Phase 0 Darktrooper

Phase 0 armor

DC-17 hand blaster

**Phase 0 Darktroopers\*\*** were a highly experimental variant of Imperial Stormtrooper developed one year following the organization of the Galactic Empire as a means to enhance the surplus of rapidly aging Clone Troopers within the Imperial Army with cybernetic augmentations.

## **Role**

Created in an attempt to preserve the supply of rapidly aging Clone Troopers within Imperial ranks, the Phase 0 Darktrooper was nothing more than an extream experiment to try and create the perfect soldier. As a result of these experiments, members of the Phase 0 Darktrooper program would perform especially well in combat, being deployed within the ranks of various elite units such as the 501st Legion. However, numerous units of Darktrooper found themselves unable to coup with their cybernetic enhancements, which forced them to commit suicide during the heat of battle.

Though it is unknown how clones were chosen to be enhanced or how much of their physical selves were transformed, but in some recorded instances up to seventy percent of the clone's body was replaced with cybernetic technology very similar to that which constructed Darth Vader. After years of service to the Emperor, most surviving Darktroopers were resigned into new Imperial divisions such as the Elite darktrooper or were promoted to the rank of Commanders. Regardless, by the time of the Battle of Yavin many high-ranking Imperials saw the creation of the Phase 0 darktroopers as nothing more than a failed attempt to allow aging clones to continue their service to the Empire. This reaction to the Phase 0 eventually inspired officer Rohm Moc to commence the Darktrooper Project, from which new Darktrooper units would be produced as complete battle droids rather than cybernetic soldiers.

## **Deployment**

### **Galactic Empire**

#### **Naboo**

Following the establishment of the Galactic Empire, several diplomates of the Royal House of Naboo were sent back to their homeworld in various states of dismemberment. These aggressions soon festered within the members of Naboo's society, as the newly elected Queen Apalina soon decided to break off diplomatic ties with the Empire and begin producing their own private military force with the aid of Jedi survivors of Order 66. Soon, Darth Vader discovered the presence of these Jedi on the planet and dispatched the 501st Legion to execute both the Queen and her new army. During this ensuing operation, prototype units of Phase 0 dark trooper were established to aid the 501st in their conquest of the planet. Aiding their fellow clone stormtroopers, these dark troopers fought hard against the Queen and her Jedi protectors, eventually resulting in the destruction of Naboo's military, the deaths of around a dozen Jedi at the hands of the 501st, and the assassination of Queen Apalina. With the Queen's demise, her people surrounded control of Naboo back to the Emperor. This victory proved the abilities of not just the 501st, but also these new darktroopers units, which prompted several clones from other battalions to willingly join their ranks and become enhanced.

#### **Mustafar**

Although the Clone Wars had ended with the deactivation of the Separatist Droid Army and the rise of the Emperor's new order, there were several established holdouts created by surviving members of the Separatist Senate and other branches of their military. Though a great majority of these pockets of resistance were swiftly struck down by the Imperial war machine, one holdout, in particular, proved itself to be a greater threat to the Empire's reign than any of the others. This holdout, organized by a Geonosian engineer named Gizor Delso, was outfitted with a large military force or reactivated battle droids and numerous warships harvested from the ashes of the old Confederacy of Independent Systems. In an attempt to neutralize Delso's holdout before it could grow any farther, Darth Vader dispatched the 501st Legion to locate the holdout's base of operations. Eventually, the 501st managed to find Delso's forces orbiting the volcanic world of Mustafar, quickly engaging the Separatist forces and destroying their fleet above the atmosphere.

Once the 501st had broken through Delso's fleet, several hundred stormtroopers and experimental dark troopers were quickly sent down to Mustafar's surface, where they fought their way through countless units of mechanized soldiers, having to fight their way through both an old mining facility and a hidden droid factory. After defeating the Separatist forces and eliminating Delso, the 501st was ordered to evacuate Mustafar and return to their Star Destroyer above orbit. Once safe, the Destroyer began an orbital bombardment of the Separatist facility, ensuring that another droid uprising would never take form again.

#### **Kamino**

Six years after the creation of the Galactic Empire, more and more star systems began to develop feelings of resentment towards the Emperor and his Imperial war machine. One of these systems which hid its hatred of the Empire well was that of the Kaminoan race. After being forced into creating an army of new clone troopers to serve the Emperor, several members of the Kaminoan cloning facilities decided to begin defying the Empire's commands by being the production of a new secret army of clones, created for the sole purpose of liberating Kamino from the Empire. Upon its completion, this rogue clone division known as Anti-troopers would manage to take back control of the cloning facilities to their Kaminoan masters. Hoping to eradicate this rebellion before it got out of hand, the Emperor dispatched the 501st Legion to Kamino with orders to kill the Kaminoans that began this outbreak and commit genocide on any clones that would stand to protect them.

