Trench

"I smell fear... and it smells good."

- Admiral Trench, during the Battle of Christophsis

Trench was a Harch Separatist Admiral during the Clone Wars. The Admiral was considered a formidable military legend and survived in many battles which he was presumed dead at. He also clashed with Admiral Wullf Yularen in one battle, which the Admiral succeed in. He also led the Separatist campaigns on Ringo Vinda and Anaxes. He ultimately met his end during the Battle for Anaxes at the hands of Anakin Skywalker.

Early Career
"If I remember my military history, wasn't he vaporized at the Battle of Malastare Narrows?"

- Anakin Skywalker to Wullf Yularen on Trench Before the Clone Wars, Trench made his mark on galactic military history as a commander for the Corporate Alliance. When the Alliance decided to blockade Malastare Trench was placed in command of the fleet the corporation provided and succeeded in defeating all the ships sent against him. Wullf Yularen who was one of the few survivors of the battle recounted that the Harch Admiral's leadership was devastating. It would only be through the intervention of a Jedi lead taskforce that the Corporate Alliance blockade was ended. The Jedi defeated Trench's forces by destroying the Admiral's flagship while Trench was believed to be onboard. However, the Harch naval genius in fact survived to reappear during the Separatist blockade over Christophsis.

Cat and Mouse
After the initial victory over the forces of Whorm Loathsom and the Retail Caucus, the Republic launched a relief effort for the people of Christophsis. The mission to help the Christophsians was led by Bail Organa, the Senator representing Alderaan. Unfortunately, the planet fell under attack from Admiral Trench and his forces. Trench's first priority was to cut off any supplies to the relief effort on the planet below, commanding his fleet from his very own war-painted Providence-class destroyer, the massive firepower of his cruiser allowed the Admiral to cripple any attempt by incoming supply ships to get to the surface. Such an attempt was made by Anakin Skywalker and his cruisers, the Jedi were met with suppressive fire from Trench's destroyer and were forced to retreat behind the moon of Christophsis. While the Jedi retreated and regrouped, Trench felt he had won the round he ordered his troops not to follow the enemy, but to recycle their shields and allow the cannons to recharge to full power. The Admiral, satisfied with the proceedings, sat back in his seat at the bridge and calmly awaited the return of the enemy ships. The Republic's counter-attack eventually came in the form of a Stealth ship, piloted by Anakin Skywalker himself and Admiral Yularen. Not knowing of the cloaked ship, Trench became impatient and ordered a number of Hyena-class bombers to attack the surface, particularly the command center of Bail Organa. The bombing was planned by Trench to draw out the hiding Republic "cowards", as he put it. Although the stealth ship was undetected by the Admiral, Trench suspected that there was something odd going on. His suspicions proved correct, when Anakin's ship presented itself and fired its torpedoes at Trench's cruiser. Unfortunately, the maneuver had little effect. Admiral Trench reacted quickly and raised his ship's thermal shields.

Angered by this act of foolishness, Trench responded by firing his own torpedoes at the stealth ship. Skywalker managed to evade the torpedoes by ordering flairs shot in four different directions. As a result of the successful trick, Anakin Skywalker saved himself and his crew for now. After the engagement, the stealth ship went into hiding again. Unsure where the targeted ship was, the furious Admiral fired a spread of lasers, to no avail. Skywalker managed to navigate the "wave" of laser fire. Seeing how the short skirmish played out, Trench was now sure that they were not dealing with near clone pilots but with a Jedi. After which he patched a transmission on the comlink channel so that he could present himself to his adversaries. Threatening the crew of the stealth ship and advising them to retreat while they still could. Trench ended the transmission with a warning that he would be their doom. Trench prepared himself for the Jedi's second offensive, as he knew they would. Eventually, the cloaked vessel revealed itself, but this time they had knowledge of Trench's tactics with ship cloaking devices. Trench tracked the magnetic signatures of ships so he could follow them and destroy them. The Stealth ship opened fire upon Trench's flagship, the attack itself was only a diversion and Anakin's ship again cloaked itself. Trench then locked on to the ship's magnetic signature and ordered his Tactical droid to fire a torpedo at the source of the signature on his command. He was forced to lower his shields to do so. His droid advised against the move, but in a moment of compulsive anger Trench ordered to fire and the torpedoes were launched.

This had been the moment Skywalker was waiting for: the stealth ship, with torpedoes on its tail, turned around and headed towards the bridge of Trench's command ship. Surprised by the bold attack, the Admiral ordered the shields to be raised back up. Alas, the shields weren't recharged to full power and the ship was left defenseless. Trench was caught off guard and now seeing the Republic ship speeding towards him, the Admiral didn't know what to do and how to react. Accepting his defeat, he closed his six eyes and awaited his demise. The Stealth ship flew right over and the torpedoes slammed straight into the bridge, destroying Trench's flagship, and bringing chaos to the blockade. At that crucial moment, one of the most successful Confederate fleet Admirals lost for the Separatist cause.

