Battle of Starkiller Base

|width=
|prev=*Battle of Takodana
*Battle of KestroStar Wars Battlefront II
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*Mission to VodranJoin the Tune Squad: Attack on Starkiller Base
|conc=*Atterra campaignThe Last Jedi: Cobalt SquadronThe Musketeers: The Last Jedi: Incredible Cross-Sections
*Skirmish on the Retribution
|next=Battle of D'Qar
*Mission to the Outer Rim
|name=Battle of Starkiller Base
|image=
|conflict=*First Order-Tune Squad War
**Starkiller crisis
|date=August 6th, 2039Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
|place=Starkiller Base, IlumThe Musketeers: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
|result=*Decisive Tune Squad/Jedi victory
**Starkiller Base and Ilum are destroyed
**Sunset Shimmer escapes
**J-Squadron rescues Jothan Tiaan Jerjerrod
*Deaths of Donald Duck and Professor Severus Snape
*Queen Scarlett escapes with Wallflower Blush and Kylo Ren
*Portion of the Tune Squad fleet destroyed
*Heavy First Order casualties
|side1=*First Order
*Knights of Ren
|side2=*Tune Squad
*Jedi Order
|commanders1=*Supreme Leader Snoke 
*Queen Scarlett
*Principal Cinch
*Master of the Knights of Ren Kylo Ren
*Professor Severus Snape†
*Commander Wallflower Blush
*Commander Wanten†
*Commander Marvin the Martian
|commanders2=*Queen Minnie Mouse
*Admiral Gial Ackbar
*Admiral Ushos O. Statura
*Black Leader Commander Molly Wei
*Rogue Leader General Zoey
*General Donald Duck†
*Princess Twilight Sparkle
*Jedi Knight Sunset Shimmer
|unit1=*Starkiller aerial defense forceThe Musketeers: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary
*Tarkin's RevengeStar Wars: Complete Locations
|unit2=*Blue Squadron
*J-Squadron
*Red Squadron
*Rogue Squadron
|forces1=*1 Knight of Ren
*All Terrain Patrol DroidsStar Wars: On the Front Lines
*Snowtroopers
*Many stormtroopers, including:
**FN-1728Principal Cinch 1
**FN-1824
**FN-9330†
**Unidentified female First Order stormtrooper
*At least 1 Light Infantry Utility Vehicle
*Many First Order TIE Fighter Pilots
*TIE/fo space superiority fighters
*TIE/sf space superiority fighters
*Starkiller Base†
|forces2=*1 YT-1300 light freighter
**Millennium Falcon
*35 T-70 X-wing starfightersMolly Wei 28
*7 Jedi
**Goofy
**Ursula
**Gwen Dracula
*1 stolen Light Infantry Utility Vehicle*Harra's shuttle†
*1 stolen Griffin-class light shuttle
*1 stolen TIE/vn space superiority fighter
|casual1=*Starkiller Base
*Severus Snape
*Many TIE fighters
*Many stormtroopers
**FN-9330
*Wanten
|casual2=*Donald Duck
*15 T-70 X-wing starfightersMolly Wei 29
**Ello Asty
**Sara Bel-Sun
**Furillo
**Red One
**Pallaris Ven
*Harra's shuttle
}}
The Battle of Starkiller Base, also known as the attack on Starkiller Base, the raid on Starkiller Base, the assault on Starkiller Base, or the destruction of Starkiller Base, was the first major battle fought between the First Order and the Tune Squad during the war between the two factions.
The battle was fought in August 6th 2039 with First Order TIE fighters and Tune Squad T-70 X-wing starfighters. The goal of the Jedi Musketeers was to disable and destroy the Starkiller Base superweapon in order to prevent the First Order, which was charging its primary weapon, from destroying the Tune Squad base on D'Qar and continuing a reign of terror.
==Prelude==
During their search for Mickey Mouse in 2039, the First Order sought to use Starkiller Base to destroy the Tune Squad and cripple the New Republic. They first tested the weapon on the capital of the New Republic, Hosnian Prime, and four other planets in the Hosnian system. They were successful, destroying the planets and a New Republic fleet.
