As they arrive at the center structure of the city, Jeyna has grown increasingly worried about Ben. He seems even more unsteady on his feet, stubbornly pushing on despite the pain she can read on his face. She tries to contain the anxiety, focusing on getting what they came for and then getting him off Nathema as quickly as possible.

They're climbing the massive stone steps up to the front door of the building when HK speaks up from behind her. "Master, the organ sack is showing dangerously high stress levels."

"Ben? Are you going to be okay?" she asks finally, unable to hold back her concern any longer. He staggers forward to shove open one of the heavy, towering doors to the building.

"I'm fine," he insists, sounding annoyed. But she notices he leaves his arm resting on the door for longer than necessary, using it to support himself for a moment. She hovers close to him, hoping he doesn't pass out. She's positive she won't be able to support his weight if he goes down suddenly.

She's relieved as he recovers, pulling himself into the building. She follows, her eyes taking in the entry space. The hall they've entered is massive, dark metal walls towering above them on all sides. The floor is stone, and she realizes the pattern in the inlay spells something in a derivative of ancient Basic.

"Break the bonds that chain you," Ben reads it quietly, his voice pained.

She flinches at the reminder of his discomfort. At the end of the hall, she can see what looks like an ancient computer. Her desire to hasten things along pulls her ahead of him, practically running to it.

Jeyna stops her rushed pace at the device, hesitating at the strange forcefield that rises above it. There is an object, hovering within the forcefield as if it is floating. She furrows her brow in curiosity. It almost appears to be a holocron. But it is entirely too small, merely the size of her palm. It looks old, even older than the ones Revan had left. She can't begin to guess at the material it is made of, something black and glassy. It looks like it is filled with a shifting smoke.

Ben catches up with her, raising his hand immediately to test the forcefield. He flinches as a small arc of electricity rises to meet his fingertips, shocking him away.

Angered, Jeyna raises her own hand to the energy field, expecting to feel the same flash of pain in response. Her mind is already trying to figure if it will be slight enough to push through, or if they will need to find a way to deactivate it, when her fingers pass through unopposed.

It flickers and dies a moment later, and she barely has time to react as the small holocron-like object drops. She catches it clumsily, pulling it back in her grip. The computer jolts to life, filling the space where the object had hovered with the last piece of their star map.

Leaving Nathema

Ben's staggering through their much slower exit of the empty city. She's drifted close to his side, lingering there in case his balance fails him. She'll need HK to help move him if he does go down, and she hopes they won't have to resort to dragging his unconscious body back to the ship.

Jeyna can feel Nathema's worsening effects herself, the wound that feels like a part of her has been removed is larger. The damage is spreading. Her body and mind both constantly return to it, probing, trying to examine the injury. It's hard for her to process it as it slows her reflexes, an aching that echoes in her awareness.

She is so distracted, as she assumes Ben is as well, that they are passing through the city's gates before either of them seems to notice it.

There is a ship besides theirs, larger and black and strangely shaped. She wonders why they hadn't heard it landing, but the atmosphere of the planet is muffling. Would that be enough to conceal its arrival?

Ben reacts faster than her, lunging into her in his haste to move her. He knocks her behind one of the large pillars that lines the path towards the city, at the same time the ground where they had been standing is obliterated.

Chunks of dirt are thrown upward, finer sand showering them in a pelting blast that disrupts the crushing silence of Nathema. Ben shoves her fully behind the pillar, blocking her view of the crater formed by the impact of the explosive. Dirt still rains down on them as he attempts to peer around the pillar, swearing angrily at what he observes.

"What is it? Who is it?" Jeyna asks quickly, heart thudding at the close call.

His eyes land on hers, and she's terrified by what she sees in them. Determination rages there, but it can't abate the look of devastation on his features. She knows instantly that the situation is bad, just by that one look.

He doesn't answer her, instead addressing HK, his order sounding detached. "HK. Get her off this planet." HK's head swivels at the command from the next pillar down, where it has crouched in a defensive position similar to theirs. "Go, Jeyna. Please," he says to her simply, eyes catching hers once briefly before he rips them away.

Jeyna panics as she understands his intent, grabbing for him a second too late. He lunges from their hiding spot, his lightsaber igniting. He's immediately hit by an onslaught of blaster fire as he storms out, the unstable red beam swirling with precision to deflect the bolts.

"Master-"

She interrupts the droid to give it a conflicting order. "HK, fire at anyone attacking Ben!"

The droid lifts the blaster instantaneously. "Targets acquired, Master." It shifts partially out of sight, and she hears the blaster as it begins firing in rapid succession.

Jeyna creeps along the stone, poking her head out to see more. Fear seizes her heart at the sight of who Ben is confronting. The Knights of Ren have come to Nathema, and she can see their assorted weapons from her hiding spot clearly as they wield them against him. They've turned on their master, at the worst possible moment.

She doesn't need an understanding of combat to notice that he is on the defensive, attempting with futility to keep them from circling around his back. She has the suspicion that if he had access to the force, the fight would be more than in his favor. But on Nathema, weakened as he is cut off from it, the confrontation comes down to sheer numbers.

There is an agonizing pain in her chest, as if it's being ripped in two, as she watches him block their attacks. She has never felt so useless, so completely paralyzed as she desperately tries to think of what to do.

Jeyna winces in pain as something hits the pillar right beside her head, chunks of stone stinging her cheek as they are flung into her face. She pulls back behind cover, berating herself as she realizes there are only five Knights fighting Ben. He had six Knights of Ren.

"HK, focus on taking out whoever is shooting at us," she orders. The less Ben has to worry about blaster bolts coming for him, she reasons, the better. And if she can move from the position she is pinned down in, she might be able to do something more to help him.

