- "Squad Four-Five-One, you have been selected for a special mission. We have numerous sharpshooters, but rather a dearth of camera crews. Therefore, we've handpicked the eight of you to be what we call our "Star Squad." You will be the on-screen faces of the invasion."
- ―Plutarch Heavensbee explaining the purpose of the squad[src]
Squad 451, also known as the "Star Squad," was formed to assassinate President Snow by traversing through the pod-ridden Capitol, and to film propos. The squad consisted of Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne, Finnick Odair, Jackson, Boggs, Homes, Leeg 1, Leeg 2, Mitchell, and later, Peeta Mellark,[1] who still had issues with his previous hijacking whilst the Squad was on its missions, ultimately leading to him killing a member of the squad.[2]
Squad 451
Squad members
The Squad consisted of 10 members. Most members did not make it out alive.
- Katniss Everdeen
- Gale Hawthorne
- Finnick Odair (deceased)
- Jackson (deceased)
- Boggs (deceased)
- Homes (deceased)
- Mitchell (deceased)
- Leeg 1 (deceased)
- Leeg 2 (deceased)
- Peeta Mellark (replacement)
Camera crew
Along with the ten soldiers, Squad 451 was accompanied by Katniss's camera crew, including:
- Cressida, film director
- Messalla (deceased), assistant director
- Pollux, cameraman
- Castor (deceased), cameraman
History
During the filming of a propo, Boggs stepped on a pod, blowing off his legs.[3] Mitchell tackled Peeta, and when Peeta threw him off, Mitchell triggered a second pod, getting caught in a net made of barbs and starting a wave of a tar-like substance. The team went into a nearby apartment, where Boggs transferred the Holo's voice recognition to Katniss before dying. This angered Jackson, who first demanded that Katniss transfer it to her.[2]
They moved through the Capitol and eventually found their way into the sewers and to the Transfer, where Pollux had worked as an Avox.[4] When they awoke from a night in the sewers, white lizard mutts, which Katniss says smelled like blood and roses (like Coriolanus Snow), chased them through the sewers. Messalla was killed by a pod which melted his skin like candle wax while Jackson and Leeg 1 were killed in the "Meat Grinder", a pod with dangerous, spinning blades. Finnick, Homes, and Castor were killed by the mutts. During Finnick's death, Katniss said the keyword "nightlock" thrice to the Holo, activating the self-destruct mode, before throwing the Holo into the sewers. This killed the mutts and ending Finnick's suffering.[5]
Cressida led the remaining five members into the house of her old friend Tigris, who owns a fur store. They hid in the basement, and while Pollux and Cressida mourned the crew's death, Gale and Peeta talked about which of the two of them Katniss would choose.[6] They left disguised as Capitol citizens, when a rush of Peacekeepers separated them all and captured Gale. He asked Katniss to shoot him, but she failed to hear the request in time.[7] The group never reunited, but Pollux and Cressida did survive the attack on President Snow's mansion. In a staged Capitol bombing, Prim, Katniss's sister, was killed, leaving Katniss distraught.[8]
