Near the end of the Clone Wars, a skirmish broke out onboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal when clone troopers of the 501st Legion's 332nd Division and the Coruscant Guard received Order 66 from Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, which compelled them to turn against former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who had been in unofficial command of the unit during the recent Siege of Mandalore.

Clone Commander Rex managed to resist Order 66 long enough to tell Tano to "find" the deceased ARC trooper Fives. After Tano released the rogue Sith Lord Maul as a distraction, she looked into Fives with the help of astromech droids and was able to learn about Fives' discovery of the inhibitor chips that forced the clones to obey the order. Armed with this information, Tano was able to capture Rex and remove his chip.

Subsequently, Tano and Rex fought their way through the ship while Maul destroyed the Star Destroyer's hyperdrive, severely damaging the Tribunal and causing it to drop out of hyperspace onto a collision course with a moon. Tano and Rex attempted to steal a Nu-class attack/transport shuttle but found that the clone troopers, led by Jesse, had been waiting for them in the hangar. Maul subsequently stole the shuttle and escaped in it, with Tano being forced to let him go in order to save Rex's life. After the droids' destruction, Tano and Rex escaped in a two-seat Y-wing starfighter as the starship began to break apart. The Tribunal's subsequent crash into the moon killed everyone still aboard. Before departing, Tano and Rex buried every single clone they could find, including Jesse, and Tano abandoned her lightsabers at the burial site.

Some time afterwards, Imperial forces discovered the crash site, and Darth Vader, Tano's former master prior to his fall to the dark side, found her lightsaber.

Prelude[]

Bio-chip conspiracy[]

In 19 BBY,^[12] the final year of the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems,^[13] clone trooper Tup of the Grand Army of the Republic's 501st Legion suffered a malfunction in his implanted inhibitor chip which caused him to carry out Order 66 prematurely during the Battle of Ringo Vinda, executing Jedi General Tiplar in the middle of battle and leading to a Republic retreat.^[14][15] The cause of Tup's condition was officially unknown: the Kaminoan cloners, knowing a partial truth about the purpose of the chips, were under orders from the man they knew as Tyranus to conceal the existence of the chips and Order 66 from the Jedi. Tup's best friend in the 501st, the ARC trooper Fives, grew suspicious and decided to investigate himself. Fives discovered Tup's decayed chip with the assistance of medical droid AZI-3, but Tup died shortly after his chip was removed.^[15]

Determined to uncover the truth, Fives and AZI-3 eventually went rogue in Tipoca City, with Fives having his own chip removed and discovering that all of the clones had them. Eventually he managed to persuade Jedi Master Shaak Ti, who oversaw clone trooper training, to let him plead his case about the danger of the chips before Supreme Chancellor Palpatine on Coruscant.^[16] Unbeknownst to anyone, however, Palpatine was in truth the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and the architect of the conspiracy. On the approach to Coruscant, Kaminoan doctor Nala Se, who had accompanied Fives and Shaak Ti, secretly injected the ARC trooper with a drug that made him increasingly aggressive and paranoid. Fives was subsequently made to look like he had gone mad, becoming a fugitive after being framed for attempting to assassinate the Chancellor. He managed to arrange a meeting with his superiors, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and Clone Captain Rex, at an abandoned warehouse on Level 1325, but failed to convince them that he was telling the truth before being killed by the Coruscant Guard.^[11]

Subsequently, the official cause of Fives and Tup's behavior was claimed to be a rare parasite from Ringo Vinda which had caused their chips to malfunction, making them go insane. Although the Jedi had become aware of the chips' existence, they believed the cover story that the chips were intended to curb any aggression and insanity the clones may have inherited from their template, Jango Fett.^[11] Despite remaining skeptical of of Fives' claims, Rex, feeling a duty to his friend, filed an official grievance afterwards in which he reported Fives' belief that the chips might have another purpose, although he was aware the report was likely to fall on deaf ears.^[1]

