Echo

Biography

Training with Domino squad

During the Clone Wars, CT-21-0408, a clone trooper in the Grand Army of the Republic, was known as Echo. Around 21 BBY, CT-21-0408 was assigned to Domino Squad, a unit of clone cadets. CT-21-0408 earned the nickname "Echo" from his fellow Domino Squad clone cadets—Cutup, Hevy, Fives, Droidbait—because he frequently "echoed" the rules and procedures that clone troopers were required to follow. Echo and Domino Squad were stationed in Tipoca City, the capital of the planet Kamino, where they trained at the military complex. Echo and Domino Squad, supervised by Siniteen Sergeant Bric, a bounty hunter, participated in combat simulations that pitted them against battle droids. Each clone cadet, including Echo, used non-lethal weapons during these simulation battles to prevent injuries. Furthermore, all squad members had to work together to succeed in the simulation. However, Domino Squad struggled with teamwork.

During one practice exam, Hevy broke away from the struggling group, leaving Echo, Fives, Droidbait, and Cutup behind barricades. Bric, Arcona El-Les, and Jedi Master Shaak Ti, who were observing Domino Squad's simulation, became concerned about their recklessness. Bric criticized the team's inability to work together and suggested sending them to Tipoca City's maintenance crew, where rejected clones were sent. Ti observed Echo's inflexibility, as he insisted on enforcing proper procedures on his teammates. Because the members of Domino Squad could not work together, they failed the test. Afterward, Echo and Domino Squad returned to the complex's sleeping quarters. There, Echo insisted that they should follow orders and avoid messing around. While the other Domino Squad members mocked Echo's words, Hevy was not amused. When Hevy said that Echo thought "like an ARC trooper," Echo questioned him, which angered Hevy. Their argument escalated into a fight, which was interrupted by Bric's arrival. Echo quickly apologized to Bric, but Hevy dismissed the sergeant. Bric emphasized the importance of teamwork and warned that if they did not improve, they would be wasting his time. Later, Bric and El-Les gathered Domino Squad and other clone cadet squads for a meeting outside the military complex.

Clone Commander Colt, an ARC trooper, was assigned to observe the clone cadets' final combat simulator test. Squads that passed the test would have their troopers become combat-ready clone troopers. Colt was particularly interested in Bravo Squad, a unit of clone cadets that had completed certain tests in "ARC trooper time." Echo suggested that they could learn from Bravo Squad, but his teammates ignored him. Echo and Domino Squad followed Bravo Squad to the combat simulator room and watched as they worked together effectively during their combat simulation test. Soon after, a cadet from Bravo Squad raised a pole on top of a citadel in the simulator room, completing the simulation test. With Bravo Squad's test completed, Echo and Domino Squad entered the combat room. Echo and the rest of Domino Squad were teased by the cadets from Bravo Squad, who said, "time to watch the Dominoes fall." However, once the simulator began, Echo and Domino Squad completed certain parts of the simulation faster than usual. While Echo, Fives, Droidbait, and Cutup took cover, Hevy cleared a path for them by destroying droids with his Z-6 rotary blaster cannon. When Droidbait broke away from the group, a droid shot him in the back. Echo noticed and called out to Hevy, but Hevy told him to leave Droidbait and focus on reaching the citadel, where the pole to complete the test was located. Because Echo and the other Domino Squad members left Droidbait behind, they failed the test. Colt and El-Les confronted the group and emphasized the importance of not leaving a man behind.

After failing the test, the clone cadets returned to their sleeping quarters. Echo and Fives felt that they did not belong in Domino Squad. Wanting to transfer to a different squad, Echo and Fives approached Jedi Master Shaak Ti. However, when Echo and Fives requested to be moved to Bravo Squad, Ti denied their request, expressing her faith in Domino Squad. Because of her confidence in Domino Squad, Ti allowed them to retake the test. The following day, Ti joined Bric, El-les, and Colt as Echo and the rest of Domino Squad entered the simulation room. They made similar progress as the day before, but this time they did not leave a man behind. Domino Squad reached the bottom of the citadel, but they discovered that their ascension cables were missing, which were needed to climb the citadel's tower. Despite the setback, the clones improvised and decided to climb blaster turrets that extended toward the citadel's roof. Hevy successfully climbed the turrets and raised the pole on top of the citadel, allowing Domino Squad to finally complete the test. Shaak Ti and El-Les praised their efforts, and because they worked as a team and completed their final test, Echo and the rest of Domino Squad were allowed to become clone troopers. They each received medals as a symbol of their graduation from clone cadet.

