At Your Mercy [Mandalorian Clans, Mandalorian Empire]

[Mia Monroe]

The Femme Fatal had made a point of keeping to the edge of Mandalorian space, the fact that Ordo, the man who had banished Anaya, had retired was neither here nor there. She had fought in the wars against the mandalorians when the Sith Empire had been at its greatest, she understood that their hatred for the sith knew now bounds, more so for one seasoned at killing them.

So she sent Calina in instead.

Daughter of Anaya Fen and Jared Ovmar, Calina had been warned her reception would be far from welcoming. Cooperation may save her life, it may end up killing her. The risk was worth the reward. Word down the grapevine was that their had been a call to arms, and that their eyes were cast towards the Republic and the Sith. There was a not a great deal that Calina could say she had in common with her mother, but the desire to see the One Sith wiped from the galaxy was one of them. Each had their reasons. For Calina, it was about order. The one sith were a chaotic force and their influence on the galaxy brought nothing but disorder, something she was coming to loathe.

The small unarmed transport came out of hyperspace above Mandalore, no doubt triggering sensors across the board. Drawing in a deep breath she opened her comms channel. "My name is Calina, apprentice to Anaya Fen. I place myself at your mercy in the hopes that we can negotiate an alliance. The ship is unarmed, you have my word that I bear no ill will towards the Mandalorian people."

She sat back in the pilot's chair and waited. Praying, that for all their fury, they would at least give her the opportunity to speak before blowing her out of the sky.

 

[Titan]

The Behemoth-class assault cruiser was in orbit above Mandalore, visiting Concordia as Abraxis, captain of the vessel, had business there. Once he reached the ships bridge, one of the deck hands gave a report, "Sir, we have a transport in sector three, it jut sent a transmission." Abraxis leaned forward in his chair, wondering what the best course of action was if he blew the ship out of the sky it wouldn't help the relations between the Crusader and the Clans, the memory of the space station above Mandalore was too recent to forget. In the end, he decided to escort the ship in, "Attention unidentified ship, until further authorities arrive you will be approached by interceptors if you fire upon them. We will destroy you." The 2 squadrons of Starbird-class interceptors that the Behemoth housed were prepped and launched, all of them flying towards the transport.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

Calina tensed as a response finally came across the comms.

"Understood." she replied calmly.

She touched the yolk, gently maneuvering the ship so she could watch the interceptors coming towards her.

"So far, so good." she muttered to herself. Not being blown out of the sky at first contact was a bonus as far as she was concerned.

[member="Abraxis"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Calina Ovmar"] [member="Abraxis"]

Mirshko too had heard the hail, as it had been broadcast over open comm channels. She frowned and glanced at the chrono display in the corner of her HUD. Mom was probably still in her meeting that she'd left for a couple hours ago. 'Guess I better see what's up...' she mused to herself as she headed towards the hangars of the Protector installation. There were several scattered around Mandalore, though this one was located in the northern polar region.

With Mom gone, Mirshko still had access to a great deal of the installation. She had chosen to begin working with the Protectors after her return from Agamar and Vanquo. As such, she at least had access to the remaining ships in the Protector hangars. Among the vehicles in the hangars, she chose one of the Cabur Mk II starfighters. As a matter of habit, she had a half-squadron of Beskad class starfighters as her wing.

She'd heard the comm chatter from Abraxis and frowned slightly. The preflight checks when smoothly, and shortly Mirshko had green indicators across her board, as well from her other pilots. Coaxing the craft up on repulsors, she guided it out of the hangar before pulling back hard on the control stick and pulling for the black beyond the atmosphere. The wind howled past the cockpit canopy as she streaked toward space.

Once clear of the atmosphere, Mirshko banked the craft sharply in the direction the transmissions had come from. One craft's transponder marked it as belonging to the Mandalorian Crusaders. Of which the Crusaders were somewhat similar to the Protectors. A group unto themselves, they still served the Mandalorian people. For the moment, Mirshko opted to keep her shields up, but she left her weapons on standby, instructing the other pilots to do the same.

A flick of her finger opened an encrypted channel to Abraxis' vessel. "Crusader vessel. This is Mirshko Betna of the Mandalorian Protectors. We would appreciate your assistance in escorting this vessel to the surface. Please have your interceptors hang back. We will provide escort. Coordinates for the spaceport are attached to this message." She frowned ever so slightly behind her visor, surprised that a Crusader vessel would appear so quickly.

