A/N Here we are, back yet again to AC6 and the next chapter. I took a chance and made Sipli Field a little different then the actual mission that occurred, and I thought it turned out fairly well. Hopefully you guys liked it too.
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Chapter 39 - Bartolomeo Fortress
Echoes of Battle
Talisman was lying down on his back in his room, looking up at the ceiling with his head resting on his arms. He was deep in thought, thinking about all of the events that had taken place up to that point, from the war's start with the invasion of their capital to now, being at the edge of their country with little to no land to call theirs.
In a strange way, it was sort of humbling to be in this position. Emmeria had enjoyed quite a good place in the world up till now, there was little wrong with the people, the government, and the way they lived their lives. They always believed that they held a good standing with their neighbor as well, though this war sharply disproved that fact.
"I guess we were too blinded by our own sense of accomplishment and happiness to see the truth right in front of our faces." Talisman thought with a sigh.
He sat up and glanced at the window, the sun shining through the glass onto his room floor.
"And then there's the Demon Lord…" he murmured to himself. "How did he wind up with the Estovakians…"
His foot tapped against the floor a few times, about to enter his thoughts before somebody knocked on his room door, pulling him back to reality.
"Coming!"
Talisman walked over and opened the door, expecting someone like Marcus, Windhover or Avalanche to be on the other side wanting to chat somewhat. Instead, he was caught off guard by Lanner standing there in the doorway with some a pair of coffee cups from the local coffee joint and a smile on her face.
"Lanner?"
"Hey Talisman. How are you doing after the operation a few days ago?" Lanner asked before taking a sip. "I know it wasn't much, but since Sipli, we've been more or less constantly on the move."
"Oh yeah, I'm doing fine. It has been a little hectic though, that's for sure. But come on in, you're free to enter."
Talisman stepped aside and opened the way for her, Lanner walking in and setting the cups down on the small table inside. He closed the door and then went to his bed, sitting down and resting his hands in his lap.
"Coffee in the afternoon?" he asked with a chuckle.
Lanner smiled and nodded her head as she glanced at him, the hand reaching for her cup pulling back again as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Yeah, I'm kind of a coffee freak...I like to have some in the morning and then some later in the day too."
Talisman laughed at her obvious shyness about the subject and he waved his hand, pushing the subject to the side, before motioning to the cups. "One of those for me?"
"Oh, yeah! It's-" She started to say as she turned back to them and reached for one, before she paused, hesitating about the choice she was going to make.
Talisman raised an eyebrow about what could be causing the confusion for her with the cups, before she watched her slowly turn back around a tiny little blush on her cheeks and let out a nervous laugh.
"I, uh...forgot which cup was mine and which one was your's...I might have taken a sip out of both of them without thinking too…"
Talisman blinked a few times before he started to laugh, not at Lanner, but just at the situation itself, which caused Lanner herself to start laughing along with Talisman at the silliness. They shared a good laugh with one another before Talisman stood up and took one of the cups without a care, smiling at Lanner and raising his cup to her in a toast.
"Thanks Lanner. To the eventual freedom of our country?"
Lanner smiled and raised her coffee cup as well, tapping the edge against Talisman's while nodding her head. They then drank from their coffee and started talking with one another about what's occurred since the operation at Sipli.
It's been a month since then, and their forces at Vitoze had been constantly on the move, attacking and securing other points on the island to increase their area of influence. There was another goal in mind for them too, though, an overarching reason to the Emmerians securing more of their land and establishing a better foundation. Khesed had one final stronghold that the Estovakians had seized during their pushback of the Emmerians to the southernmost tip of the island.
It was there where, despite their victories, Estovakia still held the superior position over their's in the form of Bartolomeo Fortress. An extensive network of bunkers and pillboxes, as well as an interior layout of dozens of structures, rooms, and tunnels, many of which are filled with ammunition for the artillery pieces and other defensive emplacements that make up the fortress.
The fortress itself was all constructed inside the steep cliffs and ridges of Mt. Marcello, making it nigh impossible to attack from the air, because most of the vital systems and command structures existed within the mountain itself.
And if one were to attack from the ground, the only routes to approach the fortress were from two valleys that would leave any attacking force completely exposed to attacks from the air and from the fortress itself.
It was going to be a daunting task, whenever they decided to attempt retaking the fortress.
