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What if I could show you...the future?
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- "Comlink just relayed orders from—"
"We all heard the orders, Echo!"
"Stop calling me that!"
"Stop repeating every order!" - ―Echo, Cutup, and Droidbait during their training mission on Kamino
Echo, designated CT-1409, was a clone trooper who fought during the Clone Wars. He belonged to the Clone squad Domino Squad during his training days, and though he barely made it out in to the field, he made it to be a high ranking member of the 501st Legion. He was given the nickname "Echo" because of his tendency to repeat orders, and always had a strong passion of reaching the rank of ARC Trooper, which he eventually did. He fought many times with his only remaining squadmate, Fives. They fought together side by side until they were both assigned on the deadly mission of infiltrating and rescuing Jedi Master Even Piell on Lola Sayu. The shuttle Echo was protecting was shot by a defensive turret, which destroyed the craft and consumed Echo in the blast, at which time was presumed dead.
Appearance
During his cadet days, Echo wore standard clone cadet training armor with the identification number three printed on it. During the attack on the Rishi Moon Outpost, Echo wore standard Clone
Echo before being promoted to the rank of ARC Trooper
Trooper armor which bore a blue handprint, created by Captain Rex, and red macrobinoculars. After the attack on Rishi base, Echo's armor gained additional blue markings, displaying his newly achieved rank as a clone trooper of the 501st. Once Echo was granted the rank of ARC Trooper, he wore experimental Phase II Clone Trooper Armor still retaining the handprint that he had kept throughout his career, although he made this himself, as he couldn't transfer his handprint to the additional chest armor. Echo is the only known ARC Trooper to don his ammo pouches on the left side of his chest.
Echo in his ARC Trooper armor
Echo commonly used a DC-15 Blaster Pistol blaster in battle, also donning several Thermal Detonators on his person during some missions. He also had Twin DC-17 Blaster Pistols and a DC-15 Blaster Rifle, but they were not commonly seen in his hands. Like all ARC Troopers, he had additional protective plating below his pauldron, on his forearms, face, and shins. Also standard for ARCs, he had a double pauldron, a rangefinder, a kama, a life-support pack on his back, and pouches on his chest, kama, and on the back of his belt, along with ammunition for standard weapons on the front of his belt. Echo's chest pouch was on the left side, as he kept his handprint design. He was the only ARC known to have it like this.
Clone Cadets
- "Guys, we have to follow orders, come on!"
- ―Echo after a failed attempt of the Citadel training mission.
Bric breaking up Hevy and Echo from fighting.
Echo trained in Domino Squad on Kamino under the supervision of Shaak Ti, El-Les, Bric and Commander Colt. His squad had different opinions on how to fight. Echo thought that you should follow every order closely and play to your training and never risk yourself. Hevy thought that you should just run up to the enemy and shoot them because he was a specialist with a Z6-Rotary Blaster Cannon. Droidbait thought that you shouldn't stay in cover and just shoot at the enemy, Cutup was just someone who thought that all you needed to do was sit in cover and shoot the enemy and Fives was pretty much the same. They failed their practice run of the Citadel Quarters and then they failed their proper test. El-Les a Bounty Hunter had asked Shaak Ti if Domino Squad could have another test try. Shaak Ti agreed and let Domino Squad have another try. 99 a clean up maintenance clone had lately inspired Hevy and he had come to Domino Squad with confidence. They passed their final test with ease and Shaak Ti said that they were one of the best Squads she had ever seen passed.
Rookies
After becoming a battle-ready clone trooper, Echo, and former Domino Squad members, were assigned their first off-world mission. Echo was stationed at a listening post located on a moon of the planet Rishi, under the command of Sergeant O'Niner. Along with fellow troopers Fives, Hevy, Droidbait, Cutup, Nub, and CT-327, Echo maintained the listening post to warn the Galactic Republic of any impending Confederate attacks on the nearby Kamino. At one point, when Echo joined the other stationed rookie troopers in the control room of the listening post, 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, the Confederate General Grievous planned to attack Kamino.
