Bledsoe

During the Galactic Civil War period, a Human male named Doctor Bledsoe served the Galactic Empire as a specialist in medicine and disease. This prominent Imperial scientist fervently supported the Empire's xenophobic principles, and his name was connected with Bledsoe's disease, a deadly virus created by Doctor Kaaldar that spread through the air and physical interaction. After the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic kidnapped Doctor Bledsoe and took him aboard a CR90 corvette for interrogation at a Rebel camp.

Because Bledsoe was so important to the Empire, it was crucial to save him. Ironically, a Non-huMan Zabrak would oversee the doctor's rescue, despite Bledsoe's xenophobia. Colonel Darkstone, a Zabrak stationed at the Imperial Oasis military base on Tatooine, an Outer Rim Territories planet, was the primary contact for Imperial officers who were taken hostage. Darkstone was determined to finish one last mission to save the Imperial scientist, even though he was about to retire. The Zabrak colonel did not seem to be personally impacted by Bledsoe's xenophobic views. Darkstone compared Bledsoe's captors to terrorists and animals, emphasizing how important it was to save the doctor. Darkstone tasked an Imperial soldier with finding the Rebels' prisoner transfer orders in order to pinpoint Bledsoe's precise location. It was thought that the transfer orders could be found in one of three locations after intercepting weak transmissions about Bledsoe's capture: the Woolamander Palace on Yavin 4, the Mokk Stronghold on Dantooine, and the Droid Engineer cave on Lok. The Imperial soldier under Darkstone eventually found the Alliance document with prisoner information on Doctor Bledsoe, including the times he would be moved, after looking into these three locations. It was discovered that Bledsoe was still aboard the Rebels' Corellian corvette traveling through deep space after this information was given to Colonel Darkstone at the Imperial Oasis.

Colonel Darkstone's Imperial soldier gathered a diverse group of Imperials and was told to go to the Emperor's Retreat on Naboo to meet a shuttle pilot in order to carry out a daring rescue. A TIE pilot was seated next to a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle at the Emperor's Retreat, which was tucked away in the Gallo Mountains. The TIE fighter pilot assisted the Imperial soldier and their rescue team by piloting the shuttle and intercepting the Corellian corvette holding Doctor Bledsoe after receiving a travel authorization form from Darkstone. The Imperial rescue team battled their way through the numerous corridors of the small capital ship after making contact with the corvette and forcing their way on board. The rescue team was successful in gaining access to the prison cell holding Doctor Bledsoe and freeing him, despite strong resistance from a sizable number of Rebel crew members. The doctor thanked his rescuers and called his Rebel captors "vermin." Bledsoe and the other Imperials used the escape pods to leave the besieged starship after securing the prisoner. For their efforts in saving the Imperial doctor, all members of the rescue team received the Imperial Valorous Services Medal. Team members also received schematics for an AV-21, a high-performance landspeeder made by Mobquet, upon delivering news of Bledsoe to Colonel Darkstone at the Imperial Oasis. Colonel Darkstone finally thought about starting his retirement because the mission was successful, and he considered relocating to Naboo to purchase a small property close to the city of Kaadara.

Bledsoe was a brilliant scientist who wholeheartedly endorsed the Empire's xenophobic policies. Bledsoe considered his Rebel captors to be vermin and rodents who needed to be eradicated in order to stop them from reproducing and spreading while he was being held captive aboard a Corellian corvette. Despite his extreme animosity toward his adversaries, the accomplished Imperial doctor nevertheless expressed some gratitude to the Imperial team that assisted him in escaping his confinement.

Doctor Bledsoe wore a vibrant orange trader's flight suit that served as a type of prisoner clothing while he was incarcerated. He also wore orange padded armor boots and a gray wide-buckle belt while in the holding cell of the Rebels' Corellian corvette.

The name Bledsoe was first mentioned indirectly as Bledsoe's disease in Tatooine Sojourn, a comic strip that ran in the Los Angeles Times Syndicate from September 10 to November 5, 1979. Doctor Bledsoe, however, didn't make his debut until he was included as a non-player character in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by Sony Online Entertainment and released by LucasArts before it shut down on December 15, 2011.

Bledsoe was formally included to the game on April 13, 2004 as a component of a fresh series of instanced dungeon quests showcasing the Corellian corvette. Nine quests were added in total, including three destroy missions, three assassination missions, and three rescue missions for Imperial, Rebel, and neutral players. Bledsoe was featured in the Imperial rescue version of the quest. The quest could be initiated by speaking to Colonel Darkstone at the Imperial Oasis on Tatooine. From there, players were required to investigate three locations, including the Woolamander Palace on Yavin 4, the Mokk Stronghold on Dantooine, and the Droid Engineer's cave on Lok for clues regarding Bledsoe's whereabouts. At one of those locations, players would discover a prisoner transport order which needed to be delivered back to Darkstone to receive a travel authorization form for travel from the Emperor's Retreat on Naboo. Upon doing so, players would finally be allowed access to board the Rebel Corellian corvette holding Doctor Bledsoe. After fighting their way through the instanced dungeon, players could speak to Doctor Bledsoe, free him, and receive a badge and AV-21 schematic for successfully completing the mission.

Even though it was possible to finish this quest entirely on your own, a feature piece on the official Star Wars Galaxies website with the title "The Corellian Corvette" suggests that it was meant to be a collaborative effort. As a result, this article makes the assumption that a group of Imperials, rather than just one person, were responsible for saving the doctor.

Players would be asked by Doctor Bledsoe if all the Rebels had been slain when they spoke with him. Bledsoe would express his gratitude to the player if they responded affirmatively, and the mission could then be finished. Bledsoe would urge the player to "cleanse the ship" of its Rebel presence if the player responded differently. Bledsoe would denounce the player and promise to report them to their superiors if the player declined by selecting the option, "Genocide is not my thing, doctor. I think our work here is done." Doctor Bledsoe would still head for the escape pod regardless of the chat option the player selected, and the mission could be finished. This article makes the assumption that the Imperial players acted honorably and did not disobey Bledsoe's requests. Furthermore, this article assumes 100% game completion, even though players had the option of not participating in the Corellian corvette quest at all.

Doctor Bledsoe's appearance was randomized under one of five potential depictions because he spawned under the generic "dr_bledsoe" template utilizing five different Interchange File Formats. Bledsoe could appear as a male Rodian, Zabak, Kajain'sa'Nikto, or two versions of Humans. This article infers that he was a Human and that one of the two Human male depictions may be canon in the Star Wars Legends continuity because "The Corellian Corvette" feature article describes Bledsoe as a scientist who "whole-heartedly agrees with the Empire's xenophobic views of the universe." Later, on December 9, 2008, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia included an entry for Doctor Bledsoe that included the majority of the details already covered in the "The Corellian Corvette" feature.