Occupation of the Colossus

To gear up for their impending war against the rest of the galaxy, especially the New Republic, the First Order took an interest in the Colossus. This aging supertanker fuel depot, located on Castilon, was seen as a potentially useful staging ground due to its strategic position. Knowing that Captain Imanuel Doza, the platform's owner, was hesitant to relinquish control and harbored distrust towards them, the First Order employed the Warbird gang, led by Kragan Gorr. The goal was to orchestrate repeated raids on the platform, creating a perceived threat from which the First Order could offer protection.

Simultaneously, the Resistance caught wind of the First Order's interest. Suspecting the presence of a spy on the platform, they dispatched Kazuda Xiono, a newly recruited operative, on a mission to uncover the First Order's intentions. Accompanied by the astromech droid BB-8, Xiono secured a cover as a mechanic at Jarek Yeager's repair shop, becoming a member of Team Fireball.

In the months that followed Xiono's arrival, the Warbirds launched multiple attacks on the platform. The Ace Squadron, along with residents including Xiono, defended against these assaults. Unbeknownst to them, the pirates were secretly connected to the First Order. In fact, Xiono inadvertently aided the pirates when he and Poe Dameron rescued Synara San, one of the pirates, from a derelict freighter. This allowed her to infiltrate the platform as a spy. Eventually, following a particularly damaging attack, Doza, despite his reservations about the First Order, reluctantly considered their offer.

However, Captain Phasma and Commander Pyre felt Doza's deliberation was taking too long, and they devised an alternate plan. When Gorr, dissatisfied with the unexpectedly high losses, demanded triple payment, Pyre agreed and instructed Gorr to kidnap Torra, Captain Doza's daughter, to force him to accept a permanent First Order presence. Through San, pirates Valik and Drell infiltrated the platform one night and entered Doza Tower, where they abducted Torra. However, San, having grown conflicted after befriending Colossus residents like Xiono, informed him about the kidnapping when he encountered her while searching for her. Xiono and the Aces pursued Torra, arriving at Gorr's ship, the Galleon, just in time to witness Torra's "rescue" by the First Order's Major Elrik Vonreg. Torra was returned to the platform aboard Vonreg's Upsilon-class command shuttle.

As the First Order anticipated, the staged kidnapping served as the final impetus for Captain Doza to reluctantly permit a stormtrooper detachment on the Colossus. However, Doza stipulated that the troops must leave as soon as the pirate threat was eliminated. The stormtroopers, along with arriving TIE fighters, enforced a curfew and frequently demanded identification from residents. Despite these oppressive measures, most residents remained largely unconcerned, having been deceived by the First Order's "rescue" of Torra and believing the troopers were there to maintain security at Captain Doza's request. However, as the number of stormtroopers and TIE fighters increased and freedoms were increasingly restricted, many residents grew dissatisfied or openly hostile towards the First Order's presence.

Doza, however, was unhappy with reports of stormtroopers disregarding the platform's laws, but he was powerless to remove them given their supposed role in rescuing his daughter, as well as the manufactured pirate threat. Xiono wanted to notify Dameron and the Resistance about the occupation, but Yeager cautioned him that doing so might expose his cover, as the First Order was likely monitoring all off-world communications. He advised Xiono to wait for Dameron to contact him instead.

The detachment's primary objective was to identify and capture Synara San, the Warbirds' spy, who could reveal the pirate gang's previous arrangements with the First Order to Captain Doza. However, Xiono, who had befriended San and suspected she was a spy after Torra's kidnapping, decided to help her escape. With the help of BB-8 and Neeku Vozo, Xiono assisted San in fleeing the Colossus via the last remaining escape pod on one of the underwater levels. Xiono and Vozo avoided detection by the First Order, but Xiono was already under suspicion for being seen near Doza Tower with San the night of the kidnapping, so he had to remain cautious.

In preparation for the arrival of a full garrison on the platform, troops began cataloging all residents of the Colossus. During a search, trooper CS-515 overheard two children, Kel and Eila, hiding on the platform as fugitives from the First Order, laughing while fishing for snarlfish. When he tried to apprehend them, the siblings knocked him unconscious in self-defense, hid him in a closet, and sought Xiono's help. Xiono disguised himself as the stormtrooper to determine if CS-515 had reported the children's presence to any other First Order personnel.

