Model Write-Up #37 - Degenerate Squad Captain Kralich

"Approximately twenty two years before the Battle of Yavin, the Clone Wars began. At this time, the Clone Army, manufactured by the Kaminoans for the Republic, came into full operation. After the first few months of the war, dedicated regiments were established. Among these was the EOD - Explosive Ordnance Disposal. The EOD always had few members, and so squads within this regiment were tightly knit and highly social. The Clone Commander in charge of the EOD had met Kralich personally when he was assigned to the EOD. Kralich's borderline-insubordinate attitude and lack of real discipline had him kept on the sidelines, away from exciting front-line combat. It was found later that a bad batch of Clone Troopers had been created by malfunctions in the cloning process - each of them looked vastly different from their clone brethren, and they were all difficult, personality wise. Instead of euthanizing them, the EOD Clone Commander had them assigned to Kralich, and named the ten of them "Degenerate Squad", with Kralich promoted to 'captain' - although, in practice, his squad were rarely on the front-lines anyway, and so he only ever had his own Degenerates to command. Over time, he tried his best to shape them into a reasonably effective and respected fighting force, but he struggled to attain any kind of recognition for his efforts - or that of his squad - due to their position. He exercised his authority to commandeer a supply shuttle, which he then used to deliver his Degenerates to a frontline battlezone, upon which the Republic was badly losing. With training only ARC Troopers could surpass, Degenerate Squad sneaked behind enemy lines and sabotaged their supply lanes, as well as their command and control units. he droid army was thrown into disarray, but the Separatist commander's personal retinue of Super Battle Droids remained unaffected. They were able to storm through much of the surviving Republic forces, but before they could finish off the last survivors, Kralich led his squad against them. His squad survived with no injuries, but a Super Battledroid wrist-rocket hit him at point-blank range and he was badly crippled. Thanks to the efforts of his squad, the planet remained under Republic control, and the heroism of his squad was finally awarded - each of them was promoted from their ranks as junior technicians. There were doubts about whether or not Kralich would survive - he was likely to be euthanized, so severe were his injuries. However, the EOD Clone Commander, recognising that Kralich was of value after all, pulled the strings necessary to have him built into a cybernetic body. Everything besides Kralich's brain was removed, and replaced with a highly mobile droid body which allowed him to operate at almost the same capacity he had been at before. His achievements recognised, and his squad inspired, Degenerate Squad were assigned to front-line battles as explosives experts and to sabotage key enemy positions. Over time, others passed in and out of Degenerate Squad, dying in battle or simply being reorganised, but Kralich built up a dedicated cadre of his most trusted squadmates, whom he protected obsessively. Just over nineteen years before the Battle of Yavin - in the last months of the Clone Wars - Kralich discovered the inhibitor chip that had been placed inside his brain, and removed it. After some analysis, he determined what it entailed - but with the public death and supposed betrayal by Arc Trooper Fives, Kralich knew full well that he had found out the secret too, and tried to tell others. Thus, he kept it to himself, and removed the inhibitor chips only from his closest cadre of squad-mates - Bobby, Rogue, Killbulldog, Grinch, Hicks, Climber, Ethan, Frost, and Sneaky - with the intent of bugging out should the chips be activated. When Order 66 was declared, Kralich was thankful he had been able to save his troops, and the ten of them escaped their Venator aboard several welded-together starfighters - something Kralich would later refer to as a "battle-plank". They split up and went their separate ways when the Empire was established, with the intent of meeting together once more when the time called for it. For the Degenerates, that time happened to be around two weeks before the Battle of Endor. At this time, Kralich's Degenerates met by chance after following a signal sent out by a surviving Jedi. He informed the ten that a Super Star Destroyer - named "Merciless Anguish" - was in orbit around a nearby moon, and currently undergoing crew changeover. The ten could sneak aboard, commandeer the ship via the bridge - as much of the operations aboard the ship could be automated - and then deprive the Empire of a valuable asset. Kralich conferred with his Degenerates - by now, they were all around the biological age of fifty five, and they decided that they would never get an opportunity like this to hit back against the Empire again. Thus, the ten infiltrated the "Merciless Anguish", and, after killing the few engineers onboard, took the ship out of the docking port and into hyperspace. They knew the co-ordinates of the new rebel base from the Jedi, and when they arrived, they were greeted by the full might of the rebel fleet. After sending out communiques, the rebels stood down. Mon Mothma came aboard and spoke to Kralich - the small operations the Degenerates had undertaken independently had gained them significant favour from the Rebel Alliance - and Mon Mothma told Kralich of their plans to assault the location of the second Death Star above Endor. She stated that the Rebels could not possibly man the Super Star Destroyer effectively, but that they knew another Imperial fleet with several Star Destroyers and another Star Dreadnought within it were en route to Endor to help safeguard the Death Star. Kralich knew what she was suggesting, and at first, he refused to take his squad into a suicide mission. His squadmates were all unable to convince him, but before he was about to decline Mon Mothma's orders, Grinch told him the hard truth - they were all old men anyway/ If the Rebellion failed at Endor, everything they fought for would be put to ruins. The Executor was trouble enough, but a second Star Dreadnought at Endor could very well destroy the Rebel Alliance's chances at success. The rest of Kralich's squad supported Grinch, saying they were ready to die for a greater cause - and so Kralich agreed, taking the newly-christened "Albatross" to the in-transit Imperial Fleet. When asked for identification, Degenerate Squad activated autofiring on their turbolasers. The Imperial Fleet was thrown into disarray, with a handful of Star Destroyers being destroyed before their rival Star Dreadnought opened fire. The Albatross was quickly weathered by intense turbolaser fire, and the ship was disabled. A boarding party by the Empire then came aboard, and systematically killed each of the Degenerate Squad members. By the time they got to Kralich, almost a thousand Stormtroopers had been killed by his Degenerates' ambushes and traps, and with the four Star Destroyers gone and their rival Star Dreadnought damaged heavily, this fleet was now unable to assist the Empire at Endor. Thus, he surrendered to the Empire, knowing execution was likely - but as he was being transported, the communique about the death of the Emperor, Darth Vader, and the destruction of the second Death Star was received. The Dreadnought captain, instead of executing Kralich, sent him off in a shuttle to the Outer Rim - to live the rest of his life alone, in misery, and witnessing the turmoil that would be the years of the New Republic. As an old, dejected man, Kralich spent most of his days a hermit, refusing calls by the New Republic to reward ceremonies and public speeches. When he was around 70 years old - and soon to die - he received a message encoded with the seal of a Clone officer. He took his decaying shuttle to the co-ordinates within, dressed in his dusty and worn-out Clone Trooper armour, and met three others who introduced themselves as Krolach, Krilach, and Krelich. Kralich questioned why they all had similar names, and it was then that they heard the voice of Krelach, the Grey Force Warden. He explained that each of the four had been his final reincarnations before he could once more walk the physical realm - and with that, the four were merged together once more. When Krelach was defeated 250 years later, each of the four Clone Captains was reborn into a new body, as if they had just been cloned, and they helped the combined Sith and Jedi Orders of the time fight back the resurgent Rakatan Empire..."

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