CT-21-0408

CT-26-1409 was a clone trooper who served in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars, the conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. CT-26-1409 earned the nickname of "Echo," as he was known for "echoing" the standard rules and procedures established for clones. Around 22 BBY, Echo stood guard in the Rishi station, a listening post located on the moon of Rishi, where he and other rookie clone troopers were stationed. Under the command of Sergeant CT-19-7409, the group of clones maintained the listening post to warn the Galactic Republic fleet of any Confederate attacks in the Outer Rim. The troops were present during a surprise Confederate attack on the station, when BX-series droid commandos took over the Rishi moon base and fortified themselves inside.

The clones noticed when Commander Cody and Captain Rex arrived at the base for a routine inspection. The clone officers met up with Echo and the remaining clone troopers and organized a plan to attack the droids. Upon taking over the base, Rex ordered the destruction of the listening post, and the Captain, along with Echo, collected liquid tibanna and explosives to destroy the base. However, when the remote detonator would not respond, fellow trooper Hevy offered to stay behind and fix the problem, while the other clones left the base through the ventilation shaft. Echo and the others evacuated the base and found that Hevy had not followed them out. Soon after, the base exploded, resulting in the destruction of the droid forces and in the death of Hevy. A LAAT/i gunship soon arrived and picked up the surviving clone troopers. Onboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute, Echo and trooper Fives were rewarded medals for their service, and were inducted into the 501st Legion.

Rishi moon battle
A clone of the bounty hunter Jango Fett, CT-26-1409 was born on the planet Kamino to fight in the Grand Army of the Republic. Around 22 BBY, during the Clone Wars, he was stationed at a listening post located on a moon of the planet Rishi. Under the command of Sergeant CT-19-7409, nicknamed "O'Niner," CT-26-1409&mdash;along with Cutup, CT-26-6958, nicknamed "Hevy," and CT-27-5555, nicknamed "Fives"&mdash;maintained the listening post to warn the Galactic Republic of any impending Separatist attacks on Kamino. During his time at the station, CT-26-1409 earned the nickname of "Echo," due to his habit of "echoing" the standard rules and procedures established for clones.

At one point, when Echo entered the control room of the listening post, where he joined the other stationed rookie troopers, Sergeant O'Niner entered the room and alerted the clone troopers of a routine inspection that would soon commence. Unbeknownst to the group of clone troopers, however, Confederate General Grievous had planned to attack the Wild Space planet of Kamino in order to end the Republic's production of clone troopers, but the Rishi moon listening post was near Kamino. If Grievous had attacked Kamino, the Rishi moon listening post would have been alerted, and the stationed clone troopers in the listening post would turn off the base's "all-clear" single, which would alert a nearby Republic fleet. Grievous therefore deployed BX-series droid commandos in Droch-class boarding ships to take over the listening post.

Meanwhile, a clone trooper alerted O'Niner that a meteor shower was approaching. To protect the base, the clone raised the listening post's shield. Outside the listening post, the meteor shower&mdash;which was actually a group of Droch-class boarding ships&mdash;crashed everywhere around the listening post. The droids soon left their transports and began their attack on the Republic base. O'Niner ordered troopers Droidbait and Nub to search for him; however, the two soon encountered a group of droids near the base's entrance. The battle droids began to fire at the two clone troopers, alerting the nearby O'Niner. After three commando droids shot and killed O'Niner, the remaining clone troopers&mdash;Echo, Hevy, Fives, and Cutup&mdash;evacuated the command center by going through a ventilation shaft, which led them outside the listening post.

Exiting the ventilation shaft, the four troops were disheartened when a Rishi eel attacked and devoured Cutup, leaving only Echo, Hevy, and Fives to defend themselves. Eventually, the remaining rookie clone troopers noticed the Obex, a Nu-class attack shuttle flown by Commander CC-2224 and Captain CC-7567&mdash;nicknamed "Cody" and "Rex" respectively. The clone officers had arrived for the inspection of the listening post and were unaware of the droid attack. After the two clone officers were attacked by the invading droids, they met with the rookie troops. Having encountered a droid commando disguised in clone armor during their skirmish with the droids, Rex demanded the rookies remove their helmets to verify that they were clones. After the three rookie troopers obeyed and removed their protective headgear, a Rishi moon eel appeared and began to attack them. This time, Rex used his DC-17 hand blaster to kill it with one shot to the eye, a feat that impressed the rookies. When talking with the rookie troopers, Rex referred to them as "shinies," a derogatory term referring to the troopers' spotless armor that had not yet seen action in battle.

