bump

bump

>>17717749

Fuuuuuuuuuuck yeeeah earth war quest. Do we have any room to put those soldiers? If not, then do we have any tents? We should consider repairing a laest damaged barracks first. Do we have any leads, where enemy supply base might be?
Now it would be good time to counter attack

>>17718246

We have some room in the hangars that didn't get damaged in the attack. We also have sections of C&C as well as the officers quarters.

We have tents, though not enough for all the personnel. Worse comes to worse you can have the men fashion a few out of tarp.

If you're going to make some impromptu repairs the best you can do it with is scrap metal, you don't exactly have construction material on hand.

As for leads for a counter attack you'll have to speak with the Lieutenant on that.

>>17718521

Start moving some mechanics or other personalities to hangers. We need to discuss C&C and officers quarters with Lieutenant Nakamura, While we are at it we should discuss where we get supplies? Do we raid enemy base or try to hold next round of supplies? Use scrap metal to cover holes at least damaged buildings, lets try to do some temporary repairs. We also have to makes sure that every department maintenance,infantry, medical etc, etc have working command hierarchy boss, the vice boss, boss etc, etc, so that troops can work effiecently even at lost of our officers until we get qualified men to take command

Hell yeah, Earth War Quest!

>>17718796
Sounds like a plan. Also, vocally support the LT if questioned. If the men know you stand for her, they might start viewing her with a bit less contempt.

Don't bang the drum too much, but let them know where you stand.

>>17718796

It would take a while, but after getting some reliable people to pass the word a number of mechanics as well as various pilots and vehicle operators and ground pounders have now taken up residence at the hangars. Given how close some of them are to their respective machines they can reach readiness far more quickly and with actual troops there will have people to cover them while they get their machinery online.

Additionally you get some repair crews organized to patch up any building that wasn't utterly demolished with the large collection of scrap metal that the base had accumulated.

D100 for the quality of the makeshift repairs

>>17718945
>>17718831

You proceed to C&C to get permission from the Lieutenant to let the men take up residence until repairs can be done. On the way there you notice a small group of men loitering by the door, one of the men stops you for a second.

"Hey Dundee! I uh.. well me and the boys were wondering if we could hole up in the Officers place"

"Was gonna go talk to it with the lieutenant mates. Don't worry about it."

"The Lieutenant? If the regs were a man she'd be blowing em all night long. Like hell she'd let us in."

"I'll convince her. And one more thing. Don't talk about her like that. I'll pretend I didn't hear it but right now she's got command, so treat 'er with respect. Got it?"

The men were looking somewhat surprised but nod lightly.

When you enter C&C you notice that the Lieutenant isn't supervising. You ask one of the men on duty where she was and you get pointed to the archives.

You find the Lieutenant going over numerous dossiers - mumbling to herself before she takes notice of you.

"Raifedo... I was just going through these... trying to get something of a proper command structure back on track..."

D100 for how well the Lieutenant has managed

She brushes a few stray hairs away from her face and gets off her seat. You ask if she would allow the base personnel access to the officers quarters and C&C due to the situation with the barracks.

"Of course... just so long as they stay out of my quarters."

The expression on her face seems to tighten a little.

"I've heard what a lot of them say about me."

rolled 71 = 71

>>17718945
Right-o

>>17718958

While they are still in progress it looks like the repairs made to the buildings will ensure that the personnel on base won't have to be crammed together in the remaining buildings like sardines.

Morale has improved

rolled 40 = 40

>>17718955
Right, lets see how well she's managed.

And "The troops will always complain about the head honcho. There were probably French knights bitchin' about Charlemagne and Brits slagging off Field Marshall Monty back in the day. Don't take it personally. Just do your job and it will ease up in time."

>>17718981

Your words see to make her blink in surprise... but she nods with a small smile.

"I never figured you to be a historian Raifedo.."

You decide to look through how she's organized things.

At first glance it seems like she's done a good job, but then a dozen little facts at each name in each pile pop up in your mind... it looks like she went at it completely on facts from the files... not good.

>>17719045
Bring these things to her attention.

>>17719058

At this she looks offended, then the look turns into frustration.

"Damn!...I thought... I'll have to start over... Raifedo, can you help me with this?"

D100 for readjustment of her attempt

rolled 73 = 73

>>17719136
"Right-o boss."

