Able

BL-1707, also known as CT-1707, Able-1707, or unit A-1707, was one of the many clones of the bounty hunter Jango Fett who were created on the planet Kamino to serve in the Grand Army of the Republic as clone troopers. During the Clone Wars, he served under Jedi General Shaak Ti. In 21 BBY, a LAAT/i gunship that carried Able and a number of other clone troopers was attacked by Confederate droid fighters over Lubang Minor. Before the clone troopers could even react, the gunship was shot down and crashed on the planet. Most of Able-1707's unit was killed, while the remaining troopers eliminated the droids, but at a heavy price. Ultimately, Able-1707 was left as the only survivor of the crash, and the clone trooper buried his fallen comrades in graves under piles of rock.

Stranded on the uninhabited planet—Lubang Minor—without any contact to the outside world, Able-1707 adapted and survived for more than twenty years. In the meantime, many major events occurred. The Clone Wars came to an end in 19 BBY, the Galactic Republic that Able-1707 had served was transformed into the Galactic Empire, and the Jedi Order was nearly exterminated. In 2 BBY, the Alliance to Restore the Republic was formed, and the Galactic Civil War began.

Approximately seven months after a major Rebel victory at the Battle of Yavin, Able-1707 witnessed from the jungle an Imperial strike force attack the Rebel Red Squadron and an Alliance Intelligence shuttle, caught in the midst of the establishment of a listening post on the planet. Assuming that the Imperial stormtroopers were clone troopers in a new form of armor, Able-1707 hurried to the ruins of his gunship, shed a piece of cloth that he had been wearing over his old and battered Phase I clone trooper armor, and donned his helmet. With his DC-15A blaster rifle, Able-1707 rushed back to the Imperial position 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, and Able-1707 was forced to escape into the jungle. He eventually reached a crater left by a recently crashed Imperial TIE fighter, where he found two Red Squadron pilots Luke Skywalker and Commander Arhul Narra, who were hiding there. Still unaware of what was going on, Able-1707 took the two at blaster point and demanded to know who they were, while Narra simultaneously posed the same question to him.

A veteran of the Clone Wars, Narra recognized Able-1707's armor and wondered how long he had been on the planet. The trooper recalled to them the tale of his crash and, remembering that the white-armored soldiers had chased the two men, presumed the pair to be members of the Confederacy. He learned, however, that they were not Confederates, and the soldiers who had chased them were stormtroopers, soldiers who served the Empire as successors to clone troopers. From Narra, Able learned from of the events of the past twenty years, and was overwhelmed by the news of the destruction of the Jedi, whom he remembered as generals in the Clone Wars. On Narra's advice, Skywalker displayed his lightsaber and introduced himself as a Jedi Knight who had trained under "Ben Kenobi," who had been known during the Clone Wars as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Hoping to secure Able-1707's loyalty, Narra lied that "General" Skywalker was one of the Rebel Alliance's most important leaders. Upon hearing this, Able-1707 declared that if the Jedi had taken up arms against the Empire, he would serve Skywalker.

After the survivors of the Intelligence team were located, Able-1707, Skywalker, and Narra donned stormtrooper armor that had been salvaged from dead stormtroopers lying nearby. Able-1707, Skywalker, and Narra escorted the Intelligence team to the Rebel landing site, which had been overtaken by the Imperials. Able-1707 informed the Imperial commander that the Rebels had planned a counterattack and that they had been caught by surprise. The officer was initially fooled by the Rebels' disguise, but then he became suspicious after hearing Able-1707's clone-instinctive clipped affirmative response to his orders. Ordering Able-1707 to remove his helmet, the officer demanded to know whom the trooper's last commanding officer had been. Replying that it had been General Shaak Ti, Able-1707 removed his helmet and killed the officer with his blaster.

Skywalker, Narra, and the Intelligence team also drew their hidden weapons, and a firefight ensued. While the Intelligence team boarded the Rebel shuttle, Narra and Skywalker rushed to their X-wing starfighters to provide escort. However, the Rebels found themselves pinned down by heavy fire from an Imperial Sentinel-class landing craft. Able-1707 gave orders for the Intelligence team to start up the shuttle's engines, while he charged the Imperial craft, with no regard for the barrage of blaster shots that was being fired at him. He quickly dispatched the stormtroopers that stood near the craft's landing ramp, and threw a thermal detonator inside the Imperial shuttle, destroying it. Able-1707 was thrown back by the explosive shockwave, and upon regaining balance, he witnessed the Rebel forces in retreat. He was then surrounded by a large number of stormtroopers with no way to escape. However, Skywalker, unwilling to leave the trooper behind, returned to the planet's surface, blasted the Imperial soldiers, and swept up Able-1707 with his fighter's front landing skid. Able-1707 was later transferred aboard the Rebel transport.