The Siege of Mandalore[]

During the Clone Wars, the planet Mandalore's pacifist government, headed by Duchess Satine Kryze, had been overthrown by the splinter faction Death Watch, led by Pre Vizsla. However, in order to gain power, Vizsla had allied himself with the renegade Sith Lord Darth Maul, a former apprentice of Sidious. Having plans of his own, Maul intended to use Mandalore as a base from which to run his criminal organization, the Shadow Collective. After the takeover, Vizsla betrayed Maul; however, he easily escaped prison and defeated Vizsla in a duel for authority, claiming the Darksaber and installing Prime Minister Almec as the public ruler of the planet.^[18]

Vizsla's lieutenant Bo-Katan Kryze, the Duchess' sister, refused to accept Maul's rule, splitting away with her own faction of warriors and beginning a civil war for control of the planet. During the Battle of Mandalore, Kryze rescued Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi,^[19] who Maul desired vengeance against for cutting him in half and leaving him for dead during the Battle of Naboo,^[20] and who had also once been in love with Satine. Kryze told Kenobi she hoped for a Republic invasion as it would ensure Maul's death. However, during the battle, Maul was captured and his brother Savage Opress killed by Sidious, who had come to the planet personally to deal with the threat to his power.^[19]

Maul was eventually rescued from his imprisonment by super commandos Gar Saxon and Rook Kast.^[21] Kryze, attempting to track down his location, witnessed former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who she had previously encountered on Carlac while she was still with the Jedi Order, embroiled in trouble with the Pyke Syndicate on Oba Diah.^[22] The Pykes were part of Maul's Shadow Collective, and Tano discovered the connection for herself while sneaking around their base. After Tano and her friends the Martez sisters escaped the syndicate, Kryze followed them back to Coruscant and recruited Tano to help deal with their mutual enemy Maul.^[23]

Tano eventually went to her former master Skywalker for help when she and Kryze learned that Maul had returned to Mandalore's capital of Sundari. However, Skywalker and his former master Kenobi were unable to help when they were abruptly called away to the Battle of Coruscant. Skywalker's solution was to split the 501st Legion and create a new division. Since Tano was no longer part of the Grand Army of the Republic, he promoted Rex to Commander, with Tano officially serving as his advisor.^[17] Unbeknownst to anyone, Maul had intended the Siege of Mandalore as a trap for both Kenobi and Skywalker: having foreseen the imminent rise of the Galactic Empire under Sidious, Maul had had a vision that Sidious intended Skywalker as his new Sith apprentice, and wished to prevent that by killing the Jedi Knight.^[21]

When Maul found that Tano had come instead, he changed plans and attempted to recruit her, hioping that she would help him destroy Sidious. Despite being initially tempted, Tano refused after Maul told her of his visions about Skywalker, refusing to believe that her former master would ever fall to the dark side. Tano eventually bested Maul in lightsaber combat and captured him.^[21] The Mandalorians imprisoned him in the last existing vault built by their culture for containing Force-users. Bidding farewell to Kryze, Tano and Rex set out on the Venator-class Star Destroyer^[1] Tribunal^[5] to transport Maul to the Jedi High Council on Coruscant, accompanied by a detachment of the Coruscant Guard in addition to the 332nd. Meanwhile, a contingent of clone troopers remained on Mandalore.^[1]

The skirmish[]

Order 66[]

After the Star Destroyer jumped into hyperspace, Tano and Rex were discussing their feelings about the war and the toll it had taken on them when Rex received word that a new dispatch was coming. He invited Tano to come along and have a look due to the possibility of it being about General Kenobi having defeated Grievous on Utapau, but she declined and told him to go, suggesting it was probably more good news. Mostly alone on the bridge, Tano then had a Force vision of something terrible happening which involved Skywalker:^[1] his fall to the dark side due to Palpatine's machinations.^[2]

