- "So we disable the shields, we take out the oscillator, and we blow up their big gun. All right, let’s go."
- — Poe Dameron
The Battle of Starkiller Base, also referred to as the attack on Starkiller Base, the raid on Starkiller Base or the assault on Starkiller Base, was a major battle fought between the United Federation of Planets and the Der'kal Empire during the war between the two factions.
The battle was fought in 2387 with Der'kal Empire TIE fighters and Federation T-70 fighters and F-302 fighter-interceptors. The goal of the Federation forces was to disable and destroy Starkiller Base in order to prevent continuing a reign of terror. With the Federation's victory, the conflict between the Federation and the Der'kal Empire escalated.
Prelude[]
- "If we can destroy that oscillator it might destabilize the core and cripple the weapon."
- — John Martin
During their war wth the Federation in 2387, the Der'kal Empire sought to use Starkiller Base to destroy the Federation and cripple the Federation. They first tested the weapon on the capital of the Separatists, Hosnian Prime, and four other planets in the Hosnian system. They were successful, destroying the planets and a Separatist fleet.
By tracking the path of the weapon's energy beam, the Federation traced it to its origin. Jessika Pava designed a recon ship that was piloted by Temmin Wexley to scout the superweapon. The ship was towed to and from Starkiller Base by Wexley's wife, Karé Kun, in her T-70 fighter.
Typhuss had given the Base's blueprints to the Federation, which revealed that the base drained the energy of the sun in order to charge its superweapon, and that it required a thermal oscillator to sustain the energy on the planet. If this thermal oscillator was destroyed, it would destabilize the planet's core and implode the Base. However, they would need to do it before the Base fully charged its weapon. Typhuss, Jyn, Rey, and John volunteered to disable the Base's defensive shield from the inside.
Typhuss piloted the Charger to Starkiller Base accompanied by Jyn, Rey, and John. Their objective was to disable the shields and allow the fighter squadron to strike, although John's main objective was to rescue a MACO soldier, Major Sarah Plummer. Flying through the shields at warp, the Charger made a rough landing on Starkiller Base at the edge of a cliff along with the Millennium Falcon which travelled through the shields at lightspeed.
The battle[]
The ground assault[]
- "People are counting on us! The galaxy is counting on us!"
- — Typhuss to John
Typhuss, Jyn, Rey, Solo, Chewbacca and John snuck into the main base and captured Captain Phasma, whom they forced to disable the shields before disposing of her in a garbage chute. They reunited with Major Sarah Plummer, who had already escaped on her own. Upon leaving the base and seeing the aerial assault, Typhuss, Jyn, John, Sarah and Rey realized the Federation squadrons needed assistance and decided to create an opening by planting spatial charges inside the base.
When Typhuss pointed out that there was no way to enter the oscillator in order to plant the bombs, Rey offered to find a way to open a doorway via a conventional junction as her previous experience working on Star Destroyers had given her knowledge in this area. She and John then approached a parking area where they commandeered a lone snowspeeder and set off towards the junction as Typhuss and Jyn headed for the nearest structure. A single stormtrooper in the area spotted their snowspeeder and attempted to shoot them down. After his shot went awry, he then reported in the incident.
As John and Rey raced to the junction, they were pursued by three other snowspeeders. After briefly exchanging fire with the enemy, Rey ordered John to head towards the trees. There, Rey asked John to switch places, which led to John taking command of the disruptor while Rey flew the speeder. With one shot John was able to eliminate one of their pursuers from the fight. A short while later, a second shot from John was able to take out the second of their pursuers. As they approached a cliff, John's engagement with the last of their pursuing party led to him dropping the disruptor into the snow, leaving them almost defenseless. Thanks to Rey's expert manuevering however, they were able to jump between cliffs and leave the last of their pursuers overturned in the snow. John and Rey then continued onwards to their target.
Upon arriving at the junction, Rey quickly went to work. Within a very short span of time she managed to rig the junction properly, leading to a service hatch opening upon the complex Typhuss and Jyn were sneaking within. Typhuss and Jyn then planned a proper strategy to make maximum use of the explosives at their disposal before getting to work.
Sarah Plummer then confronted Kylo Ren on a bridge over a large pit, she ordered Ren to surrender to the Federation. However, Ren refused and impaled her with his lightsaber. Sarah told Ren he would never win the war before she plummeted down a shaft as Typhuss, John, Rey, and Jyn looked on. An enraged Typhuss injured Ren with his MACO phaser pistol and proceeded to shoot down several stormtroopers. Typhuss then detonated the explosives, which created an opening for the Base's thermal oscillators.
The aerial assault[]
- "All teams. I'm going in! Pull up and cover me!"
- — Poe Dameron
T-70 fighters attempt to divebomb the hexagonal oscillator
With the shields down, Blue Squadron and Red Squadron, led by Poe Dameron as Black Leader, commenced their assault. All fighter squadrons locked their S-foils in attack position to initiate the strike on the Starkiller Base's thermal oscillator. General Armitage Hux, seeing the fleet from outside, ordered to dispatch all TIE fighter squadrons. The T-70 fighter squadrons successfully executed one bombing run of the thermal oscillator, hitting it directly but causing no damage towards it, but then the TIE fighters were upon them. During the battle that ensued between the opposing fighters, a heavy cannon emplacement launched a missile that destroyed an T-70 fighter. With ten minutes left until the weapon became fully charged, half of the Federation fleet had already been destroyed. The spatial charges, triggered by Typhuss, activated in the Base, and a new hole to the oscillator was visible to the fighter squadrons. Red Four and Red Six covered Poe while the rest of the squadron focused on firing on the target. As the squadrons soared through the trenches of the Base with the Der'kal Empire TIE fighters and disruptors trying to block the assault, a T-70 fighter was shot down
Duel with the Knight[]
- "It's just us now. Sarah Plummer can't save you."
