It's record lows here -42 wind chill so I'm at home and you guys get an update!

Thank you all so much for the incredible support! It's so great to know other people are enjoying Kai and John's story.

Happy Reading!

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The Defiant One
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Kai spent the next few weeks as she was healing working in the east pier. It had flooded during the storm and she and Zelenka worked to repair some of the damaged systems so they could beginning pumping the water out of the lower levels. The hope was that once it was clear of water they could get teams in to assess the damage and take inventory of the labs.

Kai found it oddly peaceful working in the abandoned sections of the city. She was forever grateful that despite all that had happened Doctor Zelenka's treatment of her had never wavered. He really was a brilliant scientist who had a knack for being able to focus entirely on the job in front of them, seeming not to care about her past at all. He appreciated her skills with machines and was happy to explain to her what she didn't understand so she could continue to work as his assistant.

They were only halfway through their work on the east pier however when Doctor Zelenka was pulled off the project by Doctor McKay. An ancient Lantian satellite had been discovered orbiting another planet in their solar system. Doctor Zelenka's expertise was needed on the team as they assessed its purpose and value. This was one area where Kai couldn't assist him, and she found herself with free time for perhaps the first time in her life.

She had resumed running in the gym shortly after the Genii's attack. However, with extra time she couldn't help feeling like running just wasn't enough. She had allowed herself to become complacent in Atlantis before and it wasn't a mistake she would make again. Just because she wasn't on the military side of the expedition didn't mean she would never face another military situation. If she wanted to be of help she needed to be prepared for all eventualities.

It was shortly after dawn and Kai found Teyla meditating in the training room. The doors hissed open revealing the Athosian sitting cross-legged in the beam of sunlight that streamed through the large stained glass window.

Teyla looked up and surprise flickered in her kind eyes when she saw Kai fidgeting nervously in the doorway.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," Kai said quickly and turned to go.

"Kai," Teyla called after her. "It is quite all right. I was finished," she said kindly as she stood up in an effortlessly graceful motion. "What can I do for you?" she asked curiously.

Kai pressed her lips together, suddenly feeling self conscious. It wasn't in her nature to ask for help, or bother anyone else. This was dangerously close to asking for a favor.

"Is everything all right?" Teyla asked taking another step closer to her. Kai tensed and Teyla cocked her head to the side as her eyes swept over the smaller woman. She wasn't wearing her science uniform, but rather soft clothes she would normally wear for working out.

"I was hoping to spar this morning..." Teyla said conversationally as she turned away from Kai and walked deeper into the room. She hoped presenting her back to Kai would put the other woman more at her ease. "But it seems Major Sheppard is occupied with his duties today." Teyla could feel how uncomfortable the other woman was, but since Kai hadn't outright refused yet she assumed she was on the right track. "Would you care to join me?" she asked warmly turning back around.

Kai had taken a couple steps into the room, but froze once more, looking around the warmly lit practice room. "I-" she started to say.

Teyla could see the other woman's indecision. Kai was not one to ask for anything. She gave of her time and skills freely, but seemed hesitant to impose anything that could be considered a burden on others. "You would be doing me a favor," Teyla added and she had her.

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Teyla and Kai met to spar every day for the next week. The excitement over the abandoned satellite was not something they shared with the rest of the expedition and instead used the time to train.

Kai was not too proud to admit that Teyla was able to best her every one of those days. They were closely matched however and they were not easy victories for the Athosian. Kai was the better knife fighter, but Teyla was nearly as fast as Kai. The Athosian was longer limbed and physically stronger. Her fighting style was an interesting amalgamation her people had developed from different societies they had encountered over the centuries. It was not one fighting style but many, all rolled into a defensive style meant to both surprise and incapacitate their attacker as quickly as possible. It was not as strict nor as limited as the Mortii's training regime Kai had grown up with and somehow the Athosian leader always managed to surprise her with some new move she hadn't used before.

Teyla had introduced the bantos rods into their training the day before and Kai welcomed the new challenge. The two clashed and twisted striking and paring back and forth. It was close enough to knife fighting that Kai presented a real challenge for Teyla and both woman put their full focus and energy into the fight.

