Dominion Another One Bites the Dust [MP Dom of Orleon and Trasse]

[Arla Rodarch]

Perlemian Trade Route
Morut be te Kyr'bes

It was a surreal feeling for Arla, to stand and withstand Mia's understandable and very justified fury, knowing that every word she said was true. She did not know how it could be thus. Despite her worry, which gnawed at her as she ran through the possibilities; as she had been doing since she had been notified. She stood stock still, rigid, features tight as she gave an accounting of herself and her command.

"Even when he is in privacy, there are two teams dedicated to covering the Mand'alor. One is overt, one is covert. When he is at his Forge, as was his last known location, he is monitored electronically and with sensors, with support only meters away. Our security was not breached. None of the Force-sensitives among my people reported any disturbance. All accounts agree that he was simply there, and then he was not. There is no sign of what occured."

Arla worked to keep her voice even and measured, coldly reading off facts from her own mental checklist. Angry as Mia was with her, that rage paled into how furious the Echani woman was with herself. She had failed, personally. And she knew it. She had no excuse, because she had no explanation. All she could do here was report the facts that she knew, which was not very useful.

"Lost, in this case, means gone. There are no natural means by which he could have evaded surveillance, if that is what he chose to do. That leaves only unnatural explanations. My people followed procedure and protocol at all times."

And yet, you lost him, and cannot shabla explain how. It was the ultimate professional sin. Arla cursed herself. But she had to keep that aside, and focus on finding out just what had happened. Only then could any of them decide what to do about the situation. It was the most unpleasant feeling, failure. It reminded her of her capture and torture. And that made her angry. She could not help but feel responsible, even though logically she knew deep down that she could not be.

She doubted that the other Mandalorian Protectors would be as forgiving either, for she had taken up the duty and somehow, lost her protectee.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

No disturbance in the force. No security breach. Nothing.

He was just gone.

Mia ran through a checklist of people that would have vested interest in removing Ijaat, with Darth Carnifex being suspect number one, but how likely was it that someone would have gotten past the Journeyman Protector's undetected? He had become withdrawn, obsessing over whatever he was working on in his forge, and when he'd come out...he'd been strained, not quite himself.

So had Arla truly failed? Or had Ijaat simply abandoned them?

A fresh wave of anger rolled over her, her fist slamming into the desk with force enough to dent it. "KARK!"

She reached for the comms. "Get me a secure line to the Warmaster, now." There was a click of acknowledgement before the comms officer confirmed a secure link. "Drego, what or whoever you are shooting, I need you to kill them quickly. I need you on the Morut, now..." she looked at Arla and shook her head "...our mand'alor has left."

She closed her eyes and sank back into the chair.

"Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum... I will always love you, Mia Monroe. And as you are at my side, so will I be at yours. And I will honor my promise just now to you, as well as this one too: I will remind you that your are flesh and blood, and must sometimes tend to your own heart as well."

You lying bastard.

A well of emotion rose, in her chest and she swallowed hard against it. "He was last seen in his forge?" she asked, fighting to keep her voice even.

Arla Rodarch Drego Ruus

 

[Arla Rodarch]

Perlemian Trade Route
Morut be te Kyr'bes

Arla waited while Mia Monroe commed Drego Ruus . She didn't expect their Warmaster to be any happier about the situation than the two women were. She felt a slim hope that military intelligence sources might have provided Drego with something she did not know; but she knew that was unlikely. Military Intelligence was good, but the Journeyman Protectors' primary task was keeping the Mand'alor safe from threats. They knew their business.

The Marshal hadn't had time to feel the betrayal that Mia felt so keenly, for she still felt the crushing weight of responsibility and failure in equal measure. She kept her professional reserve, but inwardly she was still trying to make sense of things.

There was no possibility she could possibly envisage that had not already been ruled out by the Journeyman Protectors' technical and humint capabilities. All they knew is that the Mand'alor was gone. How, and Why seemed complete opaque possibilities to all eyes. The investigation that Arla herself had begun was continuing as Mia and Arla convened. The area would be scanned and scanned again, deeply. The reports and monitoring data would be pored over by different and unique sets of perspectives. Nothing would be left to chance. Unfortunately, it already looked like a foregone conclusion that nothing new would be found to add to what was known.

Ijaat was just gone.

And Arla had lost him.

"He was in his forge. Then he was not. I cannot explain a how or a why."

