This episode aired December 9, 2018.
At the Colossus, Yeager is sitting in his office when Bucket rolls in, panicked. Yeager tells him not to worry, as he's let Kaz borrow the Fireball as he had no other choice. Tam's reaction, however, will be a different story and, right on cue, she walks in, visibly angry. Yeager reminds her that he still owns the ship, and she reveals there's another reason no one should be flying it: she was replacing the stabilizers and hadn't yet finished, meaning Kaz is going to be in trouble. Above Castilon, the prediction comes true as Kaz and BB-8, heading to their rendezvous with Poe Dameron, suffer from mechanical troubles. Fortunately, a Resistance corvette, accompanied by two X-wings, arrives just in time and tractor-beams the Fireball in. Poe promises he'll have some mechanics look at it, and is amazed that Kaz is flying such a decrepit vessel.
Onboard, Poe, accompanied by CB-23, greets BB-8 before telling Kaz that the boss wants to meet him, ushering the spy into a room where the one and only General Leia Organa is waiting, in person. Kaz is thrilled, and hands Leia the memory stick with the First Order's proposal to Captain Doza. Leia tells him that the intelligence he's sent in has helped the Resistance discover a course into the Unknown Regions, and assigns Poe the mission to see what's at those coordinates. As it's his mission, Poe invites Kaz along as his wingman. Leia very firmly orders Poe not to engage the First Order.
Both flying X-wings, Kaz and Poe arrive at the coordinates to discover an asteroid field, with buoys charting a course inward. Following the buoys inward, they discover a station built onto a large asteroid, which Poe notes is the largest facility he's seen the First Order build. CB-23 reports that there are no lifesigns or active droids, so Poe, despite Kaz's trepidation, decides they will land and investigate. Once inside, Poe does decide to err on the side of caution, and has CB-23, in his fighter, remote-pilot the other one and hide both ships in the asteroid field, to wait for a pickup. Poe gives Kaz a blaster and asks him if he's ever used one before, and Kaz says that he did simulation training in the military, which he was quite good at. This does not give Poe much confidence.
Exploring the station, BB-8 spots an inactive droid and gets apprehensive, before Kaz orders him to plug into a terminal. Before the terminal loses power, BB pulls up information that the station is slated for demolition, but not when the demolition is scheduled. The droid, which turns out to be for security, activates and attacks them. After Poe destroys it, Kaz thinks they may have set off an alarm, but Poe brushes off his concern. At Starkiller Base, Captain Phasma is alerted to intruders at Station Theta-Black, and orders Major Vonreg to gather his squadron and accompany her and the demolition crew.
As they head deeper into the station, searching for the control room, Kaz expresses concern that they could get lost. Poe is still unworried, wondering what the worst thing is that could happen. Just then, BB-8 receives a signal from CB-23, who has seen the First Order arrive. Poe comes to regret asking that question. Phasma, disembarking from the shuttle, is told by a stormtrooper that there appear to be no intruders, as there are no starships in the hangar. She orders him to stop with the theories, as she can tell there are two lifesigns inside from the intruders, and orders the troopers to search for them. Watching from above, Poe and Kaz see the stormtroopers carrying out explosives to plant onboard the station, and Poe suggests the First Order is trying to cover up whatever they were doing here. He orders BB-8 to find the control room, and he and Kaz follow the droid.
In the control room, Kaz finds data that the station is for mining, and that they were harvesting massive quantities of dedlanite. Poe tells him it's used in blasters, and orders BB-8 to copy the data. On their way out, they're cornered by stormtroopers, and Poe eventually blasts two sets of doors shut before he, Kaz and BB-8 head for the hangar. Poe contacts CB-23 and orders her to stand by for a pickup. Kaz gets separated from Poe and BB, and manages to trap two stormtroopers in a side room and blast the door shut. Poe, meanwhile, runs into Phasma, who came upstairs in response to the fighting, and ends up being chased by her. Eventually, all three Resistance members arrive on the catwalks in the main hangar. Kaz uses a crane to knock down a catwalk to get rid of Poe's pursuers, as Phasma hops down a huge stack of crates to the ground. After helping Poe up, Kaz tells him he owed him one, so it's nice he got to do the saving for once. As they are pursued by more stormtroopers, Poe orders CB to bring the X-Wings in, and he, Kaz and BB-8 hop in and escape.
However, Vonreg and his squadron are waiting. As Kaz and Poe are chased by the red-armoured pilot, Kaz recognizes him from the last time they fought. Poe shoots down some of the TIEs as they fly around the station. Phasma, departing on her shuttle, orders Vonreg to retreat as the explosives are about to go off. Poe and Kaz wonder why the First Order is leaving so abruptly, and get their answer when the station explodes. While trying to out-fly the fireball, Kaz, whose fighter was damaged earlier, realizes he won't be able to escape, and takes shelter behind an asteroid. Poe, concerned, flies back after the explosion dissipates, and when he doesn't get a response from either Kaz or BB-8 starts to think they're dead. He's incredibly relieved when he does get a response, and is impressed by Kaz's shelter idea.
