2nd Airborne Company

The 2nd Airborne Company, known simply as the 2nd Airborne or 2nd Company, was a clone paratrooper company that served in the Grand Army of the Republic's 212th Attack Battalion during the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Led by High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, the 2nd Airborne Company had a distinct disdain for Mandalorians, which they took out on other clone troopers of the Grand Army. The 2nd Airborne took part in the Battle of Utapau, one of the final conflicts of the Clone Wars.

Following the activation of Order 66 by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the clones of the 2nd Airborne Company turned on their former Jedi leader, and later helped overpower the planet Utapau for the newly formed Galactic Empire.

Description[]

Overview[]

Led by a clone trooper captain^[3] and High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, the 2nd Airborne Company, known simply as the 2nd Airborne or 2nd Company, was a Grand Army of the Republic company^[7] of 144^[4] clone paratroopers,^[1] along with support personnel,^[4] subdivided into four platoons,^[4] with one of those platoons containing Parjai Squad, a squad of paratroopers led by clone trooper sergeant Barlex.^[5]

CloneParatrooper-TROSPromoYT — The 2nd Airborne's paratroopers wore specialized armor during the war.

Falling under the^[1] 7th Sky Corps'^[8] 212th Attack Battalion in the Republic's^[1] Order of Battle,^[9] the 2nd Airborne's clone troopers specialized in high-altitude drops and airborne operations,^[1] while being trained and programmed for efficient and relentless combat.^[10]

Equipment and armor[]

The 2nd Airborne Company's clone paratroopers wore specialized, heavy Phase II clone trooper armor designed to sustain high-altitude drops. The armor was adorned with multiple dual orange stripes, designating the trooper's rank and affiliation with the company.^[1] Some of the company's troopers wore their armor without any attachments,^[11] although most were equipped with various satchels, pouches, and a gray kama.^[6]

Additionally, the 2nd Airborne's troopers wielded BlasTech DC-15A blaster rifles, DC-15S blaster carbines, DC-17 hand blasters,^[1] and at least one E-Web heavy repeating blaster.^[12] For their airborne operations, the 2nd Airborne's troopers wore winged jet backpacks.^[5]

History[]

The Clone Wars[]

Cloned from the human male Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett,^[13] and born in Tipoca City's cloning facilities on the^[10] Wild Space planet Kamino,^[13] the 2nd Airborne Company's clone paratroopers,^[6] along with the company's support personnel,^[4] participated in the Clone Wars, a pan-galactic war between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.^[6]

Beginning of the war[]

Durge-TCWCG — Durge stands above the corpse of one of the 2nd Airborne Company's clone troopers.

Towards the very beginning of the war, ten of the 2nd Airborne's clone troopers were killed by Separatist Mandalorians,^[5] leading to the company developping a keen hatred for all Mandalorians. To vent their frustrations towards Mandalorians, the company's members took out their anger on other Mandalorian-trained clones of the Grand Army of the Republic,^[14] including the Special Operations Brigade's clone commandos.^[5]

At one point during the war, the Gen'Dai bounty hunter Durge, turned Separatist commander, killed one of the 2nd Airborne's clone troopers with a blaster rifle, standing above his body on a small rock formation.^[11]

Eventually, one of the 2nd Airborne's squads stormed a Separatist-held world with the 212th Attack Battalion and an All Terrain Tactical Enforcer walker. During the conflict, one of the company's paratroopers tended to a trooper of the 212th, while the rest of his squad engaged Separatist forces in a location surrounded by rubble.^[12]

Road to Mirial[]

"Is it the Mando thing that’s coming between us, dear?"
"Just my appreciation of the irony that we’re fighting Mando mercenaries in some places."

―Clone commando Fi and Sergeant Barlex^[5]

Mandalorians led by Boba Fett — The 2nd Airborne Company had a unique hatred for Mandalorians (pictured), despite most of its forces being cloned from a Mandalorian's genetic template.

In 21 BBY, fifteen months after the star of the war at the First Battle of Geonosis, the 2nd Airborne Company and its Parjai Squad were on board the Republic auxiliary freighter Core Conveyor, en-route to the Outer Rim Territories planet Gaftikar. Their objective was to drop off the commandos of Omega Squad and extra supplies for the Battle of Gaftikar taking place on the planet's surface, which Barlex, the leader of Parjai Squad, believed lowered their chances of survival for their next mission.^[5]

During the trip, Barlex and a loadmaster of the 2nd Airborne Company expressed their dislike of Mandalorians to the members of Omega Squad, taking out their anger on them, before gearing them up to parajump on Gaftikar. Following the squad's parajump, the 2nd Airborne Company eventually continued to the Outer Rim planet Mirial, to fight the Separatist force stationed there.^[5]

The Battle of Utapau[]

"Sergeant over here… Hurry!"