In the briefing room, Rex received the transmission from Sidious to "Execute Order 66." This activated the control chips of first him and then all the other clones onboard the Star Destroyer, just as Tano came into the briefing room to tell him that she had sensed that Skywalker might be in trouble. Realizing at that moment that Fives' suspicions had been correct, Rex tried to fight the compulsion, dropping his helmet to the floor as Tano realized something was wrong with him. Two other clone troopers on the bridge received Order 66 and trained their blasters on Tano, but Rex told them to stop and that he would handle it. He drew his pistols on Tano with shaking hands as she asked what was happening, yelling at her to stay back and then to "Find Fives!" When Rex began firing, Tano fought back by leaping onto the holotable and knocking Rex into it, causing him to fall to the floor as she deflected the other troopers' shots and telekinetically closed the bridge door.^[1]

The respite only lasted for a moment, however, as the other door opened and clones led by the ARC trooper Jesse charged in as Rex got up. As the troopers surrounded her and began to fire, Tano, atop the holotable, deflected all of their shots into the ceiling to create an exit hole, before escaping as the room filled with smoke.^[1] Her survival came in part due to extensive training from Skywalker where the clones of the 501st had fired stun shots at her, which had gone on repeatedly during her time as his Padawan.^[24] When the clones' blaster fire stopped, they wondered if they had succeeded, only for Rex to realize that Tano had escaped into the ceiling. Rex was still trying to subconsciously fight off the control chip when one of the Coruscant Guard shock troopers asked him if he was all right while handing him his helmet. He shook it off and said he was just tired before putting his helmet back on, ordering the shock troopers to go to the detention level and execute Maul. Rex briefed the other clones in the room that Tano had been marked for death via Order 66, and that any soldier who refused to carry out the order would also be executed for treason. He ordered the rest of his men to form search parties and fan out across the Tribunal in search of Tano.^[1]

In his cell, Maul had also sensed the events on Coruscant leading to the execution of Order 66. When the two shock troopers reached his cell and prepared to execute him, however, he was saved by Tano, who subsequently released him from the containment vault. Tano demanded to know if what was happening was his doing, but Maul did not know what she was talking about. Informed that the clones had turned against Tano for no apparent reason and were not acting like themselves, Maul deduced that this was part of his former master Sidious' plan to destroy the Jedi, before attempting to persuade Tano to join forces with him again to survive. She rebuffed him, explaining that she was only releasing him so he could serve as a diversion for her and that she had no intention of allying with him. For this reason, she refused to give Maul one of her lightsabers when he asked for a weapon. When informed of the prisoner's escape and that Tano was still on the loose, Rex ordered the escape pods destroyed and the hangar bay placed under maximum security.^[1]

Tano snuck through the Tribunal to a droid storage room, where she activated her old personal astromech droid, R7-A7.^[1][25] R7 was happy to see her and was worried about what was occurring, and she had to shush him so he didn't make too much noise. The astromechs CH-33P "Cheep" and RG-G1 "G-G" were also activated, asking what was happening. Tano told them that she had no idea why the clones had suddenly turned on her, and that she needed their help. Despite the danger, the droids immediately agreed to assist her. Tano had R7-A7 access the ship's database for any and all secure files on the late Fives, finding technical information as well as images of the ARC trooper, Tup, and Tiplar before viewing a recording of Nala Se. The Kaminoan scientist reported that Fives had suffered a malfunction in his inhibitor chip, findings accepted by a Senate committee and the Jedi Council. Nala Se further mentioned the grievance Rex had filed about the incident. When R7-A7 attempted to open the report on Tano's orders, he found that it was sealed; however, Skywalker's passcode of 8108 gave them access. After viewing Rex's report, Tano realized that the "inhibitor" chips were indeed the cause of the clones' sudden antagonism and formulated a plan to save him.^[1]

