Chapter 2: Of Politics and Riots
11 May 2045, Russian Federation
[CLASSIFIED LOCATION]
"Tokyo was hit too." A man said, the only one standing around a large conference table.
"The Japanese? I don't suppose they faired any better than us?" Tarasov asked.
"The reports are unclear, there's still a lot of chaos over there, but what we know is that it took Japan the better part of a day to retake all of Tokyo with US support."
The two 'Gates' as the media had taken to calling them had opened up nearly simultaneously, one in Tokyo's Ginza District and one in Moscow's Red Square. It had taken the Russian Armed Forces a little over half an hour to contain the attackers within a few district thanks to the presence of 14,000 troops as part of the Victory in Europe celebrations. It took just one more hour after that to crush all the other resistance as VDV and armoured forces began arriving in force.
Still, the toll for this 'victory' was very high. Civilian casualties were at least in the low thousands with more bodies being discovered every minute and tens of millions of rubles in damage had been done. That is not to mention the thousands still missing. However, Tasarov was more focused on the political fallout of these attacks than the actual quantifiable costs.
"What are the global reactions like?" He asked softly, dreading to hear it.
"They... could be worse." His Minister of Foreign Affairs said, "Naturally everyone has sent their condolences. The US seems happy to leave us alone due to the new détente as well as the Gate in Japan which is taking up most of their attention. They have offered to provide SAR teams but we turned them down because of the amount we have already accepted from Austria, Poland, and Finland."
"At least they're not pushing for access... yet." Tarasov said, making the Minister look a little awkward.
"Yes... China has been... more vocal, but only through private channels. So far. They have presumed that we are going to go through the Gate and are... 'requesting' access to it in return for 'economic aid'. What they mean by that has not been stated."
"Great..." Tarasov sighed, "Of course they are looking to exploit it already."
Sino-Russian relations had been in the dumps since the late 2010s when the first Russian president since the deposing of Vladimir Putin, Girad Zamov, had interfered with the Belt and Road Initiative, cutting off all of the overland links that were so integral to the Chinese Communist Party's economic warfare plan. Relations were not helped anymore when Russia sided with the United States during the Second Korean War in 2024 in order to stop growing Chinese influence in Central Asia and the Pacific. And that's not even to mention that one time the two countries were brought to the brink of war when India joined the CSTO in 2030.
Talking of India... "What about India and Iran?"
"As members of the CSTO charter, they have suggested that we implement Article 4 and call the alliance to our aid, but their presidents have expressed their willingness to defer to whatever course of action we may take." The minister explained, "I believe President Bali is hoping that we can use the Gate to get a step up over China economically."
Tarasov looked the minister in the eyes and said, "Do you recommend instating Article 4?"
The foreign minister looked thoughtfully for a second before answering, "I would recommend that course of action if you wish to retaliate. Having Indian and Iranian brigades alongside Russian ones would greatly increase the legitimacy of any military intervention."
"Very well." Tarasov said before turning to the Minister of Defence, "Sergey, how long will it take to ready an invasion force?"
"A few days," Sergey answered, "But I recommend delaying for at least a week, perhaps longer, to amass overwhelming force and to reconnoitre the other side of the Gate."
"I don't need the details, just make it work. Make these invaders regret ever stepping foot in the Motherland. What about the Japanese?" The President replied.
"It would take the JSDF over a month to mobilise a sufficient force by our estimates, but they haven't done so since the Second World War so it is unclear. If the Americans and their other regional allies such as Australia and Canada help, perhaps they could have a division deployed by June at the earliest." The Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, explained.
Sergey nodded, "Mr President, if we are to go, I suggest we go now."
"I agree," The Foreign Minister said, "At this point we are in a race against the other nations to secure the resources that are on the other side of this Gate."
Tarasov stared into the abyss for some time, thinking deeply. He had two options here. Either he could defy popular opinion and cordon off the Gate, forget it ever existed, and potentially allow the US to regain the title of the world's sole superpower. Or he could go with the popular opinion and launch a counter-attack, pushing through the Gate and potentially seizing control of a treasure trove of natural resources that were far easier to extract than the current mineral extraction operations in the asteroid belt and on Mars. When put like that, was there ever a choice in the first place? Submit to American, potentially Chinese, dominance or potentially reclaim the glory of being a global superpower that Russia lost fifty years ago.
