"Stand down, Knight Chion.  We are not in any danger except of you flying off the handle, being as the Sith you are seeing is presently indisposed and sequestering herself."

Master Ries is not going to mention Darth Kalbetis, who is absolutely not indisposed but sure has nonetheless sequestered herself.

--- !   -?! !?! !!!!!?! ?????!

"And she did that here?"

"As someone quite recently said, it is her ship."

"Amidst her enemies?"

Master Ries shrugs.  "I, for one, hardly have any intention of stabbing her, at the moment.  It seems like it would be rather counterproductive."

...They'd better be lying about that.  Sith don't have friends, Sith don't have allies, Sith have, at best, tools - and if these Jedi have forgotten that they're unfit for this mission as far as she's concerned!

Master Ries just stares at her through the holocomm.  "I can assure you, Knight Chion, that we are operating with all due caution."  It's just that her idea of caution is rather to spring an ambush.

"I can't say it looks like it from here!"

"Do you really want to be having this discussion over a comm?"

--

Blast this kriffing --

She hangs up the call.

"...Well, that was exciting."

"...Quite."  And her reaction to Rafiik's plans will be rather unpredictable, without careful planning in and of itself to steer the reaction productively.  Kriff.

"Lord Pradnakt says it's reasonable of people to be suspicious of Sith; there's usually good reason to be."

"...As a droid of a class rated for management of interpersonal relations, that suspicion was not born of reason but of pure, unthinking habit.  It would not so resist the evidence, otherwise.

"Not that it is begrudged, Masters and Knights Jedi - but truly, one might hope you have a plan beyond letting her stew to the point of stabbing someone unprovoked."

"...Truly?"

"Why are you remotely considering trusting the personality assessment of a Sith's protocol droid, it could be a horrible trap," she deadpans.  "Meditate upon it.  That's what you do, is it not?"

"...Perhaps," Master Ries concedes, "it would be somewhat advisable."

"...Regardless, that is not...  Precisely so urgent as to drop everything to do.  Rafiik, perhaps we should make sure there's nothing you've left behind in your quarters here if you are intending to transfer to the Ashen Sunrise with us?"

Master Ries really hopes Rafiik is paying attention to the word choice.  That's a load-bearing 'if'.

Rafiik glances at the Sith's room. "I'd rather stay and make sure she's all right, if that won't cause any problems?"

"...That is rather the open question."

"She did mention earlier that she was expecting you to stay. And she won't come out until she's sure it's safe - she's a sensory specialist, she can tell if you're still here."

"...Well, this is just wonderful, because if going will also cause problems then we shall definitely have to make staying work.  ...I'd really much rather tick off Knight Chion than Lord Pradnakt.

"Knight Khotar - a word?"

"...Yes?"

"You rather took point on managing Knight Chion's tendency to aggressive action, while we were traveling.

"We are currently trying to figure out if there a way to dissuade her from concluding that Padawan Vidarra is a hostage in need of rescue, given that he would rather overnight here.  ...Short of placing the burden of explaining that on Padawan Vidarra, which is rather untenable as anything but a last resort, rather than our first choice.  Knight Chion's bedside manner is appalling."