It is said that the Calamari are not a party people, and while they didn't celebrate the liberation of their planet with the same intensity Lothal did, they did celebrate. From the underwater part of the Mon Cala city, which had been the main refuge of the Resistance for all the years of the occupation, as soon as the news of Moff Hubi's capture arrived, a delegation was sent from the Mon Cala government.
Leading it was the momentary Regent, Urtya. A meeting was called in the main office of the Palace, where Raddus and Ackbar were asked to participate as well.
"Our peoples owe you a great debt of gratitude, Masters Jedi." the old Regent said with a small bow to Ezra and Jaral, who were standing together with Hera, Claudio and the highest officers of the two Alliances, even Mon Mothma was participating via hologram.
"We thank you, Your Excellency, but this was a team effort." Jaral replied with humility.
"Besides, we still have to find King Lee-Char." Ezra added.
"Kallus is already working on it." Hera reassured. "We will have the location of the King soon enough."
Urtya made a nod of acknowledgment. "Meanwhile, we will start working to reactivate our shipyards and give you as many ships as we can possibly can. It's the least we could do for all of your help."
The exchange of pleasantries went on for at least two hours. The Mon Calamari and the Quarren representatives pledged their allegiance to the Rebel Alliance, thus making Mon Cala the first planet to represent a free territory under the authority of the Rebellion, since Lothal was still maintaining its independence until the elections that would be held in August.
After that, Ezra and Jaral finally left the Palace and found some time to reflect on what they almost did down in the bunker.
"How do you feel?" Ezra asked his sister with a hushed tone.
"I'm not sure...I still feel a bit cold." she replied while rubbing her hands against her arms.
Ezra put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her gently from the side.
"It was like that for me too, the first time." he tried to reassure her. "But the important part is that we didn't fall into it. What we must do now is to keep training and make sure it never happens again."
Jaral nodded. "You're right. Let's focus on the future, now."
They turned around, finding out that Jordan, Sabine, Zeb and Hera were waiting for them at a respectful distance.
"Sorry if we made you worry, guys." Ezra apologized.
"Don't say it, guys." Hera said with her caring tone, stepping forward and putting a hand on their shoulders like a proud mother. "It only showed, once again, that you have your hearts in the right place."
"Still, remind me never to make you guys really angry." Zeb quipped, trying to break the gloomy mood, and he managed to put a lopsided grin on the siblings' faces.
"All right, I should be back to work. We need to push our advantage while we can." Jaral declared, suddenly regaining her composure.
"Before you go..." Jordan intervened. "Senator Organa said that he's sending an agent to help us with the rescue of King Lee-Char. She's escorting a group of refugees toward Lothal, now, but should be here in a few hours."
"Got it, thanks, Dad." Jaral replied before heading for the Elephant to have a discussion with Edrix and Raddus about her next plan.
Now that Mon Cala was safe, Jaral wanted the joint allied fleet to secure a buffer zone and liberate the rest of the sector from Imperial presence. When the Calamari and the Quarren would have built enough ships, the allied forces would have to try and push toward the Thanium Sector, toward Felucia, and clear a path that would finally link Yavin to the other territories of the coalition.
Also, she called back Mon Mothma and Prince Claudio because she believed it should be the time for the two allied factions to bring their military cooperation on the next level. Jaral believed that the Rebellion and the Federation should have signed a treaty of Alliance, standardizing weapons and creating a Joint General Staff that would allow the two factions to work more efficiently.
Prince Claudio was overall positive about this idea. Mon Mothma was as well, but she had to consult the Council of the Rebel Alliance first, and that might take a while. It was no secret that some members of the Alliance, not just Saw Gerrera, were afraid that the Federation would turn them into puppets to control the galaxy once the Empire had been destroyed.
Thus, the idea of binding the Alliance to the Federation was most likely going to find some fierce opposition.
Still, it was enough work to keep her occupied for the following three hours, while Ezra took the time to inspect the troops and make sure that the recovery of the wounded would go unimpeded.
Once they were done, they were informed that Organa's agent was arriving with a shuttle at the airbase. The siblings and the Ghost crew headed there.
A civilian shuttle indeed landed on one of the landing pads and from the ramp came out a familiar face that stunned the siblings.
It was a young woman around Ezra's age, with short crimson hair, blue eyes and fair skin. She was wearing an outfit fit for a smuggler and had a DL-44 blaster into a holster on her right hip.
