Welcome to the latest instalment of my Galactic Histories series, a series of articles that looks at events and characters throughout the Star Wars canon. Generally speaking, this will often focus largely on characters or events that go beyond the movies, to help people get to know the wider canon a little better and see if there is anything that catches their interest.
Within this series, this will be first of a miniseries subtitled Heroes of the Clone Wars. In the live action movies, we only get to see the beginning and the end of the conflict, and yet the war raged over 3 years. Now when you hear about heroes of the Clone Wars, I imagine that your mind automatically goes to the Jedi, who are the focus of the movies, but I will instead be focusing on the clones of Jango Fett, who were born to fight and die for the Republic. In this miniseries, I will be looking at many of these clones and their histories, breaking things down by looking at a specific unit per article. Of course, some clones I will be covering will have featured in more than 1 of these units, so I will be specifically focusing on their exploits in the unit I am covering at that time.
This will contain spoilers for The Clone Wars
For this first article, I will be focusing on the clones of Rishi Station. The Rishi Base was a listening post located on the Rishi moon with the intention of sending an early warning if any Separatist units were passing to attack Kamino. During the first year of the war, Separatists launched a covert attack on the base, taking control of it and killing all but a handful of clones. The surviving clones, led by 2 visiting officers—Commander Cody and Captain Rex—who had arrived for a routine inspection, successfully destroyed the base to stop the sending of the all-clear signal, warning the Republic of the presence of a Separatist fleet heading for Kamino.
O’Niner
Sergeant O’Niner was the commanding officer of the Rishi Outpost. With a young and inexperienced unit, he worked hard to ensure that his men remained disciplined and alert. O’Niner was killed defending against the initial Separatist attack.
CT-327
The only member of the unit whose nickname is not known, CT-327 was the deck officer at the time of the Separatist attack. During his patrol, he noticed the presence of the infiltration group’s boarding ship, however he was ambushed and killed by commando droids before he could warn anyone.
Droidbait
CT-00-2010, nicknamed Droidbait, is the first of 5 clones at Rishi Station who made up Domino Squad during their training on Kamino. When Sergeant O’Niner was unable to get a response from CT-327 following a meteor shower, Droidbait was one of two clones sent to find him.
Not expecting trouble, he went without a blaster and was gunned down by the Separatist infiltration squad that was entering the base.
Nub
Nub was a second trooper sent along with Droidbait to find CT-327 after Sergeant O’Niner got no response from him following a meteor shower. Like Droidbait, he went without a blaster and was gunned down by the Separatist infiltration squad that was entering the base.
Cutup
Another graduate of Domino Squad, CT-4040 survived the initial assault on Rishi Station by escaping through a ventilation shaft after destroying the door controls to slow down the droid advance. The shaft led him and his fellow survivors to the surface of the moon, which regulations made them usually avoid for their own safety. Unfortunately the reason for the regulations was quickly revealed as Cutup was grabbed and eaten by a Rishi eel.
Hevy
Another of the Domino Squad, CT-782 found life on Rishi Station boring and wanted more action. When the Separatists attacked, Hevy was one of four clones to survive the initial assault by escaping through the ventilation shaft. After the survivors linked up with Cody and Rex, Hevy was involved in successfully taking back the station. When the decision was made to blow up the station rather than let it be recaptured by the Separatist reinforcements, Hevy stayed behind to attempt to sync the detonator to the explosives. However, he was unable to sync the detonator before droid forces arrived, so sacrificed himself manually detonating the explosives.
Fives
CT-27-5555 (nicknamed Fives for obvious reasons) was another graduate of Domino Squad. Another survivor of the initial Separatist assault, Fives was one of only 2 clones stationed at the base to survive the defence and destruction of the listening post. With his unit gone, Fives was integrated into the 501ˢᵗ Legion, having impressed on the Rishi Moon.
Echo
CT-1409 (given the nickname “Echo” during training due to his propensity to regurgitate orders and regulations) was the final member of Domino Squad prior to his posting at Rishi Station. Echo was one of the four clones to escape through a ventilation shaft during the initial Separatist assault, and unsuccessfully tried to contact Rex and Cody as they arrived to warn them about the droid presence. After Rex killed a Rishi eel, he used the blood to leave a handprint mark on the breast of Echo’s armour, a design Echo would later keep when personalising his armour. Along with Fives, Echo would survive the retaking and destruction of the station, before being inducted into the 501ˢᵗ Legion.
Thanks for reading. Good soldiers follow orders….
The Canon Padawan 