Wilco was a clone trooper who served as a stormtrooper and Clone Captain in the army of the Galactic Empire following the end of the Clone Wars between 19 BBY and 18 BBY. He oversaw the transfer of the late Count Dooku's war chest from the count's palace on the planet Serenno. During operations, however, the rogue clone squad Clone Force 99 "Bad Batch" attempted to steal some of the plunders. Wilco was alerted to the clones and sped up the launching of the final transport carrying the war chest plunders, as well as redirecting his troops to deal with the threat.

Wilco led a security team to try and intercept Bad Batch members Hunter and Wrecker in the palace, but were unable to capture the pair, who fled into the ruins of Serenno City that was below the palace. The captain and his forces continued to pursue, locking down the ruined city but as his team engaged the two rogues again, Wrecker repurposed a cannon from a destroyed Separatist tank and suppressed Wilco's unit. The Bad Batch ultimately escaped Serenno, and Wilco made a mission report on the incident. Vice Admiral Rampart arrived and questioned the involvement of the Bad Batch, wishing the squad to be removed from the report. When Wilco refused to falsify the report, the admiral shot him.

Biography[]

Off-schedule[]

Wilco was created on the planet Kamino as a clone^[1] of the human male bounty hunter Jango Fett^[7] to serve as a clone trooper in the Galactic Republic's clone army during the Clone Wars against the Confederacy of Independent Systems.^[1] He^[4] eventually acquired the rank^[3] of Clone Captain.^[8] Following the conclusion of the war^[3] in 19 BBY, the Republic became the Galactic Empire^[9] and the clones continued on as stormtroopers in the Imperial Army. Wilco was assigned to the ex-Separatist^[3] planet^[10] Serenno, where the Empire was plundering the war chest of the late Separatist leader Count Dooku from his captured palace. At the palace courtyard, the captain oversaw the transfer of the valuables to three class four container transports, which were being escorted off-world one by one by Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighters.^[3]

As Wilco ordered around his clone stormtroopers, the transportation remained on schedule. However, after the departure of the second class four transport, the renegade clone squad Clone Force 99, also known as the "Bad Batch," began infiltrating the final transport, Transport Three to steal some of the plunders. The stormtrooper sentry CT-8801 was stunned when investigating sound from the group. With the sentry not reporting in, another trooper reported such to Wilco, who tried to contact CT-8801 himself. Receiving no response, the captain ordered the stormtrooper to find the missing sentry. That was when two of the docked V-wing starfighters were detonated by Bad Batch leader Hunter as an effort to distract the troopers. Wilco bought the distraction and directed his security team to go and contain the explosion.^[3]

After reaching the explosion site and receiving a damage assessment from a present stormtrooper, Wilco questioned what had caused it. He went on to order Transport Three to secure its cargo and prepare to launch, further advising all of his squads to hold the courtyard's perimeter. Hunter and his squadmate Wrecker chose to attack some of the guarding stormtroopers to try and board the transport, where the rest of their the Bad Batch were inside. Wilco noticed the firefight and ordered the immediate launch of Transport Three. Hunter and Wrecker hung off of the launching transport, but ultimately jumped off and onto the top of the palace.^[3]

Flushing out the palace[]

As his stormtroopers opened fire at the top of the palace, where Hunter and Wrecker had taken a moment to perch, Wilco ordered for the area to be locked down; taking his security team into the palace to flush the pair out. As he traveled through the palace passageways, he was informed by Transport Three's crew that there were intruders aboard their vessel. The captain thus ordered for the transport's escape pods to be jettisoned to prevent the Bad Batch's escape. He then continued to the palace's great hall, where stormtroopers had already engaged the fleeing Hunter and Wrecker. Wilco and his troops advanced into the hall in a three-pronged assault, but when Wrecker threw a smoke bomb, the two rouge clones were lost, able to escape through the lift behind the hall's main console.^[3]

Wilco and his forces followed their enemies' trail to the palace's^[5] shuttle bay.^[6] As the captain entered, one of his troopers reported that the cargo of Transport Three had been jettisoned thanks to the onboard Bad Batch members, scattering throughout the upper forest region by the palace where squads had already been dispatched to search for them. While the stormtrooper was doubtful that the Bad Batch members had survived using the containers as an escape route, Wilco wanted confirmation. Another trooper handed him a grappling hook, indicating that Hunter and Wrecker had descended from the palace's shuttle bay to the ruins of the former Serenno City that was located below. Wilco thus ordered for the forces at the palace to be redirected with shuttle support and full comm channel monitoring.^[5]