Elsewhere on the ship, Maul easily overpowered the clone troopers with the Force even though he was otherwise unarmed. As the clones retreated, Maul cornered a group of them in a corridor, ripping a panel from the wall to serve as a makeshift shield. He slammed a shock trooper into the ceiling before throwing the panel to decapitate Ridge and another trooper. He used more wall panels to crush two troopers before turning them into shields as well. When the troopers reported the carnage and that Maul was advancing on the hangar, Rex ordered them to retreat and seal the blast door in an attempt to direct Maul's approach. However, Maul pulled one trooper's arm through the closing door as one of his comrades tried in vain to pull him back, resulting in the arm being severed when the door closed. Maul knelt down to listen to the chatter on the wrist comm the clone had been wearing,^[1] before stealing it to eavesdrop.^[6]

The medical bay[]

As Rex and several of his men were running through the hallways to try and cut off Maul, R7-A7 abruptly rolled out in front of him in the middle of an intersection, causing him to fall on the droid. Before Rex could properly react, Cheep quickly sealed three of the four blast doors around him, separating him from the other clones. Rex demanded to know if the droids were crosswired, and R7-A7 played a hologram recording of Tano where she told Rex she did not blame him for what had happened as he had been unwittingly programmed for these events when he was very young, offering her help. When Rex subsequently drew a pistol on R7-A7 and demanded to know where Tano was, she revealed she had come up right behind him. R7-A7 immediately took advantage of Rex's distraction to shock him unconscious. As the clones in the surrounding hallways began to force their way through the sealed blast doors to get to Rex, Tano confirmed that the hallways leading to the medical bay were clear before draping Rex atop the three astromechs. The other clones managed to get through the sealed doors shortly after, but Tano and the droids were already past another sealed door, slowing down the pursuit.^[1]

Upon reaching the medical bay, Tano and the droids immediately moved Rex onto an examination table. Tano had R7-A7 run a scan for Rex's control chip, but the medical droid could not find anything, despite R7 running multiple scans at Tano's request. Outside, the pursuing clones found the sealed door and inserted a computer spike to begin to manually unlock it. Tano ordered G-G to be ready to reseal the door if the external controls were breached. Running out of time as the scan continued, Tano put her hands on Rex's head and used the Force to search for the chip, chanting the Guardian's Mantra of "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me" as she did. Despite being unconscious, Rex began to chant with her. Tano's effort worked as the chip shortly appeared on the scan, and she ordered R7-A7 to begin the procedure to remove it. The droid voiced his concerns about whether or not it would work, and Tano pointed out that if it failed, they were dead anyway. R7-A7 sent Rex into the surgical pod.^[1]

The clones outside eventually unsealed the door, and Tano prepared herself for battle, ordering G-G to be ready with the door. When the attack began, she deflected the clones' shots and Force-pushed several of them back into the hallway. As the fighting was going on, the procedure on Rex was completed and he began to regain consciousness. Tano eventually dropped her shoto upon being shot in the wrist, and was in danger of being overwhelmed when Rex shot a few of the attacking clones, allowing G-G to reseal the door. Turning to Rex, who was deeply shaken by what had happened but was once again fully in his right mind, Tano asked him if he was okay. He said he was, apologizing for attempting to kill her under the influence of the chip. Tano asked Rex just how widespread the inhibitor chip activation was, and he told her that the entire Grand Army of the Republic had been ordered to hunt down and destroy all Jedi.^[1]

Outside, the attacking clones began to use arc welders to cut the door out of the frame. Wondering how they were going to get out of the room, Tano had an idea and asked Rex to set his blasters to stun as she didn't want to kill any of the clones. Rex did as she asked, but sarcastically suggested that she try telling that to the other clones. The instant the two cuts made in the door had converged, Tano Force-pushed it into the hallway, taking out multiple clones. Tano and Rex fought off all of the nearby clones, with the droids sealing off blast doors to cut off more who were approaching. Tano asked R7 to find them a safe path away from there, and when the droids confirmed that the escape pods had been destroyed, Tano stated the hangar was their best option. Rex, noting that his men were having a rough time, asked Tano if she had heard that Maul had also escaped, and she admitted that she had actually released the rogue Sith as a diversion. Incredulous, Rex voiced his disapproval before they left the area.^[6]

