[Tethys Carrack]

Both the news and the camp gossip network had been buzzing last night and this morning about the retreating Mandalorians' attempt to torch the city museum and its collection of local artifacts. That seems in line with everything Tethys has read about the old Neo-Crusaders Clan Kryze reportedly fancies itself to be emulating--much more so than strapping bombs to civilians in the middle of child-care duties, certainly--but it's still senseless in a way that earns her disdain. History matters, but only their own? And that selectively.

Anger is not for the Jedi, but she's rapidly coming to really dislike these invaders.

She picks her way back into town, taking the debris-choked streets cautiously on the practical, sluggish speeder bike she'd borrowed from the motor pool that morning, and code-locks the vehicle in the racks outside the museum. Even if it's closed, as a Jedi she has a fair chance of getting in to see what the Republic combatants managed to save.

[Durasay Mixo]

Durasay was already there. He had been wanting to check out the museum since he had heard about the attack. Yellow-amber eyes taking in all the details of the building. I wonder what the purpose was of the assault on a museum. Other than raiding and pillaging... The Pantoran had one booted foot up on a higher step, resting his arm on the leg. He was contemplative, lost in though, not really paying attention to his surroundings.

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys's boots click on the steps below him as she approaches the museum entrance. She floats past in a sweep of dusty-looking brown robes and puts out a hand to test the doors, finding them unlocked. From this close it looks like there are people moving around inside--perhaps the museum staff working to restore some kind of order.

Holding one half of the door open, she looks over her shoulder. "Coming in?"

[Durasay Mixo]

It took him a moment of recognition. As if he had been lost in his thoughts. The spell of reverie broken, Durasay double times it up the steps, following the Jedi.

"Oh, yes. Thank you, Master Jedi." He smiled at the woman, following her into the building.

"It's difficult to comprehend why someone would assault a museum."

[Tethys Carrack]

"The Neo-Crusaders of Revan's day were fond of destroying civilian targets." The Jedi lets the door swing shut behind them. "Some of the accounts suggest it was supposed to show their enemies their own weakness--they deserved to keep only what they could defend, or some garbage of that kind." She shrugs one shoulder. "Beings who've developed a taste for domination and cruelty find all sorts of ways to justify themselves."

"I'm Tethys Carrack, by the way."

[Durasay Mixo]

"I suppose. A shame that they are trying to mimic that part of their old culture. Neo-Crusaders weren't exactly known for their ability to keep and hold territory, or to set up proper logistics. In the end, they were always beaten." He nodded along as the Jedi answered his question.

"Durasay Mixo. A pleasure."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Yes. They caused a great deal of misery before that, though." Almost too much of an understatement..

"So you must be Senator Mixo," she surmises, raising a quizzical eyebrow as she turns to face him more directly. "I was surprised to learn Pantora has such a direct interest in Bankor, but it's good to see the member worlds supporting one another in times of need."

[Durasay Mixo]

"Neighbors help neighbors. It's a hard life out here in the outer rim." He smirked. "This is more a personal interest. I didn't like how long it took for the Senate to decide to lend aid, and this way, I can maybe make up for some of the slowness to act."

He regarded the Jedi for a long moment, as if he was reading her features. "I was never much for just sitting around."

[Tethys Carrack]

"You have military experience, then, Senator?" Tethys reads him right back, with stoic calm. She's always found the hands-on type of politicians easier to deal with, though Master M'ralo had been wont to warn her that they could also be the most unpredictable. "Pantora must miss your voice in the Senate while you're here. But as an Outer Rim representative yourself, with an observer's perspective on Bankor affairs, I imagine you can give the Republic command valuable advice on coordinating with the local military."

[Durasay Mixo]

"I was a Captain in the Pantoran Defense Forces after my secondary education was completed. Technically I've been given permission to act under my old rank, but it seemed superfluous." He smiled as he spoke, a generally easy going tone.

"My chief of staff is acting as my representative in my stead. She has a smart head on her shoulders, and she was recommended to that post by the Chairman of Pantora himself. We aren't without a voice." He fell into an easy parade rest, contemplating for a moment.

"My primary concern has been with bringing relief supplies as quickly as possible to the resistance. I'm sure my running around and getting that going has been a thorn in command's sides."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Only in the short term." Tethys shrugs one shoulder. "In the long run, an active Resistance is better for the Republic than a starving one, and a Resistance that trusts the Republic strike force is even better. No doubt Commander Malcolm sees that."

She turns a little to check out a display on the geology of Bankor's planetary crust, a couple of dreadlock slipping forward over her shoulder as she looks down at it. "Even if some of the freelancers who've come to tag along don't seem to," she adds, half to herself.