When she saw them, she made an embarrassed smirk and spoke up.
"Long time no see, guys."
"Moreena?!" the siblings exclaimed dumbfounded.
The young woman widened her smile, probably happy from the fact that they recognized her.
With their mouth still widened, the siblings started to laugh and went to make a group hug with their old friend.
"I can't believe my eyes!" Jaral exclaimed.
"Look who's talking." Moreena replied with a chuckle. "When I left Lothal I thought I would never see you again. Then you come out with an inspiring speech on the radio."
"You heard that, too?" Ezra asked with curiosity.
"Well, I wasn't completely sure it was you, at first, but the more I listened the recording, the more I became convinced. It was your speech that inspired me to join the Rebellion, I've been working for Senator Organa for two years, now."
"Wait, so the group of refugees you were escorting..." Jaral started and Moreena nodded positively.
"My family was among them. My parents, my sister, we even convinced my grandma to leave Alderaan and see if we can rebuild our old farm on Lothal."
"I'm sure Ryder will be glad to give it back to you." Ezra reassured. "Your family will be safe on the planet."
"Thanks, Ez. I already knew that, but it's reassuring to hear it from you." Moreena added.
At that moment, Jordan stepped forward, followed by the rest of the group.
"Did I hear correctly?" he asked. "Is this that friend you talked me about?"
The siblings readjusted themselves, while Moreena looked a bit intimidated by Jordan's armor and body dimension.
"Everyone, meet Moreena Krai." Jaral said. "She and her family helped us from time to time for three years before the Empire confiscated their farm and they left for Alderaan."
"And just a few weeks before we joined the Ghost." Ezra added, noticing what a strange coincidence that was.
Jordan stepped forward and extended a hand.
"Then I have to thank you, Mrs. Krai."
Moreena smiled and shook timidly the hand of the Legionnaire.
"It's an honor to meet you, Mister Bridger. And I'm glad you're okay."
"The honor is mine, Moreena. Thank you for helping my kids when I couldn't."
Jaral put an arm around her old friend's shoulders and led her to the rest of the group.
"Come, I'll show you the rest of the family."
Thus, Moreena was introduced to the rest of the crew, and she was caught very much off-guard when she was told that Sabine was Ezra's wife and that Jaral also had a husband who was now interrogating Moff Hubi.
"So you're telling me that you already found your soulmates, but I still can't find a nice guy?" she asked with a grin and feinting to be offended.
Jaral chuckled and clenched her arm around Moreena's neck. "I can hook you up with some cute pilots, if you want. I'm sure you'll attract a lot of attention." she commented as she gently dragged away the girl to go banter somewhere else.
--------------------------------
June 17
Mara Jade was gone. While her Force abilities might have been useful, Iulius concluded that, perhaps, he and his Fleet could figure out what to do about the Hybrids on their own. Still, he had asked for one single person to be sent to him from the Royal Academy, and the Emperor had granted his request.
Right now, Iulius was on the bridge of the Admonitor, still hoping for the moment where they would make contact with the indigenous Humans on the planet.
In the last few days, Titan Base had been finally completed, and Iulius decided it was about time he made an official inspection, but not before his new field commander had arrived.
A wish that finally realized.
"Sir, the Commander's shuttle is requesting permission to land at the lower hangar." one of the operators said from the pit.
"Granted." replied Iulius. "I'll go greet him personally."
The Admiral made all the way to the hangar, where the shuttle had already landed, and quickly spotted a stormtrooper armor with the same orange motives of some of his troops. The man wearing it had his helmet underarm, revealing the unmistakable face of the old clones of the Republic.
Iulius smirked and headed in front of him.
The man made the salute.
"CC-2224, at your service, Admiral Tanis." he proclaimed with a deep respect.
Iulius extended a hand. "It's good to see you again, Instructor Cody. Or should I say 'Commander'?"
"Ah, you have no idea how happy it makes me to finally see some action." the old clone replied with a satisfied grin as he shook the hand of his former student at the Academy.
The two released the grip on their hands.
"Come on, there is a lot to do. I'll catch you up on the transport."
"Sir, yes, sir." Cody replied as he followed the Admiral toward the Sentinel transport that was about to bring down a new batch of troopers and supplies to Titan Base.
