Skirmish over D'Qar

During the war between the First Order and the Resistance, the Colossus resistance was involved in a skirmish above the planet D'Qar as they launched a salvage operation to obtain coaxium from the wreckage of the Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought Fulminatrix to refuel the Colossus hyperdrive.
==Prelude==
During the New Republic era, the First Order occupied the Colossus, a refueling platform on the ocean world of Castilon. The First Order wanted to use the Colossus as a base for supplying their fleet as part of their invasion of the known galaxy. The Resistance operative Kazuda Xiono led a successful uprising which expelled First Order forces from the platform. The Colossus then fled into hyperspace, intending to travel to the Resistance base on D'Qar.
Despite facing engine and gravity system issues as well as a stowaway First Order BB-series astromech droid known as MB-13A, the Colossus resistance and Captain Imanuel Doza managed to overcome these obstacles and continue on their voyage. Unaware that the Resistance had evacuated D'Qar, Xiono convinced Captain Doza and Jarek Yeager to set a course for the Ileenium system. Upon exiting hyperspace, they discovered wreckage from the recent battle and that the Resistance base had been orbitally bombarded, leaving a charred circle on the surrounding landmass.
Due to the Colossus strategic importance, Captain Phasma tasked Commander Pyre and First Order Security Bureau Agent Tierny with recovering the station or destroying it if recovery proved impossible. Feeling guilty for having concealed his espionage work from his estranged friend Tamara Ryvora, Xiono sent a comlink message apologizing to her. Ryvora had become a First Order TIE Fighter Pilot cadet. Fellow cadet Jace Rucklin, who held a grudge against Xiono, pressured Ryvora into reporting the comlink to her superiors. The First Order were able to track down the comlink's transmission to the Ileenium system.
==The mission==
===The coaxium fuel===
Lacking a safe port to refuel and to restock on supplies, Captain Doza tried to take the Colossus back into hyperspace. However, Neeku Vozo pointed out that they could not make a second jump since they were low on coaxium hyperdrive fuel. Xiono convinced Captain Doza and Yeager that they could retrieve the coaxium from a wrecked Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought floating in space. Though the Fulminatrix had been knocked out of action by Paige Tico's MG-100 StarFortress SF-17 during the Resistance evacuation from D'Qar, part of the shipwreck was relatively intact and still had power and air.
With the help of Synara San, Xiono managed to convince the Warbird gang's leader Captain Kragan Gorr to help recover coaxium fuel from the dreadnought in return for the promise of salvaged weapons from the derelict starship. Team Fireball, including CB-23, and the pirates traveled aboard the sail barge Galleon to the wrecked dreadnought. After docking in the hangar, Team Fireball and the pirates managed to make their way to the warship's still-intact hyperdrive chamber, where they found the coaxium stored in a sealed canister.
===Dogfight in the Ileenium system===
Before they could retrieve the canister, Commander Pyre and Agent Tierny's Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, the Thunderer, arrived in the Ileenium system. The Star Destroyer dispatched a battalion of TIE/fo space superiority fighters to attack the Colossus, which was defended by Ace Squadron. Lacking serious combat experience, Ace Leader Hype Fazon convinced his team to lead the First Order TIEs on a chase in order to distract them until Xiono and his team could finish their salvage work.
As the dogfight raged, Xiono, Vozo, and CB-23 tried unsuccessfully to release the coaxium fuel. Despite the risk of the fuel exploding, Gorr used brute force to pry open the canister. After detecting the Galleon aboard the Fulminatrix, Pyre ordered his Star Destroyer's gunners to target the dreadnought, which allowed the canister to pop free. Team Fireball and the pirates managed to safely evacuate the dreadnought before it was destroyed by enemy fire. Despite being hit by enemy fire on the port side, the Galleon managed to ward off the TIE fighters with its laser cannons.
The pirate Valik managed to land the Galleon safely aboard the Colossus. They were shortly followed by the Ace pilots, who crash-landed their fighters in the hangar. Racing against time, Vozo carefully transferred the coaxium into the fuel receptacle in the hyperdrive chamber. Before the Star Destroyer could inflict significant damage on the Colossus, Vozo managed to complete the transference and Captain Doza was able to take the ship into hyperspace.
==Aftermath==
Team Fireball and the Warbird pirates' successful acquisition of coaxium fuel allowed the Colossus to escape destruction and flee into space. While a conflicted Ryvora was relieved that her friends were alive, Pyre and Tierny vowed to continue the hunt for the Colossus. Noting Ryvora's obvious conflict, Pyre suggested that she needed to be subjected to mental conditioning. However, Tierny refused, stating that in the hunt for the Colossus, Ryvora was more useful in her current mental state.
Yeager expressed concerns that the First Order had somehow been able to find the Colossus, being unaware of Xiono's secret transmission to Ryvora. Meanwhile, San confronted Xiono and Vozo about the possibility that Ryvora had betrayed them. While Xiono and Vozo refused to believe that Tam would betray them, San believed that Ryvora could not be trusted since she had defected to the First Order.
The Aces' lackluster performance in the skirmish led most of them, with the exception of Fazon, to realize that they were out of their depth fighting dedicated combat pilots. Doza, realizing this, placed Yeager in command of the squadron, and added Xiono, as a former New Republic pilot, to the roster. Yeager immediately began drilling the Aces in various training exercises, to which Fazon was initially reluctant to participate, believing his skills didn't need any improvement, before eventually coming around and conceding that he could, in fact, use dedicated combat training.
==Behind the scenes==
The mission to obtain coaxium for the Colossus is a major conflict element in the Star Wars Resistance Season Two episode "A Quick Salvage Run," which premiered on October 13, 2019.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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*Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy
*Star Wars: Timelines
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==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of D'Qar
Category:Battles of the Hunt for the Colossus