BL-1707

CT-1707, also known as BL-1707 or Able, was a clone trooper during the Clone Wars who later joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War.

Biography
In 21 BBY, Able was serving in the Republic forces under the command of Jedi General Shaak Ti when a squadron of droid fighters shot down his LAAT/i gunship over an uncharted planet. The crash and the subsequent fight with infantry battle droids killed most of his unit, while the perils of the forest and time killed the rest. Able, however, adapted and survived.

Seven months after the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, Able witnessed an Imperial strike force attack the Rebel's Red Squadron and an Alliance Intelligence shuttle, who were trying to establish a listening post on the planet. Able, assuming the stormtroopers were clone troopers wearing a new form of armor, rushed to the ruins of the gunship, donned his old and battered Phase I clone trooper armor, grabbed his DC-15A blaster rifle, and reported to the Imperial officer in charge as "Able One-Seven-Oh-Seven". Confused, the officer believed it to be a Rebel trick and ordered his stormtroopers to open fire, but Able escaped into the woods before they could draw a bead.



While Wedge Antilles and Zev Senesca had managed to take off and were engaging the TIE fighters, Luke Skywalker and Commander Narra, cut off from their fighters, attempted to escape the stormtroopers pursuing them. Hiding in the crater of a crashed TIE Fighter, Skywalker and Narra were confronted by Able, who demanded information. Narra, a veteran of the Clone Wars, recognized Able's armor and asked him how long he had been on the planet. Able recalled to them the tale of his crash and presumed the pair to be Separatists if the white-armored soldiers were chasing them. Narra explained that they were not Separatists, that they were being chased by stormtroopers, and told the story of the fall of the Jedi Order and the transformation of the Republic to Palpatine's Empire. Able, overwhelmed, questioned who led their military forces if the Jedi were gone. Realizing that Able would be able to aid them in securing the Intelligence team, Narra told Skywalker to display his lightsaber, introducing himself as a Jedi Knight. Skywalker told Able that he had trained under "Ben Kenobi", who he would know as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Narra, to top off the illusion, said that "General Skywalker" was one of their most important leaders. Convinced, Able removed his helmet and said that if the Jedi had taken up arms against the Empire, he would serve the Jedi "General".

Able, Narra, and Skywalker disguised themselves as stormtroopers, regathered the Rebel intelligence crew who had scattered into the jungle, and infiltrated the Imperial holding area. Tricked into believing that they had captured the Rebels, the officer was about to report his success to his superior officer, but then he realized the deception (and was immediately shot by Able). A firefight broke out, and while the Intelligence team took off in the shuttle with Narra's and Skywalker's X-wings on escort, Able provided ground cover and disabled the Imperial's Sentinel-class landing craft with a thermal detonator. Dazed by the blast, Able was surrounded by stormtroopers. Skywalker, unwilling to leave Able behind, returned to the planet's surface, blasted the Imperial soldiers and swept up Able with his fighter's front landing skid.

Able was brought to Home One, where Lieutenant Camax offered him a position in Alliance Intelligence. The former clone trooper agreed, and accepted the apologies of Narra and Skywalker for glorifying Luke's role to entice his participation.

Service in the Alliance


His first recorded mission was joining Luke Skywalker and a group of Rebels infiltrating an Imperial prison on Kalist VI, disguised as stormtroopers and officers, to bail out a member of the Alliance named Jorin Sol. At that time, he had still not come off the habit of calling Luke "General", which made him the target of friendly mocking among his teammates.

When Luke and companions extended the plan to freeing the slaves that were held on the base, Able was the only one to express criticism about it&mdash;with good reason; an escape of the Rebel unit would be much more difficult with several hundreds or thousands of slaves in tow. The mission succeeded nonetheless.

Later on, in the Battle of Per Lupelo, he helped to capture four Imperial transports carrying supplies the Alliance desperately needed.

Bannistar Station
After Jorin Sol's Imperial conditioning led to an attack on the Rebel fleet, Able found himself onboard Rebel One when a hyperdrive malfunction landed the ship at Bannistar Station. The Rebels decided to risk everything on this one-time chance to destroy the Station, with Tungo Li devising the plan to blow it up. The chances of survival were slim to none. Li sacrificed himself and a skeleton crew to detonate Rebel One, destroying several TIE fighters and giving an infiltration team cover. While Basso's team would hit the communications array and look for a way to escape and Luke and Deena Shan would disable the coolant and fire-retardant systems, Able would go with Leia Organa to destroy the fuel dump itself. The Rebels' approach had been detected by the Imperials, however, and Leia's group, including Able and another Rebel, discovered the fuel tanks to be empty shortly before being captured by stormtroopers. The captured Rebels were taken to Bannistar Station's control room, where Able had the chance to bide his time and get out of his bindings while Leia spoke with the base's commander D'Vox. When Deena Shan was able to cause catastrophic damage to the station, Able used the distraction to attack, incapacitating the guarding stormtroopers and putting D'Vox at the Rebels' mercy. While he favored executing D'Vox, especially after the base commander tried to kill them, Leia rejected the idea. Able escaped with the surviving Rebels and later helped Luke recover Deena with their stolen shuttle.

Vector
Able was later part of a mission led by Luke Skywalker to investigate a secret Imperial weapon located on an abandoned moon. Unknown to the Rebels, the mission was a trap set up by Darth Vader using captured spy Wyl Tarson to feed them the misleading information. Finding nothing but crashed and abandoned Imperial ships, Able was one of the Rebels to investigate the surrounding area. As a result, he was the first to learn the truth of the Imperial "weapon" when he encountered and was overwhelmed by Celeste Morne's army of rakghouls. However, against all odds he survived and proceeded to attack Celeste, who subsequently mutated him into a rakghoul. As a mindless monster he became part of swarm of Morne's servants.

Behind the scenes
Able's origin story bears similarity to that of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese second lieutenant who fought World War II for 29 years after the conflict ended.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Empire: "General" Skywalker
 * Star Wars Empire 37: The Wrong Side of the War, Part 2
 * Star Wars Empire 38: The Wrong Side of the War, Part 3
 * Star Wars Empire 39: The Wrong Side of the War, Part 4
 * Star Wars Empire 40: The Wrong Side of the War, Part 5
 * Star Wars Rebellion 0: Crossroads
 * Star Wars Rebellion 2: My Brother, My Enemy, Part 2
 * Star Wars Rebellion: Small Victories
 * Star Wars Rebellion: Vector

Notes and references
CT-1707 A-1707