The Resistance headquarters, alternatively known as the D'Qar base or the Resistance base, functioned as the central hub for the Resistance on the Outer Rim world of D'Qar as they engaged in conflict with the First Order. Following the destruction that befell the Hosnian system, the base became the strategic center for planning the attack targeting Starkiller Base, which was the First Order's planet-sized superweapon. Regrettably, First Order forces soon obliterated it during the Battle of D'Qar.
Largely situated beneath the surface of D'Qar, the Resistance base only had its landing zones and antenna systems visible above ground. The base's interior featured a command center, along with numerous hangars, both above and below ground, which were used to house T-70 X-wing starfighters. A maintenance level, where damaged vehicles could undergo repairs, was located underneath the hangars. The base was surrounded by dense jungle vegetation, which aided in concealing the facility from both aerial and terrestrial sensors and masking potential energy emissions. Much of the base's equipment was designed to be portable, a requirement insisted upon by General Leia Organa because of her experiences during the Rebel Alliance's near annihilation on Hoth during the Battle of Hoth.
The revelation that Sith Lord Darth Vader was Senator Leia Organa's biological father twenty-four years after the New Republic was established had a significant impact on Organa's standing. Organa, convinced that a new danger threatened the galaxy, urged the Republic to launch an investigation, but her concerns regarding the Military Disarmament Act were disregarded as unfounded paranoia, and her warnings about the growing First Order were seen as warmongering. Left with no other recourse, she established the Resistance to fight the threat of another full-scale galactic war.
Needing a central location for operations, Organa recalled the abandoned Rebel Alliance outpost on D'Qar and dispatched engineers to enlarge the facility. For the next six years, the base served as the starting point for several missions and attacks against the First Order. In the thirtieth year after the Battle of Endor, the Resistance learned that the astromech droid, BB-8, who carried a map leading to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, was located on the Mid Rim planet Takodana.
The First Order, which had also received the same information, arrived on the planet within minutes and launched an assault on the castle where BB-8 was located. However, Resistance pilots soon arrived as well, and engaged the First Order's air and ground forces. The First Order captured the scavenger, Rey during the battle and then retreated, believing they had obtained their objective. After returning to the Resistance base, Finn, a First Order stormtrooper who had deserted, provided the Resistance with information on how to destroy Starkiller Base, the First Order's planet-sized superweapon, which had recently destroyed the Republic's capital, Hosnian Prime, and was now targeting D'Qar. After identifying the thermal oscillator as Starkiller Base's weak spot, the Resistance starfighter pilots began preparing their ships for combat, while Finn, Han Solo, and Chewbacca prepared Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. Arriving at Starkiller Base, Finn, Solo, and Chewbacca were successful in lowering Starkiller's shields, rescuing Rey, and creating an opening in its thermal oscillator, which allowed Poe Dameron, the leader of the Resistance starfighter corps, to enter and destroy it. With the superweapon destroyed, D'Qar and the Resistance base were protected from destruction.
Upon their return to base, R2-D2, who had been in a low-power state since Skywalker's disappearance, overheard Rey stating that the First Order had recovered most of the starchart that was taken from the Imperial archives, but they still needed the final piece to match the fragment BB-8 had. The droid immediately reactivated after being dormant for years, searched his records, and discovered that he had previously downloaded this map while aboard the first Death Star. R2-D2 projected the map into the room and matched it with the piece that BB-8 possessed, revealing the location of the first Jedi Temple, and thus Luke Skywalker. Following this discovery, R2-D2, Rey, and Chewbacca departed the base in the Millennium Falcon in search of the Jedi Master.
The Resistance personnel quickly scrambled to move personnel and equipment to the flagship Raddus in orbit, anticipating an attack by the First Order shortly thereafter. Under the direction of Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix, they were successful in completely clearing the base and evacuating just seconds before it was attacked and destroyed by the Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought Fulminatrix.
The Resistance hierarchy's upper echelons were primarily made up of Galactic Civil War veterans who had fought alongside Leia Organa in the Rebel Alliance. Among the high-ranking people were General Cypress, the commander of the Resistance ground forces, Major Taslin Brance, a communications officer who kept Organa informed about First Order activities, Major Caluan Ematt, a seasoned veteran of the Galactic Civil War, Admiral Statura, who fought against the Empire during the liberation of his home planet, Garel, and Admiral Gial Ackbar, a seasoned commander who participated in the Clone Wars and was essential to the Rebel Alliance's triumph over the Galactic Empire.
Poe Dameron served as the leader of Red and Blue Squadron, the Resistance's two starfighter squadrons, and was known by the callsign, Black Leader.
The Resistance base made its debut appearance in the Junior novels The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure and Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure, two books that were a component of Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a multimedia project consisting of at least twenty books and comics with content related to the film leading up to the 2015 Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. The scene was filmed at RAF Greenham Common, a former Royal Air Force base.