Unit Tango was a unit of clones stationed on the planet of Omereth in 22 BBY. Led by CS-0021 "Blackjack" they were active in the Battle of Omereth in which the planet was invaded by Aqua droids. Unit Tango was able to hold off the droids long enough for Republic reinforcements to arrive and fend off the attack. In 21 BBY after spending some time on Coruscant they were sent to Basteel and participated in the Invasion of Basteel.
History[]
Training on Kamino[]
In 32 BBY the clones of Unit Tango were born. Over the next 9 years they trained to become soldiers along with the rest of their clone brothers. Blackjack quickly proved himself to be the leader of the bunch while CT-1917 "HWG" short for "Heavy Weapons Guy" proved himself to be quite capable with heavy weapons, especially the Z-6 rotary blaster cannon. CT-0865 "Cateye" on the other hand preferred to be armed with a 773 Firepuncher Sniper Rifle and pick off his enemies from afar. CT-0880 "8 Ball" and CT 2277 "Swatter" were just regular grunts armed with standard issue rifles, but were close. Most of the tension in the group was between HWG and Cateye because they had very different outlooks on warfare but Blackjack was usually there to break it up.
On their final test as a group the conflict between HWG and Cateye almost caused the group to fail. HWG in spite of Cateye went out into the open and got shot by the training droids causing Swatter and 8 Ball to have to save him while Cateye and Blackjack coordinated to finish the test. This caused the instructors to lose faith in the group and decided to station the group at the new extremely remote outpost on Omereth. Blackjack was promoted to Sergeant and the group shipped out.
Omereth[]
Omereth was an extremely remote, mostly water filled world in the Outer Rim that only had a few archipelagos. It's only importance was the large amount of fish that could be shipped back to the Republic as food and it's location in space. The outpost could keep an eye on Hutt Space and Separatist space but was so remote the Republic hoped it would go completely unnoticed. The outpost was built in the ruins of an old structure on one of the bigger archipelagos but was still very small. Unit Tango were the only clones on the planet and it's main duties were monitoring nearby space and helping fishermen in the area. They also had to monitor the nearby sea for the Omereth Giant Eel, an eel of epic proportion which could swallow a ship whole. If they were nearby you wouldn't wanna fish there.
The first months on Omeroth were hard for Unit Tango. The mind numbing duties of monitoring mostly empty space, checking for giant eels, and helping fishermen wasn't exactly what the clones expected. The conflict between HWG and Cateye got even worse due to the fact that their were only the 5 of them at the outpost and they lived in very close quarters. It was usually up to Blackjack to keep them apart and he usually did his best to have them on seperate assignments. Cateye usually would handle all security from the guard tower while HWG would be helping the fishermen. 8 Ball would handle the giant eels and Swatter would handle checking in on Hutt and Separatist space. Blackjack would handle everything else and made sure the outpost was well supplied and that the soldiers wouldn't kill each other.
The unit got their first real bit of action when an abnormally large giant eel started terrorizing the local fishermen. HWG, Swatter, 8 Ball, and Blackjack went out on their small armored boat armed to the teeth ready to kill the eel. After sailing for around 5 hours they made contact with the eel. The eel was massive and was almost as twice as long as their boat. HWG opened fire with his Z-6 while 8 Ball and Swatter used the deck guns to pump the eel full of blaster bolts. But the eel was resilient and kept disappearing beneath the waves before and serious damage could be done and then reappearing out of nowhere. The eel tried to eat the boat several times but Blackjack steered the boat just out the way every time. After about 10 minutes of engagement the group realized blaster bolts weren't going to work and decided to throw electro mines in the water around the eel and electrocute it. HWG started shooting his gun to draw the beast out and when it came up Swatter and 8 Ball threw the mines in and they stunned the eel making it a sitting duck. They lit the eel up with everything they had killing it.
