CT-1409

"Congratulations. You're not shinies anymore."

- Rex, to Echo and Fives, after the Rishi moon battle

CT-1409&mdash;nicknamed "Echo"&mdash;was a clone trooper who served the Grand Army of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. Born on Kamino, Echo was originally a cadet of the Domino Squad, along with his friend Fives, before he graduated into the Republic army. On his first assignment, Echo was tasked with guarding the Rishi Station moon base, where he&mdash;along with Fives and the Clone Captain Rex&mdash;aided in warning the Republic of an impending Separatist attack on Kamino. Echo was commended for his bravery and absorbed into the 501st Legion.

After the attack on the Rishi moon, Echo defended his homeworld from Separatist forces as they attacked Tipoca City, where they sought to destroy the Republic's cloning facilities. Once the 501st successfully repelled the attack, Echo and Fives were both promoted to the elite rank of ARC trooper. Echo was later tasked with a mission to Lola Sayu, where he and the 501st were to retrieve coordinates to the Nexus Route from the Jedi Master Even Piell, who had been imprisoned on Lola Sayu's Citadel. Despite Piell's death during the mission, it was ultimately a success, but Echo was seemingly killed when trying to secure an escape.

The severely injured Echo was taken prisoner by Separatists forces, where he was sold to the Emir of the Techno Union, Wat Tambor. Echo was kept alive by being turned into a cyborg, albeit at the cost of his consciousness. He became an unwitting pawn for the Separatists during their campaign on Anaxes, led by the Admiral Trench. When Rex found traces of Echo's survival, he&mdash;accompanied by Clone Force 99 and the Jedi General Anakin Skywalker&mdash;led a mission to rescue Echo on Skako Minor. They succeeded, and, in turn, Echo used his cybernetic capabilities to turn the tide against the Separatists on Anaxes, leading to the Republic's victory.

Graduating Domino Squad


CT-1409 was born on the planet Kamino, as all the clone troopers of the Galactic Republic were. He sarcastically received the nickname "Echo" for having a tendency to repeat orders during training exercises, annoying his fellow troopers. Echo lived in the barracks of Tipoca City, where he endured physical and mental training. Like all clones, Echo was a genetic copy of the once renowned bounty hunter Jango Fett, although&mdash;due to the millions of clones straining what DNA was left of the deceased Fett&mdash;it was speculated by the Kaminoan Administrator Lama Su that Echo, along with the other cadets in his unit, was too deficient to be a soldier.

During one of their final training exercises, Echo and Domino Squad&mdash;the cadets CT-4040 "Cutup", CT-00-2010 "Droidbait", CT-5555 "Fives", and CT-782 "Hevy"&mdash;had failed to work together on the field, causing them to fight amongst each other. Echo insisted that the squad simply follow orders to pass their training, for which he was mocked by Hevy as the squad cast blame for the failure on each other. The string of recent disappointments by Domino Squad caused their trainers&mdash;the Togruta Jedi Shaak Ti, the Siniteen Bric, and the Arcona El-Les&mdash;to grow concerned about their chances of successfully being inducted into the Grand Army of the Republic. Shaak Ti observed that Echo had issues adapting to the battlefield, as he was too busy trying to impose the rules of the exercise on his squad-mates, and Bric wanted to flatly abandon the whole squad.

Soon after, the ARC trooper Colt visited the cadets with the intention of pitting them against their final test. On the mock-battlefield, Echo and Domino Squad were expected to face nonlethal battle droids and climb to the top of a citadel. However, the squad was unable to work together yet again, automatically failing the test when they chose to leave an injured Droidbait behind. Colt reprimanded Echo and the others for breaking the most important rule of working as one. Following their failure, Echo and Fives requested a transfer to Bravo Squad&mdash;a group that had easily passed the citadel challenge&mdash;as they were unable to cooperate with the rest of team. Shaak Ti denied their request, however, insisting the clones reassess their teamwork before they take on their last chance at the final challenge.