He turned his head to stare Sergey in the eyes before uttering three simple words: "Make the arrangements."
15 May 2045, Russian Federation
Vampir Team and its three detachments, 1 through 3, had been given a few days to rest up before being placed on QRF duty. It was decided that a Spetsnaz team should be ready to respond to any threat to Moscow or the dozen or so makeshift prison camps serving as massive holding cells for a couple thousand prisoners until it could be decided what to do with them, alongside a much larger company-sized QRF from the regular army.
Svetlana walked alongside Captain Malyenko, a grizzled, six foot tall combat veteran with brown hair, blue eyes, and enough facial scars to write a novel explaining them all. Interestingly enough, Svetlana knew most of them. After all, they had been friends since boot camp, then through their first deployments, then into the special forces, and now to two of the leadership positions of Vampir.
And they were currently having a nonsensical conversation about the popular metaphysical superstition known as a Jinx. More specifically, whether Malyenko was going to jinx them or not.
"I'm telling you, Lana, jinxes aren't real. This QRF rotation is going to be spent being bored and playing durak." He said.
"And I'm telling you, Alex, that the moment we step through that door the alarm is going to go off because you jinxed us." She replied in an irritated tone, an arm set aloof towards the door.
She could see Malyenko's barely restrained eye-roll as he confidently strut towards the door, "Fine, let's just settle this-"
Svetlana followed him as he swapped the hand he was holding his AK-12 in and pushed open the door, stepping into the room containing the rest of Vampir huddled around a television watching some god-awful show or playing durak. She stepped in after him and braced herself as he began to speak.
"See, Lieutenant? No problem at all-" As Malyenko was about to gloat, the alarm went off, "MOTHER-"
Svetlana hit his shoulder and called out, "Vampir-1 with me, let's go!"
The three squads scrambled about for just a few seconds before following their leaders outside where three six-wheel military police variants of the VPK-8741 'Lisa-3' infantry mobility vehicles were parked.
"Vesilya, take the lead vic. Solovev, rear vic." Malyenko ordered, jumping up onto the door of the middle Lisa-3.
Svetlana gestured for Ilyich to get in the drivers seat as she rushed around to the right-hand side of the car, pulling open the door and climbing in just as Ilyich shut his door and turned on the ignition.
Ilyich opened an armoured slit in the back used to talk to the driver and called out, "We're all in!"
"Lights," Svetlana said to herself, pressing a button on the dashboard to activate the blue lights adorning the military police Lisa-3 before patting Ilyich on the shoulder, "Alright, let's go."
He pushed it into gear and kicked off as the base commander came onto the radio.
"Vampir, this is Colonel Gola. Riots have broken out at Prison Camp 3 and the local security personnel need assistance putting them down." The Colonel said as the three vehicle Spetsnaz convoy pushed out onto the highway, joined by an army VPK-7829 Bumerang and four Ural-5323 heavy cargo trucks filled to the brim with Russian army personnel.
"Solid copy, Colonel. Are we to capture or kill?" Malyenko asked.
"Russian lives have been lost already, just put down the riot. Your methods will not be questioned." He said, simultaneously grim and vindictive.
"Understood. We are enroute, ETA ten mikes." He said before switching, "You hear that, Vesilya?"
Svetlana tapped in a location on the GPS to get a location on Prison Camp 3 before handing the reigns entirely over to Ilyich as civilian cars dodged out of the way of the heavily armed military convoy.
"Have you ever stopped a riot before, Ma'am?"
She glanced to the side to see Ilyich's curious face fixated on the road.
"No, can't say I have. It ought to be an interesting experience... turn off here."
As she ordered, the convoy turned off the highway and onto another road.
"There was that thing down in Dušanbe... I guess that doesn't count. I imagine we're just gonna go in and shoot anyone who resists, otherwise they would have called the Rosgvardiya."
"I guess all bets are off." He muttered, a small plume of black smoke visible in the distance.
The high-speed journey to the prison camp was highlighted by half-hearted jabs and jives in the back of the Lisa-3, joined by a few bets that Svetlana thought she really should report to higher authorities. She probably wouldn't. Meanwhile, she and Ilyich had more constructive conversations in the front. Every car journey with her team usually went like that until they were a minute or so away from the AO.
