The Battle of Starkiller Base

During their search for Luke Skywalker, the First Order sought to use Starkiller Base to destroy the Resistance and cripple the New Republic. They first tested the weapon on the capital of the New Republic, Hosnian Prime, and four other planets in the Hosnian system. They were successful, destroying the planets and the New Republic's fleet.

On Takodana, Kylo Ren realized that the scavenger and Resistance ally Rey was Force-sensitive. During the Battle on Takodana, he captured her and took her to Starkiller Base for interrogation.

Starkiller Base prepared to wipe out the world ofD'Qar, the site of the Resistance's headquarters, but the Resistance planned an attack of their own. Finn, a defecting Stormtrooper, had given them the Base's blueprints, which revealed a critical weak point that, if destroyed, would eliminate the Base.

Han Solo piloted the Millenium Falcon to Starkiller Base accompanied by Chewbacca and Finn. Their objective was to disable the shields and allow the X-Wing squadron to strike, although Finn's main objective was to rescue Rey. Flying through the shields at lightspeed, the Falcon landed roughly on the edge of a cliff.

Han, Chewbacca, and Finn snuck into the main base and captured Captain Phasma, who they forced to disable the shields before disposing her in a garbage chute. They reunited with Rey, who had already escaped on her own. With the shields down, Black Squadron led by Poe Dameron commenced their assault. They fired on the base's weakpoint, but failed to destroy it as the First Order sent TIE Fighters to stage a counterattack and throw the Resistance into chaos.

Seeing this, Han, Chewbacca, Finn, and Rey tried creating an opening by planting thermal detonators inside the base. Han then confronted Kylo Ren on a bridge over a large pit, pleading with his son to reject Snoke and return to the light side of the Force. However, Ren refused and impaled his father with his lightsaber, sending Han plummeting to his death as Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca looked on. Chewbacca injured Ren with his bowcaster, but Ren chased them out of the base.

Ren caught up to Finn and Rey in the forest, and knocked Rey out by Force pushing her into a tree. An angered Finn pulled out Luke Skywalker's old lightsaber and attacked Ren in a rage. However, Ren easily overpowered the former Stormtrooper and dealt him a grievous injury.

Suddenly, Rey arrived and used the Force to pull Luke's lightsaber into her hand. She then attacked Ren.

During this time, the thermal detonators went off in the base, allowing Poe to fly in and destroy the base's weak point 30 seconds before it drained the sun. This caused a chain reaction to go off, which destroyed the base and leveled the entire planet's terrain. Rey and Ren continued fighting, and Ren initially held the advantage. However, by calling on the Force, Rey was able to overpower Ren and deal him a severe wound while breaking his lightsaber. They were separated, however, due to a trench forming between them.

Rey returned to Finn and began to despair as Finn would not wake up and they were trapped on the rupturing planet. However, Chewbacca arrived with the Millenium Falcon to rescue them. Inside the main base, chaos abounded as General Hux had departed and there was no way for anyone to escape. Hux, meanwhile, reported to Snoke, who ordered him to rescue Ren and flee the Base.

The Millenium Falcon and the remainder of Black Squadron managed to escape Starkiller Base as it erupted into a ball of fire, and entered hyperspace to return to D'Qar.

The Resistance celebrated their victory over the First Order, although they mourned Han and the lost Black Squadron pilots. Finn was in critical condition, but had a heartbeat and was taken to medical attention.

During this time, R2-D2 returned from low power mode to reveal a map of the Galaxy to the Resistance. BB-8 then filled in the missing piece of the map, showing Luke Skywalker's location. Rey, accompanied by R2 and Chewbacca, then flew the Millennium Falcon to this location.