After returning back to the outpost the group celebrated its first victory and got really hammered. The group knocked Cateye for not being there but he simply responded "someone had to watch this dump". The next morning a clone major came to the base with a few troopers to inspect the place. He was not pleased with Blackjack for him allowing his soldiers to be hammered, Blackjack then brought up they were celebrating their big victory from the previous day which did not please the major. He brought up the fact that their victory didn't mean anything to the Republic and said while Unit Tango gets too lay around getting hammered and killing eels, clones were dying every day and the separatists were getting closer to victory. Blackjack apologized and got his men cleaned up. The major left after finishing the inspection and made one more remark toward Blackjack calling his unit a "unit of washouts" which angered Blackjack, but he had to bite his tongue.
The visit from the major opened up the groups eyes, especially Blackjack, to the fact that they really had no major stake in this war and that they were seen as washout failures who didn't belong on the front lines. Omereth remained quiet for the next few months and the rotations were dull for Unit Tango. Other then help the fishermen and look at empty space they had nothing to do. The little info they gathered was usually outdated or just not very helpful but the Republic had been telling their spies to make it seem like all the info they had was coming from the Omereth Outpost to protect their real sources. As 22 BBY turned to 21 BBY the group lost hope that they would ever see real action. Swatter's facial hair grew untamed, HWG's hair grew out of control, and their armor now had a yellow tint from lack of cleaning. Everything changed however on one fateful night a few days after the new year.
While Swatter dozed off a loud beeping noise started going off. He woke up and checked the scanner to see a meteoroid shower raining down on the planet. He rose the shields and prepared to go back to sleep before noticing 2 strange metallic objects that fell with the asteroids into the nearby ocean. He radioed HWG down at the nearby docks to investigate and he also reported seeing the metallic objects. The clones had heard about the separatists launching pods with droids down with debris before and quickly scrambled their defenses. They grabbed their weapons and were ready for droids to attack. At daybreak aqua droids made landfall on the Outpost's archipelago and opened fire. The Separatists had found out about the outpost a few months before but had previously though it was heavily defended. Now they realized the outost was manned by 5 clones and decided to take it thinking it would be a pushover. The out of shape clones were slow at first and their shooting has become poor. Cateye was able to knock out 4 of the droids before having to abandon his security tower and fall back to the main defenses. Blackjack radioed the Outer rim command for help and they said they would send a small group of clones to help. Swatter and 8 Ball prepared the ship for combat while the other 3 clones were preparing for the droids to breach the front entrance. Just as the droids breached the front entrance Swatter and 8 Ball sailed round and opened fire on the droids and were able to knock out a good chunk of the droids out while the other 3 were able to pick off a few as well. Right after the ship began to pull back to the base one of the aqua droids used his wrist rocket and shot the ship killing Swatter and heavily wounding 8 Ball leaving only Blackjack, Cateye, and HWG in action. They had left some droid poppers laying on the ground right after the entrance and had Cateye shoot them casuing several more droids to be killed but their just was too many of them. As they began to fall back to the last line of defense Cateye was shot and killed by the droids. Now HWG and Blackjack were still able to fight and they stood on the outer wall at the back of the base and bagn mowing down any droid that came near them but they were being overwhelmed. Blackjack was shot in the leg and HWG got hit in the back but they kept on fighting. However just as things looked done for Gunships arrived led by the major. The gunships were able to mow down the remaining droids and retake the outpost. Blackjack told the major about how 8 Ball was still alive on the boat and they were quickly able to rescue him and take the 3 remaining members of Unit Tango to the Outer Rim Medical Station for recovery. Before leaving they buried Cateye and Swatter outside the outpost and left their helmets on top their rifles as grave markers and then left the planet they had been on for so many months.
The Omereth Outpost was manned by a new, larger unit and the Outpost was upgraded to make it more useful. The unit was commended for their actions by the major that once criticized the unit and said that he was proud to serve with men like them. The unit took the loss of Cateye and Swatter hard. 8 Ball took the loss of Swatter extra hard since they had been close since Kamino and now he was gone. HWG felt bad about his disagreements with Cateye in the past and the guilt of him being the reason they even got sent to the Omereth Outpost in the first place. They were all given time to heal and grieve but they were needed elsewhere. The Republic needed clones everywhere, badly. After a few weeks at the medical station they were shipped to Coruscant.