With their commander missing in action, troopers reported to Clone Lieutenant Jesse that the whereabouts of "Target 2" (Maul) were unknown, and that Tano had escaped the medical bay. Jesse asked if Rex had assisted her, but none of the clones knew for certain. Maul overheard the entire conversation on his stolen comlink. Storming the hyperdrive room, Maul used the Force to quickly take out the clones stationed there, but not before one trooper was able to report Maul's presence. After defeating the clones, Maul ripped the hyperdrive engines apart, crushing a squad of clones who had entered the room. This act forced the Tribunal out of hyperspace and caused it to begin to come apart. The bridge officers had attempted to disengage the hyperdrive when informed it was failing, but were too late to do so. Emerging from hyperspace, the Star Destroyer headed straight for a moon and was caught in its gravitational pull. The event caused the entire ship to shake: Tano and Rex felt the tremor in one of the hallways, and Rex expressed concern over what was going on.^[6]

The hangar[]

Tano, Rex and the droids stormed the hangar control room, quickly stunning the clones inside. Noting that the hangars had been locked down, Rex said that he would be impressed if his men weren't trying to kill them. Tano had G-G find out what had happened to the ship, with R7-A7 ordered to open up the hangars and Cheep tasked with prepping a shuttle. Informed that hangar control had failed to respond, thus making it likely that Tano, and possibly Rex, intended to escape that way, Jesse ordered multiple units of clones to meet him in the hangar, but not to act until he gave the signal. Maul overheard the conversation on his stolen comlink.^[6]

When G-G informed Tano and Rex that the hyperdrive was completely gone and the ship was now caught in the nearby moon's gravity, Tano had R7 open the main hangar doors. The sight of the approaching moon only strengthened Tano's conviction that they had to get off the Tribunal as soon as possible. Locating a Nu-class attack/transport shuttle in Bay 12, R7 opened the doors only for a large amount of clones, led by Jesse, to emerge from the other bays, lying in wait for them. The clones ran out into the middle of the hangar, and Jesse ordered them to stand their ground, noting that anyone trying to escape would have to go through them. Rex and Tano had a disagreement over how they were going to get to the shuttle. He pointed out that the other clones did not care if they died in the process of trying to kill them, and she responded that they, like him, were good soldiers and she refused to be responsible for their deaths. Rex asked if they were going to surrender, as he did not see any other way out of the situation but fighting through the hangar, and Tano said they weren't. Studying the scene below, Tano noticed that Jesse's troops were standing atop the lifts to the repair bays and had an idea, asking the droids if she could count on them before leading the way out of the control room as she prepared to explain her plan.^[6]

Tano had Rex pretend to have taken her prisoner as a distraction, allowing the droids to sneak around the clones and access the lift controls.^[6] Before the two entered the hangar, Rex commented that he hoped all of Tano's training in deflecting blaster bolts with the clones would pay off.^[24] Just before they entered the hangar, Jesse, informed that Maul was also heading in that direction, ordered all other forces on the ship sent to reinforce his position. As the droids worked, Rex stalled for time by pointing out to the clones that as Tano was no longer a Jedi, she was not technically a target of Order 66. When Jesse countered that Rex himself had said the clones were under special orders from Darth Sidious to kill Tano anyway, Rex attempted to appeal to their long comradeship to buy the droids time, saying that they would be the ones executed for treason if they got it wrong. Ultimately, it did not work, as Jesse accused Rex of treason and said that he would be demoted and executed alongside Tano. However, the droids signaled to Tano and Rex that they were ready. Rex commented to Ahsoka that he had never really liked being a commander anyways as they prepared to defend themselves.^[6]

