Desertion

When a member of a military force leaves their assignment without permission, it is known as desertion. This is also referred to as going AWOL. Defection occurs when someone deserts and joins the opposing side or an enemy. People who desert are called deserters, while those who defect are called defectors. Unlike desertion, which is specific to military personnel, defection can also be committed by civilians. Governments like the Galactic Empire consider desertion to be an act of treason.

During the conflict that took place on the planet of Soika, the father of Velko Jahen switched his allegiance from the Livtak Union to the Gagic Alliance after learning of a plan by the Union that he disagreed with. This led to him meeting the woman who would become Jahen's mother.

Shortly following the First Battle of Geonosis, which initiated the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Separatist forces attacked a Republic troop transport. Cut Lawquane, a clone trooper who was the only Republic survivor, deserted because he felt his life was meaningless after his team was dead. Cut married Suu Lawquane and became a farmer on Saleucami. During the Battle of Saleucami, he encountered Rex, a Clone Captain from the 501st Legion, after Rex was wounded and left at the Lawquane farm by his men to recuperate. Rex considered reporting Cut, but ultimately decided against it after they jointly defended the farm from a commando droid assault.

On the waterworld of Mon Cala, which was divided between the Mon Calamari and Quarren species, support for the Clone Wars sides was split along species lines. Following the murder of King Yos Kolina, Nossor Ri, a Quarren chieftain, led his people to ally with the Separatists, believing that Kolina's son, the Mon Calamari Prince Lee-Char, was not ready to rule. Lee-Char eventually realized that Riff Tamson, a Separatist ambassador and invader, had killed his father. He accused Tamson in front of Ri, who had started to have doubts as Tamson's forces occupied the planet. During Tamson's attempted execution of Lee-Char, Ri turned against the Separatists for good, just as the prince had suspected he would, and assisted in repelling the invaders. Following this, Ri pledged his allegiance to Lee-Char at his coronation.

In 19 BBY, the Clone Wars abruptly ended when Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and secretly a Dark Lord of the Sith, issued Order 66. This secret command compelled the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic to betray and execute their Jedi commanding officers. The order was carried out using secretly implanted inhibitor chips that controlled the clones' actions against their will, leaving them no choice. However, some clones were either immune to the chips or managed to break free from the brainwashing, and many of them chose to desert from Palpatine's newly formed Galactic Empire rather than serve it.

Rex, who had been promoted to Clone Commander, was traveling to Coruscant with Ahsoka Tano, a former Padawan, aboard the Tribunal with the intention of delivering the captured renegade Sith Lord Maul to the Jedi High Council. When the order was issued, he was able to briefly resist the effects of his chip because he had learned about their existence from Fives, an ARC trooper, who had been silenced after discovering the truth about the chips and Palpatine's involvement. Rex hadn't fully understood Fives' warning at the time because Fives had been drugged into incoherency, but he realized what was happening and told Tano to "find Fives" before the chip took control. With the help of three astromech droids, she found a grievance report Rex had filed regarding Fives' death, which mentioned the chips. She captured Rex and surgically removed the chip, freeing him from the mind control. The 332nd Division turned against Rex when they realized he was no longer trying to kill Tano, but she and Rex escaped from the crashing Venator-class Star Destroyer. With everyone onboard the Tribunal dead, Tano and Rex separated and went into hiding from the Empire.

Most members of Clone Force 99, an unconventional clone commando squad also known as the "Bad Batch," were immune to Order 66. This was due to their status as genetically defective clones or, in the case of Echo, cybernetics that were implanted when he was a prisoner of the Techno Union. The only exception was CT-9904, the team's sniper, also known as "Crosshair." His chip did function, but it was less active than those of standard clones because of his genetic mutations. Wilhuff Tarkin, an Admiral, questioned their loyalty after the Empire's rise and sent them on a mission to assess their obedience. They refused to complete the mission after discovering that their targets included civilians and former Republic fighters. After returning to Kamino, Hunter, the team leader, wanted to rescue Omega, a unique modified clone they had met earlier. They were arrested, and Tarkin ordered Crosshair to be taken away to have his chip enhanced, making him completely loyal to the Empire. The rest of the Batch escaped from imprisonment with Omega, forced to abandon their brainwashed former comrade.

