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Hit Hard by Nick Kang



Hit Hard
Date: 5 February 2004, 10:06 PM

Master Seargent Michael Patterson looked up into the sky. Small blossoms of fire could be seen from Earth. The small scattered and beaten UNSC fleet were currently doing their best to hold of the Covies. Patterson knew it wouldn't be long until the alien SOBs broke through and landed their forces on Earth. He glanced behind him. At least a thousand willing Marines stood at his back looking up as well. They were heavily armed, Battle Rifles, SubMachine Guns, Rocket Launchers, a whole mess of Warthogs and a few scattered Scorpion Tanks. They made up just the men and women under HIS command. Millions of others were scattered throughout Earth, ready to do battle with the Covenant. He just hoped the Earth defenses would hold. Pieces of metal burned in Earth's atmosphere as they fell from the space battle. They hit the ground only about the size of a soccer ball. Occasionally the metal falling would be made from the shiny purple-silver metal used in the Covenant ships, but most of the time it was the dark brown olive drab metal of UNSC ships. Not a good sign. A brigade of Longswords flew up into space to join the fray. It wouldn't be long until the Covies hit the Earth. Only a matter of time now...

The Master Chief and his three other SPARTAN IIs braced themselves. The Covenant ships had blown a hole in the side of the UNSC Cruiser iArdannis/i. Atmosphere was venting and space was trying to suck them out of the ship. A pair of Techs with welders were trying to put a metal sheet over the hole to stop the atmosphere flow. They got it over the gap and the Spartans could stop holding onto the pillars.
"Warning, Covenant boarding craft inbound, prepare for boarding." the speaker blared. Great, not only did he have to deal with surviving this battle, but now he had to help the Marines repel the boarders. It was obvious the Covenant wanted to get something from this ship. That was when he noticed the lifeboat airlock positioned on the other end of the hallway. The two Marines guarding them had their ears covered and the Chief was about to run and push them out of the way when there was a large blue explosion and they screamed before flying into the wall. A host of Grunts and an Elite ran out of the hole. The two techs screamed and pulled out their sidearms. They fired. A few Grunts fell. The Spartans fired their SMGs. Hundreds of bullets met the first boarding party. The Grunts fell quickly and the Elite's shield protected it for about half a second before it collapsed and purple blood spat out of the alien's chest. It screamed and sunk to the floor.
"Warning! Enemy boarders are getting a bit to close for comfort to the Bridge. Ordering all personnel to Bridge threshold!" the speaker shouted again. The two Techs began running. The Spartans followed. At one of the intersections of hallways, a screaming Grunt ran by followed by three vicious Techs weilding pistols and a Marine. They fired several shots and there was the sound of a breathing device snapping and the heavy gasps of the Grunt trying to gain Methane out of the air. The Spartans added the Techs and Marine to their group and continued on. They soon reached the bridge, where a line of Elites shielded by a wall of Jackals were slowling advancing on the desperate defenders. The Spartans and their group fired at the backs of the Elites. The aliens seemed to be surprised by the sudden attack and turned around. The jackals were also caught off guard. They became confused which side to shield and some of them ended up pointing toard the Spartans while some pointed toward the Marine defenders. The wall was taken out quickly because of this and the Spartans along with their small group ran into the bridge. After dropping the Techs off at the bridge, they returned to the thrshold where a scattered group of Grunts and Jackals were running at them. The Grunts and Jackals went down easily under the crossfire of defenders. The next thing came as a shock. There were heavy, thudding footsteps and a giant shadow appeared on the corner. Then another. Then another. A thick line appeared. It was not the line of Elites, Jackals, Grunts, or even Hunters. It was fully armed and armored company of the same creatures the Chief had encountered on the iUnyeilding Heirophant/i, codename 'Brutes'. This was gonna be a hell of a battle.