Rishi moon battle

After becoming battle-ready clone troopers, Echo and his former Domino Squad members were assigned to their first off-world mission. Echo was stationed at a listening post on a moon of the planet Rishi, under the command of Sergeant O'Niner. Along with fellow troopers Fives, Hevy, Droidbait, Nub, and CT-327, Echo maintained the listening post to warn the Galactic Republic of any impending Confederate attacks on nearby Kamino. One day, Echo joined the other rookie troopers in the control room of the listening post, where Sergeant O'Niner informed them of an upcoming routine inspection. Unbeknownst to the group, General Grievous planned to attack Kamino to halt the Republic's production of clone troopers.

Grievous knew that the Rishi moon listening post would detect his attack on Kamino, and the stationed clone troopers would disable the base's "all-clear" signal, alerting the Republic fleet. Therefore, Grievous deployed BX-series droid commandos in Droch-class boarding ships to take over the listening post. A clone trooper raised the listening post's shield to protect the base from what appeared to be an approaching meteor shower, which was actually a group of Droch-class boarding ships. The droids disembarked from their transports and began their attack on the Republic base. After three commando droids shot and killed O'Niner and three other clones, the remaining clone troopers—Echo, Hevy, Fives, and Cutup—evacuated the command center through a ventilation shaft, which led them outside the listening post. As they exited the ventilation shaft, a Rishi eel attacked and devoured Cutup, leaving only Echo, Hevy, and Fives to defend themselves. Eventually, the remaining rookie clone troopers spotted the Obex, a Nu-class attack shuttle piloted by Commander Cody and Captain Rex.

The clone officers had arrived for the inspection of the listening post and were unaware of the droid attack. After the two clone officers were attacked by the invading droids, they escaped and met up with Echo and the other rookie troops. Having encountered a droid commando disguised in clone armor during their skirmish with the droids, Rex demanded that the rookies remove their helmets to verify their identities. After the three rookie troopers complied, another Rishi moon eel attacked them. This time, Rex used his DC-17 hand blaster to kill it with a single shot to the eye, impressing the rookies. Rex dubbed the rookie troopers "shinies," a derogatory term referring to their spotless armor that had not yet seen battle. Rex and Cody gave Echo and the other rookie troops their DC-15S carbines, and Rex proposed a plan to retake the listening post.

The group of clone troopers hid near the entrance of the base while Rex impersonated commando droid unit 26 using the droid's decapitated head. The clone captain successfully tricked Units 07, 08, and 09 into opening the listening post's main door, allowing Echo and the clone troopers to ambush the remaining commando droids inside the base. Upon entering the command center, the clones defeated the droid units, including their vibroblade-wielding leader. However, their victory was short-lived when they noticed that General Grievous's fleet had arrived above the moon. Due to the lack of response from the commando droids, Grievous sent more battle droids to the listening post. The clones, inside the command center, were unable to disable the "all clear" signal because the droids had hot-wired it. Soon, a droid landing craft descended through the moon's atmosphere and landed at the listening post. With the battle droid reinforcements outnumbering the clone troopers, Rex—to the surprise of the rookie troops—ordered the complete destruction of the base.

When a confused Echo questioned the order, Rex explained that destroying the base would disable the all-clear signal, alerting the nearby Republic fleet of the impending Separatist invasion. To destroy the base, Echo suggested using highly explosive liquid tibanna, which was used as fuel at the station when the Rishi moon entered its freezing cycle. While Rex and Echo went to retrieve the plunk droids that stored the liquid tibanna, Cody, Hevy, and Fives grabbed weaponry from the listening post's supply room. With their new weaponry, the clones attacked the invading battle droid forces, buying time for Rex and Echo to wire the three plunk droids together. However, the remote activator to detonate the tibanna inside the plunk droids malfunctioned.

Hevy volunteered to stay behind and fix the problem before joining the other clones as they fled the listening post through a nearby ventilation shaft. Once outside, Rex was surprised to find that Hevy had not yet evacuated. The clone captain contacted Hevy via comlink, but Hevy refused to leave until he had repaired the detonator. Unwilling to accept Hevy's decision, the clones ran back to rescue him. Before they could reenter the facility, Hevy manually detonated the explosives. The listening post exploded, killing Hevy and all of the droid forces inside. Shortly thereafter, Rex, Cody, Echo, and Fives were picked up by an LAAT/i gunship that carried them off the moon. On board the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute, Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker awarded Echo and Fives medals for their service. Following the presentation of the medals, Rex inducted the two clones into the 501st Legion for their role in helping the Republic thwart the Separatist attack.