- — Kylo Ren to Typhuss and Rey
Kylo Ren vs Typhuss[]
- "Coward!, you will not escape from me or the Der'kal Empire.
I am not a coward, I will escape, you son of a bitch." - — Kylo Ren and Typhuss before their fight
Kylo Ren confronts Rey outside Starkiller Base
Typhuss, Jyn, John and Rey exited the base, but were followed by Ren, who caught up with them in the forest despite being weakened by the injury he suffered from Typhuss's phaser pistol. Rey angrily called Ren a "monster" for murdering Sarah Plummer and tried to shoot him with her blaster, but Ren knocked her out by pushing her into a tree. Typhuss, horrified, rushed over as Ren furiously called him a coward. Failing to wake her, Typhuss ignited his lightsaber. Ren claimed that Typhuss was no match for him but Typhuss challenged him to "come and see what skills he has" before attacking him. Despite Typhuss's attempts to hold his own against Ren, he was easily overpowered. Ren stabbed him in the shoulder with his lightsaber's crossguard blades, incapacitating him.
Kylo Ren vs Rey[]
- "You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the saber!"
"You...?" - — Kylo Ren and Rey as their blades clash
Ren initially held the advantage, defending himself in a staunch Form V demonstration, drawing on his rage to ignore the pain. Ren became so impressed with Rey that he tried to tempt her, complimenting her strength in her skills and offering to complete her training if she would join him. This backfired, however, as it only served to reassure Rey of her own skills: recalling Kanata's words on reaching the light within, she begins to draw on her skills to hone her attacks, and the tide of the duel shifted in her favor. Ultimately Rey overpowered Ren and dealt him a severe wound to his face. By this point Kylo had taken too many wounds to continue standing, but he still struggled in vain to rise again. Before Rey could move to finish him off, the planet ruptured between where they were standing and they were separated from finishing their fight.
Final actions[]
- "Our job's done here. Let's go home!"
- — Poe Dameron
Poe Dameron piloted Black One into the thermal oscillator
Poe ordered his squadron to cover him as he entered the hole of the oscillator. A pursuing TIE fighter did not clear the gap, leaving Poe to circle in the interior of the unguarded structure, firing volley after volley of torpedoes into the oscillator, destroying it thirty seconds before it finished draining the sun to charge the superweapon. This caused a chain reaction which destroyed the base and leveled the entire planet's terrain. Inside the main base, chaos reigned as General Hux departed the command center and Der'kal Empire officers realized all hope was lost and evacuated. Hux, meanwhile, reported to Supreme Leader Vur'naa, who ordered him to rescue Ren and flee the Base, as he wished to complete Ren's training. Rey returned to Typhuss, despairing that he would not wake up and that they would be trapped on the rupturing planet to meet their doom. However, John promptly arrived with the Charger to rescue them.
The destruction of the base's thermal oscillator
Captain Phasma was able to escape from the trash compactor, and soon made her way back to the computer terminal to erase its history, preventing anyone from knowing that it was her that lowered the shields. She soon discovered that Lieutenant Sol Rivas had accessed the terminal, and in doing so learned about Phasma's treason. Phasma, wanting to eliminate any loose ends, pursued Rivas to a TIE fighter facility, where he stole a TIE fighter. Phasma approached pilot TN-3465, who was unable to join the ongoing dogfight due to her droid, BB-K8, performing a data update on her fighter. Phasma approached TN-3465 and ordered her to follow Rivas in a two-seat TIE fighter, eventually following Rivas to the nearby Luprora. The Charger and the remainder of the Federation fleet managed to escape Starkiller Base as it erupted into a star. With the mission complete, they entered warp and hyperspace to return to D'Qar.
Aftermath[]
- "They can't get away, Supreme Leader. We have them tied on the end of a string."
- — General Armitage Hux to Supreme Leader Vur'naa
Following the battle, Typhuss sent a coded transmission to all Federation squadrons stating that the battle of Starkiller Base was won. Typhuss also told the squadrons to report in immediately and await further instructions. Typhuss was being treated for his injuries hesustained from Ren, Typhuss later made a full recovery.
After Phasma located Rivas, she killed him along with TN-3465 and BB-K8 to ensure no witnesses knew of what she did before returning to Der'kal space, where Der'kal Empire vessels were regrouping.
Surviving Der'kal Empire defense force pilots, such as Poldin LeHuse, were re-integrated into the fleet. They expressed a desire for vengeance and to prove themselves after failing to save the superweapon.
The Federation victory was ultimately pyrrhic, as destroying Starkiller Base was not close enough to undo the complete annihilation of the Hosnian system by the Der'kal Empire prior, thus serving as a pathway for the latter to claim dominant control over the galaxy. Also in the aftermath, as its members had to evacuate from D'Qar as a result of the Der'kal Empire knowing their location, and ultimately was pursued and largely decimated before ultimately escaping the Der'kal Empire with the help of a MACO squad.
According to the Federation, even four months after the base's destruction, the majority of the galaxy wasn't aware that Starkiller Base had been destroyed.