[Tethys Carrack]

After leaving the museum, Tethys wanders further into the center of Uthan Mil. Even in its current state, she can imagine something of what the city was like before war came. Its architecture and density resembles other relatively young colony worlds she's visited before... except more bombed-out, sooty, and yet weirdly vibrant as shops open and citizens emerge freely for the first time in a good while. She blinks away a disturbing vision of this depressing/cheery scene overlaid on a dozen other cities of her acquaintance.

Strolling the streets, casually eavesdropping on conversations here and there, she has no particular destination in mind.

[Teffa]

When Teffa was told that there was a city in the area, she naively thought that there was actually a city in the area that wasn't tarnished by war. Sure, she had been in her share of places that weren't exactly reputable or upstanding but the gaze of the citizens who survived the ordeal of war put her off slightly. She meandered about with a few glances cast on the citizens before glancing quickly away when they looked at her direction. There was at least someone who looked just as out of place as her, she didn't look local and she gave her a few bobs of her head to show some vague solidarity.

[Tethys Carrack]

The tall human in dusty-looking robes notices Teffa's nod and untucks a hand from her sleeve to acknowledge her with a vague wave--a long-fingered, rather graceful hand for her species. Rather than continue on her way at right angles to the lost-looking Chiss, she drifts to a stop, the corners of her lips turning up in a subtle smile. "You have the look of another offworlder. If you're not with the Republic's civilian support, you've picked an odd time to visit."

[Teffa]

Teffa gave the other woman an anxious chuckle with a shrug of her shoulder. "It's the coat, isn't it? You would be right about that. I just dropped by to see how the place was like but I guess I didn't expect the place to be mostly closed down for business, if you know what I mean. All things considered, it's mostly looking well. Not great, but it could always be worse, right?"

[Tethys Carrack]

"Better than it has been, not as good as it will be. That's the hope, in any case." Tethys looks up at the scarred facade of a building, then down again at the shopkeepers in the street-level storefronts, setting out glow rods to illuminate their wares for the last hour or two of business in lieu of damaged lighting panels. "These people have had a bad time, but most of them haven't given up."

[Teffa]

"I don't really see that they should?" She said as she followed Tethys's gazes to a couple of places but it mostly rested on the people who were on the streets, studying their faces and their mannerism. Once again, she looked away before they could look at her, not wanting to be caught for staring like some lost tourist. "When you know that tomorrow is a possibility, there are things to do and money to earn. Hiding keeps you alive but doesn't exactly put a roof over your head."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Spoken like a survivor. But no amount of money will keep a roof over your head when Mandalorian bombs are going off next to your building." Tethys cocks an eyebrow at her blue companion.

She pauses in her walking and takes her right hand out of the capacious pocket of her robes again, extending it toward the other woman. "I'm Tethys Carrack, incidentally." She can't recall off the top of her head whether shaking hands as a greeting is common in Chiss space or not, but to a well-traveled spacer it's at least not likely to be wildly offensive.

She doesn't offer any further information about her profession or affiliation, though a relatively perceptive person might notice the lightsaber hilt clipped to her belt, partially concealed under her loose robe.

((Spotting the lightsaber is probably something like a Difficulty 2 check, maybe with an extra blue die for 'not seriously trying to hide', going by RAW? Or just whichever way seems more fun to RP to you, without rolling.))

[Teffa]

"No, but a good amount of credits could get you off of this rock," she said with a few knowing nods. Whether staying here or going elsewhere with nothing was a better choice remained to be seen. Seeing as she wasn't haggled to evacuate anyone from the planet would indicate that the local population here had hope, at least.

Teffa gladly met Tethys's hand with her own and gave it a firm shake in her grip. "You can call me by Teffa, incidentally. Trucker, at the moment! Dropped a shipment of food, might have been mostly gone by now. I'm just here until I get wind of my next job, I guess."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Your shipment must have been appreciated," Tethys says, lips quirking in a half-smile. "With the occupation, that is in shorter supply than it should be, or so I've been told. I'm not certain what kinds of outgoing jobs you're likely to pick up here, though." She looks around at the action on the street as she begins walking again, taking cues from whatever direction Teffa was going in originally. "At least you missed the Mandalorian blockade. Had you come a day or two earlier, you would have had a more interesting landing."