Kai arced away from Teyla's strike, throwing herself back, but kicked out at the other woman as she spun away. Teyla slapped her rod against Kai's calf and the blow threw Kai's balance off mid-motion. Kai landed in a crouch, but instead of backing off she rolled forward to attack again. After a week she had realized Teyla's entire strategy was built around defense, while Kai's was offensive. She was learning to use that to her advantage.

The two women were so engrossed they failed to hear the door hiss open.

Kai swept Teyla's legs, but Teyla jumped nimbly out of the way to avoid falling. Once more instead of backing off Kai pushed forward to attack. She pushed up out of her crouch powerfully, both bantos rods held cross ways. She slammed them into Teyla's stomach while Teyla was still mid-jump, knocking her onto her back. Kai rode her body to the floor, keeping one rod across Teyla's midsection and bringing the other up across her neck, pinning her.

"Wow," a voice called from behind them. "That was impressive."

Kai whipped around, both rods raised in defense, but it was only Lieutenant Ford. Teyla threw herself to her feet and laid a hand on Kai's shoulder. She gave Kai's shoulder a gentle squeeze and Kai turned back to face Teyla lowering the rods.

"Well done today," Teyla said warmly. She bowed low at the waist as was her people's custom. "You're learning quickly."

Ford was looking back and forth between the two beautiful women who were at complete odds with one another. There was an air of peace around Teyla when she trained. She wore soft fabrics that left large swaths of caramel skin exposed. When she fought it reminded him of when she meditated. Kai on the otherhand was dressed completely in black. She wore fitted long sleeves and long pants with her scarf wrapped around her hair, leaving little to no skin exposed. She was also more intense, not as in control. It always felt like if you moved at the wrong time, or caught her by surprise she would attack.

"What can I do for you Lieutenant?" Teyla asked putting her rods away and picking up a towel. She dabbed the sweat from the back of her neck as she turned back to face the young soldier who still hadn't taken his eyes off of Kai. His gaze was wary and she moved to step between them, taking his focus off of Kai and back to the situation.

Ford turned to Teyla. "Weir asked that we be on stand by for a rescue mission."

"Rescue?" Teyla asked. "Is the Major all right?"

"As far as we know," Ford said nodding. "They are heading down to the planet to investigate the source of some ancient Wraith distress beacon. Supposedly there's something up with the planets atmosphere that will make it hard to use their radios and since they're fifteen hours away by jumper Weir wanted us to be ready."

"A wraith distress call?" Teyla asked frowning in concern. "Why would they chose to answer a Wraith distress call."

"Well, the planet's in our backyard and the science team with the Major seem to think it was from the battle of Atlantis, so it's thousands of years old."

"You'll need a pilot," Kai said in a quiet voice from the other side of the room. Ford had made it clear by his body language that he was addressing Teyla and Kai had tried to remain unobtrusive while she gathered her things so she wouldn't disturb them.

"I have one," Ford said briskly. He didn't like to be questioned. He was in charge of this mission. "Markham."

Kai turned to face the young soldier, arching a brow. "Markham has only flown a jumper one time. It would be better to have a more experienced pilot accompany him on his first flight off planet."

Ford narrowed his eyes as he stared at the Mortii. She looked unassuming enough standing in front of him, but he had seen her in action against the Genii. "Will you follow orders?" he asked sharply. This was his first solo mission off world and he wasn't going to include anyone who was going to complicate matters. And Ford had found Kai to be a very complicating person to have around.

"I have been trained my entire life to follow orders," Kai responded stiffly.

"From me?" Ford challenged, raising his eyebrows.

A ghost of a smile shone in her eyes before she composed herself. "Of course," she said simply.

"All right then, gear up," he told the women. "Meet in the control room as soon as you're ready."

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The team was geared up and had been standing in the control room for less than five minutes when Weir gave them the order to go. Weir had been a ball of nervous energy from the moment they arrived. She was pacing restlessly, her hands constantly in motion.

"They're not even overdue yet," Ford argued impetuously.

Kai glanced sideways at the young Lieutenant. He was a good soldier, but he wasn't experienced enough to be able to read his commanding officer's emotions. Despite not being in the military Weir was in command and it was his responsibility to follow her orders, not argue with her when his CO was off world.