The Rebel forces successfully returned to the Rebel fleet, and Able-1707 was brought to the Rebel flagship Home One, where he finally had the chance to cut his hair and shave after many years, though he soon learned that he had been deceived by Narra and Skywalker. Aboard Home One, Lieutenant Camax offered Able-1707 a position in Alliance Intelligence. The former clone trooper agreed and accepted the apologies of Narra and Skywalker for glorifying the latter's role to entice his participation, satisfied that even though Skywalker was not a general, he was still a Jedi. The trooper entered service with the Alliance Intelligence, adopting the more personalized name of "Able." Although he was now aware of Skywalker's ruse, he had yet to break the habit of addressing Skywalker as "General," which made him the target of friendly mockery amongst his teammates. The reports of Able's reemergence also reached Imperial agents, and the reappearance of such long-lived Fett clones as Able became a growing concern for the Empire.

One month later, Able joined Skywalker and a group of Rebels during the infiltration of an Imperial prison on the planet Kalist VI in hopes of bailing out an Alliance mathematician named Jorin Sol, who had been captured during a recent battle on the planet Jabiim, and who knew the coordinates of the Rebel fleet and its hyperspace protocols. The Alliance's other objective was to secure vital fuel supplies from the facility. Going undercover, the Rebel team led by Captain Harran and Skywalker hijacked an Imperial fuel tanker, Nuna's Twins, and, as part of their cover story, emerged at Kalist VI under fire from Red Squadron. Red Squadron allowed themselves to be driven away, and Nuna's Twins landed on Kalist VI, where its crew was confined to the ship by the prison's commanding officer, General Noils, despite protests from Harran and Skywalker, who acted as the fictitious Lieutenant "Jundland." Noils posted a detachment of stormtroopers to guard the ship, but Harran signaled for Able and the rest of Rebel troops led by Sergeant Basso—who were themselves disguised as stormtroopers—to deal with them. Able and the others killed the stormtroopers and dragged their bodies inside the tanker in order to assume their positions.

A meeting was called inside Nuna's Twins, in which Harran explained to everyone their responsibilities during the mission. Most of the Rebels had to remain near the tanker in order to maintain the illusion of it being guarded, while Harran, Skywalker, and Lieutenant Deena Shan would continue to pose as Imperial officers. In the meantime, the Duros agent Mouse would go for Sol, and Skywalker's astromech droid R2-D2 would drain fuel from the facility and pump it in the tanker. Able's and Basso's task was to plant explosive charges at the facility so that the Rebel team could detonate them as a distraction during their escape. While they carried the charges through a factory located inside the base complex, Basso noticed a large number of Jabiimi slaves working there and decided that the Rebels needed to rescue them as well. Able did not understand why they should endanger the mission in order to rescue some slaves, but he complied with Basso's decision to warn Harran after they had planted the charges, and the two did exactly that.

Later, during a meeting on Nuna's Twins, Harran, Able, and Basso informed Skywalker of the new development. They realized that rescuing the thousands of slaves being held in the facility would require a massive airlift and a distraction larger than what their team could provide. Able still did not understand why they should go to such great lengths to rescue the slaves, but when Basso told him that he would not leave the people behind, as he still remembered how the Empire had slaughtered his own people on his homeworld of Ralltiir, the former clone trooper changed his mind. The Rebels then decided to hijack the Acclamator-class assault ship that had transported the slaves to the planet, with the intention of using it in the evacuation of the slaves. Able and the Rebels needed to time their efforts perfectly, however, in order to be ready for takeoff when Red Squadron arrived to cover their extraction according to the plan.

With less than eleven hours left until Red Squadron's arrival, Mouse moved out to set the rest of the charges and rescue Sol. However, R2-D2 received information that Sol was already being escorted to Landing Pad 7-B for transportation to the galactic capital of Coruscant, where he was to be interrogated by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader himself. Harran ordered Able and the rest of the ersatz stormtroopers to intercept Sol, whose rescue was their main priority, while Skywalker would rescue the slaves. As Mouse detonated the explosives—sacrificing his life in the process and seething panic throughout the base—Basso, Able, and the Rebel team found Sol under escort near the landing pad. They killed the Imperial troops and tried to return to Nuna's Twins, but a blast door blocked the way. Basso then decided to meet with Skywalker, who had rescued the slaves and was overseeing their escape from the factory to the Imperial transport.

