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 Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars: Battle Tales 4
Heroes of the Clone Wars
For this article, I am looking at Heater’s Unit. This was a unit of 4 clones who were caught by Republic forces after deserting early in the Clone Wars. After receiving a hostile response from their brothers, the clones were given a mission by Commander Wolffe that allowed them to redeem themselves and re-join the Grand Army of the Republic, reminding us that sometimes, the heroes are those who can admit that they made a mistake.
Heater
The leader of the unit, Heater was determined to complete the mission as he hated the thought that he had deserted due to cowardice, while he also wanted to help his brothers in the Grand Army of the Republic succeed. Even after the unit’s gunship was shot down, Heater convinced the unit to continue with the mission, coming up with a plan that allowed just 4 clones to successfully destroy a Separatist weapons depot. Following the successful mission, Heater was welcomed back into the Grand Army of the Republic and assigned to the 501ˢᵗ.
Charlie
Like the majority of the unit, Charlie regretted his desertion in hindsight due to the way he let down his squad. Charlie infiltrated the weapons depot and helped place the explosives that would destroy the depot. Like the rest of the unit, Charlie was welcomed back into the Grand Army of the Republic following the successful completion of the mission.
Racetrack
Racetrack stood out from the other clones in this unit as he was the only one who did not seem convinced to go ahead with the mission, seeing it as a convenient way for 4 deserters to be killed off. Racetrack provided the distraction that allowed the rest of the unit to infiltrate the depot. By not being with them during the distraction, Racetrack was not accounted for by the droids when they ambushed the infiltrators, which allowed him to rescue his brothers. Racetrack was accepted back into the Grand Army of the Republic upon completion of the mission.
Sync
The final clone in the unit, Sync also regretted his abandoning of his unit. He joined Heater and Charlie in the infiltration of the weapons depot and setting the explosives to destroy the depot. With the mission a success, Sync was welcomed back into the Grand Army of the Republic.
Thanks for reading. Good soldiers follow orders….
The Canon Padawan 