Weir's eyes snapped with temper at being questioned as she spun around to face Ford. "Doesn't matter, call it paranoia, intuition or we can just call it a drill. Either way, I want you to go now."

Teyla nodded, stepping forward to be a mediator between the two. "We can always be called back," she agreed soothingly. "But if they are in trouble-"

"Then every moment counts. Exactly," Weir finished for Teyla and she turned back to face Ford, her chin lifted confidently. "Ford, who is your pilot?"

"Markham, we're letting him get his feet wet, but Kai volunteered to come along to help coach him."

Weir turned to Kai, smiling warmly. "Good," she agreed. "He could use the piloting practice," Weir said. The leader of the expedition had been warmer and far more accepting of Kai after the Mortii had saved her life from Kolya. To Weir, Kai had proven where her loyalties lay when she had risked her life to defend the city.

"And I'm packing enough ordnance to fight a small war," Ford added smugly, bringing Weir's attention back to him.

"Good, let's hope you don't have to use it," Weir said grimly.

"Yes ma'am," he agreed, then he turned to his team, his tone sharp with command. "Let's move out."

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"You're doing well Sergeant Markham," Kai congratulated. She was sitting in the co-pilot seat while the young Sergeant gripped the controls so tightly his knuckles were white. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead and his flying had been erratic at best, but Kai recognized it would take time to become comfortable with the controls. The people from earth were not used to piloting space craft as her own people were.

The comm clicked and Weir's voice came over the radio loudly. "Jumper two, this is Atlantis, come in."

Markham flinched and the jumper skittered sideways violently. Kai reached out calmly and steadied the controls, realigning them on their flight path.

"Markham!" Ford snapped, his voice rising with tension. He hadn't been sure, but now he was suddenly very glad he had allowed Kai to join his team for this mission. Markham would have killed them several times over by now without Kai's corrections.

"It's fine Markham," Kai soothed, her eyes flickering over her shoulder to shoot the Lieutenant a disapproving look. Yelling wasn't going to make the Sergeant any more comfortable or relaxed flying the shuttle.

"Is everything okay?" Weir asked uncertainly after a few tense moments.

"Everything's fine Doctor Weir," Teyla spoke up quickly.

"It sounded a little exciting there for a minute," Weir said, her voice tight with tension.

"We're fine," Ford responded gruffly.

"Well, it's been six hours they still haven't checked in."

"It's a good thing we left when we did," Ford said into the radio.

"Be careful Lieutenant," Weir said.

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Gal said something about the radio being a problem on the surface, so hopefully the Jumper's subspace communications are just down," even over the comm Weir didn't sound very convincing.

"We're prepared to do whatever we need to do," Ford responded confidently.

Weir hesitated for a moment as though she were considering her words. "You're on the other side of the solar system Lieutenant. It's going to be your call."

"Yes, ma'am it is," Ford agreed eagerly.

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Eight and a half hours later Kai had taken a shift flying and Markham was back behind the controls. The others had taken turns resting on the long flight, but Kai was tense. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something had her gut churning and the closer and closer they got to the planet the more unsettled she became.

It wasn't like her. A mission like this was nothing compared to what she had faced in the past. It was a point of pride that she had always managed to remain composed and confident in the face of any threat. As the planet loomed before them she grimaced, shifting her weight uncomfortably.

"Are you okay?" Teyla asked from just behind her.

Kai glanced back at her nodding. "Yes, I'm fine," she promised, but her fingers came up to touch the center of her chest just over her sternum. She rolled her shoulders and forced herself to focus on what was happening in front of her. She pulled up the HUD and glanced back over her shoulder at the Lieutenant.

"We may be able to make radio contact now," Kai informed him.

Ford reached up and touched his comm. "Major, this is Lieutenant Ford, come in."

There was nothing but static in response.

Ford grunted in annoyance. "Sir, we should be in there inside an hour. Please respond."

"Perhaps we are still too far away," Teyla said.

"No," Kai said frowning. She moved her hands over the controls running a scan on the approaching planet. "More than likely they can't get a signal. The atmosphere is severely ionized," she closed the HUD and pushed herself to her feet.

"Wait-" Markham called urgently.

