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Chapter Summaries (Dregs of Empire)

Spoilers ahead, proceed with caution

This novella is expected to be read after Ashes of Man, and as such, the summaries below spoil that book.

    Chapter 1: The Prison Planet

    Locations

    Unknown > Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Hightower

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Four guards beat Lorian Aristedes in a white-walled room of the hightower above Belusha, which broke at least one ofbreaking Lorian's ribs. Reeling from the pain, Lorian recalledrecalls his sentencing on the part of William Caesar for high treason for helping Hadrian Marlowe escape from the brig aboard the Tempest with the help of Bassander Lin and the Prince of Jadd Kaim du Otranto.


    "“How do you answer these charges?” Caesar himself had asked the question, seated on the camp stool they had set out for his makeshift throne.

    Lorian had answered with his customary lip. “Unrepentantly, Honorable Caesar.”

    That had sealed his fate.

    On a floating chair passing from medica to his cell, Lorian lookedlooks out on the planet Belusha more than a mile below. The frigid surface of the planet wasis dotted by oil rig towers in a frozen plain with ice-crowened mountains in the middle distance. In the sky, a lattice work of mirrors reflectedreflect the light from a sun onto the surface of Belusha, where he could barley make out the prison camp of Downwell, his final destination.

    Chapter 2: The Duke

    Locations

    Unknown > Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Downwell

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    A boot belonging to a dark-faced man named Duke jabbedjabs at Lorian's broken ribs, jolting him awake the next morning.morning, Dukethen helpedhelps Lorian get up and confirmed thatup. Lorian has two broken ribs on his left side. Lorian sharedshares his history as Hadrian Marlowe's commander, but wasDuke metdoesn't with a shake ofrecognize the head and no recognition of the Hadrian's name from Duke.name.

    “Call me Lorian,” he said. “I was a commander in the Imperial Red Company, under Hadrian Marlowe himself.”
    Duke only blinked at him.
    “The Hero of Aptucca?”
    The other man shook his head. “We don’t get word from outside.”
    “The Halfmortal?”
    Nothing.
    Attempting to get a sense of time, Lorian askedasks what year it is only to learn that prisoners are never told the year, although Duke did confirmconfirms that William Caesar XXIII of the House of Avent wasis still emperor. Duke then led Lorian down some white-walled halls to a locker room with thermal suits colored prisoner scarlet, which he helped Lorian don. Duke taughtteaches Lorian how to use the rebreather system asof hetheir toldprison himsuits, ofand explains his prison assignment in the motor pool.

    TheAs twothey exitedexit the locker room onto the surface of the planet, into the average low temperatures of -16 centigrade, where Lorian remarkedremarks again on the mirrors redirecting sunlight to the surface, the so-called Emperor's Eyes.surface. His gaze then turnedturns on the orbital lift tower stretching from the surface into the upper atmosphereatmosphere, whereand he had been the prior day in medica. Lorian dreameddreams of climbing its nanocarbon cables hand-over-hand to escape the prison planet, a feat he knows is impossible.escape.

    In the motor pool, Duke introduces Lorian to Bhaskar, a mechanic with a grizzled beard.Bhaskar. Bhaskar asks Lorian why he is on Belusha, perking up the heads and ears of three others in the motor pool. Lorian tells him "High treason," which elicits laughter from Bhaskar and the rest of the motor pool. Lorian presses in, sayingsays he was the tactical officer aboard the Tamerlane under Captain Otavia Corvo and Commandant Lord Hadrian Marlowe, whom the motor pool mechanics call a myth and propoganda. A klaxon wails signaling a shift change, and Bhaskar and his pod leave for meal time.

    Chapter 3: A Man's World

    Locations

    Unknown > Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Downwell

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Lorian continued his work in the motor pool and recalled Duke tellingtells Lorian a story of a group of prisoners from 2,000 shifts (approximated to be 10 years) ago who found weapons on their salvage run.run, Theyand staged an insurrection of Perigee camp, only to be carpet bombed by the guards. Lorian started a conversation about the possibility of escape to which all the motor pool workers scoff.