Hit Hard Ch. 2 -- Global Defense --
Date: 11 February 2004, 10:59 PM

The Marines wasted no time in firing. Some of the Brutes were killed and wounded but most nimbly dodged out of the way. They fired. The grenades stuck into the walls and armor of the Marines. They began pulsing and then exploded. Some Marines, realizing that they were about to die, ran straight into the crowd of Brutes and killed some of them with the resulting explosion. Many Marines were cut down from the grenades. The Chief threw a genade into the Brutes. It exploded and plastered the walls with meat. Rockets flew from the Marines and hit the Brutes, blowing many of them apart. A few small groups of Marines arrived and helped with the fighting. After only a few minutes, the Marines had been ground down to only a dozen. They fell back into the bridge, and after escorting the command crew into the lifeboat, returned to the front lines. The dozem or so Techs were now helping with their pistols. A few had heavier weapons that had aquired from dead Marines. The Brutes quickly advanced into the bridge and resumed fighting. The UNSC defenses held for about three minutes before they broke and rushed for the lifeboats. The Chief and his Spartans held the lifeboat positions long enough for the rest of the Marines to get in before they themselves got into the small vessels. The boats broke free and rushed toward Earth.

Patterson shielded his eyes as three lifeboats hit the ground. The back doors of them slid open and some Marines, Techs, and three Spartans walked out. The Techs and Marines went on a straight walk for the UNSC Command Center half a mile away. The Spartans approached Patterson.
"Sir, Master Chief John-117 reporting. Note of warning, the Covenant are breaking through the defenses be prepared to blow some dropshis out of the sky." one of them said.
"Thank you for the warning, Master Chief. With you here, we should be able to hold off the Covies longer than expected." Patterson replied.
"Yes sir. We'll help as long as we can."
Just as he said that, there was a huge blossom of fire in the sky and all was silent. Covenant dropships would be coming any minute. A huge fireball descended from the sky an hit an area a few hundred miles away. Just after it, hundreds of Covenant dropships flew from the clouds escorted by thousands of Banshees. The Warthogs and tanks fired. Hundreds of Banshees and dozens of dropships fell from the sky streaming fire and smoke. But all the defense was not enough as the Banshees came down and fired. The attack was short-lived as the Warthogs and tanks took them out. The dropships landed despite the constant hammering of bullets. The doors flung open and Hunters and Brutes streamed out. They were killed by the hundreds along with many Marines. Fuel rod blasts and grenades flew into the Marines and slaughtered dozens of them. The Hunters were taken out within a half hour of fighting along with a third of the Brutes.
The Chief fired his battle rifle into the Brutes. He wounded one but it still kept on coming. He continued firing. As hundreds of Marines and Covenant were killed, the battle lost heat. After only a few hours of screaming and fighting, the three dozen Brutes retreated into the dropships which quickly took off and continued getting hammered by AA fire. Three of them were knocked out of the sky by the few remaining vehicles. Only a hundred Marines remained. But they barely had time to regroup before a second wave came down upon them. They landed their hundreds of troops in the area. The Marines fought hard for about a half-hour before retreated back to the Command Center with Covenant hard on their tails. They reached the CC where the defenses covered them for enough time to drop off their wounded and return to the fighting. Outside, heavy machine guns could be heard chattering at the Covenant. Explosions ripped through the automatic fire. The grunting of Hunters and the wailing of Elites gave hint that the small number of Brutes in the second wave had been killed. The Chief ran out the doors with a rocket launcher and fired. A Hunter flew across the battlefield. He fired off the rest of his rockets into the Hunters and dropped the launcher, drawing his dual SMGs. He fired. Bullets spattered across the Elites' shields and killed them. Marines continued to fall. The few Warthogs were flipped by fuel rod blasts. After another hour of fighting, the last Elite screamed and fell to the ground. Out of the fifty original Marines combined with the hundred CC defenses, only a dozen Marines survived. They wou;d not be able to hold off another attack if one came. But they had done their job. They had held the area from two waves of brutal Covenant. That was all that mattered, keeping Earth safe...



