Operation Corsac Fox [Closed/IC/WIP]

[Korva]

Operation Corsac Fox

Link to the OOC Thread

[Korva]

Ancien District, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 18, 2015
21:00 hours

---

The old metal door to the gymnasium crashed against the concrete wall as it swung open. Captain Bonner grimaced as he surveyed the ad-hoc operation room, established hastily as it was inside a community gym some two blocks from the Khangaian Embassy. Across the floor a number of officers jumped in their seats and turned to face the side door, startled by the Captain's entrance. It had been nearly twenty four hours since the attack on the embassy had occurred, and the Captain was no closer to resolving the issue. The damned Khangaians were refusing Korvan aid, in fact, they were explicitly denying the Korvan government the right to enter the embassy grounds. It was no sweat of his back if a half dozen Khangaian embassy staff were tossed dead in the street, but Captain Bonner would be damned if he would just watch some half dozen half-witted gunmen parade around on national TV while his men were powerless to act.

If he had it his way, he'd kill power to the embasssy, blast music 24/7, and drug food deliveries to the hostage takers, then send a few entry teams of the choicest picks in the Special Activities Group to mop up. But he wasn't going to get it his way, he seldom did. Ever eager to appease the ineffectual fretters in Parliament, the suits upstairs had decided that this matter would be delegated to the newly formed International Crisis Response Team: a largely political creation intended to respond to situations that any one nation could, or would, not handle. This was one such situation, so it was with a heavy sigh that Captain Bonner marched across the hall to where roughly a half-dozen newly arrived ICRT operatives were cleaning their weapons.

The Captain looked the motley crew over and then clacked his heels:

"Good evening gentleman, I trust that you have made yourselves comfortable. If I could have a minute of your time, my men have prepared a briefing".

Two junior officers hustled to pull down a projector screen, while a third clicked on the projector. Captain Bonner stood at an angle and began to speak, while the ICRT members faces glowed white with the reflection of the slideshow.

"Roughly twenty four hours ago, the Khangaian Embassy was stormed by armed men who claim to represent the Buryat Liberation Front. At best guess, there are six of them, each armed with a rifle or similar long arm. These are CCTV stills captured on the night of the attack."

Blurry black and white images of the attackers scaling the embassy wall flashed on the projector screen.

"We have dubbed these men "White Mask" "Black Mask" "Hard Hat" "Fatso" "Skinny" and "Genghis". As you can tell, they seem to be wearing body armor, or at the least some sort of vest. We do not at this point think that the vests are concealing SVIEDs, but anything is possible. The Buryat Liberation Army is an extremely violent organization, but they are not known for suicide attacks. Additionally you should note that each man is carrying a duffel bag. These bags could conceal anything from explosives, to ammunition, to gas masks, so be prepared. My surveillance officer, Mr. Pruit, will go over these images in greater detail with you later."

Captain Bonner turned to indicate Alban Pruit, the officer in charge of the surveillance effort which was underway surrounding the embassy.

"His men are currently ringing the embassy grounds with a network of cameras, laser microphones, and marksmen. If anything moves, they will know. Now, normally I would wait these morons out, maybe gas them, and then storm the place, but as you know, that choice is not mine to make. But time is of the essence, my negotiators are in contact with the one called Genghis, and he has threatened that if his demands are not meant by Friday, October 23, he will kill the hostages."

The Captain clicked through several more slides, each with an image bearing a passport photo of a suspected hostage.

"Now we don't know exactly how many hostages there are, Genghis claims to have five, including the ambassador and his daughter. But we did receive an emergency call from a man claiming to be a janitor, cellphone triangulation identified the call as coming from within the embassy grounds. The man only spoke broken French, but from what we could gather, he was holed up in a closet. Sadly the signal was lost and further attempts at contacting him have failed. This brings me to my next point."

Bonner nodded and the officers shut off the projector before placing a large scale floorplan of the embassy on an easel.

"These are the embassy grounds, or at least, these are the projected building plans. It is possible that minor modifications have been made since the building was first erected, but nothing major is suspected. Study these maps well, because while the embassy is a modest building, you will need your bearings should this get ugly."

Captain Bonner titled his head as he faced the operatives:

"Any questions?"