The next day, Echo and Domino Squad went into the challenge with a renewed inspiration; Hevy had received encouragement from the malformed clone 99&mdash;a member of the maintenance crew&mdash;while Cutup had proved resilient when Bric tried to goad him into a fight. Echo and his team coherently made their way through the battle droids on the battlefield, making it to the citadel without trouble. However, they were unable to conventionally scale the tower when they realized their ascension cables were not with them, having been removed by Bric beforehand without their knowledge. In a surprise to Bric, the clone cadets managed to strategize and used the citadel's blaster cannons to scale the tower after neutralizing them, leading to their success. Shaak Ti, in that moment, believed the squad to be one of the best she had ever seen. Echo and the other members of Domino Squad henceforth became clone troopers, and were sent on their first deployment to partake in the Clone Wars.

Rookie on the Rishi Moon


Echo's rookie post, along with the rest of Domino Squad, was on the Rishi moon in the Outer Rim Territories. Echo served under Clone Sergeant O'Niner, and took a liking to the quiet outpost, using the time to catch up on Republic army regulations. Despite the seeming simplicity of their post, the former Domino Squad did not realize the importance of the Rishi Station, as it was a listening post to ensure that no attack came to Kamino, their homeworld, by broadcasting a continuous all-clear signal. Unbeknown to Echo or the rest of the stationed clones, the Separatist Alliance General Grievous planned on invading Kamino with a fleet of Munificent-class star frigate and Droid Control Ships, all of which were in orbit near the Rishi moon. Grievous sent an infiltration squad of BX-series droid commandos&mdash;a battle droid type the clone troopers had not seen up to that point in the war&mdash;to covertly take over the Rishi outpost. After killing the clone trooper sentry outside, the droid commandos made their way into the outpost and attacked the clones. Echo&mdash;along with Cutup, Fives, and Hevy&mdash;escaped through a ventilation shaft, but Droidbait, Nub, and O'Niner were all killed.

As the surviving clones made their way outside of the base and onto the barren cliffside, Cutup was killed by a native Rishi eel, which the rookies were unable to stop. Echo and the others then watched as a Republic transport&mdash;unaware of the situation, on a routine inspection&mdash;landed on the Rishi Station's landing platform above. The trio fired a droid attack flare into the sky to warn the unsuspecting Republic forces, and, above, the Clone Commander CC-2224 "Cody" and Captain CT-7567 "Rex" saw the warning flare and blasted the disguised droid which had just greeted them. The two experienced clone troopers were then attacked by the droid commandos that had been hiding nearby, and their shuttle was destroyed by a thermal detonator. To escape the blast, Cody and Rex jumped off the landing platform, finding their way to the clone rookies shortly after. Echo and the others were then forced by Rex to remove their helmets to prove they were not droids, and, once the danger had passed, Rex devised a plan to infiltrate the station by disguising his voice as that of a droid commando.

Once at the blast doors of the Rishi Station, Rex successfully tricked the droids inside to open the entrance, and the group blasted their way through the remaining droids. Echo and the others&mdash;whom Rex had been referring to as "shinies" for their unscathed armor&mdash;experienced their first droid kills during the assault. After Cody checked the all-clear signal, he realized the droids had hard-wired it, making it impossible to deactivate immediately. The clones realized they had little time once a landing craft of battle droids&mdash;sent by Grievous to reinforce the droid commandos, which had not checked in&mdash;arrived on the platform outside. Rex suggested the clones instead destroy the Rishi Station, which would force the all-clear signal to cease, warning any nearby Republic fleets. Echo recommended using the station's liquid Tibanna fuel reserve for the job, as the substance was highly explosive and was regularly used to heat the station from the cold Rishi weather. Rex and the others agreed, and they armed themselves to repel the oncoming droid assault.