"Do you think we'll be able to do it?" asked Lanner. "Retake Bartolomeo?"
Talisman tapped the side of his coffee cup for a moment before he nodded his head and grinned. "Yeah, I do. Sure, it's gonna be one hell of a challenge, but look how far we've come already."
Lanner smiled at Talisman and his optimism, and she nodded her head in agreement. The pair continued to talk with one another for a time until they were called in for a briefing with the rest of the pilots. Upon arriving at the makeshift briefing room Talisman found his seat next to Marcus and leaned back while looking to the front as the briefing system started up.
"The final remnant of Estovakian forces on this island is concentrated on Mt. Marcello in northern Khesed."
"There it is. It's time." Talisman thought as he leaned forward in his seat, resting his arms on his thighs as Mt. Marcello was shown on screen. Sky conditions soon followed, the specific location of the base of the operation, as well as other technical information about the base and its defenses.
Personally he had never seen or been around Bartolomeo Fortress or the Mt. Marcello region, so this will be a first for him to go there. He had always heard stories about how Bartolomeo was virtually impenetrable because of how the fortress was mostly constructed within the mountain itself.
"I wonder if the Demon Lord ever had to attack something like this..."
"The enemy is mainly distributed throughout this mountainous area, with Bartolomeo Fortress as its center of operations, providing a variety of high level defensive measures and offensive might. This fortress also boasts strong anti-air capabilities."
Their Base Commander walked across in front of the screen and pointed to it as a sky view of the peak within which the fortress was constructed. Defensive emplacements were marked on the image by their software, the base commander pointing out each one briefly before green marks were shown in two separate valleys adjacent from Mt. Marcello that represented their forces.
"Our ground unit in this mission is to split into two groups, to the east and west, along with an air unit mainly providing ESM, which gives us three units in total for this operation. Garuda Team and all other pilots here will be providing assistance to these units. Bartolomeo Fortress and the surrounding geography will make it a daunting task to effectively lay siege to the fortress, with attacks from the fortress itself, as well as its air forces, being a constant threat."
Talisman knew that there had to be some people in that room that doubted they were ready to take on the forces at Bartolomeo. Engaging the Estovakians in an open field like what happened at Sipli was one thing, but attacking an extremely fortified mountain fortress with enemy forces they all knew weren't slouches, it was a completely different story.
He remembered that there was this one fortress that had a reputation for being impenetrable, a fortress built in Yuktobania that protected one of the few routes into the capital city through the mountains. Talisman wondered if a fortress like that could compare to Bartolomeo.
"Well, that's silly though. I've never heard of another fortress being mostly inside of an actual mountain." he thought. "
"The situation at Bartolomeo could change quickly depending on our forces and the reactions to them by the fortress defenders. Adapt to anything that occurs, and ensure that all of our units are adequately protected in order to ensure this mission is a success."
The Base Commander turned toward them with his hands behind his back, a familiar look in his eyes telling the pilots that he was nearing the end of the briefing, where he almost always gave them his most encouraging statements.
Talisman and Marcus enjoyed them actually, it always got them feeling pumped for the operation that would come that day.
"Our forces on the mainland are scattered and desperate, doing all they can to protect our nation. We need you to help guarantee their success, by succeeding here with our forces in taking down Bartolomeo Fortress and returning it to Emmerian hands. Do our country proud, everyone."
With that, the briefing was put to an end, the lights turned on, and the door opened by Ghost Eye. It was do or die now, no going back. If they were to get closer to freeing their capital city from Estovakia's clutches, then they had to take back Bartolomeo.
And while most of the pilots probably had some anxiety or worries about the mission, Talisman was different. He didn't have a single nervous bone in his body. In fact, he was feeling quite a bit excited, to say the least.
- Mt. Marcello, Northern Khesed Island -
- 47°25'10"N, 37°00'05"E -
- December 25th, 2015 1400 hrs -
"Ah, beautiful day to mess around with the Stovies, right Talisman?" asked Avalanche as they entered the airspace.
The snow capped mountains of northern Khesed passed by below them, the brightly shining afternoon sun shining above them, with white puffy clouds here and there slowly blowing by the wind over them. The landscape was beautiful, Talisman had to admit, and he wished that they had come here not as an attacking force, but perhaps as tourists at some point in their lives.