[Gran La Plata]

Hector nodded and raised his hand "I actually do have a question. Do you know if the terrorists are located in the first or second floor? We might be capable of setting them a trap if they are on the second one." he coughed "And I also want to know the exact kind of weapons they have if possible."

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 18, 2015
22:00 hours

---

The briefing had stretched on for a half hour and the Captain sat down while his specialists field the operatives' questions. Alban Pruit perked up as he heard the query from the large Platinean man:

"Right now we don't have a solid idea of where within the facility they are. The Khangaians are a cagey bunch and all offices windows use rippled glass, making it hard for us to get a read on the gunmen's movements. That and the fact that most of the blinds are closed. What we do know is that the hostage takers are clustered within the main building, our CCTV stations have captured no further movement in the exterior of the embassy. So you can assume that the gatehouse is clear of hostiles. Whether or not it is booby trapped is another matter, as the gunmen first entered the complex via the walls surrounding the gatehouse. The embassy CCTV coverage was spotty and has since been cut, but it remains doubtful that any of them are holed up outside of the main building.

As for their weapons, they appeared to be carrying AKMs, but we can't be sure. Like I said, the embassy CCTV leaves a lot to be desired, and that is the only footage we have of the hostiles. Add to that the fact that they each had duffel bag, and we don't have any real idea as to what they are armed with. Its a crap show, but if we get any new intel we will let you know."

[Vancon]

Leaning forward in his chair in the adhoc operations room, Reginald raised his hand and looked over to the captain.

''I've got a couple. What are their demands, and do we have listening post set up yet? What about entry gear? Ropes? Do we have a confirmed way in, or could they see us from all angles? What about their defences? Apart from closing the blinds, do we know if they have booby trapped any entrances?''

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 18, 2015
22:00 hours

---

Captain Bonner nodded to Pruit and the surveillance officer turned to the operative with his hand up:

"Right now we have a half dozen laser microphones scanning for any sounds within the embassy and more cameras than I care to think about filming in both visual and IR. More importantly, all the lines in the embassy are tapped, and have been for some time. Not that we would ever tap your own nation's lines of course."

Pruit smiled before sitting down so that the Captain could speak:

"Their demands are both simple and preposterous. They are calling for the release of three dozen of their captured comrades. Now normally it would be no sweat for us to release BLA fighters, but the problem is we don't have any in our custody. The majority of the men they named are being held in Russian detention facilities, and even worse, it looks like as many as seven are missing and presumed dead. The Russians are enjoying having us in the vice like this and refusing to budge, so it looks like we will be doing this the hard way. They are giving us until Friday, October 23 to comply, but we can possibly sweet talk them into extending that deadline.

With regards to their defenses, we have no idea. Currently our investigative units are following some leads on suspected BLA members and sympathizers within the city. We are hoping to nab them and see if they have anything worth sharing. But what we can say is that in the course of their struggle against the Republic of Khangai, the BLA have trained some of the most cunning explosives and IED manufacturers in the region."

The Captain paused and collected his thoughts before motioning towards the floor plan and continuing:

"You have a great deal of options for entry points: 1) the front door 2) any ground floor window 3) the rear entry way 4) parking entrance 5) rooftop skylight 6) rooftop patio and my personal favorite 7) drainage pipe under the entryway fountain.

We can fire ziplines across to the building for any of the top floor or roof entries, but that will have to wait until moments before the raid in order to avoid spooking them."

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 19, 2015
21:00 hours

---

The Captain rubbed his eyes and nodded to the newly arrived investigative officer. The man offered him a manila envelope before shaking his hand leaving the makeshift operations room. Captain Bonner leafed through its contents before breaking into a grin. He turned to the ICRT operatives and let loose with his famous booming voice:

"Alright gentlemen, we have some good news. For the last twenty four hours, the New Constantine police force have been circulating images of the gunmen via flyer and news media, and it looks like it may have paid off. We have a woman, one "Mrs.Sarnai". She claims to be the mother of the gunmen we have identified as "Skinny". According to the statement she gave the police, she recognized his shoes and jacket and as proof of that she gave us these photos, dated August of 2013."

Captain Bonner shook the photos out of the envelope and offered them to the operatives for their inspection.

