Chaos

Posted on 03 Nov 2025 @ 2:14am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Kemm & Commander Terry Walsh & Commander John Reynolds & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Kennedy Monroe M.D. & Lieutenant Ranul Frex & Lieutenant T’Mari Rael

5,074 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: Imposters Among Us
Location: USS Black Hawk
Timeline: July 8, 2390 || 1330 hours

Auxiliary Control shook violently. The room itself was halfway powered down as stations were being transferred one by one to the bridge. Currently, the only station that was actually active was the helm, and that would be the last station to be carried over.

Harvey smiled, grabbing onto a nearby railing to steady himself. The lighting dimmed as the klaxons began to sound. Damage reports started to appear at the Engineering console, conveniently manned by Lieutenant Kemm.

"Commodore!" shouted the Kelpien. "There's been a couple of explosions throughout the ship. Hull breaches, fires... but... I don't understand it. The reports are valid, yet the sensors aren't fully registering the reported damage."

"Our saboteur strikes again," the Commodore reported, speaking only half-truths. The suspected saboteur, Lieutenant Frex, was currently being interrogated. The real saboteur, the clone of one Joey Geisler, was the one truly responsible. Much of the damage was indeed real, others were just convincing holograms. But with the sabotage randomized and spread all throughout the ship, it would still serve a strong purpose.

Create chaos. Destroy the ship. Escape.

"Internal countermeasures are offline," reported Kemm. "The warp drive is offline, and antimatter containment is holding at sixty percent. If containment continues to drop, we'll be looking at a warp core breach."

Harvey smiled. That was enough of an excuse as it was to proceed. "Very well, Lieutenant. Assign damage control teams to assess, but let's start evacuating non-essential personnel."

Kemm turned and looked up at the Captain, his face filled with shock. He'd served with the Commodore for a couple of years now, and he had never so quickly made the call to abandon ship. "Sir?" he asked, absolutely dumbfounded.

"You heard the order, Lieutenant," Harvey pressed. "All non-essential personnel are to abandon ship via the Flight Deck. And send out an SOS."

The lieutenant stammered, "Yes... yes, sir." Defeated, the Kelpien turned and activated the internal comm system. "All hands, this is the bridge. All non-essential personnel to the flight deck. Damage Control teams to decks thirteen, five, twelve, sixteen, and catamarans."

Camila was barely out of the Brig when she got a priority-one flag alert over her combadge and turned for her office as quickly as she could. She headed into her office as reports continued to come in, some conflicting others as she pulled up her terminal and accessed the alert. Her face went pale when she entered her Security access code and read the message. Joey? she thought. "Why would Joey frame Frex?" she asked out loud to no one.

She turned to leave the Security Complex when the corridor went dark, then screams started coming from it before something came charging out of the darkness and she ducked back into the room. "Che cazzo! " she exclaimed as she drew her phaser to fire and just like that, the corridor was back to normal and well lit again.

"Holograms...." She breathed and left the Complex again, her phaser leading the way and tapped her combadge. "Di Pasquale to all Security! The intruders are likely holograms! Start taking out the holo emitters, but treat everything like an actual emergency!"

With that said, she began to hurry towards Auxillary Control and hoped she could get to Joey before anything else could go wrong, such as the Commodore being killed. Then the orders for non-essential personnel came over the intercom and she was more confused than ever, but relentlessly stayed her course.


***

"All Administration personnel are to be reporting to Flight Deck immediately," Mila called out as she took control of the chaos in Administration. The lights were going on and off, the red alert lighting and klaxon giving her a headache, but she methodically secured and locked down each terminal as she came to it before she headed out of the complex behind the last Yeoman. She worried about Chow and tapped her combadge, hoping the little contingency she had in place worked. "Computer, Call of the Wild protocol one."

In her and Aidan's quarters, a tiny chip on Chow's collar activated and with a hoot of surprise that was cut off, the little Capuchin was beamed out and to his mistress.

Mila took him in her arms as he materialized, calming him even as she ran and headed for the flight deck.


***

Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Carter and Ensign Aurilia Moretti were already on the Flight Deck awaiting orders from Commander Walsh as chaos reigned supreme in the bay and more and more people flooded in.