Defense of Kamino

A few months after the destruction of Rishi Station, Republic intelligence determined that the Confederacy was planning to invade Kamino. Echo and Fives, along with Kenobi, Skywalker, Rex, and Cody, traveled to Kamino to prepare the planet's defenses. While Kenobi and Skywalker met with Shaak Ti and Kamino Prime Minister Lama Su, Echo and Fives explored Tipoca City's military complex. After reminiscing about their time as clone cadets in the city, they encountered their old clone trooper friend, 99, who was carrying a bundle of DC-15 blaster rifles. 99 was happy to see Echo and Fives but asked about Hevy. When Echo and Fives explained that Hevy had sacrificed himself to save them on the Rishi moon, 99 sadly showed them Hevy's medal, explaining that Hevy had given it to him. Changing the subject, Echo informed 99 about the suspected Confederate invasion of Kamino, and 99 offered to help in any way he could. With Echo and Fives' approval, 99 went to the facility's weaponry room to gather weapons for the clone troopers, while Echo and Fives met with ARC trooper Havoc in a docking bay.

The ARC trooper assigned the two 501st Legion clones a dangerous task: he wanted them to go outside onto a platform bridge and "stay in a sniping position." Echo and Fives complied and went to the bridge. Once there, they positioned themselves, prepared their DC-15 carbine blasters, and waited for the battle to begin. When the invasion began, Trident ships, led by General Grievous and Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, climbed the outer structures of Tipoca City. As the ships damaged the buildings with their drills, battalions of B1-Series battle droids and Aqua droids exchanged fire with stationed clone troopers. On the bridge, Echo and Fives used their carbine blasters to shoot down the nearby droids. After 99 visited the two clones and resupplied them with ammo and thermal detonators, battle droids stormed the area, but they were destroyed when Echo tossed a detonator at them. Soon after, a squad of clone cadets approached Echo, Fives, and 99. When the squad explained that they had become separated from their group, 99 offered to take them back to the city's sleeping barracks.

Echo and Fives left the platform bridge with 99 and the clone cadets and headed for the indoor barracks. There, Clone Commander Cody and Captain Rex joined the group and told everyone in the room that they needed to fight off the droids. The clone cadets disagreed, citing their inadequate training. Echo tried to boost their confidence, arguing that they should defend Kamino since it was their home. 99 interjected, stating that he knew the location of the complex's armory room, and if they could gather enough supplies, they would be able to hold off the droids. With the decision made, 99 gathered the supplies, and each of the clones equipped themselves with a firearm. Echo and the clones stood behind a door leading to a sleeping barrack room, waiting for droids to pass by. Nearby, Grievous led a group of droids down the same hallway. After Grievous ordered the droids to open the doors, one droid opened the door, revealing the clones. Echo and the clones began firing at the droids, luring them into the barrack room. The clones took defensive positions behind crates as the droids continued their pursuit. As the firefight intensified, 99 tossed thermal detonators to Echo, Cody, and Rex for additional firepower.

However, the clones around the crates were soon overwhelmed by the droids. Rex used his comlink to alert the clone cadets, who were hidden inside sleeping bunkers, to reveal themselves to the droids. As they began firing at the droids, Echo and the others continued their assault. 99 noticed that the clones had run out of thermal detonators. Despite being told not to retrieve more by Rex, 99 ignored the order and ran toward a nearby door. However, battle droids spotted 99 and fired at him, killing him instantly. Despite witnessing 99's death, Echo and the remaining clones destroyed the rest of Grievous' droids. Echo and the clones gathered around Fives, who was cradling 99's body on the floor, and mourned his loss. After Grievous and Ventress escaped Kamino, ending the invasion and resulting in a Republic victory, Echo and Fives joined Cody and Rex inside a docking bay. Because of their accomplishments during the invasion, Cody and Rex were proud of Echo and Fives, and the two 501st Legion clone troopers were promoted to ARC troopers.

Rescuing Even Piell

While under the command of Kenobi and Skywalker, Echo and Fives participated in the mission to liberate Jedi Master Even Piell, who had been captured by the Separatist forces. The Separatists intended to extract information regarding the classified Nexus Route hyperlane known only to the Jedi Master. At the Jedi Temple situated on Coruscant, Echo and Fives convened with Skywalker, Kenobi, Jedi Master Plo Koon, Cody, and Rex around a holographic display. Recognizing the impenetrable security of the Confederate prison complex known as the Citadel, where Piell was held, they understood that a direct assault would be futile. Skywalker proposed a strategy involving encasing Echo and the team in carbonite to evade detection by the facility's life-form scanners. His astromech droid, R2-D2, along with a group of reprogrammed B1 battle droids, would then transport the carbonite blocks to the Citadel. Following the strategy session, Echo and the team proceeded to the Temple's hangar, where a carbon-freezing chamber, operated by Ugnaughts, was located. Fives, expressing his reservations about Skywalker's plan, voiced his concerns to Cody and Rex, with Echo standing beside him, about entrusting their lives to droids. However, Cody concurred with Skywalker's plan, as droids were undetectable by the scanners.

