The Lost Commanders

"If only we had more allies.''" "''I know someone, who might be able to help us. A great military commander with a vast knowledge of the Outer Rim. He could assist us in finding a base."

- Hera and Ahsoka

"The Lost Commanders" is the third episode of the second season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels and the first episode after its premiere TV movie, The Siege of Lothal. It is the eighteenth episode of the series overall.

After premiering at New York Comic Con on October 8, 2015, it aired on Disney XD on October 14, 2015. The episode features the return of the clone troopers CT-7567 ("Rex"), CC-3636 ("Wolffe"), and CC-5576-39 ("Gregor") from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series.

Official description
Ahsoka Tano sends the Ghost ''crew to Seelos in search of an old friend -- one whose leadership and strategy skills could help the fledgling rebellion. But will this legendary commander be willing to join the fight?''

Plot summary
Not long after the destruction of Phoenix Home, the Phoenix Squadron that was commanded by Commander Jun Sato and Ahsoka Tano and the Spectres were on the run from the Empire. While the rebels discussed their next move, Ezra suggested the fleet seek shelter on a remote system. In response, Ahsoka suggested that the rebel crew of the Ghost seek out an old friend.

Ahsoka gave Sabine and the crew of the Ghost the head of an old tactical droid and sent them to the Seelos system. Before leaving, she instructed Kanan Jarrus to trust her friend. The Ghost jumped through hyperspace to arrive at the Seelos system but the ship's systems were damaged upon re-entering realspace. Hera Syndulla stayed behind with Chopper to repair the ship while the rest of the crew searched the planet Seelos' surface for Ahsoka's friend aboard the Phantom, the Ghost auxiliary shuttle.

Sabine repaired the tactical droid's head, which began to chant "7-5-6-7" repeatedly. In the distance, the crew spotted a walker in the distance and flew towards it. As they approached the heavily-modified AT-TE walker, Kanan was overcome with foreboding. The crew disembarked from the Phantom and met three old men who emerged from the walker. Kanan recognized them as clone troopers and ignited his lightsaber, prompting Wolffe to exchange shots with the Jedi with his rifle. Rex immediately broke up the fight between his comrades and Kanan before things could escalate further. Ezra than informed the clones that they had been sent by Ahsoka, whose name Rex recognized. Rex introduces himself and his comrades Wolffe and Gregor.

Inside the walker, Ezra tried to convince Rex to join their fight against the Empire. Rex laughingly refuses, stating that his life as a soldier was over. Kanan, who mistrusted the clones due to his experiences during the Jedi Purge, wanted to acquire intelligence regarding locations for the Rebel fleet to seek shelter and leave. However, Rex convinced the crew to stay for a while longer. As Wolffe voiced his objections to helping the Rebels, Gregor invited the crew of the Ghost to join them in a hunt for joopas as payment for this intelligence.

Ezra, confused about Kanan's intransigence towards the clones, tried to convince Kanan to trust the clones. Kanan painfully recounted the events of Order 66, when his clone trooper comrades suddenly turned on his master Depa Billaba and himself. Rex overheard the conversation and emphasized that not all clones executed the order. He assured Kanan that he, Wolffe, and Gregor had already removed their control chips. Later, Kanan contacted Hera and confided about his distrust of the clones. Hera reassured Kanan that not all of the clones were bad and stressed that they had saved millions of lives, including hers.

On board Admiral Konstatine's Star Destroyer Relentless, the Imperial Security Bureau Agent Kallus ordered the crew to dispatch a probe droid to investigate a coded transmission originating from the planet Seelos. Despite misgivings about the sanity of the clone source, Kallus still decided to investigate the lead.

Back on Seelos, Garazeb Orrelios led the hunt for the elusive joopa with the AT-TE in tow. As the sound of a joopa drew closer, Gregor laughingly revealed that Zeb was the bait, much to the shock of Kanan, Ezra, and Sabine Wren. After the joopa swallowed up Zeb, the rebels and the clones work together to save Zeb and they succeeded in killing the joopa. Following the hunt, Kanan demanded that Rex honor his side of the bargain and supply the information so that they could leave. However, Rex convinced the rebels to stay for dinner.

Sabine then entered the AT-TE's communications room and discovered that one of the clones had contacted the Empire and withheld information about Ahsoka. The rebels except Kanan were shocked by this revelation. Rex then confronted Wolffe, who regretfully admitted to alerting the Empire and hiding Ahsoka's communications because he wanted to protect his comrades from Imperial persecution for helping the Jedi. As Kanan ordered Sabine to contact Hera in the planet's orbit to scan for incoming Imperial ships, she discovered an Imperial probe droid in the process of sabotaging the Phantom. The probe droid managed to damage the ship's engines before being destroyed by Rex with a well-aimed blaster shot. Unfortunately, the Phantom was damaged by the probe droid, leaving the rebels stranded on Seelos. As the crew investigate the wreckage of the probe droid, they ponder an imminent attack by the Empire.