Immediately after the Resistance fleet had arrived, the First Order emptied its flight bays and fighter storage of its TIE fighters and began their defense of the star destroyer.

The cruisers and Recusant-class destroyer, the Valiance, continued to pummel the shields of the Finalizer, weakening it at every hit. Five squadrons of TIE fighters were assigned to each of the cruisers and Resistance destroyer, while the Finalizer used the full extent of its turbolasers to break through the Valiance's shields.

General Organa waited apprehensively to see which deflector shields would give first. "Position the Endurance and the the Courage in the front and rear of the Finalizer," she ordered. The message was sent by Ping Code.

The two cruisers moved into position in front and behind, while the Valiance continued its attack on the port side.

She knew an attack on three sides would cause the First Order to spread its power reserves to the front, side, and back deflector shield, causing each to be weaker.

"We've got to get that communication array destroyed before the jamming signal is fixed," she said to her first officer.

Forty B-Wings guarded each of the large ships from the TIEs, the dogfight between them and the TIEs appearing as a swarm of insects. The Resistance B-Wings were almost as agile as the TIE fighters which could fly in any direction instantly. However, even with the TIEs maneuverability advantage, the Resistance fighters were still getting the better of the battle. Soon the TIEs were outnumbered three-to-one, and so began their retreat to the Finalizer.

The Naboo squadrons circled the Finalizer at a distance so as to avoid being an easy shot for the turbolasers, but they were close enough to send proton torpedo's into the shields. They also had their hands full with TIE fighters, chasing them down in defense of the star destroyer. These red Naboo fighters could out run the TIEs, but they could not out maneuver them in the least. As long as they continued circling the star destroyer and the number of TIE fighters did not crowd the battlefield, the Naboo fighters could hold their own and continue their work on the shields.

The shields were weakening. Every hit creating a less vivid blue ripple in the shield. The Resistance had experienced mild losses, having lost fifteen B-Wings and seventeen Naboo fighters. The only large ship to have had any appreciable damage was the Valiance, having sustained thirty percent damage to its deflector shields.

The turbolasers continued their onslaught on the Finalizer, until finally, they connected with the ship, causing an explosion on the front port side.

"The shields are down," General Organa said. "All fighters attack that communications array!"

The Naboo fighters rushed in, trying to manage the turbolasers as they came up on the top surface of the star destroyer. Many of them succumbed to the near laser fire and evaporated in a burst of flames.

The commander approached General Organa. "General?"

"Yes, Commander Kale," she said.

"The HoloNet is back up, General," he said.

Her eyes widened. "Check the skies!" she ordered her command bridge.

"General," one of the officers replied, "seven star destroyers have exited hyperspace Sector Four."

Leia realized their time had run out. She hailed Grand Admiral Ackbar and Commander Defal to command an immediate retreat. They had no chance against a fleet of seven star destroyers.

….

Finn took his place on his knees with his hands still behind his head next to Poe and Chewbacca in front of the engineering console. Chewbacca whined, and Poe looked down defeated.

"So," Phasma said, "here we are again."

Five stormtroopers aimed their weapons at them.

"I bet you found it easy to get on this ship. Seems command wanted you to get on for some reason, but that doesn't mean we'll let you get away."

She leaned down to Finn close to his face. "Looks like you failed again, FN-2187 . . . Oh, forgive me . . . Captain FN-2187."

Finn said nothing, but he did not look distressed in the least. Phasma noticed. Her eyes squinted and pierced Finn. She was not used to confidence in her presence.

"You appear to have some heroic delusion, FN-2187. How is that?" she inquired.

"You talk too much," he quipped.

Phasma's anger was evident, "What did you say?"

"Oh, I'm sorry . . .You talk too much, Phasma!" Finn replied confidently.

"Shoot the other two!" Phasma yelled.

Finn pressed a button on the detonator hidden in his hand behind his head.

The engine room shook violently as the explosions erupted. The troopers and Phasma flew back and hit the ground. Finn, Poe and Chewbacca, already on the ground behind the console were protected for the most part from the blast. Chewbacca jumped up to grab a stormtrooper who was the first to right himself. He got behind the trooper, his arm around his neck, and grabbed his firing arm. The two other troopers took aim and fired. Chewbacca, using his trooper as a shield, caused the trooper's weapon to fire and shoot the other two. Their shots landed in Chewbacca's human shield; leaving open, seared holes in the trooper armor. Poe had tackled a trooper as he fumbled to get up, knocking the trooper's blaster away. Poe saw the blaster and left the trooper to chase it down. The trooper caught hold of his foot and Poe used his hands for balance as he fell forward. Another trooper arose and aimed at Poe. Poe's hand reached the blaster. He rolled on his back and squeezed the trigger blindly aiming at the standing trooper; the red blaster shot hit its mark in the trooper's chest. He fell to the side, his armor clanging on the hard floor. Poe then aimed at the one on his foot. That trooper let go and held up his hands.

