The information arrives in four parts.

One is a series of intelligence reports on the base of one Lord Tuscias, a mildly important alchemist with a specialty noted in the biological side of the field.  (Darth Kalbetis, as seen through the holonet, seems to acclaim herself a specialist in alchemical materials and ritual crafts, in contrast.  Surprisingly inoffensive but iconically Sithy habits, perhaps taken up to veil heterodoxy.)

The second is a delicately sketched impression of a Jedi Padawan, his lightsaber - notably, drawn separate from the Padawan - and the artifact he's keeping (surprisingly unassuming in appearance, a small silvery sculpture that's rather abstract in its design for all that it clearly seems to invoke group meditation), presumably drawn in a vision trance based on the additional notes included: 'Master dies; Padawan cannot stay in the Order, too stifled - but holds to mission?  Deep wanderlust.  Preemption impossible; will foul vibes.'

The third is a series of investigations into piracy and smuggling in one area Darth Kalbetis has an 'errand: recovering tracking material' on her itinerary, closed by the sector government as 'not worth the trouble of rooting them out'.

The fourth is dossiers of a dozen Jedi who "might be in the area, depending on our choices and the Force's whims," with idiosyncratic notes of 'avoid' and 'attract' attached thereunto - presumably, ways to steer those possibilities.

It is on one hand not too surprising that Pradnakt would be tapped to counter alchemy; she's almost certainly the only person in the galaxy able to reverse it after the process has gotten past the initial stages. On the other hand, with the resources the Force is bringing to bear, it seems implausible that it couldn't've come up with something to stop the process in or before those initial stages. On the third hand, it's not surprising that it wouldn't bother, when it can instead contrive to make her use her healing. Which is to say that she's fairly annoyed, here.

She's less sure what to make of the young Jedi, who seems to have mostly ended up involved by chance. 'Cannot stay in the order' seems promising, maybe, but who knows what he'll actually be like; once she's determined the meaning of the Padawan title she's not especially worried, though, since she should be straightforwardly able to take him in a fight if it comes to one.

Retrieving the tracking material seems to be Kalbetis' problem rather than Pradnakt's, and is presumably only included as an explanation of her winding route to meet them; the dossiers are more interesting, and Pradnakt takes the time to familiarize herself with them as she and her entourage make their way to Yaguscin.

They arrive on the planet a few days before Kalbetis is due, and rent an artist's cottage on the edge of a towering forest to relax and let Pradnakt do some sculpture in while they wait.

The entry of 'recovering tracking material' is actually after Yaguscin, as it happens.  She could involve herself, if she felt any desire to do so.

...Darth Kalbetis shares her annoyance with the Force with Lord Pradnakt, if she's being honest with herself.  Someone was allowed to get away with malfeasance and child endangerment because the Force...wanted to arrange something over/via Lord Pradnakt, as far as she can gather from analysis.  (It's moments like these that the words 'Kriffing hells, Kreia was right' start echoing in her head from a tragic chorus of frustrated future selves.)  And yet - surely the Force knows something.  Has decided on this path for a reason, of the many and varied paths she sees.  ...She's still trying to figure out its angle.  'Make Pradnakt use Force Healing' seems like a rather small goal for this depth of...shenanigans - but it's not like the Force isn't an utter opportunist.  If it can toss something it wants into its 'defuse volatile Jedi artifact' plans, it will.  And she can't see how the Sith Empire could possibly be reconciled with the Jedi no matter how many individual Sith are proven to be less awful than the Jedi Order expects.

Darth Kalbetis arrives precisely when she means to, and directs the helm to orbit Yaguscin and take resupply of the things that need to be externally sourced - precious few of those exist, given that she has taken a hull large enough to comfortably host subsidiary spacecraft and outfitted it top-to-bottom with self-sufficiency and support functions in mind, but there's always something.  She, meanwhile, will be comming Lord Pradnakt.  She's sure that the other Sith likely knows she's arrived, but she may or may not know that that she knows is known, and so on.  Better to short-circuit that.

Pradnakt does indeed know that Kalbetis is there, and answers the comm herself, despite being covered in stone dust and generally clearly in the middle of her artistry. (Was Kalbetis able to connect her current identity to her old dossier? Would it stop her from knowing about Pradnakt's hobbies if she wasn't? Pradnakt's not going to ask.) "Daisy told you where we are, right? There's a ship park a couple miles west of us that you can touch down in; I have a speeder reserved at the stand there under the name Bemlu Lanrad if you want one."

