"Turn the ship off, or you die, fugitive." Bala Tik commanded with venom in his voice. Finn held his hands up in the air.

"Listen, sir, just-" Before Finn could say anything further, he was silenced by Bala Tik.

"Stop talking and do as you're told!" He kept his grip on the rifle firm. Finn tried to come up with a plan, a solution to this problem. He had no weapons at all. How was he supposed to fight this guy off? Maybe if he talked... it would distract him long enough to do something.

"You know... I think you've got the wrong people. We're not fugitives. These pirates were trying to hold us hostage." Finn said. He didn't know if he would buy it or not, but that's not what he was hoping for.

"Then who are these people?" Bala Tik said, putting up a holographic recording of their escape from Jakku. The image focused on him, Jaina, and BB-8.

"Still, the First Order never mentioned anything about one of you being a Jedi. Oh well. We'll find a way to take her down" This was it; Finn had him talking too much. This was his only shot!

With a yell, Finn rushed at the man, grabbing onto his blaster and trying to wrestle it out of his hands. Bala Tik struggled with him and shot the ceiling twice. Finn shoved him into the hallway, still holding onto the rifle. This guy has one hell of a grip... Finn thought. Now that his guard was down, Finn sent his knee right into Bala Tik's gut, causing him to loosen his grip on the rifle. Finn ripped the rifle out of his hands and hit him in the side of the head with it. Bala Tik grunted and stumbled into the wall. Finn had his blaster aimed at his head.

***

Hearing the ship turn on made Jaina focus away from the gangsters for a moment. Finn actually did it! I didn't think he'd get it! If we're going to leave, this is our chance, Jaina thought as she deflected more blaster fire, the bolts managing to hit a few unsuspecting gangsters.

"You guys wanna get out of here?! This is your shot!" Jaina shouted, turning her attention to the pirates.

With a shout, Sidon commanded his crew to retreat into the ship Jaina and Finn came from. If not for the crowd blocking their path to the other ships, Jaina would've been confused on why they didn't take their own. Oh well, she thought. They would just have to put up with each other for a little longer.

***

While Finn aimed the rifle at the man's head, Bala Tik only chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Finn asked with anger in his tone.

He would receive his answer in the form of Bala Tik tackling him into the wall and punching him in his sides multiple times. While Finn groaned in pain, Bala Tik managed to wrestle his rifle out of Finn's grip and sent the butt of it right into Finn's face, breaking his nose. With Finn on the floor, grasping his bleeding nose in pain, Bala Tik now had his blaster aimed at Finn's skull.

"I guess the First Order won't mind if I send all of you back dead." He said in anger.

When Finn braced himself, he failed to see the blaster bolt fly over him and into Bala Tik's leg. He yelled as he fell to the floor. Finn looked behind him to see Sidon holding a pistol with his pirate crew behind him. Sidon spoke to his crew.

"You heard him. Squeaky, get this space trash off the ship." Quiggold ordered. With a nod, Squeaky dragged Bala Tik out the ship and tossed him outside, leaving him to crawl behind cover.

Sidon walked over and helped Finn up to his feet.

"Thank you..." Finn said.

"Don't thank us yet! We still gotta hightail it outta here!" Pru shouted, running towards the cockpit.

"But we can't leave Jaina here!" Finn exclaimed.

"Calm down, we're not going anywhere without her!" Kix said, trying to calm the disoriented Finn. "Now, let's take a look at that nose."

***

Jaina continues deflecting blaster fire for a while until she glances behind her and sees the ship starting to lift off. Jaina decided that now was a good time to leave. Her instincts told her to move out of the way and she narrowly dodged a blaster bolt that would've shot her directly in the stomach. Unfortunately, the blaster bolt went through the pocket on her belt that contained her comlink. Now, she was truly unable to get help from Mara or the Republic.

"DAMMIT!" She exclaimed as she outstretched both hands, sending the gangsters in front of her flying, some hitting crates and falling unconscious while others slowly got back up.

"Kill her! Kill the Jedi!" One gangster shouted. Before they could shoot her, their attention was drawn towards a door on one side of the hangar. They watched as it was slowly pried open by large red tentacles. One of the rathtars squeezed through the opening and wasted no time charging towards the gang members. She saw another door on the other side opening up as well.

Jaina, seeing her opportunity to leave, turned off her lightsaber and ran towards the ship that was about to take off. It would seem that the force loved giving her obstacles today because the rathtar that was on the other side of the hangar was unopposed by any gang members and immediately had its eyes set on Jaina.

Jaina knew better than to freeze up. She kept running at the rathtar. It rolled towards her, reaching her in just a few seconds. It roared as it sent its tentacles her way. Jaina took a deep breath and heightened her senses, putting her trust in her instincts and the force.

Sensing a tentacle to her right, she did a side flip and sliced it in two. The rathtar roared in agony and sent more tentacles her way. Jaina jumped high above the rathtar and flipped midair, slicing another tentacle. She landed on the rathtar and bounced off of it, leaping onto the ramp that she was glad was still open. The angry rathtar moved towards her, but was blown back by a powerful force push. Jaina pressed a button off to the side and closed up the boarding ramp. She almost felt sorry for the people outside, but they couldn't stay for much longer. They were still in the same system as the First Order and if they stayed for too long, that Star Destroyer would track them down. Walking through the corridor, she saw Kix helping Finn into the medical bay and worried for his safety.

"Woah! Is he alright?" She asked.

"He'll be fine. Just a broken nose." Kix said.

"DANK FARRIK!" Pru shouted. Concerned, Jaina ran into the cockpit to see a rathtar attached to the viewport, its mouth trying to break the glass.

"This is not how I thought my day was gonna go! Reveth, engage the hyperdrive!" Quiggold said as he steered the ship towards the hangar door.

Jaina used the Force to try and push the rathtar off, but the creature had too tight a grip on the freighter for her to move it.

"Punch it!" Quiggold exclaimed to Reveth, who quickly responded with pushing the lever the sent them to hyperspace.

As they were going into lightspeed, the rathtar outside couldn't keep up with the ship's speed and was ripped apart in front of them. Jaina had to keep herself from gagging.

"Now... you people have a lot more questions to answer than I thought." Quiggold said, turning to face Jaina.

***

As the gangsters opened fire on the final rathtar and finally killed it, Bala Tik glared in the direction that the freighter went. Furiously, he grabbed his comlink and spoke into it.

"Inform the First Order that their fugitives are being protected by the crew of Sidon Ithano."

***

Kylo Ren was immediately greeted by the freezing winds once he left his shuttle. As he walked further away from the shuttle and towards the other end of the hangar, an officer approached him.

"Welcome to Nova Base, sir. We are honored by this unexpected visit." He said. Kylo Ren trudged past him, his fists clenched like always.

"Dispense with the pleasantries. I'm only here to speak with Supreme Leader Snoke." Kylo Ren said, walking through the doors that led deeper into the base.

He walked through hallways and corridors, descending through elevators as he observed the base around him. An impressive weapon, Kylo Ren thought. Hopefully, for Hux's sake, it lives up to our expectations.

He then entered a large, dark room. It was completely circular and had a single walkway with many rows of chairs taking up the rest of the space in the room. The only light came from outside and casted a ray of light down onto the very center of the room. Kylo Ren walked towards the flat, circular platform in the middle, and proceeded to kneel before the blue light that appeared before him.

END OF CHAPTER 20