While Cody, Fives, and Hevy held the droid forces at bay, Echo and Rex prepared the explosive Tibanna by arming it to the station's Gonk power droids, and linked them to a detonator. After it was set, the clone troopers prepared to make their exit from the base, but the remote detonator failed, forcing Hevy to manually detonate it instead as Echo and the others escaped. Once the clones made it outside, Hevy was unable to follow&mdash;as he was gunned down&mdash;but he successfully set off the detonator, completely obliterating the Rishi Station and the battle droids in the explosion. Once the all-clear signal stopped broadcasting, the Republic fleet&mdash;realizing that invasion could be imminent&mdash;entered the Rishi system and engaged Grievous' fleet, forcing the outnumbered Separatist General to flee. For their bravery as rookies and as the sole survivors of their post, Echo and Fives were commended by the Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker aboard Kenobi's Venator-class Star Destroyer&mdash;Resolute&mdash;and were absorbed as members of Skywalker's 501st Legion. After joining the distinguished battalion, Echo and Fives both worked with Rex on strategic algorithms for the Republic war effort.

Defending Kamino
"I'm a soldier, like you! This is what I was bred for."

- 99's last words to Echo and company



Sometime after the Rishi Station incident, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker intercepted a holographic message between Grievous and the Dathomirian assassin Asajj Ventress, which stated they were proceeding with an invasion of Kamino. After arriving at Tipoca City, Echo and Fives were both happy to be home, reuniting with clone 99. They informed 99 of the news of Hevy's death, who had given 99 his graduation medal before leaving Kamino for the Rishi Station. 99 was eager to help the two clone troopers in preparations for the oncoming Separatist assault and joined with Echo and Fives. Soon after, Grievous' fleet arrived and immediately began its assault on Kamino, with Ventress seeking to steal Jango Fett's DNA from the cloning facilities.

After the battle started, the ARC trooper Havoc assigned Echo and Fives to take sniper positions above Tipoca City, noting it would be a dangerous assignment, and the two clones obliged. Meanwhile, 99 assisted Havoc's company by supplying blaster rifles, but Havoc was killed shortly after demanding the malformed clone take refuge. 99 then met with Echo and Fives as they fired on an onslaught of aquatic droids, and helped the pair by supplying them with grenades&mdash;doing what he could to aid the clone troopers in battle and prove his own worth as a soldier. Echo and Fives, desiring a better sniping position, agreed on making their way to the armory with 99 and a group of cadets that had been separated from the others. Echo and Fives both tried to inspire confidence in the clone cadets, reminding them that they were fighting for their home.



The entourage of clones successfully reached the armory near the barracks, where they were confronted by General Grievous and a group battle droids. However, Kenobi showed up and confronted the General himself, dueling Grievous in lightsaber combat. Echo and the others were then cornered in the barracks, where they set a trap for the oncoming battle droids using the bunks as cover for the cadets. The troopers ran out of grenades to use against the droids, so 99 made his way to retrieve more, where he was shot down from behind&mdash;much to Echo's dismay. Soon after, the battle was won as the Separatist Droid Army&mdash;including Grievous and Ventress&mdash;was routed all throughout Tipoca City, and the clone troopers mourned the death of their clone brother. Once the battle ended, Cody and Rex commended Echo and Fives for their courage and effort in the battle, officially promoting them to the rank of ARC troopers. Both clones accepted the promotion and stated that they did what any clone would have done for their home.

Mission to the Citadel


Some time after the assault on Kamino during the Clone Wars, the Lannik Jedi Master Even Piell was captured by Separatists for his knowledge of the coordinates to the Nexus Route, a vital hyperspace route for the Republic. The 501st&mdash;including Echo and Fives&mdash;was tasked with Piell's rescue, led by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Piell was being held at a prison known as the Citadel on the planet Lola Sayu, a prison built to hold Jedi in particular. To get to the Citadel covertly the rescue group was frozen in carbonite, which prevented having their life signs detected aboard their transport. Subsequently, the astromech droid R2-D2 and a group of its reprogrammed battle droids piloted the shuttle into Separatist space over Lola Sayu. After the shuttle gained passage to the Citadel&mdash;since no signs of life were detected aboard&mdash;it landed in a remote area, where R2 removed Echo and the crew from the carbonite blocks.