He hated to think that this landscape would soon be marred by the devastation of war.
"You're definitely right about it being a nice day!" Talisman responded. "But let's not get distracted. We've got a big operation ahead of us, let's not get sloppy."
Lanner smiled at Talisman's impromptu statement to rally the pilots, as did Marcus and some of the other pilots. Any doubts that they had prior to arriving at Mt. Marcello, they let go of them because they realized that Talisman was going to be the guy to pull them through it to the very end.
Talisman glanced down as they approached their ground forces, being the Quox and Warlock battalions from before. He grinned, knowing that he could count on them to get their side of the job done, as long as they got theirs done as well.
"Wonder if the Demon Lord will be here...it would make sense, considering Bartolomeo was their last position on Khesed."
"This is Ghost Eye to all planes. Initiate invasion of Bartolomeo Fortress." reported Ghost Eye, his announcement bringing Talisman out of his thoughts.
"Damn, I need to stop thinking so much myself and heed my own words!"
A radar ping came through to his ears and he glanced at the screen, seeing Warlock's position being on one of the two routes, with Quox on the other. Warlock had the western route and Quox had the eastern route, and from the air Talisman could see it was going to be difficult for them to advance on the fortress. Completely out in the open, within perfect visibility of any fortress defenses.
Talisman then glanced right as a second E-767, protected by a handful of Emmerian fighter jets, somebody that he had only seen during a couple of their smaller operations that had taken place between Sipli and now.
"This is Snake Pit, your friendly neighborhood electronic support plane. Moving in to support ground forces and give everyone a good time."
"Man, you sound like you could be a radio talk show host, with that beautiful voice" Windhover said with a laugh. ", I'd definitely tune in to hear you every morning."
"You're too kind."
Snake Pit and a few other pilots laughed alongside Windhover from his joke before their light hearted nature had to be set aside when the operation was ordered by Ghost Eye to begin. Splitting up into three separate groups, the pilots spread out to protect the two ground force battalions as well as Snake Pit's ESM squadron.
Talisman and Marcus were the first to arrive at Warlock's first destination, and in unison with the Challenger II MBTs of Warlock and their assisting infantry units they commenced attack on the first enemy concentration in their valley route. Bunkers and pillboxes built along the route and on the mountain faces that flanked the valley opened fire with machine guns and artillery guns, instantly hampering the Emmerians in their initial assault.
"Those bunkers are going to hound us to death before we even accomplish our first objective!" yelled a Warlock battalion tank operator. "Take out those guns for us!"
"Roger that Warlock, you've got a pair of guardian angels watching over you today!" responded Talisman, he and Marcus targeting the bunkers built into the mountains first.
"Those bunkers are rock solid Marcus, any missile attack on them wont phase them much. You gotta nail them through the gun window!"
"Roger Talisman! Fox 2!"
Avoiding AA gun fire from defensive positions built around the bunkers, Marcus let loose a missile that flew straight and true right into the artillery gun itself, the bunker erupting into a ball of fire and smoke when a chain reaction went off inside.
"Quox Battalion is beginning their assault. Air forces, give us cover!"
"Avalanche here, we've got your back. Windhover! You've got enemy fighters flying to your position! Make sure they don't even touch Snake Pit!"
"I hear you, I hear you!" replied Windhover. "Watch and learn Snake Pit!"
Bartolomeo's Estovakian occupiers began their full counterattack, their air defenders arriving from the hidden fortress runways and engaging the Emmerians in the air as the fortress defensives pounded away at the ground forces out in the open. Despite the heavy resistance, the Emmerians were beginning to make a dent in the defensive line the Estovakians had set up in anticipation of their attack.
"Talisman, look! Three o'clock!"
Talisman's head whipped towards the direction Marcus pointed out and noticed a railway bridge connecting to sections of the mountain range, an armored train outfitted with artillery and other weapons rolling out from the right side tunnel to enter the battle.
"Oh, bad move boys...that train may be protected, but I'm sure the bridge isn't!"
Talisman weaved through the gunfire coming from the train, before diving below their firing arcs and easily locking on to the support beams for the bridge and shredding them with a pair of missiles. In a matter of moments, with its base obliterated, the bridge couldn't support itself and the train on top of it and began to collapse.
