Sakira Tobonne

"Boarding an enemy ship, crawling through its ducts like some rodent looking for crumbs, takes a special brand of guts. Not every being can do that, and damn few have the right training."

- Admiral Sakira Tobonne, advocating for the Republic Marines

Admiral Sakira Tobonne was a pioneering leader in the 's. A Human male from, he organized the shipboard security personnel of the Republic Navy into the Republic Marines. His vision, enacted at the height of the, would serve the Republic throughout its most trying times.

Biography
"A soldier is good on land, fighting soldiers. A pilot is good at flying in atmosphere and space, fighting other pilots. What we need is a new kind of soldier, capable of fighting on land, in space, or on a starship. A sort of amphibious soldier, a Marine, if you will."

- Admiral Sarkin Tobonne

The scion of a long line of Naval officers, a commonality among those of his homeworld, Tobonne entered the celebrated Anaxes Naval Academy at sixteen Standard years of age. Graduating near the top of his class, he held posts aboard warships for the first ten years of his career. At age thirty-five, he was given command of the Wayrunner, a small Republic cruiser tasked with anti-pirate patrols along the Republic's most recently-blazed s. During the course of his work, Tobonne learned the value of training in shipboard combat, as he routed out pirates and slavers. In just three years, he had successfully lured twelve pirate frigates into ambushes, using the drills he had devised for his security troops to either capture or destroy them.

Promoted to Commodore after returning to, he began to advocate for increased combat training for Navy personnel serving aboard warships. At the same time, he and his staff developed specialized weapons, armor, organizations and tactics for use by ships' security, culminating in the radical idea of forming an autonomous unit within the Navy to organize and train them. After his promotion to Rear Admiral in 5,006 BBY, he began to actively campaign for the creation of his brainchild, which he had dubbed the "Republic Marines", to serve as a sub-branch of the Navy so that it could project force not only to planets, but other starships, as circumstances dictated. The Admiralty, however, listened with only half-open ears; it took the outbreak of hostilities with 's to press home the necessity of forming such a group. Even as Sadow's forces raided Coruscant, the approved appropriations to create the Republic Marines, naming Admiral Tobonne as its first Commandant.

Tobonne used his authority to fill the new branch with his vision: elite soldiers capable of defending themselves, their vessels, and the citizens of the Republic, no matter the circumstances. Under his leadership, the Marines grew quickly, recruiting exceptional soldiers from all services, including the Army and Navy, organizing them into flexible regiments made up of semi-autonomous units that could be molded to fit the type of vessel they would serve on. In addition, he oversaw the implementation of the tactics, weapons, and equipment that he had developed in the years prior to the outbreak of war. In the centuries that followed, Tobonne would be remembered as the "father of the Marines", and his birthday observed as a branch-wide holiday whenever possible.