Hit Hard Ch. 3: --Siege--
Date: 14 February 2004, 9:02 PM

      The sun streamed through the charred, blackened trees. A thin layer of snow had fallen that night, and it covered the ground in a blanket of white. Patterson might have been able to enjoy the peaceful winter morning, had it been more peaceful. Right now the Covenant had taken the city of San Francisco away from UNSC possession. It was his company's job to take it back, and the city was already coming into view as the tanks and Warthogs made their wasy along the partially destroyed highway. The Covenant seemed to have hit North America particularly hard, leaving only a meager several million more to take the rest of the world.
      But there was no time to think about the status of Earth, and Patterson realized it as a giant blue and white fireball leapt from the ruined California city and impacted the ground mere yards away from the quickly traveling convoy. They were expecting his company. Almost no sooner had the plasma bolt hit the ground than Ghosts and Shadows came out to meet them.
      Patterson fired his rocket launcher from his position in the back-seat of one of the Warthogs. The projectile flew forward trailing smoke and hit a Ghost. It penetrated the first layer of armor and exploded from within, sending the driver high into the sky. The LAAG of his Warthog fire, as well as all of the others on the other Warthogs. Ghosts and Shadows flew apart and drivers were cast out to join an ever-growing pile of bodies. The blue and purple plasma blasts that lanced from the Covenant vehicles melted parts on the armor of the vehicles and even killed a few Marines that were foolish enough to poke their heads out the side of the Warthogs.
      After deciding that he wanted in on the fun, one of the tank operators fired the cannon on his Scorpion. A cluster of Ghosts exploded in a gout of flame. Debris showered the moving UNSC convoy. Patterson fired again. This one was a bit too high and blew the gunner of a Shadow to pieces as well as blowing off the stationary plasma turret he had been using. The Warthigs continued to fire and one by one the Covenant vehicles exploded and burned metal. Soon there were so few remaining Covenant vehicles that they were forced to retreat back into the city. The Wraiths inside the city limits resumed fire. They fired more rapidly than before and rocked Patterson's Warthog. He glanced at the Warthog next to him, this one driven and manned by Spartans. He hoped they weren't hit by the plasma barrage, or else this entire mission would go totally downhill. He looked back up into the sky just in time to see a Wraith plasma blast heading right for his Warthog.



      Field Master Ricto 'Nelemee kept his eye on the Human convoy that was rapidly making it's way to the city, even under heavy fire from their many Wraiths. a Wraith shot flipped a Warthog loaded with 'Mreens'. The convoy came within twenty yards. He activated his plasma sword. The meter-long green beam shot out of the handle. The Human vehicles entered the city limits and fired on his comrades posted on the outer limts of the city. He could hear Lower Races screaming and God-kings grunting. There were none of his kind on the outer limits, they were too valuable. He could see plasma flying at the Humans as they fired. Once their 'Wrthaugs' and 'Scrpyins' got inside the city, almost nothing would be able to stop them. One of their tanks fired. 'Nelemee had never seen one of those behemoths in action before, and what he saw scarred his confidence. In a single shot, a Scrpyin took out a Wraith, something tht was a huge achievement, even for Covenant themselves. The Scrpyins also came fitted with the rapidly firing projectile launchers that slaughtered his comrades. This as most likely a battle that him and his comrades wouldn't be able to win. The battle waged for several minutes with minimal casualties on the Human side. Not even the mighty Godkings could inflict much damage with the Human's sheer efficiency.
      'Nelemee dove behind a crumbling wall and waited for the Humans to come. They did. A Wrthaug drove up near the ruined wall. 'Nelemee jumped out and with one swift stroke from his sword...missed the Wrthaug and got sucked under the wheels.



      The Grunt Fafaw fired his pistol. He knew it wouldn't do much to the Human war machine that was slowly converging upon his unit. The giant machine rolled over a hill, four of the Human soldiers seated above the strange, linked wheels. A large tube extended from the top turret. Being of the unitelligent Grunt origin, he had absolutely no idea what it was supposed to do until it fired and destroyed a Wraith. Seeing the immense power of the machine, his unit scattered.
      "Run away! Run away!" he yelled as half of his unit disappeared under the metal beast. He saw a few Godkings line up and fire their arm-mounted plasma blasters. They fired. The Humans on top of the tank were blown off, but other than that the armor was only partially melted. The machine fired and blew the Godkings away. He ran inter the inner limits, where Field Master Ricto 'Nelemee was waiting with his mighty unit of Godkings and Overlords. He got there just in time to see 'Nelemee swing for a Human vehicle with his plasma sword, miss, and get sucked under the vehicles wheels. All hope for him immediately disappeared. He grabbed a shoulder-mounted plasma blast from one of his fallen comrades and turned around. The machine hadn't seen him yet, and he fired right at the mesh where the operator was. The mesh exploded and a Human flew from the cockpit. Fafaw felt extremely proud of himself, taking out a machine that had killed six Godkings as well as probably a quarter of the outer defenses. Him, a Lower Race, had taken out the mightiest Human vehicle. He was so glad, he nearly got run over by a Human car that drove by and tried to hit him. He turned around and fired. The green blob flew but missed. He fired another shot at the fleeing Human vehicle, missed again as the car banked a hard right to avoid the blast, and the battery went dead. The plasma blaster stopped functioning. He discarded it and took out his plasma pistol, just as a bullet fired from a Human rapid projectile launcher tore through his left arm. He squaeked in pain and dove behind a large trash disposer just as the rest of the bullets ricocheted off the charred metal of the disposer. He bandaged his arm, crawled through a huge crack in the wall, where he came out behind the big trash disposer, and fainted from pain.



