Coric

"Coric, you okay?''" "Always am, sir." "''Good man."

- Rex and Coric, during their last stand at the Battle of Teth

"Coric" was the nickname of a veteran clone trooper sergeant who served in the 501st Legion's Torrent Company in the early months of the Clone Wars. Bred on Kamino, Coric was trained as a clone trooper medic and became a first aid specialist in the Grand Army of the Republic. Serving under Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and Clone Captain CC-7567, nicknamed "Rex," Sergeant Coric fought in the Battle of Christophsis and employed his medical expertise to assist those among his comrades who had been wounded during the course of the battle. Coric also led a squad in the following Battle of Teth against the Confederacy of Independent Systems and, along with Rex, was one of the six survivors of the original Torrent Company when it was nearly eradicated by the Separatist Droid Army. A few months into the war, Coric joined Rex; Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano; and a batch of six new 501st troopers on a routine shakedown cruise aboard Republic Navy Captain Gilad Pellaeon's assault ship, Leveler. During that assignment, Coric helped to rescue Republic Intelligence Agent Hallena Devis, who had been captured during a Separatist-backed rebel uprising on the planet JanFathal. Although the operation was ultimately a success, two of the rookie troopers&mdash;Vere and Ince&mdash;died on the mission.

Training and early career
"Trust is a virtue, Sergeant. Like patience.''" "I must have been at the back of the line when they handed those out, then, sir." "''Me too."

- Rex and Coric

The clone trooper nicknamed "Coric" was bred on Kamino to serve in the Grand Army of the Republic. In addition to his standard training from the Kaminoan cloners, Coric received training as a clone medic and first aid specialist, ensuring that he would be able to help his comrades when they were injured on the battlefield. By 22 BBY, the first year of the Clone Wars, Coric had received a promotion to the rank of clone sergeant and was assigned to the Grand Army's famed 501st Legion, in which he served in Torrent Company under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and Clone Captain CC-7567, nicknamed "Rex," both of whom he became acquainted with.

Christophsis and Teth
"Sir, permission to speak freely? That kriffing Hutt is honking, sir. His dad must need a decomposing nerf as an air freshener. Can we stow him in the cargo bay?''" "''My sentiments entirely, Sergeant. Let's go."

- Coric and Anakin Skywalker

In the first year of the war, Coric was sent with a 501st contingent under the command of Jedi Generals Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Captain Rex to retake the planet Christophsis, which had been seized by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Republic army became based out of Christophsis's Crystal City during its fight against the Separatist Droid Army and, after a few days of fighting, eventually succeeded in repelling the Confederacy. During the lull in fighting, Coric took up his duty as a medic at the Republic's temporary first-aid station, a colonnaded doorway behind the Republic lines and close to the city's main boulevard. While there, Coric treated trooper Ged, who had been wounded by a spray of jagged shrapnel fragments that had penetrated the gap in his plastoid clone armor between the back plate and the shoulder. Rex himself joined Coric and Ged at the first-aid station to shave his head, and Coric joked with Rex about the latter's hairless and brightened head. Removing some of the bloodstained fragments of Ged's armor, Coric reported to Rex that they were running low on bacta supplies, but that there were analgesics for the time being. Rex replied that the Republic Star Destroyer Hunter had already dispatched for replenishment and would return soon.

At that moment, a series of explosions rocked the main street. Rex immediately departed to join Skywalker and Kenobi on the front lines, while Coric finished patching Ged up so that the trooper would be able to fight in the continuing battle. Once Coric had finished, he grabbed his medical field kit and moved with the front line. Joining Rex and Skywalker in infiltrating the Separatist battle droid lines, Coric and Ged ascended an energy sphere with their platoon and helped their two commanding officers ambush a trio of Separatist tri-droids advancing through the street below. The group eventually brought the three droids down, and the Separatists' advance eventually halted. However, Confederate General Whorm Loathsom then deployed a deflector shield, advancing it just in front of his troops to counter and negate the Republic's heavy artillery. With Kenobi, Skywalker, and the latter's recently assigned Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, occupied elsewhere, Coric and Rex led the remaining forces to defend the AV-7 Antivehicle Cannons before the droids and their tanks could destroy them. The battle became increasingly grim as more and more 501st troopers began to fall to the droids' fire. Coric stated to Rex that he was out of ideas other than drawing the Separatists in, which Rex decided to do. Minutes later, however, Skywalker and Tano succeeded in destroying the Confederacy's deflector shield generator, and Coric immediately noticed the receding shield. The Republic heavy cannons opened fire on the droids, annihilating the Separatist lines and halting their advance.

