"General Azimuth?" the young girl asked. She blinked wide blue eyes at the older Lombax, clearly trying to grab his attention.

"Yes, Angela?"

"Do you know if there could be anyone else? Someone else to help us?" the girl asked innocently.

The male Lombax sighed. The two had spent the majority of the past couple of weeks walking through the city and burying any bodies they found. Alister knew it was a cruel thing to make the young girl do, but he needed help and he wanted to be able to watch her to make sure nothing happened to her. It was strange to think that he could have only met her not so long ago and yet she was the most important thing he had right now. She was his only living company as he suffered through this hell he had caused. And he found himself growing more attached to the girl by the minute. She was highly intelligent, especially for her age. She wasn't much for building, but she had a fascination with living creatures and had incredible ideas that could compete with things he'd heard bio-engineers propose. It was sad to see that her skill would be wasted now. She would have made a great addition to the Centre for Advanced Lombax Research when she was older.

"What do you mean?"

"Could we find another Lombax? And would they be willing to help us with…" Angela grew quiet, unable to find words to describe the actions they were doing, so instead she pointed a finger at the ground and spun it in a circle, representing the crude graves that Alister had been digging for the bodies.

"If we find one, we find one. Until then, let's keep working on our own," Alister answered. He found it strange that he hadn't chosen to let the girl know about Kaden yet and the fact that he was still alive with his son. If Kaden were his normal self, then Alister could imagine the girl enjoying his presence immensely. Kaden's paternal skills were on a much higher level than Alister's, thanks to having his own child. He was also better at talking with children, as Alister found himself saying something that the girl would only tip her head in confusion at. Kaden would find ways to simplify what he was saying so a child could understand it, while Alister thought it was a crime to dare try to cut down his words.

"General Azimuth, what'll happen if we don't find another Lombax?"

"Then it'll be the same as it is now."

"But what will we do? We can't fix a city just for two people. It wouldn't work," Angela pointed out.

Alister let out a sigh. She was right, but that was a reality he had been eschewing for now and he wasn't ready to face it yet. "I don't know Angela. We'll think of that when we get there, alright?"

The girl only nodded. Soon another question entered her mind and she asked, "Why did Tachyon do this?"

"I-" How could Alister explain the story of the Cragmites? How could he explain to the girl about the Great War, about the Dimensionator, about how Tachyon had been found and raised by the Lombaxes? How he wanted revenge because they had vanquished his people. How could he explain these facts to a little girl?

But somehow he managed to find the courage, as he wound himself into it. He and Angela had grown into a policy where if she asked him something, he answered to the best of his abilities. Yes, some of her questions had answers that were a little too disturbing for a child her age, but the city's destruction had forced her to grow up. And she deserved to hear the reason why.

The two had sat themselves on the ground, stopping their trip through the city for a break as Alister dove into his story, explaining what the Cragmites were and the tyranny they had caused. Angela sat patiently, staring up at the General and taking in his every word. Curiosity made her want to hear more.

But they were interrupted at the sound of a ship landing in the distance. Alister found himself overcome by excitement as he jumped to his feet. Could that be Kaden? Was he back from hiding the Dimensionator after such a short amount of time? Angela stood herself up and asked, "Who could that be, General?"

"I'm not sure." He started in the direction of the landing, sure that it must have been Kaden. Angela followed him, staring straight ahead. Alister barely noticed the girl as he picked up his pace. His friend was back! And judging by how soon, he must have put aside his insane plans for revenge against Tachyon.

"General Azimuth!" Angela stopped, staring up at Alister with fearful eyes.

"What?" he snapped, angry at her for stopping him from getting to Kaden. What could be so important? Kaden was here! Alister wanted to greet his friend!

"That's Tachyon's ship. He left in the same one over a week ago," Angela pointed out. Alister took a close look at the ship and recognized the Cragmite's insignia on it. She was right, and he had just led them both to him.

"Shoot! Hide in the nearest building," Alister commanded.

"But they're all torn apart!" Angela protested.

The older Lombax grabbed the child and dashed into one of the ruined homes. It was still standing, but looked like it could come crumbling down any second. He tiptoed through the building carefully, not wanting to cause strong enough vibrations to allow the roof to cave in. He sat himself on the ground and let go of Angela. The young girl followed suit, holding a tight grip on his arm to reassure herself.

"So you mean to tell me that there were Lombaxes in this dimension who decided to leave without letting me kill them?! Find the Dimensionator, I demand to have it! I will find every last Lombax, even if I have to scour the entire Omniverse!" the high pitched voice of Percival Tachyon commanded.

