"...That is a very strange situation, Padawan Vidarra.  Thank you for bringing it to our attention."

Where is 'Kalbetis' ringing a bell --

-- oh, haran.  Isn't that the one that's supposedly a Jedi hunter?  That people keep narrowly escaping?  (Fynn'che mostly does internal-affairs work, but that wouldn't excuse not knowing the enemy at all - and this one is rather important to know, for Shadows.)

"...Unfortunately I am better informed about what Darth Kalbetis nominally does to hold that title and it opens some concerning possibilities - but then why would Lord Pradnakt dare trust her to know about a possible connection to the Light without fearing immediate murder for being too like a Jedi -" He is noticing that he is quite possibly confused.

"I don't know, sir. I don't think they know each other very well but Lord Pradnakt doesn't seem scared of her - she's deferential in general, but I passed out while they were rescuing me and when I came to they were arguing over whether to heal me without my permission or risk the others' health by waiting, so she does stand up to her."

...Words they never thought they'd hear in the same sentence all 'round, that.

"Who was arguing which side...?"

"I'd been poisoned, and Darth Kalbetis wanted to fix it right away; Lord Pradnakt knows a Force technique for neutralizing but I guess not removing poison and thought she'd be able to keep me stable with that while she was doing her Light meditation. I told them to go ahead and fix it and they let me watch what they were doing while they did it."

...Hold on a second.  "...You can't heal with the Dark Side."

"Yeah, it wasn't exactly healing, that time? Lord Pradnakt has a really good biological sense even when she's not Light, and she used that to identify the poison and Darth Kalbetis did some complicated telekinesis to remove it - they have the meditation artifact that was in my stuff and they're using it to work together like that for the healing, too."

"...But how is Kalbetis healing, you didn't say she was a prodigy with the miraculous ability to turn from the Dark Side with a bit of meditation."  And the gall to turn back to it afterwards.

"I wouldn't have expected it to work either, but Lord Pradnakt is really good at providing healing energy, so it's not as hard as usual to do things with it, and I guess that's enough? It might be that Darth Kalbetis isn't that Dark, though, there's definitely something weird about her Force presence."

The Jedi are quite taken aback by that claim, some more than others - but they are interrupted before they can get too far by the return of the protocol droid, with cookies.  She pulls three of each out of the bowl and onto a separate plate.  "...Remember, Rafiik, one of each - the other two for Darth Kalbetis, the rest for our guests, on the trip over, should they choose to assist us.  And-or yourself.

"...It is a shame that there has never quite been the space for a full-featured chemsniffer on this chassis, because these cookies are most definitely saying something this droid would love to be able to translate."

"Yes, thank you." He'll hold off on eating his until he's done with his call, which he returns his attention to. "There's something weird with their droids, too, but I'm not sure if it's related - the cookies were Lord Pradnakt's assistant droid's idea. And - uh, I'd be skipping ahead a lot to try to explain it but Lord Pradnakt also defers to the droid, sometimes?"

"And if Lord Pradnakt is looking to defer to her Daisy, for whatever reason, even if it is not disclosed to you, then that deference shall be respected as a condition of your continued presence aboard her ship - or my mistress shall be quite cross with whosoever thought they'd decide otherwise," Elcie adds.  "As will I, though I am well aware that you will not consider this droid alone sufficiently threatening to deter such actions by itself."

Well, that certainly makes Knight Khotar sit up and pay attention, metaphorically speaking.

(He was, already, paying quite close attention.)

"I'm not sure why you wouldn't be, if I may say so.  Not that we intend to disrespect anyone's choices in the slightest, but you seem more than sufficient to give anyone who tries a bad time.  You're Darth Kalbetis' administrative assistant.  We all know that the galaxy turns around bureaucracy as much as it does the Force.  ...Or, well, the black holes at the center, but that's much less metaphorical turning than I meant."  He's noticed the understated possibility for violence in this droid's design, but there's something in the Force that makes him deflect from verbally acknowledging that part.

Perhaps, he muses, directing the more fight-oriented Knights to a bureaucratic threat will help make her point, and equally remind them of some important facts.  And that this droid is independent-minded and trusted with such arrangements...

Well, is her point, is it not?  Is likely the point of her making this point before whatever happens between Lord Pradnakt and this Daisy becomes salient.  This droid knows what she's doing.

...Khorus Jayn, at least, looks slightly disconcerted in his own right.  He gets more than his fair share of assassin droids.

Van'ess Chion, on the other hand, looks like she has found a target for an unhealthy buildup of frustration and anger as she opens her mouth, despite Master Ries' warning look and Knight Khotar's dismay.  "Threats are not an appropriate way to handle this, whatever this even is.  If we're doing diplomatic stuff that's fine, but if Darth Kalbetis thinks she can force half a dozen Jedi into doing whatever she wants when she's ultimately begging for their help with her other mouth, then you tell her she has another think coming, you hear me?"

"...You would make quite the Sith, Knight Van'ess Chion," she chides "- and both Darth Kalbetis and I will gladly show you what happens to Sith who pick fights with her.  A Jedi should know better.  That is a threat, if you must have one.  This was a warning.  Besides, have you never heard the saying?  Diplomacy is war, by other means."

...Wait, what.  What.  What.  War by other means - but war on what, on whom?  Darth Kalbetis' name has been a point of confusion amongst the people who know the Sith tongue within the Order for a while, because she doesn't seem to do much talking, dry official statements aside.  But if diplomacy is 'war by other means', to her...

Well, who is she fighting?

Hmm.  That one is definitely one to keep an eye on.  He's clever.  She barely caught the moment he stifled his reaction to her words.

"...Is this war, then?"

"Not if it doesn't have to be."

"...Are we done posturing yet?"  Time to play up the crotchety old man act.  He can't imagine the Padawan finding this morass of implications pleasant.

"Are we?"  Perfectly polite, perfectly calm, perfectly placid - a mirror that reflects nothing at all.

"...I rather think we must be for our duty's sake, if there are truly enough problems that a Sith is asking Jedi for help."

They can't possibly believe that, can they?  Really?

It doesn't matter whether they do, Knight Chion.  What happens now is bound to be informative.