Previously, on Guardians: Lost Stars...
"Wolffe," he said sternly, "What did you do?"
"I… I contacted the Empire," Wolffe answered. "If they found out we were helping Jedi, they'd wipe us out!"
Rex gripped his fellow soldier by the shoulders, shaking him. "The war is over. We are free men!"
"Look out!" Gregor cried.
"Probes? I hate probes!" Zeb exclaimed. The two of them dodged out of the way as the probe fired at them, then it bolted for the open desert.
Rex fired. One shot, but that's all that was needed. The single shot connected dead-on, blasting through the Probe Droid's shell and out the other side. The droid stopped dead and shrieked before exploding into a flaming wreckage of metal and shrapnel.
"How long has this thing been watching us?" Quill asked.
"Long enough," Kanan replied. He then turned to Sabine. "How's the Phantom?"
"The engine took a direct hit. We're not going anywhere until I can fix it," Sabine said.
"Wait, so you mean we're stranded?" Zeb asked.
"Yep," Rex added, "And the Empire's on its way."
"So, I couldn't help but overhear, but did you say Darth Vader?" Quinlan asked the droid.
"Indeed I did," Proxy nodded. "Why do you ask?"
"Because Vader is the one who found Sam, Cosmo and I on Dantooine. And he's put a hit on all three of us."
"Oh dear…" Proxy muttered as he came back to them.
"What? What is it?" Tails asked.
"Where is Sam?"
"He and F went down to the village to scope out the pirates. Why? What's wrong?" Ordo asked again.
"I do believe they are walking into a trap."
"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Sam remarked.
F looked around, now sensing that something was off.
"Sam, look out!" She quickly grabbed him and dove around a corner just before a series of blaster bolts shot by.
"Woah! Thanks for the save!" Sam thanked the young Jedi.
"I feel a presence. It's so dark and so… cold."
"Wait, cold? Oh no…" Sam said. F quickly looked up, and Sam followed her gaze to see three Star Destroyers high in the sky, and in the middle was one Sam felt was familiar, and the full realization had dawned on him.
Darth Vader had found them.
Guardians: Lost Stars
Chapter 9: Survival
"The probe hit us pretty badly," Sabine said through the comlink. While she was outside inspecting the Phantom, a sandstorm was coming in on the horizon. Everyone else was inside the walker, both to prepare for the storm and reconvene. "Repairs are gonna take a little while longer."
Kanan brought the comlink up and spoke back. "We don't have much time. There's no telling when the Empire will get here. We have to get off the surface."
"Well, the Empire's not our only problem; There's a storm coming up behind us," Sabine warned.
"If the Empire gets here before we take off? The storm will be the least of our problems." Kanan ended the line when Rex rejoined them, holding a datadisk in his right hand.
"There they are. Coordinates to every Republic base, Seperatist outpost, pirate hideout and smuggler's den in the Outer Rim," Rex said as he handed the disk to Ezra.
"Plus a few Mandalorian bases that even they've forgotten about," Wolffe added.
"Thank you, Captain," Ezra said. "You sure you won't come with us?"
"Yeah, you're not bad in a fight. I mean, for older gentlemen," Zeb added with a smirk, earning a nudge in the arm from Gregor.
"Like I said, our war's over, kid. Don't much care to get mixed up in another. Oh! And say hello to Commander Tano for me."
"But the Empire's on it's way," Quill said, "And you can bet they'll find you."
"Oh, we can take care of ourselves," Rex assured them.
Kanan took his comlink again and called Hera. "Specter 1 to Specter 2. We're gonna be down here a while longer, give me some good news. Has the Empire shown up yet?"
"I'm a little busy finishing repairs on the Ghost, but Chopper's been scanning, so far nothing," Hera replied. A few sounds from Chopper came from the other end, then a moment of silence. "Ugh, just had to say that… Star Destroyer just came out of Hyperspace. Gonna power down so they can't scan me. Once I finish my repairs I'll come get you. Good luck down there." The transmission then ended and Kanan sighed.
"Speaking of repairs…" Quill said to himself before stepping away from the others. He activated his radio, calling directly back to the Milano. "Rocket, how's the repairs coming along?"
"Hey, Quill! We're almost finished here. All we gotta do is finish up weapon diagnostics, and we'll be set to go. They even gave us one of their hyperdrives so we can jump right to Seelos for you guys!" Rocket replied.
