Joe Schreiber - Star Wars: Death Soldiers. Joe Schreiber - Star Wars: Death Soldiers White soldiers in star wars

by Joe Schreiber

Star wars

Soldiers of Death

Characters:

Jareth Sartoris– captain of the guard, imperial prison barge “Purgatory” (male, human)

Zahara Cody– chief surgeon, imperial prison barge “Purgatory” (female, human)

Cale Longo

Trig Longo– teenage prisoner (human, male)

Garbage– surgeon droid 2-1B

Or Miss– prisoner (Delphian, male)

Chapter 1. "Purgatory"

The worst was at night.

Even before his father died, Trig Longo hated the long hours after curfew, the shadows and sounds, the unstable silence between them. It was not the first night that he lay motionless on his bed, not taking his eyes off the drops on the durasteel ceiling of his cell and trying to fall asleep or at least somehow relax. Sometimes this worked, and he would forget himself under the influence of the calming sensation of weightlessness, but then he would suddenly wake up with a rapidly beating heart, a dry throat, a heaviness in his stomach - from the cry of another prisoner who was dreaming something.

There was no shortage of nightmares aboard the Imperial prison barge Purgatory.

Trig didn't know how many prisoners there were on board the Purgatory. Probably five hundred—humans and otherwise, captured across the galaxy—just as he and his family had been captured eight standard weeks ago. Sometimes the shuttles returned almost empty, sometimes filled with restless aliens and creatures of all stripes and races supposedly sympathetic to the rebels. There were killers here, ready to take any order, and antisocial elements such as Trig had never seen before; creatures with thin lips who laughed and muttered in incomprehensible dialects that seemed to Trig only clicks and hisses.

Each of them probably had their own dark likes and dislikes, memories tainted by a shameful secret or a thirst for revenge. It became increasingly difficult to remain cautious. Soon you will need eyes in the back of your head. Some had them there. Two weeks ago, in the cafeteria, Trig noticed a tall, silent prisoner sitting with his back to him, which did not prevent him from observing the teenager with a red eye on the back of his skull. Every day the creature with the red eye sat closer and closer to Trig. One day, for no apparent reason, this prisoner disappeared.

But not from dreams.

Sighing, Trig rose up on his elbows and looked out into the corridor through the bars. At night, the activity of the “General Settlement” decreased to a minimum, so the long corridor plunged into gray darkness. The Rodians in the cell opposite were either sleeping or pretending to be asleep. He forced himself to sit up, monitoring his breathing, and listened to the indistinct moans and mutterings of the other prisoners. Every now and then a mouse droid or a low-grade maintenance unit, one of hundreds on this barge, would scurry past the camera on its programmed errands. And, of course, behind all the sounds there was a low and barely audible, but pervasive hum of turbines growling in outer space.

Ever since they'd been on board, Trig had never been able to get used to that sound, the way it shook the Purgatory's hull, climbed up his legs and made his bones and nerves tremble. It was impossible to escape from him, he poisoned every moment of your life, this familiar sound, like your own pulse.

Trig remembered sitting in the hospital two weeks ago, how his father took one last twitching breath and fell silent, and the surgeon droid turned off the biomonitors and began to prepare the body for removal from the room. When the last of the monitors went dark, he heard that incessant roar of the engines - another unnecessary reminder of where he was and where he was going. Trig remembered how lost and small, how inescapably sad that sound made him feel - apparently it was some special form of artificial gravity that worked right in his heart.

He knew then, as he knew now, that this meant only one thing: the treacherous and cruel Empire was gathering strength.

“Forget about politicians,” my father used to say. “Just give them what they want, otherwise you will be eaten alive.”

Now they were almost eaten alive, although they never sympathized with the Resistance - no more than pickpockets captured in a planned imperial raid. The engines of tyranny continued to grind, carrying them through the galaxy to the distant prison moon. Trig understood that this sound would not stop, but would sound indefinitely, until...

Cale's voice came so unexpectedly that Trig flinched. He turned around and caught his brother's gaze. Cale’s rumpled and sleepy face, turned to three-quarters, seemed like a ghost hanging in the darkness. Maybe Cale hasn't fully woken up yet and thinks he's dreaming everything.

- What are you doing? - Cale asked, and a sleepy mutter escaped: “Tysho?”

Trig cleared his throat. Not long ago, his voice began to break, and as soon as he loosened control over the chords, high sounds immediately alternated with low ones, which he really didn’t like.

- Nothing.

– Are you afraid of tomorrow?

- I? – Trig snorted. - Here's more.

