Alpha-Ø4

Alpha-Ø4, also known as Gulo was an Alpha-class Advanced Recon Commando who fought during the Clone Wars.

Alpha-Ø4 was raised differently from most other clones because of his special designation as an ARC Trooper. Trained by Jango Fett and several other Mandalorian mercenaries, the young commando learned advanced combat skills and small group-based tactics. He entered the War shortly after its commencement and served with exemplary marks and would likely have been one of the Empire's elite had he not abandoned his post shortly after the instating of Order 66.

Gulo spent the next twenty years doing mercenary work for whoever would hire them. After escaping an exotic world, he set out to create an organization dedicated to helping the less fortunate ones of the Galaxy in the more violent, ambiguously legal manner. Shortly after, the Broken Circle Armada was founded, and thrived under Gulo's leadership for nearly three decades.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Gulo's armada aided in the First Battle of Coruscant. He consequently did not survive the battle.

ARC Trooper
Alpha-Ø4 began life as one of the first 100 Alpha-class Advanced Recon Commandos cloned by the Kaminoans using the DNA of Jango Fett. He earned his nickname Gulo (Mando'a for wolf) during training sessions with his brothers. Gulo would often employ the use of pack hunting tactics to take down his enemies with ferocity. His trainers would often have to report the disappearance of small groups of regular troopers for sometimes days at a time while Gulo led them in training simulations against his fellow ARCs. It would not be long before he put those skills to use.

Gulo first saw combat at the Battle of Kamino and proved crucial in turning the tide in favor of the Republic. After the battle, Gulo became a nomad of sorts, being sent all across the Galaxy to aide in battles crucial to the Republic. He resented this, as it kept him from forming any ties or bonds with his fellow soldiers, but did as he was told. For nearly two years, the ARC trooper was either on some foreign world finishing fights or in transit between. This all changed after Jabiim.

Jabiim
"I had seen the death and barbarism of countless battles for more than a year before landing on that soggy rock, but let me tell you...it made the rest of the War look like a fierfeking party."

- Alpha-Ø4

Gulo was sent with a detachment of veteran clones to the planet of Jabiim to aide in the Republic's effort to quell a Separatist uprising and secure valuable resources. The battle began normally enough. For the better part of the first month, the Republic forces made advances throughout the planet, foolishly dividing their forces.

Gulo was positioned at Cobalt Station when the counter-offensive began. Couped up at the post for weeks fending off Separatist attacks along side the Padawan Pack wore down the trooper. On day 37 a full-scale evacuation was ordered, but no ships were available to pick up the survivors at the post. For six more days, Gulo, his troops, and the jedi held off the enemy. Against an army of 10,000 the surviving forces held their own until help arrived. The event would forever traumatize Gulo, and the memories of those final days haunted his dreams for the rest of his life.

Post-Jabiim service
After the Battle of Jabiim, Gulo was on loan to just about every division of the army that needed him. Equipped with new armor and weapons, he served as a special detachment unit and carried out spec ops missions on hundreds of planets, including Nelvaan. Gulo was on such a mission during the Battle of Mygeeto. He had just secured a high rise building when Order 66 was issued. Shocked by Bacara's murder of Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, he immediately deserted his mission and left the combat zone. Dressed in the cold-weather body armor of the Galactic Marines, Gulo managed to escape the planet unnoticed. Several days later he was listed as Missing In Action by his superiors.

For twenty years, the former clone trooper wandered the Galaxy aimlessly. He went from planet to planet searching for his fellow brothers, doing mercenary work, or drinking away his bad memories with the credits he earned. Around the time of the Battle of Yavin, he was on a bounty hunting job when the transport he was on crashed on an unknown planet.

Lost
"Well, this is good. I'm stuck on an unknown planet with a twitchy mercenary, a gimp...now a total gett (Mando'a for nut), and the only one making any sense besides me is the damned mute Mon Calamari."

- Alpha-Ø4

While in transit from one job to another, the transport that Gulo was aboard mysteriously suffered cascade power failure and crash landed on an unknown, but very volatile planet. With the pilots dead and several of the passengers already killed by the surrounding wildlife, Gulo did his best to act as a calming force to balance out the survivor group's abrasive dynamic. The group itself was composed of a mercenary by the name of Raiken, a Mandalorian clad in armor, a mute Mon Calamari, and an injured politician named Burns who had his legs amputated in the crash. Little did they know, they were being hunted by a madclaw wookiee. The ensuing fight proved to be tasking, and Gulo was nearly killed trying to take him out, but they managed to down the feral creature and move on.