Aidan had made it from the Science labs to the Flight Deck. He remembered Mila's plan for Chow and expected to see them there any moment. The place was filling up and deck personnel were packing crew into shuttles. In the distance he could hear yelling.

"Get that shuttle filled now!" yelled Terry. He looked at the fighters and then the pilots and tapped his commbadge. "Walsh to Flight Deck Control, give me the Deck." A couple of chirps later. "This is Commander Walsh. Scramble Alpha and Bravo Flights. Establish a defensive perimeter around all Black Hawk secondary craft. Carter, you have the Squadron until I launch. Walsh out."

Ensign Peris had been sitting in the squadron's private mess hall awaiting orders when the summons came. She abandoned her bowl of pea soup, grabbed her padd that she was reading, and made for the locker room. Once inside, she asked aloud, "Anyone know what's happening?"

"Copy that, Rocco," Carter said as he ran for his fighter, Aurilia running for hers to get the squadron airborne.


***

In Intelligence, Ensign Ronin Tetnel secured his station and locked it, then made his way out with the other analysts and into the utterly confusing and disorganized evacuation that he had ever seen. The red alert klaxon and lights, screams and more seemed amplified and added to the chaos, but personnel seemed to be heading towards the turbolifts.

Then he saw his own holocreation, Dracula, step into the corridor ahead of him and came to a stop. "You...aren't real." he managed.

"Where is she?!" the holo Dracula demanded, looking for the one who had gotten away from me. "Tell me!" He advanced on Ronin who decided that it was a better time to run than to be interrogated by his own creation.

Klim had followed Ronin into the corridor, only to raise an eyebrow when the holocreation of Dracula spooked the poor man. "Pity," he muttered, having lost respect for the ensign. He then turned to Dracula, more concerned with what it might do next as opposed to fighting for a space on a shuttle.


***

The corridor was chaos—flashing red lights, smoke curling from ceiling panels, crew shouting orders and scrambling past one another. Joey pushed through the crowd, her breath ragged, her pulse thundering in her ears. The klaxons screamed overhead, but her focus was razor-sharp. She had one destination: the Captain’s quarters.

She rounded the final corner, nearly colliding with a security officer, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t apologize. The door loomed ahead, and she slammed her palm against the panel. It hissed open.

Inside, the twins were crying.

“Mama!” Alison sobbed, her tiny hands reaching out. Jameson echoed her, his voice trembling with fear. They didn’t know this wasn’t their real mother. They didn’t care. Joey dropped to her knees, arms wide.

“Computer,” she barked, “terminate holo-nanny program.”

The holographic caregiver shimmered and vanished. Joey pulled the twins into her arms, cradling them close. “Shhh, it’s okay,” she whispered, brushing hair from their tear-streaked faces. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you. We’re going to be just fine.”

Behind her, Eden rushed out of the bedroom, a duffel in each hand. She froze at the sight of Joey crouched with the children. “Joey?” Her voice was tight with urgency. “I was just coming to get them. I’m nonessential—I can get them to the flight deck.”

Joey stood slowly, still holding the twins. Her eyes locked onto Eden’s. “Thank you,” she said, voice calm, almost tender. “You did the hard part. Packing. Preparing.”

Eden blinked, confused as she approached them. “Then let me take them—”

“No.” Joey’s voice hardened. “No one is taking my children anywhere.”

Before Eden could react, Joey’s hand shot out, grabbing a heavy decorative vase from the nearby shelf. With a swift, brutal motion, she brought it down on Eden’s head. The younger woman crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Joey didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the bags, slung them over her shoulder, and turned to the twins. “Come on, babies. We’re leaving. Rico! Pequeno!” She whistled as she stepped over the unconscious woman.

The dogs bounded from the bedroom, tails wagging. They had no idea what was going on. Joey gave one last glance at Eden’s still form, then turned toward the door. She yanked her combadge off and tossed it onto the floor.

The ship was falling apart. But Joey—this Joey—wasn’t going down with it.

She was finally getting out. And she was taking her family with her.


***

Shay blinked. The ship was thrown into total chaos, and people were in full blown panic. She looked toward Frex, hoping he would be able to accomplish what she was about to ask him. "The holo-emitters... can you get them offline?"