Echo liked to read reg manuals during his free time on Rishi
Grievous knew that if he attacked Kamino, the Rishi moon listening post would detect the attack, and the stationed clone troopers in the listening post would turn off the base's "all-clear" signal, which would alert the nearby Republic fleet. Grievous therefore deployed commando droids in Droch-class boarding ships to take over the listening post. Meanwhile, a clone trooper raised the listening post's shield to protect the base against what appeared to be an approaching meteor shower, which was actually a group of boarding ships. The droids soon left their transports and began their attack on the Republic base. Once commando droids shot and killed O'Niner and three other clones, the remaining clone troopers—Echo, Hevy, Fives, and Cutup—evacuated the command center by exiting through a ventilation shaft, which led them outside the listening post. Leaving the ventilation shaft, the four troopers 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 sighted the attack shuttle flown by Commander Cody and Captain Rex.
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 escaped and met with Echo and the other rookie troops. Having encountered a droid commando disguised in clone armor during their skirmish with the droids, Rex demanded that the rookies remove their helmets to verify that they were indeed clones. After the three rookie troopers obeyed and removed their protective headgear, another Rishi moon eel attacked them. This time, Rex used his hand blaster to kill it with one shot to the eye, a feat that impressed the rookies. When talking with the rookie troopers, Rex dubbed them "shinies," a term referring to the troopers' spotless armor that had not yet seen action in battle. Rex also put his hand on a piece of Echo's armor, leaving a hand print from the eel's blood. Rex and Cody gave Echo and the other rookie troops their blaster carbines, and Rex suggested a plan to retake the listening post.
The group 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 the droids 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 leader. However, their victory was cut short when the clone troopers noticed that General Grievous's fleet had arrived above the moon. Due to the lack of response 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 moon's atmosphere and landed at the listening post. With the battle droid reinforcements outnumbering the clone troopers, Rex—to the surprise of the rookie troops—ordered the complete destruction of the base.
When a confused Echo told the Clone Captain that the clones' duty was to protect the base, Rex dismissed
Echo after being awarded a medal
him, stating that if the base was destroyed, it would turn off the all-clear signal and alert the nearby Republic fleet of the impending Separatist invasion. To destroy the base, Echo offered the use of highly explosive liquid tibanna, which was used as a fuel source at the station when the Rishi moon entered its freezing cycle. While Rex and Echo went to retrieve the plunk droids that stored the liquid tibanna, Cody, Hevy, and Fives grabbed weaponry from the listening post's supply room. With their new supply of weaponry, the clones attacked the invading battle droid forces, buying time for Rex and Echo to wire the three plunk droids together. Unexpectedly to the clones, however, the remote activator to detonate the tibanna did not function properly.
Hevy offered to stay behind and correct the problem before joining the other clones as they fled the listening post through a nearby ventilation shaft. Once outside, Rex found—to his surprise—that Hevy hadn't yet evacuated the listening post. He contacted Hevy via comlink, but Hevy refused to evacuate the listening post until he was able to repair the detonator. Unwilling to accept Hevy's decision, the clones ran to rescue the rookie trooper. Before they could reenter the facility, however, Hevy manually detonated the explosives. The listening post exploded, killing Hevy and destroying all of the droid forces inside. Shortly thereafter, Rex, Cody, Echo, and Fives were picked up by a gunship that carried them off the moon. On board the Resolute, Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker awarded Echo and Fives medals for their service. Following the presentation of the medals, Rex inducted the two clones into the 501st Legion for their part in helping the Republic to thwart the Separatist attack.
ARC Troopers
- "Fives, keep firing! We can beat these guys!"
- ―Echo to Fives while taking out the attacking Aqua Droids
Havoc ordering Echo and Fives to their sniper positions.