Through his investigation, Xiono learned that the trooper hadn't had the chance to do so, and discovered that once the garrison arrived, the First Order intended to arrest all Colossus residents who refused to support them. Xiono was nearly exposed after giving Pyre and Sergeant CS-812 the impression that something was wrong with CS-515's mental conditioning, but he managed to switch the trooper back before he could be captured, leading the dazed trooper to be taken away for a "brain scrub." Xiono later showed Yeager and BB-8 a data rod he stole from the First Order shuttle, containing a galactic map marked with red dots that Yeager suspected were First Order fleets. This led him to believe that the First Order wanted the Colossus as a military supply station to refuel their fleet for the impending war.

While the occupation was ongoing, Commander Dameron secretly boarded the Colossus to retrieve BB-8, as they had been assigned a mission to Jakku by General Leia Organa. He brought CB-23 as a replacement. Xiono, Dameron, and BB-8 slipped off the platform in the Fireball using a Widowmaker maneuver and investigated the desolate Dassal system, where the First Order had been active. Before parting ways, Xiono returned to the Colossus with CB-23. When his coworkers Vozo and Tamara Ryvora inquired about the new droid, Xiono claimed he had left BB-8 on Takodana for repairs and that CB-23 was a temporary replacement. However, Ryvora was suspicious, as the Colossus had been locked down by the First Order, which made her question how Xiono had left the platform unseen in the first place.

With Phasma's reinforcements arriving daily, Commander Pyre persuaded Captain Doza to suspend the platform races, ostensibly due to security concerns, but in reality, it was to eliminate the Aces as an independent entity outside First Order control and as a potential threat. The Aces, already uneasy and feeling increasingly marginalized due to the First Order taking over their aerial security roles, were outraged at losing the one thing they still had on the platform. Hype Fazon was particularly upset, attempting to take his ship out for a spin only to find stormtroopers installing a gravity lock, grounding him. Fazon was soon detained by the stormtroopers, who had noted his previous hostility towards the First Order. His disappearance worried Torra, who shared her concerns with Xiono, Ryvora, and Vozo.

Overhearing their conversation, Aunt Z voiced her suspicion that the First Order was responsible for Fazon's disappearance and was likely abducting anyone who spoke against them. A First Order BB unit overheard this and alerted two stormtroopers, suggesting the group was spreading conspiracy theories. Ryvora directly asked the stormtroopers about Fazon's whereabouts, and they falsely claimed he had left the platform, which Ryvora accepted without question. The troopers suggested the youngsters join the First Order, prompting Aunt Z to throw their propaganda poster projector at them and order them to leave and find recruits elsewhere.

Finding the troopers' story suspicious, Torra and Xiono infiltrated Fazon's hangar and found his ship still there, confirming the stormtroopers were lying. They returned to Aunt Z's to find the tavern managed solely by G1-7CH, who claimed his master had disappeared, allowing the First Order to put up as many propaganda posters as they wanted. They ran to Yeager's repairs, where Xiono interrupted Yeager talking with Captain Doza. Doza admitted he knew the First Order was quietly abducting platform citizens who defied them and holding them on the west docks awaiting transport off-world, but he couldn't openly defy them without endangering his constituents.

While Yeager and Doza planned to disable the First Order communication blanket to contact the Resistance for aid in pushing the First Order off the platform, Xiono and Torra refused to wait and went to rescue the prisoners. They freed the prisoners and commandeered the First Order transport so the stormtroopers wouldn't know of their escape and tear the platform apart looking for them. Aunt Z and Fazon left for Takodana, where Aunt Z had a friend. The other freed prisoners, Grevel and Nod, chose to stay on the Colossus.

