Strike at Pressy ' s Tumble Thirty years after the Battle of Endor , the miners at a First Order – owned mining colony in Pressy ' s Tumble staged a strike to protest the harsh living and working conditions there . Claiming that the New Republic had stirred dissent and chaos among the miners , Captain Phasma led a contingent of stormtroopers to the mining colony and executed the negotiators . FN - 2187 was present at the strike but did not open fire on the negotiators , leading Phasma to give him another chance to prove himself on Jakku . Prelude . About thirty years after the Battle of Endor , the First Order established a refinery complex in the Pressy ' s Tumble asteroid field in the Pressylla system . Pressy ' s Tumble was an artificial asteroid that had been created when a enterprising mining engineered exploded an ore - rich moon in order to facilitate the extraction of the ores . The refinery complex was based in the largest of these asteroid fragments and was connected to the Imperial remnant ' s efforts to restore Imperial rule to the galaxy . To operate the mine , the First Order employed a large number of civilian miner s . Most of these miners were from various alien species including Talz , Gran s , Rodian s , Abednedos , and Narquois . The miners endured harsh and dangerous working conditions with many suffering injuries from the extraction of ores . They were also malnourished and many were in poor health . To protest their harsh working and living conditions , the miners staged a strike . The First Order dismissed the miners ' grievances and decided to send stormtroopers to " restore order " at Pressy ' s Tumble . Captain Phasma told the stormtroopers of FN Corps that New Republic agent s had infiltrated the mining operations and were sabotaging equipment and creating dissent among the miners . Rather than address the miners ' grievances , the stormtrooper ' s mission was to end the strike , get the miners back on schedule , and to prevent any further delays . Breaking the strike . For this law and order operation , the First Order deployed four teams of stormtroopers including three fire - teams . One of the stormtroopers who participated in this operation was FN - 2187 ( " Eight - Seven " ) , who would later defect and join the Resistance . He was accompanied by his comrades FN - 2000 ( " Zeroes " ) , FN - 2199 ( " Nines " ) , and FN - 2003 ( " Slip " ) . While all of the stormtroopers carried live ammunition and grenade s , one of the fire - teams was equipped with shock staffs and neurocage net s ; weapons that were designed for crowd control . Upon landing in the refinery , the stormtroopers encountered no resistance . After completing a sweep , a sergeant ordered FN - 2187 to take his fire - team up to the entrance of the landing bay and guard their transport shuttle s . As they entered the refinery complex , they saw several worker droids hovering over the machinery . They also witnessed several emaciated and sickly miners watching from the scaffolding . Terrified of the stormtroopers , the miners did not make eye contact with them . Since the miners did not attack them , FN - 2187 and his comrades did not attack them but remaining standing guard at the landing bay for almost three hours . About three hours later , Captain Phasma contacted FN - 2187 and ordered him and his team to proceed to level alpha - seven - seven , room ought - three . She then sent a cadet fire - team to relieve FN - 2187 and his men . After consulting the map that he had downloaded into his in - armor computer , FN - 2187 and his team proceeded to the room . After taking a lift , the stormtroopers entered the room where they found Captain Phasma and the four mining negotiators : a human , a Rodian , an Abednedo , and a Narquois . When the human negotiator asked Phasma whether she had considered their requests , Phasma ordered FN - 2187 and his fire - team to kill the miners . Slip was the first to open fire , followed by Zeroes and Nines . Sevens took aim at the Abednedo with his blaster . Feeling pity and compassion for the Abednedo miner , FN - 2187 was unable to pull the trigger . In the end , Slip shot the Abednedo dead . The shooting of the negotiators effectively ended the strike and enable the First Order to restore order to the refinery . Aftermath . The execution of the mining negotiators effectively ended the strike at Pressy ' s Tumble . As a result , operations were able to continue at a pace deemed acceptable by the First Order . Due to their actions in killing the negotiators , Phasma formally initiated FN - 2187 and his fellow cadets FN - 2003 , FN - 2000 , and FN - 2199 into the First Order ' s stormtrooper corps . The four stormtroopers were invited by veterans to share a meal in the galley aboard their Star Destroyer . While Slip , Zeroes , and Nines were delighted to be the guests of honor at a meal , FN - 2187 was despondent about having to kill unarmed civilians . He declined to attend the meal claiming that he had target practice . There , he tried to overcome this hesitancy by taking part in a simulation that pitted him against New Republic soldier s . However , Sevens was unable to bring himself to fire upon civilians . Captain Phasma was also concerned with FN - 2187 ' s reluctance to kill and decided to assign him on a mission to Jakku in order to place him in a live fire scenario where he would be forced to kill . Despite his indoctrination , he failed to kill any combatants at Tuanul village . He then decided to abandon the First Order by helping the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron escape the Star Destroyer " Finalizer " . Behind the scenes . The Stike at Pressy ' s Tumble first appeared in Greg Rucka ' s " Before the Awakening " , a junior novel that served as a prequel to the events of " " movie ; which premiered on December 18 , 2015 . The strike is told from the point of view of Finn , one of the three main protagonists of " The Force Awakens " . " Before the Awakening " was intended to provide a background to the lives of Finn and the two other major characters Rey and Poe Dameron .