City pursuit[]

After arriving in the ruined city, Wilco was informed that half of the jettisoned containers had been found and an encoded transmission had been intercepted. The captain concluded that the intruders in the containers had survived and ordered for the search squads to be divided so that all fifty containers were monitored. Another stormtrooper then informed him that the city perimeter was secured, and so he ordered for a radial sweep to be made to box in Hunter and Wrecker. Wilco and his forces soon located the enemy pair and begun stalking the two as they moved through the city. They began to engage the duo when they stopped to investigate some Separatist tank wreckage, the captain calling on air support.^[5]

Hunter threw another smoke bomb as a distraction while Wrecker took a tank gun and powered it up with a vehicle battery. The latter rogue clone used the gun to eliminate an incoming V-wing before firing on Wilco's unit. Wilco and his stormtroopers began retreating, but the captain was knocked down by the cannon-fire, the rest of his squad being taken down as Hunter and Wrecker made their escape. After coming around again, Wilco removed his helmet and inspected the stormtroopers that had not survived Wrecker's attack. Another squad arrived, one trooper reporting that the "intruders" had retreated to the eastern ridge. The captain ordered for air support to be rerouted to intercept them.^[5]

Death[]

Despite reinforcements from Wilco's forces, the Bad Batch escaped from Serenno. In the aftermath of the skirmish, Wilco submitted a mission report on the Bad Batch incident and returned to Castle Serenno to focus on recovering all of the jettisoned crates, eventually finding eighty-five percent of the lost war chest. Imperial Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart later arrived at the palace to follow up on Wilco's report in the palace courtyard, with the stormtrooper promising to recover all of the war chest. Rampart, though, specified that he had come to address an inaccuracy in Wilco's report, stating that the Bad Batch was meant to have been eliminated during the destruction of Tipoca City on Kamino.^[5]

Wilco reaffirmed his report, adding that he had his own visual confirmation on two of the Bad Batch. With that confirmation, Rampart noted that he would be at risk if Governor Wilhuff Tarkin learned of his failure to eliminate the rogue clone squad, asking that a new report be submitted without mention of the Bad Batch. Wilco refused to falsify his report, and in response Rampart drew his RK-3 blaster and pointed it^[5] at the captain's chest^[6]—stating that he would instead falsify the report himself. As Wilco attempted to lunge at Rampart, the Admiral shot him, causing him to stumble over a railing and plummet into the chasm below the palace.^[5]

Personality and traits[]

As a genetic result of being a clone of bounty hunter Jango Fett, Wilco bore a basic physical resemblance to his genetic template, with tan skin, short black hair, and brown eyes.^[5] As a clone trooper, he stood 1.83 meters (6ft) tall.^[1] Wilco was loyal to the Galactic Empire,^[3] but was unwilling to falsify an official report to the favor of the corrupt Admiral Edmon Rampart. Like most clone troopers, Wilco was duty-driven and strived to complete his mission on Serenno and personally pledged to ensure that all of the late Count Dooku's war chest made it off-world.^[5]

As a captain, Wilco was very capable and adept at effectively commanding his troops. He was a quick-thinking and decisive decision maker, skills that helped him outsmart Clone Force 99 multiple times throughout their encounter, cutting off many potential solutions the squad had intended to use to escape him. Wilco shared a positive rapport with the troopers under his command, and spent a moment observing his wounded men after a skirmish with Clone Force 99.^[3]

Equipment[]

Wilco was equipped with standard white Phase II clone trooper armor, devoid of any markings save for a black comlink on his wrist. He wore a black pauldron to denote his rank as a stormtrooper Clone Captain. He wielded a DC-15A blaster carbine and later a DC-17 hand blaster, and used a datapad while on Serenno.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

Wilco first appeared in the first episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch's second season, which premiered on January 4, 2023.^[11] His name comes from the phrase "Roger Wilco," a procedure word used in radio signaling that means "understood, will comply."^[12]

Appearances[]

• Star Wars: The Bad Batch — "Spoils of War" (First appearance)
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch — "Ruins of War"

Sources[]

• "Spoils of War" Episode Guide | The Bad Batch on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Captain Wilco in the Databank (backup link)

Notes and references[]