―A 2nd Airborne Company clone paratrooper during the Battle of Utapau^[6]

2ndAC-Utapau — The 2nd Airborne Company participated in the Battle of Utapau with the rest of the 7th Sky Corps.

In 19 BBY, following the discovery of Separatist General Grievous on the Outer Rim planet Utapau, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi assembled a fleet of Venator-class Star Destroyers and the 7th Sky Corps on the Core Worlds planet Coruscant, including the 2nd Airborne Company's paratroopers. The assembled force had one goal, to seek out and kill General Grievous in order to end the war. Deploying from Coruscant, the 2nd Airborne headed to Utapau and deployed to the planet's surface on Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry gunships, while General Kenobi engaged Grievous in a lightsaber duel, starting the Battle of Utapau against the Separatist Droid Army stationed there.^[6]

During the battle, the 2nd Airborne Company's forces faced the Separatist's army of battle droids, including^[6] B1-Series battle droids, OOM security battle droids, B2 super battle droids, Octuptarra combat tri-droids, and LM-432 crab droids.^[15] Following his brief duel with Kenobi, General Grievous attempted to escape aboard his personal Tsmeu-6 personal wheel bike, crushing one of the 2nd Airborne's paratroopers in the process, and flinging two more off of a platform afterwards. Later, after the general's death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the 2nd's troopers signalled to a clone trooper sergeant to help a wounded 212th soldier, while more paratroopers were being deployed from a LAAT/i next to them. Immediately afterwards, a 2nd Airborne paratrooper was killed after being shot by a Separatist blaster, next to a 212th trooper that was mounting a crab droid to blast it from above.^[6]

End of the war[]

"Did you find Kenobi?"
"Sir… No one could have survived that fall."

―Commander Cody and a 2nd Airborne trooper^[6]

212th-control-Utapau — A 2nd Airborne paratrooper reports to Commander Cody after the declaration of Order 66.

Towards the end of the battle, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine executed contingency Order 66, declaring all of the Jedi Order's Jedi traitors of the Republic and ordering their immediate execution. The 2nd Airborne Company's clone troopers,^[6] under the forceful influence of an inhibitor chip implanted in them at birth,^[16] turned on their Jedi General. One of the 212th's All Terrain Tactical Enforcers turned its mass-driver cannon towards Obi-Wan Kenobi and shot him off of a cliff, sending him and his varactyl plummeting into a pool of water below.^[6]

Believing the general to have survived, clone marshal commander Cody of the 212th Attack Battalion ordered one of the 2nd Airborne Company's clones to find the general, to no avail. Upon returning to Cody, the clone was asked if General Kenobi had been found, to which the trooper responded that no one could have survived a fall from that height, as Kenobi escaped the planet aboard Grievous' Soulless One Belbullab-22 starfighter. Concurrently, the 2nd Airborne Company assisted the 41st Elite Legion and the 212th Attack Battalion in the subjugation of the planet's Pau'an population.^[6]

Rise of the Galactic Empire[]

"Sergeant Barlex, Second Airborne, Two-hundred-and-twelfth Battalion. Remember him? Miserable di’kut. He called us born-again Mandos, and his loadmaster said they’d been up against Mandos fighting for the Seps[…]"

―Niner, to Darman, after the events of Order 66^[17]

Occupation-of-Utapau — The 2nd Airborne Company helped subjugate Utapau for the Galactic Empire.

Following the rise of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, the clone paratroopers of the 2nd Airborne Company were reorganized as clone stormtroopers, and began serving under the new Imperial Military, continuing to overthrow Utapau for the Imperial regime.^[1]

Later in the same year, after a meeting with the new commander of the Imperial Commando Special Unit, a unit of special forces clone troopers tasked with eliminating Jedi, clone commando Niner mentioned the 2nd Airborne Company to commando Darman, while reminiscing about Sergeant Barlex in an effort to rekindle his relationship him.^[17]

Behind the scenes[]

The 2nd Airborne Company first appeared, albeit unnamed, in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, a 2005 film written and directed by George Lucas.^[6] The company was later named in a Star Wars Blog post by author Karen Traviss, posted after the film's release, in the same year. The 2nd Airborne Company was named by Karen Traviss as an homage to the real-world paratroopers of the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment of the British Army.^[18] Due to the 2nd Airborne Company's tactics in Revenge of the Sith, and its appearance on the cover of Star Wars Insider 84, an intense fan-demand for more information on clone paratroopers emerged in the year 2005.^[19]