    Gowan and Hari, two of the motor pool workers, struckstrike up a conversation about Outborn, prisoners who had left the camps to live in the barren frozen wilds of Belusha. Hari exclaimed that Duke believes they are real, but the others were non-plussed. Digging in his heels, Hari askedasks if the others heard about an attack on Farside that killed more than 30 Martians and took all the women from the camp. Gowan believedsaid the story toisn't bereal, a falsehood.but Hari turnedturns to Lorian for his opinion, to whichopinion. Lorian saidsays he'd never seen them.

    Tensions roserise among the crew asand insults began to fly. Hari threwthorws a spanner that missedmisses Lorian's head, and Hari referredrefers to Valka as an extrasolarian machine-witch. Lorian corrected him that she was Tavrosi, which sent Hari into another disparaging insult about Valka.

    “Tavrosi?” Hari spat. “That’s twice as bad. Always wondered why His Radiance didn’t burn those fuckers off the map. Can’t imagine being so desperate for ass I’d fuck a machine!”
    Lorian launchedthrows a spanner of his own hitting Hari in the face, adding fuel to the fire of argument.face. Hari said he'll kill Lorian just before Duke steppedsteps in to end the fight between the two of them. Duke told them he'll string them up naked in the cold if they don't stop their fighting while on the clock.fight.

    The next day, Lorian volunteeredvolunteers to take Hari's turn to clean-up the shop, which smoothed things over. On a later shift, Daud, a rig crew member. requested thatrequests Lorian repair his crawler by the next day, a timeline Duke told himsays is too ambitious. Daud told him to take it up with Damian, and he and his crew leave. Duke ralliedrallies the team for double-time repairs and told them to organize who is getting food for the long night ahead.

    Chapter 4: The ParaCoita

    Locations

    Unknown > Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Downwell

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Lorian and his crew beganidentify workthe onproblem Daud'swith crawler,the havingcrawler identified it hadas a broken fan and cracked radiators thethat needed replacement. As a result of this radiator issue, dampDamp air made its way into the air ducts and formed into ice in Belusha's harsh conditions over time,ice, and now the vents requiredrequire welding on the inside.inside, Duea tojob only the tightdwarf, space,Lorian, onlycould Lorian was large enough to do the job.do.

    Crawlling through the air ducts, Lorian dropped kicked open a vent and droppeddrops into one of the crew dormitory chambers. LookingHe back up at the vent, he recalled his time crawling through the ducts of the Tamerlane to reach Hadrian when he was under isolation during an Inquisition during events found in Demon in White.

    Broken out of his trance, Lorian heardhears a banging noise, as if someone were trapped somewhere in the crawler.noise. Following it to a locker room, and carryingusing the arc torch he wasbrought to use for weldingweld the vents, he cutcuts off the padlock sealing one of the lockers. Inside, he found a young15-year-old girl, no more than 15 years old, who was bound at the wrists and feet with taptape covering her mouth. Lorian immediately knewknows she had been raped repeatedly and brutally.

    Trying to reassure her, Lorian cuts off the binding around her ankles, but the girl kicks him.him Shethen tried to run but fellfalls to the floor,floor clearlywhile weakenedrunning by her captivity.away. Lorian removedrenmoves her gag, introduces himself and learns that her name is Tamara. She toldtells him her mother sold her to the crew and that even the Martian guards were complicit in her captivity,captivity. aHe story that also confirmed for Lorian the existence of the Outborn. Filled with ire toward the crawler's crew and its Martian guards, he toldtells Tamara he wouldwill go find help, but by the time he returnedreturns with Duke and Gowan, she was dead in the crawler where he had left her.

    Chapter 5: The Way of Things

    Locations

    Unknown > Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Downwell

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    The overseer'soverseers took Tamara's body away and told the motor pool to get back to work. The crawlerDaud's crew didn't even get a slap on the wrist, an injusticewhich Lorian decidedsees shoudlas bean taken into his own hands. While continuing work on the crawler, Lorian detached a plasma cutter, and took a long thin driver with him into the crawler, giving the team the impression he was working on something to get it up and running.

