The Resistance fighters run towards the ships in the hangar, but their former allies step in front of them. One soldier says, “Don’t resist. We don’t want to hurt you.”
Finn replies, “Hey, let’s talk this through. I can prove that-”
“But you’re an exception!” The soldier points his gun at Finn, but Merilia fires first and shoots his hand. The soldiers make their way through the hangar, and several jump in starfighters, and take off. Everyone becomes separated.
“AFTER THEM!” Citho yells into the microphone. Resistance fighters head into their starfighters, and chase after their former allies. Inside, the starfighters fire at one another, destroying the infrastructure around them.
Finn runs towards a ship, but before he can get near, someone steps in between. Rose is pointing a blaster at him.
“Rose,” Finn softly says. “Rose, I’m sorry.”
“Why, Finn, why? I thought I could trust you. How could you use me like that?”
“Rose, the Resistance and the First Order are fighting a fake war! The real enemy is whoever is pulling the strings! Come with me and I’ll have time explain!”
Rose shakes her head, “I don’t believe you. You lied to me once. Why would I ever trust you again?” She hits a trigger on her blaster, and it whirls, preparing to fire. Finn shuts his eyes.
Suddenly, there is a rumbling. The roofing of the dome begins to fall, making Rose lose her balance and aim; the blaster fires onto a wall behind Finn. Rose and Finn run out of the way. Finn looks back, and sees that his path to the ships is blocked. He has to find an alternate route.
Finn crawls into an escape duct, and tries to find his way through the maze. Just then, he bumps into someone. It’s Poe. They crawl and talk together.
“Poe, I thought you got to a starfighter!”
“I wish! If I did we’d be outta here already!”
“Okay, so what’s the plan now?”
“One word: HQ-7.”
“Again? AGAIN? Poe, I think it’s time for you to come clean.”
“What?”
“You just miss BB-8 and are just using HQ-7 to fill whatever hole he left behind!”
Poe pauses for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
They emerge on the other side, but just then, guns point at them. They look up, and see Riff and Jim.
“So it was you who impersonated me!” Riff yells at Finn angrily.
“Look, it was just a one time thing.”
But then, other Resistance fighters run into the picture, and see the two and their dopplegangers.
“Hey!” Poe yells at them, “Little bit of help, guys? This Poe guy is getting on my nerves!”
“Y-yeah! Finn too!” Finn follows through.
Jim rolls his eyes. “Seriously, guys? I’M Jim. How the hell does anyone even think we look alike?” There is silence, as everyone, even Riff, agrees that it’s hard to tell.
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“Damn it,” a Resistance soldier exclaims. “This is why I asked them to give us name tags.”
They go back and forth, asking each one different questions, but still can’t make up their mind. Finally, one Resistance soldier yells, “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” and Finn shuts his eyes. He hears blasters go off, and when he opens his eyes again, Jim and Riff are lying on the ground. Finn and Poe quickly shoot at the Resistance fighters and knock them out.
Poe kneels down on the ground, trying to wake Jim and Riff up. He rocks Jim back and forth. “Fake Poe! Fake Finn! Nooooooo!”
Finn shakes his head and remarks, “They gave their lives for the cause...”
Just then, they hear footsteps, and take off again. Poe manages to find HQ-7. Other former Resistance fighters join them, too.
“HQ-7! You came!” Poe exclaims.
“What? I thought you admitted he was just sitting in for BB-8!”
“Well, he is kinda useful in his own way.”
Finn sighs. HQ-7 opens a door to a secret room, and a long escape ship is there. It is like a long raft boat, with a windowed covering on top. They all get in with HQ-7. But there’s no steering stick or pilot controls.
“How do we pilot this thing?” Finn asks.
“We don’t. Only a droid can.”
Suddenly, the room is rocked. The escape pod is thrust out into space, and then, it slows down to nearly a halt. The former Resistance fighters gaze in awe as they see starfighters tussling with their former allies. The Resistance starfighters spot the accused traitors, and descend upon them.
“HQ-7, punch it!” Poe shouts.
HQ-7 beeps and punches it, and the ship booms with a dramatic flare. But the scene pans out to show a wider view of the space battle. The escape ship is now only moving slightly faster.
“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Finn shouts.
In the nick of time, something else shoots at the Resistance starfighters, and they spin out in space. The Millennium Falcon swoops downwards, and Chewbacca roars.
“YEAH!” Finn yells out. But before he can say anything else, there’s a sudden explosion, and the escape pod is pushed back into the Resistance base, crashing into one of the rooms.
KYLO finds himself back in the First Order base. He is paralyzed and in pain. Hailden stands still, deep in thought. Serei immediately says, “We were gonna lose this whole time? If I’m not getting my own castle, I’m outta here!”
Kylo mutters, “At any moment, their spies will find a way to turn the First Order on us. We have to move fast.”
Kylo and Serei walk to the exit of the room, but Hailden doesn’t budge. Serei raises her brow and asks him, “Hey, are you coming or not?”
Hailden, now broken out of his thoughts, replies, “Yes. I now know what I must do.”
FINN wakes up, coughing. The escape ship has crashed into the base, and is in a dangerous inferno. As he regains his vision, he sees people putting on emergency spacesuits and jumping out of the ship, back towards the Resistance base. He does the same.
When he gets back on, he meets up with Poe and HQ-7, and they start running again.
“What now? Still HQ-7?” Finn asks.
“Merilia’s got a different plan.”
“Oh thank the Whills.”
“Poe!,” Merilia shouts through Poe’s transmitter, “Gather everyone still on the base and head towards 2347-c!”
They run into another corridor, but it is far more heavily guarded than before. Resistance fighters start firing, and they shoot back. But they’re outnumbered.
“We gotta go the other way!”
They head towards a different direction, chased by a ton of Resistance fighters, and are nearly approaching the hangar door.
“They’re onto us, we can’t make it!”
But as they approach the hangar entrance, the doors begin to open. And when Finn sees who emerges, he is stunned.
“FN-2187,” the emerging, armored soldier says chillingly.
“Phasma,” Finn says, glaring.
Phasma is carrying an astronomically large gun, and aims it forwards. This is it, Finn thinks. All this, just to be killed by my dead former boss.
She fires, and when Finn looks around, the former Resistance fighters are unscathed. But the ones who were chasing them are not.
Finn looks at her with bewilderment. But just then, Merilia runs past him, and sees Phasma. She nods at her, and Phasma nods back. Merilia looks at Finn, who is frozen in place, and gestures at him to move. “Come on!”
As Finn is running, he shouts to Merilia, “You two know each other?”
“That’s my associate. Like I said, she owes me one.”
“Man, if Phasma owes you something, I don’t wanna ask any more questions.” He thinks to himself: Merilia must got some dirt or blackmail on her.
Phasma starts firing behind them, keeping the rear of the pack secure, and the former Resistance fighters run onto the ships to board them. After they get on, Phasma says to Merilia, “I found a technical defect on sector G during recon. Their firepower is much weaker if we fly by it.”
Merilia declares, “Great, then let’s blow past it and get outta here!”