264

264 was a readapted R4 astromech droid working for the Imperial Press Corps of the Galactic Empire as a communications courier. The droid was taken prisoner by the crew of the Ghost so their own droid, Chopper, could pose as a courier. The rebels considered keeping him, but he was thrown out of the Ghost by Chopper.
==Biography==
After the destruction of the Imperial Communications Center on the Outer Rim planet Lothal, the Galactic Empire resorted to using droids to relay communication across the planet and into orbit. One such droid was 264, who was tasked with bringing messages from Lothal to a communications cruiser. The rebel crew of the Ghost, hoping to find out the location of their captured leader, Kanan Jarrus, decided to disguise their own droid, C1-10P—also known as Chopper—as a communications droid. They stole 264 from the Empire as the droid was being transported to the Imperial shuttle Lagos, and Chopper was made to look like 264.
Later, when Chopper was attempting to escape from the cruiser after having discovered Jarrus' location, the Ghost opened fire on the cruiser. The Ghost was hit as well, and a fire sparked inside of the ship. 264 helped put the fire out. The crew considered keeping the droid once the mission was over, but, while in the atmosphere, a jealous Chopper threw 264 out of the Ghost. The droid landed unharmed in a field on Lothal and found itself with the curious company of two Loth-cats.
A little time elapsed, until a pair of alien farmers found 264 on the prairie, still sitting where he landed, a Loth-cat curled up on his dome. The droid then had a brief chance at a new life, pulling vegetable carts at the alien's farm. However, the farmers ended up being ostensibly arrested for possession of Imperial property, and 264 was removed from Lothal. He was sent to a bleak Imperial Outpost on a cold, rocky, inhospitable world. There, 264 felt abused, taken for granted and forlorn, and he often dreamed of what his life could have been with the Spectres.
One day, the whole base went on alert when a Rebel prisoner was brought in. When the courier droid realized that the prisoner was none other than Sabine Wren, he perked up, and started to hope the rest of the Spectres would show up soon to rescue her. Realizing that their daring rescue could also be his ticket to freedom, 264 decided to help. He opened Wren's cell, and followed her to the hangar where Kanan Jarrus, Garazeb Orrelios, and Chopper were involved in a shootout with Imperials. The Rebels and the courier droid all boarded the Spectres' shuttle, the Phantom, huddling in the crew section. While Jarrus questioned the presence of a droid with Imperial markings, Orrelios recognized him from their earlier adventure. The conversation, however, was cut short when the Rebels realized their shuttle was caught in a tractor beam.
264 knew that he could deactivate the beam using a computer socket at the other side of the hangar, but that would make it impossible for him to get back to the Phantom on time for takeoff. A decision had to be made: stay with the Spectres, like he had always wanted, or leave them behind so he could save them. 264 ultimately chose the latter option, raced across the hangar and plugged into the manual override control. The courier droid beamed with pride as the Phantom pulled away from the hangar, Orrelios cracking him a smile in the distance. Almost immediately, the outpost's commander entered the premises with a few stormtroopers. Glowering at 264, the commander ordered his men to find out what he knew. Soon thereafter, 264 was thrown outside the outpost, put on a junk heap of other droids and equipment that were left there to freeze. Despite his predicament, the courier droid kept hoping that, now that his Rebel friends knew where he was, they would come back for him someday.
==Behind the scenes==
264 first appeared in "Rebel Resolve," the twelfth episode of the first season of Star Wars Rebels. In a Rebels Recon interview, Dave Filoni said that they discussed about 264's fate after he got thrown out of the Ghost. They decided that maybe his battery runs out, leaving him standing on the plains like a monument, although not specifically dead, but turned off.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars Rebels: Battle to the End
* 
*
==Sources==
*
*
* 
*
==Notes and references==
Category:Droids of the Galactic Empire
Category:Droids with he/him pronouns
Category:Droids with masculine programming
Category:Members of the Spectres
Category:R4 courier droids