Skifter (clone trooper)

Born on the aquatic planet of Kamino as a clone of the bounty hunter Jango Fett, CT-1155 was trained from birth to become a pilot for the Grand Army of the Republic. While inside of his cloning tank, CT-1155 went through thousands of simulations and learned to fly and operate a wide array of ships and vehicles, including the All Terrain Tactical Enforcer which he had a particular disdain for. CT-1155 eventually adopted the name Skifter, which was also a means of cheating at the sabacc card game.

In 22 BBY, following the capture of Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padawan Anakin Skywalker, and Senator Padmé Amidala, an army of 190,000 clone troopers were dispatched to the rocky world of Geonosis to help stop the Separatist Alliance's efforts on the planet. Following this massive deployment of clone forces, Skifter was sent to Geonosis aboard an Acclamator-class assault ship, where he was assigned to pilot an LAAT/i gunship alongside another pilot by the name of Ronto.

Upon entering the atmosphere of Geonosis, Skifter began his transport run and broke off from his Acclamator, heading towards the drop zone located past the Im'g'twe Hills. His ship; however, instantly came under fire as a group of Geonosian starfighters began their assault. Making his way through the Im'g'twe Hills, Skifter's copilot managed to take out a couple of fighters, which allowed the LAAT/i to safely land with only slight damage to its back quarter. While he began unloading a platoon of clone troopers, Skifter could feel his stomach jumping, as he felt like every missile, torpedo and turbolaser in the system was aimed at him. Once he got the all clear, Skifter headed back to his Acclamator to load up more troops onto his gunship. Skifter would keep unloading platoons of clone troopers all day, to a point where he couldn't remember how many troops he had dropped off.

Once Skifter had returned to his Acclamator, he had trouble getting his armor off, as his back, legs and rear were killing him from his constant transport runs. As soon as he laid down in his bunks, Skifter immediately fell asleep, noting that it felt like being hit with a stun blast. Waking up the next morning to the sound of the ship's hyperdrive, Skifter realized that the battle on Geonosis was only the beginning to a much larger war.

As a clone of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett, Skifter stood at a height of 1.83 meters. Being a clone pilot during the phase 1 era of the Clone Wars, Skifter wore specialized clone trooper armor outfitted with a special box, located on the chest plate, that fed oxygen directly into his helmet. Skifter's armor, like most other clone pilots during the First Battle of Geonosis, featured yellow markings along with two red Galactic Republic symbols located atop his helmet. During his time in the cloning tanks of Kamino, which he referred to as "Big Stormy", Skifter showed disdain towards the All Terrain Tactical Enforcer as he disliked the walker's lack of maneuverability.

Originally created by Jason Fry for The Essential Guide to Warfare, Skifter was supposed to appear in the short story A Soldier's Story: I was a Gunship Pilot. Although, due to the story's similarities with Clone Trooper Falls in a Hole…, and a lack of space in the book for it, Skifter was cut from The Essential Guide to Warfare alongside his short-story. Two years later, on May 6th 2014, Jason Fry and Erich Schoeneweiss published a twelve-part StarWars.com blog series named Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut that brought back many of the cut stories from the original book. In the eight part of the blog, entitled Tales of the Clone Wars, Skifter's story was brought back with commentary from both Jason Fry and Erich Schoeneweiss.

• The Essential Guide to Warfare