"Nice one Talisman! Artillery train taken out!" announced Marcus while he observed the catastrophic bridge failure, the train tumbling down towards the ravine below and exploding in several balls of fire.
"This is Quox Battalion, we've almost secured our first objective."
"Warlock Battalion here, the situation is almost under control as well."
Talisman and Marcus knocked out a few more pillboxes and bunkers as Warlock passed through the halfway point of the first checkpoint area, blasting their way through the Estovakian defensive positions that got in their way. Ruined tanks littered the road left and right, the infantry retreating from the advancing Emmerians who moved up with the protection of their tanks.
"Marcus, another train to your left. Coming from that hillside tunnel."
"Roger Talisman, I'm on it."
"Avalanche, Windhover, give me a sitrep. How are things going?" asked Talisman, glancing over his shoulder at Snake Pit's ESM squadron flying above the battlefield.
"Going well, Quox is about to wrap things up here, the Stovies are running scared. Not a single fighter has gotten through to our ESM planes either, it's all good in the neighborhood."
"Roger, keep it up!"
Soon after, the Estovakians realized they could no longer keep the Emmerians at bay, and instantly initiated a retreat towards their second, more heavily fortified line of defense, the troops utilizing tunnels and hidden roads to get them out of the immediate battle zone quickly and efficiently.
"All air forces, the first objectives have been successfully captured by the ground forces. Support them as they make their way for the second objectives. Resistance from Bartolomeo Fortress is expected to be stiffer, be cautious."
"Roger that Ghost Eye. Advancing with the ground forces now." reported Talisman after knocking out one final pillbox.
He and Marcus formed up again and soared out ahead of Warlock to recon the landscape in front of them, Avalanche doing the same with Quox along their path, with Ghost Eye seeing through both squadrons to identify the upcoming threats to the ground forces from Bartolomeo.
Almost instantly they were met with AA flak and SAM lock ons from the bunkers and their defenders, the artillery opening fire on the advancing ground forces and spraying the ground with shells. A few of Warlock's tanks were knocked out of commission when their tracks were blown completely off by an artillery shell explosion, an even smaller amount actually perishing when struck directly. Their losses didn't stop the brave men on foot and in the rest of the tanks from pushing forward without fear towards their next objective, a collection of facilities protected by a larger force of Estovakian tanks, infantry, and pillboxes under protection from the defenses in the mountainsides.
"Talisman, there's a large force of Estovakian fighters giving us some trouble here! Not sure our squadron will be enough to handle them!" Windhover exclaimed, Talisman looking from the ground forces to the air.
"Warlock Battalion, can you hold your own against the fortress defenses until we can provide cover again?" he asked.
"We might get banged up a little, but we'll use whatever cover we can scrounge up to hold out!"
"We'll be back before you know it!"
Leaving a temporary parting gift for the Estovakians in the form of a handful of destroyed tanks by their air-to-ground weapons, Talisman and Marcus quickly flew up from the valley towards Snake Pit's squadron and joined Windhover's squad in repelling a larger air squadron of Su-27 Flankers sent from Bartolomeo.
The Estovakians were dead set on preventing them from getting any closer to Bartolomeo. Talisman guessed that they were sending everything they had at them and not taking any chances, it was only a matter of time before that mysterious cruise missile weapon that was used on them at Gracemeria and, most recently at Sipli Field, would be called into action again.
"Talisman!"
"What?!"
His missile alert sirens went off and he quickly ducked to the right, dodging a missile from an Estovakian tailing him. Talisman turned the tables on the pilot and began chasing him instead, following him move for move until he was shot down.
Marcus followed up by shooting down a Estovakian fighter of his own, lessening the load for Windhover's squadron by enough that they were able to take it over from there and protect Snake Pit on their own. Talisman and Marcus immediately returned to Warlock Battalion to assist them once more, targeting the artillery bunkers primarily because of their firepower.
At the same time in the other valley, thanks to Avalanche's close air support, their advance up the mountain had been relatively smooth with the losses their unit had suffered not slowing them down.
One of the tank commanders popped out of the cupola of his Challenger II for a brief moment to scout ahead with his binoculars and spotted a flight of helicopters approaching their force.
"God dammit, choppers!"
He clambered back down into his tank and closed the cupola hatch shut, grabbing the radio and looking up to the roof of the turret and the jet fighters they knew were overhead.