As Jesse was about to order the clones to open fire, the three droids lowered the lifts in the middle of the hangar floor, causing many clones to fall down to the lower levels. Tano Force-pushed Jesse into the hole before she and Rex fought off the remaining troopers on the upper level. As the fight was occurring, Maul arrived and located the transport that Tano and Rex were after. Alerted by the droids, Tano ran after Maul, but he knocked her down through the opening in the hangar where the lifts were before boarding the shuttle. RG-G1 pulled Tano up with a cable while Jesse and the others below shot at them, with Rex providing cover fire for her. Reaching the hangar, Tano went after the shuttle, pulling it back mid-flight with the Force. Rex ran after her and grabbed her wrist in an attempt to brace her, but was shortly warned by R7-A7 that Jesse's reinforcements had arrived and eventually lost his grip, turning his attention to holding off the approaching clones. Tano managed to hold Maul back for several moments, but had to let go in order to defend Rex, who was in danger of being overwhelmed by the other clones' blaster fire. In the crossfire, R7-A7 was hit with a blaster bolt and destroyed.^[6]

Unable to defend themselves in their current position, Tano cut a hole in the floor below her and Rex, causing them to fall through to the lower levels. However, Jesse and his troops, who had been attempting to gain control of the lifts, were still down there, saw them, and started to fire. They were interrupted by the lifts launching them back up again, controlled by CH-33P and RG-G1. The clones quickly located and walked over to the astromechs, who attempted to surrender. The droids were fired upon anyways, destroying them.^[6]

Down in the repair bay, Tano and Rex attempted to find a working ship to escape in while dealing with the few clones remaining on that level, eventually locating a BTL-B Y-wing starfighter/bomber docked above a large opening in the bottom of the ship's hull. After stunning a few clones who had come out of one repair bay, Rex ran towards the starfighter, calling to Tano to get him over there. Jesse and his forces regained control of the lifts and descended into the repair bay, and Tano defended herself against their blaster fire before pausing to Force-throw Rex onto the Y-wing, which he barely managed to hang on to as Tano was nicked by a stray blaster shot while turning her attention back to the attacking clones. Climbing onto the Y-Wing, Rex regained his footing and opened fire as another lift full of clones, including Jesse, descended into the repair bay. Tano Force-pushed Jesse and a few of his men back while continuing to deflect blaster bolts.^[6]

As the Tribunal entered the moon's atmosphere, the bridge officers attempted to fire the ship's retrorockets, but the Star Destroyer fell out of control as an explosion killed everyone on the command bridge. Everyone in the repair bay was thrown off their feet, and Rex, having gotten into the cockpit of the Y-wing, yelled for Tano to get over to the ship. As the clones were knocked aside by falling debris, Tano braked her own slide with her lightsabers before holstering the weapons and running for the Y-wing, but the starfighter was knocked from its mooring just as she leapt for it, sending her plummeting into open air. Rex managed to activate the bomber after a brief struggle to find its power button as it tumbled through the air, before flying back to the plummeting Tribunal in search of Tano. She fell through the sky of the moon, and after being spotted by Rex, he opened the gunner's cockpit, but Tano lost her grip and was blown away during her first attempt to board the starfighter. Tano landed on and ran along several large pieces of debris to reach Rex as he pulled the Y-wing closer to her before she made her second jump. Finally grabbing hold of the Y-wing, Tano pulled herself into the gunner's seat as Rex maneuvered the starfighter away from the debris. As the pair flew off, the Tribunal crashed onto the surface, killing everyone still on board.^[6]

Aftermath[]

After the skirmish, Tano and Rex landed at the wreckage of the Tribunal. They salvaged supplies and parts from the crash site to repair both the Y-wing and the recovered R7. Tano and Rex also buried every clone whose body they could find, including Jesse. Standing in front of the graves, marked by the clones' helmets on poles, Tano, filled with anguish and defeat, abandoned both of her lightsabers in order to fake her death.^[6][26] R7 was also rebuilt.^[9] The Republic was transformed into the Galactic Empire by Sidious following the issuance of Order 66.^[2]

