The Essential Guide to Force Exile/CC-3433

CC-3433 “Trip” was a clone of Jango Fett grown on Kamino to serve in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. He was tapped for his potential at command and received additional training making him qualified to lead an entire army for a full campaign independent of any other officers.

Rigidly loyal to the orders of his superiors, Trip wasn't known for his imaginative nature, but he was efficient. However, his lack of ingenuity usually caused him to be in charge of long-term occupation forces or placed under command structures that contained multiple Jedi Generals, a duty he resented, even if he did perform it to the best of his abilities. As such, he never commanded one unit for long enough to develop a reputation for battlefield prowess.

His first true solo assignment was to take the 105th Attack Battalion to Tellanroaeg, but even then, a pair of Jedi Knights were attached to his group and their orders often superceded his. That they weren't the most competent commanders grated on him, but he had no choice but to follow orders. His forces, aided by a group of local milita recruited and trained by the ARC trooper Spectre, beat off the droid assaults and Spectre was instrumental to the battle's resolution, calling down airstrikes on a sizable Separatist force attempting to flank the Republic lines. Later, the ARC angered Trip by showing reluctance when ordered to execute Order 66, even questioning the authenticity of the order. Infuriating Trip further, Spectre went so far as to commemorate the death of the Jedi by giving one of them a proper burial, inciting further unrest in the troops. In response, Trip sent the insolent ARC on a deep cover reconnaissance mission to the main Separatist base, but soon learned the war was over. Spectre found a nearly empty base, all the droids powered down, a scene repeated galaxy wide as the entire mechanized legions of the droid army were shut down following the death of the Separatist Council.

Not long afterward, Trip was nearly killed in a terrorist bombing of the Tellanroaeg headquarters, but he was rescued by Spectre. After he recovered from his injuries, Trip was transferred to Castell, where a burgeoning insurrection by the native Gossam had been causing problems. Taking the 105th to the planet, he crushed the Gossam, finally earning him the prestige he desired. The insurrection leaders surrendered within six months and Trip was promoted, his forces keeping order on Castell to ensure the cooperation of the surviving natives.

A year after the insurrection on Castell, his command was transferred to Cato Neimodia, another hotbed of seditious activity, this time from the Neimoidians, who had been one of the instigators of the Clone Wars. After the assassination of several high-ranking officers, Trip was sent in to restore order. He again was highly successful in dealing with the insurgency, systematically driving out the Neimoidian resistance. However, when his own personal company of soldiers seized a Neimoidian luxury estate and Trip heard what was inside, he knew he was in over his head. Bypassing his chain of command, he contacted high-ranking Imperial generals directly, appealing to Palpatine to send someone to investigate. Trip had found two things of great importance: three thousand highly-skilled Xi Charrian workers and engineers and a treasure trove of Separatist data cores. Palpatine responded by sending his special advisor, Kinman Doriana, who quickly had both the workers and the data cores loaded onto his ship, the Griffin. Doriana also brought Trip and a small contingent of his soldiers with him to help provide security, but he couldn't risk bringing more soldiers if the operation was to be kept secret. However, the trip from Cato Neimoidia to their destination at the under-construction Death Star, where Doriana planned on delivering the workers, was interrupted both by mechanical failure on the experimental Griffin and by pirate attacks.

Trip helped beat off the pirate attacks, but the band of outlaws pursued them doggedly. He later deduced that it was a group led by a Devaronian named Sulan'bask, but the paltry escort Doriana arranged was unable to fend off the pirates, irritating Trip. Furthermore, the crew of the Griffin was incompetent, though thankfully Doriana gave him plenty of leeway to work around them to maintain a secure environment.

It was all in vain, though, when the Griffin was once again attacked in the middle of passing through the remote Hoth system. This time, the pirates brought in the heavy firepower, overwhelming their escort and boarding the Griffin. Trip's men gave them quite a drubbing, killing the pirate boarding parties, but they and the Griffin's crew suffered heavy casualties, with all but a bare skeleton being slain or injured.

However, one last group boarded the Griffin: A band of renegade Jedi and Matukai warriors. They quickly overwhelmed the weakened crew and Trip's personal squad was left as the last unit of clones. They attempted to stop the Jedi from reaching the bridge of the ship, not knowing what they were up against, but they were quickly defeated. Trip was still alive, though, and managed to injure one of the Jedi. He was stopped from killing her, though, by Spectre, who had somehow joined forces with the Jedi after leaving the army. Astounded, Trip nevertheless squared off against Spectre in bruising hand-to-hand combat, but was ultimately defeated. He attempted to shoot Spectre, but the ex-ARC had found a new path in studying the Force and accepting his newly-found Force sensitivity. Calling a lightsaber to his hand, he deflected Trip's blaster bolt back into the commander, killing him.

Appearances

 * Force Exile I: Fugitive
 * Force Exile II: Smuggler
 * Force Exile III: Liberator