“It’s okay if you’re afraid,” Cale thought for a moment, and then grunted with annoyance. “Only a crazy person isn’t afraid of anything.”

“You’re not afraid,” Trig noted. - And my father would too...

- I'll go alone.

- No! – the word scratched my throat like sharp corners. “We have to hold on to each other,” my father said.

“You’re only thirteen,” Cale replied. – You probably don’t... well, you know...

“Next month I’ll be fourteen,” Trig shuddered at the mention of his age. - I'm already big.

- Sure?

- More than that.

- Then sleep. The morning is wiser than the evening...

Cale's speech became more and more incoherent - he leaned back on the bed. Trig remained seated, staring into the dark corridor outside the cell, the "Main Settlement", which had already become their "not so new" home.

“Then sleep,” he remembered his brother’s advice, and at the same moment, miraculously, as if on cue, the dream turned into a feasible possibility. Trig lay down and allowed heavy fatigue to cover himself like a blanket, muffling his anxiety and fear. He focused on the sound of Cale's breathing, deep and soothing: inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale.

But then an inhuman scream was heard in one of the remote levels of the barge. Trig stood up, breathing heavily, and felt a chill run through his shoulders, arms and back, covering his skin millimeter by millimeter. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Cale stirred sleepily on his shelf and muttered something inarticulate.

Another scream was heard, this time quieter. Trig decided that one of the prisoners was shouting. Another nightmare has rolled off the assembly line of the 24-hour nightmare factory.

However, it didn't feel like a dream.

It appeared that the prisoner, whatever his race, was being attacked.

Or he's gone crazy.

Trig froze, closed his eyes and waited for his pounding heart to calm down a little. “Please calm down!” But it didn’t listen. He remembered that creature in the cafeteria, the missing prisoner whose name he never learned, who watched him with a wide red eye. How many more invisible eyes did he have?

Then sleep.

However, Trig already knew that he would not sleep a wink that night.

Chapter 2. Meat Nest

When Trig was on Cimarosa, breakfast was the most enjoyable meal of the day. As well as being a seasoned smuggler and notorious scoundrel who cut thousands of deals with thieves, spies and counterfeiters, Vaughn Longo was also the world's greatest unrecognized chef. “Always have a good breakfast in the morning,” he repeated to his sons. “You never know: maybe this is the last time.”

Here, on the Purgatory, breakfast was rarely edible, and sometimes it shook so much in the plate from the vibrations of the ship that it seemed alive. This morning, Trig looked at the colorless slurry enveloping the tattered cartilage, and it seemed to him that he saw a nest of meat, built by some kind of predatory flying insect. He was listlessly pushing the pieces on the tray when Cale suddenly raised his head and looked at his brother.

– Did you sleep last night? – Cale asked.

- A little.

- Why don’t you eat anything?

- Are you talking about this? – Trig poked at the contents of his tray and shuddered. “I'm not hungry,” he said, watching as Cale stuffed the last spoonful of breakfast into his mouth with strange pleasure. – Do you think that when they take us to the moon-prison, they will have better food there?

- Brother, if we ourselves don’t get on the menu, it will be happiness.

“Don’t get into trouble,” Trig looked at his brother coldly.

“Hey, take it easy,” Cale wiped himself with his sleeve and grinned. “A little thing like you will only serve as a snack.”

Trig put down his fork and snorted, indicating that he understood the joke. Although he could not express it in words, his brother's penchant for good-natured witticisms, inherited from his father, made him envious. Cale had no fear - he simply did not stick to his brother. The only thing that worried him was the prospect of not getting distribution from the SOO-2180 droids, who were throwing drink from behind the counter into the prisoners’ trays.

Clones (Star Wars)

Fictional story

Creation

While investigating the assassination attempt on Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi arrives on the planet Kamino, where he learns that an army of clones is being prepared for the Republic. The inhabitants of the planet tell him that the order for the creation of the army was placed by a Jedi named Sifo Dias ten years ago. The model for creating clones was the bounty hunter Jango Fett, who agreed to provide his DNA and train the clones for a large reward and the creation of a personal clone, Boba Fett, whom he raised as a son. Due to growth-accelerating drugs, ten-year-old clones look like adult men. The creators of the clones claim that clones have free will, but at the same time they are “programmed” to serve the republic much more effectively than droids.

