Banks (clone)

Banks, designated CT-7719, was a clone trooper sergeant in the Grand Army of the Republic. When the Clone Wars broke out in 22 BBY, he joined millions of other clones in fighting for the Galactic Republic against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. His nickname was derived his unique skill of being able to see mathematical angles better than other clones, which resulted in an ability to "bank" blaster bolts off a surface and into his target.
In the first year of the war, Banks was sent on a mission to the planet Oznek, ostensibly to shut down a battle droid factory. The mission, however, was a plot by Republic Commander Griebs Kishpaugh and Banks's fellow clone, Ghost, to embroil the strategic planet and its native species, the Toma, in the war and allow both men to defect to the Confederacy. Throughout the mission, Banks lost his entire squad to both enemy droids and the treachery of Ghost; nevertheless, Banks managed to foil the plot, killing Ghost and arresting Kishpaugh. Though he was forced to face a tribunal following the mission, Banks was later reassigned under the command of Jedi General Bultar Swan.
==Biography==
===Early life===
CT-7719 was a clone trooper, bred on the planet Kamino and based upon the template of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett, a Human. When the Clone Wars broke out in the year 22 BBY, he was one of millions of clones who made up the Galactic Republic's Grand Army, his armor painted with the standard green designs for his rank. CT-7719 was trained to be an officer in the army and was assigned the rank of sergeant.
During his training on Kamino, the trooper commanded seventy-two successful training missions. At some point, he realized that he had a knack for mathematics and angles, being able to both calculate and see better than most clones. He used this ability to calculate angles to bank his blaster bolts off objects, allowing them to hit their targets without losing their strength. The skill earned him the nickname Banks before he had even gone on his first mission.
===Mission to Oznek===
Later in 22 BBY, Banks was selected by Republic Commander Griebs Kishpaugh to lead a mission to the planet Oznek, a world that was considered vital to holding the surrounding sector. He and his squad were to find their assigned drop point and investigate the Separatist presence on the planet, particularly the existence of a supposed droid command center. Although the sergeant was a "shinie"—the clone troopers' derogatory term for those yet to fight on the battlefield—he was placed in charge of a squad of seasoned clones. The squad flew over the forests of Oznek aboard an Low Altitude Assault Transport on their seemingly routine reconnaissance mission. En route, two of the clones under his command, Syke and Ghost, questioned his methods and experience, causing him to become irate.
Shortly thereafter, the squad's gunship came under heavy fire. The area was supposed to be unoccupied by Confederate forces, but they discovered a large droid army, which blasted them out of the sky. Despite the pilot's best efforts, the LAAT crashed, killing several other clones on impact. Syke escaped from the wreckage via a hatch, only to find hundreds of B1 and B2 battle droids bearing down on them. Banks and his men fought off the attacking battle droids while trying to protect their wounded. Eventually, the waves of droids ceased, and Banks covered the tracks of the surviving seven clones by detonating a thermal detonator.
As they set up camp in the woods, Syke attempted to repair and use a communications array, to no avail. At the urging of Syke and Crazy Legs, their wounded pilot, Banks demonstrated the origin of his nickname to the group, ricocheting a blaster bolt and knocking a food container out of Crazy Legs's hand. They were then contacted via holoprojector by Commander Kishpaugh after Syke managed to get the array working. Kishpaugh informed them that the droid command center was twenty kilometers away; they were to investigate and, if possible, disable it despite their losses, within eighteen hours. He then ordered the rest of the clone troopers from the shelter in order to speak with Banks alone. Kishpaugh inquired after Banks's experience with the other clones and told him it would only get worse. He told the Sergeant that he trusted he would be an unfeeling and undiluted clone, able to commit to the mission to the letter. Moreover, the mission was to be "off the books," so the clones had to be careful not to be caught.
Banks and the others moved out before sunrise, leaving Crazy Legs behind to tend to his leg, which had been broken in the crash. They moved through the forest, encountering dangerous terrain and creatures everywhere, and lost another clone, who was eaten by a large animal. As they traveled, Syke told a war story about how his armor was damaged early in the war when he destroyed two droidekas. Syke then asked Ghost for a story of his own, but the older clone demurred. Banks pointed out that they could all ask for their armor to be repaired, or even receive new armor. Syke, however, believed that a clone's armor was a way of telling a unique and individual story, and asked Banks why they would ever want to throw that away.
Cutter, the clone trooper leading the way, brought the others' attention to an ancient city in ruins. The clones remarked that their scanners had not picked up any trace of the large settlement, and they suddenly found themselves surrounded and captured by Toma, the native sentient species of Oznek. With their hands bound, Banks lied, telling the Toma patrol leader that his men were on a humanitarian mission.
The Toma saw through the ruse, pointing out that the troopers were carrying explosives, not medicine. The patrol leader ordered their executions, but the clones were discovered and attacked by droids once again. Upon Banks's request, the Toma leader cut the clones' bonds so they could fight together. The Sergeant and the others held back the droids, but Cutter urged Banks to break off with Ghost and Syke, leaving Cutter and the others to hold back the droids while allowing Banks to complete the mission within the allotted time frame. Banks disliked the plan, unwilling to leave Cutter behind, but Cutter pointed out that their presence could not be revealed, so the Toma could not be allowed to live either. As the fight raged on behind them, Banks and the others fled.
They traveled to the facility that Kishpaugh had targeted, where Ghost sniped the two Toma guards outside, allowing the clones to sneak inside. They made their way through the corridors, encountering little resistance—a fact that Banks later determined should have seemed suspicious. Once inside the main section of the facility, Banks ordered Syke and Ghost to spread out and look for signs of Separatist technology. Syke quickly noticed that something was awry, and that the facility did not look anything like how they had been told it would. Banks was shocked when Ghost shot Syke in the back, killing him.
