"Yes ma'am. Tell me more about Ocnem?"

"...He was rather clever.  That is not a compliment.

"Aside from making some contraption that used other people as a sink for his Force backlash - the technique he favored built off of battle meditation, technically speaking, but turned it into a more direct battlefield control tool - well, he wasn't so foolish as to write his schemes down himself, but Pritruth's records say that his having a lightsaber-related 'accident' was the final straw in convincing him to allow Ocnem to test that blasted thing on Deskyl, after the tests on non-Sensitives kept killing them in instants.  ...If we are speaking about the time where she was going by Deskyl, would she prefer that we use that name or her current moniker to refer to her past self, actually?"

"She does prefer her old name in that context, it feels like a meaningful separation to her. And, yes, that does track with our experiences. She'll appreciate knowing about it, thank you; I'll tell her myself after we're done, she'll prefer to have it presented in context of what she knows."

"...Thank you.  I...  Did not want to tell her about this.

"...I would have.  She deserves to know.  But I am not...

"The person I have had to be does not permit me much practice in handling delicate situations such as this."

"Yes ma'am. It's not an imposition at all, I appreciate the opportunity to do this for her, and for you as well."

"That does not stop the little voice inside my head that thinks that everything must have been possible if only I was better than I am, but.  Well.  I do know it's lying to me.  ...I think we can have everyone back in, now, if you know what we're going to tell her and not tell her about Ocnem for now."

"Yes ma'am." She comms the back to let Pradnakt know, and the Sith and the other droid return.

"It appears that Lord Ocnem was behind Lord Pritruth's decision to incapacitate you," she explains when Pradnakt has settled back into her seat. "We don't have many details but we do have a few; I'll share those later when you can devote the appropriate level of attention to them."

"Ah. Well. Thank you," she directs at Kalbetis. "We've been wondering about that for a long time."

"I...  Am glad that I can at least give you closure," she murmurs.

"...Where were we?"

"Discussing how to present ourselves to the Jedi; we're going to leave most of my hermitage art in place and invite them to see it. If you think they'll take that invitation, anyway, I wouldn't've assumed so."

She blinks.

"Lord Pradnakt, I am a specialist in espionage and misdirection, whyever would you think I would do something so straightforward as invite them to an art viewing when I can instead make them think it was their own idea to go looking and their own conclusions that they're coming to when they're done?"  She's almost amused, as much as she is definitely bemused - though her Force presence is leaking a bit of consternation-concern beneath it.  She didn't expect this much of - an inferential gap.

"...Yes, I'm literally planning to send them a letter on the other hand, I know, but - well.  I could go on for hours about playing the game of 'I know you know I know', here, about signalling and countersignalling, about all the ways you can trick a mind without even a whisper of the Force, but - while I don't intend to let them get anywhere close to us while they could still prove a danger, I do think we want them to think they're uncovering a secret when it comes to you, rather than being invited inside a confidence they have no reason to trust.  They'll believe it better that way, even if and as we tell them we did it afterwards.  ...We are still their ancient enemy, right now.  Better we turn their suspicion against itself - better that they think they're not trusting us, even when they kind of are."

"That wouldn't work for me because there are so many reasons that not second-guessing literally everything I do half to death would be utterly absurd - even as someone observing and analyzing my actions will actually occasionally come to a correct conclusion, they would actively run away from the idea if it looked like I was at all leading them to it.  I've staked too much on my mask; I'm a public figure.  The Jedi have their own Shadows, and like recognizes like.  But you're not a spy, you're not some spider weaving a web across the Empire for purposes unknown, like I inevitably look to their view.  You're an artist.  You lived in the middle of nowhere for twenty years because you wanted absolutely nothing to do with all of this Empire nonsense.  We just need them to see that.

"...Still if that's not something you'd feel comfortable with, we won't be doing that.  I'm still reasonably confident in my options for diplomacy."

"I did intend to rejoin Sith society when I was done, to be clear, but that's not particularly reflected in my work, it was just that I didn't expect to have an alternative if I didn't want to be a hermit forever. Anyway, I don't doubt that you can get them physically there; getting them there in the right mindset to think about what they're seeing sounds harder, but you do know more about Jedi than I do. I have no objection to that plan."

"I do think I know how to get them thinking."

"Good, all right. And I assume I'm the bait and you're the switch, so to speak, do we need to do any setup for your part?"

"I believe most of that is on my end to handle, though there are some things I want to arrange between us - mostly that, if you can access the Light without subsuming yourself, soon, it would be -

"I don't want to say 'useful', here, but useful is perhaps the best word I have available at present -

"It would tie things together, better, for you to be in on the action while I'm causing problems for the Hutts."

"Yes. Give me..." she pauses and glances at Daisy. "A few weeks, let's say, to see if that insight is enough for me to get it. It's possible I'll know sooner but I can't guarantee it."

She nods.  "We have time enough for that; there's about that much time remaining before most of my plans hit anyway, though earlier news would be better."

"Of course. Anything else before we go?"

"I can't think of anything in particular elsewise."

"All right. We'll be back in touch soon."

She nods, and disconnects the comm call.