Finn charged and tackled Phasma. He landed a few heavy punches to her unmasked face. She did not flinch, smirking instead at the hits. She elbowed him in the face and rolled him off of her toward one of the dead troopers. She got on him, pinning his torso to the deck; a blaster rifle still in her hand. Then she hit him repeatedly in the face with the butt of her blaster rifle. Finn seemed to give up and breathed heavily, blood dripping from his brow. She aimed the rifle at his head.

"Cannon fodder," Finn whispered.

"What?" Phasma yelled.

A blaster went off. Phasma looked down, a hole present in her chest plate. Finn had grabbed the side arm from the dead trooper next to him and had fired. Phasma's scarred face betrayed her utter confusion momentarily, then morphed into fear as her body fell to the side. She tried weakly to hold herself up with her arm and then collapsed.

Finn pushed the rest of her off of him and stood up. He looked around at the dead bodies and Poe with his prisoner.

"Chewie," he called out, "put those manacles on him." He pointed to the trooper.

"Can't I get his armor?" Poe inquired.

"Not enough time. We've got to get out of here fast," Finn replied.

Poe cursed under his breath.

"Contact BB-8, and see if Luke and Rey are back," Finn told Poe.

He did.

BB-8 responded with a few electronic beeps.

"They're not back," Poe informed Finn.

Finn held up his transceiver. "Luke! Rey!"

There was no response. Finn looked concerned.

"We will need to make a side trip on the way back to the Falcon," Finn said.

"What about getting out of here fast?" Poe asked.

"We are not going to leave anyone behind," Finn stated flatly.

….

General Hux stood confidently on the command bridge as he observed the on going battle. The shields failing concerned him, as was the damage to one of the main engines but neither caused him to waver into fear, for he knew the victory was in his grasp. Prior to fixing the jamming signal, Hux may have had a moment of anxiety; but since the arrival of Admiral Dentin and the rest of the fleet, Hux knew that his plan was going to succeed. He noticed the break in the Resistance's formation at the arrival of the fleet and correctly reasoned that they were scrambling to retreat. He proudly knew that General Organa was scared.

He hailed the lead star destroyer of the fleet. "Admiral Dentin."

"Yes, General," she replied.

"The Resistance has seen your arrival. They are abandoning the Finalizer and are about to jump into hyperspace. Station the star destroyers in a perpendicular ring around the Resistance forces so they can't escape except to head toward the planet or the asteroids. Whichever way they go follow them."

"Yes, General. And if they decide to split their forces?"

"Then I will close off their path to the asteroids, and we will push them into the planet."

"Yes, General," Admiral Dentin assented.

"No one is to escape," General Hux ordered.

….

Leia knew exactly what the First Order was attempting as the star destroyers moved into formation. She sent the orders to escape with all speed and to jump to hyperspace at their first chance wherever they could get to. But it was too late. The star destroyers were faster than the Mon Calamari cruisers and the Valiance. The individual fighters could escape, and a few did. However, many remained behind to defend their general.

The star destroyers opened fire on the large Resistance ships as they tried to evade the armada. Each Resistance ship took heavy fire, as their hulls lost integrity and people were pulled into space through the open holes left by the explosions. Added to that, the flight bays of each star destroyer poured out with TIE fighters, too many for the remaining B-Wings and Naboo fighters to have any chance. Even though the Resistance fighters were better pilots, it did not matter if each pilot shot down five TIEs for every one Resistance fighter, the battle was being lost and quickly.

The large, oval planet grew larger in their viewscreen and Leia knew they would all be sucked into its maelstrom of its atmospheric currents. The battle was lost.

"All Resistance ships," she hailed, "Come to a full halt and take your stand here. If we are to die, let us not die in retreat, but let us take out as many of them as we can. Direct all fire at the Finalizer!"

The Resistance fleet stopped. Unfortunately, the Valiance was already too close to the planet, caught in its gravity pull. Escape pods could be seen abandoning the ship, but it was too late for them as well. The gravity gripped the escape pods; and they circled in descending orbit, their doom inevitable. The Recusant-class destroyer angled down, the front hull beginning to be battered by the planetary winds, which then began to bend and rip the hull in shreds, as it descended deeper and deeper into the planet. Finally, the ship was consumed, leaving nothing but jagged and torn metal debris.