Jaina was starting to break a sweat. She couldn't keep this up forever. Surely, Mara and the Republic would be here soon, right? She had already cut down numerous stormtroopers during this fight, but when would she let her guard down? How soon would that moment come? She was going to run out of stamina eventually. She couldn't keep this up forever. The roaring of a ship's engines made her stop for a moment and look up. She saw another ship landing, but this one didn't look like the other troop transports. It was large and black with red windows on the cockpits. Its wings were larger than the ship itself and they had to fold upwards in order for the ship to land properly. Jaina was forced to refocus her attention on the troopers around her. She deflected seven blaster bolts at once with multiple swings of her lightsaber and charged towards them.

***

Kylo Ren stepped out from his shuttle, accompanied by his remaining Ravagers. His eyes scanned the battlefield before him until they caught a glimpse of a lightsaber. He looked closer and saw the Jedi. It was... her... Jaina Solo... the woman he was supposed to kill. She was right there. He remembered Snoke's words. If he didn't kill her, then he wouldn't be useful. Why should he be afraid? He had superior training compared to her. She's still just a fledgling padawan, extremely lacking in skill. She would be easy.

"Sir! The droid's been spotted on the west side of the castle debris with a smuggler crew!" A stormtrooper reported as they ran over. Kylo Ren turned to his Ravagers. The girl would be his. He could care less about the droid right now. The Ravagers can do whatever they wanted with it as long as he got what he wanted. "Find the droid and destroy it. The map must not fall into Republic hands." He ordered. The Ravagers nodded before walking away. Kylo Ren stomped his way across the rubble towards Jaina.

***

Jaina could suddenly feel every hair on her body stand on end. She started to grow cold. Something was wrong. Something was behind her. A lightsaber igniting made her instincts kick into gear as she narrowly flipped over a red lightsaber blade and kick her assailant in the face, but her foot hit hard metal and that caused her to fall to the ground in pain. She quickly recovered and rolled away from the next swing that came. She got up on one knee and held her blade high, blocking a downward swing from the cloaked figure. Red... a red lightsaber...

It's him... Jaina thought in realization. It's the Knight of Ren... he's here...

She was able to push him away and back off, keeping her distance. She completely took in the man's appearance. He wore a cloak and a mask. His lightsaber... it looked... awful. It looked like a child made it if she was being honest. The blade was clearly unstable, a sign of the Kyber crystal within being cracked. Putting that aside for now... Jaina stopped, her eyes widening. Was this...

"Jacen?" She quietly asked in shock. Was it him? It couldn't be. She truly wasn't sure. The man's darkness was clouding her senses. Why couldn't she rely on her senses? She used to be talented at identifying presences in the Force. Why did she have to become so weak? Because... the cause of her weakness... was standing right before her. This had to be Jacen.

He didn't answer her and yelled as he rushed at her again. Their sabers clashed a few times, each strike making Jaina stumble back. The man had overpowering ferocity. He attacked wildly, but his strikes had power behind them, there was no doubting that. Jaina started to wonder: Was this what being a Knight of Ren turns people into? Unstable beasts? Would Jacen really be like this? Did he really fall so far only to end up acting like an animal in a fight? She blocked a few more of his strikes and tried force pushing him away, but he was able to react first with a force push of his own, sending her flying through the air and making her hit her head on a rock. She quickly lost consciousness. No... shit! No, not now! Get up...

***

The Ravagers had Sidon's crew surrounded on all sides. Finn looked at them and instantly recognized them as the men they saw on the Finalizer. Finn stopped, his mind racing. Wait... if they're here, then that means... Kylo Ren is here too! Finn panicked. He had to find Jaina. He knew she would be in danger if the knight was here, but he knew he couldn't leave. The Ravagers would cut him down before he made it past them. He had to think of a plan. Maybe, Squeaky could hold them?

One of the Ravagers aimed his blaster at the wall Squeaky and Reveth hid behind and shot at it with his blaster rifle. That forced them to hide behind cover. Finn needed to think quickly, or else they'd all be dead. They were surrounded by not just the Ravagers, but the other stormtroopers too. Unless Jaina came back to help, then the battle was over.

Reveth peeked around her corner and shot at the Ravager, but to no avail as her blaster bolts simply bounced off of the man's armor. Of course their armor can withstand light blaster bolts. Gonna need something heavier than that, Finn thought. Sidon attempted to shoot one of them in the neck, but the Ravager he aimed at shot first. His blaster unleashed a flurry of blaster bolts with a single shot. Sidon barely escaped the barrage. Lucky for him, the blaster bolts didn't penetrate the wall. Finn peeked out at them and quickly ducked back before looking forward at BB-8. They're after BB-8. I gotta think of something, Finn thought. He heard hear rapid footsteps all around them. He peeked out and watched as other heavy stormtroopers were setting up their blasters all around them. They're planning to tear us apart from all sides! I gotta think of something, or else they'll get BB! Finn thought.

They can't be serious! Reveth complained to herself. There's no way we can get all of them at once without another one firing! Captain! Kix! One of you geniuses better have a plan!

They all heard the heavy repeating blasters charge up and get primed for fire.

END OF CHAPTER 36