"Good to hear, but you might wanna pick up the pace. The Empire's here, and we're running real short on time," Quill warned.
"We'll go as fast as we can. See you in a few clicks." The transmission to Rocket ended there.
"If they follow procedure, they'll follow search patterns based on our last confirmed position," Rex said. Then the main terminal in the walker started beeping.
"Or they'll call," Gregor chimed in. "Incoming Imperial transmission. It's for you, Wolffe."
"They called back?" Wolffe looked at the screen in disbelief. "They… they never call back."
Kanan chuckled and glared at Wolffe. "This is why I don't trust clones."
"Dude, we get it. Cut it out," Quill remarked.
"Just get rid of 'em, Wolffe," Ezra suggested nonchalantly.
"Yeah, it was my mistake. And I'll fix it." The others nodded and went out of sight of the computer screen, while the clone faced the monitor and accepted the call, Wolffe at the forefront. The screen changed to show Agent Kallus aboard the Star Destroyer's bridge.
"CC-3636. Commander… Wolffe, is it?" Kallus asked.
"Yep," Wolffe answered with a snap of his fingers and rubbed his neck nervously. "That's me. What can I do for you, sir?"
"Please transmit your coordinates so I can investigate the Jedi sightings you reported," Kallus ordered.
"What? Uh, J-Jedi? Uh, no, no. No, th-th-there's no Jedi. here. My, uh, my old cybernetic eye must be acting up again," Wolffe said, trying to feign ignorance and malfunction.
"Sorry for wasting your time," Rex added with an insincere smile.
"This image was taken by one of our probe droids." The screen then changed to an image of the Phantom atop the walker's landing pad, and the clones facades quickly disappeared. "It clearly shows you harboring known rebels. Now surrender them or be destroyed."
"If it's a fight you want," Rex said, "I hope you brought a better class of soldiers than those… stormtroopers."
"They serve the Empire well, and I have a great many of them," Kallus warned.
"You're gonna need all of them," Rex smirked before ending the call.
"I like these guys," Zeb chuckled. The walker then shook violently, putting everyone off balance, and Sabine rushed inside.
"They found us!" She exclaimed.
"You don't say," Quill replied sarcastically.
"Guess that search pattern paid off," Ezra remarked.
"Battle stations," Rex told the other clones. Gregor hauled over one of the crates that was set off to the side. Rex picked up the DC-15A rifle that was atop it, then Gregor forced the crate open, revealing several more firearms waiting inside.
"Rocket would have a field day with all that…" Quill marveled.
Sam shot two more pirates before ducking behind cover again. "Don't know how much longer we can hold out here, Ordo! The pirate's are already overrunning us, and once the Empire lands, we'll have no chance!"
"We're coming up on the village now! Just hold on a little longer!" Ordo exclaimed.
"That is becoming more difficult by the moment," F remarked as she ducked down, avoiding a blaster shot from the enemy. She glanced over at one of the dead pirates, and Force-pulled their blaster to her. "We need to take out that speeder. Once it's gone, this'll be easier."
"You are remarkably calm about this!" Sam exclaimed, a blaster shot just hitting the top edge of their cover, it's sparks landing on him.
"A level head means I can plan accordingly," F replied.
"A plan would be nice about now!" Sam frowned. He stood up from cover to take a shot when a blaster bolt connected with his shoulder. He cried out and held his shoulder before falling over and dropping his blaster.
"Sam!" F exclaimed. She quickly dropped the pirate who shot him, then saw the main turret on the speeder charge up. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then in one instant, dove over, grabbed Sam, and sped out of the street with the aid of the Force. To the pirates, she was merely a blur as she escaped just before a rain of blaster fire tore through what was once her and Sam's cover. She sped off until they were a full two blocks away, and came to a quick stop before propping Sam up against the wall of a house. She took a moment to examine his wound.
The blaster bolt didn't go all the way through, and had burned down into his shoulder, stopping short of the joint, as there was still flesh and muscle at the end of the wound, cauterized. "There is no exit wound," F told the young Nova, "Which may be a good thing. Once we're off-world, we can find you a bacta tank somewhere to heal that up."
"My mom's gonna be so pissed," Sam joked through gritted teeth. The wound burned like hell, and kept pulsing in extra pain.