"According to Mrs. Sarnai, Skinny is actually Nergui Sarnai, a well-behaved 18 year old boy and star soccer player. After cross-referencing her story with immigration officials we have determined that the family was granted asylum in the summer of 2012. Mrs. Sarnai and her son are ethnic Buryats and were fleeing Khangaian repression. It appears that her husband was killed during the 2011 anti-Buryat pogroms. Now you might be wondering why I am telling you this, well it seems like the brass upstairs aren't happy to have you doing just the wetwork. We, and by that I mean Korvan law enforcement and military, are being cut out of the loop even more. If you ask me it is a chickenshit move but it is being done nonetheless to limit our liability. This means that your team will be responsible for negotiations. See if you can turn young Mr. Nerugi Sarnai against his compatriots, sow some division in their ranks. It'll be a hell of a lot easier if the hostiles are one man down, or even better, if you get his as an inside man."

A slim women in olive drab coveralls walked behind the Captain and whispered in his ear. Captain Bonner nodded and turned to the operatives:

"Alright then, this is Ms. Sigur, she will be the head of your medical detachment. She has a few words to share with you."

The Captain grunted and turned sharply around before walking back to his station, where a number of intelligence officers were eager to talk his ear off.

"Ok then, I am Ines Sigur and I will be in charge of our medical staff for this operation. Captain Bonner asked me to brief you all on some of the health aspects of this mission."

Ines unfolded a pair of glasses and placed them on her nose before turning on the slide projector. The ICRT members watched as she clicked through several slides:

"According to our research, the BLA have not been known to conduct sophisticated hostage seizures. What this means is that, in reviewing some half dozen incidents, BLA cells have not once brought any appreciable amount of food or water with them. They will be growing hungry very soon gentlemen. Unfortunately, we won't be starving them out anytime soon. Not while they still have power and water. The Khangaian embassy is stocked with a cafeteria and from the order histories we have seized, it would appear that the embassy is provisioned for at least a week of serving business lunches at the rate of roughly seventy adults per day. Given that we know of six hostiles and between five and six hostages, they will easily be able to like kings all the way to the Friday deadline. If we cut power and water however, they will be considerably weakened and will need to negotiate with us for delivery of vital provisions. This brings me to my next point."

The woman advanced a few more slides before licking her lips and continuing:

"If we do wind up delivering food to the hostage takers, we can insert listening bugs and/or drug their food. This has consequences of course, as the hostages are likely to be fed from the same source, and we have no clear way of ensuring that the gunmen are the only ones eating from the poisoned items. Regardless there is another option for degrading their ability to resist should an assault be necessary: fentanyl gas. Now the Korvan government does not, and will never, use chemical weapons in warfare. But this is not a war, and the Ministry of Defense is offering to supply sufficient quantities of fentanyl to flood the entirety of the embassy. This is a last resort option as, per our current models, we can expect roughly 10-20% of those affected by the gas to die. Now, do you have any questions for me?"

[Gran La Plata]

Hector raised his hand "What about the ventilation system? Do you believe we might be capable of drugging the kidnappers with gas-based amnesiacs? Maybe even release tear gas through the ventilation ducts before striking. Of course, we would need to know the location of the hostiles and a way to direct the gases specifically towards specific rooms. Do you believe this is possible captain?"

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 19, 2015
22:00 hours

---

Ms. Sigur smiled and looked at the Platinean:

"I am no Captain, but your idea has some merit. If your team is able to reach the roof we could send some tear gas canisters with you. This could then be pumped through the air conditioning units and into the building. We will have no way of controlling which rooms will be effected, as it is probable that all the rooms will be hit. Unfortunately bringing sufficient quantities to the roof is likely to be a noisy affair. You would need some sort of distraction. Speaking of which..."

The medic nodded and moments later the gathered ICRT agents were jolted out of their seats as blaring heavy metal erupted from several speakers placed behind them. Ines laughed and the music cut off.

"Sorry for the dramatic presentation, but we could use music to distract the gunmen. Our military psyops units have been using mobile speaker systems for years to undermine Maltakyan authority along the border, it would be child's play to set up similar trucks around the embassy. Then it would just be a matter of cranking it up to 11 and leaving it there. Extended sleep deprivation plays hell on the mind."

