Throne Room

~ Earlier that Day ~

The Empress of the Dark Jedi had received a transmission--an update from Count Aderon Dooku. Nearly a month ago, she had tasked him with a challenge to prove his loyalty and skills. He did not disappoint. She had expected such a task to take several months to conclude. His final report to her, though, came swiftly. Mariah hadn't the time to even appreciate the newfound peace after the last fiasco.

Although his report remained matter-of-fact as she had expected, it also raised several red flags that sparked a sense of importance. With the newest of details coming to light, Mariah sought an emergency audience with The Fallen to meet her immediately within the throne room. Before leaving to meet with him, though, the Empress also sent out a rather unexpected and critical command through the order's HoloNet, requesting a small squad to gather supplies, prepare a ship, and be ready to leave by the end of the day. Although she would have preferred handling such matters alone, Mariah was wholly aware that the remaining unknowns posed too great of a risk for her alone to bear.

~ Present Time ~

Clad in her sparring outfit with sabers and knives attached and at-the-ready, Mariah burst through the doors into the throne room, and although she carried her usual glaring expression, she walked with hastened, silent steps across the massive expanse of black marble floors. Luckily for Ifrit, Mariah could easily make out his dominating figure from the other side of the room, quietly putting out any flames of wrath she prepared to lash out upon him had he kept her waiting. While others may have bowed or had shown respect in another manner, Mariah wasted no time with such petty formalities. Instead, she stopped just shy of his personal space, and the moment she came to that abrupt halt, the crimson-haired warrior began her harsh briefing with no greetings or other time-consuming small-talk.

"You've let in spies," Mariah accused as though shattering open the doors to Chaos' hellfire. "We've been compromised since the beginning. I have a current location where they fled after being found out, and I'm currently gathering a team to leave with me to handle this matter appropriately. I advise that you not allow anyone new into the Temple until my return."

Much was missing from this picture, but Mariah hadn't the time nor patience to start at the beginning. The disturbance, her meeting with Count Aderon Dooku and the task she had bestowed upon him, her suspicions confirmed--all that with a few shrouded details of import she dared not focus on now, else she would bring the whole planet in question to its knees under the weight of her wrath. At this present moment in time, all Mariah cared about was briefing him on these bare basics before departing--'proper protocol' or something similar that she abhorred but dealt with, for the sake of her title alone. Besides, it wasn't beyond her knowledge that Eris very well may have briefed him on these affairs already. It would be poor for his health, though, to reveal his awareness of the issue while leaving her to handle the clean-up.

Ifrit's words burned with an infuriating meld of collected falsities. It was bound to happen, he said to her, a woman who openly voiced the number of times she had been that spy. When they had knowledge and experience on their side, there was no reason it should have. There were always telltale signs of deception, no matter how well someone worked. It was that experience that kept her mind open to the Force for such possibilities, and why, she believed, she felt the disturbance to begin with. This breach was inexcusable, but now was not the time to pick apart his argument. She would leave him within his bliss of ignorance if it meant moving faster.

Mariah didn't move from where she stood, like an unwavering statue before the seven-foot demon. Although her eyes narrowed upon him at his mention of joining her, there was little that she could protest about it. Even if it inevitably became her mess, it was primarily his mess to clean up. It would mean the utmost caution on her part, but this was in his realm to correct his mistakes. At the mention of her ship, though, Mariah scoffed a laugh.

"That was the plan. If you want to venture onto the planet armed to the teeth, you have an array of armaments at your disposal when it comes to ships," Mariah said pointedly with a joyless laugh. "My ship makes us a bit less noticeable and less likely to be pinpointed as a threat by this thoughtless group. But by all means, if you're asserting yourself and demanding to come, choose what you will. Just don't make this more of a mess than it already is."

Mariah revealed her seething with sharp words cutting through gritted teeth. With a cock of her head, it was as though the small, crimson-haired woman was sizing up this man she led this order. He had put her in a situation, and because of it, Mariah despised him at this present point in time. However, even she wasn't so ignorant to believe that Ifrit was the enemy. Just as she was a novice when it came to the arts of magicks, so was he a novice when it came to subtlety or subterfuge. His blindness may have failed them, but for now, she would need to rein back her anger until such a time that she could unleash it upon the true foe.

"My source confirmed that they were located somewhere within the Teraab sector," Mariah further explained after a brief sigh, her fiery tones now burning embers underneath a calm exterior. "It was later revealed that Ruusan is their headquarters' location. We were able to pinpoint where on the surface they fled, but an aerial view showed nothing out of the ordinary. Further research revealed some source of a cavern or hollowness underground nearby, though, which is where we suspect them to be hiding. However, we have no confirmation of their numbers or defenses. We will have to assume that they're well-armed and aware of our imminent arrival."

The thought that this was one of the Blackguard's minions had never crossed Mariah's mind. In truth, she had pinpointed the Sith'ari and the Jen'ari to create a more conspicuous and blatant presence should they ever step foot on Ambria. With such a treaty intact, all it would take was a single word for Ifrit to kneel to their whims. That was the risk he took when allying his order with them. He claimed it a necessary evil, and as much as Mariah despised it, perhaps it was. However, with the Dark Jedi dangling on Sith strings, subterfuge was rendered useless between the two orders. That was unless Viox or Malvus simply grew bored. To Mariah, though, she had deemed it highly unlikely. Who they were was still an unknown, and the unknown, especially in this scenario, infuriated the crimson-haired woman.

If there was anything else Mariah could have latched onto to fuel her fury, Ifrit refused to simply hand that over. It seemed that over their time together, he had understood her harsh demeanor and took matters into his own hands to parry her sharpened tones. From the blunt confirmation that her ship would be used to preparing backup should anything go awry, the Fallen seemed prepared to own up to the breach and aid her in squashing the perpetrators.

With Mariah's hands clasped behind her back, she tilted her chin and held herself in as strong of a posture as a five-foot woman could manage. For a man like Ifrit who knew her might, though, such a stance was posed as both a warning for him and for the imminent hellfire to come.

"Very well," she uttered in low, eerily calm tones. "We leave before Amber sets beneath the Canyon. Be sure to have everything prepared by then."

Ideally, they would have left within the hour, but to be fully prepared for their enigmatic enemy, Mariah had loosened the time frame to ensure proper time to supply and prepare. With Ifrit's own team being prepped to also come, that judgment proved to be in her favor. It would grant him time to make those arrangements to strengthen the assembly she had built. It posed its own risk for both the Fallen and the Empress to go off-world on the same mission. However, if this played out the Mariah was preparing for, they would be back on Ambria before word fully reached every person in the Temple. She would ensure that all of Chaos broke loose the moment she stepped foot into that underground bunker and that it would be left a wasteland to fall in on itself.

"Don't be late to the hangars. I won't wait, Ifrit. I'll run the risk of storming the planet on my own if I have to."

If Ifrit had learned how to call her bluffs, he would know that Mariah wasn't in this case. The fire in her eyes and her steady tones proved that she had long thought this out and that nothing would stop her from dealing with this enemy. With nothing more to say, though, Mariah nodded her head in a silent farewell and turned on a heel. Departing from the throne room, she had her own tasks to tend to, to prepare herself for what was to come.

As Amber slowly crept to meet the Canyon horizon, Mariah would be armed to the teeth and ready to depart at her sanctioned deadline, and not a minute later.