Normally border patrol activities were the job undertaken by the Protectors. She hoped that the captain of the other vessel would understand this. And hopefully, assist as she'd requested. Another flick of her thumb and a transmission was sent to Calina's vessel. "Unidentified vessel. This is Mirshko Betna of the Mandalorian Protectors. My vessels will escort you to the spaceport with assistance from those here. We do not intend you harm." She paused, sensing an undercurrent of tension. "May I ask what your business is with the Mandalorian Clans?"

 

[Titan]

"Understood." Abraxis replied to the message, normally he would ignore instructions like that but he had no jurisdiction here, "Just wrapping up some business on Concordia then this ship shows up. Go figure right?" He then closed the open Comm channel and opened a private one, "Black squadron return to base. Shriek-Hawk squadron, patrol formation." 12 of the fighters flew back to the cruiser while the other 12 flew around it.

[member="Calina Ovmar"] [member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

Calina breathed a sigh of relief as the escort declared no harm was intended, though she was not fool enough to think she was out of the woods yet.

"Thank you Miss Betna." she replied as the escort fell into place around her. An electronic transmission dictated the route they would take and she obliged happily. At least with ground underfoot she'd feel a little less threatened...maybe. In a weaponless transport she was a sitting duck.

"My business is with the Alor Council and your Mand'alor, if they'll see me. I'm here under peaceful terms and have no intention of ruffling feathers."

The fact that she was a sith, and Anaya Fen was sitting on the edge of their space would ruffle them enough without adding insult to injury.

[member="Abraxis"] [member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Falcon Rekali]

Spaceport
Keldabe, Manda'yaim

Of all his years in the territory of the clans, the raising of his children, and irrevocable absorption into the culture, not once had he set food on the capital until the new Mand'alor had risen the call. Never... never had he seen so many sons and daughters of Mandalore in one place. The fervour stoked had been infectious, enough to make him linger well after the gathering had begun to disperse. Truth, he was readying to depart when the bustle of an unidentified vessel far above the world frissoned through the area, staying his intentions and movements. His eyes half-lidded, face upturned, and he reached as far as he could for any one, solitary tendril that would key him into whatever or whoever had decided to show up uninvited and without credentials.

What he found did little more than raise one eyebrow on his face as his chin lowered and he drew back into himself. There was something familiar about the twinge of darkness that he discovered, there. Something that touched on a part of him he could no longer revoke, that had swallowed him in near-entirety when his riduur's soul had been ripped from this plane, and returned to him once more with the declaration of targets for the coming crusade. A darkness that was little more than a tool in most situations, but the fuel for his own thirsting eagerness for the battles to come

He turned back to his ship, the very one he had purchased on his journey to these territories so many years before, and strode up the ramp, only to turn back around and park his rear on the edge of the Postcognitor's deck; his helm sat beside him, arms going to perch on knees, hands folding together between them.

And he waited.

[member="Calina Ovmar"] | [member="Abraxis"] | [member="Mirshko Betna"]​

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Abraxis"] [member="Calina Ovmar"] [member="Falcon Rekali"]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC02KP1lP40[/media]​

​

Mirshko chuckled slightly at Abraxis' comment. It was strange indeed. Though, for Mirshko it was hard to surprise her these days. Especially after what she'd been through over the last couple years. "Can't be too careful these days...." she said in the privacy of her cockpit as the open comm went dead. She and many others were on the watch now. Especially since the recent terrorist attack. Abd she could guess that many Mando'ade would be a little jumpy and suspicious of a vessel not broadcasting a friendly IFF.

For all intents and purposes, the Clans had basically locked down their borders following the recent attacks. She was frankly surprised the vessel had been allowed passage as far as it had. But, the occupant of the vessel had said her business lay with the Alor'e Council and the Mand'alor. Mirshko frowned slightly. It was strange that a woman who was not of Mandalorian space seemed to know so much. Feth, even the declaration of [member="Ra Vizsla"] as Mand'alor had been perhaps a week or two before. Whoever she was, it seemed she had some pretty good sources.

Shrugging slightly, Mirshko sighed and ordered her own Beskad fighters into an escort formation as well. Their formation augmented Abraxis' own. She still found it strange to be performing escort duty, but she supposed it came with the job. Shaking her head mostly at herself, Mirshko turned her attention back to flying. It didn't take them long to transit down through the atmosphere, and Mirshko was glad when the muffled roar of the wind ripping past the vessels began to die down.

A deep breath settled her sudden case of nerves to a degree, but Mirshko kept herself locked down pretty tightly in the Force. Only the barest thread was left to gather a general sense of what was around her. There was no need to announce her presence like a beacon lit in the night. Flexing her fingers around the control stick, Mirshko banked her Beskad towards the main spaceport in Keldabe. She knew from there it shouldn't be too long of a transit to the building where the Alor'e Council met. A couple deep breaths to help her focus again, and Mirshko began to pull back slightly to allow the larger vessel to land. The landing bay that the vessel had been assigned to was large enough that Mirshko landed her own fighter beside it, and she saw a couple of Abraxis' pilots do the same as well as some of her own.

