Shiv (clone trooper)

"Hey, get that. Ol' Shiv has the shivers. Heh."

- Shiv, in a letter to Flanker

Shiv was the nickname of a clone cold assault trooper in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. During the war, Shiv had a hatchmate named Flanker that died during the Battle of Christophsis. In 22 BBY, Shiv and his squad were assigned to Glid Station on the ice planet of Orto Plutonia to field test an assortment of subzero gear. While on the planet, his squad encountered an elusive and dangerous species they called the "ice men", which killed any of the clone's patrols they encountered. He and his commander Mag were later killed by the ice men while inspecting one of the station's outer sensors. After this, the rest of the clones stationed in Gild Station, along with all the battle droids at the nearby CIS base, were desroyed by the "ice men". The Galactic Republic later sent a task team lead by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, along with Chairman Chi Cho and Senator Riyo Chuchi from the orbiting moon of Pantora, to investigate what had happened to Gild Station. The Jedi's research found that the "ice men" were actually a colony of Talz.

History
"Flanker, things aren't going to well now. Commander Mag and I were inspecting an outer sensor, but our Freeco bikes froze solid."

- Shiv, writing to Flanker

During the Clone Wars, Shiv had a hatchmate named Flanker who he enjoyed writing letters too, even after his death at the Battle of Christophsis. Later on in war, Shiv and the rest of his squad was stationed at Glid Station on the frozen world of Orto Plutonia in 22 BBY, which was orbited by the sovereign moon of Pantora populated by the Pantorans, which had remained allied to the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. Shiv and his squad were tasked with testing experimental cold weather equipment, including the CK-6 swoop bike nicknamed the Freeco bike. During Shiv's training, he and Flanker had always thought that he would be shipped off to a water world after all the desert training he got, so Shiv found it funny that he had instead was stationed on a ice planet.



However, Shiv's stay at Glid Station was also filled with many problems. First, his squads rations were not shipped in insulated canisters, and due to the extreme cold, they were frozen solid. This forced the clones to have to boil their rations, which took away the little flavor the rations had in the first place. Also, the Freeco bikes would freeze up if not constantly maintained. Matters got worse when Shiv's squad started to encounter a very dangerous and mysterious species which they called the "ice men". All the patrols that had apparently encountered the ice men were killed. Although there was a nearby Separatist base on the planet, Shiv or his squad never encountered any battle droids, but they still tried to stay in fighting shape by building snow men that resembled B1 battle droids, B2 battle droids, and General Grievous and using them as target practice.

One night, Shiv and his commander, Mag, were inspecting an outer sensor when their Freeco bikes froze up, forcing the pair to spend the night in the frozen tundra until Glid Station could send a LAAT gunship to pick them up at dawn. The clones set up a small camp and a tent, deciding they would take turns guarding the camp while the other slept. While Mag was taking his turn to guard the camp, Shiv had decided to stay up and write a letter to Flanker on a datapad to calm his nerves. While Shiv was talking about the pair's predicament in his letter, Mag came into the tent to find that Shiv was writing instead a resting for his turn on guard duty. After taking the letter from Shiv and reading it, Mag asked if Flanker was Shiv's hatchmate and where he was stationed at, to which Shiv reluctantly replied that Flanker died at Christophsis. As soon Shiv said this, a group of ice men attacked the camp, ripping open the tent and killing Mag. As Shiv tried to grab a DC-17 hand blaster to defend himself, he too was attacked and killed by the ice men.

After Shiv and Mag were killed by the ice men, the snow creatures then attacked both the Separatist outpost and Glid Station, destroying all the battle droids and clone troopers stationed at both stations. When the Republic lost contact with Glid station, the senate sent an investigation party to Orto Plutonia find out what happened to the outpost. The party was led by General Obi-Wan Kenobi, the famous "Negotiator", and General Anakin Skywalker, the "Chosen One" destined to bring balance to the Force. They also brought along representatives from Pantora, Chairman Chi Cho, the elected head of the Pantoran government, and Galactic Senator Riyo Chuchi. The Jedi's investigation discovered that the "ice men" were actually a peaceful group of Talz that had been attacked by the Separatist battle droids and in the resulting conflict, Glid base was been caught in the middle. However, Chairman Chi Cho wanted to Talz to leave the planet immediately, which resulted in a battle between the Republic and Pantoran forces on the planet and the Talz colony. After Chairman Cho died in the fighting, Senator Chuchi was able to negotiate peace with the Talz, which allowed the Talz to stay on Orto Plutonia.

Personality and traits
When nervous, Shiv found that writing letters relaxed him. Some of these letter would be written Flanker, even after his hatchmate was killed on Christophsis. Shiv also had a sense of humor, which he showed in his last letter to Flanker before his death, by making several few jokes.

Behind the scenes
Shiv makes his first and only appearance in the six-page The Clone Wars web comic, "Cold Snap", which lead directly into "Trespass", an episode in the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Cold Snap

Notes and References
Shiv