"Get ready back there!" Svetlana shouted, hitting the thin metal wall twice.
Her radio burst to life with a crackly static as Malyenko started dishing out orders, "Vesilya, take Vampir-1 in through the front when we get there."
"Copy." Svetlana said as the prison camp came into view. It was a relatively large complex four building surrounded by barbed wire. A litter of military police vehicles were strewn across the only entrance to the complex with MPs armed with AK-12Ms in position to cover the one way in and out.
"Vampir-3, create a hole in the East side and force your way in. Our comrades in the army will create a cordon and make sure no one escapes. You are all free to engage at your own discretion." Malyenko said, "PSV Exosuits are thirty minutes out but the Colonel wants us in now."
"Understood, Captain." Lieutenant Solovev, commander of Vampir-3, replied.
The Lisa-3 screeched to a halt behind the MP vehicles. Svetlana called for everyone to dismount before shoving open the door and jumping out herself, rifle in hand. She was immediately hit by the putrid stench of burnt wood and brick as well as the loud jeers and shouts of rioting POWs. The shouts and screams were somewhat drowned out by three thrumming Mi-38TV2 helicopters that were providing overwatch with their thermal cameras.
"Gas masks." Svetlana ordered, knowing that a lot of CS gas was going to be used to subdue the prisoners. She took her helmet off and put on the PMK-6 gas mask before placing the helmet back on.
Running forwards with her team hot on her heels, she tapped an MP with Lieutenant markings on his soldier and told him to follow them in. After receiving an acknowledgement, Svetlana spared a glance to see Solovev's team already moving up the east side and then raised her rifle towards the door, stepping forward methodically. She reached the entrance at the same time as Ilyich on the other side.
She nodded to him and he pushed the door open, breaching the lobby room with Volkov. She followed them in and swept the corner before coming to the obvious conclusion that the room was empty. Some papers were lying about and a couple chairs were rather 'aloof', but nothing indicating a riot.
"Looks like no one's made it out this far." Ilyich vocalised her thoughts.
"Keep moving." Svetlana ordered, gesturing for Mendenetsa to take half of the team to check out a door on the right side whilst they headed further in with the MPs tailing them.
In one of the dungeons used by the Otherworlders, it looked as though Hardy had come through. Fighting was raging across the premises as the captured Imperials and beastfolk used any makeshift weapon they could find to bludgeon anyone and everyone to death with.
The Milites known as Caius Malchus was disgusted by these actions. He understood his fellow Imperial's plight for sure. It seemed that the Otherworlders had no concept of nobility nor the superiority of Imperials over beastfolk, lumping them all, including himself, in together. It compounded to him and many others the idea that these people were barbarians.
Caius presumed that this was a similar line of thinking that Lord Alistair took when he threw a punch towards one of the strange 'men in green' an hour ago, though the Milites hoped that he had much more restraint as a tempered country man compared to the much more metropolitan noble. The Otherworlder's retribution was swift, as Lord Alistair quickly found out when he was hit across the face by the butt of one of the strange staffs wielded by the many mages.
The tumult did not actually start at this point, though tensions were certainly raised by the incident. A pair that Caius had known as Alistair's loyal subjects had approached to show these barbarians 'what for', but were dissuaded from that course of action when three more mages rushed in brandishing their staffs towards the troublemakers. The Imperial soldiers were instantly reminded of the slaughter wrought by those staffs a few days prior and were quelled into submission as Lord Alistair was dragged off to Flare knows where.
The tumult had actually kicked off due to the sentiments of the beastfolk auxilia clashing with Imperial dogma. Caius had covertly investigated this sentiment, resulting in him discovering that the beastfolk had a generally positive view of their captors despite the death and destruction wrought by them. They rejoiced - not at their own defeat, but at the defeat of the Empire... an enemy they hated more than anything else, yet were forced to fight for.
Caius himself had an understanding of this. He was not an Imperial man. Sure, he was born to two Imperial parents in a large town firmly under the grasp of the Empire. It was just unfortunate that the Provincial Governor demanded that every firstborn of every family demanded that they be given up to the army to serve. It was not quite the Empire's standard method of recruiting, but the governor was some distant relative of the Emperor so he was allowed to continue the method so long as it continued creating recruits for the Empire's never ending wars. Despite his conscription, he was an Imperial and that was never changing, so the loyalty was there, if not quite as fanatical as some.