First battle

Obi-Wan later learns that the Separatists have created a huge army of droids on Jaonosis. While the bureaucratic system of the Republican Senate decides on this issue, Obi-Wan, Amidala and Anakin Skywalker are captured by Count Dooku and Nute Gunray on Jaonosis. Master Mace Windu and 212 Jedi rush to their aid. During this time, Jar Jar Binks, a senator from the planet Naboo, persuades the Senate to give Chancellor Palpatine special powers so that he can send the newly created clone army into battle. When the Jedi on Jaonosis are almost killed, ships arrive with an army of clones led by Master Yoda. The clones inflict a stunning defeat on the Separatist droids. Yoda, looking at the columns of marching clones, says “The Clonic Wars are coming...”

Troops of clones march onto the ship

Clone Wars

During the three-year Clone War, clone troopers fought under the leadership of the Jedi. The military superiority of the clones allowed them to prevail over the mass production of droids. Clones participated in all battles

Order 66

According to the secret plan of Darth Sidious (aka Chancellor Palpatine), the clones, after receiving “order 66” hidden in their program, attacked the Jedi leading them. Due to the surprise of the attack, most of the Jedi were killed. Also, a group of clones of the 501st Legion, led by the newly converted Darth Vader, cleared the Jedi Temple, killing all the younglings - small Jedi children.

In the service of the Empire

After transforming the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems into a single Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine reformed the clone organization, transforming them into Imperial stormtroopers, which became a symbol of the Empire's power.

Over time, the stormtroopers were replenished with new clones, but grown not from the DNA of Jango Fett, but from other soldiers.

Also, gradually, due to the high cost of production and due to the long process of growing and training clones, ordinary citizens of the Empire began to be accepted into the ranks of stormtroopers, and by the time of the Battle of Yavin, only a third of all stormtroopers were clones. After Palpatine's death and the collapse of the Empire, nonhumans also got a chance to become stormtroopers, which Palpatine's xenophobic policy had previously prohibited.

Clone division structure

Ranks

At the beginning of the Clone Wars, color differentiation of the command structure of soldiers was introduced. Helmets and shoulder pads were marked with different colors, with the exception of the commanders of the main legions: Commander Fox and Captain Rex. Phase I Commander.

  •  White - private (ordinary soldier).
  •  Olive is a sergeant in command of a squad of more than nine soldiers.
  •  Blue - lieutenant, commander of a platoon of four squads (36 soldiers).
  •  Red - captain, commander of a company of four platoons (144 soldiers).
  •  Yellow - commander. commander of a regiment of over four battalions (2304 soldiers). Many commanders were raised to be more independent and were allowed to have names instead of serial numbers. The most famous commanders were Cody, Bly, Gree, Bakara, Appo, Neyo, Tyr, Keller and Salvo.

Due to the development and proliferation of Phase II armor, clone troopers no longer used color markings to denote rank, instead they began to be used to identify troop branches and their dispositions. The clones in Phase II armor, or at least Commander Cody, marked their weapons with color stripes to indicate the campaigns in which they participated.

Specialized clones

  • Clone Trooper- an ordinary clone fighter. The main military unit of the Republic. They were the first clones. They were used to destroy large groups of droids. In total, more than 3 million units were created with a total number of several trillion clones. Initially, the clones were equipped with Phase I Armor, but it was intended for battles on planets such as Jaonosis. 2 years after the start of the Clone Wars, Phase II Armor was created. It was more massive, better repelled blaster charges, and the respiratory system and communication equipment built into the helmet were also improved. They usually had DC-15A weapons.
  • Clone-ARC- Elite Scout Commandos were high-ranking soldiers, usually leading various corps in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. Also, officers were roughly equivalent in rank to Major General or Lieutenant General. They were armed with DC-15A, DC-15S and grenades. Like all clones, officers do not know how to express emotions, because fear and hatred would interfere with their ability to analyze combat operations.

Notable ARCs: Alpha-17, Commander Cody, Captain Rex, Commander Bakara in the 21st Nova Corps, Commander Neyo in the 91st Survey Corps.

  • Clone pilot- This is a clone that pilots spaceships of the Galactic Republic: Venator-class Star Destroyer, ARC Fighters and V-19 fighters. Since pilots are designed only for piloting, their equipment includes only the DC-15S blaster pistol. They are rarely on the ground, because pilots fly fighters and cruisers. Like all clones, they have accelerated growth technology. By the age of two, all types of clones had already begun to learn military skills.

