SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article contains spoilers from both Battlefront II and The Last Jedi. Proceed at your own risk.
Despite its many issues, Battlefront II manages to nail it when it comes to providing us the amazing settings from Star Wars movies. Just like the previous game’s massive battle on Jakku (which we saw the wreckage of in The Force Awakens), we now get to play out our laser-brained fantasies in the environments of The Last Jedi.
Although billed as The Last Jedi DLC, truth be told these new “Resurrection” missions in Battlefront II have more tie-ins with The Force Awakens. If you own the base game, this new DLC is free.
The more obvious connections to The Last Jedi are in the brilliant settings it provides for its multiplayer. It’s worth jumping into the Crait battle for the sights and sounds alone. But what about the story connections? Do the three new missions provide any insights for superfans?
The Story So Far
In the fourth mission in Battlefront II you play as Luke Skywalker, who senses something important is happening on the planet Pillio.
After fighting his way through a few stormtroopers, he encounters Inferno Squad member Del Meeko, who is trapped in some kind of amber created by local insects. Meeko wouldn’t have gotten far anyway — the observatory he was seeking could only be opened by a force user.
Skywalker cuts through the amber to save Meeko, who then asks why he helped. “Because you asked,” replies Skywalker. “The others didn’t give me a choice. You did.”
When the two find the observatory, Skywalker asks to keep a particular compass before Meeko follows his orders and destroys the place. “Why should I allow you to do that?” asks Meeko, to which Skywalker replies, “Because I asked.”
It’s thought that this compass is how Skywalker found the first Jedi temple where he spends all of his time in The Last Jedi.
Decades later we see Del Meeko once again on Pillio, captured and being interrogated by Kylo Ren. Using his special force technique, Ren raids Meeko’s mind to learn a map to Skywalker was held by Lor San Tekka, who was on Bayora.
We don’t know where Bayora is yet, but somehow Lor San Tekka made his way to a village on Jakku, where Kylo Ren found him in the opening scene of The Force Awakens.
‘The Last Jedi’ DLC
After his interrogation, Del Meeko was shot by Gideon Hask.
Where there’s a missing Del Meeko, there’s an aged and able Iden Versio looking for him. We knew from the end of the main campaign that Meeko and Versio had coupled and raised a daughter away from the galaxy’s troubles.
Just in case there was any doubt about who their daughter was — we still know very little about who Rey’s parents are, for example — the DLC clearly shows Zay Meeko as a new, separate character. Zay takes after her mother and is a skillful pilot, but all she’s ever known is the First Order. She never knew the Empire from the inside like her mother.
While chasing a former member of Inferno Squad who was thought dead — Gideon Hask — Iden and Zay find themselves on a Star Destroyer with Shriv. The group is able to confront Hask while sabotaging the ship’s power, bringing it out of light speed and preventing it from assisting the First Order in battle.
As the ship is brought out of hyperspace, we see Starkiller Base in the background, just before it blows up at the end of The Force Awakens.
The Dreadnought Plans
While aboard the Star Destroyer, the group wanted to see how powerful the First Order really was so they could inform the Resistance. After searching through a few terminals, they came across data on the Dreadnought we see at the beginning of The Last Jedi. They also witnessed the amount of Star Destroyers the First Order had, which they surmised would be enough to quickly take control of the galaxy.
The Dreadnought data was stored inside Dio, Del Meeko’s modified ID10 droid. Iden Versio instructs Zay that the data must be brought to the Resistance at all costs. Shriv and Zay make it to the Resistance and deliver the plans, and are rewarded with an audience with (a hologram of) General Leia Organa.
In The Last Jedi, Poe Dameron’s wingmate says “It’s not every day we get a shot at a dreadnought,” implying there are more than one. Leia Organa already knew about the dreadnoughts, but the exact schematics brought by Zay and Shriv may have helped the Resistance prepare for battle against it. Dameron was confident enough to charge the dreadnought on his own in an X-Wing, knowing he could take out the outer cannons and force them to scramble interceptors while Resistance bombers moved in.
Could this plan have been formed if the Resistance wasn’t brought intel on the dreadnought?
Zay, You Had One Job
After the data delivery, Leia Organa informed Zay that although she’d been through a lot already, it was absolutely vital that she go to the Outer Rim and rally reinforcements for the Resistance. To quote verbatim, Organa uses the language “I need a team to go find them,” implying there hasn’t been contact for some time.
As we know from The Last Jedi, these reinforcements never come. Despite sending an urgent “now or never” message to anyone who would listen, no one showed up to the battle on Crait to assist the small remaining forces. By the end, the surviving members of the Resistance were few enough to be evacuated by the Millennium Falcon alone.
Did Zay Meeko fail in her mission to rally support? We’re told Leia Organa’s message for help was received by multiple sources. Were they held up? Would the allies in the Outer Rim with the heroes of Crait be enough to challenge the First Order in any meaningful way?
Given her parentage (and obvious skill), it’s hard to imagine the franchise ignoring Zay Meeko after this. We’re almost sure to hear about her adventures in the Outer Rim in the future.