[Vancon]

Taking all of this information in, Reginald stood up and started to walk around the room.

''We should make a replica of both floors so that we can train on them. It should be close enough so that we na come help if need be but far enough so that they won't hear the gunshots. Simple plywood would do. We'd need some construction company to work double time, and worst comes to worst we can demand that the Khangaian people pay us for our service. Also, we should trip some of the breakers, and keep on doing that until we get a message from them demanding we turn electricity back on. This will hopefully let us identify where they are hiding,''

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 19, 2015
23:30 hours

---

Ines ended her presentation so that the group could break for a late and much needed meal. Capatain Bonner watched from across the room as the ICRT men scoffed down grub delivered from a local deli. They reminded him of himself in the 1990s, a lean fighter, eager for the electric thrill of spec ops work. A staff officer tapped his shoulder and indicated that there were further questions from the group, so he strode over to where they sat:

"A kill house, huh? That should be no problem, our own Special Activities Group has such a training facility several kilometers from here, in a hangar at the old airport. It would be simple to reconfigure the walls to resemble the two floors of the embassy. Twelve, maybe eighteen hours tops, less if you all pitch in. In the event that the gunmen go unexpectedly berzerk while your team is away...well...Khangaian sensitivities be damned, my boys will go in. And cutting power? I like it but it could spook them into acting rashly. Tripping the breakers does have some merit, but those are located..."

The Captain unfolded an increasingly ragged pocket version of the floorplans that he kept with him:

"Well it seems that the breakers are in the parking entrance hall. You can see it here."

The Captain indicated the doorway leading to the parking lot.

"It will be a hell of a job to access that and then trip the breakers all under their noses."

[The Unified Balkan States]

Jovan has arrived. He had placed his UBS-made equipment and rifle in the locker room. He opens the door to the mission room. "Hello all, hello all. I am callsign Star, I am needing to be filled in on what is happening quick. I need to know the entry plan." He closes the door behind him. "I also need to know how dangerous it will be to bring a 308 in the building, so I can know what level of trigger discipline I need to use. I am not armored properly for constricted hallway combat." He takes a seat.

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 19, 2015
23:45 hours

---

Captain Bonner regarded the absentminded ICRT operative "Star" with barely concealed contempt. The better part of the last twenty four hours had been spent briefing these men and it seemed that he had retained none of it. The Captain pointed to an unopened manila envelope on the seat next to Star:

"You each have your own briefing papers, anything you can't figure out you can ask your teammates about. As for your rifle, there is serious risk of over-penetration. All non-load bearing walls are composed of plaster or drywall, neither of which will stop a full power rifle round. In fact, even pistol calibres are likely to penetrate if fired from close range. You must maintain a constant state of heightened awareness: of your targets, of your backdrops, and of your surroundings. I will not have a hostage killed on my watch by careless friendly fire."

[The Unified Balkan States]

"I will keep the trigger discipline high then, semi mode. I chose the 308. for the reason it has the some of the highest armor penetration power, it being a 308, and it made a louder noise than other guns, making it stand out more of a threat than others. It is a powerful package, it can do some big damage to those gunmen. We do not know if the gunmen themselves have body armor." He now reads the folder, and studies the map.

[Vancon]

"I will keep the trigger discipline high then, semi mode. I chose the 308. for the reason it has the some of the highest armor penetration power, it being a 308, and it made a louder noise than other guns, making it stand out more of a threat than others. It is a powerful package, it can do some big damage to those gunmen. We do not know if the gunmen themselves have body armor." He now reads the folder, and studies the map.

Reginald was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing right now.

''Are you in any way familiar with the concepts of tact, sneakiness and not pissing people off who hold guns to the heads of hostages? If you were in their shoes, would you not be surprised what you start hearing loud noises? That's why we need to find a sneaky way in,''

[The Unified Balkan States]

"I will keep the trigger discipline high then, semi mode. I chose the 308. for the reason it has the some of the highest armor penetration power, it being a 308, and it made a louder noise than other guns, making it stand out more of a threat than others. It is a powerful package, it can do some big damage to those gunmen. We do not know if the gunmen themselves have body armor." He now reads the folder, and studies the map.