"Enemy chopper unit confirmed on approach to our location. We'll need them taken out for us, we're defenseless against them."
"This is Avalanche, we read you loud and clear. We've got them in our sights, just sit back and watch the fireworks from the ground."
With Avalanche leading the charge, under fire from AA guns and SAMs, they attacked the enemy helicopters full force, shooting down several in the first pass alone. Quox Battalion and their infantry support began their assault on another exterior complex that was part of Bartolomeo Fortress, its defenders showing fierce resistance to the Emmerians. Tank shells and bullets were exchanged between the two sides, while a helicopter's anti-tank missile never reached their targets thanks to Avalanche's squad shooting down each Estovakian chopper before they got even close.
Ghost Eye was pleased with the results that were coming from the invasion, their forces not slowing down despite any losses they had incurred up to that moment. Bartolomeo was running out of options, their air forces were proving to be the Achilles heel of Estovakia in preventing them from making any noticeable impact to their operation.
It was enough to bring a smile to his face, a rare sight for anyone who knew him.
Inside the mountain fortress command center, the Estovakian officers in charge of Bartolomeo's defense were hectic, trying to come up with a counter-strategy to the rapidly evolving situation outside on the battlefield.
They were running out of readily available forces, and they didn't want to rely on their last resort. If they had to seal the entrances into the mountain and wait until reinforcements arrived from the mainland, they would only do it when they had exhausted every other option.
Various ideas were thrown left and right among the officers, until an ultimate decision was made when the Emmerians cleared the second set of checkpoints and were starting to assault the fortress' exterior facilities and defenses directly, threatening an interior invasion. If they were to have any chance of victory, they had to call in the forces they had in reserve. They couldn't risk Aigaion revealing itself to the Emmerians this soon. It's Nimbus missiles weren't a commodity they could waste willy nilly
"All forces, commence attack on Bartolomeo Fortress! Clear all exterior defenses so that way our ground units can commence interior operations within the mountain!" announced Ghost Eye. "Once Bartolomeo surrenders, Khesed will be back under Emmerian control!"
"Alright! We're just about done here fellas!" exclaimed Windhover with a jeer.
"Easy there Windhover. You might crash into the mountain at this rate." said Lanner with a giggle.
"Hey! Not nice!"
Talisman laughed to himself at Windhover getting picked on, like usual, before he and Marcus with Warlock Battalion below them started the assault on the western tunnel entrances into Bartolomeo. Just like previously there were SAM sites and AA guns, as well as a collection of bunkers and pillboxes, and just like before Talisman took them on with a grin on his face.
That is of course until it got far more interesting.
"Two unknown fighters launching from Bartolomeo Fortress!"
Talisman glanced over his shoulder and spotted tow specks launch from the mountain's hidden runway, taking to the skies and soaring down towards them at high speed.
"Black bodies, red stripes...a reaper's emblem!" exclaimed Marcus. "Those are the aces who attacked Gracemeria!"
"There's only two of 'em. Now's our chance to take 'em out." said Windhover with a grin. "Give them some payback for what they did!"
"Negative Windhover, your squadron will be assigned to Warlock Battalion now that Snake Pit's squadron is secure from air attack Avalanche, continue supporting Quox."
"Roger that AWACS."
"What about us, Ghost Eye?" asked Talisman. "Are we gonna…"
"Garuda Team, you're being ordered to engage and shoot down the hostile ace pilots. Prevent them from attacking our forces."
Talisman laughed a little out of excitement as Windhover and his squad came down from higher up to take their position over Warlock, Marcus joining Talisman on his right wing side as they ascended to meet their new enemies.
"Two fighters approaching us. One of them is the fighter pilot that's given us trouble in the past."
"Let's give them a hard time, Marcus."
"Roger that, Talisman. Two on two, let's do this."
In a split second, the two Emmerians met the two Estovakian ace pilots head on and started a brutal dogfight above Mt. Marcello and the battle waging around it. It was easy to see though, from both Marcus and Talisman, that these two aces were just as good as the ones Talisman tangled with over Sipli. They might be two of the same that he fought then as well.
The only difference was the missing presence of their cruise missiles that had caused their forces so much strife previously.