>>17719149

While its not perfect, you can rest assured that people will be able to work better with how you managed to hammer out a proper chain of command.

There were no apparent weak links and hopefully you can keep it strong by the time reinforcements get here.

You bring up the idea of stocking up your supplies by raiding enemy supply bases now that this was out of the way.

The Lieutenant was considering the idea.

"We don't have any information we can work with just yet aside for one area... and its too high risk with our numbers. It might be best to send a few scouting parties out to mark potential targets."

Ask about the high risk target? or go with sending out scouts?

>>17718981

Go with the scout. We need time to recover from last attack before we are going to risk high reward missions. Right now we need two things, victories and supplies. We get both by raiding small, not so well guarded supply bases

>>17719280
Good idea.

You salute the Lieutenant and say that you volunteer to assist the scout in his mission. She nods and hands you a dossier.

Oliver Jones.

You remember him. Quiet, tended to sleep a lot and always kept a pack of smokes on himself at all times.

You give her back the dossier and let her know you're familiar with Ollie. She nods lightly and dismisses you, wishing you luck.

On your way out of C&C you see Jack walk up to you with some papers in hand.

"Oy Jack, what're those?"

"List of supplies mate. Figured you'd want to take a look at them"

>>17719500
Tell him that while you would like to look at them, he should take them to the LT, as you have a mission to perform. Ask where Ollie Jones is, and go get him.

>>17719579

Jack nods before jerking his thumb towards the infirmary.

"Ollie's helping out over there. A couple of his mates got busted up during the attack... he's taken it a little hard."

You slap Jack on the shoulder get moving.

The Infirmary is still a bloody mess because of its patients. You spot Ollie's lanky frame seated off to the side, a layer of blood coating his hands. He's staring down at them, hunched. You can't see his expression but somehow you get the feeling this won't bode well.

>>17719614
Pull him aside and fill him in on the mission. Let him know he's the best suited for the job. Standing around brooding won't get the job of killing the bastards responsible done, but finding the bastards in preparation for a raid would.

Calmly walk over and place a hand on Ollie´s shoulder. "How you holding up there, boy?"

OOC; sweet, this again! Spider punching ho!

What is our actual rank?

>>17719652

"Ollie, how you holding up there mate?"

He looks up at you, looking pretty much like he saw a little too much of a person's insides.

"Like shit that got hit by a van Eric. Lost everyone in my squad and half the people I knew in my barracks."

>>17719639

"We'll get some payback for em soon. Got a mission. We're going to do some poking around, see if we can borrow some supplies from the enemy. You're the best scout we've got."

"That's nice and all but-"

"Listen, you want to let those bastards get away with it while you just stand around brooding or do you want to get some payback when we hit their bases and take their stuff?"

Whatver Ollie was going to say was put aside as he spent a few seconds to think on his answer.

"Fuck it. I'm in."

>>17719683

Sergeant Major - Mechanized Corps.

>>17719706
Nothing for it but to arm up and head out.

>>17719809

With that the both of you move your separate ways to get ready for your mission.

The Salt-Water is prepped and ready to go, you also note some new ammunition mounts for any hand held weapons your mech is going to leave with.

You get your mech prepped and ready to go.

You have the selection of Assault Rifle, Machine-Gun or Shotgun. Of course you could just go with whatever weapons the Salt Water has on it.

>>17719837
Assault-Rifle.

what are our current weapons? what´s Ollie´s armament?

>>17719954

The Salt-Water's weapons are A pair of shoulder mounted machine guns, a torso mounted grenade launcher as well as blades mounted on each arm - and one handheld assault rifle with 4 magazines at 30 rounds each.

Ollie's Mech is only armed with nothing more than a single machinegun and a four tube rocket launcher. Everything else is purely observational equipment and scanners.

>>17717749

Lets take Shotgun. We are already close combat-unit, so we might take few powerful shots before we slice em'up

>>17720013

I obviously need to wait a little longer. Shotgun it is. Additionally I seem to notice that people tend to forget about the built in weapons that Salt Water has.

>>17720032

I thought it was a tie? I voted shotgun and other anon voted the rifle...Not that i complain about taking the shotgun

>>17720013
>>17720032

You meet up with Ollie at the base gates, both of you fully prepared to get some serious scouting done. With little fanfare the both of you leave, putting some distance behind you until the base is no longer visible should one turn around.