Several months after the destruction of the Rishi Station, Republic intelligence concluded that the Confederacy was about to invade Kamino. With Kenobi, Skywalker, Rex, and Cody, Echo and Fives departed to Kamino to prepare the defense of the planet. While Kenobi and Skywalker met with Shaak Ti and Kamino Prime Minister Lama Su, Echo and Fives roamed through Tipoca City's military complex. After reminiscing about their time as clone cadets in the city, the two soon spotted their old clone trooper friend, 99, who was carrying a bundle of DC-15 blaster rifles. 99 was glad to see Echo and Fives, but questioned where was Hevy. When Echo and Fives told him he had given his life to save them on the Rishi moon, 99 sadly showed the two Hevy's medal, and told them that Hevy had given it to him. Changing subjects, Echo told 99 about the suspected Confederate invasion of Kamino, and 99 asked the clone if he could help them in any way. With Echo and Five's approval, 99 departed to the facility's weaponry room to gather weapons for the clone troopers, while Echo and Fives met with ARC Trooper Havoc in a docking bay.
Echo and Fives taking out Aqua droids from their sniping position on Kamino
ARC Trooper Havoc gave both 501st Legion clones a dangerous assignment—he wanted Echo and Fives to go outside on a platform bridge and "stay in a sniping position." Echo and Fives complied and left for the bridge. Once there, the two clones situated themselves, prepared their DC-15 carbine blasters, and waited for battle to begin. When the invasion began, Trident ships, led by the Confederate General Grievous and Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, climbed the outside structures of Tipoca City. As the ships caused structural damage to the buildings, due to their drills, battalions of B1 battle droids and Aqua droids exchanged fire with stationed clone troopers. On the bridge, Echo and Fives utilized their carbine blasters to shoot down the nearby droids. After 99 visited the two clones and resupplied them with ammo and thermal detonators, battle droids stormed the area, although they were destroyed when Echo tossed a detonator at them. Not long after, a squad of clone cadets approached Echo, Fives, and 99. When the squad told the clone troopers that they separated from their clone cadet group, 99 offered to bring them back to the city's sleeping barracks.
Both Echo and Fives departed the platform bridge with 99 and the clone cadets and headed for the indoor barracks. Once there, Clone Commander Cody and Captain Rex joined the group, and told them everyone in the room needed to fight off the droids. The clone cadets, however, disagreed, due to their training being inadequate. Echo tried to boost the clone cadets' confidence by saying since Kamino was their home, they should defend it. 99 entered the conversation by telling the clones that he knew where the complex's armory room was, and if the clones could gather enough supplies, they would be able to hold off the droids.
With the
Rex, Cody, Fives, and Echo holding off the droids in the barracks
decision made, 99 gathered the supplies, and each of the clones equipped themselves with a firearm. Echo and the clones stood behind a door, which led to a sleeping barrack room, and waited for any droid to walk by. Nearby, Grievous led a group of droids down the same hallway the clones where in. After the cyborg General ordered the droids to open the doors, a droid opened the clones' door, which revealed them. Echo and the clones began to fire at the droids, and lured them inside the barrack room. The clones took defensive positions behind crates as the droids continued their pursuit. As the firefight intensified, 99 tossed thermal detonators to Echo, Cody, and Rex for more firepower. Soon, however, the clones around the crates were being overwhelmed by the droids. Rex used his comlink to alert the clone cadets, whom were hidden inside sleeping bunkers, to reveal themselves to the droids. As they began to fire at the droids, Echo and the others continued as well. However, 99 noticed that the clones ran out of
Rex and Cody complimenting Fives and Echo on their valor on Kamino
thermal detonators. Despite being told not to retrieve more by Rex, since it was too dangerous, 99 ignored the order and ran toward a nearby door. Yet, battle droids noticed the fleeing 99, and fired at him, killing him instantly. Despite witnessing 99's death, Echo and the remaining clones destroyed the remainder of Grievous' droids. Echo and the clones gathered around Fives, who was cradling 99's body on the floor, and mourned 99's loss. After Grievous and Ventress escaped Kamino, which ended the invasion, resulting in a Republic victory, Echo and Fives joined Cody and Rex inside a docking bay. Because of their accomplishments during the invasion, both Cody and Rex were proud of Echo and Fives. The two 501st Legion clone troopers were then allowed to become ARC troopers.