Admiral Wullf Yularen arrived at Christophsis with a fleet of Republic cruisers and reinforcements aboard, and a series of LAAT/i gunships were deployed. Rex and Coric were warned by a clone pilot of one of the two approaching gunships to stay clear of the craft's path as the pair of ships rained down fire on the Separatist tanks. With two men still alive somewhere close by on the battlefield, however, Rex and Coric picked their way through the rubble&mdash;despite the pilot's warning to stand clear of the area&mdash;to search for the survivors, responding to the life signs transmitted by their armor-mounted monitors. One of the life signs stopped transmitting while the two clone officers attempted to move the rubble. Overall, the Republic was able to win a victory on Christophsis, capturing Loathsom and ending the Confederacy's occupation of the Outer Rim world. Following the successful campaign at Christophsis, Coric and Torrent Company were assigned to an assault force led by Skywalker, Tano, and Rex to rescue the captured Rotta, son of Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, in order to win Jabba's favor to allow the Grand Army access to hyperlanes running through Hutt-controlled space. The Republic contingent traveled to the Wild Space planet of Teth, where Republic scouts had determined to be the location of an abandoned monastery where Rotta was being held by the Confederacy, and launched an assault up the mesa leading to the cliff-high monastery. Coric was among the men of Torrent Company who survived the assault, although half did not.

After Torrent Company had beaten back the Separatist defenses and secured the monastery, Coric joined Skywalker, Tano, Rex, and troopers Ayar, Lunn, and Vaize to search the monastery for Rotta. The group entered the stronghold's darkened antechamber, where the five clone troopers used their helmets' headlamps to see in the dim light. Rex eventually ordered his men to kill the lights unless they made enemy contact. Continuing through the monastery, the clones encountered the droid 4A-7. Five meters ahead of the others and the closest ones to their greeter, Coric and Lunn slammed the droid against the wall and put their blasters to the head of their potential enemy. 4A-7 introduced himself as the caretaker of the monastery and thanked the Jedi and clones for liberating him from the battle droids. Skywalker inquired after the Huttlet's location, and 4A-7 directed him to the detention level, where the Separatists had kept their prisoners. Only then did Coric and Lunn release the droid on Rex's orders, although the clones continued to keep their eyes on the supposed "caretaker." As Skywalker and Tano departed to find Rotta and left Rex and the other clones to secure the exit, Coric flicked his helmet spot lamp back on and trained the light on 4A-7, watching as the droid went about its business.

Over the clones' private comlink frequency, Coric expressed to Rex his belief that they should be helping Skywalker, to which Rex replied that if the Jedi General returned with any broken bones, they would not be his. When Skywalker contacted Rex with the news that he and his Padawan had found the Huttlet, Rex sent Coric down to assist the pair in retrieving him to avoid any accidents. At Skywalker's added request, Coric brought down a backpack to help carry the heavy Rotta. Upon arriving in Rotta's prison cell and catching wind of the Huttlet's distinctive, less-than-pleasant aroma, Coric requested permission to speak freely and released a string of expletives and his desire to stow Rotta in the cargo bay. Coric handed the backpack over to Tano, who loaded Rotta on and strapped on the pack herself. Once Coric notified Skywalker that Rex had an LAAT/i gunship waiting on standby to transport them and the Huttlet away from Teth, the trio proceeded back outside with the Huttlet in tow. However, on the walk back, Tano realized that Rotta was gravely ill and required medical attention if he was to return to Jabba's Palace on Tatooine safe and sound.

The B'omarr Order Monastery soon came under attack by Separatist forces in the form of several C-9979 landing craft, which deployed squadrons of Vulture droid starfighters and an army of battle droids to retake the monastery. At Rex's order, Coric and fellow Sergeant Hez took their respective squads to provide covering fire in the building's courtyard alongside the Republic's only All Terrain Tactical Enforcer as the rest of the Republic forces retreated into the monastery. The AT-TE walker was destroyed by the approaching battle droids, and Coric and the few survivors made it back into the monastery before Skywalker shut the doors on the droids, sealing his battle group inside the monastery. Only three-quarters of Torrent Company had survived the Separatists' counterattack, with Coric among the three remaining medic-trained troopers. At a single gesture from Rex, all of the clones hastened to prepare defenses inside the monastery against the battle droids, which would inevitably find a way to enter the stronghold. Eventually, Skywalker, Tano, and the astromech droid R2-D2 left with Rotta to find an alternate exit from the monastery and secure medical attention for the Huttlet. Not long after the Jedi departed, the battle droids succeeded in breaking through the entrance door's lock mechanism and launched their counterattack on the remainder of Torrent Company. Wave after wave of B1 and B2 battle droids and DSD1 dwarf spider droids stormed into the monastery's antechamber and blasted through the clones' resistance.