However, when Xiono and CB-23 returned to Yeager's repair shop, they found the rest of Team Fireball under arrest by Pyre and a squad of stormtroopers. Pyre told them that the Fireball had been reported in use by Resistance spies trespassing in the First Order-controlled Sector Epsilon 51-3, and Yeager denounced the claim as false. Ryvora, who didn't believe the First Order was a threat, thought the incident must have been a misunderstanding, but Xiono and Yeager didn't deny it. Yeager's droid R1-J5, also known as "Bucket," who had been in the back of the garage when Pyre's troops arrived, was signaled by Yeager when Bucket saw the others were in danger. The astromech promptly shoved aside a crate and released a cloud of smoke, blinding the stormtroopers and allowing the members of Team Fireball to retreat to Yeager's office. Xiono, Yeager, Vozo, and CB-23 made it to the office, but Bucket was shot by a stormtrooper and fell into the ocean, while Ryvora, believing the situation was a misunderstanding and the First Order could be reasoned with, didn't run and was captured. Yeager sealed the door to his office and led Xiono, Vozo, and CB-23 out through his private hangar into the maintenance tunnels.

The damaged Bucket was retrieved in fishing nets spread by Chelidae maintenance workers and brought to the engineering room for repairs. Pyre ordered Ryvora brought to Doza Tower and insinuated to her that her friends had intentionally left her behind to take the fall for their activities. Ryvora was to be interrogated by Agent Tierny of the First Order Security Bureau, who was en route to the Colossus. While in the maintenance corridors, in response to Vozo's confusion about why they were being pursued by First Order troops, Xiono admitted he was a spy. The literal-minded Nikto misinterpreted the statement as a poorly-timed joke. Eventually, Yeager, Xiono, and Vozo's emotionally-charged conversation became loud enough that stormtroopers overheard them and gave chase. Fortunately, Eila, Kel, and the Chelidae also overheard them and rescued Yeager, Vozo, Xiono, and CB-23 when they had been cornered by opening a trapdoor beneath them. They were reunited with Bucket in engineering.

When Captain Doza heard of the hunt for Team Fireball and the impending arrival of Tierny, he was taken aback, as was Torra. Pyre and Doza met Tierny when she disembarked from her shuttle and brought her to Doza's office. When Ryvora was brought in wearing binders, Tierny was welcoming to her, ordering her uncuffed and immediately taking her to the Aces' Lounge to talk. When Tierny revealed to Ryvora that Xiono was not, as Ryvora had assumed, a poor kid from Coruscant but a wealthy former New Republic fighter pilot from Hosnian Prime, the mechanic was surprised and felt betrayed by the deception.

In engineering, Xiono made it clear that they had to establish contact with the main Resistance. Yeager agreed but pointed out that that would only be possible if the First Order's jammer on Doza Tower was taken down, and it would be no easy feat to get to the top of the station from their location at its bottom. This led Xiono to come up with a bold plan: sink the Colossus so that only the very top of Doza Tower, where the jammer was, would be above the water, making accessing the jammer a simple matter of swimming up from the bottom of the station. Yeager considered the idea crazy but knew they had few other options.

Xiono sent CB-23 up to Doza Tower to inform Captain Doza of his intentions, which she did by ambushing a First Order ball droid and stealing the tray it was delivering, making it look like she had official business up there. Doza, upon being informed of Xiono's idea, was taken aback, but his daughter Torra thought it sounded like fun. CB-23 returned to engineering with Doza's permission for Xiono to carry out the plan, although Doza warned Xiono that he would be in trouble with him if the Colossus was damaged in the process. Xiono, Yeager, and the Chelidae shut down power to the Colossus' turbines, causing the station to sink in a fashion that initially appeared accidental. However, Pyre and Tierny found the timing highly suspicious. Once the platform had settled, Xiono and Yeager donned breath masks and swam up to the tower, pulled by CB-23. When they reached the transmitter, which was just above the water line, it took them some time before Yeager located and removed the circuit controlling the jamming signal. Inside the tower, this was noticed. Doza suggested the cause was water damage, but Tierny noted that the transmitter was above water, causing Pyre to lead a squad of troopers out to deal with the situation. Xiono managed to send a message to the Resistance before the troopers arrived, and Yeager held off Pyre and his soldiers long enough for CB-23 to download the reply before pushing Xiono into the water, allowing himself to be captured so Xiono and CB-23 could escape.

