After escaping near destruction on Atollon, the Rebellion is in dire strait, but hope is not yet lost. Following her promotion to Grand Marshall of the Rebellion, Jaral Bridger is set on beginning a massive guerrilla campaign across the Outer Rim, s...
Jaral pushed the engines to the max. That was all she could do, at the moment, to unload even a small part of the pain and rage that was gripping her heart, like that of the two passengers in the gunship.
Hera was just holding tight to her Kalikori, her eyes widened and staring at the floor of the passenger bay. Ezra was sitting on one of the seats, he too unable to recover from having the small Force bond he had with his Master severed so abruptly.
They finally reached the entrance to the valley where the rebel camp was and Jaral put the gunship down with a certain haste. When she opened the cabin, she barely registered that Jordan and the rest of the Specters were waiting for them and even waving.
She stepped down and walked to the passenger bay. Hera was already at the edge of the rock, staring toward the horizon barely illuminated by the rising sun, which was on their backs. In her right hand she held the Kalikori. Ezra tried to lift a hand, but he had no idea what to say.
When he turned toward his sister, she immediately went to hug him, dematerializing her helmet so she could finally let the tears flow as well. Ezra hugged her back with all his strength while the others approached with an alarmed expression.
Jordan seemed to have already realized what happened, but he had to ask.
"Guys...where is Kanan?" he said, with Sabine and Zeb waiting with fear in their eyes.
"Kanan is gone." was all that Ezra could mumble.
Sabine's jaw fell down, she stumbled around a bit and then fell on her knees, while Chopper rolled immediately toward Hera to go hold her left hand with his handler.
Zeb didn't seem willing to realize it. "What do you mean 'gone'? Like captured?!"
Ezra detached his head from his sister's shoulder and screamed at him. "NO!...He's gone." he concluded with a broken tone.
Sabine stood up and joined the hug, Jordan and Zeb, being the bigger ones, enveloped the kids between their arms.
They stood there, for minutes at end, until they had nothing left to cry. When the sun was high enough to call it morning, the group slowly started to move toward the camp, nobody spent a word, because there was no use. The siblings momentarily closed their bond, since they were both feeling horrible and didn't want to worsen the situation for each other.
When they finally arrived at the camp and everybody else looked at them, it was Jordan who had to break the news, because nobody else had the strength to do that.
"Compatriots..." he said, trying to sound solemn, but he himself had a knot in his throat. Kanan had been like a brother to him, the man who had watched and educated Ezra and Jaral for a year and a half before of his return and even later.
Still, he took a deep breath and recollected himself enough to make the announcement. "Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight and Hero of Lothal, has made the ultimate sacrifice...to save the people he loved..." he said, and didn't know what else he could say.
And there was no need. The others understood perfectly and a sense of discomfort gripped the hearts of the other rebels, as they knew that one of the last Jedi in the galaxy, their beacon of hope, had perished.
Right at that moment, the radio of the camp received a transmission on the public imperial frequency. It was an announcement made on the HoloNet.
Matt Martin went to the radio to tune it better, Jaral walked in front of it, with her full armor on to mask her pain.
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