In contrast, the beastfolk auxilia, treated as second-class citizens, had little to no loyalty to the Empire. This created a natural breeding ground for resentment between the Imperials and beastfolk, something that climaxed later that day. A contubernium of legionaries descended upon a similarly sized group of beastfolk when they thought the coast was clear. What followed was effectively a pile-on. Some beastfolk went to their brethren's aid, some Imperials went to their brethren's aid and so on and so forth until the brawl engulfed the entire dungeon, like a miniature reenactment of the rise of the Empire
A few hours later, Caius huddled in an obscure corner of a strange dining hall alongside a dozen other legionaries who had no interest in getting involved in this brawl, but were essentially press ganged into coming along anyway. They felt quite confident in their course of neutrality as the loud bangs of the otherworlder's lightning magic grew closer, unintentionally stopping the brawl in its tracks. Many of their short lived hopes of breaking out and escaping back across the Gate to Everi's Peak were dashed in an instant as the doors on either end of the hall were forced open to allow small grey cylinders to be thrown in. One of the cylinders landed near to Caius, allowing him to see the characters 'SEKTSIYA-2 SMOKE' emblazoned in cyrillic on the side, not that he could read it. He gave a startled cry as it began hissing and pouring white smoke, a cry cut short as the world went black and he fell to the ground.
Very few were strong enough to resist the effects of the gas long enough to see the Spetsnaz and Military Police breach the room in PMK-6 gas masks. Anyone who was still standing despite the potent concoction, mainly a few of the 'non-humans' who were somewhat resistant to the gas' effects, were ruthlessly gunned down as a threat.
Svetlana fired two shots towards one such person, the 5.45 mm bullet easily piercing its skull and killing it instantly. Lowering her rifle, she clicked her radio and asked, "Vampir Actual, Canteen A2 is secure. What's the status on the PSV suits?"
"They're being dropped into the courtyard now." Malyenko said.
"Copy. Where do you want us?"
There was a pause that Svetlana figured Malyenko was using to determine a course of action, "...stay in A2. We can use it as a holding zone."
"Understood. Vampir-1 out."
Throughout the rest of the day, more and more troops from nearby garrisons and QRFs arrived and by midday the entire area was swarming with over one-thousand soldiers, mostly combing the wilderness for any prisoners who, however unlikely, might have been able to slip out during the chaos.
The preliminary death toll estimated that 16 Military Police personnel were killed in the riots, their deaths attributed to the short amount of time between the first instance of unrest and the beginning of a total riot as well as a lack of preparation or expectation for resistance amongst the defeated population. 600 prisoners of war were killed in the ensuing riot, though only a fraction of that occurred during the operation to retake the prison. About 150 were determined to have died from bullet wounds and a further 2 suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome from inhaling the Sektsoya-2 smoke. Whilst it wasn't great, it was a vast improvement to the 15% fatality rate from its predecessor agent, Koloko-1. In contrast, over 400 were killed in clashes between the 'human' population and the 'non-human' population.
An inquest had already begun into the causes of the riot and how to prevent another riot.
3 Days Later, Gate Staging Zone
Svetlana walked into the dimly lit briefing room wearing the majority of her kit bar some of the heavier pieces. In certain settings she was sure to stick out like a sore thumb, but in this room it was clear that everyone was on the same page as there was not one officer present who was not ready and raring to go.
"Lieutenant Vesilya," An older man nodded to her as they exchanged salutes, the nameplate 'Aleksandrov' emblazoned over his breast, "We are just waiting for Captain Malyenko and then we shall begin."
She went over to stand by her fellow Lieutenant, Zakhar Solovev, the commanding officer of 'Vampir-3', one of the squads that had ran interference whilst her team extracted the President on 10 May. The squad had then assisted with the retaking of Prison Camp 3 days later. Solovev himself was a relatively diminutive man at five foot seven, not that much taller than her, with a head of short brown hair. They exchanged a curt nod as they had already caught up in the short burst of R&R they had accrued since the riot.
Thankfully, the sixteen Spetsnaz officers in the room did not have to wait long Captain Malyenko turned up in all his scarred glory, weary blue eyes and all. General Aleksandrov and he exchanged a quick greeting and a salute before Aleksandrov got right down to business.