Hopefully you'll be able to find a suitable base to raid in order to bolster your supplies.

D100 to search

>>17720063

Well considering you had more of a reason rather than just putting down the gun of choice.

rolled 77 = 77

>>17720077
'ere we go.

>>17720086

"Eric. Hold up... I think I have something. North-East. Follow me."

You watch as the chicken-legged machine quickly moved in the direction stated and into a forest. You follow until his machine stops a few steps from the end of the treeline.

"There. Through the trees."

You see it. Supply Depot. Mostly Fuel. You can make out a handful of vehicles, but no mech hangars.

"Looks like easy pickings. Marking it on the map."

D100 to leave without getting noticed.

D100 to search for another Enemy supply base.

rolled 73, 66 = 139

>>17720113
AW YEAH, HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO.
Been wondering where you've been, Chief.
Never left us a date and time you mighta been back!
Also, let's hope I don't keep rollin' terribly!

rolled 58, 98 = 156

>>17720113
Let's go.

>>17720149

Chinese New Year, been busy with a lot of stuff.

You and Ollie manage to pull out with little disturbance before making as far as you could from the enemy supply depot.

You soon resume your search and happen upon a small staging area.

"Huh... looks like... at least one repair crew, two, maybe three mechs. One barracks.... Nothing too interesting here."

As tempting as it is to clear the place out, it might put the other bases on high alert if they maintain steady contact with each other.

2D100 like before.

rolled 83, 32 = 115

>>17720171
right-o, a scouting we will go.

rolled 19, 95 = 114

>>17720171
Ah, right, you mentioned in the other threads.
We could definitely take this base on our own, but it would hinder later efforts if they are alert and waiting for us when instead we could just steamroll them later with a larger group.
roll, roll.

>>17720177

Another clean getaway and the two of you are back on the move. Unfortunately though...

"The f-.. Shit! Eric! Picking up enemy fast movers closing on us!"

Too little too late, you look up in time to see a trio of rather bulky looking planes.

You realize though that their bulk is mainly because of the Mechs that seem to be strapped to them.

Mechs that happen to have been dropped close to your general location and are firing at you and Ollie on the way down!

ACTIONS PEOPLE! ACTIONS!

>>17720197
Running fire, open up with the shotgun and shoulder mounted weapons as we sprint forward to close the gap between them. Once engaged in cqc, start opening them up.

>>17720216

Forgot your roll

>>17720197
Ollie has pretty much no weapons at all, right?
Have him hightail it out of there while using his sensor suite actively to try and blind the mechs dropping, this combined with the fact that they're not actually standing still should allow us to close in on their dropzone and get in close to them.

And when we're in close the rape train has no brakes.

(Also, how are they dropping? Humongous parachutes? Or free fall? Because I think a salvo or two from a mech-sized shotgun has a thing or two to say about parachutes...)

rolled 42 = 42

>>17720197
Yell at Ollie to get into the closest cover available and try to lock onto one of the falling mechs to blow it out of the sky.
Zig-zag dash to avoid their shots and pepper them with your assault rifle and shoulder-mounted guns.
Activate camo once you get near their landing zone and use your speed and surprise to shank the bastards in CQC.

rolled 94 = 94

>>17720230
Mah rollz

rolled 62 = 62

>>17720228
right

rolled 27 = 27

>>17720232
Oops! Didn't realize we had a shotgun.
Basically the same plan as here except pepper them with the shoulder-mounted guns on advance and blast them with the shotgun once you get into camo cover. Also meant for Ollie to try to explode them with the launcher he has.
Doubt I have a chance given other anon got a high roll though!
Also, other anon, Ollie has a machine gun and 4-tube launcher last I checked.

>>17720230
>>17720234

"Ollie! Haul ass! Now! See if you can mess with their systems or something!"

"Roger that mate!"

Ollie pulls back and attempts to scramble the enemy mechs targeting and sensors. Major success. Its like having a five year old try to fire an FN FAL on full automatic since you're giving them a moving target...

There's a maniac grin on your face when you see the white of their parachutes. You raise your shotgun and fire, pumping round after round and watching their descent speed up quite a bit.

You like to imagine them screaming like little girls... or spiders on fire if spiders had vocal cords.