Coruscant[]
After recovering the group was given time off on the planet of Coruscant. Blackjack, HWG, and 8 Ball all went to 79's, the clone bar, to relax. They met with some clones from the 212th Attack Battalion named Shock and Delta who had fought with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the recent Second Battle of Geonosis. When asked about their unit they told the clones about their story about Omereth and the battle that happened there. Shock and Delta kinda laughed about Omereth saying that Unit Tango had gotten lucky and that the battles they had fought in were more important. This caused 8 Ball to take a swing at Shock and a brawl between the two groups began. The fight was broken up and Unit Tango was kicked out. The group was struggling with the fact that Cateye and Swatter, who they had spent their entire lives with were now dead. They spent the next week just mostly laying around the barracks and getting hammered. One morning the unit awoke to a knock on their door. It was the commander of the 87th Legion, Trigger. Tango Unit would be integrated into the larger 85th Legion and would take part in the Invasion of Basteel. The group would also now have their armor painted. They now had the black markings of the 85th and two new clones replaced Cateye and Swatter. Their names were Sledgehammer and Foxtrot and they had both just graduated from Kamino and the Invasion of Basteel was to be their first assignment. The original Unit Tango members had a hard time accepting the new clones in and there was a definite rift between the two groups of clones.
Basteel[]
The Separatists were heavily fortified on the planet and were using the immense amount of resources on the Basteel to power and supply their army. The droids had taken over the planet's subterranean cities and had dug tunnels, trenches, and were using the natives of the planet as human shields. The 87th Legion was led to be led into battle by Commander Trigger and the Jedi General, Vex Antonica. Their main target was the capitol of Eladro City and ideally they could take the cities without civilian casualties. The clones would only be supplied with rifles and droid poppers to minimize civilian casualties and their would be no naval bombardment for the same reason. The clones loaded into their gunships and headed down to the planet.
The gunships flooded out of the hanger and headed down to the surface. Due to the lack of flat ground on Basteel the landing site was very small and was perched up in the mountains. The clones would have to clear the landing zone and then move on Eladro City. The droids lit up the sky with flak and vulture droids engaged the gunships. Several ships were blown to pieces and only bout half of the gunships reached the ground. When Unit Tango reached the ground it was a mess. Antonica and Trigger's gunship did not reach the landing site and the command structure had fallen apart. A defensive circle of AAT's and gunships had been created but it was chaos. Blackjack and the rest of Unit Tango were using the remains of a gunship as cover and for now were just trying to hold off the droids. A gunship came screaming down from the sky crashing on the clones fighting at the landing site killing many and heavily wounding Sledgehammer. Foxtrot seeing the death and destruction around him just broke . The unit had to fall back as their position began to be overrun and HWG and 8 Ball carried Sledgehammer to cover and kept firing on the droids. Blackjack tried to talk to Foxtrot but he had gone into a psychopathic rage. With no concerns for anyone's safety he just started mowing down droids and exposing himself to blaster bolts. Then after his weapon overheated he tried to just attack the droids with his bare hands until he was stopped by 8 Ball. He tried to calm Foxtrot down but it was no use, he was gone. Then a B2 battle droid came out of nowhere and shot and killed 8 Ball before HWG mowed the droid down. This just made Foxtrot even worse and he had to be dragged away by HWG and Blackjack. Still with no sign of Trigger or Antonica the fighting remained chaotic for the rest of the day until the droids were finally defeated and the landing site had been secured. After a hard day of fighting the results were disastrous. The 87th Legion suffered 79% casualties and while they were able to take the landing site, Trigger and Antonica were still MIA and now they needed someone new to lead the mission.
Gunships came down to bring reinforcements and take away the wounded, including Sledgehammer who was barely clinging to life. The group buried 8 Ball near the landing site and left his helmet and rifle their with him. Shortly after this Antonica arrived at the landing site with a wounded Trigger. Their gunship had crashed and they had been forced to fight through many droid units to reach the site. Trigger was unable to continue to fight so a new commander needed to be found. The officers of the 87th Legion as a whole had suffered overall terrible losses and many positions needed to be filled. Blackjack was promoted to Lieutenant and he now led the remnants of Four units along with their reinforcements. HWG was promoted to Sergeant since he was the only remaining Unit Tango member with prior experience. The new clones brought in were moslty fresh from Kamino, much to the disappointment of the rest of the 87th Legion. The rest of the day was used to regroup and chart a battle plan to march on Elgato City.