"My thanks for the consideration, though somehow I don't expect the By Other Means will quite fit in any standard ship lot.  That said, there will be a shuttle down shortly; there's authentication codes you'll need to dock with her and I prefer to avoid transmitting such things if it can at all be helped."

Hmm.  To arrive as Darth Kalbetis, or to arrive 'undercover', as was...  Both could have interesting outcomes.  (The possibility of sending an agent is weighed and dismissed; it shows insufficient respect for her fellow Sith's decision to implicitly invite her.)

That said, part of her feels rather like showing off her range, just a bit.  'As' Bemlu Lanrad it is.

And so a perky young mechanic, nametag showing a seemingly-embroidered 'Bemlu Lanrad', pilots the shuttle down from the By Other Means, an astromech aboard to handle the return trip.  (Piloting on her own behalf is a rare indulgence, but a necessary one.  In those rare occasions when her home is called to battle, understanding the ships they pilot in her defense allows more of her attention to be on the Force tying them all together.)

It takes only a little time to travel to Pradnakt's present residence, with the speeder.  (...She really should do something nice for Lord Pradnakt; few do anything but play power games when they arrange local conveyances.)

Pradnakt's gotten a shower and changed into a differently-embroidered all-black outfit by the time Kalbetis arrives, and meets her at the door to lead her inside and to the sitting room. Nine stands just inside the door, looking only slightly out of place as a guard; Daisy isn't in attendance yet but has left a plate of citrus cookies and a pitcher of berry-infused iced tea sitting on the table for the two of them.

"Well, hello, Lord Pradnakt.  It's a pleasure to meet you, as one of the few Sith evidently still capable of prosociality."  She nods to Pradnakt, and then Nine.

"Well, you know, that gets us killed in a lot of contexts. It's nice to have the opportunity, anyway." She gestures for Kalbetis to take the nicer chair, and pours glasses of tea out for both of them before taking one of the cookies. Do you sign?

The comment about 'getting us killed in a lot of contexts' has her nodding with a wince.

Not as well as I'd like to, but I can manage.

Either is fine but I do prefer it, if you'd like the practice. She swallows her bite of cookie and takes a sip of tea. "It's so nice to have access to fruit again. Which - it does seem like the Force has given you a lot of information about me and mine, but did you have any questions before we get down to things?"

Perhaps not as much as you might think; it tells me what it thinks I need to know.  That's not often as much as I want to know, and when it's correct in volume it's often wrong in focus.  "It didn't say quite so much as I imagine you were worried it may have.  A name, a time, a place.  And the situation which it wished me to plan around your presence in.  The rest...  Deduction and legwork, both.  More deduction than legwork in this case; records of you," at least the ones the she didn't find the Force dragging her to and promptly circular file because there wasn't a good reason to know that, "simply don't go very far at all, Lord Pradnakt.  So, yes, I suppose I do have questions, because deduction can only take one so far before it becomes utterly speculative.  If it should come to a fight..."

I have the feeling you'd rather not involve yourself in combat if you can help it, not right now, but I won't say that out loud.  Still, if it does, a brief overview of your skills would be useful to have prepared.  I focus on group coordination through battle meditation most of the time, but I do keep myself in form should someone try my person.  II and VI, mostly - though I've eyes sharp enough that refusing to use blasters would be rather silly of me.

She, too, is helping herself to the cookies and tea.  "My compliments to the chef, by the by."

"I'm a little surprised there were any records at all under this name," she signs along as she speaks, "I dropped out of Sith society almost entirely when I took it. I suppose hiring my librarian would have left a trace, if you knew to look for one. I've been on Lapetcher where I hired her for the last ten years, give or take, and just left a month or two ago - I dipped too far into the Dark for my tastes, and it took a while to recover to my satisfaction. I do have some enemies from before that, but nobody I'd expect to be looking for me after all this time; that said if you happen to know anything about Lord - or perhaps Darth by now - Grauzatis, or any associates of his, I'd appreciate an update. With a 'saber I favor Djem So and Shien with some Juyo and Soresu, but you're right that I'd prefer not to get into any closely-matched fights until I have some live practice, it's been a decade since I've had a sparring partner. Fortunately my sensory specialization makes that pretty easy to avoid, if I want to, and I have a Force lightning aura technique that's good for defense and decent at scaring people off if I'm cornered. I'm good at maintaining techniques, too; I don't have much experience shooting a blaster but I can catch a bolt without too much fuss, that way, if I know to be prepared for one, which I usually will."