[Durasay Mixo]

"What makes you say that?" He asked, probing her half-spoken statement. He stepped forward, checking the display over her shoulder. He had an idea as to what she meant. After all, not every irregular who came along was here to be a grand hero of the Republic.

[Tethys Carrack]

"Starting fights with the local citizens, rumors of missing supplies... it's hard not to be concerned, don't you think?" Tethys straightens up and starts gliding toward the next display.

[Durasay Mixo]

"It is concerning, yes." He pursed his lips as he followed the Jedi. He moved with a steady pace, disciplined, military style. He kept his focus on the museum, though he made sure to keep her in his eyeline. "But not unexpected. There is a cost to having mercenaries and irregulars. You don't get the discipline of a full military unit, in exchange for flexibility and outside the box ideas. Hopefully we can keep things reigned in."

[Tethys Carrack]

“Are you sure you don’t mean ideas from a different box?” Tethys asks, the corners of her mouth quirking just slightly. “Need for profit is as strong a restraint as military discipline, in its way. But I know many of them are here for the right reasons." She purses her lips as she examines an interesting, though probably not very valuable, pottery artifact. "I wish I knew better how to separate the sheep from the gill-goats. Short of waiting for the problems to appear, of course."

[Durasay Mixo]

He smirked at her comment. "Maybe. But sometimes that different box has the idea you need." The tall Senator took the time to look about the room of the museum, taking in the other artifacts.

"I don't care if the reason is profit or right. As long as it means the mission is done. Now, knowing which is which? Thatncan matter, to best find the way to boost each individual operators morale."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Hum. Don't you think the motive is reflected in the way the mission gets done? There are sure to be some times when that matters a great deal." She shakes her head slightly. "Not to mention what happens before and after the mission. Though military types can occasionally be careless and arrogant in their own ways."

[Durasay Mixo]

"Those motivated by profits will do all they can to get the job done to the letter, lest their earnings be impacted. It's the idealists that should be worried about. The kind that go head long into the grinder, no matter the odds, without thinking what the long term impact could be." He smiled at that.

"Business matters can actually make things less complicated, if sterile. But sometimes that's what we need." Durasay took a step towards the Jedi, tilting his hrad.

"I try not to worry too much. After all, the Force is with us." The way he spoke it, was with the tenor of a true believer in the Force.

[Tethys Carrack]

"You must have run in to fewer unreliable contractors than Master M'ralo and I did in our travels together," Tethys says, the corners of her lips twitching. "I congratulate you, Senator."

She raises an eyebrow as he steps closer to her. "Yes. It is." Tucking her hands into her sleeves as she cocks her head slightly to the side, she adds in a calm tone, "That is an unusual attitude for a politician, though, in my experience."

[Durasay Mixo]

"Or I tried to protect my own business interests when I was something of an independent contractor." He chuckled briefly at that, then nodded. "It probably is. But Senator is only the newest adjective to describe me. I've been all over the Galaxy, and have always had a certain way with my words, so plenty of evidence that the Force is taking a hand with me, and I with it."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Hm. The Light Side of the Force, I hope you mean, if it's brought you good things."

[Durasay Mixo]

"All is, as the Force wills it. That's a proverb I heard once." He looked past her for a moment, then back to her features. "But I've not strayed from the Light, if that's what you're asking." He smiled broadly.

But I also will use the Dark if I have to. My emotions are not a weakness, but an asset.

[Tethys Carrack]

"'Strayed' makes it sound as if it is something people decide to do. In my experience, it's rarely that simple," she says, with a slightly skeptical half-smile.

[Durasay Mixo]

"Isn't it? To choose to use the Dark Side? To give in to that temptation of fast power?" He spoke calmly, as if merely discussing theology. "The natural state of the Force is balance. To impose your will is to make a choice. No one accidentally uses the Dark Side, Master Jedi." He smirked.

But that dark power can be useful, necessary even. When one's will must be imposed to bring justice to the Galaxy.

"Or did all the Sith accidentally give in?"

[Tethys Carrack]

"Some begin that way." Tethys shrugs a shoulder. "I've seen it. Friends who were new to their growing power, who didn't realize what that well of easy strength is before it claimed them. Or who thought they could dip in to it just a little, that their other acts would keep them in balance." She holds out a hand palm-up, wobbling it slightly from side to side as if it's an unsteady balance board.

"It did not go that way." She flips her hand palm down. "Touching that power over time twisted their emotions, made them want it more. Some came back, after a while. At least one did not."

Tucking both hands back into her pockets, her gaze drifting up to the colorful mural on the ceiling of the museum atrium, she adds just a little wistfully, "I've wondered many times if the boy I knew who fell furthest would have chosen it freely at the start. As many times as I think it over, I almost always conclude that he would not."