After leaving the moon, Tano discovered that her old friend, Senator Padmé Amidala, was dead, and the three travelled to^[10] Amidala's homeworld^[2] of Naboo so Tano could attend her funeral in the city of Theed. Landing their ship in a river valley near the city, Rex and R7 stayed behind while Tano snuck into the city. Tano was spotted by Alderaanian Senator Bail Organa during the funeral procession, and he followed her into an area of the Theed Royal Palace to speak with her, curious about why she had come despite the danger. Organa gave Tano a comlink to contact him with if she needed help, although Tano was tired of fighting, and Tano escaped before patrolling clones could see her. After leaving Naboo,^[10] Tano and Rex parted ways,^[27] Rex keeping the Y-wing^[8] while R7 was given to the Martez sisters.^[9]

With the sisters' help, Rex tracked down the Bad Batch, a group of rogue clone commandos who had been immune to Order 66. He learned from Tech that the Empire had officially declared him killed in action, something he found useful. When he realized the Batch had not removed their inhibitor chips, Rex had them meet him on Bracca to do so, inspired by his own experience to use the medical bay of a wrecked Venator. Rex mentioned the skirmish to them in vague terms, but did not elaborate when Echo asked him how he had gotten his chip out. After the surgeries had been performed, with some difficulty subduing Wrecker after his chip went off, Rex parted ways with them, telling them to look him up if they wanted to join his work against the Empire.^[8]

Traumatized by the events, Tano suffered from lingering guilt about letting Maul escape, since the Jedi were no longer around to protect the galaxy from his wrath. Tano would join Organa's rebel movement over a year after the end of the Clone Wars, after two encounters with Inquisitors, Jedi hunters who served the Empire: the first with the Sixth Brother during an uprising on the farming moon Raada,^[27] and the second with a masked Inquisitor at a farm village on a different world,^[10] with both Inquisitors defeated unarmed. As both incidents had resulted in civilian deaths, Tano called upon Organa and his people to evacuate the survivors of the attacks as a favor,^[27][10] before deciding to take his offer to get back into the fight. Tano became an intelligence agent operating under the codename Fulcrum.^[27]

Years into^[28] the Imperial Era, the wreckage of the Tribunal was discovered by Imperial forces. Darth Vader^[6]—Skywalker's Sith identity^[2]—visited the now snow-covered site accompanied by stormtroopers. At the crash site, he located Ahsoka's lightsaber buried in the snow, as well as a damaged 332nd Company helmet. He examined the lightsaber, taking it with him when he left,^[6] knowing in his heart that Tano was alive.^[29]

Rex eventually wound up living on the planet Seelos with fellow clones Wolffe and Gregor, who had also had their chips removed at some point.^[30] He was reunited with Tano^[31] fifteen years after the end of the Clone Wars,^[32] when she sent the Spectres to recruit him into the rebellion. Dealing with his own trauma over Order 66, Rex did not tell Jedi survivor Kanan Jarrus, who was upset about being around clones and distrusted them, the details of how his chip had been removed, giving the impression it had been taken out prior to the order being given.^[30]

Maul spent the early years of the Imperial Era secretly running the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn,^[33] but eventually became stranded on the dark side-strong planet Malachor. There, he encountered Tano again when she visited the planet with Jarrus and his apprentice Ezra Bridger. The three light-siders briefly allied with Maul to defeat three Imperial Inquisitors who came to the planet, but after Maul's inevitable betrayal, Tano declined a rematch, tasking Jarrus with defeating Maul as she sensed a greater threat approaching. After being thrown off the Malachor Sith Temple by Jarrus, Maul escaped the planet in a TIE Advanced v1 belonging to one of the dead Inquisitors.^[34] Maul was eventually killed on Tatooine by his old enemy Kenobi after tracking the Jedi Master to the planet.^[35]

