During the time of the Cold War, a rescue operation was undertaken by the Resistance to extract the explorer Lor San Tekka. This mission took place within the Great Forveen Nebula after he was abandoned in the nebula by Terex, a former agent of the First Order.
In 32 ABY, the Resistance, a paramilitary organization, initiated a search for the explorer Lor San Tekka. He possessed a fragment of a holographic map pointing towards the location of the missing Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, who could potentially aid them in their fight against the First Order, a fascist military government that was their adversary.
By 34 ABY, the First Order had captured Lor San Tekka; however, Terex, the agent responsible for his capture, defected and revealed the explorer's location to both the First Order and the Resistance, showing indifference to the outcome.
Terex stranded San Tekka in the Great Forveen Nebula, equipping him with a spacesuit. The Resistance deployed Black Squadron, an X-wing squadron, along with a Resistance transport to retrieve the explorer. Simultaneously, the First Order dispatched a light cruiser accompanied by TIE/fo space superiority fighters and TIE/sf space superiority fighters. While the two sides engaged in combat, San Tekka activated his suit recorder, delivering a monologue about his life, the Force, and his belief that either side could emerge victorious.
Commander Poe Dameron, leader of Black Squadron, instructed his squad to prevent the TIEs from approaching the shuttle, which was preparing to deploy a team of Resistance troopers to secure San Tekka. Initially, the Resistance struggled to pinpoint San Tekka's location due to interference from the nebula. However, Jessika Pava, a member of Black Squadron, reminded her astromech droid Ivee that Terex had mentioned the explorer's suit had a transponder. As Black Squadron eliminated several TIEs, the Resistance shuttle detected Lor San Tekka on its scanners and dispatched Resistance troopers to retrieve him. Tragically, the shuttle was quickly destroyed by TIE fighters, leaving the Resistance troops adrift in space. In retaliation, Temmin Wexley and Karé Kun, members of Black Squadron, shot down three TIEs. Subsequently, the First Order deployed four jetpack stormtroopers to bring San Tekka to the light cruiser.
As the stormtroopers transported San Tekka towards their cruiser, Dameron determined that firing at them was too risky, as San Tekka could be caught in the crossfire. Instead, he directed his pilots to target the light cruiser, rather than the stormtroopers, effectively cutting off the troopers' escape route. Dameron informed his squadmates about a vulnerability in the First Order light cruiser's design, where the power conduit was positioned too close to the hull. Black Squadron exploited this weakness, launching an assault on the light cruiser. The squadron successfully struck the conduit, but Jessika Pava, a pilot, was hit by one of the cruiser's turrets during the attack. The cruiser also managed to launch a missile at Pava's X-wing starfighter before being disabled.
Before the missile could hit her X-wing, Ivee, Pava's astromech droid, ejected from its slot in the X-wing and sacrificed itself, colliding with the missile and preventing it from hitting the X-wing. The Resistance troopers then eliminated the stormtroopers and secured San Tekka. Dameron requested another shuttle for the troopers and San Tekka. All Resistance forces then returned to their base on D'Qar.
General Leia Organa, the leader of the Resistance, expressed her delight at finally meeting Lor San Tekka. San Tekka inquired about how he could assist her. Leia revealed that the Resistance was searching for her brother, Luke Skywalker. San Tekka was unsurprised that the Skywalkers were once again at the center of a war. Lor admitted that while he didn't know Skywalker's exact location, he had his suspicions. Lor suggested that if Leia provided him with a ship, he might be able to locate her brother, to which she agreed. Leia explained that the Resistance had found him just in time, as the First Order was becoming increasingly overt in its intentions, and the Resistance had already suffered numerous battles and losses.
The rescue mission is depicted in the 2018 comic book Poe Dameron 25.