The Citadel
Echo was assigned next with Fives to rescue Master Even Piell from the Citadel, a large prison guarded by numerous traps and alarms. Echo didn't really like the idea of being carbon frozen, but he, some other troopers, and the Jedi were frozen and were loaded onto a Separatist shuttle to the Citadel. On Lola Sayu, R2-D2 unfroze everyone and the gang started walking. Artoo and his re-programmed battle droids stayed with the shuttle. Cody said the winds were too powerful for jet packs, so they free climbed the wall. Echo was going to help Charger but the latter slipped on a rock and fell, triggering an alarm. The gang sneaked in and before Piell lost his good eye, Echo and Fives burst in and destroyed the commando droidsguarding the cell and the operator droid.
After rescuing Piell, Osi Sobeck caught them and they were confronted by commando droids and their weapons got stuck to the ceiling along with Anakin's hand. Anakin broke the magnetic holder and Echo got his blaster and shot some droids. Obi-Wan decided it would be better if the group split up, so Kenobi, Cody and his troopers, Piell, and some clone officers as Anakin took Ahsoka, Tarkin, Rex, some troopers and officers, Echo, and Fives. They would rendezvous with the ship.
Counterattack
- "This is our only chance! We've got to stop them!"
- ―Echo before the explosion that destroyed the shuttle
Echo's damaged ARC Trooper helmet following the shuttle's destruction.
When the group met at the landing zone, Echo and the survivors of the group engaged in a battle with Separatist forces for control over it. Echo spotted a Citadel Commando Droid operating one of the blaster turrets, aiming at the shuttle, the group's only means of escape. In an attempt to save the shuttle, Echo grabbed a nearby energy shield and tried to intercept the blaster turret. He was able to hold his ground on the shuttle for a moment, but the Commando Droid aimed for the shuttle instead with a resulting explosion, leaving Echo to be consumed in the blast and flew across the area before touching the ground.
Mortified, Fives looked as Echo's scorched ARC Trooper helmet landed on the ground before retreating. But unbeknownst to the team, Echo survived the blast and was taken into Separatist custody.
Personality and Traits
- "Personally, I like that it's so quiet out here. I can catch up on the reg manuals."
- ―Echo at the Rishi moon base
As a cadet, Echo was a member of the disfunctional Domino Squad who always told the other members of the squad that they had to follow orders and always repeated orders from command, earning him his nickname. Echo however began to work well with his squad durring the re-take of their final test and helped them succeed.
As a rookie, Echo was able to deal with the ennui of the Rishi Moon outpost better than some of the other rookies. When the attack on the station came, he tried to help shut off the all clear signal, knowing that Kamino was in danger of being invaded, showing his care for his home planet and his clone brothers; examples being his sadness over Hevy and 99's deaths and helping to protect Kamino since it was his homeplanet and so many of his clone brothers were there.
Knowing how important the missions he was on were, he would do whatever he could to make the mission a victory for the Republic. This eventually led to him being taken out of action as he charged out into the line of fire of a turret to protect his team's escape ship on Lola Sayu.
Facts
- Echo's designation was changed several times over the course of The Clone Wars. It was originally listed as CT-26-1409 in the reference book, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Visual Guide Ultimate Battles. But the episode "Clone Cadets" showed the number CT-21-0408 on Echo's armor, which was maintained on StarWars.com, The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia, and in the more recent reference work, Ultimate Star Wars. When Echo returned in the Bad Batch, the first episode of the arc identified him as CT-1409, partially retaining the original number. While "The Bad Batch" and Ultimate Star Wars are both considered Canon, this article will assume that the former source is correct.
Appearances
- Clone Cadets
- Rookies (First appearance)
- ARC Troopers
- The Citadel
- Counter Attack
- Citadel Rescue (Appears in flashback(s))
- Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures (Images only)
- The Bad Batch (Voice only)
- A Distant Echo
- On the Wings of Keeradaks
- Unfinished Business
Gallery