The old clone huffed in amusement. "You know, I always believed that you were the only non-clone to impress me, but I never thought you would become Admiral at such a young age."
"I've had good teachers, including you." Iulius replied modestly.
"I caught wind about the Grand Admiral." Cody replied as they entered the transport. "It's hard to think someone has actually forced him to surrender."
"Those Jedi are not to be underestimated. I told that to Imperial Command time and again, but they ignored me until it was too late." Iulius grumbled as he took a seat.
Cody sighed. "Well, that's nothing new, honestly." was all that he said before risking to become subversive.
Iulius took a look at his old instructor. He spotted the scar on the right side of his cranium, where the inhibitor chip had been removed years ago. Like most of the clones, Cody could see no other alternative but continue to serve the Empire after the transition. After the clone army had been dismissed, he was still allowed to serve as instructor at the Royal Academy on Coruscant on behalf of his skill as a leader and his loyalty.
Iulius remembered the time at the Academy when Cody taught field tactics to his class. The old clone notoriously hated the regular cadets. He believed that the Empire had made a huge mistake by abandoning the clones and that the regular Humans were simply too weak-minded. He was infamous for his harsh treatment of the rookies, many of whom usually suffered from depression after being instructed by him. Plus, nobody had ever been able to surpass 'Cody's test', a final simulation for the cadets involving commanding a unit under impossible odds.
Nobody had ever passed it. Nobody except Iulius.
From the get-go, the young Tanis took up the challenge of being trained by Cody's inhumane regime. Mostly because he wanted to test his limits and go beyond them, but it was also partially due to the fact that he hated the old clone's disregard for the recruits.
Perhaps it was because of his defiance and the fact that he kept being the first of his class every time that Cody started to target Iulius, but the young cadet didn't budge.
In the end, Iulius had surprised Cody, his other instructors and his classmates with his sheer force of will and his ability to always take the right tactical decision even when fatigued and under constant fire.
That meant that Iulius was one of the few Humans that Cody respected genuinely, so it was no issue for him when he received the reassignment order to the now renamed '101st Fleet'.
As the shuttle brought them down toward the base, Iulius updated Cody on the Hybrids and how they were probably linked to the Grysks.
Cody asked if they knew where the rest of the alien fleet was. So far, the technicians had found some star charts in the captured battleship that could perhaps indicate that the fleet was busy invading another world in that region of space, but that was all.
Since the creatures communicated through a hive mind, they didn't need to leave written plans, meaning that the Imperials couldn't acquire intel the old fashioned way.
To Iulius, however, this didn't look like a complete disadvantage: all he had to do was to understand how that collective mind generally thought and acted, and from there it would be a piece of cake to destroy these aliens, who still had a far lesser technological level than the Empire.
They kept discussing and theorizing until the shuttle finally reached the surface and landed at Titan Base.
Iulius let the troopers in the shuttle be the first to dismount, so they could do their job of unloading the supplies, then the two officers stepped out.
Waiting for them was Qathora. Even though the command of the base was under the direction of the Army Colonel Ezeret Hopler, Qathora represented Iulius' voice, eyes and ears at the base, making sure that everything worked smoothly and reporting any inconvenience to him.
"Commander, meet my servant and assistant, Qathora." Iulius briefly introduced the two.
Surprising Qathora, Cody instinctively made the salute, a clear show of respect. Qathora returned with a small bow.
The clone then put on his helmet and the three started to walk toward the command center of the base.
When they reached it, Colonel Hopler was waiting at the holotable. The officer was a man around 53 years old and wasn't a fan of Iulius. The Admiral was sure that the Emperor gave the command of the Army detachment to him just so he could keep an eye on Iulius.
"Colonel, any news on the natives?" Iulius asked cordially.
"Maybe." the Colonel answered vaguely.
It was no secret that the Army and the Navy were constantly at each other's throat, but that answer was just deliberate sabotage.
Luckily, Iulius was patient enough and knew how to go around such provocations.
"So there might be a lead?" he asked coldly.
With a bit of recalcitrance, the Colonel had to concede and tapped a button on the holotable, revealing a map of another region on the planet.
"The linguistic team has monitored the transmissions of the natives. It would seem like they have noticed us and they might be willing to establish contact with us. Unfortunately, the nearest source of those transmissions seems to be on the coast of the continent nearby."