      The Chief stepped on the gas as hard as he could as an Elite wearing gold armor and brandishing a plasma sword disappeared under the Warthog. He heard an explosion and looked back to see a tank operator being killed by a Grunt carrying a fuel rod launcher. He turned and aimed to run down the Grunt. The Grunt dove just in time and fired a green blob. It missed. It fired another, this one would have hit if the Chief hadn't turned a steep right. The gunner of the Warthog fired. The Chief heard the Grunt squeak. That should take care of him. The usual wall of Jackals and Elites formed up ahead. That didn't stop the attackers, they just plowed through and fired. There was a shrieking sound and a fuel rod blast came from the sky and hit the ground near a Warthog. Four Banshees had taken off from the Covenant airfield somewhaere in the massive city. The Warthog fired. Bullets sparked as they hit the armor of the Covenant fighters. They all exploded in showers of molten metal. Four Hunters waddled out of hiding in an alley and fired. Four fuel rod blasts hit the ground and flipped a Warthog. The three remaining Scorpions fired and blew the Hunters to pieces. The convoy continued on but encountered no real resistance, other than a few scattered Elites and Grunts. Their mission was successful. San Francisco had been taken back.



Hit Hard Ch. 4: --Reclaimer--
Date: 18 February 2004, 10:58 PM

      A sudden light. The sound of something heavy moving. Voices. Alien ones. Fafaw opened his eyes to be confronted by two Human soldiers. They yelled something and pointed their rifles toward him. He didn't know what they had said, so he just screamed and dropped his pistol. One walked around him and put some metal rings around his hands. They were connected by chains. It seemed he was being taken prisoner.