"Your levity is admirable, Sam Alexander. Unfortunately, positivity won't get us out of this," F remarked.
"There they are!" A pirate exclaimed. F shot her gaze back down the street to see a group of pirates at the corner just ahead of the large speeder, which was still turning the corner. The one in the lead had a missile launcher over his shoulder, and quickly crouched down and fired it at the two. F quickly reacted and used the Force to turn the missile right back. The projectile shot right by the pirates and blasted apart the speeder, vaporizing the pirates aboard and blowing away the group that was leading them. F stayed on her guard, waiting for more adversaries to appear. None came. F let out a breath of relief as she kneeled back down next to stand.
"Can you walk?" F asked.
"Feel like I could run a marathon," Sam smirked half-heartedly. His positivity continued to surprise the young Jedi. F propped him up and supported him, throwing his left arm over her shoulders.
As the heat of battle died down, and the village fell quiet, the villagers hesitantly started to exit their homes, gazing at the surviving F and Sam. "You defeated the pirates," One of them said in surprise.
"Yes, but before long, Imperials will land and your village will be overrun. I would suggest finding someplace to evacuate," F replied.
"We don't have anywhere to go," another villager said.
"Well, we won't be able to fight off the Empire for long," F said. "Could you take him and help him?"
"We'll do the best we can, Master Jedi," The first villager said. Two of the other villagers took Sam from F and guided him towards one of the other houses.
"F, when they get here, make sure I get my helmet. The Nova Force will patch me up."
"I'll send them to you right away," F nodded. Sam nodded back and was led inside. F then turned to one of the other villagers. "Have everyone else stay inside. The less people in the line of fire, the safer you'll all be."
The TIE made another run at the walker, narrowly missing direct hits. Ezra clung to the nearby ladder hard while Rex slung a rocket launcher over his shoulder. "We're sitting mynocks on this thing!" Ezra scrambled to the upper walkway while Rex raised an eyebrow.
"Think so?" The clone then pulled his comlink from his belt. "Wolffe, evasive maneuvers!"
"Copy that," Wolffe replied. Wolffe pulled the controls hard to get the walker turning, while the Rebels and Quill moved to the back of the Phantom, Sabine with a DC-15 in hand and Zeb with a Z-6 Rotary Blaster cannon, while the two Jedi drew their lightsabers, their blue blades shining brilliantly.
"I gotta get me one of those," Quill remarked.
"Ezra, protect the Phantom!" Kanan ordered as his padawan started to go forward.
"But what about the walker?" Ezra asked.
"It can take a hit. I think…" Kanan answered. Ezra nodded and rejoined his master.
"I might have an idea," Quill said. "I still have one explosive charge left, like I used on the Joopa? When it comes down for the run, I'll boost up and grab on. So long as I can hang on, I can put the charge on the wing and drop away before it blows."
"It'll be better than blind firing," Kanan said. "Alrighty, everyone give Quill cover!"
The TIE fighter started to come back down. The Lasat and the Mandalorion started firing on the ship as the distance closed between it and the walker, as did the TIE itself. The two Jedi deflected the TIE's fire away from the Phantom, and Quill primed his jets.
"Try shortening your leads," Rex said as he climbed up the ladder. "You're wasting ammo."
"You're welcome to help!" Zeb remarked.
Gregor came up the ladder next. "Eh, why spoil the fun? We haven't been shot at in years."
"Yeah? Well it happens to us every day!" Sabine remarked.
I'll take my leave!" Quill waited until the TIE was almost right over the walker before boosting himself upward in an instant. He lined himself up with the part of the ship connecting the spherical pod to the wing and held on tightly, feeling the air go from his lungs. "Ugh, didn't think that through…"
"What's he doing?" Rex questioned.
"Something crazy," Zeb replied.
Quill hauled himself further onto the wing before freeing one hand and digging into his jacket for his remaining explosive charge. Once he found the circular weapon, he pulled it from his pocket and clicked the switch to prime it. "See how well you fly without a wing!" Before Quill could slap the charge down in place, the pilot started making sharp turns to try and force Quill off the ship. "Woah!" One of the turns smacked him against the wing, his wrist hitting a jagged metal part of the wing, cutting his hand and making him let go of the charge. It fell towards the ground and exploded mid-air. "Dammit… well, looks like we're doing this the hard way!" Quill pulled himself further up and slowly made his way to the hatch of the cockpit. He drew one of his quad blasters from it's holster and blasted the latch, to the distress of the pilot. He holstered his firearm again before throwing the latch open and grabbing the pilot by his collar.