Famous pilots Odd Bol, Skuakk

  • Clone guard- clones who protect everything important to the Republic: the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Order. Appeared at the very end of the Clone Wars. Armor like clone troopers. Red stripes are visible on the shoulders and knees. After Order 66, they began to protect Emperor Palpatine.
  • Clone Commando- the best soldiers in the entire Republic. When all types of clones were created, Jango Fett persuaded the Kamoneans to create elite units - these were commandos. Commandos were intended only for special operations. Unlike other clones, commandos have expanded free will.

The two most famous clone commando squads are Delta Squad and Omega Squad.

The commandos carried out deadly missions and there were many of them as more and more systems were transferred to the separatists (resp.) Delta and Omega squads were sent to the most dangerous ones.

Clone armor

The clone trooper armor is based on Jango Fett's Mandalorian armor. The developers were inspired by the idea of ​​​​creating a wear-resistant shell that completely covers the Clone’s body and maintains absolute protection, although many clones died from one shot at them, which indicates deficiencies in the armor. A black body suit over the armor protects the fighter from toxic fumes and even from the vacuum of space. The helmet with a characteristic T-shaped visor was complemented by a breathing filter for operation in far from ideal combat conditions. The armor consists of 20 form-fitting plates made of lightweight plastoid composite alloys. The armor provides ideal freedom of movement in combat, but is inconvenient in driving vehicles. The ideal schematic form clearly demonstrates the Kaminoan influence. The basic color of the armor is white, but other colors were also encountered, for example, during the conflict on Kashyyyk, all clones were dressed in camouflage. Also, the clone commanders and the elite clone soldiers had color schemes on their armor that indicated their rank; there were not many such colors: blue, yellow, red. Towards the end of the war, clone soldiers were allowed to decorate their armor and do any hairstyle, which gave the soldiers hope that they were people and not soulless creatures grown and programmed in flasks.

Works featuring clones

Movies

Cartoon series

Computer games

  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes

Books

  • Star Wars Republic Commando
  • MedStar I: Battle Surgeons

Comics

Notes

Briefly about the article: In our reality, cloning is developing quite slowly, but for fantasy worlds, clones are something taken for granted. In some places they are no different from people, in others they are raised like animals for slaughter. What's the deal with cloning in Star Wars? Let's try to figure it out together with Dmitry Zlotnitsky.

All as one

Clones in Star Wars

These clones started the war.

Master Yoda

Cloning is a popular topic in science fiction, but most books and films tend to only explore one of the many aspects of this technology. Another thing is the large-scale Star Wars universe, created by many years of work by hundreds of writers, artists, and filmmakers. You won't find any kind of clones here...

We first heard about them from the wise Obi-Wan Kenobi back in A New Hope. However, his terse account of the Clone Wars is the only mention of the subject of interest in the entire Original Trilogy. For the decade and a half between the release of Episode 6 and the start of the Expanded Universe, clones and everything connected with them remained the subject of speculation and fierce debate among Star Wars fans. Meanwhile, in our world, cloning has achieved noticeable success - and in the late nineties, the authors of Star Wars books and comics were already able to rely on scientific research when telling us about clones.

Grand Army

The most famous Star Wars clones were, of course, featured in the prequels. Clone Army, created by order of the master Sifo-Dyas, who foresaw the war, forever changed the face of the galaxy.

Technopark, or rather, Technopond Kamino.

The second episode reveals to us the secret of Kamino - the planet where recognized masters of biotechnology live. Cloning became an urgent necessity and part of their culture: it was this that allowed the Kaminoans, breaking out of the boundaries of natural selection, to adapt to the harsh climatic conditions of their home world. Over time, clone makers turned their art into a profitable business. Sifo-Dyas's order was paid for by Count Dooku, who also chose the donor for the clones, although the Kaminoans offered to use the Jedi's genetic material. The last Mandalorian mercenary, Jango Fett, who became the prototype for the fighters of the Republican army, met Dooku even before he left the Jedi Order, and made a great impression on the Count.

The first fight is the most difficult.

However, being an excellent warrior, Fett would hardly have become a good soldier - his sense of individualism was too strong. Because of this, the first two years of the Kaminoans' work on the grandiose project went down the drain: the first six clones inherited the character of the original and were almost resistant to army training. That is why changes were made to Jango’s genotype, making most of the clones disciplined and selflessly loyal to the Republic. The few clones who escaped this procedure subsequently became officers and “special forces” soldiers.

To speed up the process of creating an army, the Kaminoans used technology that allowed clones to mature twice as fast as normal people. A stronger acceleration of development threatened the clones with psychological instability and even madness.