      The Pelicans interior was silent, just the rumbling of the engines. No one in it talked. The Chief looked around. The rear gunner stood motionless on the gunning platform. Sergeant Johnson sat across from the Chief. Eight other ODSTs sat, totally obscured by their armor, inside the dropship. The Cheif got up and looked out the doorway. Dark cities raced by in ruins. The Covenant had grabbed for Earth City, but were beaten back. Even so, the Marines holding the metropolis had suffered severe casualties from the near-invasion. The Chief and his squad had been reassigned to help out the guards.
      "Okay, guys, five minutes to dropoff, repeat, five minutes to dropoff. LZ is cleared." said a deep male voice over the COM.
      "Okay, Marines," Sarge said, "the second we land, I want you guys to take up defensive positions around the capitol building. The Earth City falls, the planet will soon follow."
      "Yes, sir!" the ODSTs yelled.
      John felt a rumbling as the landing gear extended to touch the ground. The ramp fell open and the ten Marines ran out. The Chief was astonished by what he saw. The Marines assigned to guard the city must have been top-notch, seeing as even though the Covenant probably hit them hard, there were almost three-times as many alien bodies as there were Human. Gutted vehicles were scattered throughout the battlefield and firefigting crews were still trying to control the flames that licked up the charred and crumbling buildings. Sarge stayed with the Chief along with an ODST named Private Nick McOllis.
      "Sanchez, I want you to help fortify that trench over there," Sarge said pointing to a deep trench that looked like it had been shelled several times.
      "Yes, sir, but will there be any more squads coming to help?" McOllis asked.
      "I don't know, the Covies have blocked transportation to all routes here by air accept one. That was the one we came in on. If any more soldiers are coming to fight here, it will take them a while." Sarge replied.
      McOllis leveled his rifle and ran toward the trench. Sarge walked over to the capitol building where the seven other ODSTs had taken up positions. The Chief walked over to the trench that Sanchez had gone to. The outpost had been hit very hard. The dirt was caving in and there were a lot of bodies strewn throughout it. Many of the mounted weapons had been melted and were smoking. Only a few Marines remained in it. They manned what little mounted weapons there were left: a gatling gun here, an artillery cannon there. He was just about ready to sit down and clean out his rifle when a giant blue plasma blast flew overhead and smashed into the ground. Glass and molten metal sprayed over the Chief. No sooner had the blast hit then the Chief's COM snap on. It was Johnson.
      "Chief, we need you to get your people ready for a fight! Our radar shows several platoons of Covies haulin' ass toward us. We could be dealin' with a real fight here, and we can't let Earth City fall!" the COM crackled.
      "Yessir, we'll be sure to give them a big obstacle to get past." the Chief replied.
      "You better, 'cause if you don't, this might mean the end of Earth!" Johnson's voice snapped off quickly as he terminated the connection.
      "Okay people," John barked at the few Marines under his command, "the Covenant are making a march toward the city. It's our job to stop 'em!"
      "Sir, yessir!" the Marines shouted back. They quickly took up defensive positions behind metal blocks that had been set on the ground around the trench. They also manned the last of the guns and fell silent.
      Another plasma blast sailed through the sky and hit a burned-out building, which sent it falling to the ground. Several Longswords took off from the hangar of the base and flew over the fifty-foo wall surrounding the capitol building. There were explosions and the sounds of plasma fire as the Lonswords returned, minus two. No more siege artillery shots flew over the wall after that. The only sound there was was the pitter-patter of rain as it started to fall. The guards stood motionless for who-knows how long. Water trickled down the Chief's visor as the light rain turned into a downpour. It was hard to see anything that was more than fifty yards ahead of him. Soon, there was the sound of hover-vehicles. Plasma began to whine and the wall glowed red and began to melt. At once, all of the artillery cannons inside the wall were fired. Heavy projectiles arced over the wall and exploded, creating the sound of screaming Elites and wailing Grunts. As an accidental mishap, the wall also crumbled, giving the way for Covenant forces. Ther first several lines of the aliens had been demolished by the artillery barrage and the following lines were trying to catch up. The bullets began flying before the Coveant even knew what had happened. The next line of Covies were knocked down before they shook the confusion and returned fire. The few Marines out in the open were killed by the salvo of heat. Rockets screeched from the Marines and knocked out clumps of Elites and a few Hunters. A line of Ghosts flew out oof the ranks and fired. Defensive walls were melted and soldiers were killed. The Marines in the Chief's trench fired their gatling guns and slowly picked off the Ghosts. They were quickly destroyed and artillery cannons began thundering. Explosions appeared inside the Covenant formation and blew countless amounts of aliens apart. Two lines of Jackals ran to the front and overlapped their shields, creating the meneuver they commonly used. Only explosive weapons could break through their wall. Grenades and rockets detonated against their shields and wiped out the first line.
      The Chief tossed a grenade over the Jackal wall and watched it explode, sending three Jackals flying. A rocket hit a shield and it overloaded, exposing the alien behind it and killing it and three others. A few Shadows appeared from the sides and fired. Plasma danced across the metal blocks protecting the trench and they began melting. The Chief poked his head abov the steel and felt his shields take several hits, so he ducked back down. He threw a grenade over the trench wall and heard a satisfying scream from an Elite and watch the carcass fly over the trench. He again poked his head over the steel blocks and activated the scope. He fired at the gunner of the next Shadow. The Elite's shields flickered and popped and the alien wailed and fell off the platform. A rocket barrage flew from the Marines guarding the Capitol building. The remaining Shadows exploded.
      The Chief saw a Wraith blast rise above the Covenant lines and head for his trench.
[indent"Look out!" he yelled. The Marines were all able to get out of the trench as the plasma hit it and sent a wave of glass into the air. The Marines ran to reinforce the Capitol Building while the Chief joined a group of Marines pinned down behind a thick chunk of ddebris that was slowly being eaten away every time a plasma bolt hit it. He covered them as they got to the safety of the Capitol Building.
      The Chief was so preoccupied covering the Marines he failed to notice the Ghost flying at him at incredible speed and was only several feet away from connecting with his head.



