Niner Skirata Niner Skirata — formally known as RC - 1309 during service to the Galactic Republic , then as IC - 1309 after its reorganization into the Galactic Empire — was a clone of the bounty hunter Jango Fett , created on Kamino to serve in the Grand Army of the Republic . Niner was trained as a clone commando by the Mandalorian " Cuy ' val Dar " training sergeant , Kal Skirata , a man he would come to love and respect like a father . When war broke out on Geonosis between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems , Niner led the men of Lambda Squad in the opening battle of the Clone Wars . Following the First Battle of Geonosis , Niner was the only member of his squad to survive and later joined with three other lone squad survivors to form Omega Squad , whom he served with throughout the war . Biography . Early life . RC - 1309 was a clone of Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett , grown in secret on the planet Kamino as part of the Grand Army of the Republic . Born in the year 32 BBY , he was one of the one hundred and four clone commandos trained by Mandalorian " Cuy ' val Dar " training sergeant Kal Skirata , RC - 1309 adopted the name " Niner " for himself , based upon the last digit of his numerical designation . He would serve as the squad sergeant for Lambda Squad , and came to care deeply for his brother clones . During training , Niner and his squad suffered the loss of RC - 8028 — whom he and the other squad members referred to as Two - Eight — who was killed by improperly used explosives . While Two - Eight ' s place in the squad was filled by another commando , Niner would look back on his original brother ' s death for a long time after . By 22 BBY , Niner commanded a squad made up of the commandos Sev , DD , and O - Four . When it came time for the Grand Army and all of its clones to depart for Geonosis , the deployment was so hasty that it left no time for Niner or any of the other commandos to say their goodbyes to their training sergeants . During the First Battle of Geonosis itself , Niner lost all three of his squadmates to the opening conflict of the Clone Wars . When the battle was over and the Republic had won , Niner was transported by " Acclamator " - class assault ship to Ord Mantell . During his stay at barracks block 5 Epsilon , he regretfully ran the events of the battle over in his mind while maintaining his " Katarn " armor . He decided that if he had another chance , Niner would have kept Sev and DD back from the enemy , and sent O - Four to the west with the squad ' s E - Web blaster cannon . It was during this period of reflection that Niner first met RC - 8015 , a commando who went by the name " Fi " , and who was the only survivor of his own squad . Though his interaction with Fi was initially tense , Niner soon softened to Fi when he saw that Fi was just as grief - stricken as himself . Both Niner and Fi were put into stasis soon after , to await the time when they would be needed again . Mission to Qiilura . The next place he saw action in was when his squad was sent to Qiilura to destroy a biohazard facility and capture the Confederate scientist Ovolot Qail Uthan . When the squad evacuated the planet with their hostage , he personally faced off against Ghez Hokan . By feigning injury , he planned to have Hokan come forward to him where Fi , another member , would snipe him in the head . However , plans did not work that way , and Etain Tur - Mukan ended up killing Hokan by waiting until Hokan was fighting one of the commandos . Hokan deployed an EMP grenade to short out the commando ' s helmets . He came in to kill one of them , but was decapitated by Etain Tur - Mukan . Mission on Coruscant . He helped lead Omega Squad with the help of Kal Skirata in neutralizing terrorist activity on Coruscant . The mission involved " black ops " in which Skirata took Omega and Delta squads , Ordo ( ARC N - 11 ) , Walon Vau , and generals Etain Tur - Mukan and Bardan Jusik . A mole was discovered in the GAR logistics center . Niner ' s role was simply as part of the crew . He was part of the regularly scheduled patrol and was instrumental in the destruction of the CoruFresh landing pad where the terrorists were based . During the operation , the two squads had moments of cooperation as well as confrontation . Unlike his counterpart in Delta Squad , Boss , who liked being in charge , Niner liked to lead by " being " sure " . " Mission to Gaftikar . Niner , along with Omega Squad , shipped out to Gaftikar , a Separatist held planet , to assist local rebels , a lizard - humanoid species called Marit s . When Darman and Atin infiltrated a city on Gaftikar , Eyat , disguised as civilians they stumbled across the AWOL ARC trooper Sull . They took him back to the camp where Niner disagreed with N - 12 , A ' den , about what to do with the deserted ARC . Eventually Niner lost the argument and Sull was set free . When Niner led his squad to a HoloNet station in Eyat , Fi suffered a severe head injury that took him off the team . Order 66 and Beyond . During the Skirmish on Shinarcan Bridge Extension Niner broke his spine after falling off the bridge because of a Jedi Padawan . Darman Skirata refused to abandon him , even after being ordered to leave . After recovering from his injury , he noticed how different Darman had become since the death of Etain . He was also paranoid of the Galactic Empire bugging their helmets to eliminate traitors in the wake of Order 66 . When he got Darman away from the holocams and discussed what they planned to do next , Darman decided to remain as a commando , and didn ' t even acknowledge his son ' s name . When he and the other squads of the 501st Legion were brought together , he did not recognize RC - 1262 , nicknamed Scorch , until he was next to him . He and Darman were clumped together with IC - 4447 and Bry , of Galaar Squad , to