Commander Bly (5052)

Commander Bly (5052)
Homeworld	Kamino
Species	Human (clone)
Gender	Male
Height	1.83 meters
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Brown
Affiliation	Galactic Republic/Grand Army of the Republic, Galactic Empire/Imperial Army

Commander 5052, designation "Bly", was a clone trooper commander in the Grand Army of the Republic and fought alongside General Aayla Secura. Bly commanded the 327th Star Corps during the Clone Wars. He found Secura a competent general and appreciated her efficiency.

Biography

5052 was created on Kamino. Like all clone troopers, looked, Bly looked like Jango Fett, but bore a scar across his left eye. A member of the second generation of clone commanders, Bly was trained by Alpha, who also gave him his designation.

In 21 BBY, six months after the Battle of Geonosis, Bly fought in the Battle of New Holstice while his Jedi general coordinated the battle from orbit. There, Bly successfully led his clone troopers on the ground against a group of Mandalorians. His unit sustained forty percent loses, but forced the Mandalorians into full retreat.

Then in 20 BBY, after the space conflict of the Battle of Honoghr and the reconnaissance of Master Rii'ke En, Secura, Bly and a squad of his clone troopers descended upon Honoghr to retrieve the Trihexalophine1138 toxin scientific instrument package. The pair encountered Quinlan Vos, who Bly immediately distrusted. He pondered the difference between himself and his progenitor, Jango Fett, who Bly assumed would have shot Vos on sight. As they fought through the temple, however, Bly found himself surprised to agree with Vos' decision to kill an injured Noghri warrior. Bly assumed he would have made the same choice rather than run the risk of injured warrior finding his way back to report their presence. During the lightsaber duel that erupted between Secura and Vos, Bly ostensibly saved Secura's life by shooting Vos in the shoulder. After the mission's completion, Bly viewed his battle-damaged helmet and pondered the inherent flaw that all armor possesses. In a sign of his growing intellectual independence, he then converted his observations into a metaphor: that Secura's emotional connection to Vos was her armor's flaw and his lack of such connections and requirement to follow orders was his own flaw.

In 19 BBY, Bly and Secura were ordered to infiltrate the Confederacy base on Felucia and capture Shu Mai, the Gossam leader of the Commerce Guild. The full armored Star Corps was transported to Felucia aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Intrepid. By this point, Secura and Bly had built a friendly rapport, and openly discussed the virtues of independence and conformity. Bly questioned the need for such a large force to capture an individual. He further displayed his growing independence when he refused Secura's quick-minded order to return to Coruscant after receiving news that the capital was under attack. The clone commander insisted that while he thought Shu Mai a pawn and an intentional distraction, the mission was their primary objective. Upon their arrival on Felucia, the pair and Secura's padawan Ekria liberated Barriss Offee and Zonder, two captured Jedi, from the Nigkoe detention center. The team reached Shu Mai's reported location, but discovered the Separatist had fled days before their arrival. Their primary mission a failure, Bly ordered his full legion to engage the Confederacy army on Felucia.

In the midst of a patrol through a Felucian fungal jungle, Bly received Order 66 from Supreme Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine. Despite his burgeoning independence, Bly was unable to reject his ingrained need to follow Palpatine's direct order, and Bly shot Secura in the back. The rest of his squad then proceeded to fire dozens more blaster bolts into her dead body.

Bly's fate after the execution of Order 66 is unknown.

Trivia

• Bly wore yellow accented Kaminoan Phase II clone trooper armor in 21 BBY and enhanced orange armor by 19 BBY.
• The initial digital model of Bly had red markings, but this was changed to yellow to better suit the Felucia environment. Imagery of the red Bly saw publication and became the basis of a Hasbro action figure, even though a clone trooper with those particular markings did not appear in Episode III.