The First Order has taken over, shattering the peaceful Republic. Emperor Palpatine has unleashed his relentless forces to take over the galaxy's military might.
General Leia Organa and her Resistance fighters are the only ones standing up to this new despotism, holding onto the hope that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker will come back and reignite the flame of resistance.
The Resistance's location is compromised. With the First Order closing in on the rebel base, the heroes are forced into a frantic escape...
We sweep across the cosmos to D'Qar. The Raddus, a massive Resistance cruiser named after the Mon Calamari Admiral Raddus, rises from the planet, flanked by a fleet of smaller ships.
On the planet's surface, Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix and her tall colleague Jones oversee the frantic evacuation of the rebel base.
"We're not clear yet! There are still 30 pallets of cannon shells in C bunker." Jones reported.
Connix was frantically trying to get everyone clear. "Forget the ammunition, there's no time. Just get everyone on the transport." Then they heard a distant boom. "Oh, no."
Connix and Jones look up and see two Resurgent-class Star Destroyers appear in the cloudy blue sky, quickly joined by the Star Destroyer Finalizer.
On board the bridge of the Star Destroyer, Captain Edrison Peavey of the Finalizer watches the Raddus in the distance, then turns to General Hux.
Peavey reported to Hux. "We've caught them in the middle of their evacuation."
"I have my orders from Emperor Palpatine himself," Hux stated in anger. "This is where we snuff out the resistance once and for all. Tell Captain Canady to prime his dreadnought. Incinerate their base, destroy their transports, and obliterate their fleet."
The enormous Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought known as the Fulminatrix, owned by Captain Moden Canady, pops from hyperspace and into the foreground from the far reaches of space. Two massive cannons slung beneath the ship's belly begin to lower and take aim.
In the destroyer's bridge pit, a beautiful yet stern monitor eyes a red X shape on her radar screen, her surroundings lit red for ideal visibility during battlefield conditions.
"General, Resistance ship approaching. Launching shields in attack mode."
"A single light fighter?" Hux asked in confusion.
In a daring standoff, the X-wing, piloted by Poe Dameron, confronts the imposing Fulminatrix. BB-8, the diminutive but spirited droid, takes its position at the forefront, ready for action.
"Happy beeps here, buddy, come on," Poe said as he flicked some switches.
General Leia Organa monitors him from the control room of the evacuation ship. Teresa ran over to her side after helping as much in the evacuation as she could.
"We've pulled crazier stunts than this," Poe told BB-8.
"Just for the record, I'm with the droid on this one," Teresa stated.
"Thank you for your support, T," Poe said with sarcasm in his voice.
Poe sighed. "Happy beeps." He said as he was beginning to prepare himself. He then flicks a switch. "Attention! This is Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic fleet, I have an urgent communique for General Hux."
"Patch him through," Hux says as he marches across the bridge. "This is General Hux of the First Order. The Republic is no more. Your fleet is rebel scum and war criminals. Tell your precious princess there will be no terms... there will be no surrender."
"Hi, I'm holding for General Hugs," Poe said, basically messing with him.
Over the past weeks, Teresa has upgraded Poe's X-Wing with some enhancements, completing them just in time before the evacuation. The ship now features a turbo boost that activates at high speeds, designed to help Poe dodge incoming blaster fire. Although he hasn't tested it yet, Poe is optimistic that it will give him the extra speed he needs.
"This is Hux." Hux corrected his name mispronunciation. "You and your friends are doomed! We will wipe your filth from the galaxy."
"Okay, I'll hold," Poe said, seeing the bar only reached halfway.
Hux wasn't sure what was going on anymore. "Hello?"
"Hello? Yup. I'm still here." Poe tells them, getting a little worried by the time it's taking.
"Can you...?" Hux was confused as he looked at the control mechanics. "C-can he hear me?"
The officer Lank Paze nods from the bridge pit. "He can," Paze confirmed.
Hugs?" Poe called out. "With an 'H'. Skinny guy. Kinda pasty."
Hux was beginning to become frustrated as he marched over to the front of the ship. Looking out the window where he saw Poe was approaching.
"I can hear you. Can you hear me?" Hux asks.
"Look, I can't hold forever. If you reach him... tell him Leia has an urgent message for him." Poe said, seeing the turbo was almost ready.
Peavey seemed to have finally caught onto what it was Poe was doing. "I believe he's tooling with you, sir.
"...About his mother." Poe mocked him.
Hux was starting to become infuriated as he marched to the gunners. "Open fire!"
Poe's ship's display is beeping rapidly. He saw that they were preparing to open fire upon him. Luckily that was when the turbo boost was fully loaded and ready to be used.
"BB-8, punch it!" Poe cried.
BB-8 beeps excitedly as the X-wing's rear nozzles fire, it hurdles forward. The velocity causes BB-8's head to slip back from his round body. From the bridge of the Destroyer, Hux and Peavy watched as Poe made a quick approach towards their ship.