    Outside the crawler,injustice. Daud askedasks Duke about the progressprogress, on the crawler.and Duke explained thatsays the girl that was discovered set them back,back. and Daud's rage began to rise. Meanwhile, insideInside the crawler, Lorian finishes his modification of the plasma cutter while muttering a prayer.

    Lorian offered a whispered prayer as he crept from the ladder into the hold. “I invoke the universal sound and the One Pure. Grant me courage and clarity, that I might know right conduct. Unite my deeds with Wisdom. I offer this prayer to the Knight Galahad. I invoke . . .”
    Daud commentedsays that Wormy, the nickname he has given Lorian,Lorian wasn't supposed to go in the crawler and saysthat he'll kill him. From the top of the ramp on the crawler, holding the plasma cutter, Lorian provokedprovokes Daud to come closer to him rather than Duke.him. Once in range, Lorian pointedpoints the plasma cutter at Daud and pulledpulls the trigger, unleashing a violet lance of plasma that cutcutting Daud's legs out from under him. Lorian steppedsteps forwardforward, as Daud writhed in pain on the ramp, and raisedraises the plasma cutter to Daud's head.head, Heand firedfires onea morefinal time,time explodingto Daud'skill head.

    him. Duke, Gowan, Urgo, Hari and the rest of the motorpool wereare stunned. Duke askedasks him why he did it and Lorian said it was for Tamara. Daud's men wereare enraged, but before any of them tookcould take action, a klaxon blared.blares Guardsand floodedguards flood into the motor pool telling Lorian to drop his weapon. Lorian obliged as they beatobliges and bound him tothey haul him away.

    Chapter 6: The Traitors

    Locations

    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Downwell

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Vaclav Carter,Carter the highest ranking official on Belusha, askedasks Lorian if he denies the charge of murder for killing Daud. HeLorian saidsays it was justice and diddoes not deny it. One of the jurors calledcalls for him to be killed, but Vaclavin examinedexamining Lorian's file, whichVaclave directedlearns that Lorian may not be executed or flogged for his crimes.crimes, In addition,and the rest of his file wasis redacted.

    Curious, Vaclav probedprobes Lorian about his pastpast, and whywhile his file may be redacted. Giving away little,responding, one of the jurors, revealed to be Lorcan Breathnach calledcalls Lorian a traitor. Lorian explained howexplains Hadrian Marlowe did not commit regicide, which fueled a verbal battle betweenand Lorian and Lorcan,Lorcan whichspar Vaclav ultimately put a stop to.verbally.

    Vaclav probed further, askingasks Lorian if he believedbelieves Hadrian is "the One Reborn," to which Lorian said, "No." The questioning, Lorian began to realize, was actually a trial for Lorian to join the jury and have a higher station on Belusha, but he would have none of it. Lorian continuedcontinues to antagonize Vaclav while also explaining Hadrian's miracle on Perfugium in which he shattered the glass behind a Cielcin prince on a holograph, which ultimately killed the Pale creature (described in the climax of Ashes of Man). A hush fell over the jurors but Lorcan was nonplussed and continued his verbal rout.

    Lorcan toldtells Lorian that Hadrian has been found in Jadd and that he was "living the good life" with wine and women. This plungedplunges Lorian into a sense of dispair that his sacrifice to save Hadrian was for naught. As the exchange between Lorian and Lorcan peetered out, Vaclav ordeered Lorian to be put on ice in the Tower for a century before he is brought out to work again. However, Lorcan calls for Lorian to be placed in one of the other camps, either Snowhead or Farside.Farside, and Vaclav obliged.agrees.

    Chapter 7: Farside

    Locations

    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Snowhead
    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Farside

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Seven years later, Lorian reflectedreflects on his two years spent at Snowhead where he sorted scrap.scrap After those two years,before he was shuttled to Farside where he became a scavenger, sourcing circuit boards and precious metals from ships purposely crashed onto the planet's surface by the Martians in orbit. Dispriting him most was theThe thought that Hadrian had given up the fight toas retireLorcan tosaid, a country villa on Jadd, where he took in the pleasures of wine and women. It worewears on his psyche.