"Let's make this quick." He said, his grizzly tones coming through strongly, "The President has seen fit to authorise a major offensive across the Gate to secure Russia's interests and to make these barbarians pay for what they did to our people. The attack will be happening tomorrow."
He looked around the briefing room, satisfied at the surprised looks from all of the men and women present.
"Other Spetsnaz teams from our friends in the GRU deployed four days ago and have been gathering intelligence on enemy forces on the other side of the structure." The General continued.
The mention of the Spetsnaz GRU was received with distaste amongst the officers of what was generally considered the primary Tier 1 Special Mission Unit of the Russian Federation. The GRU had a reputation for unneeded brutality, both during training and in conduct. A hammer where a scalpel was needed. As a result, they were decried as 'a bunch of brutes' both within and without the Russian military, a reputation that had led to them being downgraded from a Tier 1 SOG to a Tier 2 SOG in the eyes of the General Staff. They had improved much since those days, but their reputation followed them around nonetheless.
"Your mission is simply to secure the immediate vicinity around the Gate and make sure the main force will not be ambushed immediately after entering. You will have the full support of Russia's unmanned assets and the pick of any weapon system you need. The GRU estimates the enemy numbers somewhere between three and five divisions based out of two dozen hilltop camps three klicks west from the infiltration point. Any questions?"
"What's the topography like?" A Captain from a different SSO unit asked.
"A lot of the local area is covered in thick coniferous forests and is backed up on the East side by a large mountain range. The GRU discovered several civilian settlements but they should be far away from the initial AO. The Gate appears to open up over eight thousand feet above sea-level, hence why you have all been sent through pre-acclimatisation processes." The General said.
He grabbed a remote and brought up slightly hazy images on a TV screen. They displayed the beautiful landscape on the other side of the Gate. Except for a clearing around the Gate itself, the coniferous forest seemed to spread out for eternity whilst two barren grey mountains propped up on either side to create a valley several kilometres wide. It honestly looked a lot like some of the taigas that swept across Northern Russia during the Summer.
"Anything else?"
Svetlana looked up from the images and asked, "ROE?"
"If it's moves, shoot it until it stops." He stated matter-of-factly, "If that's all? Good. OP begins at 1100 hours."
"What is Tarasov doing?" President White asked, her hands folded over the desk.
"They're being quiet about it, but our agents in Russia have indicated some suspicious troop movements. A brigade here, a brigade there. The number of troops is rapidly increasing in the Western Military District." The Director of National Intelligence informed White.
"So they're planning to go through..." White mumbled, "Of course they are, Tarasov would have to be insane not to."
"That is not all, Madame President. Russian troops in the United States of Central Asia and the Eastern Military District have tripled."
"The USCA and East..." White said to herself, her eyes lighting up in realisation, "China?"
"That is what it looks like." The National Security Advisor replied, "They clearly fear that the Chinese will attack them. I'm told it follows a trend of policy shifts in the Kremlin over the past two decades."
White stared at the desk for a long minute, running every scenario she could think of through her head before asking a deathly question:
"What if it goes hot?"
All of the advisors and cabinet members shared apprehensive looks as the temperature in the room dropped. The question was expected, obviously it was going to come up when talking about a troop build up on the Sino-Russian border. But no one actually wanted it to come up. All it was was a nicer way of saying 'what if World War 3 started in Asia'.
Eventually one brave soul took the question.
"Then we send all the support we can to the Russians and pray to God that it doesn't go nuclear."
Jesus Christ, White thought. Thirty years ago it would have been tantamount to political suicide to even suggest helping Russia in a war. Now her Cabinet was suggesting to 'send all the support we can' if they go to war with China.
"Very well..." She said. No other words came to mind, "What of the situation in Japan?"
Despite being one of America's closest allies in the Pacific region, the Japanese government was being remarkably bullheaded in correspondences since the 'Two Gates Incident' as the American media had taken to calling it.
"They have finally caved to pressure thanks to Ambassador Rawalski's insistences," The Secretary of State answered, "They are no longer insisting that Japan and Japan alone will enter the Gate and are willing to allow American forces to assist them."
The emphasis placed on 'assist' was missed by no one. Perhaps it was unfair judgement passed too quickly, but Japanese soldiers were nearly all green with untested equipment and likely outdated tactics. Everyone with half a brain thought that Japan would make a lot of blunders requiring the US military or other allies to bail them out.