"He's going for the dreadnought." Peavy notice.
"Ha!" Hux scoffed. "He's insane."
"Wa-hoo!" Poe cried as the speed helped them avoid the blaster fire. "That's got a kick to it, T!"
"Just don't blow it up." Teresa stated.
Poe's X-Wing glides over the Fulminatrix's hull, dodging and weaving through the barrage of laser fire. With precise shots, Poe disables the Fulminatrix's cannons, turning their own weapons against them. Hux observes the chaos unfolding with a grimace etched on his face.
"All right, taking out the cannons now," Poe said. "Tallie, start your approach."
"Copy that." Tallie, the leader of the squadron said as she and a handful of ships made their approach.
Hux's hologram appears in front of the captain of the ship Poe was firing down. "Captain Canady, why aren't you blasting that puny ship?!"
"That 'puny ship' is too small and at too close range," Canady explained. "We need to scramble our fighters! Five bloody minutes ago."
"He'll never penetrate our armor." An officer said.
"He's not trying to penetrate our armor." Canady could tell. "He's clearing out our surface cannons."
Poe was flying around, shooting down the cannons, making his approach for the last one. "There's one cannon left." Then he heads whirring in space, seeing the upcoming TIE Fighters. "And here comes the parade."
A squadron of enemy TIE fighters swoops over in pursuit. BB-8 chirps nervously.
"Yeah, yeah, I see 'em!" Poe cried, trying to evade them.
As one of the TIE ships opens fire on Poe's X-wing ship's caft, sparks fly. Poe's ship's cockpit machinery is sparking.
"No no. Damn it!" Poe cried in worry. "BB-8, my weapon systems are down. We gotta take out that last cannon... or our bombers are toast. Make your magic work, buddy."
BB-8 descends into a socket within a cable-laden bay. His spherical head floats apart from his main body while he scans the craft's compartment. Using the appendages on his extendable arm, he attempts to repair the damaged panels. However, new sparks fly, and BB-8 emits anxious chirps as more sections start to malfunction.
Canady paces aboard the Fulminatrix. "Are the auto cannons primed?"
"Primed and ready, sir."
"What are we waiting for?!" Canady asked. "Fire on the base!"
The Fulminatrix unleashes a barrage of laser fire from its cannons. Simultaneously, Connix pilots the U-55 orbital load lifter, skillfully maneuvering to evade the onslaught of artillery fire that bombards the surface of D'Qar.
Kayden contacted Leia's ship over the intercom. "The last transport is in the air, the evacuation is complete."
"You did it, Poe," Leia said with relief. "Now get your squad back here so we can get out of this place."
"No, General, we can't move yet," Poe said anxiously. "We need to destroy that Dreadnought first, or our ships won't return in time." As Poe's X-wing weaved through the Fulminatrix's antenna, a TIE fighter collided and exploded. "They're fleet killers," he stressed to Leia. "We can't let it escape."
"He's right." Teresa agreed with Poe. That was something she would deny against saying. "We need to take it down."
C-3PO stands next to Leia and she eyed him. "Wipe that nervous expression off your face, 3PO."
"Oh. Well, I'll certainly try, General." 3PO said, looking over to Teresa. "Nervous?"
A target lines up in Poe's cockpit's viewfinder. "Let's go, BB-8... It's now or never!"
In a clever display of quick thinking, BB-8 chirps, and maneuvers the elevator halfway down to the droid socket, cleverly bypassing three improper-operation alerts from the X-wing. He then rolls into the fuselage's cavity, positioning himself as near as possible to the malfunctioning junction box. With a swift retraction of his arm, he extends his welding arm, tilting his head out and down in a gesture reminiscent of a man tipping his hat, accompanied by a high-pitched shriek. His head collides with the junction box, causing a cascade of sparks, while his primary photoreceptor is engulfed in a whirl of electronic feedback.
Poe presses the trigger of his weapon, obliterating the final cannon on the Fulminatrix's exterior. His X-wing darts through the resulting inferno, swerves sharply, and watches as two enemies TIE fighters crash into each other, bursting into flames. Amidst the chaos, BB-8 emerges, buzzing with energy and emitting a gentle cheer.
"Yeeeaaahh-ho!" Poe cheered. "All clear, bring the bombs!"
"Captain... Resistance bombers approaching."
"Of course they are," Canady said.
A formation of heavy bombers and A-wing fighters, designated as Colbrat Squadron and Blue Squadron, advances towards the dreadnought. Their design echoes that of World War II airplanes, with elongated virtual compartments protruding from their fuselages, akin to the magazines on automatic rifles. At the helm of her blue A-wing, Lieutenant Tallisan Lintra, a striking young blonde pilot, stands ready.
