Galactic Histories: Heroes of the Clone Wars – Depa Billaba’s Battalions

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 latest 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 Kanan comic and The Bad Batch

Heroes of the Clone Wars

For this article, I am looking at Depa Billaba’s 2 Battalions. There is very little information about Depa Billaba’s original battalion, save that they were all-but wiped out during a mission on Haruun Kal at the hands of General Grievous. However after recovering, Billaba and her new Padawan Caleb Dume took charge of a new battalion. Initially a group of largely inexperienced troops and the 4 survivors from Billaba’s original battalion, the unit notably saw action on Kardoa and in the Third Battle of Mygeeto. In combat on Kaller at the time of Order 66, the unit turned on Billaba and killed her, though her padawan managed to escape.

A note before we start: The story of the battalions was originally housed entirely in the Kanan comic, though the premiere episode of The Bad Batch later showed a different version of Order 66 from the battalion’s point of view, with one of the key officers “Styles” not appearing and a number of other troops not being named, while all troops of the battalion are shown with green-accented armour, when the 4 veterans of Billaba’s first battalion wore red-accented armour in the comic. As the entirety of the death of Billaba is not shown on-screen, I will not include mention of Order 66 when recounting Styles’ history, and will assume that the troops killed at the outset of Order 66 in the comics were still killed at this point in The Bad Batch‘s version, just under slightly different circumstances, though you will see me using the comic’s images of troopers for the majority of the article.

Grey

CC-10/994, nicknamed “Grey”, was a clone captain and the commander of Billaba’s first battalion. One of the 4 survivors from Haruun Kal, Grey was reassigned to Billaba’s new battalion where he took up the same role. As a part of this second battalion, Grey served on Kardoa, in the Third Battle of Mygeeto and in the battle of Kaller. While on Kaller, Grey received Order 66 from Darth Sidious and turned on Billaba, though Dume escaped as he had gone on ahead as the unit started a counterattack against Separatist forces. With the Clone Wars coming to an end, Grey was sent with one of his fellow officers, Styles, after the escaped padawan Caleb Dume. The pair eventually captured doom but came under attack from a Kalleran friend of Dume’s, Janus Kasmir, and the former Separatist General Kleeve, which allowed Dume to escape. Having doubts over the clones’ role in Order 66, but knowing that Styles was loyal to the new Empire, Grey deliberately sabotaged the ship that they were on, allowing Kasmir and Kleeve to destroy it with both clones on board.

Styles

Another of the survivors from Haruun Kal, Styles was a captain who served in both battalions, seeing action at Kardoa, in the Third Battle of Mygeeto and on Kaller. While his involvement in the initial stages of Order 66 is unknown, he was later sent with Grey to track down Caleb Dume, who had escaped. The pair eventually captured Dume, but after Dume was rescued by General Kleeve and Janus Kasmir, Grey’s sacrifice cripples the freighter that Styles was on and he was killed as Kleeve and Kasmir destroyed the freighter.

Big-Mouth

A clone corporal who was noticeable by his beard, Big-Mouth was one of the 4 survivors from Billaba’s first battalion. Known for his ability to get his hands on a meiloorun fruit, Big-Mouth did not like the inexperience of the majority of troops in the second battalion, so would often keep the troops close to him in hostile situations until he was satisfied that they had proved themselves. After serving on Kardoa, he was a squad leader during the Third Battle of Mygeeto. while fighting on Kaller, the battalion received Order 66 and Big-Mouth was killed attempting to complete the order.

Soot

The final surviving member of Billaba’s original battalion, Soot was a sergeant who joined his fellow survivors in Billaba’s second battalion. A squad leader on Kardoa and at the Third Battle of Mygeeto, Soot was killed on Kaller attempting to complete Order 66.

Remo

Lieutenant Remo was one of the few experienced clones that Grey was able to get assigned to Billaba’s second battalion. As one of the experienced clones, he was a squad leader on Kardoa and at the Third Battle of Mygeeto. Remo was killed on Kaller while trying to kill Depa Billaba after receiving Order 66.

Kaylon

A corporal in the Grand Army of the Republic, Kaylon was one of the 3 experienced clone soldiers Grey managed to get assigned to Billaba’s second battalion. Kaylon fought on Kardoa and was a squad leader at the Third Battle of Mygeeto. During the Conquest of Kaller, Kaylon attempted to complete Order 66 but was killed while doing so.

Mixx

Corporal Mixx was one of the 3 experienced clones who were assigned to Billaba’s second battalion. Mixx fought on Kardoa and was a squad leader at the Third Battle of Mygeeto. Mixx was killed while trying to attack Billaba following the issuing of Order 66.

Stance

CT-1157 was one of the young inexperienced clones assigned to Billaba’s second battalion. He quickly formed a close friendship with the padawan Caleb Dume. On Kardoa, he won a commendation for valour for defending a wounded and unconscious Dume from Separatist droids, an act that earned him the nickname “Stance”. Stance was killed in action during the Third Battle of Mygeeto, killed by the Separatist colonel Coburn Sear.

Thanks for reading. Good soldiers follow orders….