Hit Hard Ch. 4 pt. 2 --Reclaimer--
Date: 26 February 2004, 10:36 PM

      The whining of the Ghost became apparent to the Chief. He quickly dove out of the way and the Ghost flew harmlessly past. The driver swerved and came back for another attack. Blue plasma lanced from the twin cannons mounted on the Covenant vehicle. They hit the Chief's shields and they drained to half. He returned fire with the battle rifle. Bullets sparked as they ricocheted off the armor. A few of them hit the Elite driving it, sparking his shields into view. The high-power bullets popped its barrier and dug into its chest. It screeched and tumbled off the Ghost. The vehicle automatically shut off and sank to the ground. The Chief ran up to it and swung his leg around the side. He sat down in the uncomfortable chair and gunned the engines. A structural integrity meter appeared on his HUD. The Ghost had sustained three units of damage from his assault.
      The Chief turned the vehicle toward the advancing Covenant lines and fired. The plasma overloaded the Jackal lines' shields and left the aliens vulnerable. They whined and tried to escape the flying blue death coming from the hijacked Ghost. The one-cyborg assault gave the surviving Marines a morale boost. They did a U-turn from the Capitol Building to the Covenant. The bullets gleamed gold as the light of lightning now streaking from the sky caught them. The Covenant lines were beginning to dwindle as they passed through the ruined wall. They were now on the Capitol Building grounds.
      Sniper fire could be heard coming from the windows of the towering skyscraper as the Marine snipers posted inside opened up. A kamikaze wave of Grunts surged up from the Covenant lines and came at them. They were probably just being sent to use up the ammo of the Marines. The scattered Marines charged up to meet the Grunts. Bullets, plasma, and explosive needles filled the air as the two sides killed. The Chief drove right through the crowd of Grunts, bashing in their skulls with the Ghost. The Marines bashed, punched, and shot their way through the Grunts until there was none left.
      The victory over the Grunts was short-lived however, as the three remaining Hunters opened fire. Three glowing green blobs hit the Marines square in their formation. They screamed and their lifeless bodies flew through the air. A fuel rod blast exploded right in front of the Chief's Ghost and drained the integrity down to one unit. He dove from the sputtering vehicle just as a charged plasma bolt fired by a Grunt hit it in the nose and it burst into flame. The Chief hit the ground and somersaulted, landing next to a rocket launcher that was lying next to a dead Marine. He quickly discarded his M6D pistol and shouldered the heavy weapon. The Hunters seemed to have noticed this, and, forgetting about the marines, tried to hit the Chief. Fuel rod blasts exploded all around him as he ran towards the Covenant. Once he was within range, he let loose with a smoking projectile. The first Hunter took a hit directly in the chest and blew to pieces. Another rocket hit the second one in the arm and took it off, along with a fine chunk of torso. The Chief discarded the empty rocket launcher and leveled his battle rifle. The Marines fired a salvo at the last Hunter before retreating towards the Capitol Building. Only a few of the bullets hit it as the armoring absorbed most of them. The Chief took his last grenade off his bandoleer and threw it. It bounced off the Hunter and fell to its feet. It seemed curious as to what it was, and looked down at it. Good thing Hunters weren't too smart. The little ball detonated and tossed the Hunter's body several feet. The Marines, now in the trenches that had been dug around the Capitol building, fired the artillery cannons. The missiles curved downward and hit the Covenant. They hit the last line and blew half of it away. The remaining ten Elites made a suicide run towards the Capitol building, but were quickly diced into pieces by the Gatling guns the Marines had manned. The Chief took the time to reload and sweep the area for any surviving Covenant. There was a slight humming sound on the horizon. Three dots had appeared on the other side of the city.
      Covenant reinforcements, or three Creep transports, flew down the road scattered with bodies. They dumped off a full load of Elites each. The Marines fired at the transports first. Rockets hammered the relatively thin armoring of the buses and destroyed them quickly. The Elites formed three lines and began marching toward the Capitol Building. The Gatling Guns ripped apart the first line before the Covenant were even able to fire their first shots. A combination of rockets and grenades took out the next one and a half lines. The scattered fifteen Elites tried running for it, but were quickly cut down by the harrassing fire of the dug-in Marines. The last one hit the ground and a puddle of purple blood pooled from its numerous bullet-wounds.
      That was when a familiar voice split the patter of rain.
      "I must say, Reclaimer, you and your comrades have done exceptionally well."





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