When Xiono and CB-23 returned to engineering with the message, it was only upon seeing it that Vozo realized Xiono had never been joking about being a spy. The message, however, was not what they'd hoped to hear: General Organa regretfully told Xiono that the Resistance had no ships to spare to help the Colossus. She included the coordinates of their next base, however, and advised Xiono to join them if he could, before signing off with a message that Xiono wasn't alone, as there were people fighting tyranny across the galaxy. After seeing the message, Vozo, Kel, and Eila were demoralized, but Xiono reaffirmed that they were not alone, that they were all the Resistance, and that they would rescue their friends and take back the Colossus.

After his capture, Yeager attempted to deflect blame from Xiono by making a false confession that he had been the Resistance spy all along and had been responsible for all of Xiono's activities, claiming he had recruited Xiono in the first place. He also claimed to have been the pilot who flew the Fireball into Sector Epsilon 51-3. However, Agent Tierny, who already believed Yeager to be a Resistance spy, used a recording of the confession to turn Ryvora to her side by making her think it was the truth. Ryvora correctly guessed that the "confession" was a lie after seeing it, but as Yeager was not there to defend himself and Tierny was a skilled manipulator, she was able to convince the politically-naïve mechanic that Yeager and Xiono were manipulative liars who had only been using her the entire time.

Doza, upon hearing that Yeager had been arrested, confronted Commander Pyre, who had ordered all residents to stay in their homes while First Order personnel worked to raise the platform again. The captain, having come to have suspicions about the First Order's actions, accused Pyre of the Order having forced their way onto the platform through fear and intimidation. Pyre countered that they had been invited onboard, but Doza pointed out this was unlikely to sway the New Republic Senate.

Pyre used this as an opportunity to suggest that while the New Republic's authority couldn't reach them, their influence could certainly reach the New Republic. He then gave the order to arrest Doza for his defiance. Additionally, Pyre commanded the apprehension of Ace Squadron. In response to Doza's instructions, 4D-M1N launched an assault on the other stormtroopers present in the office, eliminating them all. However, Pyre swiftly neutralized the droid before she could pose a threat to him, dismissively labeling her efforts as "pathetic." As stormtroopers escorted Doza away, he warned Pyre that the First Order would face consequences for their actions, a statement that failed to unsettle the commander. Unbeknownst to both Doza and Pyre, Doza's daughter, Torra, was observing the events unfold.

Following Yeager's capture, Xiono stepped up to assume leadership of the newly established Colossus resistance movement. Despite acknowledging the Resistance's inability to provide reinforcements, Xiono pledged to liberate Yeager and Ryvora from the clutches of the First Order. During his initial attempt, Kaz and CB-23 endeavored to ascend from the engineering deck towards Doza Tower by swimming. However, their presence was detected by a duo of First Order SCUBA troopers, who pursued them into the submerged corridors situated beneath the engineering deck. Kaz and CB-23 narrowly evaded capture thanks to Vozo's intervention, who pressurized the corridor, effectively expelling the troopers out into the open sea.

With the underwater route rendered impassable, Xiono and CB-23 were compelled to navigate through the corridors towards Doza Tower, carefully evading stormtrooper patrols along their path. Meanwhile, Vozo, Kel, and Eila made a significant discovery: the control room where they were stationed housed a functional Class 2 hyperdrive. After a discussion involving Flix and Orka, Xiono encountered Torra's beloved voorpak, Buggles, dispatched by Torra herself to locate Xiono. Simultaneously, Vozo informed Xiono of his hyperdrive revelation. Xiono then entrusted Neeku with the task of devising a method to propel the Colossus into the vast expanse of space.

Concurrently, Yeager encountered a disillusioned Ryvora, who criticized him for his deception regarding Xiono. Yeager attempted to caution his former mechanic against placing trust in the First Order, but Ryvora retorted that Yeager's concealment of Xiono's identity as a Resistance operative had endangered everyone. Yeager found himself confined to the same cell as Captain Doza. Having successfully created discord between Ryvora and her former allies, Agent Tierny extended an offer to Ryvora: a position as a pilot within the ranks of the First Order.