The Unknown
Following his defeat over Christophsis at the beginning of the war, Trench was commanding Separatist forces over Ringo Vinda against Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker, Tiplar and Tiplee who lead the 501st Legion and Doom's unit against him. At the heat of battle, one of the clone troopers in the 501st Legion turned on Tiplar whom Trench witnessed and observed. Following the confusion, the Republic was forced to fall back and retreat while Trench then informed Count Dooku of what he witnessed a clone in a trance. Dooku then ordered Trench to capture the clone and transport it to him, which Trench subsequently did.

The Bad Batch
At the end of the Clone Wars, Trench commanded Confederate forces during the Battle for Anaxes and had the upper hand. He used the Republic's own algorithm against them, which was being fed by the Techno Union's prisoner ARC Trooper Echo, who was presumed dead at the Battle of Lola Sayu.

When Captain Rex deduced that Trench had possession of his algorithm, a special clone squad called Clone Force 99 or "The Bad Batch" was deployed to investigate it. During the ride to the Confederate's Cyber Center, they were shot down and attacked by a battalion of droids. A tactical droid accompanied by commando droids had arrived on the site of the wreckage and contacted Trench via hologram where they spoke with Trench directly. A commando droid told him that the infiltration was irregular, with a squad of clone trooper using tactics never seen before. Trench was very interested and ordered them to sweep the area, locate the clones and inform him if the incursion escalated.

Following the clone squad's attack on an outpost near the Cyber Center, Trench was contacted again after they were tracked to the outpost. The tactical droid informed Trench that the clones had captured the outpost and deserted it, but could not calculate the tactical advantage of it. Trench deduced that their main target was the algorithm within the Cyber Center and immediately ordered the tactical droid to get him in contact with it. Trench ordered him to put all droids on high alert and informed him that an attack was coming. The transmission ended as the startled droid was shot by the clone squad, having already stormed the base.

After the droids managed to chase the clones out of the center, Trench was again contacted again via hologram. The tactical droid informed him that nothing from the computers was downloaded, but a connection was made with Skako Minor. Trench was surprised and confused.

A Distant Echo
"Pardon the intrusion, Minister Tambor, but I have distributing news." "You may proceed, Admiral." "An infiltration team of clones has traced the algorithm signal to Skako. I believe your operation there is in jeopardy."

- Trench to Tambor

Admiral Trench contacted Minister Wat Tambor about a squad of clones traced the algorithm to Skako Minor and the Republic will launch a mission to shut it down, which Tambor responded we would be ready for them.

Unfinished Business
"You're a Jedi. Your nobility is a weakness." "I don't have such weaknesses! Now let's try again."

- Trench's final words to Anakin Skywalker

After the Republic infiltrated the assembly plant, a Super Tactical Droid informed Trench that the assembly plant came under attack, with the Admiral saying that he will use their arrogance to his advantage. Later, unaware of the events on Skako Minor, Trench ordered the tactical droid to contact Skako Minor for Echo's algorithm. A member of the Bad Batch, Tech, masked Echo's transmission as coming from Skako Minor, fooling the Admiral. Posing as the algorithm, Echo advised the Admiral to mobilize all troops to the assembly plant, claiming that the Republic would send all their reinforcements there due to their faith in the Jedi. The Separatist plan was to smash all Republic forces with one strike. Admiral Trench deployed more reinforcements to the assembly plant.

Echo then broadcasted a pulse shutting down all of the Separatist droids. Trench was puzzled by the algorithm's failure. The tactical droid then informed him that the source of the pulse originated on his dreadnought. Realizing that intruders were aboard his ship, Trench dispatched battle droids to deal with them. Trench then turned to his backup contingency: total annihilation of the Republic forces.

Echo soon learned that Trench primed a bomb planted at the shipyard complex on Anaxes, large enough to destroy the planet. Echo was able to decipher all but the final sequence for the bomb disarming code, forcing Anakin to find and ambush Trench. Believing victory was imminent, Trench ordered a renewed assault on Anaxes. Before he could exit the bridge, however, he was cut off by Anakin, who dispatched his tactical droid and commando droids. He then demanded that Trench reveal the final number in the sequence to disarm the bomb, but the Admiral only taunted him for his Jedi restraint. In response, Skywalker severed his left set of arms and reiterated his demand. Trench complied and Anakin transmits the final number to Windu who was then able to disarm the bomb.

While Anakin was distracted, Trench attempted to use his staff to electrocute the Jedi. Anakin broke free and thrust his lightsaber into Trench's abdomen. As Trench died writhing on the floor, Anakin acquired the self-destruct detonator of the flagship and indifferently bid the admiral a final farewell as he departed. Anakin escaped with Clone Force 99, offering the self-destruct control to Wrecker, who used it to destroy Trench's flagship and much of his fleet.

Appearances

 * "Cat and Mouse"
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
 * "The Unknown"
 * "The Bad Batch"
 * "A Distant Echo" Appears on viewscreen
 * "On the Wings of Keeradaks"
 * "Unfinished Business"