One of the mechs lands on its front. It does not get up. It doesn't move. The pilot is either dead or unconscious.

The other two have hard landings. One slamming within an arm's reach from you and the other where Ollie had previously been.

You have the one all but next to you have an intimate encounter with the Salt-Water's arm blade in the joint of it's shoulder. You watch as the arm holding it's gun falls.

You plant the barrel of your shotgun at its cockpit and fire. It falls.

The last machine has it's gun trained at you. It's shots go wide.

Finish him. (No Roll required)

>>17720280
If possible, rip the pilot physically out if the cockpit and squish him.

Re-route as much power as you can into a running charge into our Armblade Drill Manuever© right through the other mech's chest.

rolled 38 = 38

>>17720280

Rip out the "driver's compartment" and offer it to Ollie.
For catharsis.

If he chickens we take a prisoner perhaps? Or kill him ourselves?

I'm not quite sure how much we want the character's bloodlust to influence him, he is atleast moderately insane for going HtH with mechs, maybe he loses control and does stupid shit sometimes?

>>17720327

You run at the enemy mech, you grab at its gun, pushing it aside before you remove it's arm at the joint.

The air fills with the sound of torn metal as you rip and tear at the enemy machine - which all but flailed at you and could barely stop its dismemberment.

You hold the mech's pilot compartment in hand, exit hatch facing the palm of Salt-Water's hand and offer it to Ollie.

"Jesus christ mate... you've got issues.. what's that for?"

"This guy's friends killed your mates. Figured you'd want some payback."

"....put it on the ground so he can't get out."

You do so. You watch as Ollie placed his mech's foot on the cockpit and gradually applied more and more pressure on it - soon reducing it to a size that no human could survive.

"...You feeling any better?"

"No.... not unless I can do the same to the rest of the bastards"

"...fair enough."

D100 to search

rolled 74 = 74

Welp, let's see if we find anything keen.

>>17720419

Your next discovery is.... an Airfield. Not a big one, but clearly a place for a small wing of craft to go harass at the base.

Plenty of fuel tanks, moderate security.

And a nearly full wing of Ground to Air fighters.

These must have been those guys that shot at you when you were defending the base.

>>17720451

The urge to take them out is irresistible. And the strategic value of taking it out is present despite the fact that it could make the raids a little more difficult.

Do you risk taking out the airfield? Or do you wish to do a little more scouting?

>>17720451
This needs to be dealt with. I say we attack it, take out the fighters while they are out of the sky.

>>17720594

Indeed it does. Grenades are fired at the exposed fighters, reducing them all to scrap. Alarms sound off and security is headed towards you.

Four Mechs - Two with Rocket Launchers, the other two with Assault Rifles. They are accompanied by Eight tanks.

>>17720677

Place a few volleys on the runways to disable the base for a while before withdrawing into the...
Are we in a jungle or forested area? I always assumed that.

If that is the case we go rambo with our awesome sensorbro, otherwise we retreat.

rolled 79 = 79

>>17720717
Jungles of India.

Rolling for this idea.

>>17720717

You promptly spend a few more grenades to rip up the air field. It would be a long time before it could reach anything resembling usefulness.

You and Ollie pull back into the forest. The enemy troops are moving in after you, from the sounds of it though they were clearly meant to stay at the airfield and shoot from there rather than chase people in forests.

You see a rocket fly off to your left and detonate against a cluster of trees.

What's the plan?

rolled 27 = 27

>>17720760
Right. Get Ollie to scramble the bastards again, and draw them into a close quarters fight. Focus on one with an assault rifle. Take him out, and use his husk as a shield as we move on to engage the rest.

>>17720790

You tell Ollie to scramble them, this is not as effective as before, and if anything makes them hold their ground all the more fervently and keep taking pot shots.

Another Rocket. It hits not too far from you to the right. You can hear the bits of tree ricocheting off your armor.

>>17720813

I think we should retreat snd come back with bigger force. We have only two mech and one of them is scout. We are against four mechs and eight tanks.

rolled 42 = 42

>>17720860
retreat.

rolled 94 = 94

>>17720813

Retreat further into the jungle, not directly towards our base.
If they follow us as a unit or give up we simply RTB, if they split up we pick them apart.

