New Leader, Familiar Ideals

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

“And you ask me why I do it…I just wish I would have thought that up myself.”

Lia had only barely huffed in reply to her brother, her attention focused on the mandos near Bane. They were, obviously, talking…and so she hadn’t bothered to take a better aim once the man pulled his helmet off and looked in her direction. Instead, she simply narrowed her eyes a bit and huffed again…chuckling slightly once the shorter woman attempted to block her laser sight, then pulled a chair over and stood on it to accomplish her goal. Funny, really…she’d have done the same thing for Rish. Shaking her head at the thought, she quirked an eyebrow at her brother’s words as she watched yet MORE vod walk up to Bane.

“Two trandoshans walk into a cantina…”

An’ one butter-brained assassin goes over to Mand’alor ta see what the hell is going on an’ say who, if anyone, his sister should shoot. There’s a nice little flock over there now. The group of giants over there nearly mobbed Bane…can’t miss ‘em, their leader’s the tallest thing there…but was one o’ theirs that chucked the fruit. Now I can’ tell what’s goin’ on over there. It’s keepin’ my eyes preoccupied in a place they might not need ta be.

She paused a moment, scanning over the small crowd gathered around Bane. Much as she felt it wasn’t a threat…now…she didn’t want to take chances. Even when one of the di’kutla turned and waved at her….DESPITE the fact she was out of sight over the crest of a hill…she simply rolled her eyes and kept her aim firmly planted. Why the hell, she had to wonder, would anyone in their right mind want to let a sniper know that someone knew they were there? The last thing you wanted to do was put a sniper on their guard…made it that much more difficult to sneak up on one, and it didn’t tend to put fanatics or professionals off their game. Had she been trying to kill Bane (and oh how that thought made her laugh), she wouldn’t have cared if others knew where she was, she would have been prepared to die to take her shot anyway. You couldn’t learn things from a dead person anyway. Hell, if she’d been trying to kill Mand’alor, she’d have had a cyanide pill set to go in case of eminent capture. Besides…did these idiots really think that something like this wouldn’t have security?

Great…Itani, some di’kut utreekov down there just blew my cover for any potential threats watching…can I get some crowd control please? Frell, whaddo they think? Just cause this place is full of Mando’ade that they won’t have security? Manda help me…I don’ think there’s a curse strong enough for this.

After a long moment, she shook her head and sighed.

…Ni liniba gal…I can’t wait to get off this rock.

It had been a long time since she’d admitted to needing a good, stiff, drink…but she sure as hell needed one right about now. The thought, however, was kept to herself. She wasn’t about to let her brother know she was leaving today…she wasn’t letting anyone know she was leaving today. Only Bane knew she had left the Ops, and only partially knew why…but her mother, her brother, any of the others…especially not Daryn…no one knew she was going. That was the point, after all, to vanish without a trace and just…get lost. Literally. The frustration of having her cover blown by some idiot didn’t help her sour mood any. At least the others, the ones she’d been aiming at, had sense enough to let her know that they knew she was there…and do it fairly subtly. It had earned them a bit of professional respect at least.

[Mara]

(((Oh, not nice, Lat! )))


As she got closer to Bane and the group of Mandalorians surrounding him, the ones who had ambushed him after his stage exit, Ambria slowed even further. She was still a good distance away, but her sniper's eye could determine that the leader of the band was talking with Bane. Despite that she wanted to congratulate her former CO on becoming Mandalore, she didn't want to interrupt anyone else doing the same, or perhaps delivering some much-needed intel to their new leader. At least there was still a good number of other Mandalorians milling around, some maneuvering their way out, others waiting like her to offer kind words. So she wouldn't look out of place just standing off to herself; she was merely waiting like everyone else among the colored armor congregation.

Ambria relished the time to herself, though she was in a crowd, to just... be. At that moment she was no one. She was not a lieutenant in the Mandalorian army, spec ops. She was not a sniper or a medic. She was just... Ambria. She was Mandalorian, and that was all that mattered for the moment. The only thing that would make it better was to feel a breeze over her dark-skinned face, but she didn't dare take off her helmet, preferring to remain anonymous a few moments longer. As anonymous as one with her trademark amber-colored armor could be. Her concession to leaving on the helmet lead her to keep her comm off, having shut it down for the ceremony. Ambria contented herself with turning her visor upwards and staring at the few clouds with her HUD, subconsciously and automatically calculating the distance to each one as if they were targets.

So lost was she in her thoughts, thoughts that were so far thankfully Turin-free and military-free, she was surprised by a light touch she felt at the back of her armor. No doubt if she had been clad in regular clothes the gesture would have sent her diving around for the culprit. As it was, her head snapped down, and she cycled through her 360-degree view through her helmet, looking for anyone would could have done it. If it hadn't been for where she had felt the touch, Ambria would have attributed it to the crowd, bumping and jostling. But that... that had been most definitely intentional. Her green eyes narrowed as she caught what she thought was Itani disappearing behind a couple of Mandalorians in dark red armor, standing out because he was not clad in armor.

She quickly considered and then tossed away the idea of going after him, or even just pulling him up on the spec ops comm frequency that she was sure he could still be using from Shogun. Instead, she just turned back to her place in the haphazard line that was forming towards Bane and the group of Mandalorians he was discussing something with. This was too great a moment to be ruined by a childish prank. She would do what she came for, then go after Itani. Not before.