form the newly - renamed Squad 40 . Scorch and RC - 1140 , nicknamed Fixer , hated the new stormtrooper armor , while RC - 1138 , nicknamed Boss , couldn ' t care less . They believed that the Jedi Yoda was dead , and confirmed that they never found RC - 1207 , also known as Sev . Their leader , Darth Vader , tasked the entire 501st with hunting Jedi and deserters down . Niner was shocked when he found that Alpha - 26 was on the list of deserters to be hunted down , as Maze was more dedicated to the Republic than any of them . Also on the list of people they were tasked with hunting down were Yayax Squad , Hyperion Squad , CC - 3388 / 0021 ( nicknamed Levet ) , RC - 5108 / 8843 ( nicknamed Corr ) , and RC - 3222 ( nicknamed Atin ) , who was with Omega Squad until the night of Order 66 . He was relieved to see that Fi was not on the list , proving that everyone in the Empire believed Fi was dead . When he saw Etain ' s face on the list of targets , he put his hand under Darman ' s arm to hold him up . Darman didn ' t react , because he was still hiding his grief . Niner and the rest of Squad 40 were first tasked with hunting down and capturing Jilam Kester , a member of the Antarian Rangers , alive , by their commanding officer , Sa Cuis . He had been charged with helping Jedi escape capture , and was last seen on Celen . When Niner asked Darman if he was okay with hunting him down , Darman replied that the Jedi had took everything from him and that he would hunt down every last one of them . Ennen and Darman almost came to blows over the fact that Ennen and Bry were trained by a Unidentified Corellian Cuy ' val Dar , and Ennen believed he was better than Mandalorians . During the Mission to Celen , Bry was killed by Jedi Master Iri Camas , who was squatting with Kester following Order 66 . Following Camas ' s death , Niner took a chip they found in the house back with them to Coruscant , hoping to have Jaller Obrim find what was on it since Camas had erased it ' s hard drive . Jaller discovered that what was on the chip was very important to Clan Skirata staying hidden , and officially told Niner that the chip was empty , handing it back to Niner discreetly to get it to Jaing who was able to recover all of the data ; he put an empty datachip into evidence and sent Niner and Darman on their way . A few days later , Niner ' s helmet was ' inspected ' by TK - 0 , a friend of Jaing ' s , who put a secure link in so Niner could talk to anyone of the family on Mandalore at his discretion . Niner , Darman , Ennen , and newcomer TK - 70558 ( nicknamed Rede ) , met up with their new commanding officer , Roly Melusar , who had taken over Sa Cuis ' s position after his death at the hands of Darth Vader . After Niner informed Darman of the link in his helmet , Darman finally allowed his emotions to surface after fearing the Jedi would take Kad away . After commending them for killing Camas and having Bry cremated , Roly vowed to hunt down and capture all of the Jedi . Niner asked for cooldown time from Roly , and received it . Jaing told him that Roly was from Dromund Kaas , a Sith world . Niner told Darman that they were leaving as soon as they got where the Nulls were instructing him to go ; he also told Darman that Etain ' s ashes were waiting for him to scatter them , and that Kad kept asking where his daddy was . When they were a stone ' s throw from extraction and returning home , Darman decided to stay behind and gather information against the Empire . Ordo decided to take Niner ' s armor and drag Dar to extraction , but before he could do so , thieves came to Nyreen Vollen ' s ship Cornucopia and had to be killed . Niner decided to remain behind to protect Darman , passed off the chip to Jaing , and had the Nulls flee , attracting Imperial attention . After successfully covering up the fact that the Nulls were on Coruscant , Roly had Darman and Niner report solely to him from that point on , and decided in time to deal with Palpatine and any other Imperial force - users who got in his way . During this time Darman also received a secure link in his helmet , but he din ' t use it for fear of not knowing what to say to his son . He took on the role of becoming Rede ' s mentor , who only had one year of flash training as he was a Centax - 2 clone . Ennen showed his anger at Bry being killed after surviving the Clone Wars and practically begged for a way to desert . Darman decided to tell him about Mandalore in time , making a mental note to ask Ordo how he should do it . Squad 40 were tasked with finding a Jedi believed to be in Coruscant ' s undercity , recently renamed to Imperial City . When they located the man Ennen was the one who killed him , in retaliation for Bry being killed . They were shocked to find the ' Jedi ' was nothing more than a petty thief who had acquired a lightsaber , most likely on the night of Order 66 . Returning to base , Ennen committed suicide in the refresher over the grief of killing a civilian and Bry ' s death . In the wake of Ennen ' s suicide , Niner and the others decided to remain as a three man squad for the time being , not wanting to train two Centax clones at once . The squad was sent to the Coth Fuuras space station to kill Jedi Knight Borik Yelgo ; on the way to complete the mission , Darman told Rede that they did like him , and apologized for shutting him out from time to time . After Rede killed Yelgo , they returned to Coruscant . Niner correctly predicted that Darman would lose control when he learned that the Jedi are on Mandalore being kept safe by Kal within proximity of his son , threatening to come after Jusik if the Jedi took his son away . Later , Darman convinced Roly to allow them to go to Mandalore , using it as both an excuse to desert and to find as many Jedi as possible to keep his son safe . Niner was shocked when Darman told him he intends to capture the Jedi he finds .