Sometime after the formation of the Empire, the new government moved forward with plans to replace the clones with recruited [soldiers](/article/soldier]. Some clone commandos were assigned to train the new "TK troopers" at secret facilities, such as one on the otherwise-uninhabited planet Daro. One of the instructors, Captain Gregor, soon decided that he did not want to be involved in the Empire's activities and attempted to desert. He escaped the base while being pursued by Imperial troopers but was only able to activate a distress beacon before being recaptured. The beacon sent a signal to Rex, who was a friend of Gregor's, but since he was unable to go himself, Rex tasked the Bad Batch with rescuing Gregor. The squad successfully infiltrated the base and freed Gregor, but Hunter was captured after being separated from his team and ordered the others to escape without him. The Batch then regrouped and set out to rescue him from the Empire.

In the months following the Empire's formation, an increasing number of "reg" clone troopers began to question the new regime and go AWOL. Cody, a Clone Marshal Commander, discussed this with Crosshair before their mission to the planet Desix. The sniper firmly believed that clones who deserted were traitors. Crosshair's actions during the mission, in which he killed Tawni Ames, the Governor, on the orders of Imperial governor Grotton, disillusioned Cody, who had tried to offer Ames a peaceful resolution. After returning to Coruscant, Cody asked Crosshair if the Empire was truly doing good for the galaxy. He himself went AWOL that night, and Rampart, a Vice Admiral, informed Crosshair of Cody's disappearance the next day. Rampart found it odd that clones around Crosshair, including his former squad, had a tendency to disappear.

During the Galactic Empire's rule, a brutal campaign was launched to conquer Mimban, a peaceful planet with abundant natural resources. Han Solo served as an infantry corporal in the Imperial Army during this campaign, observing that "we're the invaders" against the native Mimbanese. After his commander, Staz, was killed, Solo retreated and encountered Tobias Beckett and his gang of thieves. Realizing they were posing as Imperial military personnel, Solo asked them to take him with them. Instead, Beckett reported Solo to his superiors for insubordination. Han was sentenced to execution for his alleged insubordination by being fed to "the beast," whom the Empire held prisoner on Mimban. Using his knowledge of Shyriiwook, Han convinced Chewbacca to help him escape, and the two joined Beckett's crew. Thus, Solo became a deserter.

Maketh Tua, an Imperial Minister of Lothal, sought to defect from Imperial service after discovering the true reason for the Empire's interest in the remote Outer Rim planet. She contacted the Spectres, a local rebel cell, requesting their assistance in extracting her in exchange for the Imperial secret. However, Darth Vader used Tua to set a trap for the rebels, and Tua was killed in a bombing for which the rebels were blamed before she could defect or provide them with the information.

Alexsandr Kallus, an Agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, began to question his loyalty to the Empire after an encounter with the rebel Garazeb Orrelios on the icy moon of Bahryn. This doubt eventually led him to become a Fulcrum agent for the rebellion, leaking information to the Phoenix Cell about the Empire's activities in the Lothal sector. He secretly assisted Sabine Wren, a rebel, when she infiltrated Skystrike Academy to aid in the defection of cadets Wedge Antilles, Derek Klivian, and Rake Gahree, although Gahree died during the first, unsuccessful escape attempt. Wren was very skeptical of Kallus's motives but allowed him to live as she, Antilles, and Klivian escaped. The Phoenix rebels, including the Spectres, eventually discovered that Kallus was Fulcrum. Kallus remained inside the Empire as long as possible but was eventually exposed as a rebel spy by Thrawn, a Grand Admiral, and arrested after attempting to warn the rebels about an attack on their base. During the battle, Kallus escaped the Chimaera by provoking Arihnda Pryce, the Governor, into ordering him to be thrown out of an airlock. He was rescued in an escape pod by the Ghost.

Several months following the destruction of the planet [Alderaan](/article/alderaan], Thane Kyrell, an Imperial Navy lieutenant, deserted the Empire after witnessing the enslavement of the Bodach'i, having developed doubts about the Empire. Kyrell invited his childhood friend Ciena Ree to join him, but she remained loyal to the Empire, bound by the First Waver belief in never breaking a vow, and only faked Kyrell's death on their homeworld of Jelucan as a favor. Nine months after deserting, Kyrell met members of the Rebel Alliance on Oulanne, led by Wedge Antilles, and accepted their offer to join the rebellion.

Around the time of the Battle of Hoth, Kendy Idele, an Imperial soldier, and her entire unit mutinied against the Empire on Miriatin. Only a third of the mutineers, including Idele, survived and joined the Rebel Alliance. Idele was reunited with Kyrell, who had been a classmate of hers at the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant, and was both surprised and pleased to see him, as she had believed he was dead.