The Bad Batch

The Bad Batch's History

Clone Force 99, informally known as "The Bad Batch," was a clone commando squad during the Clone Wars. The squad consisted of four clone troopers designed with genetic mutations. "Crosshair," a clone with eyesight and marksmanship that allowed him to excel in long distance firefights, "Wrecker," a reckless clone with enhanced muscular form, and "Tech," a clone with enhanced mental capacity and intelligence. They were led by Clone Sergeant "Hunter," a clone with enhanced sensory abilities. Following the Battle of Anaxes, Clone Corporal "Echo".
Clone Force 99 was named in remembrance of 99, a malformed maintenance clone who died while aiding the defense of Kamino from the Separatist invasion. The unit originated as a batch of clones who were born with "desirable" genetic mutations that made them superior soldiers. These mutations also had the unique effect of altering their appearance and voice greatly from regular clones. Each one of the members acquired certain abilities unique to the team. Clone trooper "Wrecker" had an enhanced muscular form, "Crosshair" had exceptional vision that allowed him to be a very capable sniper, "Tech" used his enhanced mental aptitude to handle the technical operations, while the leader of the squad, Sergeant "Hunter" had sensory abilities that allowed him to sense electromagnetic signals. The team nicknamed themselves "The Bad Batch." Each member of the squad had a skull icon on their clone trooper armor, which could be seen as their unofficial logo and helped set the four apart from other clone units. While a part of the clone army, they earned quite the reputation. They were known to have a 100% success rate. The squad worked together with Marshal Commander CC-2224 "Cody" on certain occasions, but did not report to anyone in particular. The group somewhat disdainfully referred to normal troopers as "regs."

Infiltrating the Cyber Center.

Near the end of the Clone Wars, the Bad Batch was called in to assist Republic efforts on Anaxes. The Bad Batch joined Cody, Clone Captain CT-7567, Advanced Recon Commando CT-5597, and CT-6116 on an infiltration mission to a Separatist Cyber Center. During their flight on a LAAT/i gunship, they were shot down by a pair of DSD1 dwarf spider droids. Their ship crashed in a canyon, where Cody was wounded. Wrecker showed his immense strength by lifting the wreckage of the gunship and retrieving Cody. As a large detachment of droids approached, Hunter told his troops to execute Plan 82. Wrecker hefted the door to the wrecked gunship to use as a shield while the others took cover behind him. They charged the droids, with Tech calculating angles for Hunter to throw EMP grenades at the enemy. As they closed the gap between them and the forces, Wrecker heaved the piece of wreckage and the group entered hand-to-hand combat. Once the remaining droids had been defeated, they made camp and called in an evac for Cody, with Kix remaining with him to tend to his injuries.
Continuing on to an outpost near the Cyber Center, Hunter agreed to defer to Rex to create a plan, but Rex decided to take after their tactics of a quick assault, which pleased Hunter. However, by this time, Admiral Trench had caught on to them, sending a platoon of droids with a Multi-Troop Transport to surround them. The clones quickly executed their plan, with Jesse, Rex, and Crosshair causing a distraction at the front as Hunter, Wrecker, and Tech entered through the backdoor. Tech tried to hack through the door, but the impatient Wrecker used brute force to smash through it. The clones took out all the droids inside, with Crosshair shooting the droid commander as he communicated with Trench, and Tech plugged into the computers. As Trench's reinforcements arrived, Hunter, Wrecker, and Jesse held them off as Tech worked with Rex's supervision. The two clones discovered that a live signal was being sent from Skako Minor carrying the CT number of clone trooper "Echo," leading Rex to believe that his friend was still alive.

Infiltration of Purkoll

With the aid of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Rex, the Bad Batch were deployed to Skako Minor, a planet controlled by the Techno Union. Their mission was to locate Echo and if they could, rescue him. They traveled to the planet but had trouble landing since a storm had built up in its atmosphere.

After landing, they were attacked by three Poletecs, the leader and two natives of Skako Minor, riding large reptiles called keeradaks. Skywalker was then kidnapped by one the leader of the Poletecs. Crosshair shot a tow cable that attached itself to the keeradak holding Skywalker. Hunter grabbed one end of the cable and was pulled with the keeradak. After being shaken off by the Poletecs, Hunter tracked Skywalker to the Poletec village and called in the other members. After the rest of the team had arrived, they initiated a rescue attempt while attempting to not harm the natives. Wrecker pushed a large boulder down a hill into the valley to use as cover since they were attempting to disarm the natives. Crosshair shot the leg of the keeradak still holding Skywalker captive, freeing the Jedi. They took the leader of the tribe hostage and with Tech translating, they learned of the Techno Union base on the planet.