After Echo and his comrades were individually encased within carbonite blocks and secured inside a Class type B variant of the Sheathipede-class transport shuttle, R2-D2 and the battle droids piloted the shuttle toward the Citadel, situated on the planet Lola Sayu. Successfully bypassing the prison's life-form scan, R2-D2 and the battle droids landed the shuttle near a cliff adjacent to the Citadel. R2-D2 then released Skywalker and Kenobi's team from their carbonite encasements, allowing the team to regroup. Leaving behind R2-D2, the battle droids, and the shuttle, Skywalker led Echo and the team toward the cliff's edge. Upon discovering that they couldn't use ascension cables due to Electro-mines strategically positioned along the cliff face—which would trigger electrocution and an alarm upon contact—Skywalker and Kenobi informed Echo and the team that they would need to free-climb the cliff. Reaching the upper part of the cliff, the team noticed a doorway leading into the Citadel, protected by a ray shield. Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, infiltrated the Citadel through a nearby ventilation shaft and deactivated the ray shield, enabling Echo and the team to enter.

Adjacent to the doorway, Fives assisted Rex and another clone, Charger, in reaching the cliff's summit. However, Charger lost his grip while grasping Fives' hand and plummeted towards an Electro-mine, resulting in his death and triggering an alarm within the Citadel. Despite the alarm, Echo and the team proceeded into the prison. Entering a hallway within one of the Citadel's detention area, the team discovered concealed blaster turrets embedded within the walls. As the turrets emerged, the Jedi deflected the blaster fire with their lightsabers, while Echo and the clones targeted the turrets with their weapons. The hallway held another deadly surprise: Longshot observed an approaching electricity field. While Echo and the others managed to evade the field, Longshot was struck and instantly killed. Continuing their advance, the team located Piell inside a holding cell and freed him. Despite rescuing Piell, the Jedi Master insisted on finding his officers, who had also been captured by the Separatists. One of Piell's officers, Captain Wilhuff Tarkin, possessed half of the Nexus Route coordinates in his memory, while Piell held the other half. They had memorized the coordinates to prevent them from falling into Separatist hands. Still inside one of the Citadel's detention hallways, Echo and the team were confronted by a squad of commando droids, deployed by the prison's warden, Osi Sobeck.

A fierce firefight ensued, and the Republic team eliminated the initial wave of droids. Sobeck, monitoring the battle through the prison's security system, deployed additional droids and activated the hallway's magnetized ceiling, which stripped Echo and the team of their weapons—including Skywalker, due to his prosthetic hand—while leaving the commando droids' weaponry unaffected. The clones resorted to hand-to-hand combat against the droids, while Kenobi, Tano, and Piell utilized the Force, but neither approach proved effective, as the droids were magnetically anchored to the floor. However, Skywalker managed to disable the magnetized ceiling, allowing his team to retrieve their weapons and neutralize the remaining droids. They quickly located and freed Piell's men—Tarkin and several clone officers—from a holding cell. Anticipating further encounters with Osbeck's prison guards, Kenobi proposed dividing the team; Piell, half of his men, and Cody would accompany Kenobi to create a diversion, while Echo, Fives, Rex, Skywalker, Tano, and Piell's remaining officers, including Tarkin, would seek an escape route out of the prison. This strategy ensured that the enemy would only obtain half of the crucial information if one squad were captured. As Kenobi's team detonated explosives in one of the corridors, Skywalker breached a wall to access an old tunnel—a route known to the strike team through archived Citadel data. Echo and Fives resealed the entrance and pressed forward through the tunnels.

Having contacted R2-D2 to land the shuttle nearby, Skywalker guided his group through the tunnels. Upon reaching a dead-end, they were ambushed by several commando droids equipped with energy shields. Without hesitation, Tano hurled thermal detonators beneath the droids' feet, destroying them. After Tano used more explosives to blast through the rock, Echo and the others advanced toward a nearby pipeline. Utilizing the pipeline to locate an escape route leading to their landed shuttle, Echo and the team soon reached an exit point. However, upon exiting the hatch, they were ambushed by a battalion of battle droids and crab droids. The group managed to escape, and Skywalker tossed a grenade into the fuel line, resulting in an explosion that destroyed the droids. Skywalker's team then proceeded to Kenobi's location, where they found the Jedi Master and his men pinned down by droids guarding the shuttle. Echo and Fives joined the battle, as more droids continued to arrive.