 

[Mia Monroe]

Calina let out a low hustle as the passed over the city, marvelling at the sheer number of mandalorians present, their armour glinting in the sunlight. It was clear that if this went wrong, she was dead.

She might have been well trained, but other than fighting with Anaya, Calina had never been in combat, many of these men were seasoned warriors. She was outmanned, out gunned and well behind what most sith would consider enemy lines.

"Thank you, mother." She muttered bitterly to herself. She guided the ship gently into the landing bay, settling the struts on the ground with a grace that would have made Luke proud. A stab of sorrow swept through her and she pushed it aside. Now was not the time to mourn.

Powering down the ship she closed her eyes, briefly she extended her senses, trying to get a feel for what she was walking into. There was tension, that much was certain, but nothing that gave her reason to believe she was in immediate danger.

Rising from the pilots chair, she lowered the landing ramp, her lightsaber in her hand. She would offer it to whoever came to greet her. Further proof that she was not here to fight, no matter how reluctant she was to let he to my comfort go. Her mothers instructions had been clear.

[member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Falcon Rekali"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

M A N D A L O R E​

​

Keldabe​

​

[member="Calina Ovmar"] [member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Falcon Rekali"] [member="Abraxis"]​

An incoming transmission came across all spaceport comms units.

"Land and inspect the vessel.​

​

Escort the passengers to the Oyu'baat Tapcafe in Keldabe.​

​

Mand'alor will meet them there."​

 

[Mia Monroe]

Spoiler

@mirahko Betna [member="Falcon Rekali"] [member="Abraxis"]
ooc: I'm impatient and I need to move Calina's story along. Sorry guys.

They would find nothing on her ship. Weaponless as she'd advised it was void of anything dangerous or valuable. she was greeted by a handful of guns pointing at her. She expected as much, but that did little to calm her nerves. Taking a deep breath she exhaled slowly.

They led her across Keldabe, drawing eyes towards her as she was marched at gun point to the tapcafe. She mustered what courage she had and did her beater to muster an air of confidence much like her mother would when the situation was not in her favour.

Once inside the Oyu'baat, she offered a small bow, images of being decapited running rampant across her mind as she did. "Mand'alor." She greeted steeping forward. "It is a great honour to meet you."

[member="Ra Vizsla"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

M A N D A L O R E

Oyu'baat Tapcaf, Keldabe

Mand'alor looked up.

A pretty girl.

Mand'alor looked back down and continued eating.

It was a brilliant sandwhich. Topped with onions, lettuce, and some sort of dijon mustard imported from the newly liberated Coruscant. Mythosaur bone salt crested the top of the sandwhich as the meat of the Dantooine Plains Turkey stuck out from both side. Ra had recently returned from testing the cloaca explosives on the Turkeys, to much success. He had been pleased, but the entire testing round here on Mandalore had sent him into a sort of feverish hunger that could only, for some reason, be sated by turkeys.

He continued to engulf his meal, slurping down some Mandalorian wine as he silently sat at his table. Seven armed Protectors stood around the cafe. It was emptied, for the most part. Only the chef and his crew stood by.

Ra did not acknowledge the girl.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Titan]

Titan, garbed in his more practical armor rather than his full ceremonial armor, walked out of the bathroom, and saw the current Manda'lor, and here Titan thought that he was one of the few people who still remembered this place. Rather than leaving, as Titan probably should have, he leaned against the wall. Watching and waiting, thinking why he, a Kryze, had pledged his alliegence to a Vizsla, Clan Kryze's sworn enemies, well enemies as much as Clans can be, for almost a millennia. But perhaps it was time to let wounds heal and to move on, for the good of Mandalore. He looked around and saw a girl entering the building accompanied by a few soldiers, already in the bar were a few Protectors, at least that's who Titan assumed they were. Titan waited to see if Manda'lor would kick him out, or allow him to stay.

[member="Ra Vizsla"] [member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

Calina's brow creased slightly, she wasn't unaccustomed to being ignored, but it didn't stop her from hating it. She took another couple of steps forward, hands coming to rest on the back of the chair opposite.

She eyes the guards around them, pulled the chair out, dragging it loudly across the floor. Settling into it, she paused, picking a stray thread from her trousers before scoring the chair forward, deliberately causing more noise as it scraped across the floor with a little more intensity with her added weight.