"As you wish, Master," the droid confirms. It disappears entirely from view, circling around the pillar. But she hears its weapon going off, met with the dim echo of return fire, before a moment later it announces, "Target eliminated, Master."

She moves, joining it to see the target it's taken out. A knight is slumped atop the wall of the city, and she can see the red smear of his blood trailing down the stones he dangles over. His blaster has dropped to the bottom of the wall, a short distance away.

HK marches forward to begin firing on the remaining Knights, but their armor and rapid movement is effective against some of the shots. It manages to at least distract them, and she realizes they are also affected by the lack of the force here. Their movements are almost clumsy, but brutal in their forcefulness.

She watches as Ben manages to strike one of them, a fatal blow across the chest, deep enough to slash through the armor. But the action left him open to attack for a millisecond too long. She gasps as he is cut with a cruel looking blade, tearing down his left shoulder.

Jeyna is expecting it to be a disastrous turn of events, but the pain seems to have the opposite effect on him. He is pulling strength from somewhere she can't understand. He spins quickly, his saber lopping off the helmet of the Knight who'd struck him. The head hits the ground before the body, crumpling a moment later.

A blast of stale air hits her, and she vaguely detects the thrumming noise of a ship's engine. Turning, Jeyna realizes a third ship is landing. It is older looking, patched together in several spots. Though her mind recognizes it is not First Order, she scrambles at the thought of the situation becoming even worse. She doesn't know who is on the new vessel, but she doesn't want Ben any more outnumbered than he already is.

Jeyna breaks into a sprint, making for the blaster the Knight had dropped off the wall. By the time she reaches it, a third Knight has fallen by Ben. She is uncertain if HK's shots were effective, or he was taken down by the lightsaber.

As she fumbles with the blaster, Ben is hit again. She cries out with frustration at the blow to his torso that brings him to one knee. She lifts the weapon and steadies it the way Aleck taught her. It is a more sophisticated weapon than she's used to, with sights that help her set her target.

She fires, managing to catch the Knight that is about to strike again between his helmet and chest plate, somewhere on the neck. It is partly due to the better weapon assisting the shot at short range, and partly pure luck. He drops, writhing. It is enough to give Ben a moment to recover, and he raises his lightsaber at the last chance to catch the attack from the remaining Knight.

HK's shots are precise as he finishes off the Knight on the ground, and he stops moving. A brownish red stain surrounds his helmet, his blood mingling with the dirt of Nathema in a rapidly expanding spill.

Jeyna hesitates on the trigger, unwilling to fire at the last Knight. He is too close to Ben, their motions too blurred together to risk it. She watches helplessly as they continue their struggle, until finally Ben catches his opponent's weapon on the cross guard of his saber, twisting in a way that rotates the red beam through the upper arm of the Knight. The weapon and limb fall to the ground. Ben slashes one final time, and the last Knight hits the dirt. The saber deactivates, and she sees it when he sways once.

Jeyna's heart drops through her stomach when Ben collapses, in the middle of his fallen former allies. She releases the blaster, running to him in a daze, dropping heavily to her knees but blind to the pain it causes.

Blood coats his left hand, pouring down from the shoulder wound. She can see that his flesh is shredded open there. His lower abdomen is punctured, the black of his top darkened and wet with his blood. He's likely passed out from blood loss. She knows his condition is critical, her hands shaking as she tries to not think past that.

Jeyna's mind kicks into gear, pushing aside the useless panic to focus on what she needs to do. She must get him back to the ship, and stop the blood loss. She can order the astromech to begin navigation and focus on stabilizing him in the shuttle's small medbay.

She presses her hands firmly against the shoulder wound, ignoring the tears sliding down her cheeks. She can't acknowledge her emotions right now, and she feels freezing cold with a detached focus as she calls out to HK. "HK, help me! I need to get him into the medical bay of the shuttle!"

"Query: Is the newly arrived organ sack a target, Master?" the droid asks in response, its mechanical voice sounding hopeful.

She looks at the droid in confusion for only a second, before its words sink through her scrambled brain to find meaning. She stands, whirling towards the ships as she remembers the newest arrival.

The stranger is standing there, halfway between the crumpled bodies of the Knights and the array of space vessels. He wears dark, thick robes. A hood is pulled up over his head, shading his face from her. She only assumes he is male, something about his form and posture suggesting it. He is motionless, watching her. And though she doesn't see a weapon, fierce protectiveness surges in her, mingling with the knowledge that she needs to hurry to help Ben.

Jeyna grabs for Ben's lightsaber on instinct. It is the only weapon near enough for her grasp. She draws in a shuddering breath at the feeling of it vibrating slightly in her hand as she turns it on. The unstable power it emanates is tangible, the crackling heat warming her face.

She turns her body to face the stranger fully, putting Ben's lightsaber between him and the new threat. As uncomfortable as she is wielding it, knowing she will be useless at utilizing it, she refuses to back down. She'd rather die trying than let this person murder Ben where he lays, defenseless. She glares at the darkness beneath the hood, waiting.

The stranger moves, reaching for his hood. He pulls it back, and she searches his face. Her eyes soften slightly when she sees he doesn't look aggressive. His long hair is streaked with gray, matching his unkempt beard. His eyes look sad, his face set grimly.

"I won't hurt you," he calls. "Or Ben."

"Who are you?" she asks loudly, more hot tears leaking down her cheeks. They sting at the wounds where the rocks dug into her flesh. She's losing control, her emotions taking over suddenly as desperation sinks in.

"I'm Luke Skywalker," he says, stepping forward slowly like he is approaching a wild animal. "You've met my sister, Leia."

Jeyna draws in fast, shaking breaths as he comes closer. "What do you want?" she asks finally, relief sinking in as she dares to hope.

Luke's serious eyes focus on hers. "I can help you get him off this planet, before it kills him."