Iulius observed it. The map indicated a settlement on a highland area, covered in forests. It seemed indeed like a perfect place to hide.
"Enemy presence?" Iulius asked.
"We haven't detected anything, so far. But these aliens have started to move underground, so, who could tell?" Hopler replied uninterested.
Iulius hummed, thinking about it for a little.
Then he turned his head. "Commander, start to assemble a company of stormtroopers and mechanized support and have them conduct a drill. In a few days, we'll move toward that position and see if we can contact the natives."
"Yes, sir." Cody promptly replied before leaving.
----------------------------
June 20
It wasn't that difficult for Darvos and Kallus to force Moff Hubi to reveal the location of King Lee-Char. The monarch was being held in an underwater imperial structure in the system of Strokill, located in the Imperial pocket that had been created east of Mon Cala after the liberation of the planet.
The allied fleet was right now pushing in all directions, and Jaral wanted this to be a stealth mission, lest the Imperials tried to execute the King rather than let him be freed by the rebels.
Jaral decided to personally take the matter in her own hands and assembled a small team of Mon Calamari and Quarren rebel fighters, plus Ezra and Moreena, with whom the two had started to train with to understand what her skill set was. The girl had been trained by the Royal Guard of Alderaan in espionage and sabotage. She could use her DL-44 very well and had learned how to violate every Imperial electronic system.
Once she had been equipped with a omni-tool, her abilities were certainly improved. The only minor incident at her integration into the squad had been with Sabine, for a very short time. Moreena and Ezra did share some feelings for each others years before, but by now they had both moved on. That didn't stop Sabine from getting suspicious when she saw the two of them talking privately once, but luckily everything had been sorted out, and the two young women were now on friendly terms.
Once the Constantinople brought them over the orbit of Strokill, it was time for one of the Kodiaks to bring them near the access of the structure and let the group dive into the ocean. Everyone had been given omni-tools, so they could keep their weapons in a protected space and make sure that the water wouldn't damage them.
With Jinx signaling where they could infiltrate the structure undetected, Ezra and Jaral led the strike team up to a maintenance tube and, after making sure that there were no sentinels in the room where they were going to exit, cautiously entered the hallways of the structure.
The place was clearly a prison, just adapted to withstand the pressure of the water and to stand on the rocky bottom of that part of sea. Aside from that, the hallways were just like all the other imperial structures: same color, same dimensions, same conformity of every hallway.
"We need to find a schematic of the structure if we want to find the King." Jaral explained once they were all reunited.
"Copy that." Moreena replied.
The siblings activated their cloaking devices and slipped outside of the room while the rest of the squad hid.
Luckily, they quickly found a computer terminal that Jinx could violate, use to access the register of the prison and acquire the schematic. To do that, they had to outmaneuver a couple of guards, who, to their delight, were simple regular Navy troopers.
"Uh! It looks like there are no stormtroopers in this structure." Jaral commented after checking the register with the rest of the team.
"Good, that will make this a lot easier." Moreena commented.
"I have to remind you that the blasters of the regular imperial troopers can still cause damage to you." Jinx added.
"We'll keep it in mind, Jinx, thank you." Ezra answered with a joking tone. "Now, where is the King?"
Jinx showed up the holomap of the structure and highlighted a room three levels beneath.
"It appears King Lee-Char is detained in a safe vault. It can only be opened by the control room, here." he highlighted another room right at the center of the prison.
Jaral needed only a few seconds to decide.
"Sergeant," she said to the squad leader of the Mon Cala's. "you and your squad will go straight for the vault while we take control of the central station. Try not to be seen while you do that: we don't want to risk the Imperials executing the King."
"Yes, Grand Marshall." the Quarren NCO replied.
The group split up and headed for the respective targets. The Mon Calas managed to get on a turbolifters that would bring them at the underground level 4, while the young Humans sneaked their way toward the control room.
They managed to reach the control room just a few meters away, but the Force was probably not being completely with them, because they inadvertently stumbled upon two guards.
"What the...?" one of the soldiers said as he raised his weapon.
The siblings managed to quickly disarm and knock them out, but one of them still managed to fire a shot with his blaster rifle, which alerted the other troopers.
"So much for stealth." Jaral exclaimed as she took her lightsaber and ignited it, together with the directional shield of the omni-tool.