If I recall correctly one of our faction advantages was guerilla tactics and stealth abilities, right? Use them.

rolled 18 = 18

>>17720887
>>17720234
Maybe I should become a mech pilot with these rolls.

>>17720887

You and Ollie pull back deeper into the forest. You notice that the enemy mechs were following albeit slowly, but the Tanks weren't - either way though they were still coming after you.

"..Well look at this... the idiots are splitting up."

"Seriously? Here?"

"Bet they think they can flank us. Heh! Can you imagine that?"

"Lets give 'em a surprise then."

rolled 75 = 75

>>17720928
Right, get Ollie into position as bait, have him subtly give off his presence to the enemy, while we get into an ambush position. Once they are drawn close enough, spring the trap.

This is probably a terrible idea.

>>17720951

You give Ollie your plan... he is less than amused.

"This is the worst idea I ever heard mate. A damn potato in tinfoil has more protection than I do!"

"Just trust me. This is gonna work."

Ollie sends a rocket past one of them then visibly gets moving. Like hounds spotting a basket of meat on a bike they give chase.

One of them moves right past you. You loom over the enemy mech and punch your blade through its back - roughly behind the cockpit before it passes fully.

One down. Three to go. The others haven't noticed the loss of a comrade, but in any moment they may try to make radio contact.

rolled 15 = 15

>>17720997
Can Ollie jam communications? Get him to do so if possible. Meanwhile, go mecha-ninja on these pricks. Hunt them through the jungle using stealth to get the drop on them in close quarters.

rolled 51 = 51

>>17721008
Keep up the hit and run but don't get caught.
Get Ollie to jam their radar and comm. systems to put them off their game and make it easier.

rolled 93 = 93

>>17720997

Have ollie attempt to disengage/hide (how fast/discrete is he?) while we go for the closest one (who should be in the back of whatever formation they're maintaining, right?)

Let Ollie decide if it's more effective for him to try to go full blast with his sensor array when he attempts to disappear, or to simply go silent (or are they tracking him by sight at this point, making it not really matter?)


This should hopefully end with the two remaining enemy mechs standing alone in the forest with no idea where their friends are and no idea where we are. Or us simply in the melee with them.

Remember: No brakes!

>>17721008

Ollie can indeed jam comms. However the electronics on the enemy mechs seem to be resisting the attempts to mess with them.

You drop the fallen Mech and move to hunt down the next one. You find it, back towards you and just as you close in, it swings around and raises its rifle at you.

React, D100 roll as well

rolled 82 = 82

>>17721039

Seems i was too slow, but does this still count?

>>17721038

>>17721043

Yes it does.

Ollie decides to take matters into his own hands and pump as much power as he could into the array, effectively silencing all communications and scrambling electronic targeting.

Emphasis on all. For all intents and purposes you've lost contact with him. This could not have come at a better time.

With his electronic targeting spoofed the pilot in the enemy mech couldn't compensate his aiming enough when you dodged his gunfire.

You disarm it with extreme prejudice before tearing open the cockpit and sending a barrage of machinegun fire right at the pilot.

Two down. Two more to go.

Its difficult but you manage to catch sight of the last two. One of them trips to the ground. The other is looking around warily.

From the looks of things IFF systems were down as well...

You have the advantage.

rolled 19 = 19

>>17721083
Tear into them like a shark into a seal. Pounce on the one fallen, rip it to pieces quickly, and swoop onto the next, tearing it apart.

rolled 17 = 17

>>17721083
Are the trees sturdy enough for a light mech like ours to climb, boost up from?
Are there any plateaus or cliffs we could jump from (from how high can we jump without taking damage)?
Death from above as it were.

He's relying on visual cues since his targeting array doesn't work, and he's probably not looking upwards.

Otherwise we simply attack the other mech from behind and finish the one on the ground.

And since IFF doesn't work ours doesn't either, make sure we don't accidentally our teammate.

>>17721143
>>17721139

Oh god. These rolls.

rolled 7 = 7

Same as:
>>17721143

Well shit. Still, I really think we should attack the one that is still standing, not the one on the ground. I'd assume that mechs aren't really good at aiming sideways/behind their back, especially without targeting systems, which would make the one on the ground a non-threat for now.