The weather was too violent for the clone troopers to use jetpacks to climb the Citadel prison wall, so they used ascension cables and climbed by hand. Echo and the others witnessed the clone trooper Charger lose his balance and fall down the exterior prison wall, colliding with an electromine, which alerted the Phindian Citadel Warden, Osi Sobeck. Despite Sobeck sending his forces after the rescue group, Echo and company were able to fight their way to Piell's location&mdash;which included electrified and magnetized walls&mdash;where they freed him from the prison's interrogator droid. Piell informed his rescuers that his crewman&mdash;Captain Tarkin&mdash;had memorized one half of the Nexus Route coordinates, while he had memorized the other. Echo and company then fought their way to free Tarkin and the rest of Piell's surviving crew, before they split up&mdash;with Kenobi and Piell creating a distraction for the others to escape and meet up afterward. Skywalker led Tarkin&mdash;as well as Echo and Fives&mdash;into the fortress' tunnels, an advantage Fives noted they had due to old Citadel archive data they possessed.



As the two groups headed to the rendezvous point to meet with R2-D2 and the shuttle, the astromech fooled the prison's tactical droid into letting it inside the prison, acting as a prisoner of its own reprogrammed battle droids. This allowed Sobeck to set a trap around the abandoned shuttle, luring Kenobi and Piell into capture&mdash;which R2 used as an opportunity to meet with the Jedi Masters. In the meantime, Echo and Fives held off attacking battle droids as their group made its way through the tunnels, with the Padawan Ahsoka Tano taking point until they reached a fuel pipeline. Echo and the others used the fuel line to make their way to the rendezvous&mdash;unaware that Kenobi and Piell had been captured&mdash;where they expected an extraction by R2. When the astromech failed to arrive, Skywalker led Echo and the others on his "Plan B"&mdash;to board the shuttle by force. They were met with resistance, including numerous crab droids and battle droids on STAP repulsorcraft, as well as the threat of laser turrets.

As the battle continued, Echo witnessed a droid commando making its way for one of the laser turrets, intending to use it to destroy the rescue crew's shuttle. Echo attempted to stop the droid, carrying a personal riot shield as he fired his blaster pistol towards it, but ultimately failed. The droid successfully fired upon the crew's escape shuttle, causing a large explosion that caught Echo in the blast. He was seemingly killed, as Fives and the others saw only his charred helmet remained. Without a transport, the crew retreated from the battle scene and called to the Jedi Council for aid, requesting an evacuation. Eventually, the mission was a success after the Kel Dor Jedi Master Plo Koon rescued what remained of the group&mdash;as intended, Tano and Tarkin delivered the two halves of the Nexus Route coordinates, although Tano only received her half from Piell after the Jedi Master was killed-in-action against Sobeck's hunting anoobas. In truth, Echo survived without the knowledge of the Republic, although he was severely injured, sustaining wounds that cost him his right arm, legs and lower torso. Echo was subsequently unable to resist the Separatist capture that followed.

Pawn of the Separatists


Following his capture by the Separatists, Echo was transformed into a cyborg. He was outfitted with cybernetic replacements for his lower torso and legs, and his right arm&mdash;which he had lost&mdash;was replaced with a socket-arm that allowed him to interface with computer systems. Sometime following his capture, Echo was sold to the Emir of the Techno Union&mdash;Wat Tambor&mdash;and further experimented on. Tambor had the intention of using the clone for counterintelligence using Echo's knowledge of strategic Republic algorithms, as&mdash;despite claiming neutrality in the war&mdash;the Techno Union was secretly allied with Separatists. Tambor took Echo to Skako Minor, where the clone trooper was placed in stasis&mdash;to prevent him from regaining control of his consciousness&mdash;and forced to remotely feed information for the Separatists' campaign on the planet Anaxes. Neural and respiratory systems kept Echo both under control and alive during the long time he was in stasis, and on Anaxes&mdash;due to Echo's unwitting part&mdash;the Republic efforts to repel the Separatists from their shipyards was failing on over a dozen fronts.