Jengo's former comrades in arms were involved in training future soldiers, so some of the clones adopted the habits of the sergeants who trained them and even joined the Mandalorian culture. Thus, contrary to popular belief, Jango's clones were not biological killing machines, but real people, albeit with crippled learning and accelerated maturation. Even the execution of the fatal “order 66” was dictated not by the program embedded in the gene code, but solely by loyalty to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Moreover, some clones considered this order a possible enemy trick and allowed their Jedi commanders to escape. In another impressive example of defiance: a clone nicknamed Spar, obsessed with the idea of ​​​​rebuilding the Mandalorian clan of militants, defected to the side of the Confederacy.

Each of the clones had not only a personal number by which the officers knew them, but also a name known to their brothers. Although to an outside observer there was no difference between the clones, they themselves could easily distinguish each other. Over time, many Jedi mastered this ability, learning to see people in their subordinates. The fighters paid their commanders with reciprocal affection: just remember the clones Cody and Bly, who were friends with their generals Obi-Wan and Aayla Secura. And at least two soldiers of the Republican army learned what love is, and even left offspring.

After the end of the war, the army became one of the main pillars of the Empire. One of the first victims of the clones were the Kaminoans, who were trying to create the next batch of soldiers to fight Palpatine's tyranny. Accelerated in development, the clones quickly aged and gradually lost white armor to stormtroopers recruited from ordinary people. Nevertheless, some of the copies of Jango Fett lived for quite a long time: already during the Rebellion, young Luke Skywalker encountered an elderly clone on one uninhabited planet.

The Grand Clone Army is the least moral variant of cloning, an example of how living and thinking beings can be turned into instruments of war. Moreover, some clones were used as “spare parts” for their comrades - after all, their organs had perfect genetic compatibility.

The Grand Army of the Republic was divided into two parts: regular and special units. At the head of the regular army, numbering up to three million clones, was the Supreme Chancellor. His orders took precedence over those of the Jedi who were in charge "on the ground." The Knights of the Order led combat units - from the armies of star systems to regiments. And the smallest combat unit of the Grand Army was a detachment of eight ordinary clones and a sergeant.

The special units led by Master Zei were much smaller. Only a few thousand clones were engaged in such important matters as intelligence, counterintelligence and the fight against terrorism. These “special purpose” clones were the most independent from their superiors, and sometimes even acted autonomously.

It is already clear from the films that the clones’ uniforms were not the same. The design of the armor was highly dependent on the type of troops and the conditions of the planet on which the unit had to fight. And the coloring of the armor not only and not so much served for camouflage, but rather indicated the rank of a clone.

Cynic from the highway

Only one clone of Jango escaped any genetic changes and got a chance to live a full life. Boba Fett Although he was an exact copy, without the slightest changes, he was still a copy of Dzhengo, but the latter treated him like a son.

Despite identical initial data, Boba grew up not just as a copy of his “father,” but as a full-fledged, original personality. Although the formation of both Fetts was determined by the same qualities, apparently laid down by Mother Nature: perseverance, individualism and predatory instincts. Both lost their parents early, but if Jango immediately found himself surrounded by Mandalores and grew up among loyal brothers in arms, always ready to support, then the orphaned Boba found himself alone with the entire criminal world of the galaxy. If you multiply this with the vendetta against the Jedi, it becomes clear what fate awaited young Fett. By the end of the Clone Wars, when he turned thirteen - the age of majority among Mandalorians - Boba had already become a professional bounty hunter, with more than one murder to his name.

And at work.

Over the ensuing years, his reputation grew stronger and his achievements increased, and even his fall into the jaws of the Sarlacc did not put an end to his brilliant career. Against all odds, he got out of the womb of the terrible creature, survived and was able to return to his “work.” Subsequently, the paths of Boba, Han Solo and the Jedi crossed more than once, and the matter usually ended in mutual shootouts. However, during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, the famous bounty hunter saved the life of the captain of the Millennium Falcon. But his adventures did not end there...

Boba Fett is an excellent example of the fact that the genes embedded in a clone during creation can only serve as starting capital, and the formation of his personality depends largely on his upbringing and living conditions. But can't clones become the key to eternal life even in a distant galaxy? They can - but this requires more than biotechnology.

Vader's fist

The 501st Legion is a legendary combat unit that gained fame during the Clone Wars. It included clones grown on Coruscant - the elite, who were sent on the most important missions. Legion fighters were part of the armies that fought in the most important battles of the Clone Wars.

It was they, led by Anakin Skywalker, who went to the Jedi Temple to destroy all the knights and students. A little later, the legionnaires rescued Darth Vader from a trap on Bespin and since then were considered the personal guard of the Emperor's new disciple.