When a commando droid, positioned atop a watch tower, began targeting their shuttle with a laser cannon, Echo alerted Skywalker. Skywalker and Piell launched an attack on a commandeered STAP, but were incapacitated. Determined to safeguard the shuttle, Echo grabbed a fallen commando droid's shield for protection and attempted to reach the shuttle. However, the droid destroyed the Republic team's shuttle, resulting in Echo's death. Despite this loss, the Republic strike team was successfully evacuated by Masters Koon, Adi Gallia, and Saesee Tiin, who led a Republic fleet to their rescue. Tragically, Piell succumbed to his injuries before the rescue forces arrived, but he managed to transfer his knowledge of the Nexus Route to Tano.

Personality and traits

Echo possessed an extraordinary attention to detail. While stationed at Rishi Station, the lack of excitement didn't bother the trooper. During his time with Domino Squad on Kamino, Jedi Master Shaak Ti observed Echo's difficulty in adapting to dynamic situations. Instead of assisting his fellow troopers in combat, he would constantly remind his Domino Squad members of their violations of regulations. His habit of "echoing" the rules and orders earned him the nickname "Echo" from his squadmates, a name that remained with him even after becoming a clone trooper. While stationed at Rishi Station, Echo confided in the other rookie clones that he appreciated quiet environments, which allowed him to study regulatory manuals.

Echo preferred avoiding the front lines and engaging in combat. Despite this, he dedicated himself to studying manuals to enhance his skills as a Republic soldier. Following the evacuation of the listening post after its capture by Confederate battle droids, Echo was able to inform the other clone troopers of the procedures outlined in the manual for situations without a commanding officer. Echo's dedication to the Republic earned him a place in the 501st Legion. During the Confederate invasion of Kamino, Echo, who had served in the 501st Legion for several months, diligently followed Clone Commander Colt's perilous assignment of guarding a bridge. Alongside Fives, Echo offered encouragement to several clone cadets who were anxious about their training being insufficient for combat. His accomplishments on Kamino, coupled with his service within the Grand Army, led Clone Commander Cody and Captain Rex to grant Echo the status of ARC trooper. Believing that the shuttle represented their only means of escape from Lola Sayu, Echo demonstrated unwavering determination to protect it at all costs, ultimately sacrificing his life in the attempt, though failing to protect the shuttle.

Equipment

As a clone cadet, Echo's armor was a pristine white, accented with green markings on his arm and leg armor. A "3" marking adorned his chest and left shoulder armor. Echo's rookie armor was similarly pristine, showing no signs of dust or combat damage due to his limited combat experience prior to the Battle of Rishi moon. After Rex eliminated the attacking Rishi eel, the clone captain marked Echo's chest armor with some of the eel's blood. Upon joining the 501st Legion, Echo's armor featured the Legion's signature blue markings. He also wore a patch on the left side of his legging armor that read "For Hevy," inscribed in Aurebesh. Echo's helmet was equipped with red macrobinoculars. After his promotion to ARC trooper, Echo donned ARC trooper armor, complete with a rangefinder.

Behind the scenes

On December 3, 2007, Echo's character was initially unveiled in a storyboard for The Clone Wars TV series displayed on StarWars.com. Echo subsequently appeared in "Rookies," the fifth episode of the first season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, which premiered on October 24, 2008. Like all clone troopers in the series, he was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. In the original broadcast of "Rookies," Echo uttered the word "hell"; however, this word was removed in subsequent broadcasts of the episode. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia later included a brief entry for Echo, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Visual Guide Ultimate Battles assigned him the clone designation "CT-26-1409." However, Echo was later identified as "CT-21-0408" in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia. Echo later appeared in the episodes "Clone Cadets" and "ARC Troopers" of the third season of The Clone Wars, which aired on September 17, 2010. The character was also featured in the season three episodes "The Citadel," which aired on February 18, 2011; and "Counterattack," which aired on March 4, 2011. Echo is a playable character in the non-canon video game, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, which was released in the United States on March 22, 2011 and presented a humorous adaptation of the events in "Rookies."

In March 2014, following the release of the sixth and final season of The Clone Wars, Supervising Director Dave Filoni revealed that Echo had survived the events of "Counterattack." According to Series Writer Brent Friedman, the character was intended to be featured in an arc he wrote, centered on a team of experimental clone commandos known as "The Bad Batch," with Echo's relationship with Captain Rex serving as the story's "emotional hook." This arc was developed as part of the series' seventh season, and the Expanded Universe was declared non-canon by Lucasfilm