Sorry, that's probably her fault.  With the Emperor now gone, nothing's really stopping her from giving the Hutts a really bad month until the Jedi (and their new Sith-disappearing tricks) manage to catch up with her.

(Unfortunately, she is pretty sure it's going to be more of a when than an if; there's too many traceable things she still has to be seen doing to keep other things from blowing up, and she's pretty sure someone else beat her to backstabbing the Emperor and that that someone will be able to find her.  There is a notably not-yet-known-missing Dark Councilor.)

It does occur to Pradnakt to wonder, briefly, what's happening with the Council. It doesn't occur to her to actually try to find out, though; any information she could get without putting herself at risk would be too unreliable to bother with.

The house gets packed up into a new spaceship; the goat goes to a family in town that Daisy is fond of, and the chickens to the feed store to be resold to whoever might want them. Marisel gets a grant big enough to keep the library running for a few years, hopefully long enough for the town to figure out how to support it themselves. Pradnakt and Daisy write up a guide to the art they've constructed out in the desert. Nine spends a long weekend completing an acidwashing piece he's been wanting to try; there won't be space for it offplanet. The Force tolerates all of this, unsettled but not alarmed; it's not even a week, all told, until the three of them agree that they've done everything they need to here.

It's been a few decades since Pradnakt has had anything to do with the Hutts, but they aren't hard to find, even if the Force wasn't opinionated about their route.

There's a Sith in this spaceport.

Great. Lovely. Perfect.

They don't actually need to go offship; they can pay extra to have the supplies they need delivered.

There is, however begrudgingly of the Force as it insists that she reach out here, also a note in with those supplies - handwritten, and clearly in a rush at that.

The Force is insistent that my plans for the ~month I have before the Hutts figure out that the thing that's trying to bring down the foundations of their empire-in-all-but-name is the last charge of a Sith trying to do something positive before they get vanished and convince/coerce the Jedi to do something about it should include you in some capacity.

I've a schedule to keep, and nothing telling me to stay longer than was already necessary, so I assume the Force is going to arrange another coincidence whether either of us like that or not if we don't meet now.  I leave that question up to you; I wouldn't be sending this at all if the Force wasn't positively giving me a migraine the minute I try to commit to doing otherwise.

-- Kalbetis

Also attached are the docking bay codes for two ships; by their manifests they are the Defiant Purpose and the Forgotten Hope, a medical ship and an - allegedly - decommissioned troop transport turned freight and passenger transport, respectively.

...yeah, that's a thing that could happen.

How many biologicals are on that troop transport, while it's right here docked at the same station?

It's at approximately two-thirds of its nominal complement at the moment, assuming that everyone aboard is a soldier - quite a few of the signatures are muffled in a way that's characteristic of Mandalorians in full armor, but many others are not.  The Sith is amongst them, and if Pradnakt listens closely she might be able to pick up a struggle-resignation-dread in their presence, lurking beneath more prosaic surface feelings.

She doesn't really want to walk into all that. It does seem maybe worth looking into, though; she's not sure what the Force is up to but she's never regretted just finding out.

She leaves Daisy with the ship, and has Nine take an only implicitly threatening posture behind her when she goes to inquire at the Forgotten Hope's dock.

There is a moment, as Pradnakt approaches with Nine, where the most visible guard tenses, but that passes before she gets to the ship.  "Please wait a moment, someone will be here shortly."

...She'll just be out in a minute, assuming that that doesn't cause her guest to bolt.

She doesn't run; she knew what she was getting into.

"Kalbetis," she acknowledges when the other Sith arrives. "Lord Pradnakt. Do you have any ideas about what this all might be about?"

"No, but perhaps I have more no idea than you do.  But as much as I want nothing more than to get the Force to stop breathing down my neck about this, I can't have that conversation out here."

"There are conference rooms available to rent on level three and five, if that'll be sufficient for you." This isn't going quite well enough for her to invite her home, yet.

"...I suppose they're the best available option for neutral ground, but that doesn't make them a good one.  Too visible in all the wrong ways, especially if the bugs go dead.  Encrypted comm?"

She signs possible? to Nine, who rumbles an affirmative after a moment and produces a datachip with the relevant codes, which she floats from his hand to Kalbetis's.

She accepts them gracefully, and returns the information Pradnakt will need to comm her on a similar chip.

(Technically, it is Kalbetis' protocol droid who holds the encryption keys, but she is perfectly happy to blend in this situation.)

"I'll await your comm, then."

"I won't be long." And indeed the call comes before she's even quite back to her ship, so that she's just settling into the seat when the initial confirmation is done and the camera comes on.

"Right.  Hello again."

"I have some information on the state of the galaxy," she says, "that I doubt many in our position would, with the Empire going to pieces - but precious little clue on what exactly the Force could possibly mean to accomplish with this.  I'm on a doomed crusade against the Hutts with what resources I can spare from enacting continuity of governance plans and winding up things that will do no-one any good without me helming them, for the inevitable point when I get removed from the board by a strike team of teleporting Jedi; I don't know why the Force is pushing us together when there's -"  She winces.

"When, if there's a way to avoid our exile, I do not yet see it.  The best plan I have is fleeing the galaxy, and that's just not right at all.  It's the same exile in a funny hat."

"I'd take fleeing the galaxy over some of the other possibilities here," she shrugs. "It's possible the Force just wants me to have the information I need to do that - teleporting Jedi?"

There is a protocol droid in view behind Kalbetis, and it takes the very uncharacteristic action (for the class, though seemingly not this particular droid given Kalbetis' exasperated non-reaction) of speaking up unprompted at this point.

"Would you like to review the strategic briefing you ordered with our guest, Mistress?"

"...At this time it would be quite inappropriate to share operational details."

"However, it would," she regrets letting come out of her mouth, "be appropriate to share at least the threat profile."

Huh. She doesn't let it show on her face but she's definitely noticed the unusual relationship between the other Sith and her droid. Kalbetis must be really slipping, to let it show. (Daisy herself is offscreen altogether, the better to keep their situation secret.)

It'd be weird of her to express appreciation for the information, so she doesn't.