The Legion earned a dark reputation for quelling uprisings (the first victims were the Wookiees) and destroying the Emperor's enemies. The level of military training in the unit has always remained at the highest level. Largely thanks to this, the legionnaires survived the death of Palpatine and the Civil War. They continued to serve the ideals of the Empire many years after that, although the legion began to accept not only people, but also representatives of other races.

Renaissance

One of the most pressing cloning questions in our world is this: if Hitler is cloned, will a new, equally bloody dictator appear on Earth? Replace Hitler with Emperor Palpatine- and you get the central theme of the comic trilogy “ Dark Empire", one of the first works of the Expanded Universe.

The Emperor Reborn.

Already from Palpatine’s Senate speech in Revenge of the Sith, one can conclude that he created the Empire in the hope of ruling it for hundreds of years. But how was the already middle-aged Sith, whose health was undermined by the battle with Mace Windu, going to live for so long? The authors of “Dark Empire” answered this question long before the Third Episode: Palpatine prepared a whole bunch of his own clones in advance, and when his “current” body wore out, with the help of the Dark Side of the Force the Sith “moved” into a new, fresh body.

This is how the Emperor returned to life several years after his death in the reactor of the second Death Star. In an attempt to regain control of the galaxy, he even managed to temporarily drag Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side. In one of his conversations with a new student, Palpatine admitted that even before Endor he had died and been reborn.

Unfortunately for the Emperor, the power of the Dark Side very quickly turned the cloned bodies into old ruins, and he had to look for new containers for his spirit. Therefore, for most of all three volumes of “Dark Empire,” the main characters are engaged in the consistent shooting and slaughter of Palpatine’s clones. The last of them was simply shot by Han while trying to move into the body of the newborn son of Solo and Princess Leia.

The Emperor was generally a big fan of cloning and used it in a very original way - for example, for punishment. An unenviable fate befell the evil genius Bevela Lemeliska, author of several examples of imperial superweapons, including the Death Star. After each failure, the engineer faced a painful death, the “pumping” of his invaluable mind into a cloned body - and further research. Lemelisk was finally executed only after he fell into the hands of the New Republic.

The authors of the “Expanded Universe” tried to revive other heroes with the help of cloning - and exclusively negative ones. Outstanding Imperial Commander Admiral Thrawn prepared a clone so that in case of sudden death he would return ten years after death. But shortly before the appointed time, the cylinder with Thrawn's clone was destroyed by Luke and Mara Jade. In addition, Thrawn used clones in his troops, reasonably suggesting that they were much easier to control than ordinary soldiers.

Imperial official Ysanne Isard also cloned herself - but was eventually forced to team up with the Rebels to destroy her own unruly copy. Both went almost mad and, fortunately for the entire galaxy, died.

In general, a clone that does not know its origin is a terrible thing. Take, for example, the story of one Jedi. During the time of the Old Republic, Yorus K'Baoth went on an expedition to other galaxies - and died. However, Palpatine cloned C'Baoth, and the clone sincerely believed that he was the missing Jedi. Yoruus(as the clone pronounced his name) became an adept of the Dark Side and a few years after the Battle of Endor joined Admiral Thrawn. He controlled the minds of Thrawn's soldiers (among whom there were also many clones) and even tried to turn Luke, Mara and Leia to evil. Skywalker, by the way, also got it from biotechnologists: his clone Lyuyuk, grown from a hand severed in Episode Five, went over to the Dark Side, but was destroyed along with C’Baoth. It is interesting that according to the original plan Timothy Zana, the author of books about Thrawn, Yoruus was a clone of Obi-Wan, but this idea was not to the liking of the high authorities.

We can say that in a distant galaxy, the art of full-fledged personality copying died along with Palpatine. All the clones created for “consciousness transplantation” without the intervention of this most powerful adept of the Dark Side of the Force very quickly went crazy and died tragically.

Place in the galaxy

However, there were relatively peaceful uses for clones in Star Wars. A known race of humanoid aborigines from the planet Khom, which “froze” its own development and reproduced exclusively by cloning. Each Khomite performed the same social role as dozens of his copies. But even in such a society, evolution was able to pave a path for itself: copies of the Khomite named Dorsk, starting with the eighty-first bearer of this name, became susceptible to the Force.