Upon reaching the transport, Able and his group found Skywalker with an Imperial officer, his childhood friend Janek Sunber, whom Skywalker had met during the mission. Although his cover was blown, Skywalker was able to convince Sunber to let the slaves go. When Sunber saw Sol, however, he accused Skywalker of lying to him only to rescue the mathematician. Sunber tried to shoot Skywalker, but the latter deflected his shot with his lightsaber, wounding the officer. Able and his team then boarded the transport Skywalker—as the Rebels had dubbed the stolen starship—and the ship moved in to escape from the planet, followed by Nuna's Twins. At that time, Red Squadron, led by Rebel pilot Wedge Antilles, arrived along with a number of Y-wings and attacked the Imperial base, creating a distraction that allowed all of the Rebel forces to successfully escape from Kalist VI. Unbeknownst to the Rebels, Sol had been brainwashed by the Empire and was allowed to be taken away in order to help the Empire track down the Alliance fleet.

Nine months after the Battle of Yavin, while Sol was still recovering in a bacta tank after his rescue, the Alliance received intelligence from the spy Wyl Tarson about an Imperial cargo convoy that would be passing close to the planet Per Lupelo. Hoping to secure some much-needed supplies, the Alliance launched a raid on the convoy. After Rebel starfighters under the command of Skywalker and Antilles destroyed the convoy's fighter escort, a Rebel strike team led by Able and Basso used a YM-2800 limpet ship to dock with the lead transport. Able and the Rebels assaulted the ship's bridge, securing the ship and capturing the surviving crew members. The remaining three transports were captured as well, and the vital supplies were obtained for the Alliance. Soon after the raid, Jorin Sol's Imperial conditioning eventually led to a devastating attack on the Rebel fleet, during which many ships were lost, and those remaining had to jump blindly into hyperspace and scatter throughout the galaxy. Able found himself aboard the Providence-class carrier/destroyer Rebel One, as it was randomly jumping from one location to another in order to evade pursuit.

Eventually, a hyperdrive malfunction brought the ship to Bannistar Station, one of the most important Imperial refueling stations, which the Alliance had been meaning to destroy for months. Rebel One was not initially detected by the fleet surrounding Bannistar Station, and the Rebel ship blended with the rest of the traffic. Realizing that they would not have another such chance, the crew of Rebel One decided to destroy the station, fully understanding that it might become a suicide mission due to a complete lack of support from the Alliance. All civilian personnel were evacuated from the ship, while Able and a small team led by Princess Leia Organa boarded a limpet ship in order to execute a stealth attack on the station. Only a skeleton crew commanded by the Alliance tactician Tungo Li remained aboard Rebel One, bringing it close to the Imperial fleet and self-destructing it, an act that created an opening for Able and the Rebel forces to eject from the limpet ship and use jetpacks to reach the station.

The team split up: Skywalker and Shan were to take out the station's cooling and fire-retardant systems, while Basso and his men would destroy the communications array and then attempt to capture a ship that the Rebels could use in their escape. Able, meanwhile, was to accompany Organa and damage one of the fuel tanks, hoping to start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire station. Able, Organa, and another Rebel used straps to scale the outer hull of one of the tanks, setting detonators along the way. However, they soon discovered that the tank was empty, so its destruction would not be as damaging as they had hoped. The team then attempted to retrieve the detonators and move to another tank. At that moment, they were attacked by stormtroopers, who threatened to cut their straps and let the Rebels fall to their deaths if they did not give up. With no other choice, Able and his companions surrendered and were taken to the Imperial control room, where they were tied to chairs. Skywalker and all of his men except Shan had also been captured and were kept in the same room, while Basso's team was believed by the Imperials to have been eliminated; in fact, Basso had survived and had stolen an Imperial shuttle. Inside the control room, Able and the captured Rebels were held by the station's commander, Arno D'Vox, who planned to turn Skywalker and Organa over to Galactic Emperor Palpatine. Following D'Vox's orders, the station's security chief, Captain Rishyk, left the control room to find Shan.