They traveled there with scouts provided by the Poletecs who showed them the Separatist base located in the city of Purkoll, rising high above the clouds on tall, thin pillars. At that point, it was revealed that Wrecker was not fond of heights. Tech lost Echo's signal, leading the team to question whether this whole operation could be a trap. After resolving these issues, the team began infiltrating the base. After trying to be stealthy, the team resorted to blasting their way through many D-wing air support droids. The team then split up and began searching every nearby door. After being contacted by Wat Tambor, the foreman of the Techno Union, through the base's communication system, Tech opened the door to the room storing Echo, allowing Rex and himself to pass through while the others held off several waves of droids attempting to stop them. After opening the stasis chamber storing Echo, Tech began working out how to unplug him from the system.

Escaping Skako Minor

When Echo was released, he was very disoriented and couldn't even remember where he was. Communicating with Rex, he admitted that all he could remember was the Citadel. Tech kept working on removing Echo as more and more droids arrived. Hunter, Anakin, Crosshair, and Wrecker retreated inside and sealed two doors shut as they became surrounded. Wat Tambor arrived and prepared the Decimator, a prototype droid that only targeted organic beings. The Decimator began to cut through the doors as Tech released Echo from the wires connecting to his stasis chamber. Echo told the group about a hatch in the ceiling, which lead to the computer cooling system. Echo was able to open the door with his cybernetic arm. To escape through the hatch, Wrecker used his considerable strength to toss his fellow troopers up towards the hatch. Wrecker sent the rest of the team except for Anakin, who Force jumped up. Wrecker then tossed thermal detonators on the stasis chamber to end Tambor's "little science experiment." By now the Decimator had breached the doors and its energy tentacles started fanning out. Anakin lifted Wrecker just seconds before the Decimator's energy tentacles got him. Wrecker's bombs then went off, destroying the Decimator and knocking Tambor to the ground.

The group made their way through the cooling systems, where Echo revealed he had extensive knowledge of the Techno Union. He told the group that he knew of an escape route, but one that it would not be easy to escape. Anakin agreed to Echo's plan to walk across a very thin pipe that led to the hangar, where they planed to steal a ship. While walking on the pipe, Wrecker started to panic due to his fear of heights but Hunter was able to keep him calm. However, as the squad neared the end of the pipe, a force of D-wing air support droids arrived on each side of the pipe. Tech used a recording he had of a keerdak call from when they attacked the group earlier, using it to call keerdaks to their position, which they rode to safety.The droids took off to pursue the clones at the nearby village. The chief was displeased that they had returned and brought the war to the village. The remaining droid pursuers attacked, and while several of them were shot down, one of them escaped and returned to Purkoll and reported the clones whereabouts to Tambor. The foreman sent more D-wing droids as well as two octuptarra tri-droids to attack the village and recapture his "experiment."

The natives were angered they had broken their word, and Rex, agreeing that he was right, managed to persuade the Poletecs and show them what the Techno Union had done with Echo. The Poletec warriors and the team took positions around the village when the army arrived. Skywalker, Crosshair and Echo took up positions on top of a large spire of rock that projected over the village.

When the first wave of D-wing droids landed at the village, they first found it empty. Skywalker signaled for the attack to start and Wrecker began the defense by sending a boulder rolling down into the village, flattening multiple droids. The Poletec warriors charged into the village, attacking the droids. While many droids were destroyed, dozens of Poletecs fell. As the battle continued, Hunter borrowed Wrecker's combat knife to use alongside his own, and Tech deployed electromagnetic pulses against the droids, which they proved resistant to.

The favor of the battle leaned towards the Techno Union once the octuparra droids arrived. Realizing the trouble the three-legged droids posed, Skywalker ordered Rex, Hunter, and Wrecker to take one of them while he took the other. The clones shot at it from below to distract it. Skywalker quickly disarmed his target by cutting off its three turrets rendering it useless. Wrecker, noting that that had worked, grabbed Rex and Hunter and threw them onto the other octuptarra droid, to the Captain's irritation. Rex shot out one of the droid's visual sensors, Hunter took out another with a knife, and Crosshair shot out the third from his sniper position. Skywalker then cut off one of the legs of the other droid, leapt off, and Force-pushed it into the blinded droid, causing both octuptarras to fall over. Realizing they had lost, the remaining D-Wing droids retreated.

As the group prepared to leave, the chief told them the Jedi would always have an ally on Skako. Rex reassured Echo that things would be just like old times, but Echo remained uncertain about the future.

Returning to Anaxes, the Republic launched a massive attack that included the Bad Batch, Skywalker, Rex, and Echo infiltrating the Separatist flagship commanded by Admiral Trench. The group planted explosives while Skywalker attacked the bridge and killed Trench. As they left the ship, Skywalker allowed Wrecker to use the detonator to blow the ship, which greatly pleased Wrecker. Following the Republic victory, Echo told Rex that he was considering joining the Bad Batch. Rex seemed saddened at the proposition, but told Echo that if he felt that it was his place, that he would support him. When Echo elected to join the squad, the group saluted Rex as he made his way back to the commander center.