Before she had contacted Mia to inform her, Arla herself had pored over all of those very same security holos, scan results, and read the reports by the Force sensitives on the surveillance teams. Arla could not see any detail which had been missed, or overlooked. So many varied and detached, unconnected sources, and they all said the very same thing.

"We will investigate further, but it does not seem likely that we will find anything."

The Mand'alor was gone.

 

[Drego Ruus]

Tag: Mia Monroe
​

The heavy particle blasters of his War Jaws filled the air, as Drego mowed through old NIO battle droids.

Suddenly, his comm rang.

"Little Busy Mi-"

"Drego, what or whoever you are shooting, I need you to kill them quickly. I need you on the Morut, now..." she looked at Arla and shook her head "...our mand'alor has left."

There was a pause as Mia spoke.

"...what?"

Left? LEFT?!

"...he just...walked away? Disappeared?!"

The Senate meeting had been a disaster, sure, but...

 

[Mia Monroe]

Rage and confusion swirled about her. How could he just disappear? She passed a hand over her face. How fast she was to jump to the conclusion he'd left. But it was easy to think that wasn't it. "I want a copy of the security tapes, and then you and I will go over that forge with a fine toothcomb." She told Arla Rodarch as Drego Ruus 's voice crackled over the comms, peppered with the background noise of a fight.

She reached a hand to the comms to respond. "We don't know anything for sure. Left, taken, MIA. Whatever has happened, at this point in time, Ijaat is nowhere to be found. I need you up here, Drego we need to make a plan."

Her mind was racing. Without a mand'alor, where did that leave them? How many clans would stay with the protectors without a leader to unite under? her eyes shifted back to Arla, and she rose from her chair, moving to a drinks cabinet, pulling two glasses and a bottle of Corellian whisky, pouring them both a drink, she pointed at the chair Arla was standing in front of.

"Sit. Drink."
​

 

[Arla Rodarch]

Perlemian Trade Route
Morut be te Kyr'bes

With Mia Monroe 's exasperation fairly obvious, Arla didn't waste any time. She retrieved a datacard from her belt and placed it on the desk, and then took the offered seat. The datacard contained a copy of all security holos, logs, and reports from the security teams.

"Not normally while on duty... but yeah. Drink. Thanks." Arla choked out the words over themselves, her thoughts still racing and refusing to settle.

She tried to allow the stress to leave her, but it didn't. She couldn't force herself to relax all the way. The situation was too serious, and far too personal. She hated unsolvable problems. Still, she could not let go the obvious reality that they hadn't missed anything, that Ijaat was just, gone.

The Marshal highly doubted that Drego Ruus was going to be any happier when he arrived. Arla's hand took the offered whisky. Not normally while on duty indeed, but she damn well needed a drink. Situations this messed up basically demanded one.

 

[Drego Ruus]

​

Leaving a fight like this early was practically an act of cowardice for him.

But he had other responsibilities now.

Turning to Liorra and Kurayami Bloodborn , the man clad in bronzed armor looked with a sorrow in his helm as he spoke. "You two need to handle this. I need to get back to the ship and speak with Mia. I'm leaving the War Jaws here for support. Either of you are free to pilot it."

And with that, he was off.

Tag: Mia Monroe Arla Rodarch ​

The whole trip, Drego couldn't stop tapping his foot on the floorboard of his ship.

Gone.

The Manda'lor, the man they had all rallied around. Gone.

What the fuck were the Journeymen for if not to keep track of him?!

As he landed, he took a breath. Alright, level head. You can blow up later. A short trip into the building and Drego found them.

"...alright." He said as he entered, looking to the two with that same blank expression, but he voice carried an annoyed tone. "...run this by me one more time..."

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia sipped at her own glass resting it on her temple, while her free hand collected the data card, sliding it into a holoprojector on her desk. "You can't be on duty when there's no Mand'alor to protect, Arla." Harsh words, even for her. Arla was a proud woman and she had no doubt that she was feeling the failure far more keenly than she was displaying but Mia was beyond the point of care, her own emotion roiling dangerously close to the surface.

She watched the feed in silence flicking between different angles, rewinding and watching the same point over and over again. Arla wasn't lying. one moment he was there, the next he wasn't. Mia looked up from the feed as Drego entered, pausing it, her glass empty but back against her temple where a dull thumping ache had begun to form.

"Watch."