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

The skirmish aboard the Tribunal first appeared in "Shattered,"^[1] the penultimate episode of the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which premiered on Disney+ on May 1, 2020.^[36] It was first mentioned, indirectly, in the Star Wars Rebels episode "The Lost Commanders,"^[30] which premiered on Disney XD on October 14, 2015.^[37]

Continuity[]

The 2016 novel Ahsoka, written by E. K. Johnston, also indirectly referenced Tano and Rex's escape from Order 66. However, the novel's details were almost totally retconned by the seventh season of The Clone Wars.^[27] While writing the novel, Johnston was asked not to include action scenes relating to Order 66 or the Siege of Mandalore due to the existence of the seventh season, which Lucasfilm was secretly working on at the time.^[38] She did, however, draw upon plot points that Clone Wars writers Dave Filoni and Matt Michnovetz had mapped out for the version of the Siege of Mandalore arc which existed at the time of the series' initial cancellation.^[39] In Ahsoka, Tano, Rex, and Maul were still on Mandalore when Order 66 was issued. Tano was left with the choice of either killing Maul or saving Rex, and the rogue Sith escaped after she chose the latter option. Fleeing the clones, Tano and Rex faked their deaths by burying the corpse of another clone in Rex's armor and erecting a headstone claiming they killed each other, before parting ways and leaving Mandalore in separate ships.^[27]

Only two details from the novel remained in the TV episodes, both with differences. The first was Tano being forced to make a choice between dealing with Maul or saving Rex's life, as "Victory and Death" instead has Tano's choice regarding Maul being her attempt to stop him from stealing a shuttle to escape.^[6] The second detail, Tano abandoning her lightsabers upon a grave to fake her death, is different in the location, the time of day, the nature of the grave, the way she abandons the weapons and how many she is seen leaving behind: in the novel, Tano placed both sabers on Rex's false grave on Mandalore at night,^[27] whereas "Victory and Death" has her dropping only her primary lightsaber by the graves of the 332nd Division on a moon in the daytime,^[6] although her official StarWars.com Databank entry confirms she abandoned both lightsabers there.^[26]

Multiple sources released prior to the seventh season of The Clone Wars, including "The Lost Commanders" and the 2019 reference book Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition, stated that Rex had already had his inhibitor chip removed prior to the issuing of Order 66.^[30][40] "Shattered" instead depicts it being removed shortly afterwards.^[1]

Appearances[]

• Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — "Practice Makes Perfect"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Shattered" (First appearance)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Victory and Death"
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch — "Battle Scars" (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch — "Extraction" (Indirect mention only)
• Ahsoka (Indirect mention only)
• Ahsoka audiobook (Indirect mention only)
• Star Wars Rebels — "The Lost Commanders" (First mentioned) (Indirect mention only)
• Star Wars Rebels — "Twilight of the Apprentice" (Indirect mention only)

Sources[]

• Star Wars Helmet Collection 47 (Databank A-Z: Max Rebo–Sabacc) (Indirect mention only)
• "Shattered" Episode Guide - The Clone Wars on StarWars.com (backup link)
• "Victory and Death" Episode Guide - The Clone Wars on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Star Wars: Card Trader (Card: Ahsoka Tano (TCW) - 2021 Base) (Indirect mention only)
• "Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Final Countdown" — Star Wars Insider 200
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Character Encyclopedia - Join the Battle!
• 7 Clones You'd Want on Your Team | Star Wars: List It! on the official Star Wars Kids YouTube channel (content now obsolete; backup link)
• "Battle Scars" Episode Guide | The Bad Batch on StarWars.com (backup link)
• 8 of the Best Buddies in Star Wars | Star Wars: List It! on the official Star Wars Kids YouTube channel (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – The Official Collector's Edition
• Tales Of The Jedi | Official Trailer on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com)
• Star Wars: Timelines
• R7-A7 in the Databank (backup link) (Indirect mention only)

Notes and references[]