"...Regardless, next, their Healer.

"Kypora Bani, Jedi Sentinel, one-woman field hospital - a practitioner of the apocryphal 'Form Zero' first and foremost, though she seems to have a half-decent Soresu if sorely pressed.  She's good at her job, but her job has not extended to treating alchemy victims before and she thinks she knows as much as anyone does about Force Healing.  As much as any Jedi, perhaps, but Jedi we are not."

"Quite. - Daisy, I don't care what she says, she's not allowed to bring me home with her."

Darth Kalbetis also nods.

"Last, and certainly not least in the slightest..."

"One Master Fynn'che Ries, the Consular who is a Shadow - or rather, the Shadow who is a Consular.  If anything seems an apt point of comparison...  This one is a Jedi's version of me, and equally as dangerous.  I've gotten reports of what could only be them travelling through Sith space unmolested by virtue of their sabacc face and slicing skill.  That several offensives fell apart afterwards...  I can't prove it was them, Lord Pradnakt.  I'm glad no-one else was able to catch enough to ask me to try.  I'd be able to do nothing else with my time if I wanted to even look like I could succeed in that.

"They travel with a medical/attendant droid, W5-H4, after an unspecified incident in their earlier career that I can't find records of - and I'm sure I don't need to tell you this but do not underestimate them, either.  Just because the Jedi don't use class-four programming that much doesn't mean their droids aren't utter menaces when pushed."

She nods. "Is there a reason not to offer to fix whatever the droid is there for, if it comes up?"

"...I can't rightly tell you.  I suspect it may be psychosomatic, whatever it actually is.  It's not like the Jedi's Healers wouldn't have tried."

She nods again. "Well, we'll see. What's our strategy?"

"...I think that that partially depends upon Rafiik."

"Which is to say, I have a plan that will work if he cooperates with it, and a fallback if we don't believe he's going to trust us further than he can throw the ship, but the fallback is...worse."

"I think we have pretty good prospects, there; he doesn't especially trust us, he's still pretty nervous, but he likes us, and he wants to help."

"...Then perhaps commandeering a transport craft from Tuscias' estate, locking the controls to Rafiik, and letting him decide whether he wants to come back once the Jedi show, will not go horribly."

She considers. "I suppose we'll have time to heal him before he goes. I am willing to volunteer the Spectrum for this if you're confident I'll get it back, it should make a better first impression than anything I'd expect Tuscias to have had."

"A shuttle's a shuttle is a shuttle, but...  It would.

"...and if it didn't, or if there was damage - you would be made whole in at least the physical aspects."

Her presence turns distant for a moment, delving the skein of the future, carving out choices.

"...Less than 5% risk, less than 2% risk...

"...Less than 1% risk --

"Putting that poem, the one about fear, in pride of place - seems to help, immediately and overall."

"Daisy, do you have another copy of that one?"

    "I do; I think the black and yellow one will work best without redecorating. Or we can redecorate, if you'd like to give the Jedi a more gradual introduction to the idea of working with Sith," she directs at Kalbetis, and then to Pradnakt: "and I'll have Nine and Tim start packing up everything sensitive."

"...no, best to - hit them in the face with it full off, so they have time to get used to it before they actually have to do it.  ...I think redeploying the black and silver one is better color theory, though, the black and yellow...  Mm, just seems not right for some reason.  I'll - Elcie, fetch the package from my quarters," she says through an intercom, "and run it back to the Nightfall Spectrum, would you, we need it for scene-setting."

Pradnakt stares Kalbetis down. "Daisy, you have silver ink and black paper, right?"

    "Yes ma'am."

"That's yours," she addresses Kalbetis firmly. "You keep it. She'll have another one ready by morning."

"...Actually, belay that last, Elcie, they're making another one."

She seems faintly embarrassed that she didn't figure they would do that, to be honest - but also rather touched they did.

Pradnakt at least has the good grace to look embarrassed herself as she stands down. "Sorry, that was out of line of me. Just," she gestures vaguely. 

"No, no, it's...  It's appreciated."

"All right." She shakes her head and chuckles. "Sith. We have the reputation for a reason."

"Now whyever could that be," she quips back, "it's not like I'd ever, say, commit treason by conspiring with 'the enemy' because I feel very strongly about something, would I?  I'm just an innocent Darth!"  ...Send help, she broke her own sabacc face, dear Force the irony of that line --!

Hopefully Pradnakt's giggles won't be too contagious.

Oh, they were fully intended to be.  Give her just a minute, it's been a while since she's had a good laugh like that.

"...Goodness, where were we?"  Her attention flicks backwards in time, over the past few minutes, recovering her train of thought.  "The Jedi, yes.  Right.

"So we will use the Nightfall Spectrum as an intermediary...

"Getting their attention is, I think, something we may also wish to do with Rafiik's cooperation.  Perhaps if we involve Daisy and Elcie in the process they'll be more likely to listen to them in the future...  We know their vector of approach..."

...She still needs to do something about that blasted artifact...

"I think we need to bring these preparations to Rafiik, before they can continue.  There's some carefully selected truths I want to seed in the messages, or, well, just the one - implying that there are two different ships holding our rescues by not even lying that there were two shipfuls taken up from that planet, so that if the Jedi commit to front-stabbing us the moment they think they're done with healing, we can break contact before they try - but that's about it, for what we do before the Jedi arrive."

"Clever. Rafiik's still asleep - and he could use it - but I don't think he'll be much longer. Are there any strategic or tactical considerations for while they're here?"

"Mmm...Nothing immediately comes to mind; my staff is trained against mind tricks, and given the setup we can set up the Jedi having access to only the patients and not the rest of the ship to begin with, though we'll have to dock your ship somewhere less convenient, during."  The Cloak itself does have docking ports/airlocks, at least.  "Hmm.  Will I find anything if I deploy the defenses against phasing..."

"...Looks like either they're good enough to find that out, not capable of such random esotery, or smart enough to not piss me off by concealing their Force signatures to even try.  Or simply too busy.  That's also possible."