Realizing that the search for Shan would not keep the Imperials occupied for long, and noticing that the stormtroopers who stood guard over them were distracted, Able quietly related his plan of escape to Organa. He had nearly slipped out of his binders and was planning to release the Princess, so that she could grab Skywalker's lightsaber that was lying on a nearby console and attack their captors. Able also planned to take D'Vox hostage and use him as a Human shield until the Rebels could escape from the station. However, D'Vox then took the lightsaber himself and approached Organa, informing her that she and Skywalker would soon be transported to Palpatine. Meanwhile, Shan was able to kill Rishyk and sabotage the fuel tanks. As explosions started to rock the station, Able took advantage of the situation and attacked the stormtroopers closest to him, while Skywalker regained his lightsaber.

Strangling one stormtrooper and taking hold of his blaster, Able single-handedly killed all of the Imperials except for the unarmed D'Vox. After he released the rest of the captive Rebels, Able drew his weapon to kill the commander as well, believing that he was too dangerous to be left alive. Organa stopped him, however, as the execution of an unarmed opponent was considered murder. While Able began to argue with her, D'Vox retrieved a blaster from a fallen stormtrooper and attempted to kill Organa. Skywalker quickly reacted, however, and cut off D'Vox's arms with his lightsaber. Organa's comlink then came online with a transmission from Basso, who instructed the Rebels to go to Platform 13-B, where he would be waiting for them with the stolen Imperial shuttle. After Able and the others boarded the shuttle, Skywalker and Organa decided to search for Shan, despite the approach of Imperial forces summoned by D'Vox. They soon found Shan hanging by a cable attached to a damaged walkway. Able and Skywalker deployed onto the walkway, pulled Shan up, and carried her inside the shuttle. At that moment, the Rebel Dagger Squadron, comprised of B-wing starfighters, arrived, dispatched by Rebel command to find the survivors of Rebel One. Under covering fire from Dagger Squadron, Able and the Rebels retreated, leaving Bannistar Station engulfed in flames and D'Vox mutilated but alive.

Able was later part of a mission led by Skywalker to investigate a secret Imperial weapon located on an abandoned moon. Unbeknownst to the Rebels, the mission was a trap set up by Darth Vader using captured spy Wyl Tarson to feed the Alliance misleading information. Able, Basso, Shan, Skywalker, and Organa, along with a number of other Alliance soldiers, loaded onto an Alliance shuttle and headed for the moon, escorted by the freighter Millennium Falcon, piloted by former smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca. After they landed on the moon, however, the Rebels found nothing but a number of crashed Imperial landing craft, and no bodies. Shan and Able then set out to check the surroundings; Able, who noticed rocks falling from a ridge, decided to check it, and left Shan behind. Once he climbed the ridge, however, he was attacked and overwhelmed by rakghouls, mindless and savage creatures who had previously been Imperial soldiers. They had been transformed by the centuries-old Jedi Master Celeste Morne with the help of the Muur Talisman, an ancient Sith artifact created by the Sith Lord Karness Muur. Morne, possessed by the spirit of Muur, wanted to find a way to get off-world with her army of rakghouls.

Able survived the attack, although he broke his ankle, sustained an injury to the head, and was knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, swarmed by the rakghouls, all of the surviving Rebels retreated aboard the Millennium Falcon with the exception of Able, Skywalker, and Organa. Skywalker engaged Morne in a lightsaber duel inside a cave, while Organa sensed that he was in danger, and went to help him. After he regained consciousness, Able witnessed Organa's silhouette disappear inside the cave, and he followed her, determined to protect the Princess at all costs. When he entered the cave, Able saw Morne preparing to kill Organa, and he unleashed a barrage of blaster fire at Morne in order to rescue the Princess. Angered by Able's attack, Morne used the power of the Muur Talisman to transform the former clone trooper into a rakghoul. Sensing that Skywalker and Organa were powerful with the Force, the spirit of Muur let the Muur Talisman release itself from Morne and attach to Organa. Morne, however, no longer willing to be a victim, decided to imprison Muur and reclaimed the Talisman. She left Skywalker and Organa inside the cave, as she walked away toward the abandoned Rebel shuttle, with Able close behind her.

Morne, Able, and the other rakghouls boarded the shuttle and escaped from the moon, dispatching of an Imperial Star Destroyer along the way, while Skywalker and Organa were evacuated by the returned Millennium Falcon. After making his way back to the Rebel fleet, Skywalker reflected on Able's passing, and wondered if by calling him "General," the clone trooper had foreseen his future. Five years later, Skywalker indeed became a general in the Special Forces of the New Republic, the Rebel Alliance's successor state, although he resigned from the military after the disastrous Battle of Mindor. Accompanied by her rakghouls, Morne explored the known galaxy, resurfacing more than a hundred years later and helping Skywalker's descendant, Cade, bring down the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Krayt.