"You're doing great," She assured the young man. "I just want to see if I can boost the signal." She opened the tool bag she had packed in case they had trouble with one of the jumpers and pulled out her tablet. She lifted down one of the supply boxes and stepped up on it so she could reach the rear command controls. She flipped opened the hatch and plugged the tablet in. She slid her fingers over the model that came up on her screen and then shifted two crystals.

"Try that," she called.

Ford nodded. "Major, this is Lieutenant Ford. Please respond."

The Major's voice crackled through the comm. "Lieutenant, I like your timing," the Major's tone was wry but there was an underlying tension.

That uncomfortable feeling in Kai's chest tightened and she shifted trying to alleviate the pressure. She closed the command control hatch and moved back to her seat. She was just sitting down when gun shots echoed through the comm. Her head snapped towards Ford, she wasn't sure if the human could hear them or not.

All humor gone from his voice the Major snapped. "Get your asses down here! I need serious backup," there was another round of gunfire, this one loud enough for the others to hear. "Who do you have with you?"

As soon as she heard the gunfire Kai switched the controls over to her. Markham flinched in surprise. "Sorry Sargent," Kai said. She pushed the jumper even faster.  "Seems the Major needs us."

"I have Markham, Teyla and Kai, sir." Ford responded, sounding uncertain of his choices as he waited for his superior officer to respond.

"Good," Sheppard said and more gunfire came from his end. "Get your asses down here."

"Sir," Ford said apologetically. "We are still two-zero minutes away at top speed," he glanced back towards the controls, noting Kai had taken over. "Make that one-five minutes away," he quickly corrected.

Sheppard made a noise of disgust in the back of his throat.  "In that case your timing sucks, get here as soon as you can."

Kai was fairly certain she could shave some time off their approach, but she worried it wouldn't be enough. The Major seemed to have a knack for finding trouble wherever he went and she found herself wondering who he had managed to offend this time. From what she had heard the planet was supposed to have been uninhabited aside from the ancient wraith ship.

The HUD activated, responding to her thoughts. She gritted her teeth, angry at herself for allowing her thoughts to stray.

Not willing to admit to the others that she had anything but the utmost control and she simply pretended she had done so on purpose and ran a scan. "I'm picking up only three life signs on the planet," she reported frowning. She glanced back of her shoulder to the Lieutenant. "I thought you said there were four members on their team."

"There were," Ford said grimly.

Kai's jaw tightened. They knew for certain the Major was alive, but there was a good chance the others were dead. It seemed impossible for the Major to need help against only one or two adversaries. He was one of the most impressive soldiers she had ever worked with. It said a great deal about the enemy they would be facing.

"Head straight for them," Ford ordered than he reached up and activated the comm. "Sir, we're picking you up on the HUD."

There were a few long moments of silence and Kai wondered if they were already too late. The feeling in her chest constricted and she pushed the ship even faster.

"Ford," the Major's voice was tense and he was out of breath. "Lock onto the biggest life-sign signal you can see and fire."

Ford looked stunned as he leaned forward to stare at the scan. "Negative Sir, you're too close."

"That's an order Lieutenant, do it!" Sheppard bellowed into the comm.

"Sir we're five minutes out we can-"

"Zian!" Sheppard yelled into the comm. "You better be at the controls. I don't have five minutes!"

"Understood Major," Kai agreed briskly. Something in her chest twisted painfully as she opened the weapons pod and fired a single drone. "Drone away," she reported back.

"McKay run!" Sheppard's voice echoed through the open comm channel.

Everyone in the jumper was silent as they watched on the HUD as the drone sped towards it's target. Two life-sign signals broke off in opposite directions moving away from the target. Kai's eyes flickered to the others, wondering which one represented Doctor McKay and which one was the Major. If she had to guess she assumed the one closest to the target was Sheppard. The drone hit it's target, and the signal disappeared. The twisting in her gut disappeared when she saw both of the other signals were still blinking strongly on the screen.

Kai was the first to recover. "Major," Kai said into the comm. "This is Zian, target has been eliminated."

"Yeah," Sheppard agreed, panting. "It's about damn time too."

"We got here as soon as we could," Teyla said apologetically.

"That's not what I meant Teyla," Sheppard's voice softened slightly as he reassured Teyla. "Thanks for the assist Zian," he said, all business once more.

"You're welcome Major," Kai said uncomfortably.

"Hope you brought your tools Zian," he tiredly. "Looks like that Wraith made a mess of my ship."

Kai slid her hands over the controls. "I did Major. We will be there in a few minutes."

"We can wait," Sheppard assured her.

Kai spotted the other jumper as they came over the horizon. The planet looked like a barren desert. From the air the only visible structures were their jumper and a crashed Wraith cruiser. Kai landed jumper two right next to jumper one. Strangely, Sheppard and McKay were sitting on a rock a few yards away.

Ford was the first out of his chair, hurrying out the rear hatch as soon as Kai opened it. "Are you okay, sir?" he called striding towards the two men.

"Yeah, just this," he said gesturing towards the bloodied bandage wrapped around his arm. "And a few cracked ribs."

"McKay?" Teyla asked stepping towards the scientist. "Are you okay?"

McKay nodded. "I don't suppose you brought any food with you?"

Teyla smiled indulgently and reached into her vest, pulling out a power bar. McKay eagerly dug in as Teyla, Ford and Markham established a perimeter. Kai glanced around curiously. The Major was relaxed so she assumed the threat had passed.

"What happened here sir?"

"Oh you know, the usual," John said flippantly. "Ten thousand year old cannibalistic super-Wraith tried to carjack us."

Kai frowned. "What's a carjack?"

Sheppard grunted when his humor, as usual, went unappreciated by the Mortii.

"The super-wraith tried to steal our jumper and rather than just let him have it," McKay said pointedly. "The Major decided to fight back," McKay grumbled.

"What about Doctor Gal and Doctor Abrams?" Teyla asked, surveying the horizon. "We did not pick them up on the scans."

"They didn't make it," McKay said grimly.

The Major turned to Lieutenant Ford. "Look, why don't you guys take the jumper to the wreck and collect their bodies," Sheppard said briskly. "That'll give Kai time to fix the other jumper and McKay can look around, see if there's anything else useful over there."

"Understood sir," Ford said.

"We're pretty sure he was alone, but stay alert," Sheppard warned.

"We will be careful Major," Teyla promised.

Sheppard glanced towards the horizon. "We only have another couple hours of daylight and it looks like it gets real cold after dark. Don't mess around too long," he warned pointing a finger at McKay.

McKay grunted. "I promise you, I want to get off this planet as badly as you do."

Kai got her tool bag and watched as jumper two lifted off. It was moving fairly smooth, but made an erratic dip before it flew straight towards the wreckage. She wondered if McKay or Markham was flying. She turned back to the Major. He had pushed himself to his feet, but he was moving stiffly like he was hurt. He didn't limp, but he lacked the usual fluidity in his movements.

"They made a mess of my jumper. Think you can put it back together?" he asked as they approached it.

"Sure," Kai agreed nodding. Even from outside she could see the wraith had opened the command control panel. She wrinkled her nose at the pile of wires and crystals that were hanging from it. "I'm sure it'll be no problem," she said striding confidently towards it.

John reached out and caught Kai's arm, pulling her back before she would have hit the shield. "Provided you can disarm the shield."

"Shield?" Kai asked frowning towards the shuttle.

Sheppard nodded exhaustedly. "It's a long story. I think he tied it into his communication thing on his wrist."

"Which-" Kai started to say.

"Which we blew to hell along with the rest of him with that drone," the Major agreed.

"Well..." Kai started, thoughtfully staring at the jumper. She sighed, she wasn't eager to touch the shield. She needed full feeling in her fingers if she was going to work on it. "There's a good chance the shield was disabled once the connection was severed."

"Good chance?" Sheppard asked looking down at the small woman.

Kai shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

Sheppard sighed and stepped forward, reaching towards the shield with one hand. His face screwed up in a grimace as he prepared himself to get shocked.

Kai grabbed the Major's arm, stopping him. "Not like that," she said impatiently. She crouched down and picked up a handful of sand, tossing it in front of them several feet.

"Oh, right," John agreed. "I knew that."

