Palpatine’s grand plan, including Order 66, was almost foiled by clone trooper Fives in Star Wars: The Clone Wars in an act that came close to saving the entire galaxy. Fives, also known as CT-5555, was a member of Domino Squad along with Echo, the latter of whom is now primarily known for his time spent with Clone Force 99 in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. First introduced in The Clone Wars season 1, episode 5 “Rookies”, Fives and Echo were some of the first named clones in animation Star Wars TV program.
Following their efforts at the Rishi Moon Outpost, which tragically saw the rest of their original squad shut down, Fives and Echo became members of Anakin Skywalker’s 501st Legion. The pair also became ARC soldiers after their contributions during the Battle of Kamino, although not long afterward, Echo is believed to have died in an explosion at the Separatist prison called the Citadel, making Fives the last survivor of his squad. Fives became close to many of his brothers, especially Captain Rex, but his best-known act was uncovering the clone inhibitor chip conspiracy.
How Fives discovered clone inhibitor chips
He investigated his friend’s strange behavior
It was Fives’ fierce loyalty to his brothers that led him to the investigation surrounding clone inhibitor chips. Clone trooper Tup, another member of the 501st whom Fives became close to, experienced a malfunction in his inhibitor chip that caused him to kill Jedi General Tiplar during a mission on Ringo Vinda. Fives, who was the first to reach Tup after landing the blaster’s fatal beam, remained dedicated to finding out what drove Tup to commit such a heinous act.especially since Tup didn’t remember doing it.
Although it was initially thought to be a virus that the Separatists created and infected Tup, Fives remained on Kamino with Tup long enough to suspect something more was going on. Fives observed the head scientist, Nala Se, requesting Tup’s resignation to properly study what was happening to his brain, and he teamed up with the medical android known as AZI to study Tup without killing him. AZI found a “tumor” in Tup’s brain that he extracted, and after unauthorized investigation with AZI, Fives discovered it was actually an organic chip.
With further unauthorized investigation, Fives and AZI were able to discover that Tup was not the only one with an organic chip implanted in his head. Instead, the entire Grand Army of the Republic possessed them, as they were implanted into the clones’ brains when they were still embryos. Fives had AZI look for his own chip, and after removing it, they compared it to Tup’s, proving that the latter was deteriorated and defective. Fives was then sent to Coruscant with the chips and Jedi General Shaak Ti to present the information to Chancellor Palpatine.
How Palpatine Made Sure Fives’ Discovery Was Never Revealed
The Chancellor established five points
Of course, this decision to send Fives and the chips to Palpatine on Coruscant is what led to Fives’s discoveries failing. Nala Se drugged Fives on the way to see the Chancellor, which caused him to act out of the norm, and Palpatine dismissed Shaak Ti from the room before pretending that Fives had become aggressive and attacked him.. With Fives being framed for the attempted murder of the Chancellor, he became a fugitive, but managed to get 501st medic Kix to help him arrange a meeting with Anakin and Captain Rex on Coruscant.
After trapping Anakin and Rex inside a ray shield, Fives attempted to reveal everything he had learned, but between his own desperation and the remains of the drugs Nala Se had injected into him, he had difficulty convincing them of this. The Coruscant Guard, led by Commander Fox, caught up with Fives there, and he was shot in the chest by the commander. Fives then died in Rex’s arms, and the truth about the inhibitor chips died with him.. Palpatine already had the Kaminoans working on more excuses to the Jedi about what had really happened.
The Clone Wars Season 7 gave Fives a legacy
His discoveries even saved clones (and Jedi)
Although Fives was unable to save the galaxy from Palpatine and Order 66, he was still given a legacy in The Clone Wars season 7 and beyond. It was revealed last season that Rex documented what Fives told him about the inhibitor chips and as his own chip was being activated during Order 66, Rex was able to tell Ahsoka Tano to “Find him… Fives.“ Ahsoka learned of the inhibitor chips from Rex’s report and, with the help of the astromechs on board, Venadorshe managed to remove Rex’s chip – thus saving them both.
Because of Fives, not only was Rex freed from the inhibitor chip, but so were other clones later on. Rex was able to inform the clones about what had been done to them and even help some of them remove their chips.including Clone Force 99. Although Fives never knew his brother had survived the Citadel, Echo’s chip was eventually removed because of his brother’s discovery, long after his death. Even though Fives didn’t save the entire galaxy The Clone Warshe saved some of his closest friends – and countless other brothers after them.