"Sir, we have reason to believe the Dimensionator is no longer on this planet. After the attack we detected a Lombax fighter ship leaving the atmosphere. Upon further evaluation it appears there were two Lombaxes inside the ship. They may have taken the Dimensionator with them."

""So not only did the lot of them use the Dimensionator, you mean to tell me there were Lombaxes who survived my attack long enough to flee the planet?! This is an outrage! I want them found! And search the area here. See if there are any more idiots who think they can escape my wrath," Tachyon commanded. Footsteps shook the floor beneath them as Tachyon's giant mechanical throne stomped away, leaving the Drophyd commandos to do as they were told.

"They're looking for us…" Angela murmured fearfully.

"Shh…" Alister felt the girl's grip tighten on his arm and he pulled her closer to him, trying to reassure her that he would protect her. Would the Drophyds even consider checking the buildings? All of them looked completely unstable. If a robotic mech tried to go inside, the buildings would break beneath their giant footfalls. It would be too dangerous for them to check inside. Or were they too stupid to care?

"What do we do?" Angela asked in fright. She clearly thought that the Drophyds were going to find and kill them. Alister wouldn't allow that to happen.

The older Lombax pulled out a double-ended wrench from where it sat hooked into the back of his armour. It was his trusty weapon, one that he had owned for as long as he could remember. As a gift after the Great War, Kaden had taken the wrench and modified it so it could fire energy blasts, making it a long range weapon, rather than just useful in melee combat, and also making it much more lethal. Alister hadn't gone anywhere without the wrench since, paranoia becoming a major thought in the aftermath of the War.

"You're not going to try and fight them are you?" Angela asked, her voice filled with worry. She mustn't have thought that he could handle the mechs. And she probably had good reason to think so. The Praetorian Guard hadn't been able to handle most of the Drophyd mechs with high powered machinery. What made Alister think he stood a chance with a wrench?

"Angela, you see where the wall's blown out over there?" Alister pointed to said wall where a small passage way was burnt out, most likely from a rocket or a missile during Tachyon's attack. The hole was much too small for Alister to fit through, but Angela could squeeze by with ease. "When I say so, go through that opening and run to the Court of Azimuth. Do you know where it is?"

The young girl nodded but she also let out a small whimper, clearly showing that she was scared to leave the General's side.

The General tele-equipped a Bomb Glove and showed its product to the girl. "I'm going to throw this to distract them. If one of them follows you, then just weave between a few buildings, cut through some too. Just get to the Court and lock yourself in one of the rooms. The doors are reinforced with trillium, it'll be impossible for them to get you once the door's locked. I'll come find you afterward when they're gone."

"But what if you don't come to get me?" Angela asked, pointing out that she clearly thought Alister wouldn't be able to defeat the Drophyds.

"I will get you. I promise," Alister tried to assure her. "Now get going, before they surround the area."

Angela gave him a skeptical look but shook it away as she headed for the exit to wait for his command. He called, "Now!" and watched Angela scurry through the hole. He waited until she was a good enough distance away and then tossed the bomb at the opposite wall, where the Drophyds were waiting on the other side. The wall crumbled before him and the roof collapsed around him, causing a distraction. He held his wrench up in the air and spun it rapidly to prevent the debris from hitting him. The Drophyds turned immediately and glared at the Lombax. He held up his wrench defensively and prepared to attack the Drophyds. Instead he was interrupted by a squeal and saw that Angela had tripped, and was frozen by the shock of the explosion.

"Angela! Are you alright?" he called to her. She nodded to him, her eyes huge with surprise. She wasn't trying to get up at all and Alister found himself frustrated. If she was fine, then why wasn't she doing as he told her? "Get moving then!" he yelled at her. He watched as she jumped to her feet, nearly tripping again as she lost her balance and lurched her way forward. She caught herself and dashed, leaving Alister alone with the Drophyds. Hopefully none had noticed her.

"A Lombax!" one of the Drophyds exclaimed. "The Emperor will be pleased if we bring him its body."

"Yes, let's kill it," Another added, moving in towards Alister. The Lombax general held up his staff, ready to attack once provoked. One of the Drophyds fired a laser at the Lombax and he deflected it by spinning his wrench quickly. His weapon was fast enough to block off the attack. He then fired another bomb, and in the aftermath of the explosion he dashed up to the Drophyds and smacked one across the containment tank for the Drophyd's body. The glass broke and a flopping Drophyd was left to try and breathe outside of water. The General moved quickly and fired an energy blast at the second. Its robotic body fell, electricity sparking through it as it short circuited, making it useless. Alister stepped on the glass containing the Drophyd's organic body and broke through the tank to squish the Drophyd, killing it. A third made its way around Alister and started to head to the Court. It was going after Angela.