Both Rex and Cody gave the rookie troops their DC-15S blaster carbines and Rex suggested a plan to retake the listening post. The group of clone troopers hid near the entrance of the base while Rex impersonated commando droid unit 26 by using the droid's decapitated head. The Clone Captain successfully tricked commando droid Units 07, 08, and 09 to open the listening post's main door, allowing Echo and the clone troopers to ambush the remainder of the commando droids inside the base. Upon entering the command center, the clones defeated the droid units, including their vibroblade-wielding leader.

Retaking the base
However, their victory was cut short when the clone troopers noticed that General Grievous' fleet had arrived above the moon. Due to the lack of communication from the commando droids, Grievous sent more battle droids to the listening post. The clones, inside the command center of the listening post, were unable to turn off the "all clear" signal, because the droids had hot-wired it. Soon, a droid landing craft descended through the atmosphere and landed near the listening post. With the battle droid reinforcements outnumbering the clone troopers, Rex&mdash;to the surprise of the rookie troops&mdash;ordered the complete destruction of the base.

After the rookie clone troopers told the clone captain that their duty was to protect the base, Rex dismissed them and ordered them to find anything explosive. Echo offered the use of highly explosive liquid tibanna, which was stored in plunk droids. While Rex and Echo went to retrieve the specific droids, Cody, Hevy, and Fives grabbed weaponry from the listening post's supply room. With their new supply of weaponry, they opened fire on the invading battle droid forces, buying time for Rex and Echo to wire the three plunk droids together. Unexpectedly, the remote activator to detonate the tibanna inside the plunk droids did not function properly.

Hevy offered to stay behind and quickly correct the problem before joining the other clones as they fled the listening post through a nearby ventilation shaft. Once outside, Rex found&mdash;to his surprise&mdash;that Hevy hadn't yet evacuated the listening post. The clone captain contacted Hevy via comlink, although Hevy refused to evacuate the listening post until he fixed the detonator. Unwilling to accept Hevy's decision, the clones ran to rescue the rookie trooper. Before they could reenter the listening post, Hevy manually detonated the explosives and the listening post exploded, killing Hevy and all of the droid forces. Soon after, the remaining clone troopers that were outside were picked up by an LAAT/i gunship that carried them off the moon. Onboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute, Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker awarded Echo and Fives a medal for their service, and the two clones were inducted into the 501st Legion.

Personality and traits
As a rookie clone trooper, Echo often "echoed" the guidelines and procedures that were established for the clone troopers. Instead of fighting, Echo preferred to be away from the front lines. While stationed at the listening post, the trooper revealed this by claiming he enjoyed quiet situations, which would give him time to catch up on the reg manuals. After evacuating the listening post when it was taken over by Confederate battle droids, Echo was able to inform the other clone troopers about what the reg manual said about situations without a leading officer.

Echo's service to the Republic earned him a spot within the Republic's 501st Legion. Echo's armor, like all rookie clone troopers, was sleek white, and had no dust or damage from fighting. After Rex killed the attacking Rishi eel, the Clone Captain used his hand to stamp some blood of the eel onto Echo's chest armor. Echo's helmet featured red macrobinoculars.

Behind the scenes
Echo was first featured in "Rookies," the fifth episode in the first season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, which aired on October 24, 2008. Like all clone troopers throughout the series, he was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. In the premiere of "Rookies," Echo exclaimed the word "hell" once, however, the word "hell" was removed in later broadcasts of the episode. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia later gave Echo a short entry, and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Visual Guide Ultimate Battles gave Echo the clone designation of "CT-26-1409."

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Grievous Attacks!