Imperial Depot (Barton IV)

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"Welcome to The Outpost."

―Mayday, to Crosshair^[1]

An Imperial Depot, nicknamed "The Outpost" by its squad, was situated on a mountain on the planet Barton IV. During the early Imperial era, Lieutenant Nolan, CT-9904 "Crosshair," and at least three clone troopers were given a mission to secure high valued cargo crates from local raiders.

Upon arrival, the squad was attacked by local raiders leading to Nolan ordering Crosshair and Mayday, the clone commander of the squad stationed at the depot prior to Nolan's arrival, to secure two cargo crates that were stolen during the raiders attack. Crosshair and Mayday managed to locate and eliminate the insurgents, however they failed to retrieve the two cargo crates, which they discovered contained TK stormtrooper gear. When the two clones returned to the outpost, Nolan refused to help Mayday with his injuries, leading to Mayday’s death. This infuriated Crosshair, causing him to shoot and kill Nolan. Crosshair was then detained and sent to Doctor Emerie Karr for observation.

The Outpost was then abandoned by the Empire, and Clone Force 99 later returned to Barton IV to decrypt Nala Se’s datapad, which Omega had stolen while imprisoned at Tantiss Base on the planet Wayland.

Description[]

The depot was located on the planet Barton IV and consisted of several temporary, pre-fabricated buildings. One such building housing the high-value cargo crates that contained TK stormtrooper gear. These buildings were surrounded by sensor beacons to help detect any intruders and the depot contained at least one watchtower. Over time however, the planet's harsh, snowy conditions caused much of the equipment at the depot to degrade leading to the sensors frequently being unable to detect intruders allowing repeated raids to occur. Mayday's squad later nicknamed the depot "The Outpost."^[1]

By the time Lieutenant Nolan and his group of troops arrived at the depot, heating had also malfunctioned at the pre-fabricated building housing the cargo crates, with the building only containing at least one heater used by Mayday's squad to keep warm. The pre-fabricated building housing the cargo crates featured a large blast door and several clone trooper helmets on top of several crates to commemorate clone troopers that died protecting the depot. By this time, black ice vultures had circled around the complex.^[1]

History[]

Operation[]

In the early Imperial Era, Clone Commander Mayday and his squad were assigned to protect the depot at all costs. Over time however, equipment at the depot started to fail leading to repeated raids. These raids were what caused the deaths of the majority of Mayday’s squad. When Mayday contacted the Galactic Empire for replacement gear and more clone troopers, his request was denied.^[1]

Reinforcements[]

Over a year later, Mayday, Hexx, and Veetch were the only three surviving clones at The Outpost. CT-9904 "Crosshair" and at least three clone troopers were assigned alongside Lieutenant Nolan to go to Barton-4 and secure high-valued cargo at the depot. When Nolan and his squad arrived, they found that the depot was unguarded. After Nolan found out what had happened at the outpost prior to their arrival, he promised that the clones remaining would be punished for their failure to adequately defend the outpost.^[1]

Clone Commander Mayday later scoffed and asked Nolan how many missions he commanded. Mayday then asked the clone troopers remaining under his command to help their new commander "get situated" while Mayday showed Crosshair the depot. Crosshair questioned Mayday about the local raiders attacking the depot, with Mayday replying that since their equipment was degraded it was hard to detect their attackers. Before Crosshair could venture outside the depot, local raiders attacked the depot and killed Veetch. Meanwhile, Crosshair went to the east side of the depot, while Mayday went to the west side, in an attempt to capture the raiders. Before the clones could successfully mount an attack on the insurgents, with Crosshair taking position at a watchtower located in the depot, the shuttle that had brought Lieutenant Nolan and Crosshair to the depot exploded, killing Hexx. Crosshair, blinded by the explosion, removed his helmet and was able to snipe one of the raiders. It wasn’t an instant kill, as the raider limped away, leaving a trail of blood behind them.^[1]

Crosshair later followed the blood trail to a cave just outside the depot before finding out that Mayday had followed him. The two clones returned to the depot with Mayday putting Hexx and Veetch's clone trooper helmets on a crate with at least nine other clone trooper helmets to commemorate them. Just then, Nolan arrived and immediately ordered Mayday to send his men to retrieve two crates of cargo that had been stolen during the raid, leading Mayday to explain that Hexx and Veetch died in the ambush. Nolan then ordered Crosshair and Mayday to recover the cargo stolen by the raiders. Mayday then stated that they didn’t have enough gear and manpower to recover the crates, but Nolan dismissed his claim and sent the two troopers out anyway.

Crosshair and Mayday then left the outpost and followed the blood trail found in the aftermath of the raiders attack to a hideout. Although the two clones managed to take out the camp full of raiders, Mayday was critically injured in the aftermath of the attack on the raiders’ camp, when an avalanche caused by Crosshair shooting a pile of land mines caught both troopers on the way down the mountain. Before the avalanche hit, the duo discovered the cargo that Mayday’s soldiers had died protecting: TK stormtrooper gear.

The next day, Crosshair and Mayday returned to the outpost empty handed while three Rho-class transport shuttles housing TK stormtroopers arrived and started to load the cargo from the depot to the shuttles. Due to Mayday’s injuries, he was near death, so Crosshair pleaded with Nolan to get a medic and help Mayday. However, Nolan refused and idly watched as Mayday succumbed to his injuries. Furious, Crosshair pulled out his blaster pistol and shot Nolan dead. Crosshair then passed out from the arduous journey back to the outpost and TK stormtroopers detained him.^[1]

Decommissioning[]

Once the TK gear was fully transferred off-world, the depot was shut down and abandoned. The helmets of Mayday’s squad, including his own, were left scattered inside, and all power to the complex was severed, with the exception of the high-frequency perimeter sensor beacons which kept the native ice wyrm at bay, preventing them from destroying the facilities. The buildings were soon covered with ice and the entrance was buried under the snow.^[2]

TheReturn-Thumbnail — Clone Force 99 inside the depot

After escaping from Tantiss Base along with Omega, Crosshair took his fellow Clone Force 99 troopers Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo back to the depot in order to use the on-site terminal to access Nala Se's datapad, which Omega had taken from the base. Hoping to find the coordinates of the base to rescue the clones still trapped there, the Bad Batch successfully infiltrated the abandoned base and found the terminal. They then powered off the perimeter sensors to restore enough power to the computers to be able to access the datapad; although successful, they found out that it only contained medical information.^[2] While at the base, Crosshair placed the helmets of Mayday’s squad back to the way they had been during Mayday’s time at the depot, as a way of remembrance to his fallen brothers.

Meanwhile, with the perimeter disabled, an ice wyrm wandering nearby slipped through and attacked the team, forcing them to lock themselves inside for protection. The team devised a high-risk plan to distract the wyrm and lead it outside the perimeter, while Wrecker would power up the sensors through the backup fuse box, locking the beast outside. Despite Hunter falling unto the wyrm's tunnels and almost getting trapped, Crosshair and the lurca hound Batcher managed to open a hole in the ice in time and free him before Omega activated the sensors. The team then dug out their now partially buried ship Remora and departed Barton IV.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

The depot made a first appearance in "The Outpost," the twelfth episode of the second season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch.^[1] It was released on March 8, 2023.^[3]