I have changed a minor point above so that Rey and Finn subdue the new First Order captain in his silver armor.
…
Inside the Temple, Hux and his troops face off against Finn and his soldiers. Only the Death Troopers and a few of Finn’s soldiers have regained working blasters, the rest taking any piece of metal they can find to hand. Riot shields, construction poles, banners. Hux and his Death Troopers fall back from the rest of their troops, heading up a spiral staircase to the higher levels. Finn follows doggedly, the silver armor he wears deflecting any blaster shots his sword doesn’t parry.
In the arena, Rey leads the Knights into a defensive formation around the entrance to the Temple. The Jawa’s machine smokes in ruin, blocking much of the massive archway and forming a bottleneck for any assault. The Jawdi form a ring around Rey and the Knights, swords and stun weapons helping keep the assault in check. Rey asks the leader why the Jawas decided to help them. He replies that Hux’s words convinced him that Rey was telling the truth, that the Jedi had truly lost their power, and this would spell the end of the Jawdi as well. They are interrupted by the arrival of First Order reinforcements on the ground. They leap out of the transports wielding fully functional weapons and advance in formation on the beleaguered defenders. Other troops corral the crowds of people trying to escape the arena down its narrow ramps, ordering them to remain in the arena under pain of death.
…
Thrawn is issuing orders rapid-fire as the situation degenerates before his eyes. An officer reports hull breaches along the port equator and the waste disposal area under the bridge. Thrawn orders the bulk of his troops to the port equator and a smaller contingent to the compactor. He orders the area magnetically sealed and the compactors across the ship to cycle.
Inside the garbage pit, Resistance troops pour out of the transports and get to work on breaking through the inner door. Their blasters ricochet uselessly off of it and they bring the heavy equipment to bear. Threepio stands at the back of the transport with Doctor Kalonia and tells her that he believes it should be noted that he went on this mission despite the low survival rate. Kalonia rolls her eyes, telling him that he must be very brave. She asks if he will be leaving the transport and he says he feels quite safe here, thank you very much. The walls begin to close in and he revises that statement, exiting the transport with Kalonia.
At the Pirate Ship incursion point, the pirates are doing poorly against Thrawn’s troops except where Ben stands his ground. He moves forward, skewering troops to his left and blasting them to his right. The pirates form up around him and they act as a wedge moving through the ship. R2 moves with Ben and they pass a trash compactor which has been ripped halfway apart due to the decompression of the destroyer. The walls are moving in and R2 points this out to Ben with his retractable arm. Ben is too focused on killing to answer.
The walls continue to close on Threepio and the troops. Threepio points out that their transports are of excellent First Order manufacture and will undoubtedly withstand the force of the walls. As the walls encounter the ships they immediately buckle and break. Threepio starts, wondering how such poor manufacture could withstand the vacuum of space.
The nebula is beginning to clear from around Thrawn’s ship and he can now see the state of the battle. The fleets of the Twelve Systems have managed to take out one of Thrawn’s destroyers, but the others have formed two defensive rings with guns facing outward. The fleets try to fly into the circular area of low weapon coverage to target the ships’ engines, but wave after wave of TIE fighters follow them in like lines of a magnetic field.
Thrawn receives an update on the situation on the ground, that the First Order are requesting air support due to a subterranean menace which has moved to the surface. He suggests giving Poe another battle to worry about, and sends the TIE Interceptors to the arena.
Poe sees the Interceptors breaking off and is torn between helping the fleets of the Twelve and intervening in the ground battle. Both desperately need his help. Red squadron says that they will follow Poe down to the planet surface to deal with the Interceptors, but Poe says to wait. He mutters under his breath an apology to Finn, then says that he trusts Red squadron to take care of the Interceptors without him. He takes his remaining Resistance fighters to join the battle with the fleets and Red squadron peels away toward the planet. Poe asks for Connix’s help in giving them some plan for this battle. She says that BB-8 is preparing a plan and wants to be part of the attack. Connix says that she’s relying on the little droid to do the piloting since she’s not exactly a combat pilot. BB-8 chirps fiercely as her X-wing heads into battle.
Thrawn watches as Red squadron flies past his bridge on their way to the planet, smiling at this turn. Poe has become a commander worthy of his respect.