Being led by a young bounty hunter named Boba Fett, the 501st managed to quickly storm one of the primary cloning facilities and steal the primary DNA sample for the Clone Army before overwhelming the Anti-trooper defenses across the planet's systems. In the result of this chaos, the Kaminoan leadership prepared to evacuate aboard a few captured Low Altitude Assault Transports, but where utility destroyed during their escape attempt via rockets fired from ground-based Shock Troopers. With their masters destroyed, the remaining Anti-troopers became disorganized and soon fell to the might of the 501st and their darktroopers. Eventually, the 501st had successfully managed to eliminate the entire force of Anti-troopers, leaving no survivors, then leaving back to Coruscant so they could report their victory to the Emperor.

#### **The** **Empirical**

Around this time, several potential members of the Stormtrooper Corps were brought aboard the Imperial mobile research facility known as the ISS Empirical to be modified into new units of Phase 0 dark trooper. Several of these new cyborgs would proceed to be stationed aboard the Empirical to better reinforce the facility and to allow them time to coup with their enhanced bodies. By 2 BBY, any Phase 0 dark trooper units that remained inactive deployment aboard the Empirical were destroyed when Darth Vader's former apprentice, Starkiller, destroyed the research facility in an attempt to hide his existence from the galaxy.

#### **The First Death Star**

Upon its completion, the Death Star was soon recognized as the most powerful weapon in the Emperor's arsenal. As a massive planet-destroying superweapon, the Death Star required a great need of security and maintenance, of which the Imperial Army was more than able to supply. Of these soldiers, a majority of which were members of the Phase 0 dark trooper project, who patrolled the countless hallways of the Death Star alongside fellow stormtroopers and clones of the 501st. However, while the security of the battle station would never be challenged for another few years, a small prison riot did break out of control after a group of nine high-value prisoners, one of which being a Jedi Knight, managed to escape from cell block 2180.

After a short series of skirmishes across the Death Star began to spread the rebelling forces thin, a small group of soldiers, led by the rogue Jedi, attempted to take control of the battle station's primary super laser and damage it. This attack, however, was halted by the 501st Legion, which forced the prisoners to attempt a hasty retreat of the station, intent on escaping aboard a Sentinel-class shuttle within one of the Death Star's hangar bays. This attempt was also denied by the 501st and their dark troopers, who not only destroyed the shuttle but also killed the Jedi. With the head of the riot eliminated, the surviving prisoners eventually gave into the Imperial power and surrendered.

#### **Polis Massa**

By 0 BBY, several more star systems began to follow the example of others that dared to defy the will of the Emperor, such as the Kaminoans. This spread to disloyalty within Imperial space soon lead to the organization of several local insurrectionist movements into a single organized rebellion against the Empire. This Alliance to Restore the Republic first began its planned assaults against the Imperial Army after a deceive victory allowed rebel spies to steal the schematics to the first Death Star. Following a series of brash campaigns against rebel forces, the 501st Legion managed to track down a small band rebels to an abandoned medical facility on Polis Massa, where they had been ordered to formulate a decisive raid on the rebel forces. However, despite the 501st's skilled training and surplus of soldiers, the rebels managed to set up a successful counterattack against the Imperial forces, though this defense did not last for long as the 501st were able to eventually break through the rebel defenses. Although they would discover that the Death Star plans had been moved to another location, the 501st had managed to destroy the entire rebel force on the Polis Masa.

#### **Tatooine**

With information recovered from the rebels on Polis Masa, Darth Vader was able to conclude that the stolen Death Star plans were being taken to Alliance command aboard Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan's personal cruiser, the Tantive IV. After managing to disable the Tantive IV in combat above Tatooine, Vader and the 501st Legion were quickly deployed to board the Alderaanian cruiser and capture its crew. Following the short-lived battle against the onboard security, the 501st had successfully managed to take complete control over the Tantive IV and arrest Princess Leia. However, the rebels had managed to hide the Death Star plans aboard a single escape pod that had been jettisoned down to the planet below. Desperate to retrieve the stolen plans, Vader ordered that any available Imperial forces be dispatched to Tatooine to recover the plans. Of these forces, some Phase 0 Darktroopers were sent to the planet as well.

Once on Tatooine, a division of Sandtroopers had discovered that a pair of droids allied with the rebellion had recovered the Death Star plans. With this information, every Imperial soldier dispatched to Tatooine were ordered to search for any rebel presence on the planet in an attempt to better locate these droids. During this search, a small pocket of rebels was located hiding out in the Dune Sea alongside a tribe of native Tusken Raiders. Wanting to eliminate both the rebels and the animalistic Tuskens, Darth Vader ordered a division of stormtroopers to be dispatched to this location. This division was accompanied by a small platoon of Phase 0 darktroopers which managed to quickly dispose of both rebels and tuskens with ease.

Following this battle, another separate group of Phase 0s was deployed to the town of Mos Eisley, where they partook in another skirmish between rebel and Imperial forces. The skirmish began just after the missing rebel droids that Darth Vader wanted captured managed to escape with the aid of a pair of smugglers and an exiled Jedi Master. Once the rebel forces in Mos Eisley had been dealt with, the entire Imperial division was pulled out and returned to the Death Star.