Back on the corvette, Poe and Kaz report to General Organa. Poe points out that the dedlanite means the First Order is clearly building lots of weapons, but Kaz points out that if most of the New Republic senators are like his father, they won't take the evidence as proof of a First Order military buildup. Leia agrees, but tells him that the intel is highly useful to the Resistance. Kaz thanks her for the opportunity to be a part of her Resistance, and Leia tells him that the Resistance isn't hers. She guides it, certainly, but it belongs to everyone who is willing to take a stand. Kaz tells her that he thinks there are plenty of people who would be willing to help if they knew what was at stake, and Leia hopes that's true, before leaving.
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: BB-8 rolls over Kaz's foot while hurrying to tell Kaz and Poe about the First Order's arrival.
- Asteroid Thicket: Station Theta-Black is located in one of these.
- Brains and Brawn: Kaz's and Poe's dynamic. Poe is the combat-capable one of the two, both on the ground and in space, while Kaz is not a fighter and a less skilled pilot, but manages to figure out what the First Order is doing on the station, is Properly Paranoid, and takes out stormtroopers using misdirection and and nearby machinery. Best shown in the climax: while Poe manages to out manuever the asteroids to escape, Kaz realizes that he's not skilled enough, so he quickly improvises and uses a nearby asteroid to weather the blast.
- Call-Back:
- Kaz gives Leia the copy of the First Order's proposal to Captain Doza he ripped last episode.
- BB-8 and CB-23 are still getting along after the events of "Signal from Sector Six".
- Kaz uses machinery to take out a catwalk.
- Kaz recognizes Major Vonreg's fighter from the last time he and Poe fought him.
- This is not the first time that outrunning a fireball and jumping to hyperspace has been complicated by asteroids or debris in the way.
- Call-Forward: Station Theta-Black was mining massive amounts of dedlanite, a material used in blasters... or maybe superweapons.
- Continuity Nod: When Poe introduces Kaz to Leia, he notes that she should remember him from when Kaz intruded on a private briefing in "The Recruit".
- Dramatic Irony: Poe describes Station Theta-Black as the largest First Order facility he's ever heard of. To drive the point home, an establishing shot of the much larger Starkiller Base is shown before Phasma views the alarm set off at the mining facility.
- The intel they deliver suggests that the First Order is building weapons, lots of weapons. No. They built one very, very big weapon.
- Exact Words: CB-23, scanning the station, reports that there are no life signs or active droids. Inside, Kaz and Poe trigger the activation of a security droid, the destruction of which triggers an alarm informing the First Order that there are intruders present.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Yeager knows that Tam is going to be upset that he loaned Kaz the Fireball because she's possessive of the ship. It turns out that in this case, Tam has another reason not to want anyone to fly the ship: she was working on replacing its stabilizers and hadn't finished, meaning the ship's not going to get very far.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Yeager and Bucket at the beginning, when Tam reveals that she had been replacing the Fireball's stabilizers and hadn't finished the job, meaning that Kaz and BB-8 are going to be in trouble. Kaz then gets this himself when the Fireball begins having mechanical troubles while he's in space.
- Kaz and Poe, when the First Order arrives, and later when they're cornered by stormtroopers.
- Only Sane Man: Phasma among the First Order officers. She's the only one to take the threat of someone aboard the asteroid seriously, and rather than take on a prolonged dogfight like Vonreg wants, decides to just set off the station while Kaz and Poe are in the blast radius and asteroids are keeping them from a hyperspace jump.
- Outrun the Fireball: Kaz and Poe have to do this in their X-wings when Station Theta-Black is demolished by the First Order. Kaz ends up taking shelter behind an asteroid to weather the blast, causing Poe to briefly think he's dead.
- Properly Paranoid: Kaz is constantly worried that the First Order might show up, but Poe brushes off his concerns. After Kaz suggests that they might have set off an alarm by destroying a security droid, it's revealed that they did, and Kaz's concerns were correct.
- So Much for Stealth: Poe is very sternly reminded not to engage the First Order should he encounter them on Theta-Black. When he shoots and destroys a security guard, Kaz remarks "so much for that", to which Poe argues that droids don't count. The droid's destruction alerts the First Order, however; after encountering them in a corridor, Poe tries to stick to the "do not engage" order but is eventually forced to throw it out the window.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Kaz did get marksmanship training at the academy, but he's never had to use it in actual combat. When combat actually starts up, he's too freaked out to aim properly, and has to rely on his wits and the environment to take out enemies.
- A lot of the shooting in this episode is done while both parties are running full tilt... and thus, almost no one gets a hit on either side. The only times Poe manages to shoot someone are when both he and the target are relatively stationary, and he can't stay that way for long since it opens him up to attack.
- Tempting Fate: Poe does this quite a bit.
- After destroying the security droid, Poe reassures Kaz that he won't have set off any alarms by doing so. Cut to Starkiller Base, where there is, in fact, an alarm going off.
- While wandering the station, Kaz suggests to Poe that they might get lost in the huge facility. Poe responds by telling him he worries too much, and that nothing worse is going to happen. BB-8 then relays the news from CB-23 that the First Order has arrived.