Due to rigorous training on Kamino, Able was a skilled soldier who was able to survive alone on an uninhabited planet, but as a result, he was unaware of the changes that had occurred during this period of isolation, until Narra told him everything. Able was affected by the news of the destruction of the Jedi Order, as he, due to his training as a clone trooper, was extremely loyal to the Jedi, who had led the Grand Army of the Republic as generals during the Clone Wars. Because of his loyalty, Able swore his service to Luke Skywalker, after the latter identified himself as a Jedi General. Even after Skywalker admitted that he had lied, Able did not hold any grudge at him and was willing to still serve the Jedi, whom he continued to call "General" due to force of habit, despite the protests from the latter. Able's skills helped him to single-handedly take out an Imperial shuttle, allowing the Rebels to escape from the planet that had become his home.

Like all clone troopers, Able stood 1.83 meters tall. He had fair skin and brown eyes. Although his hair became gray during his involuntary exile, Able later dyed it black. During the mission to Kalist VI, he believed that the rescue of the Jabiimi slaves would unnecessarily complicate the mission and that the last thing the Alliance needed was more mouths to feed. As such, Able unsuccessfully tried to warn Basso against doing so. However, when Basso told him that the Empire had killed his own people, Able started to understand his desire not to allow any more civilians to suffer. When Able and the Rebels ran into a blocked door after they rescued Sol, he became pessimistic and believed that their mission had come to an end, until Basso decided to move to Skywalker's position instead. Able also displayed a sense of humor, occasionally joking with Basso. While Able was held captive on Bannistar Station, he quickly formulated an escape plan, which involved taking D'Vox hostage, though he was afraid that he might "accidentally" kill the Imperial.

On Bannistar Station, Able displayed his skill in martial arts and shooting, making quick work of stormtroopers that guarded him and the Rebels. When Able finally broke free, he wanted to shoot D'Vox, whom he believed was too dangerous to be left alive; he was only stopped by Leia Organa. When D'Vox was disarmed by Skywalker, however, Able believed that the matter had been settled. Able felt out of place in the time of the Rebellion, as though he were a "ghost of the past," and instead related more to the period of the Clone Wars. Due to the clones' accelerated growth, Able was already quite old by the time of his last mission—in fact, he was considered atypically long-lived for a clone by the Empire—and he felt that his old age had started to catch up to him and that he was becoming more of a hindrance than help to his friends, although he was afraid to admit it. He also felt bad for being brusque to Deena Shan, who only wanted to aid the Rebellion. After joining the Alliance, Able was very loyal toward his comrades in arms, especially Organa, and his attempt to rescue her led to his transformation into a rakghoul.

Able first appeared in Star Wars: Empire: "General" Skywalker, a 2004 story arc consisting of issues twenty-six and twenty-seven of the Star Wars: Empire comic book series. The comics were written by Ron Marz and illustrated by Adriana Melo and Nicola Scott. Able's next appearance was in four of the five issues in The Wrong Side of the War story arc, written by Welles Hartley and illustrated by Davidé Fabbri. After the storyline of Star Wars: Empire was continued in Star Wars: Rebellion in 2006, Able continued to make appearances in that series, appearing fleetingly in issues zero—penciled by Michel Lacombe—and two, in which the art was done by Brandon Badeaux. Able later played a substantial role in the Small Victories story arc, written by Jeremy Barlow and illustrated by Colin Wilson. His final appearance to date was in the two-issue Rebellion part of the 2008 Star Wars: Vector crossover event, wherein Able was turned into a rakghoul. In his final appearance, Able was illustrated by Dustin Weaver.

Able is notable for having been addressed by a number of alternate names. In his original appearance, Able was called "Able-1707," which was also the name used for his Databank entry on StarWars.com and in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia''. However, the Databank also called Able "unit A-1707" and further clarified that "Able" was a personalized name taken on by the trooper, instead of merely being a shortened form of his designation. The Hyperspace-exclusive article Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues, written by Abel G. Peña and Ryan Kaufman, identified him as "CT-1707." Finally, Rebellion 15 called the trooper "BL-1707." This article therefore uses the latter name as the title, but assumes that all of his designations are interchangeable.

• Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues on Hyperspace
• Star Wars: Panel to Panel Volume 2: Expanding the Universe
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia