I will confess, however, that after you were willing to take the very bold move of killing off a central character to the Full Speed Ahead series, I was a little surprised at the "storybook ending" you gave Kincaid.
There was just nowhere else to go with that thread. And if you really want to get inside the motive for that decision, the original plan was to have Kincaid thrown in a rehab colony for a long time. When I decided to kill off Ariel, I realized that Leone's priorities would've shifted significantly and that she would have to break free of the "chains" of all the errors made by all parties in order to find a better resolution.
Ariel's death has later implications in TFV for Leone and even Carolyn. Gallant and her crew shall return...
Thanks for reading!
-- ZC