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At the beginning of the space chase in The Last Jedi, we learn that the Resistance can't jump into hyperspace because they will use up all of their fuel and be sitting ducks. However, after many hours of flying through space and using up fuel, Admiral Holdo seemed to still have enough to jump into hyperspace and crash into the Supremacy.

So my question is, if they barely had enough fuel to jump to hyperspace at the beginning of the chase, how did they have enough to do it at the end?

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  • It probably also helped a little that Poe had already plugged in the coordinates to jump to.
    – Cache Staheli
    May 8, 2018 at 4:25
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    I seem to recall a conversation saying they could make a short jump, but it would be pointless since the First Order would just follow them again and then they'd be in an even worse position. But perhaps my memory is faulty.
    – jpmc26
    May 8, 2018 at 7:48

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The very short answer is that the Raddus has two different kinds of engines;

and

The sublight engines (which they've been running for quite a while) are running low on fuel but the hyperdrive engines on the Raddus still have sufficient hypermatter for a single jump. That hasn't changed from the start of the chase to the end.

“We have just enough fuel for one jump,” Connix said gravely, her face pale. “Do it fast—we have to get out of here!”

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Expanded Edition

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The issue was that when they jumped, they wouldn't be able to get very far and more importantly, would not be able to reach anywhere they could hole up and regroup.

Holdo didn't need to go very far at all, even less since she could go in a straight line after disabling any safeties.

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    Most importantly, when they jumped, the First Order would track them through hyperspace, something hitherto impossible in Star Wars.
    – Azor Ahai -him-
    May 7, 2018 at 23:46
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    @AzorAhai so I don't really buy the impossible thing. Remember from ANH: "That was too easy, they're tracking us." -- "Not this ship, sister." and earlier in the film, when Han lost the Imperial cruisers.
    – Adam D. Ruppe
    May 7, 2018 at 23:57
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    @AdamD.Ruppe : You might recall that Vader had a tracking device placed on the Falcon during repairs at Could City (presumably because tracking without a tracking device was too hard or impossible).
    – Eric Towers
    May 8, 2018 at 2:11
  • There are various cases of people getting an "exit vector" from a target and plotting along that line to find them, especially for short jumps. The usual counter is to make multiple jumps in different directions to throw the tracker off, which they didn't have fuel for.
    – Cadence
    May 8, 2018 at 15:01

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