Broadside/Legends

"Minimal casualties, maximum effectiveness. That's us."

- Broadside on Shadow Squadron

Broadside was the nickname of a clone trooper pilot who served in Shadow Squadron of the Republic Navy under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker around 22 BBY. When the Confederate warship, Malevolence, destroyed several Republic fleets, Broadside and the squadron accompanied Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, to the Bormus Testing Facility, where BTL-B Y-wing starfighters were both manufactured and tested. The group acquired Y-wing bombers from the facility and developed a plan to destroy the Malevolence using the bombers. After going through the Balmorra Run, Shadow Squadron engaged the Malevolence and destroyed its ion cannons, decimating the plan of Grievous, the commander of the Malevolence, to destroy the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, one of the most important med center with over 60,000 injured clones. Skywalker then led the squadron into the space station to recuperate and reorganize.

Early life
"Form up, Broadside, you're drifting." Sorry, General. These birds need a bit more work."

- Skywalker and Broadside on the new bombers".

A clone trooper pilot, Broadside was the nickname of one of the many clones of Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett, born on Kamino to fight for the Grand Army of the Republic. Broadside served in the Shadow Squadron of the Republic Navy, and around 22 BBY, Broadside and the squadron accompanied General Anakin Skywalker on a mission to hunt down the new Separatist warship, Malevolence, a Subjugator-class cruiser equipped with ion cannons that could destroy an entire fleet.

Bormus
In preparation for hunting down the Malevolence, Broadside and the rest of Shadow Squadron accompanied Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, in the Twilight, Skywalker's personal G9 Rigger freighter, to the Bormus Testing Facility, a facility which was tasked with manufacturing and testing Y-wings, in order to acquire newly manufactured BTL-B Y-wing starfighters. After encountering protests by a Gran worker due to the breaking of procedure, Skywalker ordered Broadside and fellow squadron pilot Matchstick to enter hangar 8-122 of the facility and carry out his pre-arranged orders. While Skywalker and Tano maneuvered the Gran representative of the testing facility into authorizing the release of the bombers, Matchstick informed the Clone troopers guarding hangar 8-122 that having a Jedi with them qualified as having the clearance required to enter the hangar. After boarding the bombers Broadside and the rest of Shadow Squadron departed the facility in the Y-wings, while Skywalker and Tano departed in the Twilight. On the way from the facility, Skywalker noted that Broadside was drifting out of formation. Broadside apologized and explained that his fighter needed more work.

Preparation for the attack on the Malevolence
After bringing the bombers to Skywalker's flagship, the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute, Broadside and Shadow Squadron were briefed by General Anakin Skywalker and Admiral Wulff Yularen, Resolute's commander. Skywalker explained the plan of destroying the bridge tower of the Malevolence with the bombers in order to kill General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies. After the briefing, Jedi Master Plo Koon, who hasd discovered the Malevolence, asked Skywalker if Shadow Squadron was able to carry out the assigned task. Skywalker remitted the answer to Broadside who answered affirmatively, but Koon stated the the entire squadron would be needed to achieve the result. Shortly afterwards Yularen reported that Grievous and the Malevolence had attacked a Republic medical convoy at Ryndellia. Because Ryndellia was near the Mid Rim planet of Naboo and due the fact that Grievous had attacked a medical convoy, Skywalker concluded that Grievous' next attack aim would be the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, a medcenter that contained over 60,000 injured clone troopers, and came up with a plan to ambush Grievous there. Departing from the Resolute, Shadow Squadron, along with Plo Koon in his Delta-7B interceptor, followed Skywalker in the nearby Balmorra Run, using it as a shortcut to arrive at the medcenter before the Malevolence. Upon entering the Kaliida Nebula, which was situated in the Balmorra Run, they encountered several Neebray mantas, the giant inhabitants of the nebula. Skywalker reacted by ordering the squadron to assume the single-file Bantha formation and follow him out of the nebula. During the run, Matchstick's bomber was damaged by one of the mantas. Shadow Squadron arrived at the medcenter shortly before the Malevolence came out of hyperspace and approached the station. By this time, the medical center had evacuated half of its patients on Pelta-class frigates, but the clones being treated in bacta tanks were unable to be moved.

Battle of Kaliida Nebula
Shortly after arriving at the Medical Center, Grievous ordered to fire the Malevolence ' s turbolasers at the departing frigates. Skywalker and Shadow Squadron began engaging the Vulture droids deployed by Grievous' flagship. Soon, the battle droids, stationed in the Malevolence, fired the warship's starboard ion cannon on Grievous' orders. The ion ray approached Skywalker's fighter and he immediately ordered his squadron to head for the top edge of the ray to avoid being neutralized. Despite the attempts of Shadow Squadron to evade it, the ray deactivated three Y-wing bombers, as well as most of the Vultures. Also, as the Squadron was evading the ray, Matchstick's Y-wing's engines failed and caused his fighter to collide with fellow pilot Tag's fighter, killing both pilots and their gunners. Even after this, the lost of the half squadron, Shadow Squadron continued the assault on the the command bridge of the warship. But due to the dense defense from the Malevolence's laser turrets, Tano advised Skywalker to abort the plan and destroy the starboard ion cannons instead. The ion cannons namely were about to destroy the med center which was still under attack. Shadow Squadron managed to damage the cannons, using their Y-wing's proton torpedoes, and the cannons exploded when fired. After saving 60,000 clones in the medcenter, Skywalker and the squadron landed inside the medical center for regroup.

Personality and traits
"Broadside, we make it through this one, drinks are on me." "I can already taste them!"

- Matchstick to Broadside

Broadside was a confident clone, showing that by answering the question if Shadow Squadron could destroy the Malevolence affirmatively. He also was used to bet with Matchstick about the outcome of their missions. Aditionally he was proud of his squadron and presented the Shadow Squadron's motto to Skywalker. He was completely loyal to his Jedi commander, Anakin Skywalker. Also he would face superior officers when his commanders ordered him.

Behind the scenes
Broadside first appeared in Procedure, the online comic to Shadow of Malevolence, the third episode of season one of the The Clone Wars TV series .The comic was posted on Star Wars.com on October 6, 2008, and based off an idea by Henry Gilroy, written by Pablo Hidalgo, illustrated and lettered by Grant Gould, with cover art drawn by Steven D. Anderson. He later appeared in Shadow of Malevolence as well. Broadside was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, who voices all of the clone troopers in The Clone Wars television series.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Procedure