the gods to guide us, revealing the Ark's secrets. Together with the scans and data the engineering team's instruments have returned, we can say some things with authority." Her expression turns sour "With our current forces, we cannot stop Ark Prime and also hope to survive. This is true whether the other Fleets manage to return, or if we receive aid from the Veskarium. While the vessel is not impregnable, posing it a sufficient threat would almost certainly result in it reflexively eradicating the Station and possibly all of the Pact Worlds in retaliation. Its current apparent docility is only while it prepares for a second attempt at the Starstone."
"Stopping it therefore can only be accomplished through a surprise attack. An infiltration, specifically." She eyes your team and Arc in particular "You're familiar with that approach." Looking back to the others she continues "A group that could arrive at the bridge could disable the Ark, or preferentially, destroy it. However, even breaching the ship will be difficult. First, the Sivv drone fleets must be occupied to allow a group to approach. Second, the Ark's shields must momentarily be disrupted just long enough for a small ship to enter, but not so long that the ship identifies an existential threat. Third, the infiltrators must appear to be Sivv as they approach, down to the genetic level, to fool the Ark's systems. And finally, they must reach an airlock and convince it to open."
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Arcalinte nods at Cambrisa's words.
"I am indeed familiar with that approach...though this is definitely much more difficult than the Empire of Bones was. For that we simply had to steal a ship and take advantage of the chaos of battle. How would we even begin to spoof Sivv genetics? We've learned a lot about them in the weeks since this crisis began, but likely nowhere near enough to achieve...that!"
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Shocca pulls Trevor aside as he gathers up the baby 'manders. "They really like kits. You know, those things they sell at Adventurer-R-Us stores? Grab a few and they'll be busy for at least ten minutes. Then you'll spend ten minutes putting the kit back together, and repeat." She hurries back up with the rest of the group, taking in the chaotic religious scene. The ikeshti listens intently. A second time? So that time traveler was not just working on their behalf, but for them? Interesting... Her thoughts whirl at the challenges ahead. "The brave hims, hers, and thems of our Navy should be able to keep the drone fleets occupied." She pauses a moment, absorbing the sentient cost that 'distraction' would require. "Disrupting the shields... there are likely several engineering solutions there. Or have we penetrated their code base yet?" She waves that problem away dismissively. "I've tackled my fair share of genetics problems, written a few thesis's on them... taking the DNA samples we've brought and mix it with a little modern tech... maybe..."
While Arc starts to despair over spoofing Sivv genetics, Shocca's gears start turning. She realizes from the group's previous interactions with Sivv genetic scanning tech that the system is unlikely to be easily fooled. However, it may be possible to concoct a mutagenic agent using the DNA samples you brought from Jedarat. It would truly be a feat of chemistry and genetic engineering to create a stable formula that also would allow you to return back to your normal forms... and yet Shocca feels confident that she could make exactly that.
The shields on the other hand seem the more tricky obstacle. Camulan chimes in with "I'm afraid the opposite is true Shocca. Our tech minded volunteers believe the Ark infiltrated our computer systems while all this chaos was unfolding, while their own systems have proven to be entirely opaque. If we'd had more time to study the samples from Hibb and Jedarat maybe... but that's neither here nor there." He shrugs "Where trickery won't serve us, we'll have to rely on firepower."
Cambrisa clears her throat before saying "There'll be need for firepower regardless, but there may be a way to make that task easier. A sufficiently powerful and convincing illusion may fool the Ark into redistributing its shields, providing an opening for a coordinated attack upon the newly-weakened portion."
Zia Choh, of the Directorate, snorts "Really? An illusion? I don't want to question your magic, but I'm finding it hard to imagine this Ark won't see through something like that. No, what I'm thinking is real simple. Our Fleet fighting up there's been catching snatches of audio broadcasting from the Ark. And if they're broadcasting, they're probably listening as well. They may be an ancient species with tech far above ours, but that doesn't mean they can't be tricked in more low tech ways." They grin "We bluff. Plain and simple. Something to make them lower their guard."
It may be that our magic is different enough from theirs that they don't recognize it. I believe the illusion could work, thought it may take the power of many to manifest one that is big enough.
