Stripe

"A clone never leaves anything half done, Sir!"

- Stripe

Stripe was the nickname of a clone trooper who served in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. He received his nickname because of the white-colored stripe on his naturally black hair. In the first year of the war he was stationed in the Pastil system at the listening post that was supposed to warn the Galactic Republic in case of a Separatist attack. During an inspection by the clone trooper commander CC-2224 and the clone trooper captain CC-7567, an MSE-series droid nicknamed "Rodent" that helped the clones maintain the station, was revealed to be an undercover spy. Stripe helped the officers find the droid and later, when the droid turned to be a shell for the droid's wheels, which were individual droids on their own, helped hunt down and destroy all them, successfully eliminating the spy threat to the station.

Early life
The clone trooper nicknamed Stripe was born on the Wild Space planet of Kamino. Like all of his brothers, he was a clone of the famous bounty hunter Jango Fett, born and trained to fight for the Grand Army of the Republic. However, while some of the clones were ready for the front-line deployment by the time of the Battle of Geonosis, which marked the beginning of the Clone Wars, many younger clones did not complete their intensive training by that time. As the growing war relentlessly demanded new troopers, those clones were rushed into service anyway. Nicknamed "Rookies" or "Shinies" by their older and more experienced brothers, they were usually tasked with manning the Outer Rim listening posts that were supposed to warn the Republic Navy in case of an attack by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Stripe was one of such clones and was assigned to a remote tracking station on the planet of Pastil.

Service at the Pastil Station
"Rodent's a glitching MSE droid. He spends hours polishing that station."

- Stripe

In addition to a contingent of at least five clone troopers, the Pastil tracking station was also maintained by an MSE-series droid, nicknamed "Rodent" by the clones. During the first year of the war the Pastil station was inspected by the clone trooper commander CC-2224 and the clone trooper captain CC-7567, nicknamed Cody and Rex respectively. While Cody reminded the "Shinies" of the importance of their seemingly boring duty, Rex noted that the station looked unusually clean. Stripe explained to superior officers that Rodent spent a significant amount of his time polishing the station. Such activity did not attract attention of the clones stationed on the listening post, because they believed it to be the result of a glitch in the droid's programming. The inspecting officers, however, immediately saw the droid's action as suspicious and issued an alert code Aurek on the station. Captain Rex ordered the clone troopers to comb the station and find the droid by whatever means necessary. During the search a fellow clone trooper Bouncer asked Stripe for his opinion about the alert and wondered whether the officers did the same at every other inspection just to drill the rookies. Stripe, however, realized the danger of a potential spy within the base and abruptly told Bouncer not to ask stupid questions.

When the droid was finally spotted, Rex immediately pointed his blaster at him, preparing to shoot. Seeing that his position as a spy was revealed, Rodent tried to escape, though Rex chased him and destroyed him with a blaster shot. To the great surprise of all clones, the droid was revealed to be but a shell used for cover by the droid's wheels, which were individual droids on their own and tried to escape by splitting up. Two of the four "wheels" were destroyed by the clone troopers and Stripe disabled the third one by directing electrical energy from a loose wire at it. Then Stripe noticed that the fourth wheel droid was heading towards a grate and realized that if let through, it would be impossible to find again. Determined to stop the spy, Stripe had thrown a V-1 thermal detonator at the grate, which evaporated both the droid and a solid portion of the station's interior. When captain Rex asked Stripe if such a radical solution was necessary, Stripe proudly responded that the clones never left anything half-done. Rex then told the troopers to clean up the mess caused by the thermal detonator's explosion before departing along with Cody. Since the spy was successfully neutralized, Cody later reported to High General Obi-Wan Kenobi that the Pastil station was fully operational.

Personality and traits
"Over there! By the grate! If it gets through, we'll never find it!"

- Stripe

The clone trooper has received a nickname "Stripe" because he had dyed in the white color a stripe of his naturally black hair. Stripe was loyal to the Galactic Republic and though he initially didn't realize Rodent was a spy, when on the code Aurek alert, he took the threat most seriously. He told a fellow trooper Bouncer not to ask stupid questions when the latter asked if the alert code was a simple drill, and later improvised to disable a wheel droid with electrical energy from a loose wire. When seeing that another wheel droid was close to escape, Stripe decided to stop it with a deadly force by using a thermal detonator, even if it meant damaging the station's interior. When asked by a superior officer if he considered his actions an overkill, Stripe proudly responded that as a clone he never left anything half-done.

Behind the scenes
The character of Stripe made his only appearances in Mouse Hunt, a short 5-page webcomic, preceding The Clone Wars Season One episode "Rookies" and published on StarWars.com. The planet, on which Stripe served, is not named in the comic itself and was only identified as Pastil in the Episode Guide for "Rookies", also published on the Star Wars official website. The webcomic was written by Pablo Hidalgo and illustrated by Thomas Hodges. Originally, another artist, Jeffery Carlisle was supposed to illustrate the comic, but due to a scheduling conflict he was unable to get this story together, so Hodges stepped in at the last minute.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Mouse Hunt