"Sorry, emergency stop for you!" The Guardian of the Galaxy then hauled the pilot out and threw him out, letting him fall to his death at the ground below before filling the seat himself. "Okay, how do I work you?"
"Well I'll be damned, he really did it," Rex smirked as they all watched the event from afar.
"Well, he messed up with the bomb, but stealing the TIE is more impressive," Gregor chuckled.
"You know, we'd make a great team if we all fought together," Ezra said to Rex with a smile.
"Yeah, tried that once. Didn't work out so well," Kanan hatefully said. "If that storm gets any closer, it'll ground us. Sabine, we need the Phantom to fly."
"I'm on it," Sabine said before rushing back to their ship.
Vader's shuttle had landed only moments ago, and already he had led a few dozen stormtroopers into the village. Now they stood before the flaming wreckage of what was the bounty hunters' speeder tank, along with the corpses of the pirates strewn about. The boy and the plant girl were nowhere in sight. And that wasn't all. The Sith Lord could feel the fear of the villagers in every building. They were hiding, waiting for the conflict to be over. That wouldn't save them. "Search the village. I want them found," Vader ordered his troops. "Search anywhere that isn't the buildings. They won't want to risk the lives of the villagers within." The troopers of the 501st began patrolling through the entire village looking to find their targets.
Unknown to them, their targets were waiting.
Ordo crouched atop one of the houses as three troopers walked through the alley below. Just as they passed by, he dropped down right on top of one of them, flattening them out, before rolling off of them and throwing his knife into the neck of the furthest stormtrooper, and while they stumbled and grasped for the blade, the final stormtrooper started to aim their blaster at Ordo. The aging clone swept the soldier's feet from under him before revealing a short vibro blade in the knuckle plate of his armor, which he jammed into the throat of the final trooper, all the while the other trooper finally collapsed from the combat knife in their neck.
When the trooper in front of him stopped struggling, he pulled his hands away and stood up. He wiped the blood off his knuckle plate vibro blade and then retracted it back into the armor before seeing the initial trooper he landed on start to recover. Ordo simply walked over, and as the imperial looked up at him, stomped down onto his neck, creating a harsh cracking sound as the bones snapped under his boot. He took one glance at the dead imperials around him before scoffing and rushing off to his next hiding spot. "Stormtroopers…"
F hid behind a stack of crates in an alleyway just as a large patrol of six troopers passed her by, blasters at the ready. She brushed her fingers against the hilt of her lightsaber, which Ordo gave back to her when he, Quinlan and Durge arrived in the village. Their goal was to keep the attention of the Empire long enough for Tails and to ready the ship and pick them up. An all out battle would be suicide, especially against Vader. So this is the best they could do.
Her heart skipped a beat when the patrol stopped and the commander started addressing his troops. "So far, nothing in the area."
"Should we start scouring the outhouses? Or break down the doors?" One of the troopers asked. It seemed as if the commander was starting to consider it. F took abreath and reached out with the Force to influence the commander.
"You must report your findings to Lord Vader," She mumbled to herself.
"No. We must report our findings to Lord Vader," The commander said to his troops. "Come on." The squad then quickly went back the other way, allowing F to let out a sigh of relief.
Vader impatiently waited for his adversaries to reveal themselves, his rage growing by the minute. He was tempted to tear the town apart himself when one of the commanders approached him. "Report, Commander," Vader commanded.
"There's no sign of the targets. No one was found in the streets. Some of the patrols have failed to report in, however," The trooper answered.
"They are more foolish than I believed. Alert all troops, commander," Vader ordered. The trooper nodded and walked off to do just that. He then reached out, bringing his command of the Force down onto the entire village. He could feel the fear of the villagers, hiding in the furthest corners of their homes as the faceless soldiers roamed their streets. And amongst that, he could feel them. Their fear, their anxiety, their worry. And he could tell that the boy was here, but the plant girl was not. And yet, there were three other beings who felt almost the same. Living, but different. More anomalies. Which means he had more targets, and he had to draw them all out.