Thinking for a moment, Frex thought up a few ideas. None of them were particularly pleasant or anything, but they would work for what they needed at that moment. He ran over to a nearby console and started working a target EPS overload in the holographic systems of the ship. Looking over his shoulder, Frex said, "If I can target the holographic emitters throughout the ship and do an overload of the EPS feeds into them, I might be able to turn off the holograms throughout the ship without doing too much damage in the process. But...it might take out the EMHs and the LMHs onboard the ship."

T’Mari was not only sensing the panic but feeling it as well. Ramping up her own mental shields she tried blocking it out whilst sticking with Shay and Frex. “I think we’ve more or less ascertained that Frex isn’t guilty of anything. Now we have to find out who is.”

Shay shook her head. She didn't really believe that Frex was guilty of sabotage, but until she was told otherwise, he was still their number one suspect based on where the evidence pointed. "We haven't ascertained anything, Lieutenant. Things like this can be set off remotely, and there will be a proper investigation, but for now, the focus needs to be on what's happening now. We need to get the holo-emitters offline and determine what damage is real and isn't."

"To be honest, this is something more than one person could pull off. I'm running through some of the engineering subsystems and I'm finding out that whoever is pulling this off was planning this for several days, at minimum. Take a look at all of this," Frex said as he worked both on the EPS overload and working through some of the engineering systems. It appeared that there were systems affected throughout the ship, from the Bridge all the way down to the bowels of the ship.

"Security is already on it," the acting Assistant Security Chief said as she tried to avoid being trampled. "The holo-emitters... do what you need to. We can get the EMHs and anything else back online once things are back under control."

“I can help, it’s been a while but I took Ops at the Academy” T’Mari looked at Frex. “Tell me what you need.”

Frex pointed towards T'Mari and Shay before saying, "I could use both of your help. I promise that I'm not going to do anything, but I need like two pairs of extra hands if you don't mind. Don't need much, but if you could help me, please."

"Whatever you need," Shay said with a nod. "Let's just try to make this quick."

“I’m good, let’s do this” T’Mari nodded.

Frex waited until T'Mari and Shay were in place before telling them what to do. Frex said, "Sorry to put you guys to so much work. But, I need someone watching the holographic emitters in the saucer section and another person watching the emitters in the stardrive section to make sure that everything works properly. Since computer control isn't being my friend right now, I have to do it manually and by section. So, keep an eye on everything as I do this. I'm going from the bottom up, since there are less emitters on the bottom of the ship than there are on the top. Ready? Cause, here we go!"

Was Shay ready? No. Was she going to do what she was told to help out? Yes. "Ready," she confirmed, hoping they could get this taken care of quickly.

“Ready as I’ll ever be” T’Mari nodded. “We have to hurry!”

Without a second thought, Frex initiated the pulse throughout the holographic grid. It started basically in the middle of the ship and made its way through both the primary and secondary hulls. It knocked out everything holographic before ending up near the hangar bay near the rear of the ship and the forward most point on the saucer section of the primary hull. It wasn't pretty, but it did it's job. "There we go, it's done," Frex said as he watched and had Shay and T'Mari help out with making sure it didn't fry anything else.

***

John was one of the first to reach the Bridge for the transfer, leaving Harvey in Auxiliary Control to shut things down. He'd been running between the center chair and consoles in an attempt to get things up and running. Then the announcement to abandon ship came through.

Surprise was written all over his face. "What the hell?" he said aloud. "The Flight Deck? Not the escape pods? Well alright then, you heard the man, to the Flight Deck!" he bellowed. "All non-essential personnel move your asses!"

He paused for a second and grabbed the back of the chair. That's was no way the entire crew world fit in the shuttles and runabouts.


* * *

It had been a few minutes since he'd given the order, and Harvey still wasn't alone in Auxiliary Control. Not that he'd planned to be alone as he expected several of the bridge crew to remain at their posts, including the Bajoran helmsman and the Kelpien engineer. Both were very focused on the tasks before them.

Harvey, meanwhile, used the confusion to his advantage. He'd relocated to the master situation display at the rear of the room, which was now highlighting all of the damage and the evacuation plans. So far, none of the shuttles had launched, but he could see that they would soon do so. A quick scan informed him that Joey had retrieved the children and was on her way to the Flight Deck.