Reginald was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing right now.

''Are you in any way familiar with the concepts of tact, sneakiness and not pissing people off who hold guns to the heads of hostages? If you were in their shoes, would you not be surprised what you start hearing loud noises? That's why we need to find a sneaky way in,''

"If I wait for a certain point, when team 1 cannot go silent anymore, I can draw more attention to myself to catch them off guard. Or if you are still fixated on sneaking, realize that silencers are not like those video games, only a 22 could make that silence, and with a big, wonky oil can suppressor hanging off the end. And that handguns and rifles are even if completely silenced, still make a sound with the slide or bolt working." "And still realize, as well, silencers take away from muzzle velocity, meaning less power, meaning if those gunmen have body armor, it might not penetrate the same, if at all."

[Gran La Plata]

Hector sighed "Hear me, I love to shoot some bad guys in the face with my shotgun, but going loud so early is just retarded and dangerous for both us and the hostages. These guys probably know the embassy like the palm of their hand, meanwhile we only know the plans and the building's furniture might have changed places. They might have made barricades and shit. They have the upper hand, so our best bet is to try not to spook the motherfuckers or they will spook us... To death" Hector crossed his arms, him speaking this much was a surprise. "I believe I can set some boobytraps around the building. While I'm specialized on lethal ones, I can rig a flashbang or two the same way as I'd do with a fragmentation grenade. Maybe rigging some traps on the staircase of the first floor so any hostile running from Team 2 will probably run into them. The downside is the small possibility of a panicked hostage falling for the trap and disabling it, maybe even alerting the hostiles about our plans. While slightly stupid in this exact situation, I can also plant explosives of any kind if the Korvan armed forces are willing to give me a few. So yeah, long story short I can blow the motherfuckers to pieces with lethal explosives or maybe even use non-lethal ones if that bullshit even exists"

[The Unified Balkan States]

Jovan leaves the room for a moment. He is in the armory, getting a silencer for the M308. Jovan detaches the muzzle brake and attaches the silencer. He also attached a Model 552 holographic sight, with a magnifier,and his tritium night sights would be no help on the op. He already has a foregrip on it, it is factory stock, molded into the hand guard of the M308, similar to Romanian AK rifles. He re-enters the room. "I attached a silencer, and added a new sight fixture. I just thought silencers decreased muzzle velocity."

[Dictatorship Of South Eaka]

Dmitry silently listened to all of the other operatives ideas and plans before finally speaking. He got up from his chair and leaned against the a file cabinet.

"I personally agree with Reginald's idea of shutting off the power and designing a kill house replica of the embassy, as if you set booby traps there is to great of a risk for collateral damage and or who knows one of the hostages might try to escape and end up activating the booby trap resulting in their death or severe injury to themselves, and even if they do survive a non lethal booby trap, one of the hostage takers might be alerted and may execute the hostage or cripple them in anyway. Now heres my question for you Captain, what is the weather forecast for the week, as we might be able to shut off the electricty and state the cause to be bad weather in the area, and move in at the right time and hopefully eliminate the hostage takers using the sound of thunder to mask our gun shots and or melee kills, and free the hostages"

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 20, 2015
21:00 hours

---

"Dmitry, was it? Your observation is astute, setting explosives in the building is reckless, and borderline asinine. We don't know if the BLA gunmen have set explosives of their own, and we cannot risk sympathetic detonations. Frankly I am surprised that your team has not yet attempted to reach the hostage takers, you could be gleaning valuable information or concessions from them right now. As for the weather, well you can check that fairly easily."

The Captain turned to a TV playing news footage of the hostage crisis, along the bottom of the screen ran a ticker for the week's weather: Scattered clouds with little chance of rain, all the way through to the weekend.

"Seems we won't be having any fortuitous thunder. But what we do have is your kill house, the engineers put the finishing touches on it just a few hours ago. What do you say, time to start training?"

[The Unified Balkan States]

Jovan is reading the maps. "Do they have cameras of their own? Do they have motion detectors? Do they have a spotter, and a guy on the outside of the embassy watching?"