Rage consumed him as he thought of the girl getting hurt. He wasn't going to allow it. How dare the Drophyd even think of attacking a little girl? It was such a cruel thing to even consider. Alister kicked on his hoverboots and took after the Drophyd, charging an energy blast in his wrench, making it as powerful as he could until he reached the Drophyd and jabbed his wrench into its mechanical body, letting the energy release and fry the mechanics from the inside. He then pulled his wrench out of the Drophyd's mech and watched as it toppled backward. The Lombax prepared another energy blast and speared the Drophyd's organic body on the charged prongs of his wrench, killing it.

Alister pulled back his wrench and leaned on it as he panted from the effort of the brawl. The fight had been quick, but it had required lots of energy from Alister. Since he had been moved up in the Praetorian Guard and gained a position in the Centre for Advanced Lombax Research he hadn't had as much time for fighting and wasn't nearly as fit as he had once been. Adrenaline had pushed him to attack the Drophyd mechs with strength he didn't know he possessed. Now that the energy burst had worn off, he didn't think he could even hoverboot to the Court to tell Angela that she was safe without collapsing.

Instead he walked his way to the Court, trying to regain enough strength while still making progress and keeping an eye out for nanotech to heal his aching muscles. He kept turning his head back every few seconds to make sure that there weren't any other Drophyds following him or arriving after he took out the others. He saw nothing.

The Lombax general realized he was barely covering any ground when he turned around and still saw the mechanical body of the Drophyd in the distance. He shook his head, pushing his aching body as he kicked on his hoverboots and dashed towards the Court. He wanted to hurry to Angela and make sure she had made it safely. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happened to her. It would be another death on his hands. And he wasn't going to allow that.

"Angela!" he called as he burst into the Court. He had told her to lock herself in any of the rooms, unable to think of a specific room to send her to in the urgency of the situation. Probably not one of his smartest ideas. "Angela!" he called louder.

"General?" a small voice answered. He turned to see the girl poke her way out one of the rooms. She caught a glimpse of him and dashed over to him, glad to see that he had survived fighting the Drophyds. Alister smiled down at her sympathetically. The poor girl had clearly been through enough shock. Her fur was fluffed and frizzled, a typical sign of distress on any furred alien.

He smoothed down some of the fur on her head and assured, "It's alright, the Drophyds are gone."

"No way." Astonishment was clear in the younger Lombax's voice. Alister found himself swelling with pride as he realized that he had impressed the young girl. But her awed smile immediately turned into a concerned frown as she added, "Tachyon's going to wonder who managed to take them out."

"Nanophytes?" Alister suggested. The small creatures were usually found in the deserts of Fastoon. They were scavengers and often took technology that the Lombaxes found obsolete and threw away. But after all of the Lombaxes left the dimension the creatures had started swarming in the city to try and take remaining pieces of technology. Alister had fought against a couple hoards of them when they got in his and Angela's way. They weren't very troublesome creatures at all, for anyone trained in combat, but if they swarmed and attacked altogether then they could be a problem.

Angela giggled at the suggestion. "I don't think that Tachyon will believe his men were defeated by Nanophytes."

"Well, the Nanophytes will be going after their suits now that they're dead. It'll make it look like they attacked them for the nano-technology in the suits. There's no evidence that it had to be a Lombax that killed them."

"Can we still wait it out in here, rather than go back out there?" Angela asked. She had been scared countless times that day within the span of an hour. No doubt she wanted to take extraordinary precautions to make sure she was safe.

"Yeah. We don't want to be there when Tachyon returns to find some of his minions have been killed," Alister agreed. He sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the center of the Court, where the portal for the Lombaxes to travel to the other dimension had been only weeks ago. He still couldn't help but wish he could have gone with them. How he wanted to prove to them that he may have made a mistake but he could still be a valuable leader. He could correct the wrongs he had done and help them build their new home. He didn't want to sit here in this dimension with only the company of a little girl, being forced to pick up the pieces of what was left behind.

Alister tore his gaze away and looked out the entrance of the Court, staring at where Kaden's ship had taken off weeks ago. Alister missed his friend. He had been so excited when he heard Tachyon's ship land, thinking that it was Kaden. He missed the other Lombax's company. He missed Kaden's sense of leadership that could always convince Alister that everything was under control, just because Kaden said so. He missed the smile on his friend's face, one that always said that no matter what, the two would be safe as long as they had each other.

Perhaps staying in this dimension wouldn't have been so bad. So long as he had his friend back.