    Many were the nights Lorian lay awake in his cell, or in his suit in the back of their crawler, staving off the cold, staring at the roof above him.
    Standing upon one of the ship wrecks during a salvage run, Lorian removedremoves his mask and breathedbreathes in the Belushan air until he feltfeels hypoxia atthen whichputs pointit heback returnedon. theDaru mask to his face. Daru, one of the members of his salvage team, calledcalls for him to assist Jeff with salvaging some parts from inside the ship because the entryway was too large for any of the other men. Inside,While whiledoing feelingso, beneathLorian the final circuit board during his salvage in that cramped space, he founddiscovers a plasma burner with a broken fan, whichand hestows stowedit insidein his coveralls. He couldn'can't shake the feeling that this discovery was some sort of divine providence.

    During dinner in the crawler on the way back to Farside, Lorian grabbed a bowl of porridge and madetakes his waydinner outside on top of the giganticcrawler trundlingwhere machine. Hehe once again removedremoves his mask to breath in the air while he ate the porridge, which had now gone cold.air. Jeff finds him and they strikestrikes up a conversation about the Outborn. JeffOutborn, and the other salvagers had confirmedconfirms the attack mentioend by Hari inyears Chapter 3, andago. Jeff explained atop the crawler with Lorian thatsaid the raiders only took women during the last attack.attack Asand the crawler pulled into camp, Jeff saidthat Rand believes the Outborn are trying to grow their numbers to fight back against the MartianMartians. encampments on Belusha. Jeff left Lorian alone atop the crawler, and Lorian felt for the plasma burner, which he kept safe in his suit.

    Chapter 8: Outborn and Misborn

    Locations

    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Farside

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Out on another scavenging run, Fives complainedcomplains about loosening a seized bolt, and yelledyells at Kellan, a newer member of the pool, for a plasma cutter. Another of the new members toldtells him that the plasma cutter was back on the crawler andcrawler. Fives threw a wrench at him, prompting Jeff to send him out on a walk. Jeff toldtells Lorian to go get itthe plasma cutter, and Daru volunteeredsays tohe'll go with him. AfterWhile severalgathering minutes,the cutter, they madehear it to the rig, and began to gather the cutter when they heard gunshots ring out.gunshots.

    Lorian and Daru,Daru abandoningabandon the plasma cutter, ranand run toward a nearby ship that sloped up like a hill overlooking the salvage area. In doing so, Lorian dislocated his knee and popped it back into place. Together thethey men watchedwatch as men in patchwork cloaks jumped off a long, narrow skiff and roundedround up the salvage crew. Lorian deduced they must be outborn. One of the men asked for the leader, and when Jeff responded that he was,tells the Outborn captain asked Jeff ifthat the whole crew wasis there.present After an affirmative reply,and the Outborncaptain captain,shoots wearing a helmet with a white hand printed on his face, shot Jeff in the face with a common slug gun. Enraged,him. Kellen ranruns at the Outborn to defend his leader, takingand twois slugsshot into his chest.twice.

    The Outborn captain and his crew linedline up the remaining members of the crew, and Lorian realizednotices that Fives had still not yet returned. All in a line the captain walked down the ranks, and whne he said one was too old, an Outborn shot him dead. The Outborn captain asked Gared if there were any women in the crew, usingand Garen tells him no. The captain orders older members of the slug gun to intimidate him. When told no, he continued walking the ranks, culling two more from thesalvage crew forshot, their age.and Lorian wishedwishes he had repaired the plasma burnerburner. heThe foundOutborn becausechain he had a perfect perch to take outup the Outborn,crew, who chained the crew marchedhoard them onto the skiff and left.leave. Lorian and Daru tooktake cover in the ship that had been their hilly outpost until the Martians foundfind them much later.them.