[Teffa]

After seeing the offerings at the mess hall, Teffa found it surprising how soldiers around here could afford to be picky. She thought it would have been nothing but grue and meat paste. Then again, when you're catering to so many species, it wasn't a matter of pickiness. Right? "Well, if you ever end up here short-handed for whatever reason, I'm around with my ship and ample cargo space. Just ask for Captain Teffa!"

"I take it that you didn't just land here and it was liberated like this with the locals waiting for you to finish the job..." She said as she gave a cautious glance around. It didn't seem that she had much of a direction in her stroll, just forward. She figured when it got too difficult or too unsightly, she'd turn around and go back where she came from. It seems that it was doubt she was going to find something of luxury comfort around here. "What's the deal with the Mandos anyway? So we're fighting them and fighting with them? Don't really get the whole poli-er, tribal climate..."

[Tethys Carrack]

"You're right, it is complicated." The tall Jedi nods, with a slightly pained expression as she contemplates the twisty situation. At least most of it is not her problem to mediate. "As I understand it, Mandalorians are more of a cultural group than a polity. They're divided into clans going their own ways as often as they are united."

She opens her hand toward the scenes around them. "This is the doing of Clan Kryze and their allies--some of Clan Varad, probably a few others. Mercenaries turned pirates on a planetary scale." The note of disdain in her voice is unmistakable. "On our side, some members of the other clans hold to some old promise their leader made to the Republic some few hundred years ago, and the rest are mercenaries or Republic Army auxiliaries."

[Teffa]

"Oh, something of a civil war then, in a sense," she said with a few nods as it slowly made more sense to her. It was a developed habit of hers to not expect too many questions regarding her deliveries and she saved a number of them until she got here. "So in sense, everyone on this planet wants these Kryze-y people off this world. There's some real liberation going on here?"

In a sense, she wondered if this was really the consensus around here and they weren't just doing conquest under the banner of "liberation".

[Tethys Carrack]

"That is the idea," Tethys replies, raising an eyebrow again. "Kryze executed the planetary head of state early in the invasion." Her expression shows what she thinks of this act, which lies well outside the Republics conventions for warfare. "But the planet's senator and some other surviving notables petitioned for the Republic to relieve the local volunteer resistance." She shrugs. "It's quite possible some citizens are doing well enough under Clan Kryze and would prefer them to stay, but they would be a small minority. By all reports they're not gentle conquerors."

She favors the other woman with a quizzical look. "Do you run with a crew, captain? Or fly solo?"

[Teffa]

Teffa gave a few sound nods at Tethys's explanation. It was perhaps a habit of her people to consider the intricacies of all politics, even if it affected her very little. This story was coming solely from Republic sources and it would be curious to know how "small" of a number were in the opposition, hubris and propaganda did wonders to adjust real story. "Thank you for sharing that, Miss Tethys."

"Solo," she said easily enough at first and then amended her story. "Oh, well...and a droid now, I guess. Flying a freight is different than flying a personal transport and you benefit having more than one set of eyes when parking in those tight quarters."

[Tethys Carrack]

"It is no trouble. I hope not to have bored you--my master instilled the habit of paying attention to these patterns." One corner of her lips quirks a bit wryly. Not everyone is as interested in planetary politics as she's learned to be.

"Freight is different... Different in what sense?" Tethys asks, seeming genuinely curious. "I have flown along with independent spacers from time to time. but it would be fair to say most of those made their living on expedience, not volume."

[Teffa]

"Oh, not bored at all! Actually, politics are generally useful to know. At least, just good to know what makes people tick around here. I don't want to accidentally assume certain things about people around here, especially when they've been through so much around already." She said as she cast a few glances around. Seeing as she didn't see too many glared around, they weren't at least on the wrong side of the conflict around here.

"Freighter, sorry," she corrected herself. "But yeah, it's...it's a bit of work, especially minding all that mass around you, landings when you're carrying weight around you. People don't really take it kindly when goods are rattled up. It's also a larger and bulkier ship, they aren't very responsive on turns and take a while to make alterations. I've got the dents on the ship to prove it's not easy, it's a bit of a learning curve. The longer hauls generally are the higher paying in the biz."

She gave a few sure nods at the usage of the last word, not knowing if that's what truckers call the business.

[Tethys Carrack]

"Hum. You're paid more for being away from home longer. That makes sense." Tethys nods slightly. "Though now you must need to find a cargo here on Bankor for your return trip. I fear the planet is not producing a surplus of anything but corpses, at the moment." Her tone as she says this is dry and serious, no humor detectable.