Ezra materialized his TL-50 and Moreena took her DL-44. Both of them took cover behind Jaral as a group of navy troopers made visual contact with them and opened fire with rifles and pistols.
The alarm started blaring and red plasma bolts flew left and right.
Using the powers of the omni-tools, like incineration and stun shots, Ezra and Moreena easily punched a hole into the imperial line, which gave Jaral the opportunity to charge head-on and overwhelm the few soldiers left.
"Come on!" she emphasized.
They sprinted at the locking door.
"Mo..." Ezra said and Moreena went to violate the door controls.
They didn't want to sabotage them, in case they needed to close themselves to defend against a possible counterattack.
The siblings turned around with their TL-50 in their hands, keeping an eye open for possible reinforcements.
"Sergeant," said Jaral into the comlink. "We're about to breach into the control room. How's going on your part?"
"They found us as well. We're taking fire but we're still pushing forward, ma'am."
"Acknowledged." the Grand Marshall replied. Considering that they had been equipped with the armors and shields of the Rebel Army, she was confident that they would reach the objective.
"I almost got it." Moreena announced just a few seconds later.
The siblings quickly exchanged a thought with their bond and Ezra turned around to point his weapon inside the room.
When the door opened, all he saw was an officer with the green uniform and two regulars around the various terminals of the control room.
"Don't try to be heroes, fellas." Ezra said.
Probably recognizing the siblings, the imperials decided that they had no chance of winning and they quickly raised their hands.
While Ezra herded the imperials to a corner, the women took control of the panels. In front of them stood also a wall filled with screens, projecting the video signals given by the security cameras in the complex.
"Jinx, find the controls to open the main cell hold." Jaral ordered.
From the cameras, she could see that the Mon Cala team was still at full strength and was getting near the cell of the King.
It didn't take long for the AI to find the right panel and Moreena got to work.
"Second squad," Jaral said into the comlink. "we are in control of the control room and we're ready to open the cell anytime."
"Understood, Marshall. We're almost there." the Sergeant replied.
Then Jaral opened the channel with the Constantinople.
"Blue Nova to Spirit, we have secured the control room, send down the reinforcements."
"Copy that, Blue Nova. We're on our way." the voice of Jordan reassured her.
"Warning," Jinx said. "The Empire is sending a detachment to retake the control room."
Moreena tapped a few times on the controls and focused the surveillance screens on Corridor 3-C, where the rebels could now see a group of 15 Navy troopers jogging in formation toward the control room.
"I'll take care of them." Jaral proclaimed.
"You might need this." Ezra said and threw his lightsaber to her.
Jaral clasped it in mid-air and sent him a 'thank you' down their bond. Then she joined the swords and stepped outside of the blast door before closing it again.
It didn't take long for the imperial troopers to appear a few meters away from Jaral, who had already ignited the dual-bladed lightsaber.
"Don't move!" one of the troopers intimated.
"You sure you want to go down that path?" the woman replied as she assumed a defensive stance.
---------------------------------
The Kodiaks were speeding toward the surface at full speed. According to the schematics obtained by the kids, Jordan had learned that the prison had a submerged landing platform that could be made to emerge exactly to allow shuttles to land. Moreena was already at work to procure the landing zone for the two shuttles and grant access to the Constantinople's marines.
"Remember, people, we don't know how strong that structure is. Don't use explosives and Karg, try not to crush the entire place." he instructed to both the troops on his shuttle and those on the second one through the radio.
"You can't ask that from a Krogan, you know." the massive alien replied.
"If you crack a wall, we all drown, you giant frog." Michalina reprimanded. "So if you want to use your shotgun, make sure to hit the target."
The Krogan grumbled. "Fine."
The infiltration team did its job and the submerged landing pad eventually came out from its hatch. The shuttles landed, then the platform started to go down again as the armored hatch closed over their heads to protect them from the ocean.
As the pad was brought down via elevator, Jordan had the Marines disembark from the shuttles and use the portable covers at the edges of the pad to create small fortified positions in case there were imperial troopers waiting for them.
It turned out to be a good decision, because, indeed, there were some of the guards who tried to repel them, but they were already in numerical inferiority and half of them were armed only with blaster pistols. By contrast, the Marines had everything. Even though they refrained from using grenades and such, they still had personal shields, better armors, weapons with piercing bullets and numerical superiority that allowed them to quickly catch the imperials on their flank and decimate them. Only four of them were left standing and they quickly surrendered.