"Mostly that and rumor, yes."

"After the disappearance of one Apprentice Deskyl, and the unexplained death of his patron, the so-called Lord Grauzatis, without Pritruth smoothing his way, rapidly and seemingly terminally - little else can explain the sudden and eerily targeted building collapse - fell afoul of someone claiming the title Lord Sandara in their communications with him, over a dispute on the appropriate allocation and utilization of sapient resources.  I do believe a so-called Lord Ocnem also met a rather terminal fate for similar reasons, if that information interests you."

"And if you'd like to spar, to break the rust off, I certainly wouldn't mind the opportunity.  Most of those who would have been rather busy lately, and sparring against droids just isn't quite the same."

"Huh, I'm not sure I'm familiar with an Ocnem," she lies, on principle. "Though if he was an associate of Grauzatis' I expect he needed it. In any case, I'd be interested in sparring, certainly."

"...No, I suppose you wouldn't be.  But he certainly deserved what he got, in my opinion," she says, her own businesslike mask and iron control of her Force presence concealing that she is now recontextualizing several pieces of information.  There's very few people who'd have issues with Grauzatis but also no knowledge he's more than ten years dead, after all - and she's seen far more information than she'd like to have needed to see, on Ocnem's various....  Abominations unto the Force (and misappropriations of sapient resources.  She can't let herself be bowled over by the enormity of slavery until she's done dismantling it or she's dead of trying.)  "In any case, the By Other Means is well-equipped for such things.  If you're prepared to depart?"

"I can be packed within an hour," she nods. "My Nightfall Spectrum is a family-sized long-distance transport; do you have room to dock it or will we be flying alongside?"

"Oh, there's definitely room for you to dock."  She permits herself a small grin.  The By Other Means is by no means as large as some of the things she's seen - large to the point of impracticality, many of them - but even building rather luxuriously for spacers, she's got plenty of room.

"All right. I saw your shuttle go back up, I assume you'll be joining us for the trip back? If so I can have Daisy return your speeder when she picks up the Spectrum."

Once the logistics are worked out, she leaves Kalbetis in the sitting room to go pack, apologizing for not having a second servant available to stay with her while she does. It doesn't take long; she only has a few data discs and changes of clothes to pack, and then the statue to wrap back up and store in the ship's hold once it's touched down outside.

"I rather should have asked you if you'd mind, first, but yes - I do need to supply the authentication codes."

She waves off the apology - "Oh, nonsense, if I cared that much about being attended I would have brought someone to attend -" and takes a moment to fondly regard the statue, even as wrapped up as it is.

"...So few of us create for the sake of creation," she murmurs, almost to herself.  "And many who would otherwise try, create terrible things for the sake of terror.  But this, even hidden as it is, is a beautiful work.  It may not be my place to offer such words, but well done."

"Thanks. If you're interested in that sort of thing, you might want to stop by Lapetcher sometime, I left a lot of artwork in the desert there."

"If I can but find the time, I'm sure I'll enjoy it."

The By Other Means awaits in orbit, Darth Kalbetis - having taken a moment in the fresher to dress herself appropriately - directing them to the rear lower docking bay, for guests that she actually wishes to keep aboard, as distinguished from the forward suite - which has quite a view, but is isolated from the actual business of the ship despite nominal proximity to the bridge, and staffed entirely by crew that can recover from dismemberment.  "Welcome to my humble abode," she quips.  "The By Other Means serves as a mobile command center for my work, though I do maintain a planetary residence to anchor certain governmental functions.  If you'd like, the guest wing is open to you, or the Nightfall Spectrum can be connected to our systems if you'd prefer to stay in the vessel you're used to inhabiting."

Pradnakt's not sick of being confined to the ship yet but that's no reason to speed the process along, and she's confident enough that its astromech will keep it properly free of bugs and other interference. (Which is to say, not necessarily free of them at all, but there won't be any she doesn't know about.) "The guest wing sounds lovely, thank you."

"This way, then."  She sets off into the ship, hailing a lift from the docking bay to the guest wing.  She gets occasional salutes from passing crewmembers, which she acknowledges without breaking stride.  "You have a choice of rooms with a view or rooms that have direct access to green space; do you have a preference?"