The obvious option for super dangerous missions in any setting which has them is robots. So why would you not use a robot for such a thing?
- They're unreliable.
- They're expensive.
- They're needed for more important things.
- It's just cheaper and easier to use people, despite the moral objections.
- The robots are making moral objections.
There's kind of a limited window in which robotic technology is advanced enough to allow robots to do dangerous missions, and when it's not advanced enough to make doing those missions morally dubious.
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Hmmm. In spite of how humorous the admiral's face is, it does feel like we're setting things up to have someone simply pilot the Raddus into the Finalizer and die. I guess the Raddus could be abandoned somehow by everyone else before Poe (maybe?) goes on this suicide mission, but that feels much more unsatisfying than trying to turn the fight around even a little bit.
Now that I've said that however, I'm remembering how the whole bombing run felt. Perhaps I should expect that we'll only have a crash, possibly involving hyperspace, and that the Resistance just continues running away. And probably needs to run away again after that, since with both of the other groups boarding the Finalizer at the moment, that means it can't be completely destroyed. Not to mention, there's still the rest of the fleet that can give chase as well.
Transcript
Poe: I’m gonna talk to the Admiral. Can I have a bunch of NPCs to back me up?
GM: Your charisma is, oddly enough, pretty high. <roll>...
GM: Kaydel Ko Connix, Nodin Chavdri, C’ai Threnalli, and... uh... Deb Foundway join you.
Chewbacca: Deb Foundway?
GM: Short for Aldebaran.
Poe: Admiral Hobnob!
Poe: I realised there’s a wrinkle in my plan. Someone needs to pilot the Radish into Snoke’s ship.
Admiral Holdo: A suicide mission? We certainly can’t get a droid to do it. They have self-awareness and intelligence.
Poe: Sure. I’ll do it!
Admiral Holdo: What?!
Poe: What better than a heroic sacrifice?
Admiral Holdo: You’ll be dead!
Poe: I’ll be careful.
Admiral Holdo: It’s a death sentence, splattered across twelve systems! You just watch yourself.
Poe: I’m not sure I like you any more, lady.
Admiral Holdo: I don’t like you, either.
GM: Huh. That’s an odd reversal.