Ghost began to set bombs around the facility, nonchalantly telling Banks that Syke had to die because he did not know of their true orders: to destroy the facility, which was not a droid command center at all, but rather a power plant, which would then draw Oznek into the Clone Wars on the side of the CIS. Although Banks attempted to reason with Ghost—arguing that they should help to stop conflicts, not incite them—Ghost whirled around and fired his blaster rifle at Banks, saying that he did not need him after all. As Banks dodged the blast, the blaster bolt grazed his visor. He then attempted to shoot Ghost using his ability to ricochet blaster bolts, but the elder clone had already slipped out of sight. The Sergeant wanted to know why Ghost would betray his training and brothers, asking if his mind had gone defective from age, but Ghost told him that he had merely gained clarity and no longer wished to die.
Attempting to catch him by surprise, Banks sneaked up on Ghost, but the older clone was ready and threw a grenade, which detonated right in front of the Sergeant. Battered and wounded, the Sergeant was still alive, but Ghost was not willing to let him survive. As he explained that their sabotage would drive Oznek right into the arms of the Separatists, he climbed atop Banks and pulled a garrote from his gauntlet to choke the Sergeant. Struggling, Banks managed to reach his own blaster, and fired a bolt that ricocheted around the room's turbines and slammed into the back of Ghost's head, killing him.
Rushing, Banks deactivated Ghost's bombs and stole his helmet, escaping before the facility's Toma guards could catch up to him. Donning the dead clone's helmet, Banks contacted Kishpaugh and claimed that the mission had been completed. Kishpaugh picked him up in a shuttle, but he immediately realized the clone was not Ghost and pulled a blaster on the imposter. As they left the planet, making for hyperspace, Kishpaugh forced Banks to show his face and was surprised to find out that he had survived. The Sergeant demanded to know why Kishpaugh and Ghost had betrayed the Republic. Angry, the Commander told him that he had never wanted to fight in a galactic battle, while Ghost had simply wanted to live. Banks advanced on Kishpaugh and told him to surrender, but he refused, noting that the clone had no weapon. The Sergeant then threw Ghost's helmet at Kishpaugh, smashing his hand backward and forcing his blaster to fire, destroying his own pilot droid. Banks tackled the Commander and, after a crash landing, turned him over to Republic custody.
===Aftermath and reassignment===
Banks, scarred from the battle and locked in binders, faced a military tribunal for his actions, where he told the whole story of the mission. His superiors reprimanded him for following Kishpaugh's orders, saying that the Republic's standing on Oznek had become damaged. However, they also noted that his clear-headed actions and bravery had prevented an even worse disaster and likely saved thousands of lives, so they could not punish him. Instead of commending him for his actions, he was reassigned—two weeks later, he was on a snow-covered planet serving under Jedi General Bultar Swan. Because of the combat he had seen and the clones he had met, Banks ended up with three long scars covering his face—and he decided to leave unrepaired the damage Ghost had done to his helmet. Aboard an LAAT/i gunship en route to combat Separatist droids, he asked General Swan to no longer use his clone designation and to instead refer to him as Banks.
==Personality and traits==
As a clone of Jango Fett, Clone Sergeant Banks was physically identical to both the bounty hunter and the millions of his clone brethren. He was born with tan skin, brown eyes, and black hair, which later appeared brown. Also like Fett, he grew to a height of 1.83 meters. As a clone fresh out of his training on Kamino, Banks strictly adhered to the regulations set forth for clone troopers, including keeping his hair short and his armor and weapons clean.
Banks possessed an ability to calculate mathematical angles. He could use this ability to shoot blaster bolts off objects in order to ricochet them into a target. Although at first he believed that the trick was of little use outside of the barracks, it saved his life when Ghost tried to murder him on Oznek, as he was still able to calculate the angles and fire his blaster while being strangled.
Banks originally did not like having the clones under his command use his nickname, nor did he appreciate their humor. En route to their mission, when Banks pulled off his helmet to clean it, Syke mocked him for his adherence to what Syke regarded as foolish regulations. Banks did not intend to suffer insolence at all and admonished Syke, informing him of the proper regulations and threatening him with being forced to write an in-depth report on regulation protocols. When Ghost asked Banks if he had ever been in the field and faced enemy fire before, Banks admitted that he had not, but tried to defend himself by stating his spotless record during training missions.
Over the course of the mission on Oznek, Banks's outlook drastically changed. The one clone in his squad whom he admonished the most, Syke, ended up having the most influence on him, as Banks adopted his outlook on being a clone and an individual at the same time. During his fight with Ghost, Banks suffered wounds to his face and ended up bearing three long scars across his features. He also adopted the common clone practices of preferring his individualized nickname and retaining the damage done to his armor.
Like most other clones in the beginning of the Clone Wars, Banks possessed Phase I battle armor, painted green to signify his rank as a sergeant. During the mission to Oznek, he used both a pair of DC-17 hand blasters and, later, a DC-15S carbine.
==Behind the scenes==
Banks made his first appearance in The Clone Wars: The Enemy Within, the eighth of a series of digest-sized comics based on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. The Enemy Within was published on March 7, 2012. He was created by author Jeremy Barlow and illustrator Brian Koschak.
==Appearances==
*The Clone Wars: The Enemy Within 
==Notes and references==
Category:Clone trooper sergeants
Category:Males