#### **Rhen Var**

On the other side of the galaxy, a small detachment of Phase 0 darktroopers was deployed to assist an Imperial garrison in retaliating against a rebel task force that had recently managed to take over an Imperial listening post located on the planet. Although the Empire was able to secure a position on the planet, the rebel position proved to be well defended, which forced the garrison to destroy the listening post in order to completely destroy the rebel forces on Rhen Var.

#### **Yavin IV**

In 0 BBY, after Princess Leia Organa had been rescued by a gang of individuals that were allied with the rebellion, Darth Vader was able to track down the very location of the primary Alliance command on the jungle coated world of Yavin IV. Seeing an opportunity to quickly destroy the heart of the rebellion, Grand Moff Whilhuff Tarkin quickly sent the Death Star to the Yavin system in an attempt to use the Emperor's superweapon to quickly destroy the entire rebel command center. However, the rebels did manage to retaliate by sending a force of T-65 X-wing starfighters and Y-wing bombers to repel incoming TIE Fighters and, after using the stolen Death Star schematics to locate a weakness in the battle station, managed to destroy the entire planet-killer, along with every Imperial soldier aboard.

Needless to say, any surviving Imperial that learned of this massive loss of good soldiers were quick to retaliate against the rebellion to incite revenge. This was most obvious in the case of the 501st Legion, who had lost more than half of their clone brother aboard the Death Star when it was destroyed, which was more than enough to motivate the surviving clones to aid in launching a full-on assault on Yavin IV. After managing to regroup with a small Imperial fleet, the 501st began their retaliatory strike against the rebellion, managing to shoot down over a hundred rebel starfighters while breaking through their orbital defenses.

Upon touching down on the surface of Yavin IV, the 501st quickly dispatched as many of their available forces to march on the rebel command center. In this chaotic revenge-fulled invasion, several Phase 0 darktroopers managed to completely overwhelm local rebel fortifications, utilizing their advanced technology and desire to avenge their fallen brothers to strengthen their forces. Soon, the Empire had managed to seize complete control over Yavin IV, though a majority of Alliance command did manage to escape. With the now abandoned rebel base at their command, the Empire quickly converted the ancient temple into a new Imperial listening post to try and spy on the now amassing rebel forces.

#### **Hoth**

In 3 ABY, after a single Viper-class probe droid had located the presence of a rebel base on the planet, Darth Vader dispatched the forces of the 501st Legion and their division of Phase 0 darktroopers into battle on Hoth. After managing to land on the planet's surface, the 501st quickly went to work eliminating the rebel's infantry defenses whilst General Maximillian Veers lead a group of All Terrain Armored Transports toward the primary rebel shield generator and destroy it. Once this was accomplished, the 501st were quickly supplied with reinforcements from the Imperial blockade in orbit, allowing them to storm the rebel base and catch their enemies off guard. In this mass battle, the 501st managed to locate a single rebel GR-75 transport that had yet to evacuate, which they quickly targeted using an orbital strike beacon. With the beacon attached, one of the ISDs above atmosphere began a series or orbital bombardments until both the transport and the rebel soldiers that fought to protect it were all destroyed. As the remaining rebels once again fled, the surviving men of the 501st Legion gathered around a burning bunker and celebrated their victory against the rebellion.

#### **Endor**

The last time that Phase 0 darktroopers would be seen under the control of Emperor Palpatine's Galactic Empire was during the Battle of Endor, in which a small group of these clone cyborgs was seen fighting against both the rebel forces and native Ewoks of Bright Tree Village. Following the destruction of the Death Star II with the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader along with it, any surviving Phase 0 units were either killed by the rebels or evacuated with the surviving Imperial forces.

### **X1's faction**

#### **Vjun**

Although it would seem that any surviving units of Phase 0 darktrooper would be unable to last beyond the Battle of Endor, several Phase 0s found their way into the service of the force-sensitive clone officer, X1 and became integrated into his private clone army. A portion of these darktroopers was sent to protect a hidden Sith castle on the planet Vjun from rebel forces. Eventually, a small strike team of soldiers from the recently formed New Republic arrived on Vjun, led by Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and the clone trooper X2. Despite their military defenses set up within the Bast Castle, the pair of Republic soldiers were able to eliminate all Imperial forces.

#### **Mustafar**

Following their defeat on Vjun, X1 prepared to rally his remaining forces to the volcanic planet of Mustafar in an attempt to forge a new Galactic Empire. On Mustafar, X1 managed to re-activate a small droid factory and produce a small army of battle droids to accompany his new Imperial army of clones, stormtroopers, Wookiees, and darktroopers. Whilsit building up this massive force of soldiers, X1's clone brother, X2 managed to locate this factory and with the aid of Luke Skywalker managed to kill X1 and destroy all of his forces. This would be the last time that any Phase 0 units would be seen in active service.

## **Equipment**

During their deployment, members of the Phase 0 darktrooper prorgam were equipped with a range of different types of weaponry, some of which being considered experemental in the eyes of standard stormtrooper units. Of these, most Phase 0 darktrooper were seen utilizing E-11e blaster canons or DC-17 sidearm blasters.

\*\* Phase Zero Darktroopers are canon only to Battlefront (I.E. before the canonical restructuring), in all other cases, they are called Jumptroopers.