While traversing the labyrinthine corridors of the Colossus, Xiono, CB-23, and Buggles were reunited with Torra, who conveyed the news of Yeager and her father's capture. Their presence was detected by the First Order BB unit MB-13A, which attempted to trigger an alarm. CB-23 engaged in a struggle with MB-13A, ultimately sending the droid plummeting down an elevator shaft. After successfully avoiding a stormtrooper patrol, the pair gained entry into Doza Tower, now completely under the control of the First Order.

After incapacitating and confining a stormtrooper sentry within a storage closet, Xiono and Torra observed a group of stormtroopers watching a holographic transmission from General Armitage Hux, the supreme commander of the First Order's military forces. Hux delivered a passionate address condemning both the New Republic and the Resistance, before unleashing Starkiller Base's destructive phantom energy upon the Hosnian system.

Although Xiono was devastated by the loss of his homeworld, along with his family and friends, Torra implored him to persevere with their mission to secure the release of Yeager and her father. Xiono, Torra, and CB-23 successfully reached the detention block, where they managed to liberate Yeager and Captain Doza. After briefing the two on Xiono's scheme to launch the Colossus into space, they incapacitated a pair of stormtroopers who had returned to the cell to conduct a prisoner check.

Collaborating with Vozo and his team, Xiono and Torra facilitated the release of water from the external corridors while simultaneously flushing stormtroopers out into the surrounding sea. Numerous stormtroopers met their demise by drowning, while others fell prey to sharvo fish. Reacting to the loss of stormtroopers aboard the Colossus, Agent Tierny proposed summoning reinforcements to secure the station and evacuating Ryvora off-world.

Shortly thereafter, Yeager and Captain Doza reclaimed Doza's office, which had been abandoned by the First Order. While Doza took control of the station's systems, Yeager ventured to the landing pad in an attempt to dissuade Ryvora from aligning herself with the First Order. He was joined by Xiono, Torra, and CB-23, who sought to appeal to Ryvora from the tower's summit. However, Ryvora remained resentful towards Xiono and Torra for their past secrecy and chose to accompany the First Order. Consequently, Yeager, Xiono, and Torra found themselves surrounded by stormtroopers.

Simultaneously, Vozo and his team activated the Colossus' hyperdrive, causing the station to ascend from the depths of the ocean. Yeager, Xiono, Torra, and CB-23 seized the opportunity presented by the ensuing chaos to engage the First Order stormtroopers in combat. CB-23 also discharged oil, causing the stormtroopers to lose their footing and tumble off the platform onto the landing pad below. Amidst the intense firefight, Ryvora made her escape aboard an Upsilon-class command shuttle alongside Pyre and Tierny.

As the Colossus soared into the skies above Castilon, Captain Doza released the imprisoned Aces, who swiftly made their way to their racers. Yeager and Xiono, accompanied by their respective droids, Bucket and CB-23, joined them, also rushing to their designated ships. The Aces, Yeager, and Xiono engaged in aerial combat with First Order TIE fighters. They received assistance from Hype Fazon and Aunt Z (who piloted a stolen Atmospheric Assault Lander) and the Warbirds, who utilized their sail barge, the Galleon, to strafe the TIE fighters.

In response, the First Order deployed a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer known as the Thunderer, which commenced a bombardment of the Colossus. Yeager and Xiono also faced off against First Order ace Major Elrik Vonreg, who piloted his own personal starfighter. Following an extended pursuit, Xiono successfully shot down and destroyed Vonreg's fighter, resulting in the ace's demise. After the fighters returned to the Colossus, the space station successfully jumped into hyperspace.

Using the coordinates provided by Xiono, Vozo intended to guide the Colossus to D'Qar, where the Resistance maintained a base. However, he lacked the time to input all the necessary coordinates. Vozo delivered the news to Xiono and his companions, who were recuperating in the hangar bay. While disheartened, Xiono reassured Neeku that regardless of their destination, they would face it together. The group then collectively watched the hyperspace tunnel unfold before them. The departure of the Colossus denied the First Order a crucial supply route for their fleets, hindering their planned invasion of the known galaxy.

The First Order's occupation of the Colossus was initially depicted in the Star Wars Resistance episode titled "The First Order Occupation," which premiered on February 3, 2019. This occupation serves as the central conflict for the remaining portion of the series' first season, culminating in the finale, "No Escape: Part 2," which aired on March 17, 2019.