Eventually, it was discovered that the planet was a secret battleground between Republic and Separatist forces, though it looked like the fighting had ceased for some time. Among the Separatist labs were the failed experiments similar to the ones on Nelvaan, taken place decades ago. Gulo made it his priority to destroy the labs and find a way off the planet. He managed to make his way to an abandoned Kaminoan cloning facility and find a transport. It would only hold three beings in total, and Gulo chose to take the Mandalorian and the mercenary. They're chance to leave arrived when the systems keeping the planet hidden and a inescapable restarted themselves. Gulo took the opportunity and made it off the planet just in time.

Broken Circle Armada
After escaping the planet, Gulo returned to the civilized galaxy with a newfound vigor and sense of usefulness. Just as Jabiim had shaped his life, his experiences while stranded for a second time proved to push him in a new direction. He vowed to find any willing and (moderately benevolent) war veterans, mercenaries, bounty hunters, smugglers, and outright pirates and unite them under one banner. Gulo wanted to create an organization that did all the dirty work necessary to make the lives of regular sentients better...and get his cut in the process. First he went about finding a flagship.

Adrift in space above the frozen planet of Nelvaan, Gulo found Autonomous. For being abandoned in space for two decades it was in good shape. The rejuvenated ARC trooper used his funds and connections to refurbish and refit the entire vessel. Equipped with the standard armaments and compliment of any other Clone Wars era Venator-class Star Destroyer, Gulo made several other "non-legal" modifications to ensure its secrecy, supremacy in a one on one firefight, and status as a base and flagship for his new armada. Inspired by the irony of the Open Circle Armada warpaint, he named his band of misfits the Broken Circle Armada. At its height during the Galactic Civil War the Armada consisted of nearly 75,000 sentients and scores of starships ranging from small fighters to freighters and frigates.

Gulo also employed a mercenary army of just over 10,000 men all clad in specially decorated clone armor and all of the Old Republic armaments the Autonomous had to offer. Though Gulo was not directly involved with the Rebel Alliance, he openly admitted to ordering his armada to complete "mutually beneficial" operations along side Alliance forces. The Broken Circle Armada remained a noticeable force on the galactic scale until the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Death and Legacy
"You know how this is going to end. I won't dishonor you by trying to come up with some sort of euphemism for what we're going to do. There are people down there that need saving. We're the ones who can do it...Half a century ago, I fought for an army next to soldiers that didn't give a moment's hesitation to giving their lives to save a civilian. They were genetically engineered to do so. You aren't, but I'm asking the same. Let's show these extragalactic bastards who we are: Kandosii sa ka’rta, Coruscanta a’den, Vode an!"

- Gulo's speech to his crew moments before crashing Autonomous into a Yuuzhan Vong ship.

Kept alive by numerous cybernetic implants, and physically over the age of 118, Gulo made his final stand during the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong. In 27 ABY when he learned that the extragalactic invader's next target would be Coruscant, he ordered the entire Armada to the planet with all deliberate speed. Sixty years ago, he was genetically engineered to protect the world, and he wouldn't let it fall without his own personal objection. When Autonomous and the Broken Circle fleet arrived on the scene, the battle had already unfolded. Amidst the chaos, Gulo chose to direct his efforts on saving the escaping refugees from the planet surface. The Yuuzhan Vong were using the refugee ships as shields from New Republic forces and the aged clone felt it was his duty to stop that. After days of fighting and heavy casualties, only the heavily damaged flagship was remaining. In a bold move, Gulo ordered to ram one of the Matalok capital ships, destroying himself and his crew in the process. Hist last words were a reference to the Mandalorian war chant "Vode An".

After the war, Gulo and his crew were posthumously awarded the Medallion of Honor, homage to his former service in the Old Republic.

Personality and traits
Gulo was always known as being witty, no matter what the situation was. He could also brighten a room with his presence and brief but poignant speeches. Thanks to his status in the clone hierarchy, he was given the individuality and leadership skills to be able to rally groups of people to his cause. His innate loyalty to the people of the Republic ultimately proved the cause of his death, but branded him forever as a hero to all the free thinking beings of the galaxy and an example to his brothers that they could be more than just cannon fodder.

During battle, he enjoyed weilding either large, blunt weapons or dual pistols and carbines. One of his nervous ticks was to twirl a hand-held weapon in his hand for several minutes at the amazement of his fellow troopers. He also had a near obsession with the color blue. No matter what, he tried to infuse it in whatever he wore or owned. His customized armor and the hull paint of Autonomous are a testament to that.

Because of the events on Jabiim, Gulo would always have flashbacks triggered by rain. In general he preferred arctic conditions, but he wouldn't turn down a job on account of weather...although he only took baths and never showers when washing. Such was apparent evidence of his post-traumatic stress.

Behind the scenes

 * Alpha-Ø4 was created by KypFisto for his personal roleplay use and eventually grew to warrant a personal history.

Appearances

 * "Lost"
 * "A Tatooine Night"