Settling her forearms on the table she studied [member="Ra Vizsla"] intensely. He was far older than she, had an aura of an animal about him, a rugged beard covered his jaw, catching crumbs from his sandwich. He was, she supposed, in his own way attractive. She had no doubt in different times, her mother would have been all over that.

She sniffed, loudly and took feigned interest in her nails, picking the dirt out from underneath them.

 

[Ra Vizsla]

M A N D A L O R E

Oyu'baat Tapcaf, Keldabe

----​

​

This turkey sandwhich was karking bomb.​

​

Seriously, the texture, the mustard, the additives, even the grease.​

​

Even the damned bread.​

Ra finished his glass of Mandalorian Wine, and he motioned to the bartender at the Cafe that he was read for another one. One of the soldiers stepped forward, silently whispering into the waiter's ear that the Mand'alor would like another sandwich. The waiter nodded, heading to the back of the Tapcaf to inform the chef. Another sandwich came out just as Ra had finished the first.

He picked it up and studied it for a moment, silently staring into it as if this one particular sandwich possessed all of the answers in the universe. The Force, Chi, Akala, the Otherworld, the Netherworld - the very nexus of life in the outer reaches of space - none of it paled in comparison to the magnificence that was this Dantooine Plains Turkey Burger found at the Oyu'Baat TapCaf for only 7.99 credits. This was possibly the most amazing meal Ra had ever had, he thought at the current time. Possibly even the most amazing experience he had ever had.

Ra looked up, across the table, for a moment.

And then dived back into his sandwich.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

Are you karking kidding me!?!

Calina watched as the second sandwich arrived, her lips thinning in irritation as she resisted, only just mind you, from slapping the damn thing from out of his hands.

Was it a a show of power? A way for him to prove that she had no control here? It's not like she didn't know that already. He studied it with intensity before looking at her and continuing to eat.

She but her tongue, lowered her eyes back to her hands and began to hum along with the music playing quietly in the background. Her I gets began to tap along with the beat.

[member="Ra Vizsla"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

M A N D A L O R E

Oyu'baat Tapcaf, Keldabe

----

Mand'alor was beginning to develop an emotional bond with this sandwich.

On West Dantooine, born and raised, on a turkey ranch is where it had spent most of its days. Chilled out, domesticated, relaxing in the cool. Training for a war against some Galactic Republic fool. Then a couple of Crusaders, they were up to no good. They started rounding up the turkeys of the neighborhood. Then one turkey got in one little fight and it's trainer got scared, she said... You're dead. Yeah, they shot that turkey dead on the spot. Just outright executed it. Right to the dome, two slugs. No gobbling, no sounds. Just dropped right there.

After some production, some filtering, and some cooking - that turkey now ended up on Ra's plate, between two slices of bread. Burnt crispy turkey. The Mand'alor didn't know if he could give it up, or let it down.

All he knew is that he was going to turn it around and bite it. He took pause for a second, thinking.

And then yeah, he bit it.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

Calina had had enough, against better judgement she reached across the table and put a hand over the sandwich before he could take another bite.

"With all due respect, I didn't come behind enemy lines to watch you stuff your face with, a rather tasty looking sandwich. Are you going to talk to me or shall I leave?"

[member="Ra Vizsla"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

Ra put down his burger, taking on last swig of wine before fixating his glowing green pupils on the woman.

"Who are you and what business do you have on Mandalore," he asked, pointedly.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

Spoiler

Sorry, work kinda swallowed me this week! :/

The trip across Keldabe itself was quick and thankfully uneventful. But Mirshko was still uneasy about the whole thing. Regardless, she took a deep breath and did as the vessel instructed. They found nothing worth noting during their inspection of the vessel, which made things simpler. Mirshko shook her head at that line of thought. She still wasn't sure what exactly the woman wanted with the Alor'e Council. let alone Mand'alor himself. But, Mand'alor was at least willing to meet with her.

Which was what the woman seemed to want. As they made their way inside the Oyu'baat. Mirshko found herself blinking as she stepped into the relative dimness. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust after being out in the bright sunshine. She remained a few paces behind the woman as they moved deeper into the tapcafe. She knew some of the Protectors, as she'd been working with them for the last several months. But there were also many she didn't know. Mom and Da had built the Protectors up from nothing as they re-established a centuries old group.

A faint frown crossed her face for a moment as the watched the two - Ra seemingly ignoring the woman as he continued eating. She knew he was doing it on purpose. But what that might be, she wasn't sure. For now, she contented herself with choosing a seat nearby and quietly ordering herself a glass of wine and a sandwich.

[member="Ra Vizsla"] [member="Calina Ovmar"] [member="Titan Kryze"] [member="Falcon Rekali"] [member="Abraxis"]