The new commander, a clone named Spike, and Antonica were worried about a direct attack on the city causing massive civilian casualties due the inexperience of the officers and soldiers, but they saw no other way. At daybreak the clones began their march. As they marched Blackjack pulled HWG aside and told him to keep an eye on Foxtrot. Blackjack had tried to get him taken away with the wounded but he was overruled by Spike, who said they needed every available man. As they approached the entrance to Elgato City, Separatist artillery began to rain down on them. Clones were torn to shreds by the blasts and everyone rushed to cover. Antonica gathered as many troops as he could and started rushing the guns. The run to the gun was deadly for the clones. Many of the rookies were just not ready for combat and the new officers were mostly unable to lead. Blackjack desperately tried to keep his units together but their was just too much artillery. When the group finally reached the guns they had lost almost a third of their numbers, Antonica barely recognized this however and when Spike suggested they stop and regroup, he ignored him and kept moving. Blackjack took a count of his units and still had all 4 sergeants and didn't take extremely bad losses. HWG told Blackjack this was a suicide charge and that Antonica was going to get them all killed. Blackjack said that Antonica knew what he was doing, but deep down he knew that he didn't.
As they entered the city droids starting pouring into the streets to fight the clones, with civilian hostages in front of them. The clones threw droid poppers to try to get rid of the droids and save some civilians and it seemed successful at first. Some clones went out to escort some of the civilians to safety before they were all gunned down by droids. HWG took his heavy gun off his back and started mowing down droids. He led his unit through the droids as Blackjack coordinated the other units advances. Antonica and Spike were leading the charge as well and were cutting through the droids, fueled by the rage of this horrible campaign. Then all of a sudden a commando droids sniper shot cut through Spike, killing him. This caused Antonica to be distracted for a split second and in that second he was also gunned down. Now Blackjack seeing no other officers still alive started leading the charge himself. He coordinated with all the other units ordering a final all out assault. They charged the main defensive line and clones started being mowed down. The bodies began piling up and the blood stained the clones armor. They were able to break through to the Separatist HQ where most of the civilians were being held. The clones battered and tired weren't really up for a hostage crisis, especially Foxtrot. He just started shooting. He was aiming for the droids but if any civilians got in his way he wouldn't stop shooting. Blackjack tried to stop him but other clones also just started shooting. The separatist commander was so shocked by this that he tried to surrender but he was mercilessly slaughtered by Foxtrot. After the fighting ceased, HWG went up to Foxtrot and slowly lowered his gun and walked him away. Blackjack saw the destruction they had just caused and just broke down. The gunships that came to pick them up were shocked by the sight. Trigger came down to the planet after recovering and immediately asked to speak to Antonica to which Blackjack just shook his head. Trigger tried to inquire further but when he saw the state of the clones he stopped.
The Outer Rim Command and the remnants of the 87th Legion decided that what happened on Basteel was to be swept under the rug. The senate and the Republic High Command would only find out about a horrible Separatist execution of the civilians and the heroics of the clones during the battle. The 87th Legion suffered some of the worst casualties of the entire war and the command structure was destroyed. Foxtrot was sent to the Outer Rim Medical Station and then would be sent to Alderaan which was a very relaxed assignment and allowed him to not see almost any combat. Blackjack was promoted to Major for his actions after Antonica was killed and HWG remained Sergeant of Unit Tango. Sledgehammer recovered and rejoined Unit Tango on their next assignment back on Omereth.
Return to Omereth[]
Armor and Equipment[]
Blackjack was worse Phase I clone sergeant armor which had green markings and 4 green dots on the breast plate. He was armed with a DC-15a blaster carbine. All other members wore plain white Phase I armor and were armed with a variety of weapons. On Omereth they also had a small armored boat.