He smiled, now free to make his escape. Without a word, he slipped out the door and began his journey through the chaos.

"Commodore!" Kemm called out, not turning around from monitoring the displays. "Antimatter containment has fallen to fifty percent. Should we send out a distress call to help evacuate the crew?"

When he didn't hear an answer, Kemm turned and looked around. The Commodore was nowhere to be seen. Kemm lifted his hand to tap his badge, but paused when his long fingertips were millimeters away. While he was more comfortable with the Commodore or Executive Officer making the order, protocol demanded a swifter response. Therefore, he turned back to his console and tapped an override.

"Mayday. This is the USS Black Hawk. All systems are failing, and we are in need of assistance. To any Starfleet vessel in range, please respond!" Kemm set the message to repeat and began transmitting. He had no idea if that message was appropriate, or followed protocol, but at least the distress beacon had been sent.


***

Camila came to a halt in a corridor and tapped her combadge. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Joelle Geisler," she requested as she tried to make sense out of what was going on. Then she started to recognize a pattern to the chaos going on around her. This was a Security drill. Several of them blended together to cause maximum panic. "Computer, security override! End all Security drills currently in progress!"

"Lieutenant Joelle Geisler is located in the Captain's quarters on deck eight," the computer replied.

The corridor lights stabilized from frantic red to a steady amber glow. Klaxons that had been blaring moments ago fell silent, leaving behind an eerie hush that settled over the ship like a fog. Emergency bulkheads hissed open, retracting into the walls. Simulated fire suppression systems disengaged, and the artificial smoke began to dissipate.

Across the decks, holographic damage projections flickered and vanished. Simulated hull breaches sealed themselves with a shimmer of light, and false plasma leaks ceased to spill from conduits. Crew members paused mid-action, confused as the chaos around them began to dissolve into calm, but there were still the other areas of the ship that sustained actual damage.

"Sonofa...." Camila breathed before she resumed her run, realizing that she would have to fight an uphill battle again,


* * *

Unlike Joey, Harvey was actually on Deck Eight. It would have been all too easy to take a turbolift from Auxiliary Control to the Flight Deck, but he knew he had appearances to keep. Several crew members brushed past him as they went in opposite directions. They were heading for the flight deck or damaged areas. He was heading for his quarters. By now he knew that Joey had already collected the twins and were making for the Flight Deck. If he showed up on the Flight Deck now, then that would only arouse suspicion.

It was only at that moment when he realized that there was a flaw in their plan. Was Harvey no more than a means to an end? A pawn to be sacrificed when he was no longer needed. As a clone, his purpose was to misdirect the Black Hawk which he had done well in aiding up until this very point. But as a person? He had no idea what his purpose was. The clone of Joey Geisler had clearly been compromised, as she had traded one mission -- the infiltration aboard the Black Hawk and gathering of intelligence for the Confederation -- for another. Her purpose now was to serve as a mother, a replacement for the real woman who was undoubtedly dead by now.

The clone Harvey's insecurity was heightened the moment the holographic fire disappeared in front of him. Another fire, one that had to be real, raged further ahead in the corridor, evidenced by the orange flickers on the steel crossmembers. Joey's selfish need had now officially endangered the mission.

A damage control team, who was just about to take care of the fire that just disappeared, paused in confusion and looked to their wandering Commanding Officer for guidance. Harvey had none to give, but instead he shouted at them, "Find the next one!"

The team nodded and ran off down the corridor. Harvey remained still, frozen by his inability to determine what to do.


* * *

Kennedy Monroe's hands moved with practiced speed, but her mind was racing. "Ensign Valerius, scan that laceration again. What is that reading?" she demanded, gesturing to a security officer's arm. The deep cut was real, bleeding and ugly, but the strange energy signature lingering around it was what alarmed her. "Holographic projections causing physical trauma? That’s not how these systems are supposed to work."

The sickbay was filling rapidly. Minor burns, scrapes, and bruises from the chaotic evacuation were now being joined by more complex cases. One crewman was suffering from what appeared to be a severe anxiety attack after seeing a grotesque hologram of their dead relative. A Starfleet regulation prohibited such powerful, unsettling holographic projections. This was well beyond a simple prank.