[Korva]

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 20, 2015
22:30 hours

---

Captain Bonner stared at the operative from the Balkan States with a look of total disbelief:

"Is this supposed to be a joke? Have I not explicitly stated that we have no visuals inside the building? Don't you think Pruit and the surveillance team would have alerted you to anything like a hostile leaving the building to walk around the embassy grounds? Frankly I am surprised you made the cut to be on this team."

The Captain shook his head and walked several paces away from the group before stopping and swiveling to face them:

"Now get your goddamn asses in gear, we have transports ready to bring you to the training facility. The clock is ticking, and we are no closer to figuring out what the fuck is going on in that building."

[Prosorusiya]

Nina quietly closed the heavy steel door to the room behind her. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I may live next door but apparently a BTR-40 can only drive through so many red lights before some local cop decides to get pushy."

She sighed, and took her seat at the table. 'So, intelligence, eh? Why not have some kind of a UAV fly in there? I heard there are even ones that can be launched from mortars now. Anyhow, I say we f*** with their heads by playing some music at them for a couple hours from one of those propaganda BMPs, then bust in whatever access point is most conveinient and start clearing the place, floor by floor. No sense in waiting around, twiddling our thumbs."

[Krajstali]

Panos had listened throughout with focus, he was thinking of something to say. But first he felt as if he had to piggy back on the other operative's ideas. He had then finally decided his contribution and had raised his arms for a short statement.
"I'd be willing to go headfirst quietly and swiftly into the building as a pointman." He spoke, before lowering his arm.

Nina quietly closed the heavy steel door to the room behind her. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I may live next door but apparently a BTR-152 can only drive through so many red lights before some local cop decides to get pushy."

She sighed, and took her seat at the table. 'So, intelligence, eh? Why not have some kind of a UAV fly in there? I heard there are even ones that can be launched from mortars now. Anyhow, I say we f*** with their heads by playing some music at them for a couple hours from one of those propaganda BMPs, then bust in whatever access point is most conveinient and start clearing the place, floor by floor. No sense in waiting around, twiddling our thumbs."

"Agreed, I'd recommend a Vrabac Mini UAV. It's pretty small and useful for surveillance at short distances, as well as for target finding and designating. As for the music idea, I'd be willing to lend my mixtape for it" He suggested.

Operations Room, New Constantine, Kingdom of Korva

October 20, 2015
22:30 hours

---

Captain Bonner stared at the operative from the Balkan States with a look of total disbelief:

"Is this supposed to be a joke? Have I not explicitly stated that we have no visuals inside the building? Don't you think Pruit and the surveillance team would have alerted you to anything like a hostile leaving the building to walk around the embassy grounds? Frankly I am surprised you made the cut to be on this team."

The Captain shook his head and walked several paces away from the group before stopping and swiveling to face them:

"Now get your goddamn asses in gear, we have transports ready to bring you to the training facility. The clock is ticking, and we are no closer to figuring out what the fuck is going on in that building."

Panos chuckled and looked at the Balkan States operative, putting his head into his hands shaking his head as well. As the captain gave the order, the Greek man stood up and saluted. "Affirmative Captain. Let's go you Malákes, let us send these terrorists to hades" Panos said as he faced the rest of operatives, joking on his greek background as he turned back and opened the door and left. Waiting outside for the rest of the crew.

[Gran La Plata]

Hector silently nodded as he got up of the chair and walked to the door, leaving it open for the rest of the team to go after him. He went towards what he thought was the makeshift armory on a nearby building and he was right, it was. He took a minute to rethink his equipment with the rest of the team. "Well, I love my shotgun, and I'm mostly trained on using it for busting heads with lethal rounds, but I guess I can get some non-lethals like Pepper-spray projectiles, maybe even silence this beast if those kind of silencers area round here somewhere." he sighed "I also bet those motherfuckers probably got explosives around the embassy, maybe simple ones, they aren't Al-Qaeda after all. I can disable them without causing too much sound. I'm also almost grenade-proof" he chuckled as he pointed towards his heavy armor "I also got some of these babies" he started to play around with a tear gas grenade recklessly, almost like he didn't care "It'll make the bastards useless if they don't have a mask, and even if they do have a mask, a bullet to the head fixes everything"