On Takodana, Kylo Ren realized that the Tune Squad ally Sunset Shimmer was coming out of hiding. During the Battle of Takodana, he and Professor Severus Snape captured her and took her to Starkiller Base for interrogation. However, the interrogation backfired when Sunset ended up probing Kylo's mind and discovering his fear of never becoming as great as his ancestor, the infamous Imperial enforcer Delightful Children from Down the Lane, forcing him to leave to seek out his master Snoke's guidance. He then returned to attempt to continue the interrogation, but Sunset had already escaped via manipulating the stormtrooper tasked with guarding her into releasing her. This angered Kylo enough that he destroyed the interrogation room in a rage-fueled tantrum, causing two patrolling stormtroopers to back away when they noticed the commotion.
By tracking the path of the weapon's energy beam, the Tune Squad traced it to its origin. Ursula designed a recon pod that was piloted by Kenny Bear to scout the superweapon. The pod was towed to and from Starkiller Base by Kenny's girlfriend, Iris, in her X-wing.Molly Wei 27 The First Order were able to track the X-wing back to D'Qar.
At the same time, members of the Tune Squad's J-Squadron were tracking their captured member Jo Jerjerrod. By tracking the coordinates of a captured TIE/vn space superiority fighter, they arrived at Starkiller Base and landed, sneaking into the base.
Twilight Sparkle had given Starkiller Base's blueprints to the Jedi Order, which revealed that the superweapon drained the energy of the sun in order to charge its primary weapon, and that it required a thermal oscillator to sustain the energy on the planet. If this thermal oscillator was destroyed, it would destabilize the planet's core and implode the base. However, they would need to do it before Starkiller Base fully charged its primary weapon. Twilight, Donald Duck, and Goofy volunteered to disable Starkiller's defensive shield from the inside.
Donald Duck piloted the Millennium Falcon to Starkiller Base accompanied by Goofy and Twilight. Their objective was to disable the shields and allow the X-Wing squadron to strike, although Twilight's main objective was to rescue Sunset. Flying through the shields at lightspeed, the Falcon made a rough landing on Starkiller Base at the edge of a cliff.
==The battle==
===The ground assault===
Donald, Goofy, and Twilight snuck into the main base and captured Principal Cinch, whom they forced to disable the shields before disposing of her in a garbage chute. They reunited with Sunset Shimmer, who had already escaped on her own. Upon leaving the base and seeing the aerial assault, Donald, Goofy, Twilight, and Sunset realized the Tune Squad squadrons needed assistance and decided to create an opening by planting thermal detonators inside the base.
When Donald pointed out that there was no way to enter the oscillator in order to plant the bombs, Twilight offered to find a way to open a doorway via a conventional junction as her previous experience working on Star Destroyers had given her knowledge in this area. She and Sunset then approached a parking area where they commandeered a lone snowspeeder and set off towards the junction as Donald and Goofy headed for the nearest structure. A single stormtrooper in the area spotted their snowspeeder and attempted to shoot them down. After his shot went awry, he then reported in the incident.The Musketeers: The Force Awakens novelization
As Twilight and Sunset raced to the junction, they were pursued by three other snowspeeders. After briefly exchanging fire with the enemy, Sunset ordered Twilight to head towards the trees. There, Sunset asked Twilight to switch places, which led to Twilight taking command of the blaster while Sunset flew the speeder. With one shot Twilight was able to eliminate one of their pursuers from the fight. A short while later, a second shot from Twilight was able to take out the second of their pursuers. As they approached a cliff, Twilight's engagement with the last of their pursuing party led to her dropping the blaster into the snow, leaving them almost defenseless. Thanks to Sunset's expert manuevering however, they were able to jump between cliffs and leave the last of their pursuers overturned in the snow. Twilight and Sunset then continued onwards to their target.
Upon arriving at the junction, Sunset quickly went to work. Within a very short span of time she managed to rig the junction properly, leading to a service hatch opening upon the complex Donald and Goofy were sneaking within. Donald and Goofy then planned a proper strategy to make maximum use of the explosives at their disposal before getting to work.