The Commodore's order to abandon ship kept replaying in her mind. It felt wrong, too rushed. She watched as a tearful engineer was wheeled past, muttering about antimatter containment dropping. "Valerius, you heard the reports. Keep that tricorder running. I want a full breakdown of these unique energy signatures. Get a baseline from a few uninjured personnel, too. We need to know what we're up against."

Monroe looked over the panicked crew, her voice firm and calm. "Listen up, everyone! We're not abandoning our posts. We treat our patients, we stabilize them, and we get them to the flight deck when they're able. We will be the last ones out of here. No one, no matter how panicked, is to let an image scare them away from helping their crewmates. The real enemy is the one who did this, not a flickering projection." The message was heard loud and clear. They were doctors, not soldiers. However, in a place where reality was under attack, their resolve was their strongest weapon.


***

At that time, the USS Endurance dropped out of warp and Captain Graham Holmes immediately ordered the Ops officer to send a message to the Black Hawk. "This is Captain Graham Holmes of the USS Endurance." he said in a voice of steel. "You are hereby ordered to stand down."

Beside Graham sat the real Harvey Geisler in the mission advisor's seat. By now, he had found a fresh command uniform and pips. His face still looked worse for wear as he'd received only basic medical treatment, just enough to clear him to be on the bridge. Had he more time, he would have showered. "What the hell is going on out there?" he murmured, catching sight of the Black Hawk just sitting there with shuttles and fighters all around the ship.


* * *

Since Auxiliary Control was still the active command center on the bridge, Kemm's threat ganglia extended at the sound of Captain Holmes' voice. "Stand down?" he muttered. He looked around, and with no command officers in sight, he picked himself up and moved over to the tactical console to answer the hail. "This is Lieutenant Kemm of the Black Hawk. Are you not here to answer our mayday?"

"Kemm? Who is in charge over there and why are you abandoning the ship?" Holmes demanded of the Kelpian Engineer. "Where is Commodore Geisler?" As yet, Holmes hadn't activated the display to reveal that Commodore Geisler was right beside of him.

"It's not yet a full evacuation, sir," Kemm replied, gesturing frantically to the helmsman to summon the CO or XO. "We're experiencing some internal failures, and the Commodore ordered all non-essential personnel off the ship as a precaution. I believe the Commodore is overseeing."

At his station, the helmsman tapped his combadge. "Auxiliary Control to Commodore Geisler and Commander Reynolds. Please come to Auxiliary Control immediately."

John had finally gotten all non-essential personnel off the Bridge and was near ready for the transfer. But the Commodore had not yet arrived from Auxiliary Control. It had been a waiting game until Lieutenant Kemm's voice came through the comm system.

John tapped his combadge, "Acknowledged. Standby."

Even if he ran, it would take too much time to reach Auxiliary Control amidst everything that was happening still. "Computer, initiate site-to-site transport, transport me directly to Auxiliary Control."

The beam shimmered and John appeared in the room. "What happened?" he said. "The Commodore never arrived at the Bridge for the transfer."

Kemm stammered, unsure exactly what to say to the Executive Officer. "Internal sensors reported several fires and explosions throughout the ship. The Commodore ordered all non-essential personnel off the ship, and then he vanished. I sent out a mayday, per protocol, and the Endurance showed up. But aside from offering assistance, he demanded we stand down. That... it doesn't make sense, sir."

John sighed heavily. "Dammit. No, it doesn't make any sense at all, none of it. Especially our vanishing Commodore." He paused and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Scan the ship and find the Commodore," he ordered. "And open a channel to the Endurance," he said, turning to the helmsman.

"Black Hawk to Endurance, this is Commander John Reynolds, Executive Officer. I'm sure you've already been made aware of what is actually happening over here. We're about as far down as stand down can get. I'm requesting engineering teams to assist with repairs until I can get mine back from the partial evacuation."

"This is Captain Holmes, Commander," Holmes responded to Reynolds. "Where is your commanding officer?" He asked again.

"Sir," Kemm whispered, pointing to a sensor readout of the flight deck. There it was, clear as day, Harvey's badge showing that he was among those trying to evacuate.