Even still, Talisman found it exceptionally challenging to dogfight these pilots compared to their previous encounters.
"I think they finally realized how much of a threat I am, and they're taking it seriously." Talisman thought before bullets riddled his right wing.
"Talisman, watch out! You've got a missile lock!"
"I got it! These guys aren't fooling around!"
Talisman avoided the missile fired at him by one of the Strigon aces and barrel rolled down and away to garter some space between him and the aces, letting him recuperate and reengage after a brief respite. Marcus was neck deep in a dance with the two aces when Talisman rejoined him and evened the odds yet again.
The two pairs of aces were like two boxers in a boxing ring, one landing a light job, followed by a jab in return from the other boxer right back at them. Both were matched relatively even with one another, but in the back of his mind, Talisman knew that the longer they dragged out this fight, the greater their chance of losing was.
"We've got to finish this up quick, before-!"
"Warning! Garuda Team, long range missiles heading your way!"
"What?! From where?!"
Talisman and Marcus, instantly aware of everything around them, were caught off guard when their radios let out some kind of strange noise and for a brief moment they were linked with the radio broadband waves of the Estovakian aces they were dueling.
"Warning, warning, missiles from the left! Watch out!"
"They're coming in too quick, I can't-!"
Suddenly, right before their very eyes, two missiles soared from what seemed like thin air and struck one of the two fighter jets and sheared it in two by a pair of devastating explosions. The pilot inside of the Su-33 had died almost instantly when one of the missiles had struck the nose dead on, the other having struck the fuselage closer to the left wing.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Marcus. "What the hell?!"
"Bagdanovic!"
The three pilots were too shocked by the sudden death of the other Estovakian pilot, Talisman knowing for a fact that it wasn't by any of their pilots, to engage one another and continue the fight. It was then that an unknown voice not from either side of the battle appeared over the airwaves.
"Wew…! That's a kill!"
Suddenly an unknown fighter jet who the voice belonged to swooped in from the sky, flipping over in a tight barrel roll as he started chasing after the other Strigon pilot. Marcus and Talisman, still flabbergasted, watched the unknown fighter jet and its pilot seamlessly follow the enemy ace without wasting a single move.
"Talisman, who is…"
"I don't know Marcus...but whoever he is...he's flying that Tomcat like it's the best jet in the world…"
The Tomcat was painted grey and white, and like Talisman suspected there weren't any indications that the jet and its pilot came from either Emmeria or Estovakia. It certainly wasn't the Demon Lord either. The only marker that he was able to catch on the left vertical stabilizer during the pilot's maneuvers was some kind of triangle shaped insignia.
"Who is this guy?! I've never seen maneuvers like these!" cursed the Estovakian ace as he kept swerving left and right, trying to shake off the unknown assailant. "Wait...no, it's just like-!"
He was cut off when his jet was engulfed by fire after a short range missile with exceedingly fast speed compared to normal missiles struck his jet's engines. In just a matter of moments, the unknown fighter had shot down two of Estovakia's best ace pilots, a feat that Talisman had only scratched the surface of doing back during the engagement over Sipli a couple weeks before.
"Bartolomeo Fortress has just about had it! Both tank battalions are making their way into the fortress interior as I speak, liberating it from Estovakian control! All pilots, our job here is done!" announced Ghost Eye, his attention returning to Talisman and Marcus. "Garuda Team, we're reporting that both enemy aces have been shot down, but a third unidentified signature is there with you."
"Yeah...he's the one that shot down those Stovies…" murmured Talisman, still in awe.
Ghost Eye, frowning slightly, switched over to an open channel and directly spoke to the unknown pilot. "Unidentified pilot, identify yourself immediately."
"Relax, I'm not a bad guy. Sorry for crashing your party though!" said the pilot with a spirited laugh. "Just call me Phonix, I'll tell you everything once we get back to your base."
"We?"
"Oh, yeah, haha. I'd like to join you all back to your base. I've got something pretty important to do."
"What do you mean?" questioned Ghost Eye.
"Let's just say that I'm here on an errand for a friend. I'm here for the Demon Lord."
^^^^Debriefing Message^^^^
We have successfully retaken Bartolomeo Fortress. With the successful execution of this mission, Emmerian forces have regained complete control of Khesed Island. A plan to retake the mainland is now in the works. We're about to get into some serious combat.