"If you plan to stay long enough to need local knowledge..." she thinks for a moment. "Bankor is quite a diverse world, though it's developed some unfortunate social stratification. The last wave of settlers to arrive is crowded out from the best resources and forms an underclass, and then the ones on the top conclude they are there due to natural superiority. In this case the upper class is quite mixed, but the lower class are mostly Zabrak, though there seems to be some mobility." She shrugs one shoulder. "That is likely to be the most treacherous fault line for visitors to step around. But I haven't been on-planet long enough to judge much else."

[Teffa]

She nodded along with her. "That's right! But for someone who's basically flying my home from place to place, there's far less of a downside for flying a long haul. There isn't really much of a return trip than just another job. Now much, huh? I guess worst come to worst, I can wait for some sort of prosperity to spring after the war. How long do Republic liberations of the downtrodden usually take around here, on average?"

"I don't quite sound like the ideal place to live and I don't plan on staying that long. Hopefully, they're nicer to those who are just passing by?" She smiled hopefully on that note. "Have you met any of these arrogant and ignorant nobles around here?"

[Tethys Carrack]

"Not many, as such. And I am not certain 'nobles' is the word--economic upper class might be more apt." Tethys spreads an open hand. "I came down with the Republic strike force. Most of the Bankor citizens in contact with the Republic are involved in their resistance movement. I have the impression class lines are less relevant there. If only because most of them have lost nearly everything."

She tucks her hands back in her pockets and walks for a few more steps, thinking. "How long will it take? I don't know. I will trust in the Force, and do my part to make it shorter."

[Teffa]

"That's good that we're helping the people of the planet as a whole, rather than just one part of it. I've heard of enough stories where the oppressed majority spark a war against the elite minority to only rise up to become the new oppressors. Far less likely if everyone wants the Mandos out. The pirate raiding kind," she nodded twice as she continued walking.

"The Force?" She said with a bemused look on her face. "I didn't know you were the pious kind, of that kind. That would be a good guide as any, I suppose. I think I recall seeing a Gand Jedi knight at the mess hall He would probably be the authority of that."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Knight Hamelin?" Tethys quirks an eyebrow. "He is a well-meaning Jedi, but his perspective on the Force is... idiosyncratic." Please send only two Jedi to the next Staff meeting. Commander wouldn't say this directly, but--preferably not the Gand one, she recalls the verbal directive delivered earlier today.

"I am hopeful that the survivors of this war will assemble a government as just as the one they had before. Perhaps more so, if the Jedi and some of the Republic representatives offer the right assistance at the right times." She casually lets her outer robe flip open a little wider, making her lightsaber more visible.

[Teffa]

"Yeah, I think that's the one. We didn't exactly talk all that much, with all of the food in front of us and a few Republic soldiers waiting for us to relinquish their usual spot. He only mentioned that he was a Jedi. Strange to find a Jedi in a mess hall, doing mortal things. I thought Jedi were fed through the Force and spent their free time meditating in stone gardens." She narrowed her eyes at Tethys. "Wait, are you supposed to be a Jedi, too?"

Teffa smiled apologetically when she saw the lightsabre. "Ohh...I didn't mean what I said earlier. Never met a Jedi before coming here, hee. I mean, I've played someone who dubbed himself to be a Jedi knight. Perhaps, it was more like a Jedi Knight, could really read through the backs of cards and everything. Later found out that he literally did just that, had eyes that could see a special spectrum on the back of his specially prepared cards."

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys responds with a cool half-smile. "No offense taken, Captain Teffa. There are a lot of strange ideas about Jedi out there. For example, that most of us have the time to spend our lives meditating in gardens." Her smile grows a bit. "We are quite mortal. Few of us would stoop to cheating at cards, though, I hope."

[Teffa]

She tilted her head curiously. "Where does that put you with the Republic exactly? Do they consider you like a lord or an officer? I can't imagine them sticking you as a rank and file troop unless your job is to deflect all blaster fire as the troops stand behind you for cover."

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys chuckles a little at that mental picture, a laugh like the sound of a creek going over pebbles. "I might be willing to try that, but I can't say how long I would last. And the Republic soldiers would have quite a time trying to shoot around me." She shakes her head. "We're not part of the military or the Republic government apparatus. We advise and support as we find it appropriate. One young Jedi with the strike force is an accomplished physician and healer, for example."