Jordan took the other Legionnaires, Karg and the more heavily equipped Marines he had and they headed toward the Control Room to relieve the kids from the siege.
To their surprise, they found only a very small group of troopers along the way, who themselves didn't seem very sure about what was going on. The alarms had stopped blaring because Moreena and Jinx disabled them, but they had also blocked all imperial frequencies, leaving the other units left in the structure directionless.
Among them, only one tried to shoot at the Marines and was blasted away by Karg. The others eagerly surrendered.
After leaving them in the care of a Turian soldier, the rest of the group sprinted toward the control room, but when they entered in sight of the hallway, on their left, they saw some red blaster bolts being deflected back.
Then a trooper fell down lifeless on the ground and another one was sent flying screaming against the wall on the opposite side, slamming into it and passing out right at the feet of the Marines.
Jordan turned the corner and saw Jaral taking again a defensive stance.
"Woah, easy, tigress." he said with a quip.
The young woman deactivated the lightsaber, separated the hilts and clung them at her hips.
"Any problem getting in?" she asked.
"Certainly not any more than you guys. Did they find the King?" Jordan replied.
"They should. Give me a second." she answered before putting a finger on her helmet and calling the Mon Cala squad.
"Sergeant, did you find the King?"
"We did, ma'am." the NCO replied with a disheartened tone.
"What happened?" Jaral asked with a bit of preoccupation.
"It's better if you see it for yourself, ma'am."
Jaral recalled Ezra and Moreena, left a technician of the Marines in the control room and had the three prisoners taken away before she headed with the rest of the group toward the King's cell. They entered into it and followed a small hallway that brought to an isolated room.
There there was a medical bed. King Lee-Char was laying on it, intubated on most of his upper body.
"By the Force..." Ezra murmured.
"Jinx, talk to me." Jaral said instead, activating her omni-tool and getting near the body of the King.
"It seems that, at some point in time, the King had been gravely wounded. The Empire has kept him alive until now with these machines, presumably to keep the population of Mon Cala in line." the AI explained.
The Mon Calas were both saddened and enraged at this. They couldn't bear the idea of their King reduced to this miserable state by the Empire.
But as if he had heard their prayers, suddenly the Mon Cala King took a deep, loud breath and everyone stood with their senses at highest alert.
"Your Majesty." the Quarren sergeant pleaded, standing on one side of the bed.
Lee-Char turned his head slightly toward the voice he had heard and barely opened his eyes.
"What...?" he whispered, clearly not expecting his own people to be in that cell with him.
"King Lee-Char." Jaral said with a calm tone.
The monarch turned around toward Jaral, this time. He looked at her, Ezra, Moreena and Jordan, and probably his mind already realized what was going on.
He managed to extend an arm and grab Jaral's forearm firmly.
"Help..."
"Hang on, Your Majesty, we'll get you out of here." she reassured him.
"No...no...I don't have much time left...help me...record a message...for my people." the King said, defying the terrible state of his body.
"You can talk to us once you're healed, My King." one of the Calamari spoke up.
Lee-Char coughed a couple times. "No...I know that my time has come...please...just deliver a message..."
Jaral looked at him straight in the eyes and even searched for his Force signature. Realizing that he was right, and that he was expending all of his remaining energies just for this, she decided that it was worth it recording his message.
She raised her forearm to tap on the omni-tool and start the recording, then nodded to him.
Lee-Char stared right toward the orange device, and spoke up.
"I am Lee-Char of Mon Cala, and I am dying. But we are all dying. The question becomes how do we wish to live the time we have? What kind of life do we wish to leave for those who follow us? I have been an absent king, and I am ashamed. I wish I could have been with you through this Imperial hell. I was with you in my heart. I have never forgotten you. The Fleet is Mon Cala's pride. Mon Cala knows the Empire's Evil. Their atrocities are burned on our flesh. We know what wrongs they have done...but we can only guess at the horrors they will do next. If we are with them when they do so, all our pride will curdle to shame. It cannot be so...Goodbye, my people."
(From Wookieepedia)
After that, King Lee-Char of Mon Cala left his head fell back on the bed, as he exhaled his last breath.
The Grand Marshall of the Rebellion gently closed his eyes and everybody spent a minute of respectful silence.