The group decided to post guards to be on watch for the Aphelions, to be safe. The great birds were fearsome to a small group, but all of them together could take one down. Their psychic abilities only could be targeted to a few people at a time. For a while, it was tense, but everyone was moderately happy and safe. It didn't last though, and after a couple kultids, they began to run low on supplies. They hadn't been able to bring much food or water with them, and there wasn't anything to eat in the wastelands. This led to food and water rationing, which upset many of the ex-prisoners. After kultids or pymnos of rich prison food, some of them had a hard time adjusting to the scarcity. Many of them complained, but there wasn't anything that could be done except go to a more hospitable planet. And hospitable planets meant people, and people meant some connection to the Empire. Their only option that could possibly work would be to voyage to the farthest reaches of the universe, and that could take aeons! The universe was big, and their vehicles weren't very fast. Plus, there wouldn't necessarily be any good planets there. The savior was unexpected, to say the least. Equis, the former Akkadian defense lawyer, had the idea that saved them; They would join the Kyramos! It was very unpopular at first, but after he explained that they hated the Akkadians, and would love to keep their escaped prisoners away from them, it became the best option there! They packed up their food and water, saddled their mounts, and as they were just about to take off, they were ambushed. Two Aphelions dived down and grabbed four Ouroses, killing them and their riders! Most of the group panicked and spread out in every direction, trying to find a place to hide! Some of them tried to fly around the huge creatures, but they were snatched out of the air. Luckily, they had brought a few neutron wave emitters, and a small group began to shoot at the Aphelions! Less luckily, though, the cannons seemed to just make it mad! Destra flew up on Valor, and tried to distract the birds so that the gunners could aim for their weak spot, the magic Sigil on their chests. It controlled their powers, and they could barely fly without it. The emitters could disrupt the Sigil's magic long enough to scare the Aphelions away. They played a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, the giant raptors diving towards her, and her dodging away. One of the gunners managed to shoot one in the Sigil, and it gave up! The other Aphelion kept at it though, until it could fly no longer. It fell to the earth, and people came at it with technospears and starswords. They hacked and slashed at it until it stopped breathing, and then they took the feathers to use as weapons. The meat was smoked, for easy travel, and they kept some of the bones as proof. Finally, they were prepared to make their way across the stars, to find the Kyramos.