Vader tore open the door to one of the buildings with a simple wave of his hand, then Force-pulled a middle-aged man from inside towards him, grabbing him by his throat and tightening his grip, quickly applying pressure to his windpipe. The Sith Lord gave one wide glance back onto the village, waiting for his enemy to make a move. No attack came. Before long, he had choked the man out completely, and dropped the corpse into the mud. He glanced back into the home to see a frightened woman and two young children, who couldn't have been older than ten. Vader didn't hesitate before reeling his hand back and shooting it back forward, blowing apart the entire building with Force and bringing the rock down upon the three, killing them all. Even his own troops were startled at the action.
But Vader could see right through their emotions, and could feel the increased anxiety of two in particular: the boy and someone else, strong in the Force. Possibly a jedi, but not Quinlan Vos. Regardless, their fear and anger were creating pulses in the Force Vader could feel. All that was required was enough of a push, and they would reveal themselves.
He then heard the frightened cries of an infant pushing through the rock of another, smaller building. His sight wheeled over to it, and quickly began taking heavy footsteps over to it. He tore the entire door off its hinge with the Force to see a young mother cradling an infant who was wailing at the top of his lungs. The mother hid the child further into her embrace, but Vader didn't care. He simply lifted them both with the Force and moved them out into the street, then used both hands to pull them away from each other.
"No!" The mother cried. "Please! Don't take him! He's my only child!" With a flick of his left hand the mother was sent flying against the corner of a building, bending an unnatural mount backwards, as if folding around the corner and against the sides of the building as the harsh, resounding Snap! of her spine filled the air. She dropped to the ground, barely clinging to life with her shattered spine. Her begging would fall on ears no more as she only let out sputtering sounds as her life very slowly ebbed away.
The infant, however, kept squealing, its cries echoing off the rocky walls of every building in the village. Vader scanned the village again, reaching out. Still nothing. Their fear of him outweighed their anger to act out. Their rage. All except the boy. His anger was a wellspring, ready to burst at the slightest push. And Vader would give that push.
The infant kept crying.
Vader could tell which building the boy was in.
The crying continued.
Vader balled his hand into a fist, and the Force responded.
A symphony of bones shattering was followed by the infant's wails becoming guttural, wet.
The Sith Lord dropped the infant like a bag of rocks and let him hit the mud. The cries turned to the sounds of suffocation and drowning. Whether that was because of the mud or the infant's own blood, Vader never found out, because in an instant, Sam in his Nova uniform blasted out of the building, tearing apart as he shot straight for Vader. The Sith Lord tyried to repel him with the Force, but the young Nova blew right through and collided with Vader, grabbing him by his neck flying immediately outside the village. "I'll kill you!" Sam screamed at the top of his lungs, his hate and anger creating its own aura in the Force. But the raw power of the Nova Force was something Vader could predict. It seemed like it's power was tenfold from the last time they faced off.
Nova shoved Vader against the ground and dragged him through it as they flew, tearing apart the muddy earth of Qiilura. After dragging him through a solid acre of earth, Sam lifted Vader back up then spun and threw him through a solid wall of trees, snapping every single one he was sent through.
Back in the village, all of the Imperials were caught off guard. "What in blazes was that?!" One of the commanders exclaimed. A blaster bolt then connected with his head as Ordo took shots with an E-11 blaster he took from one of the dozen of troopers he killed before Sam took Vader. Before they even got their guard up, Ordo dropped three more.
"There's one! Fire, fire!" Another commander ordered, and the remaining troopers in the area started firing at Ordo. Ordo took cover behind another of the houses just before the surge of blaster fire came down on him. "Keep at it! Don't let him get away!" Then Durge busted through the wall of the building immediately to the right of the squad, then grabbed the commander by his head, his hand dwarfing the stormtrooper helmet, and threw him away, flying into one of the other buildings. The remaining troopers turned on their heels and started firing on Durge. The blaster bolts merely bounced off his armor, and Durge began swatting away the troopers one by one, shattering their armors with a single strike each.
Ordo took a chance to breathe then went for his comlink. "Quinlan! Miles! We could use that ship real soon!"
"The engines are firing up now!" Quinlan replied.
"Once you're airborne, get here as fast as you can! We're gonna need a quick exit!" Ordo then ended the communication just as Durge finished killing the entire patrol.