"We're working on that right now," John said. He looked over at the readout when Kemm whispered. "What the hell?" he muttered. "His badge has him on the Flight Deck trying to evacuate?! Slipping out with the non-essentials?" John gave a sharp, humorless laugh. "Huh, I guess the captain doesn't go down with his ship after all. So how about those repair teams, Captain Holmes?"


* * *

Harvey looked over to Captain Holmes. "It has to be a ruse," Harvey stressed. "I bet the clones are trying to escape."

"Do a full sensor sweep of all those shuttles, runabouts and fighters," Holmes ordered. "Look for any Geisler out there." It was a strange order, but Holmes had seen some strange things. "Scan the ship and prepare Engineering teams to assist if needed with the damage."

Harvey rose from his chair and approached the science station, intending to keep an eye on the science officer's scan. "There's almost a hundred badges registered on the crafts," he called out. "None are registered to a Geisler."

"It only means they either discarded their or they're still on the ship," Graham said before he opened the display to the Black Hawk and let Reynolds see Harvey.

Harvey stepped up to the command platform of the Sovereign-class bridge so that he could be clearly seen beside Captain Holmes. "Commander Reynolds, you have to capture both Geislers before we can dispatch repair teams. They are imposters, clones planted aboard the Black Hawk by the Confederation and G90B."

John stared at the screen, his expression tightening as Harvey appeared beside Captain Holmes. "You’re saying you're the real Harvey?" he asked, addressing the new arrival on the screen. He leaned forward slightly, "Because according to my scans, you're on my Flight Deck."

He exchanged a look with Kemm before continuing, his tone edged with restrained disbelief. "Clones, Confederation agents…this day just keeps getting better."

He turned his attention back to the viewscreen. Voice firmed and carrying the authority of an officer who’d seen more than his share of crises, he continued, "Commodore Geisler, with all due respect, I’m not in the habit of taking orders from phantoms. You’re telling me you've been duplicated, fine. But I’ll need more than a transmission before I start calling one of you a fraud."

He straightened, glancing back at his console. "If they're clones, I’ll make sure they're secured. But until I know who’s who, this crew acts on my order alone. I damn sure won’t have a mistake on my hands because someone decided to gamble with trust and turn allies into casualties."

"Kemm, find out if security is already on the Flight Deck for the evacuation and see if they're aware of the situation. If not, tell them to capture the two Geislers." He paused a moment, "And lock down the Flight Deck while you're at it. Just for good measure."

The Kelpien nodded in the background and passed the order down to lock down and secure the Flight Deck.

As for the real Harvey, a mixed wave of emotions rippled over him. Part of him was equally thankful and impressed by the Commander's decision. Harvey expected nothing less than the finest from his Executive Officer, even if that meant that Harvey would now have no choice but to submit himself to scrutiny to resolve this circumstance.

"And for good measure, I am willing to remand myself and my wife into your custody, Commander. I would not expect you to coddle either version of us, despite all of the weird things that happen aboard the Black Hawk. And, no matter what, I'm sure the real me will offer you a case of loose leaf Darjeeling when this is through."

A brief, approving smile crept across John's face, but his gaze remained as steel. “Excellent,” he said. “That’s a good start. Once your twins are secured in the brig, I’ll be taking you and your wife into custody for identification and debriefing. Cooperate and this will be quick and clean; try anything clever and you’ll find our Security Chief more tenacious than you’d like.”

"Sickbay would be preferred," Harvey cautioned. "Joey is currently in this sickbay undergoing surgery. She..." Harvey's voice choked slightly as he finally began to wrestle with reality. "She's been tortured and malnourished for weeks." Then Harvey paused, realizing that John had revealed something of import. Lieutenant Mitchell was thorough, but certainly not tenacious. "Wait. Camila's back? Commander Di Pasquale?"

John’s expression didn't softened at the mention of what Joey had been through. As far as he knew, a duplicate would say anything. "Sickbay it is," he said in a steadied his tone. "We’ll make sure she gets everything she needs." He straightened. "I’ll alert Security and Medical to expect you. Just sit tight and follow protocol." Then, after a brief pause, he added, "We’ll get to the bottom of this, every last piece of it."

The viewscreen went blank, leaving Harvey standing on the bridge of the Endurance with half a million thoughts swirling in his head. Why did he feel that this was about to get just a little bit worse before it finally would start getting better?

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