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 on the planet however failed to retrieve the two cargo crates. When the two clones returned to the outpost, Nolan refused to help Mayday leading to his death. This infuriated Crosshair, causing him to shoot and kill Nolan. Crosshair was then detained and sent to Doctor Emerie Karr for observation.

Description[]

The depot was located on the planet Barton IV and consisted of several temporary, prefabricated 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 prefabricated building housing the cargo crates with the building only containing at least one heater used by Mayday's squad to keep warm. The prefabricated building housing the cargo crates featured a large blast door and several clone trooper helmets on top of a crate 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 in the depot started to fail leading to repeated raids. This caused several clone troopers to die. When Mayday contacted the Galactic Empire for replacements and more clone troopers, his request was denied.^[1]

Reinforcements[]

Over a year later, Mayday, Hexx, and Veetch were the only three surviving clones. It was around then that CT-9904 "Crosshair" and at least three clone troopers were assigned to 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 did he command. 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 eventually killed both Hexx and Veetch. Meanwhile, Crosshair went east of the depot and Mayday went west of the depot. Before the clones could successfully mount an attack on the insurgents with Crosshair taking position at a watchtower located in the depot, shooting and mortally wounding a raider, the shuttle that carried Lieutenant Nolan and Crosshair exploded 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 Crosshair and Mayday to recover the cargo stolen by the raiders. Crosshair and Mayday then left the outpost and followed the blood trail found in the aftermath of the previous raiders attack to a hideout. 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. Although the two clones managed to take out a camp full of raiders, Mayday was critically injured in the aftermath of the clone's attack on the raider's camp. This led to Crosshair pleading with Nolan to get a medic and help Mayday. Nolan however refused and idly watched as Mayday died. Furious, Crosshair pulled out his blaster pistol and shot Nolan. 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 former clone guard's helmets were left scattered inside, and 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 discovered 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]

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 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]