When the 501st arrived on Anaxes, Rex suspected that the Separatist Harch Admiral Trench was using his own strategic algorithms against the Republic. As Rex did not understand how this could be possible&mdash;as Echo was thought dead and Fives had previously been killed&mdash;he took it upon himself to investigate the source of Trench's intelligence. Along with Clone Force 99&mdash;a group of experimentally enhanced clone troopers calling themselves the "Bad Batch"&mdash;Rex infiltrated a Separatist base where he discovered the source of Trench's strategic signal. Rex was shocked when the signal&mdash;coming from Echo on Skako Minor&mdash;identified itself as "CT-1409," Echo's clone trooper designation. Despite Obi-Wan Kenobi's attempts to deter Rex, the Clone Captain planned on rescuing Echo, taking Anakin Skywalker and Clone Force 99&mdash;the "Bad Batch" commandos Crosshair, Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker&mdash; with him to Skako Minor.

During the rescue mission, both Skywalker and Hunter considered the option that Echo had become a turncoat, which Rex vehemently denied. Eventually, the group was able to infiltrate the Techno Union's compound in the city of Purkell, where they faced numerous D-wing droids before making their way to Echo's stasis chamber. Once there, Tech deactivated Echo's stasis chamber and Rex pulled him free. Echo, able to regain some consciousness, remembered only his last moments on the Citadel and was happy to see Rex had returned for him. Immediately afterward, Tambor surrounded the rescue group outside of the stasis chamber, but Echo&mdash;once Tech safely disconnected him from the computer system&mdash;was able to aid in their escape, using his knowledge of the base he acquired during his time spent connected to its computers. Once outside, the crew used the local keeradaks to fly from the base, where they were pursued by the aerial D-wing droids. The pursuit led to the village of the local Poletecs, where Rex used Echo as an example of Separatist cruelty to rally the Poletecs to fight alongside them. In the battle that followed, Echo&mdash;despite his weakened body&mdash;took part in destroying numerous droids as Rex, Skywalker, and the Bad Batch destroyed the attacking Octuptarra tri-droids. The battle was won, and the rescue crew returned to Anaxes with Echo in tow.

Behind the scenes
"I have to give you one spoiler because I know it meant a lot to some of you. Yes, Echo is alive."

- Dave Filoni on Echo's fate, prior to "The Bad Batch" reveal



The character of Echo made his first appearance in the television episode "Rookies", the fifth episode of the premiere season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series in 2008. He was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, along with all other clone troopers in the series. Echo later appeared in the episodes "Clone Cadets," "ARC Troopers," "The Citadel," and "Counterattack," the latter in which he was seemingly killed off. When The Clone Wars series was canceled, numerous concepts and episodes featuring Echo went unfinished, but the series directing supervisor&mdash;Dave Filoni&mdash;teased that Echo would return following the premiere of the final season of The Clone Wars.

In April 2015, at the Celebration Anaheim Star Wars convention, the final unfinished episodes of The Clone Wars Legacy were revealed to feature Echo's return, and&mdash;grouped together as "The Bad Batch"&mdash;were later featured on StarWars.com. Despite being unfinished, the episodes&mdash;like the rest of The Clone Wars series&mdash;are considered part of the official Star Wars canon by the Lucasfilm Story Group. The concept art of Echo as a cyborg was penned by Kilian Plunkett and Pat Presley.

In the episode "The Bad Batch," Echo was officially identified by his clone trooper designation, CT-1409. However, in the Star Wars sourcebook Ultimate Star Wars&mdash;released after the premiere of The Star Wars Legacy episodes&mdash;Echo was identified by a different designation number, CT-21-0408. This number was taken from Echo's designation in the 2010 sourcebook Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia &mdash;from the Star Wars Legends brand&mdash;which was no longer officially canon after the reboot of 2014. This article assumes his correct canon designation to be CT-1409, from The Clone Wars Legacy, as reciprocated by the StarWars.com Databank.

Appearances

 * Lords of the Sith 
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 * Lords of the Sith 
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 * Lords of the Sith