Donald then confronted Kylo Ren on a bridge over a large pit, pleading with Ren to reject Snoke and return to the light side of the Force. However, Ren refused and revealed that he has been chosen by Snoke to kill Mickey Mouse. Donald lets Ren disarm him of his lightsaber and tries to kill the duck; However, he is unable to bring himself to do it, and Snape soon arrives and he casts the Avada Kedavra curse instead. Donald lovingly stroked Snape's face before he plummeted down a shaft as Twilight, Sunset, and Goofy looked on. Kylo Ren felt weakened and horrified by his actions. An enraged Goofy injured Ren with his bowcaster and proceeded to shoot down several stormtroopers. Goofy then detonated the explosives, which created an opening for the base's thermal oscillators.
===The aerial assault===
With the shields down, Blue Squadron, Rogue Squadron, and Red Squadron, led by Molly Wei and General Zoey as Black Leader and Rogue Leader, commenced their assault. All starfighter squadrons locked their S-foils in attack position to initiate the strike on Starkiller Base's thermal oscillator. Queen Scarlett, seeing the fleet from outside, ordered to dispatch all TIE fighter squadrons. The X-wing starfighter squadrons successfully executed one bombing run of the thermal oscillator, hitting it directly but causing no damage towards it, but then the TIE fighters were upon them. During the battle that ensued between the opposing fighters, a heavy cannon emplacement launched a missile that destroyed an X-wing fighter. With ten minutes left until the weapon became fully charged, half of the Tune Squad fleet had already been destroyed. The thermal detonators, triggered by Goofy, activated in the base, and a new hole to the oscillator was visible to the fighter squadrons. Red Four and Red Six covered Molly and Zoey while the rest of the squadron focused on firing on the target. As the squadrons soared through the trenches of the base with the First Order TIE fighters and turbolasers trying to block the assault, Ello Asty's X-wing was shot down.
===J-Squadron and Jerjerrod===
J-Squadron was able to locate Jerjerrod during the infiltration. They fought a number of stormtroopers, and stole a Griffin-class light shuttle to escape. The officer Wanten, who had been tracking them, tried to intercede but was killed by the shuttle. After rendezvousing with the X-wing fleet, Commander Dameron let the shuttle take the lead back into hyperspace.
===Duel with the Knight and the Professor===
====Kylo Ren and Severus Snape vs Twilight Sparkle====
Twilight and Sunset exited the base, but were followed by Ren and Snape, who caught up with them in the forest despite Ren being weakened by the injury he suffered from Goofy's bowcaster. Sunset angrily called Snape a "monster" for murdering Donald Duck and tried to shoot him with her blaster, but Ren knocked her out by Force pushing her into a tree. Twilight, horrified, rushed over as Ren furiously called her a "traitor." Failing to wake her, Twilight ignited Mickey Mouse's Elder Sword. Ren claimed that the lightsaber rightfully belonged to him, but Twilight challenged him and Snape to "come and get it" before attacking them. Despite Twilight's attempts to hold her own against Ren and Snape, she was overpowered. Ren stabbed her in the shoulder with his lightsaber's crossguard blades and slashed her across the back, incapacitating her, but not before receiving a shoulder wound. With the duel seemingly over, Ren reached out for Mickey Mouse's saber and tried to seize it with a Force pull.
====Kylo Ren and Severus Snape vs Sunset Shimmer====
All of a sudden, and without prior warning, Mickey's weapon flew out from the snow, and not into Ren's hand, but into that of Sunset's. Ren was initially taken aback, evincing a degree of surprise and stepped rearward as the saber flew past him. Sunset used telekinesis to pull Mickey's lightsaber into her hand and proceeded to attack the Knight and the Professor with a brutal barrage. Ren initially held the advantage, drawing on his rage to ignore the pain. Ren and Snape became so impressed with Sunset that they tried to tempt her, complimenting her strength in the Force and offering to complete her training if she would join them. This backfired, however, as it only served to reassure Sunset of her own power: recalling Kanata's words on reaching the light within, she begins to draw on the Force to hone her attacks, and the tide of the duel shifted in her favor. Ultimately Sunset overpowered Ren and dealt him a severe wound to his face. Snape tries to drag Sunset into the chasm along with him, and Sunset finally declares that she has had enough of the Potion master and kicks him in the face three times until he falls off the side of the cliff. As he plummets, Severus Snape disappears in a flash of flame. By this point Kylo had taken too many wounds to continue standing, but he still struggled in vain to rise again. Before either could continue the duel, the planet ruptured between where they were standing and they were separated from finishing their fight.
