This episode aired October 13, 2019.
Onboard a Star Destroyer, Tam, her anger having cooled from earlier, decides to listen to Kaz's apology message during a moment alone in her bunkroom. Unfortunately, she's caught by Jace Rucklin, who also joined the First Order, and he pressures her into turning her comlink in or else he'll report her.
As the Colossus approaches D'Qar, Kaz and Neeku find that the station is out of alcohol thanks to the pirates, who are making it a much rowdier place. While talking with Synara, a summons for Kaz to the command deck because he's got a transmission from off-station leads Neeku to accidentally let slip to the pirate that Kaz sent a message to Tam. Synara isn't impressed, pointing out that Tam could turn them in to the First Order, but Kaz retorts that he doesn't see Tam doing that because he trusted Synara, after all.
On the bridge, Kaz's transmission is coming on a heavily encrypted wavelength, and it turns out to be from his father the senator. Kaz is relieved to find out that his family was offworld when Hosnian Prime was destroyed, but is unable to persuade Senator Xiono to come to D'Qar. Senator Xiono unhappily points out that Kaz has been publicly identified by the First Order and has a bounty out on him, but the transmission soon cuts out and Kaz is unable to get him back.
When the Colossus arrives at D'Qar, they find the wreckage of a huge number of starships and a fire burning on the planet, and realize that the Resistance base has been attacked and destroyed. Yeager points out that Poe and Leia have probably escaped to the other side of the galaxy by now. Captain Doza points out they should leave in case the First Order shows up, but 4D reports that the station is finally completely out of hyperfuel, meaning they're going nowhere. Spotting the wreckage of a particularly large ship, Kaz suggests that they see if they can salvage any coaxium from the debris field, if there's any remaining power. Yeager agrees that it's a good idea, and Kaz has the idea of recruiting the pirates to assist in the venture.
Kragan and his gang aren't interested until Synara points out the weapons that could potentially be salvaged. Kaz, Neeku and CB-23 join the pirates onboard the Galleon as they head out to the wreck of the largest ship, what used to be an enormous dreadnought. Back on the Star Destroyer, Tam turns in her comlink, and when it's inevitably decrypted, Tierny and Pyre wonder what the Colossus could be doing in the Ileenium system, given that the main Resistance is already gone. But they set course for there anyways. Tam is invited onto the bridge for the... honour... of watching the demise of her former friends. Tierny tells her she listened to Kaz's message, and his betrayal must have hurt. As Rucklin looks smug, Tam tries to hide her rising doubts and regrets.
Onboard the wreckage, most of the pirates start looting any weapons they can find, while Kaz, Synara, CB and Kragan search for coaxium. A tip from Skreek leads them to the mostly-intact hyperdrive chamber, where there's still one canister of coaxium sealed inside a locked storage container. Neeku warns that the fuel's volatility means they have to be careful when getting it out, but the lock is highly complex.
The First Order's arrival in the system means the salvage team has no more time, so Kragan opts for brute force and, to Kaz's terror, begins smashing the container open. The Star Destroyer unwittingly helps finish the job when they fire at the Fulmiatrix's hulk after detecting the Galleon onboard, setting the canister completely free. Neeku grabs the fuel and everyone legs it for the sail barge, Kaz getting frustrated as most of the pirates are still prioritizing looting over the fact that they're under attack.
The Galleon escapes from the dreadnought's wreckage just as the Star Destroyer blows it up, and the Aces are scrambled to fight incoming TIE fighters. But the squadron, being racers more than fighter pilots, are outmatched, and Hype orders them to use the debris field to their advantage to stymie their opponents. The Galleon gets damaged, but uses its cannons to hold off TIEs before making a hard landing in one of the Colossus' hangars. As Neeku, Kaz, Synara and CB head for the hyperdrive chamber, the Aces are called back as the Colossus prepares to jump.
Inserting the hyperfuel into the Colossus' fuel receptacle proves to be a challenge, as the coaxium is growing unstable due to the jolts it's taken in transport, and Neeku is being very cautious. As the Aces make their own hard landings, the Colossus takes more damage as its shields fail again just before Neeku finally inserts the hyperfuel, allowing the station to escape. Onboard the Star Destroyer, Tam is secretly relieved that the Colossus is still intact, before being dismissed with an order to remember to wear her helmet. Tierny and Pyre believe they'll be able to use Tam's comlink to find the Colossus again, before the conversation turns to Tam, whose growing uncertainty hasn't gone unnoticed. Pyre believes she needs to be conditioned if she's to be of any use to the First Order, but Tierny disagrees, seeing Tam's current mental state as key to tracking down the Colossus once and for all.
Tropes:
- Brainwashing: Having noticed Tam's growing regret about joining the First Order, Commander Pyre suggests she needs to be "conditioned". However, Agent Tierny thinks that, given their current mission of tracking down the Colossus, Tam is more valuable left the way she is.
- Coming in Hot: Happens to the Galleon and the Aces' fighters when they're returning to the Colossus in a hurry during the skirmish.