Recently, the creators of Star Wars seem to have abandoned the idea of ​​reviving a famous hero as a clone. And this is good: the “forgotten” cloning cylinders have already become a kind of “grand pianos in the bushes” of a distant galaxy. New writers, first and foremost Karen Traviss, demonstrate a new approach to clones. Traviss's novels are dedicated to the everyday life of combat of simple, seemingly faceless clones who dedicated their lives to protecting the Republic. However, anyone who has read these books - or played a computer game Republic Commando- knows: behind the external sameness of clones lies internal individuality.

But outside of the Clone Wars, these creatures no longer appear. With one exception: we continue to be pleased with new details about the adventures of Boba Fett. The comic book series will probably also be affected by cloning. Heritage", because in it the authors promised to return to many topics from the history of the galaxy. And the clones managed to leave a very noticeable mark on it.

Jedi Temple

Episode III: Skywalker - 2003, No. 3(3)

Star Wars fandom in Russia - 2003, No. 3(3)

Episode III: The saga ends, the circle closes - 2003, No. 4(4)

Duology “Dark Tide” - 2003, No. 4(4)

Intelligent races of "Star Wars" - 2003, No. 4(4)

Project "Clone Wars" - 2004, No. 1(5)

Episode III: More machine than man - 2004, No. 1(5)

Computer games in the Star Wars universe - 2004, No. 1(5)

Episode III: Size Doesn't Matter - 2004, No. 2(6)

Episode III: Birth of Evil - 2004, No. 3(7)

The New Jedi Order: Literary Cycle - 2004, No. 3(7)

Episode III: General Kenobi - 2004, No. 4(8)

Episode III: The Beauties of Star Wars - 2004, No. 5(9)

Lightsaber - 2004, No. 5(9)

Episode III: General Grievous - 2004, No. 6(10)

Technologies of "Star Wars" - 2004, No. 6(10)

Episode III: Jedi and Sith Facing Death - 2004, No. 7(11)

Strength is a powerful ally - 2004, No. 9(13)

Episode III: Between the Second and the Fourth - 2004, No. 9(13)

StarCon 2004 - 2004, No. 10(14)

Planets of "Star Wars" - 2005, No. 3 (19)

Episode III: All about "Revenge of the Sith" - 2005, No. 5 (21)

Clone Wars - 2005, No. 5 (21)

StarCon 2005 - 2005, No. 9(25)

History of "Star Wars" - 2006, No. 3 (31)

* * *

There is hardly another fantasy universe in which the interesting topic of cloning would be explored in such detail and variety. The future will bring us many more interesting stories about clones - after all, both the new animated series about the Clone Wars and the game show about the events between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope are unlikely to be able to do without their participation.

Story

Creation

During the investigation of the assassination attempt Padme Amidala Obi-Wan Kenobi arrives on the planet Kamino, where he learns that an army of clones is being prepared for the Republic. The inhabitants of the planet tell him that the order for the creation of the army was placed by a Jedi named Sifo Dias ten years ago. The model for creating clones was the bounty hunter Jango Fett, who agreed to provide his DNA and train the clones for a large reward and the creation of a personal clone, Beans Fett whom he raised as a son. Due to growth-accelerating drugs, ten-year-old clones look like adult men. The creators of the clones claim that clones have free will, but at the same time they are “programmed” to serve the republic much more effectively than droids.

First battle

Obi-Wan later learns that the Separatists have created a huge army of droids on Geonosis. While the Republican Senate bureaucracy decides on the matter, Obi-Wan, Amidala and Anakin Skywalker are captured by Count Dooku And Nut Gunray on Geonosis. Master Mace Windu with 212 Jedi rush to their aid. At this time Jar Jar Binks, senator from the planet Naboo, persuades the senate to give the chancellor Palpatine special powers so he could send his newly created clone army into battle. When the Jedi on Geonosis are almost killed, ships arrive with an army of clones led by the master Yoda. The clones inflict a crushing defeat on the Separatist droids. Yoda, looking at the columns of marching clones, says “The Clonic Wars are coming...”

Clone Wars

During the five-year Clone War, clone troopers fought under the leadership of the Jedi. The military superiority of the clones allowed them to prevail over the mass production of droids. Clones participated in all battles

Order 66

According to a secret plan Darth Sidious(aka Chancellor Palpatine), the clones, after receiving “order 66” hidden in their program, attacked the Jedi leading them. Due to the surprise of the attack, most of the Jedi were killed. Also a group of 501st Legion clones led by a convert Darth Vader cleared the Jedi Temple, killing all the younglings - small Jedi children. In the Star Wars animated series The Clone Wars, it is shown that each clone had a chip implanted in their brain, which did not allow them to consciously overcome the order, but some clones (KT-7567 - Captain Rex, Anakin Skywalker's comrade in arms) were able to cut it out, remaining loyal to the Jedi.