===Final actions===
Molly ordered her squadron to cover her as she entered the hole of the oscillator. Marvin the Martian did not clear the gap, leaving Molly to circle in the interior of the unguarded structure, firing volley after volley of torpedoes into the oscillator, destroying it thirty seconds before it finished draining the sun to charge the weapon. This caused a chain reaction which destroyed the base and leveled the entire planet's terrain. Inside the main base, chaos reigned as Queen Scarlett departed the command center and First Order officers realized all hope was lost and evacuated. Scarlett, meanwhile, reported to Supreme Leader Snoke, who ordered her to rescue Ren and Wallflower Blush and flee the base, as he wished to complete Ren's training. Sunset returned to Twilight, despairing that she would not wake up and that they would be trapped on the rupturing planet to meet their doom. However, Goofy promptly arrived with the Millennium Falcon to rescue them.
Principal Cinch was able to escape from the trash compactor, and soon made her way back to the computer terminal to erase its history, preventing anyone from knowing that it was her that lowered the shields. She soon discovered that Lieutenant Sol Rivas had accessed the terminal, and in doing so learned about Cinch's treason. Cinch, wanting to eliminate any loose ends, pursued Rivas to a TIE fighter facility, where he stole a TIE fighter. Cinch approached pilot TN-3465, who was unable to join the ongoing dogfight due to her droid, BB-K8, performing a data update on her fighter. Cinch approached TN-3465 and ordered her to follow Rivas in a two-seat TIE/sf space superiority fighter, eventually following Rivas to the nearby Luprora.Principal Cinch 2 The Millennium Falcon and the remainder of the Tune Squad fleet managed to escape Starkiller Base as it erupted into a star. With the mission complete, they entered hyperspace to return to D'Qar.
==Aftermath==
Following the battle, Minnie Mouse sent a coded transmission to all Tune Squad squadrons stating that the battle of Starkiller Base was won. Minnie also told the squadrons to report in immediately and await further instructions. Around the same time, R2-D2 rebooted and proceeded to merge his part of the galactic map with the piece found by BB-8. Goofy and Sunset left for Mickey's location on Earth in Hawaii, while Twilight was put into a medically induced coma to heal her injuries from Ren.
After Cinch located Rivas, she killed him along with TN-3465 and BB-K8 to ensure no witnesses knew of what she did before returning to First Order space, where First Order vessels were regrouping.Principal Cinch 4
Surviving First Order defense force pilots, such as Keiji Arima, were re-integrated into the fleet. They expressed a desire for vengeance and to prove themselves after failing to save the superweapon.
Whilst aboard the Star Destroyer Retribution, Zay Versio and Dio watched Starkiller's explosion, before reporting to Shriv Suurgav that her mother Iden was dead but she made it count. Zay ordered Suurgav to contact the Tune Squad and tell them that the war was just beginning.
The Tune Squad victory was ultimately pyrrhic, as destroying Starkiller Base was not close enough to undo the complete annihilation of the Hosnian system and consequentially the New Republic by the First Order prior, thus serving as a pathway for the latter to claim dominant control over the galaxy. Also in the aftermath, its members had to evacuate from D'Qar as a result of the First Order knowing their location, and ultimately was pursued and largely decimated before ultimately escaping the First Order with the help of Mickey Mouse.
According to the Tune Squad spy Vi Moradi, even two months after the base's destruction, the majority of the galaxy wasn't aware that Starkiller Base had been destroyed.Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire
==Behind the scenes==
The first footage of the battle was shown in the first The Force Awakens teaser trailer on November 28, 2014.
Part of the initial bombing run was re-filmed at Bad Robot Productions in order to show more cockpit scenes. Molly Wei's run into the breach in the oscillator was done as a deliberate homage to the Death Star trench run, but without a Force-sensitive character.Director J.J. Abrams The Musketeers: Episode VII The Force Awakens commentary
The 2017 reference book Star Wars: On the Front Lines states that the Battle of Starkiller Base takes place 30 years after the Battle of Yavin. Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates the battle in 2039, thirty five years after the Battle of Yavin.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
*Disney Infinity 3.0
*LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
*LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:First Order-Tune Squad war battles
Category:Duels