It was the only word of greeting she offered the Warmaster, all manners under the circumstances has vanished. She rewound and replayed the feed for him, though her sapphire gaze had settled on Arla. "Fill in the gaps, Marshall Rodarch." She turned her gaze away, letting Arla repeat the explanation to Drego, watching the black blanket of stars beyond the office's viewport.

Where are you Ijaat?

Arla Rodarch Drego Ruus

 

[Arla Rodarch]

Perlemian Trade Route
Morut be te Kyr'bes

Despite her worry, which continued to chew at her gut as she ran through the possibilities once more, it was a surreal feeling for Arla, to stand and withstand judgement which she herself had already failed herself on. She'd even violated the Mand'alor's privacy to keep him secure, and even that had failed them. She sat with her drink and retold the tale of woe.

"In private, there are two teams dedicated to covering the Mand'alor. One is overt, one is covert.

When he is at his Forge, his last known location, he is monitored electronically and with sensors, with support only meters away.

In addition there are Force-sensitive operatives within both overt and covert security teams."

Arla kept her voice even and measured, reading off the same facts presented to Mia, and now to Drego from her own mental checklist. She had failed, personally. And she knew it. She had no excuse, because she had no explanation.

"There are no natural means by which he could have evaded surveillance, if that is what occured."

And yet, you lost him, and cannot explain how. The ultimate professional sin.

She could only feel responsible, even though logically she knew deep down that she could not be.

Mia Monroe Drego Ruus

 

[Drego Ruus]

Tag: Mia Monroe Arla Rodarch
​

"So he's just...gone? Poof? Just like that? Do we have any proof of some sort of teleportation? I mean, fark, who knows, maybe Darth Carnifex folded space or some Force chit. I don't know." Drego growled as he heard what had happened. "Mia, what's the plan? What do we tell the men?"

They could handle the fact he was gone later. They needed a plan to tell the vod.

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia gave a derisive snort at the mention of Darth Carnifex . "As much as I'm such that piece of chit would love to take credit, he would have been vocal about how easy it was to snatch our own leader out from under our noses. In fact, he'd take great pleasure in informing me." This wasn't Kaine's work of that she was at least ninety nine percent certain. The one percent of her that doubted that conviction contemplated for the briefest of moments the possibility that Kaine was interfering in their leadership once more and whether she should expect pieces of Ijaat to be delivered to her.

She shook the thought and took a deep breath, forcing her own emotion aside. Feeling Drego's eyes on her seeking an answer. they couldn't afford for Mia to become absorbed by her emotions, to slip into her own world. Now more than ever, they needed her.

"We tell them the truth. That he's gone. That we have no leads on where, how or who may have taken him, if he was taken." Her eyes shifted to settle on Arla "The journeyman will dispatch across the galaxy and search under every rock until they find a lead. They will follow every whisper they can. Start with those outside of the Protectors he may have met with. You will remain on Mandalore to bear the brunt of the Journeyman's failure."

Her gaze shifted to Drego. "We will need to form a group that can help govern things until his is found. Or until a new Mand'alor is chosen. Start making a list of potential candidates to be vetted. I'll send word out to the Alors that we need to meet."


Drego Ruus Arla Rodarch



​

 

[Arla Rodarch]

Perlemian Trade Route
Morut be te Kyr'bes

Arla still felt the crushing weight of failure, and despite the rebuke, didn't trust herself to speak up. She nodded her assent, and walked away, leaving Mia Monroe and Drego Ruus to discuss their options. She left Mia's ship and returned to the Journeyman via shuttlecraft.

As soon as she was aboard her own ship once more, Arla gave orders to return to Manda'yaim. There, things would be settled, she would go over the data and the Mand'alors forge again and again, and ensure that nothing remained unchecked and unverified. They would get what answers they could.

Then the healing and progress for the Mandalorian people could begin.

 

[Drego Ruus]

Tag: Arla Rodarch Mia Monroe
​

So that was it.

Alright then.

His mind shifted gears. Candidates. That, he could do.

" Aloy Vizsla has some clout. Rest of the Vizslas trust them, and if I think we could too. Shuklaar Kyrdol is another good call. He's already working out our arms anyways. We'll need vod who are invested in the Protectors. Too many of our people are spread to the stars. We'll need to figure out positions. I'm not leaving my position as Warmaster, and you're still the best bet as temporary leader for now. But..." He growled under his helm. "I wouldn't go around calling yourself Manda'lor anymore. If Ijaat is gone, I say we retire the title for now."