HOB-147

"I knew you were tough"

- Nia whispering to HOB-147 after he saved her and her friends lives.

HOB-147 was a clone pilot who flew a V-19 Torrent starfighter for Light Brigade Division in the Grand Army of the Republic. He was shot down in an unknown space battle during the Clone Wars, but survived in his starfighter. He was sent floating around in space, unconscious. Shortly after Order 66 was issued and the Great Jedi Purge began, he was rescued by the junk salvager Hurd Coyle. At first, HOB assumed that the salvager was working for the Separatists when he saw re-programmed battle droids working throughout the ship, and found a group of Jedi younglings in the ship's cargo bay, thinking Coyle had kidnapped them. He was surprised to find out, however, that Hurd Coyle was actually transporting them to the Outer Rim to save them from the new Galactic Empire. HOB then decided to disobey his orders and not tell his fellow clones that Coyle was transporting the children.

Rescue
HOB was trained at a early age to pilot starfighters. Even though he was a pilot, he still stayed muscular and strong. Shortly before the Great Jedi Purge and the decree of Order 66, 147 flew a V-19 Torrent starfighter in a space battle between the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems. During the battle, HOB's ship sustained heavy damage and he was sent adrift in space. Although the V-19 was badly damaged, the cockpit was not broken and the life support was still active, keeping him alive.



HOB floated around for several weeks, unconscious. During this time, he missed the Battle of Utapau and the death of General Grievous, along with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declaring Order 66 and the extermination of the Jedi Order. After a while, HOB's ship drifted near a salvager ship, owned by Hurd Coyle, a salvager. Coyle had, for an unknown reason, taken on a mission to transport a group of Jedi younglings who had survived the Purges away from danger.

A reprogrammed B1 battle droid that was working for Coyle detected the clone's ship and told his master about it. Coyle then ordered the starfighter to be brought aboard, thinking that even though he was on a mission, he could still make a few credits from salvaging it. When a group of B1s went down to the hangar to dismantle the ship and see if anything could be salvaged, they discovered that HOB was still alive. When they told Coyle, he reluctantly ordered one of his battle droids, A-I-I, to bring him to the sick bay.

Finding out about Coyle's mission
When 147 awoke, he discovered that he was surrounded by droids all around him. Thinking that he had been captured by the Separatists, HOB jumped out of his bed and started to destroy the droids with his bare hands. When Coyle walked in he was surprised to see that HOB had wrecked his new droids. In an attempt to stop the clone, the captain shot HOB with an electro-dart, knocking him down, completely paralyzed. While 147 was incapacitated, Coyle dragged the clone to a small room, and chained his leg to the wall.



When 147 finally awoke, Coyle told the pilot about Order 66 and how the Jedi Order were now the Republic's enemies. HOB was surprised about this, but didn't completely believe it. When Coyle walked away, HOB sat down and started to think things through. While he was thinking, a female Jedi youngling, Nia, showed up in the vent system on the wall. HOB saw her there, quickly ripped the cover off the vent and pulled Nia out. While HOB asked who the girl was, Coyle walked into the room and saw what was happening, shot HOB with another electro-dart, and dragged Nia out of the room.

Once HOB had fully recovered and got back to his feet, he now thought for sure whatever was going on was a Separatist plot, and that he needed to escape. The clone ripped the metal chain which kept him imprisoned off the wall, and then ran through the salvager's ship, looking for a way out. Eventually he paused at a corner and found a B2 super battle droid guarding the door to the hold. HOB destroyed the battle droid and decided to look inside, but as he walked into the room, he was attacked by an unknown force and passed out.

When he came back from unconsciousness, he discovered that there were Jedi younglings all around him. He kicked them off him and found that Coyle had at least ten younglings aboard his ship, including Nia and Bon, another youngling. Nia went up to him, thinking that he wouldn't hurt her. She asked HOB whether all clones were bad or not. 147 then realized that he should disobey Order 66 and help the Jedi get away from the new Empire.

Meanwhile, Coyle's ship was boarded by a group of clone troopers patrolling the area, suspecting he was hiding something aboard. When Coyle went to greet them, their ARC trooper Commander was about to order his men to tear the ship apart to find anything incriminating aboard. HOB then walked in, saying that Coyle had saved his life and that he had been up and down his ship and had found nothing wrong. The ARC trooper believed the pilot's lie and ordered his men back to their strike cruiser. As 147 walked out he saw Nia waving to him, saying she knew he was tough.

Personality and traits
HOB-147, who was trained over a period of years to follow every order given to him by his commanders, had enough self-will to disobey Order 66 and allow a group of Jedi younglings to escape from the Empire. As a clone pilot, HOB was unusually strong and muscular. He had enough strength to tear a chain, used to hold him, a full grown man, off a wall. He also was able to defeat a heavily armored B2 super battle droid in close quarters combat with just hitting it over the head with a hard piece of metal, albeit by surprise.

Behind the scenes
HOB-147 made his first and only appearance in the Clone Wars Adventures comic, Salvaged. In it, he became one of the few known clone troopers to defy their programming and allow the Jedi to survive Order 66.

Also, the only other clones known to have disobeyed Order 66 were Clone commandos and ARC troopers, who were designed to be capable of more free thinking. In which case, HOB, as a clone pilot who was designed to follow every order given without question like every other "regular" clone trooper, is the only "normal" clone to not carry out Order 66 by choice.

Appearances

 * Salvaged