In the animated series Star Wars Rebels (season 2, episode 2), the main characters meet an old clone of Rex, who says that after the execution of “order 66”, all the clones were sent into retirement as having fulfilled their destiny.

In the service of the Empire

After transformation Galactic Republic And Confederation of Independent Systems into a unified Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine reformed the clone organization, transforming them into Imperial Stormtroopers, who became a symbol of the Empire's power.

A little later, the rebellion on Kamino began. During the early years of the Empire, the planet Kamino was under the watchful eye of Emperor Palpatine to ensure a reliable supply of new batches of clones. However, a small group of Kaminoans started a conspiracy of sorts against the Empire, which involved soldiers specially created to fight the Empire. The Kaminoans began creating clones of themselves, which mainly consisted of clone jet troopers and elite commandos, as well as ground-class ARCs. As a result, the brothers went against each other. The operation against the clones was led by Boba Fett, who knew the structure of Tipoka City well. The 501st Legion was tasked with dealing with the enemy's elite warriors. At the head of the stormtroopers was Boba Fett, hired as a specialist in the internal structure of Tipoka City.

The troops landed in the city on a Sentinel-class landing ship. Boba Fett undermined the locking mechanism, allowing him to successfully enter the building where the cloning operations were taking place. Inside, Fett took several canisters of clone DNA. Meanwhile, his fellow Imperial soldiers fought in the rain against countless squads of anti-soldiers. Neither side could gain the upper hand in the battle.

After receiving the canisters, Fett destroyed the clones' life support systems, and thanks to this, cloning operations were shut down, and no new clones appeared on the battlefield.

Having completed the cloning work, Fett hurried to help the stormtroopers repel the attacks of the anti-soldiers. Together with them, he began to push them back and eventually drove them onto the platform, where he dealt with them.

After destroying the traitor clones, Fett began to deal with the Kaminoans who had betrayed the Empire and tried to escape. To do this, they used two SNDCs, on which they planned to fly away. However, this was stopped by Imperial shock soldiers who fired missiles at the ships. Ground turrets also fired laser shots at the ships. As a result, the ships were destroyed along with the Kaminoan clone masters.

The remaining Kaminoans who survived the battle were placed under Imperial control and were prohibited from any attempt to begin a new cloning operation.

Specialized clones

  • Clone Trooper- an ordinary clone fighter. The main military unit of the Republic. They were the first clones. They were used to destroy large groups of droids. In total, more than 3 million units were created with a total number of several billion clones. Initially, the clones were dressed in Phase I armor, but it was intended for battles on planets such as Geonosis. 2 years after the start of the Clone Wars, Phase II armor was created. It was more massive, better repelled blaster charges, and the respiratory system and communication equipment built into the helmet were also improved.
  • Clone-ARC- Elite Scout Commandos were high-ranking soldiers, usually leading various corps in the Republic Army during the Clone Wars. Also officers were roughly equivalent in rank to major general or lieutenant general. Like all clones, officers do not know how to express emotions, because fear and hatred would interfere with their ability to analyze combat operations.
  • Clone Commando- When all types of clones were created, Jango Fett persuaded the Kaminoans to create elite units. The best soldiers of the Republic. Commandos were intended only for special operations. They have expanded free will, unlike other clones.

Clone armor

The clone trooper armor is based on Jango Fett's Mandalorian armor. The developers were inspired by the idea of ​​​​creating a wear-resistant shell that completely covered the Clone’s body and maintained absolute protection, although many clones died from one shot at them, which indicates a flaw in the armor. A black body suit under the armor protects the fighter from toxic fumes and even from the vacuum of space. The helmet with a characteristic T-shaped visor was complemented by a breathing filter for operation in far from ideal combat conditions. The armor consists of 20 form-fitting plates made of lightweight plastoid composite alloys. The armor provides ideal freedom of movement in combat, but is inconvenient in driving vehicles. The ideal schematic form clearly demonstrates the Kaminoan influence. The basic color of the armor is white, but other colors were also encountered, for example, during the conflict on Kashyyyk, all clones were dressed in camouflage. Also, clone commanders and elite clone troopers had color schemes on their armor indicating their rank: olive, blue, red and yellow. Towards the end of the war, clone soldiers were allowed to paint their armor, do any hairstyle, tattoos, which gave the soldiers hope that they were people and not soulless creatures grown and programmed in flasks.