    Chapter 9: A Friend

    Locations

    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Farside

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Lorian could not get out of his head the deaths of Jeff, Kellen and the others over the months the followed the attack. Worse was how Fives blamed him for it. Once returned to Farside, the camp's commandant questioned them about the events, and the three were split up on different teams: Fives to a salvage crew, Daru to the kitchens and Lorian to the motor pool. Lorian would often stay after hours to find a way to repair the plasma burner, but he continued to lose sleep thinking about Jeff, who lied about the size of the crew and ultimately kept Lorian, Daru and Fives alive. Lorian's inner rage toward Hadrian for not continuing to fight and finding pleasure on Jadd also haunted him and his mind as it had during all the years since his brush with Lorcan Breathnach at his trial after killing Daud.

    Some time later, Daru tipped off Lorian to a plot to kill him while Lorian was building a still. Lorian brushed it off as yet another rumor, but Daru insisted that Fives, Cal and Vasu, three bruisers on Farside, would do so by finding him in the motor pool after hours. Unconcerned, Lorian revealed to Daru that in 12 more shifts, the guards planned to reassign every prisoner. Lorian's ambivalence, bordering on nihilism, continued, and only intensified Daru's frustration with him.

    “I’m not alone,” Lorian said, returning to his work on the machine. “I have you.”
    Daru howled, clapped hands to his forehead in exasperation. “You’re just not getting it! Fives wants to kill you. And it’s not just him. It’s Cal. It’s Vasu. It’s probably half the bruisers on base.”
    Lorian took Daru's warning to heart and stopped staying after hours at the motor pool, and 12 shifts later, as expected reassignments came through. Lorian, Daru and Fives were all assigned to Salvage Pod-17, news that burned with a fury between Five's eyes as Lorian's gaze caught his from across the yard in the Belushan tundra.

    Belusha Prisoner Serial Numbers

    • NO-11589: Lorian Aristedes
    • GN-34957: Daru
    • LN-55555: Fives
    • GN-24805: Unknown
    • NH-86333: Unknown
    • GK-19927: Unknown
    • LN-43248: Unknown
    • LK-56352: Unknown

    Chapter 10: Of Vultures

    Locations

    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Farside

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Three weeks after the new prisoner assignments were drawn, Lorian's latest poddy, Dadan, called for the crew to speed up their salvage work to get to a fresh Legion salvage site in the Lynga Province. While sorting salvage on the sledge headed to that new scrap site, Lorian's self worth plunged once more as he continued to feel smaller and smaller every day. While sorting, he found some ytterbium crystal, and explained to Ram, Dadan's boytoy, that it is a time crystal used for long-term data storage.

    Focused on sorting and not realizing Ram had left, he looked up to find Fives holding a metal pipe and behind him Aldo and Yash, who bore weapons of their own. They claim that Lorian is an Outborn and as they approach to begin their assault, Lorian pulled out the plasma burner he found in the wreckage weeks earlier. He still had not fixed it, but the bluff was the best play he had to slow the altercation as he found a way to get to the cockpit of the sledge to drive away. They ask him if the Outborn have a way off Belusha as he made his final lunge for the door, but his angle rolled and snapped out of joint.

    Face down in the snow, the gun fell from his hand. Fives tried firing it to kill Lorian, but it simply clicked, so he resorted to kicking him in the ribs, breaking to of them yet again, and walloped Lorian in the head with the pipe. As the world spineed in Lorian's vision, a blur of red with a long spearlike weapon bolted toward Fives. Lorian heard the cries and bellows of the three assailants as his body went into shock and he struggled to breath. Now with some clarity of his sight, he recongized Daru had killed all three of them and saved him. Daru said Dadan and the others tried to kill him, but he escaped.

    Surprise and a better weapon. Most times that was all it took, even against superior numbers.
    Lorian told him they'll need to take the sledge out into the wilds. If the Martians found them and the dead crew members, they'd likely be reprimanded and killed, but if they could find any Outborn and pay them the salvage on board, they may have a chance at new life. Lorian got in the passenger seat and told Daru to drive. Chapter 11: The Cold

    Locations

    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Uknown

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    Lost in the frozen wasteland, Daru continued to press the pedal driving the sledge west. Lorian had destroyed the transponder so the Martians could not track them, and the two discussed how long their food and battery life would keep them alive. Once the battery of the sledge died, Lorian realized they could use their suits, which were charging in the sledge. Faced with this mortality, Daru asked Lorian about Hadrian coming back to life after being decapitated, and Lorian explained all he knew, including his perspective of the battle at Senuesa where Hadrian had killed 100 Cielcin warriors on his own and the Hadrian killed Cielcin General Attavaisa with his mind through a holograph.