Kai grunted and tossed another handful as they walked closer until the sand landed on the lowered hatch.

"Looks good," she said stepping inside.

Sheppard followed her and started picking up the mess the Wraith had made. He grunted in pain as he bent down and the motion tweaked his ribs.

"You look exhausted," Kai commented, pulling the tablet out of her bag. She took one of the boxes the Major had refilled for a stool and plugged her tablet into the command control system.

"Yeah," he agreed, nodding. He stowed the last box. "How the hell did you get roped into this?" he asked settling back on one of the long benches. It was too short for him to lay flat, so he bent his knees and folded his arms under his head for a pillow.

Kai snorted. "I volunteered," she said glancing down at the Major with an impish gleam in her eyes.

John met Kai's gaze and held it for a long moment. The silence that stretched between them felt significant as the tension between them rose.

The increasingly familiar subconscious bump in the back of her mind distracted Kai from his hazel eyes for a moment and she quickly looked away. There was a slight tremble to her fingers as she got back to work realigning the crystals.

John had made Kai uncomfortable and he regretted it. He never seemed to do the right thing when it came to her. He let his eyes run over Kai. As usual she was wearing her own clothes under the flak vest, her scarf knotted around her neck, but she didn't have the weapons belt that was standard issue for trips off world. He narrowed his eyes as he realized the only weapon on her was her Blade.

"Without a gun?" he asked sharply.

Kai looked up at the Major in surprise. "It's still the rule," she said wryly.

John grunted in agitation, tightening his jaw. "Well, we're going to change the rule. You stepping off that jumper to face a super-wraith with nothing but your knife is unacceptable," he growled.

Kai looked at the Major in surprise. She knew he took his people's safety seriously but she didn't understand his rising anger. "In Weir's defense...we didn't know about the super-wraith."

John grunted, pinching his lips together. This was a serious situation he was going to need to address with Weir once he got back. A sidearm was supposed to be standard issue for all team members going off world. Even the science geeks carried. Sending an assassin didn't help much if they didn't give her any weapons.

He flopped back down and closed his eyes. "Thanks by the way."

"For what?" she asked distractedly. The Wraith had made an impressive mess of the controls and it would take her a while to fix it. She was glad the others had something to do so she didn't have McKay breathing over her shoulder while she worked.

John didn't say anything at first. He stayed silent until Kai looked back at him. "Making the hard call," he said when she finally met his gaze.

Kai nodded, but that same something in her chest tightened. She had nearly killed the Major today. Sheppard seemed to have thought she did the right thing, but she very much doubted Ford or Teyla would agree with him.

"Not everyone can do that," John continued. "Ford's a good kid but he-"

"He looks up to you and respects you," Kai said simply.

John shifted uncomfortably. There were times when it felt like Kai could see straight through him. Her gaze could be so intense he felt like he could get lost in her stormy grey eyes. Her body was stretched as she worked to reach one of the crystals, a small wrinkle of a frown forming between her eyes as she concentrated. John jerked and quickly closed his eyes. He wasn't blind, Kai was a beautiful woman, but there were plenty of beautiful women on the expedition and none of them distracted him the way Kai did. He was exhausted and it was showing. He slung one of his arms over his eyes so he wouldn't be tempted to watch her work.

Kai worked in silence for a few minutes before she spoke up. "It was stupid of you to go after the wraith by yourself," Kai finally said. "He wouldn't have been able to fly the jumper. You should have just left it."

Sheppard dropped his arm from his eyes to look up at her in disbelief. "Really?" he asked her incredulously. "Is that what you would have done?"

Kai just shrugged because she absolutely would have gone after the wraith.

John groaned as he shifted on the narrow bench, his body ached from getting thrown around by the wraith and all of his muscles were tightening up now that he had stopped moving.

"You're probably right," he finally conceded his voice low and gravely as he fought off the call of sleep.

"Get some rest Major," she said, her tone soft. "I'm almost done. The others will be back soon, and we can head home."

He nodded. "Sounds good. Markham and McKay can fly home," he said tiredly. "They can both use the practice," he hesitated for a moment and lowered his hand, his eyes sparkling with humor as he met her grey gaze. "You can have McKay."

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I hope you enjoyed the update!