Shocca shivers at the memory of that confusion-door-trap that rejected the group's DNA. Here's hoping I did as well there as I think... At the mention of the counter-hack, her tips tense. "We once had a travelling partner who's path to hacking was hitting the computer with a big stick... I guess we'll have to apply that philosophy here." Neither a good liar or even slightly competent with magical ways, she looks to Ajithu then Arc. "And we can project this illusion into space?"
Cambrisa smiles "Certainly a collaborative effort would be needed. The scale must be immense and the details convincing to their full perspective and perception. And we must project it at a distance, as you say Shoccaar." Ajithu gets the sense that it would take a complex ritual to weave the required magic and likely the involvement of hundreds of spellcasters and technical experts, but that it may be possible.
Perhaps the Sivv are familiar with the Starstone. Our illusion could be of it, offered out in space to distract them, in their Ark. Even better if the illusion were moving away from the station to draw the Ark away as well.
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"This is making a lot of assumptions on how the Sivv think," Arcalinte comments. "While we know the basics of them as despotic slavers and conquerors, we're not sure how much they actually know about the Starstone beyond it being Absalom Station's power source, which they may be simply aiming to steal to disable the Station for a boarding attack or maybe to empower the Ark."
He thinks a moment.
"But, given how much time and space are in flux in the Starstone's general vicinity right now, they may be expecting all sorts of strange magical activity coming out of the Station. They may be smart, but no intelligence can fully account for magic, except maybe Eloritu himself, and he's not going to just tell."
He gives Cambrisa a wink.
"Hundreds of spellcasters..." Shocca whispers, realizing not for the first time the grandeur of this day. "I'm not magically... inclined. Could your spellcasters cast an illusion of our time-travelling enemy? He seemed willing to side with the Sivv, perhaps they knew that. Perhaps an illusion of a devilishly handsome man with wings, flying out of the station with the starstone in his hands, would be convincing enough?" She looks to Arc. "Combine that with some magical fireworks or explosions that look like they're coming from the station, to account for the strange magics that keep surrounding us."
The Directorate exchange looks at your suggestion before turning to Cambrisa. She taps her chin for a few moments before murmuring "Well, maybe... Their interest in the Starstone is clear enough..." and turning to the other assembled mystics. She's silent for a moment as she telepathically communicates with them, then addresses you all again "Seems the consensus is that it should be possible. It will be immensely difficult to make it convincing, but perhaps that's to our advantage. To the best of our knowledge, the Starstone is unique, and the Sivv may err on the side of caution and pursue the illusion, even if it doesn't quite match what they were expecting."
"And indeed, making it a fireworks display will help draw their attention and make the whole move more convincing..." She starts drilling you all for details on Nirin, then relaying them to the other mystics. It takes another half hour of talking through specifics before she finally nods, satisfied. "We have enough to start. Ajithu, we would welcome your assistance with the ritual-"
Camulan interrupts with "Except we need him on the front lines, or this whole wild plan will be wasted." He shakes his head.
With the outline of the plan set, Camulan raises his voice to say "Alright everyone. I got word while you all were talking that energy signatures from the Ark suggest we have some time for this. Twenty four hours before it builds back to the same state it was when it fired that beam at us. Let's call that twenty hours for our team to develop the distraction, muster our firepower, and for our biotech people to concoct Shocca's mutagen. No time to waste, but also pace yourselves. I don't want people falling unconscious twenty hours from now!"
"Oh thank goodness I need a nap so bad..." Shocca pulls herself together and nods seriously. "Yes, we can use that time to prepare. I'm happy to assist with the biotechnicians if that would be helpful."
Later, in a quiet moment, Shocca does take some time to write a sphere-mail to her broodmates back on Akiton and another to some colleagues on Castrovel. Not quite a goodbye, but at least an appreciation of time spent together. Within each, she closes with a soft look towards the future. "Maybe when this whole mess is over we can take that cruise through the Diaspora we've always talked about..." Then, finally, she sends a note to her lawyer. "Perhaps it is time for me to make that Will you've been bothering me about. Here are my thoughts. Please return the draft for redlines and signature within 24 hours."