During the fighting, Coric was surprised by an approaching droid. Caught on a reload, he swung his blaster sideways like a club and received assistance from Rex, who put a stream of bolts into the droid. By the time that the droids had secured the monastery, only seven survivors of Torrent Company were left, with Rex and Coric among their number. When Rex contacted his remaining men over their private frequency and told them to report in if they still survived, Coric replied with the others and stated that he had made it through with only a few bruises. As Rex told the six troopers to follow his lead and join him on escaping the monastery when the time came, Dark Acolyte and Separatist Supreme Commander Asajj Ventress found and interrogated the Captain on Skywalker's whereabouts. After Ventress threw Rex aside and departed to confront Skywalker and Tano, leaving her droids to guard the clones, Coric checked on Rex over their frequency to confirm that his commanding officer was still with them. Rex replied positively and shared a few jokes with Coric and the others about the names that Ventress had called them. Continuing to maintain unmoving positions on the ground to avoid alerting the droids to their continued survival, both Rex and Coric attempted to find a clear comlink channel but were unable to receive any from their helmets' frequency. Presently, Skywalker contacted Rex over the latter's wrist comlink, and the message blared loud enough for the clones' battle droid guards to hear. Roused by the audio, the troopers prepared for the fight against the droids that would inevitably follow.

Following Rex's lead of tearing down the nearest droid, Coric and the other four clones sprang to their feet. Coric snatched the rifle from a battle droid as it tottered backward and joined his comrades at the AT-TE walker, where they took cover from the battle droids. The clones kept their rappel lines primed in case they were given the chance to descend the cliff and escape to the dense jungle below. The clone troopers destroyed more and more droids and used the carcasses of their inert enemies to reinforce the burned-out AT-TE walker. As an hour passed, Coric edged up the barricade and poked a strip-cam over the top, allowing Rex to survey the view of the battle droids' position. While trooper Zeer planted a series of explosives an eviscerated super battle droid to send back to its comrades, Coric and Del manned a repeating blaster that they had stolen from the Separatists. Zeer eventually finished his work and dispatched the trap droid, blasting through the battle droids. While the droids regrouped, Coric recalled a holovid that he had previously watched, in which enemy forces besieging a fort of troops were so impressed by their adversaries' bravery that they sang songs of tribute to them. Coric ended the joke by stating that they had "all got shot."

The battle droids soon returned and converged on the remaining clones' position. Returning the droids' fire, the clones became laced in a square, facing out on four fronts, and came to rely on the "generous supply" of mortars and other weapon supplies that had been left in the deactivated AT-TE walker. Almost back-to-back with Rex, Coric emptied clip after clip from a repeating blaster through a gap in the barrier into the sea of battle droids. Eventually, General Kenobi arrived at the Teth monastery with reinforcements from the Grand Army's 212th Attack Battalion. As Republic gunships approached the cliff-high castle with Kenobi, Clone Commander CC-2224, nicknamed "Cody," and the 212th aboard, the battle droid commander told the remainder of Torrent Company to surrender. Rex stalled for time until the arrival of the Republic reinforcements, which promptly blasted the droids in the courtyard to scrap. With the 212th Battalion taking over and sweeping back the droids, the six survivors of Torrent Company met in the courtyard. Attie stated that Coric's holovid now had a different ending, as they had all lived "happily ever after," but Del, recalling all of their fallen brothers, replied that most of them had not. The Republic was eventually able to win through in the campaign at Teth, but although Torrent Company was soon replenished with new troops, the loss of the original unit was never forgotten.

Personality and traits
"I saw a holovid like this once. All very stirring stuff. The vast enemy hordes besieging the fort were so impressed by the brave stand of the handful of troops defending it that they sang songs of tribute to them.''" "How did it end?" "''They all got shot."

- Coric tells a joke to Del and the others during the Battle of Teth

A loyal sergeant in Torrent Company, Coric formed a certain friendship with the unit's clone officer, Captain Rex, and additionally became acquainted with the company's assigned Jedi General, Anakin Skywalker. Coric expressed humor even in the direst situations, such as his unit's last stand during the Battle of Teth, and gained a reputation of using a "deadpan tone" to tell his variety of jokes. He was also sarcastic at times. When given permission to speak freely regarding Rotta the Huttlet, Coric expressed his intense repulsion at the Huttlet's aroma in a string of less-than-flattering expletives and stated his desire to stow Rotta in the cargo bay, where his distinctive smell would not be a nuisance to the clone sergeant himself or others.

Talents and abilities
Coric was trained as a first aid specialist to help his comrades when they were injured on the front lines. He was skilled enough to be able to patch up trooper Ged when the clone received a grave shoulder wound inflicted by flying shrapnel. Ged was able to return to fighting after he was treated.

Equipment
Coric's Phase I clone trooper armor was painted blue and had become charred by blaster fire by the time of the Battle of Teth. He carried both a DC-15 blaster and a rappel line with him. Additionally, his duties as medic required him to keep a medical field kit during the Battle of Christophsis.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars novelization
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars film
 * The Clone Wars: No Prisoners

Notes and references
Coric Coric