"You're kidding. That kid has a Sith on the ropes. I say we might actually be able to fight them," Durge remarked.
"Maybe, until the rest of the Imperial fleet comes bearing down on us! When they pull the ship around, we need to separate Sam from Vader so we can leave the system," Ordo replied.
"And you want me to do it, don't you?" Durge questioned.
"You wanted a fight, you got it!" Ordo said before running to find F. Durge growled but then sprinted in the direction Sam took Vader.
Vader started to recover before Sam gripped him by his armor and blasted off into the air. Vader roared and struck Sam with his lightsaber, but the blade bounced right off the thick energy of the Nova Force. "You'll pay for what you've done!" Sam screamed before putting Vader in front of him, and quickly the Sith found out why: Sam was going to send him straight through his own Star Destroyer. Vader pushed against the Star Destroyer with the Force, calling upon as much as he could to move the ship clear of their path, but Sam's speed was too fast. Using Vader as a living shield, Sam blasted him through dozens upon dozens of levels within he ship, blasting through the other side in a matter of seconds.
Vader's suit was badly damaged, his cape torn apart and his armor dented, and one of his lenses was shattered. He breathed heavily, but Sam had no mercy. He spun and threw Vader towards the bridge of his own Star Destroyer, then blasted a beam of energy at him, shooting him through the bridge viewport, past the crew, and colliding with the door at the back of the bridge.
Sam scowled and moved to follow before a rain of blaster fire came down on him. He shielded himself and looked over to the other two Star Destroyers as their turrets kept firing at him. The young Nova growled and charged up a massive amount of energy in his hands before firing at the rightmost one. The beam ended up being five times as large as he was, and when it fired, it tore right through the Imperial cruiser. Sam let up the effort as the two halves slowly dropped to the ground, shaking the very planet as they crashed down.
"I don't believe it…" Ordo muttered under his breath as he looked into the sky in awe. Sam, all on his own, took down a Star Destroyer in one attack, a feat beyond his understanding. Ordo took one glance behind him and saw F, her eyes giving away a similar expression. "F!" The young jedi still stared up at the destruction. "Kid!" She finally looked over at Ordo, snapping out of her starstruck state. "Durge is going to get him. When Miles comes around with the ship, you and I are going to get on board and be ready to pick them up."
F nodded and composed herself just before the ship came in overhead and started to land.
Sam took heavy breaths, the strain of the massive attack felt up and down his body. He started to feel lightheaded, and his vision blurred. Before he knew it, he fainted from exhaustion and began to plummet back to ground level, the Nova Force receding into his suit.
Durge sprinted for the falling Nova and leapt up and catched him just before he cratered into the ground. He used his armored shoulder to brace his fall and kept Sam from taking further damage. Once their slide against the muddy earth stopped, Durge got to his feet and checked Sam over. He was completely out of it. What he had done to the Star Destroyer must have taken all of his strength. Helluva move, kid, Durge thought to himself, then he heard the hum of speeder bikes approaching.
He snapped his gaze to the direction the sound was coming from and saw a trio of Scout troopers on speeder bikes riding towards them. Durge quickly pulled a blaster from his right-side holster and started firing at the troopers. Only a few shots missed. He hit one of the troopers off their speeder, and nailed another's engine so it exploded on it's rider. The final speeder was closing distance too fast though. The trooper fired the speeder's blaster turrets, and Durge stood directly in their path. The trooper was caught off guard and yanked on the controls to reduce speed and pull back, but the inertia kept the speeder going…
Until Durge gripped the speeder by its front blaster barrels, stopping it dead. The trooper slowly looked up into the eyes of Durge's helmet, shaking in fear. Durge snarled, which forced a small yelp from the trooper before he hurled the speeder, with the trooper still on it, into a tree, smashing the imperial between the bike and the trunk of the tree. Durge chuckled a little before their ship started to come down from above. It landed close by and the ramp lowered before Quinlan sprinted from the ship's interior.
"How is he?" Quinlan asked.
"He's alive," Durge replied before slinging Sam over his shoulder. "Let's go before those last two Star Destroyers decide to raze the entire planet trying to kill us." He and Quinlan then ran back into the ship, which ascended and blasted off past the other two Star Destroyers, out of orbit, and launched into hyperspace, leaving the damaged Qiilura behind them.
