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.