>>17721158
Hopefully our enemies fuck up aswell without anything to assist them. I can see three mechs in some sort of mexican standoff end each one of them fucks up somehow. Reminds me of the screencap of those monks who decide to 'Settle this like warriors' and everyone rolls nat1s for everyting.

>>17721167

I remember that. I couldn't stop laughing when I read it.

>>17721160

You stalk towards the still standing mech as stealthily as you could before attempting to scale a strong looking tree and get the drop on him.

Unfortunately it breaks as it was not strong enough and your mech takes a tumble. You barely keep from falling over completely.

The enemy mech has spotted you and fires its rocket... which misses and hits close by its comrade which was getting back up.

Said comrade promptly sent one in retaliation thinking it was either you or Olllie, falling backwards now as its footing was not stable. It also misses and sends large amounts of tree bits and mud across both your mech and its ally.

rolled 5 = 5

>>17721236
Get up, tackle the nearest, and bash the cockpit into oblivion.r

rolled 40 = 40

>>17721264
Fuck! Low rolls all around.

rolled 9 = 9

>>17721236
I'm tempted to simply stand there and facepalm, but I would think that Eric is pretty serious when it comes to life and death situations. Lunge at the one still standing, and if we manage to disable him push him onto the prone one.

Disable the prone one and pry the pilot out again.
+1 prisoner!

Then we RTB and live happily ever after!

Mein_gott.jpg

>>17721269

Clearly the Dice Gods weep.... or point and laugh.

You send the Salt Water into a tackle-lunge at the immediate threat and knock it into the ground.

THAT however is all you manage to do, because now that you are up close the enemy pilot is doing everything he can to keep your arms from carving him up like thanksgiving turkey.

Your machines grapple in a life-or-death situation in which there can be only one victor.

d100

rolled 59 = 59

rollan

rolled 53 = 53

>>17721336
Come on you bastard!

rolled 1 = 1

Slip this dude up and take him like a Roman wrestler!

>>17721345

You struggle, neither of you getting the upper hand. And then he starts pushing back. Despite the Salt-Water's close combat inclined design the enemy mech's arms have more strength behind them.

It shoves you back before grabbing at one of the Salt-Water's arms. Then it kicks you. A shearing of metal is heard. You've lost your left arm.

Rather than picking up its weapon though it attempts to do what you were trying to do and pummel the Salt-Water inwards until you're crushed.

You give him a grenade to the head for the trouble, let loose a torrent of machinegun fire before finishing him off by using your dismembered arm as a makeshift axe.

One last target, and it was still struggling to get off the ground.

rolled 19 = 19

>>17721382
HAHAHA
THE RAPE TRAIN IS IN REVERSE
Rolling for a possibility of 100!

rolled 54 = 54

>>17721408
Beat the other one to death with our broken arm.

rolled 19 = 19

>>17721416
Seconding this.

Say OP

Is there any system for how long you wait before typing up a response?

>>17721473

I usually try to wait 15 minutes or so before typing up an action. Though admittedly this tends to get tossed out the window sometimes due to the appearance of a lack of interest by people or just something pulling my attention away for longer than that time.

>>17721416

If you were a serial killer in a slasher movie this would be the part where you leer evilly behind whatever mask you have as you heft your implement of death over your head with the intention to kill.

The enemy mech however manages to block the blow with it's launcher. Not the best move since you hit it right on where the explosive was located.

Your target is dead as it was closer to the explosion. You, are still alive, you can taste blood in your mouth and your ears are ringing.

You're pretty sure that the Salt-Water's on it's back too.

>>17721512
Ah turds. Check to see if it can get up. If not, get out and signal Ollie with a flare. Time to get back to base and report our findings to the lieutenant.

>>17721555

It takes a while and it almost stumbles, but the Salt-Water is back on its feet again.

"Jeezus! We'd better not push our luck anymore Eric. We're heading back. Right now."

"No arguments there..."

The both of you move back to base as quickly as you can. Things seem to be going smoothly, though admittedly you almost tripped over your feet the moment you got out of the Salt-Water.

Then Annushi rushes towards you looking unnerved. Something that is surprising on itself.

"Sergeant Major! It's Jack. He's in the infirmary!"

".....WHAT?!"

--

OP apologises for the Cliffhangar ending. But its 1:02 am and he has Class.

Archived: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/17717749/

>>17721640

Thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to get a thread started late Wednesday 4chan time.