"Finally. Send whatever the military needs to operate in Japan. What I want to know is if we are at risk of a Gate Incident happening here?" White asked.
"There's honestly no way to tell. NASA and DARPA have been experimenting with dimensional technology for years, hell, they've made tiny dimensional portals already, but nothing this large or this stable. Russia and Japan will be able to get the first hand information we would need... perhaps Hawking radiation? I... I don't know." An older woman, presumably some subject expert, explained.
"Well... Work on it." White demanded, "We need to work out if this could happen in America and how to counter it."
"Yes Madame President."
1110 Hours, Special Region
"Hope your DNA is in the database..." Kozlov said over the sound of the engine as they were carried towards the Gate on the back of a semi-autonomous BMPT-2Av.
"If it's not, you might want to hop off quickly." Popov remarked.
Svetlana studiously ignored them as they passed through the electrolaser gate designed to incinerate anyone not in the DNA database. It was one of the first things the sappers installed... right after the sentry guns. These two things combined with 24/7 guards and a permanent QRF had deterred any further attacks after the last two scouting parties.
All of them were wearing ghillie suits modified to suit the terrain they were deploying into, a tactical decision by Captain Malyenko to reduce their profile in case they were required to make any raids out into the forests. It would make them like ghosts in the dense terrain.
That came later, however. Right now they were near the front of a convoy of twenty-four vehicles carrying two-hundred Spetsnaz SSO soldiers across the Gate to what was apparently deteriorating light on the other side. The convoy was mostly transports armed with HMGs or GMGs, but there was a healthy amount of anti-air vehicles such as the 9Y111 Eros laser pulse anti-air system, fire support vehicles like the BMPT-2Av Terminator-4, and even two T-14AvB2 Armata-A unmanned main battle tanks.
Svetlana glanced behind as they entered the Gate, the soft murmurings of whispers spreading out across the strange, almost void-like landscape. She could see both the bright, sunlit metropolis behind the convoy and the dull, moonlit landscape somewhere in the distance in front of the convoy, but in between was something strange, something lifeless. Despite the apparent darkness, everything was still visible as if it were perfectly lit. Perhaps it was the light bouncing in from Moscow, but it did not appear so. She had never seen something so seemingly devoid of existence itself, yet also somehow still existing. It provided a supremely eerie sensation, something that the others had clearly picked up on and were conversing about, albeit quietly.
After five minutes passed, the allure remained, but its extreme effects had worn off, allowing for the Spetsnaz soldiers to talk more casually.
"Why the fuck does it have to be night on the other side?" Ilyich muttered, kicking it off, "This is going to be like flying, isn't it? Instant jet lag."
With a second to breathe for the first time in nearly a week, Svetlana could finally observe how her team was holding up.
Rurik Ilyich was a long-term member of Vampir-1 and her trusted driver - the man was great to have behind the wheel and a perfect conversationalist for her on long journeys as someone who didn't get involved in the team banter as much as everyone else.
Sat besides Ilyich, their team's medic, a relatively new addition by the name of Zinoviya Kovaleva, looked bemused as she replied, "I have some caffeine pills if they would help–"
"No, no, no! I don't want any of your poison!" Ilyich interrupted, making Kovaleva laugh.
Svetlana shook her head as Maksim Kozlov, one of Vampir-1's two support gunners, joined in with a quick humorous jab, backed by his partner-in-crime, Iov Popov. Those two were as thick as thieves and about as likely to get into trouble as one too. They were reliable in the field, but by God did they drive her up the wall sometimes.
That made her thankful for the presence of Viktor Mendenetsa, Svetlana's most trusted NCO. He was the second most experienced Spetsnaz operative on the team besides herself and was the stereotypical all serious and no-nonsense special forces soldier promoted by the media. Besides Mendenetsa was the third and final female member of the team, a sharpshooter by the name of Ilyona Zaytseva. She was something of a mix of Mendenetsa and Kozlov - however that happened; normally quite serious and focused in, but not unafraid to throw some good-natured jabs around.
That made seven of twelve... unfortunately, the remaining six members of her team would have to wait as the BMPT-2Av rolled out of the Gate on the other side and into one of the most beautiful sunsets she had ever seen.