Escape from Jakku

During the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance, a scavenger named Rey and a defecting stormtrooper named Finn escaped from the forces of the First Order on the planet Jakku. They carried with them a Resistance droid called BB-8, who carried a vital piece of a map that would reveal the whereabouts of the vanished Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. To escape from pursuing TIE fighters, the trio stole the Millennium Falcon. Finn advised Rey to fly low to confuse the TIEs' tracking. Rey flew it through the Graveyard of Giants while Finn fired on and destroyed the pursuing TIE fighters. With the TIE fighters destroyed, they escaped into space.

Prelude
"We need to get as far away from the First Order as we can! We go back to Jakku, we die!"

- Finn to Poe Dameron

Immediately following the attack on Tuanul, FN-2187 was stricken with grief upon Kylo Ren's order to execute every villager. Meanwhile, Poe Dameron was interrogated on the Finalizer, continuously being asked for the location of Luke Skywalker. Eventually, Poe cracked down, and told Kylo Ren that the map to Luke Skywalker was hidden inside a BB Unit that fled the village. At that moment, Finn had decided to leave the First Order. Needing a pilot to escape, FN-2187 freed the captured Poe Dameron from his cell, and the two stole a Special Forces TIE fighter. FN-2187 manned the guns, killing several of his former comrades in the hangar, and then disabled the Finalizer turbolasers on the outside of the vessel. The TIE was then damaged by a missile fired from the Finalizer, sending it spiraling towards Jakku's surface. Phasma then revealed to Hux that this was FN-2187's first offense of non-conformity. Realizing that Poe and Finn were going after BB-8, Hux sent out a squadron of search teams to the Goazon Badlands.

Tracking Finn
"FN-2187 reported to my division, was evaluated and sent to Reconditioning." "No prior signs of non-conformity?" "This was his first offense."

- Phasma and Hux

Finn and Dameron had ejected from the TIE shortly before it crashed, each landing separately some distance from the wreckage. Making his way to the crash, Finn found Poe's jacket, but no other sign of the man, and the fighter sunk into the sand. Believing Dameron to be dead, Finn began wandering through the desert, discarding his stormtrooper armor along the way and eventually arriving at the nearest settlement, thirsting for water.

While Finn staggered to a happabore trough to desperately slake his thirst, he noticed thugs attempting to steal a BB unit droid, which Finn recognized as BB-8, from a woman, Rey, but she fends them off with her staff. BB-8 noticed Finn, wearing his master Poe Dameron's jacket, prompting Rey to chase after him. Rey attacked Finn, believing him to be a thief. Finn explained that he had met and helped Poe escape the Finalizer, but that Dameron had apparently perished during their crash. At that point, the First Order tracked Finn to the settlement, and launched an airstrike in attempt to capture BB-8 and the map.

Boarding the Falcon
"What about that ship?''" "That one's garbage!" "''The garbage will do!"
 * Quadjumper is destroyed*

- Finn and Rey

As Finn, Rey, and BB-8 were escaping the ambush, the trio came across a Quadrijet transfer spacetug. Finn was however, skeptical, and asked if they could use a different ship. Suddenly, two TIE/sf space superiority fighters came out of nowhere, and destroyed the Quadjumper, prompting Rey to instead board the Millennium Falcon.

The Falcon was able to evade the two TIE Fighters as they escaped the outpost. A short time later, two more TIE fighters ambushed the falcon as Finn and Rey entered the Graveyard of Giants. Rey then flew the Falcon into the engines of a crashed Super Star Destroyer. When the last TIE Fighter was close to the Falcon, Rey deactivated the engines, giving Finn an advantage to shoot the TIE fighter down. The Falcon then left the planet.

Aftermath
"Sir. We were unable to acquire the droid on Jakku. It escaped capture aboard a stolen Corellian YT model freighter." "The droid... stole a freighter?" "Not exactly, sir. It had help."

- Kylo Ren and Mitaka

Back aboard the Finalizer, Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka informed Kylo Ren that the droid escaped on a stolen freighter and that it was aided by the deserter FN-2187. Ren activated his lightsaber and lashed out in a rage-fueled tantrum, slashing at an instrument panel uncontrollably. Mitaka then told Ren that they also appear to have been helped by a local scavenger girl. Kylo grew even more livid, using the Force to pull the officer by his throat across the room in order to choke him with his bare hands, and asking him what girl it was.

Behind the scenes
The skirmish between the Millennium Falcon and TIE fighters was first seen in the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens on November 28, 2014. It was seen again in the second teaser trailer released on April 16, 2015.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel
 * The Force Awakens: Rey's Story
 * Finn & Rey Escape!