[Durasay Mixo]

Durasay was restless. Even with the upcoming mission to fly out on, the Pantoran had other concerns flowing through his mind. The vision he was informed about from the Padawan, the death of Lelia. His own suspicions as to who was responsible. He hated questions without answers. So, he began to try and piece some answers together. Wandering the flight deck, he sought out a freighter that was said to be owned by a certain Jedi. One whom he had suspected had gotten Lelia involved in what had gotten her killed. If only from a few sets of conversations between the late Resistance Face, and his first conversation with the jedi-in-question.

Approaching the ship, he looked at it, standing at near attention. Being ready to launch in the Turtle, he was already geared up in his armor, helmet hanging off the back. He raised the comm, sending a hailing signal, hoping the Jedi was there.

[Layne Hoshin]

"This had better be that Flangth I ordered," came the reply over the comm, "I'm starving. Wait, I didn't order any fast food. Who'se this?"

[Durasay Mixo]

"It's Senator Mixo. Durasay. We need to talk. Can I come aboard?" He chirped back through the comm, standing by the loading ramp.

[Layne Hoshin]

There was a small pause, and then the loading door opened. Should the senator proceed in, he would find Layne waiting in the common area of the ship, feet up on the table.

[Durasay Mixo]

Durasay would take a moment to appreciate the ship, noting the engineering of it. A habit from working as part of a smuggler's crew for so long. He had made his way directly to the common area, not wanting to keep her waiting.

"A friend of mine, before we left to aid the Anzuri monks, had told me she was coming along not just with the Resistance, but also because she was taking a job that was Jedi business." He opted to get to the meat of the matter, not wanting to waste her time.

"I bring this up because when we last spoke, you had mentioned you had a mission outside of just our aid efforts here." Durasay's words were cool, his emotions in check. "I just want to know. Was Lelia helping you?"

[Layne Hoshin]

She looked at him, assessing him perhaps. Silent for some time before she broke it with a single short reply.

"Yes."

[Durasay Mixo]

He was silent. As if processing the information. Perhaps burying something mentally, whatever it was, it took a few moments.

"How did it happen? Where?"

[Layne Hoshin]

"In the area of the Viridian Sea they call the Blight."

She tapped her fingers on the table lightly for a moment.

"I... hired her to get together a crew and serve as a back-up plan in case my mission went wrong. They were just supposed to stand by at a distance, out of sight. Turned out a Sith was aware of their presence, and killed them while we were too far away to intervene."

[Durasay Mixo]

Sith Infiltrator... Perhaps we should have investigated the Sith advance base. Durasay absorbed the information as it was presented, his expression remaining neutral. Almost using that clinical analysis to keep himself from showing any emotion other than concern. A grounding point for his mind.

"Any suspect as to who the Sith was? Any clues left behind?"

[Layne Hoshin]

"We suspect it was one known as Dynos Val."

[Durasay Mixo]

"I am familiar with him. Or at least, of him." Durasay responded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Which brings my suspicion even more in line with yours. This afternoon, I was approached by the Jedi Padawan Lunda Mae. She informed me she had a vision of me dying at the hands of a dark figure wielding dual lightsabers, with a terrible pun of a catchphrase as he cut me down." A slight smirk. "Seems our paths are crossing with more certainty now."

[Layne Hoshin]

"I see. Her visions do have the ring of truth to them. Though the future can be changed."

[Durasay Mixo]

"The Future is always in motion. I'm very interested in seeing me not cut down. And stopping Dynos." He nodded in response, and looked to her. "Maybe we should work together on this?"

[Layne Hoshin]

She thought it over. The man *had* tried to secure himself a spot on her own mission, insisting he could fight. And while she still didn't really know anything about him, it was a lot easier to trust him on this matter than the other thing.

"Yeah, alright. But you do understand what you're dealing with here, don't you?"

[Durasay Mixo]

"Sith assassin, lightsaber combat. Someone with inscrutable goals?" He raised an eyebrow as he spoke. "It's a one way trip if we don't succeed. So we must succeed."

And I owe him for what he did to Moyr. And Lelia.

"All is, as the Force wills it. I trust in it."

And it gives me strength. The Force will be free me.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Hardly inscrutable. He's working for Darth Zash. And if we have to face *her*, then failure is guaranteed."

[Durasay Mixo]

"Never a guarantee, Jedi." He grinned slightly, that hint of arrogance that was always a part of him showing, but moreso in his confidence. "Difficult, absolutely. But if we can approach it with strategy and planning, we might be able to pull ourselves out of that fire. If it came to it." Then a pause. "What can you tell me about Darth Zash? I barely recall hearing her name once, maybe, while negotiations were going on at Nar Shaddaa."

[Layne Hoshin]

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and sigh.

"Even without you asking that question, your optimism proves you have never faced a Darth in combat. I have. And let me repeat my statement; there is no way we can face her directly and hope to win. Zash's mastery of the Force is perhaps second only to the Emperor himself. It is a raw power she has taken for herself by draining the very Force from other sentient beings. Trust me when I say you do not want to hear or see what that experience is like."

[Durasay Mixo]

"Well, I'm certainly in no hurry to rush into battle with a Darth, or to just die in vain. But to say that there is no chance is giving up, or showing too much fear. A healthy respect for that power, and the power of one being in concert with others, can balance that out." He responded, cooly, without chastisement or condescension. "Maybe I just want to show the Faith I have in the Force, and whatever team we can assemble to face off against this threat."

[Layne Hoshin]

"It's neither fear nor giving up. It's just facing reality. Someone who thinks that everything will be fine just so long as they have faith is someone I don't want to face a Sith down with. That person is foolish, and likely to fall to the Dark Side the moment things don't go the way their faith tells them they should."

[Durasay Mixo]

"A shame. I though all you Jedi trusted in the Force. I once heard a group of monks say that All Is As The Force Wills It. And with the gift of foresight, many times, that's true." He shrugged. "But I get your point. Brute force, and drive of will, can shore up whatever shortcomings happen from just faith." Now it was Durasay's turn to not roll his eyes. Instead, he kept an affable smile, if serious demeanor.

[Layne Hoshin]

"The Force will not help you just because you have faith in it. It will not do what you want, simply because you want it to. The Force can be bent your way at times, but ultimately the Force flows according to its own whims, not yours. You will not always like where it leads. Your faith in it will be shaken when that happens. And if you seek to bend it your way in such a moment, then the Dark Side finds purchase."

[Durasay Mixo]

Durasay paused for a moment. "I think we are saying the same thing. I have been in those moments where I was brought to a place that I did not like. I'm still here. There is always the Living Force. And so, I am never disappointed by what the Force brings."

[Layne Hoshin]

"We will see," she said with a nod. She remained unconvinced that he fully grasped the weight of what she was saying, but even Layne had limits to how far she'd push a point.