"Bombers, keep that tight formation," Tallie said as she flew up ahead. "Fighters, protect the bombers. It's not every day we get a shot at a Dreadnought, so make this count."
"Copy that, Blue Leader."
"If you get us there, we'll give it to them."
"Fighters incoming."
A squadron of First Order TIE fighters closes in on the group. "Gunners, look alive," commands Tallie.
The TIE fighters unleash a barrage of fire, forcing the ships to disperse and mount a defensive effort to shield the bombers on their approach.
"Subfighters at 2-10!"
"They're getting in!"
"Form up!"
"They are everywhere! I can't-!"
An X-wing ship with Jaycris Tubbs, its pilot, in it explodes into complete nothingness. "Here they come!"
"Incoming fighters. Form up."
"Vector at attack speed."
"Pull up!"
The squad comes onto heavy fire. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! We're going down!"
Canady saw the ship still had not escaped yet. "Recharge the auto-cannons. Target their cruiser."
"I see it," Poe told BB-8, seeing the ship aiming at their ship. "Tallie, they have targeted the fleet and begun the priming sequence."
"Copy that. We are almost there. Bombardiers... begin your drop sequence."
"I've got a visual on the target. We are approaching the point of attack. "The bombs are armed."
At that moment, the TIE fighters were taken down and collided with the bomber. The impact caused the bomber to shatter, sending debris hurtling toward the other bombers and triggering a domino effect of explosions. A single bomber, spared by its separation from the group, was the only one left intact.
"Auto cannons aimed."
"40 seconds to full charge."
Canady saw now they had a chance. "Destroy that last bomber!"
"Paige, come in," Poe said, seeing how the bomber didn't drop its payload yet. "We're over the target. Why aren't your bay doors open?! You're the only bomber left, it's all down to you!"
Paige exited the gunner and called to the pilot. "Nix!"
"Paige! Drop the payload, now!" Poe cried.
Then there was a TIE that managed to keep fire and shot the hull of the bomber, taking out the pilot. Paige saw she was the only one left and began to make her way up to set off the bombs. But on the way, the ship was hit, and she was sent flying and crashing down.
In the midst of turmoil, Paige's eyes caught sight of the bomb-release remote, precariously perched on the ladder's edge. Desperate, she jolted the ladder with her feet, dislodging the remote. She snatched it from the air, just shy of the drop bay's threshold. With a decisive press, the bombs were released, engulfing her in the ensuing blast. In her final moments, she held tight to a locket around her neck, a symbol of the cause she sacrificed everything for.
"Bombs away!"
"Direct hit! Dreadnought down!" Someone in the escape shuttle cried.
The whole room erupted with cheers, but Leia looked and saw just how many were sacrificed for the cause. This circle of violence needed to end.
Hux watched as the ship was blown up and the crew were making their way for the ship to escape. He looked and saw how Poe and Rey remaining members of his squad made their way back to the escape shuttle and blasted off into Hyperspace.
"General, Emperor Palpatine... is making contact from the ship."
Hux did not like the sound of that. "Excellent. I'll take it in my chambers."
That was when Palpatine appeared in a hologram form on the bridge, getting Hux to freeze in fear. "General Hux."
"Ah, good. Emperor-" Hux was then smashed into the ground before being raised back up and then slammed into the bridge again.
"My disappointment... in your performance can not be overstated," Palpatine stated.
"They can't get away, Emperor." Hux promise, feeling his neck being tightened. He tried to plead while the Emperor prepared to end his life. "We have them tied on the end of a string."
Palpatine seemed interested in hearing this as he stopped choking him from afar. "Is that so...?"
Leia took in a deep breath of relief to see that they had escaped and looked over to Teresa. Teresa looked down at the watch she wore for Peter to come find them when they located Luke.
Luke was now their only hope for turning the tide in this war. Teresa caressed the watch and hoped that Peter would come back soon. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, seeing how much of a close call this was.
"I know you might be mad at Poe, and it is understandable..." Teresa said to Leia. "But you need to understand he did what he could to save us."
"It's costing us too many people," Leia informed Teresa.
"Yeah, I am not saying that he needs some work, but... he did what he could to save us." Teresa reminded Leia. "Just... think about that before you give him the same treatment you used to give me."
"You were a troublemaker," Leia reminded Teresa as she walked off to meet with Poe. "Remember the thermal detonator incident?"
"In my defense, they shouldn't be so easy to activate," Teresa stated, remembering when she was 11 and got her hands on a thermal detonator, thinking it was a ball. "It was 3PO's fault for not keeping better watch of me."
"Me?" 3PO asks in confusion.
Teresa walked down the halls, passing Admiral Ackbar as he was making his way off towards the hull of the ship. She then caressed the tracker again and sighed, wondering if Peter was able to find Luke out there in the vastness of space.
"Hurry up, Peter... you might just be our only hope," Teresa whispered.