    The conversation turned to religion and the afterlife, which Lorian said he has seen. Daru remained doubtful of that and asked Lorian why he was on Belusha. Lorian explained that he saved Hadrian's life, which ultimately meant he traded placed with Hadrian, who would otherwise be on Belusah.

    Some time later, Lorian awoke from sleep to the beeping of the sledge alerting him and Daru that only 5% of the fuel cell remained. Daru, after Lorian woke him, suggests they use a flare to alert the Outborn to their presenece, but Lorian shuts it down saying it would also alert the Martians. Eight hours later, Lorian struggled to sleep and looked at Daru next to him, welling in affection knowing that he may be his only friend in the entire universe. He grabbed the flare gun, opened the door and fired it at the sky. The battery said they had 138 hours and 52 minutes before they lost power, and the two made themselves as comfortable as they could on the sledge.

    Chapter 12: Princess of Thieves

    Locations

    Belusha > Unknown > Unknown > Uknown

    Characters

    Plot Summary

    When Lorian next woke, only 7 hours remained on the battery. Then he heard tapping on the hull of the sledge. Lorian initially thought that it was a trap, then realized it must be Outborn. Daru, at Lorian's insistence, opened the hatches on the sledge to reveal the spoils they had brought from the latest salvage. The two raised their hands in the compartment as a face came into view in Daru's window. Moments later, another came into view in Lorian's window.

    "We surrender!" Lorian said, "We want to enlist!"
    The reaver, armed with a firearm, on Lorian's side of the sledge wore a mask with slits and with an amplifier ordered Lorian to get out. He told Daru to stay inside, then Lorian got out himself to begin negotiations with the Outborn, noticing then a third reaver was on the bed of the sledge. During the conversation, Lorian learned the one holding the gun was named Ralla, clearly a born and bred Outborn, and the one on the bed of the sledge was Bevan. He also noted there were four more Outborn at the perimeter of the meeting.

    Lorian asked for the leader, whom the Outborn called Sachin. They told him Sachin is at Deepstone, and Lorian requested sanctuary in exchange for the spoils they had brought on the sledge. He also offered his knowledge of the Belushan camps and his legacy as a commander, which they could use to fight back against the Marians. After more negotiaions and the reveal that Ralla was a woman named Sarala, the Outborn relented to taking Lorian and Daru to Sachin, who would decide their fate.

    Daru came out of the sledge swinging a prybar after he was signaled to come out by Lorian, who calmed him down after the initial tussle. They bound Daru's wrist behind his back and gestured Lorian to move with a gun aimed at his back. Once on the Outborn skiff, Sarala removed her mask and Lorian's breath caught seeing her piercing blue eyes. He tells her he's the best thing the Outborn have salvaged, and she asks why that is.

    "Because for however long your people have been a menace to the Martians," Lorian said. "I can make you a threat.

    Chapter 13: The Subterrane

    Locations

    Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > The Mountain Church
    Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > In the Village Proper

    Plot Summary

    Chapter 14: Strategy and Tactics

    Locations

    Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > In the Village Proper
    Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > The Church Yard

    Plot Summary

    Chapter 15: The Dregs of Empire

    Locations

    Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > House Orin Starship

    Plot Summary

    Chapter 16: Knocking on Heaven's Door

    Locations

    Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > House Orin Starship

    Plot Summary

    Chapter 17: Tower of the Gods

    Locations

    Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > In the Village Proper

    Chapter 18: To Crack the Sky

    Locations

     Spur of Orion > Delos > Meidua Prefecture > Saint Maximus > In the Village Proper

    Dramatis Personae:

      House Marlowe of Delos

    Lexicon: A Note on Translation
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