- Continuity Nod:
- Jace Rucklin and his friend Lin Gaava were last seen in "No Escape" being escorted by stormtroopers. This episode confirms he's joined the First Order as a TIE Pilot, like Tam. Meanwhile, his non-human friend Gorrak Wiles is still on the Colossus, seen briefly in Aunt Z's.
- Kaz cites his having trusted Synara even after he realized she was a spy as one reason why he doesn't think Tam will turn them in.
- The Colossus arrives at D'Qar not long after the battle at the beginning of The Last Jedi. The crew scavenge needed supplies from the wreck of the dreadnought Fulminatrix, which was destroyed by the Resistance during the battle.
- The hyperfuel coaxium (and its instability) were established in Solo.
- Cutting the Knot: The coaxium on the wrecked First Order ship is stored inside a container with a complex lock. They don't have time to hack it open, so Kragan resorts to smashing it open with his fists despite the danger of explosion.
- Disney Death: Kaz learns his family wasn't on Hosnian Prime when it was destroyed, and they're still alive.
- Dramatic Irony: At the end, Synara suggests that the Colossus was tracked down because of Kaz's message to Tam, but Kaz and Neeku refuse to believe Tam voluntarily gave them up. They're all correct: Tam was pressured into turning her comlink in because Rucklin caught her listening to Kaz's message. And Yeager and Doza still don't know about this. Synara of course, knows better, and tells Kaz to stop sending messages to Tam.
- Enemy Mine: Played with. Kragan and his gang are reluctant to stick their necks out for Doza and the Colossus, even when Kaz reminds them that the First Order are gunning for everyone on board. It's not until Synara mentions all the weaponry and tech up for grabs aboard the wrecked dreadnought that they agree to help.
- Gilligan Cut: Kaz reassures Captain Doza that the pirates will be easy to persuade to participate in the salvaging mission. Cut to Kaz being laughed off by Kragan and co. The Quarren captain only agrees to help when Synara points out the weapons that can be salvaged from the wreck.
- Late to the Tragedy: The Colossus arrives at D'Qar not long after the Resistance base was attacked.
- Made of Explodium: Transporting the coaxium from the wrecked ship to the Colossus' hyperdrive chamber is a dangerous undertaking due to how explosive it is, with several nail-biting moments before Neeku finally transfers the coaxium canister into the receptacle onboard the Colossus so it can escape while under attack.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The look on Tam's face as she watches the First Order fire on the Colossus, from the bridge of Tierney's Star Destroyer.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kaz's decision to send Tam an apology message in the previous episode means that the First Order can use her comlink to track the Colossus after Rucklin catches her listening to it and pressures (or rather threatens) her to turn the comlink in. Even Synara knows very well that one way or another, Tam would've told the First Order their position, and that to be safe, he shouldn't be sending any more messages to Tam.
- Not So Similar: Kaz talks about how he trusted Synara when she was a spy as the reason why he can still trust Tam not to betray them to the First Order. The reason Synara isn't persuaded because unlike the pirates, the First Order doesn't mess around. The fact that the First Order betrayed the pirates when the latter allied with them is all the more reason not to trust anyone from the First Order.
- Oh, Crap!: Several, most notably Kaz when Kragan decides to physically smash open the lock holding the hyperfuel canister despite the risk of explosion.
- Outrun the Fireball: The Galleon escapes the wrecked First Order ship just before the pursuing Star Destroyer blows it up.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: In the previous episode, when the Colossus emerged from hyperspace, Torra reported that they'd emerged about three parsecs from D'Qar (that's roughly ten light-years, or over twice the distance from Earth to Alpha Centauri). By this episode, they've somehow managed to cross those three parsecs — despite having no fuel for their hyperdrive, meaning they should be limited to sublight speeds.
- Secret-Keeper: Synara finds out that Kaz sent a message to Tam, but keeps it secret on his request. She does ask Kaz to refrain from sending any more messages to Tam.
- Skewed Priorities: Kaz is annoyed that the pirates are taking the opportunity to steal everything from the wreckage they can while the First Order is attacking.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- The Colossus's economy — which was previously dependent on salvaging, imported goods and the station's status as a starship refueling stop — was disrupted by a combination of the First Order occupation and the station being on the run, eventually leading to shortages of food, water, and fuel. And Kragan's pirates joining the community before it fled Castilon only added more mouths to feed.
- Despite the Enemy Mine situation, it hasn't been very long since the Colossus and Kragan's pirates joined forces (and it's implied they only joined after some nudging from Synara), leading to a strained partnership.
- Senator Xiono takes the time to point out that Kaz, as a result of joining the Resistance, has been publicly identified by the First Order, so he can probably expect to have bounty hunters on his tail soon.
- Synchronous Episodes: Takes place simultaneously with The Last Jedi, as the First Order ship Kaz and company are trying to salvage hyperfuel from is the wreck of the dreadnought Fulminatrix, which was destroyed during the Resistance's evacuation from D'Qar. The Colossus arrives over D'Qar and finds that the Resistance has already left.
- What You Are in the Dark: Despite angrily refusing to listen to Kaz's message at the end of the previous episode, Tam has cooled down and takes a moment to listen to it before Rucklin walks in on her. When Rucklin tries to convince her to turn it in because it's the right thing to do, Tam is reluctant.
