[Tethys Carrack]

Once the water purification project is complete, Tethys takes her turn washing up at one of the new taps with the rest of the work crew, then slings her backpack over one shoulder and rummages inside for the military ration packs she'd grabbed on her way out of camp this morning.

She's ravenous after several hours of heavy labor, but in spite of her grumbling stomach she doesn't settle down to eat by herself. Instead, she lets the currents of instinct guide her feet through the camp. It feels like a big, fractious village, not happy, but intimate in the way small settlements sometimes are.

As she wanders, she encounters one family or squad after another settling down for their evening meals among the tents and rundown structures, mostly cooked over open fires or small battery stoves. She roams slowly, stopping here and there to add part of her rations--not exactly delicious, but filling and nutritionally balanced for most humanoid mammals--to somebody's pot in exchange for a chat and a taste of whatever they're cooking. Thanks to the work this morning there's a lot of fish on the camp stoves tonight, which fortunately suits Tethys just fine.

After the better part of an hour, Tethys finds herself fairly full (perhaps not as full as she'd be if she'd just eaten the ration packs, but certainly more satisfied), still wandering the alleys of the camp, but with even less obvious purpose than before. Whatever she encounters next, it will be as the Force wills.

[Chase]

Chase had come here to see what the people on the ground were like, the people she was flying to help protect. It was a sensation she was wont to do without but also one she cared not for letting slip past her own inner walls. Which meant there was precious little time spent actively watching and some was, instead, directed to other pursuits and passions.

One such pursuit, the restoration of the Aurean Pass. Behind some buildings in the loose fit dirt of the camp grounds Chase sat atop a box with a stick firmly in her hand. Blaster at her hip and in simple military fatigues. Below was the lines that made up the drawing of what appeared to be something rather technical, albeit only a small part and rather basic compared to most other similar sheets. Chase wasn't exactly a mechanic but she's worked on the ship before and had a rough idea of what went where and what was what. There was far too much that still needed to be done to bring her back to her old self.

Not completely alone, her T7 unit sat silently nearby and merely watched.

[Tethys Carrack]

Well, that is a bit of an unexpected sight: a uniformed Republic officer drawing in the dirt with a stick is not, at least in Tethys's limited experience, a common phenomenon in the Resistance camp. She drifts lightly over toward Chase's spot, drawn both by the novelty and by the strong air of concentration she senses radiating from the officer.

"This is an interesting place to be planning a technical project," she says once her feet have brought her fairly close.

[Chase]

"Huh?" she glanced up from her project. Mind catching up with the situation as it came back from the deep of her thoughts. "Oh, huh, yea. Kinda like that I guess, but not really anywhere else that made sense to do it Master Jedi. It's a personal project, and I like to see the bigger picture."

Beckoning the woman closer with a wave, "You know anything about ships Master Jedi?"

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys comes the last few strides toward Chase, dusty robes swirling about her legs, and directs a quizzical look at the drawing. "A little. I've never flown one. But I do have some experience with... emergency repairs." She closes her eyes for a moment with the expression of a woman brushing away an awkward memory, then looks from Chase to the diagram and back again. "Your ship?"

[Chase]

"Yea, it's pretty much home. Been neglecting it for a good while on the count of hoping from place to place but she's never left my mind," she said, reaching out with the long stick to draw a little line next to another few lines. "Last owners up and got it shot really good, been trying to repair it ever since. It's working now but could use some more tender love and care before it's really ready to show off again. Been wondering what I could do with it, once I get some leave that's been headed my way."

[Tethys Carrack]

"She looks a little bigger than your standard issue fighter," she says, cocking an eyebrow--apparently she'd noticed the service insignia on Chase's collar. "Personal, I take it. What's wrong with her?"

[Chase]

"It's not what it could be," she said, simply not correcting her in order to confirm the inference. "Flies, could probably keep toe to toe with anything the rest of those private contractors we brought in.. of course I'd be in the hot seat so it'd fly circles around em but that's not the point. There's more... much more that this ship could be. Deserves to live up to how I pictured it the first time I saw it with my own two eyes."

[Tethys Carrack]

"I sense a tale." Her brows draw up again slightly. With a smooth motion, she toes a second box a bit closer to the first and settles onto it in a drift of dusty brown robes.

[Chase]

"I'm sure there is one, but," she slid her hand over to the side of the crate she pushed herself back to her feet. Stepping forward up to the drawing, "seems the ships logs were lost when it was taken from the original owners," her T7 sprang to life with a sad draining sound, "but when I found it for sale the state it was in from," Chase shrugged, "guess I'm kinda a romantic when ships are involved but I saw the history of the ship and how much it must have gone through. It was someones home once, wanted to make it that again."

[Tethys Carrack]

"More a mystery than a tale. I see." Tethys nods, a thoughtful expression on her face. "As you describe her, she must also have been a site of great suffering, at one time. It's not easy to remake a place like that into a home. It is a noble undertaking, though." Her brown eyes look up from the diagram and back out at the camp surrounding them. "I don't know much about ship's maintenance beyond the basics. But Baesal Zyn, another Jedi here, has a master's touch with machinery. You might seek out her advice."

[Chase]

"Huh?" she glanced up, the eyebrow raised eye a clear and present indication of the words to follow, "Jedi who's a mechanic? I guess I've never really thought much what you guys go up and do in those temples of yours but I've always just sorta assumed you sat in big circles and meditated or.. thought real hard about the force or something way beyond me. But you're sayin' there's a Jedi, who's also a mechanic.. huh."

[Tethys Carrack]

"The Force is one with the universe. It doesn't stay locked in a temple, and neither do we," Tethys says, the corners of her lips twitching upward. "Jedi Zyn's understanding of the Force gives her a particular insight into machines and computers. It's not where my own path lies, but her skills are impressive."

[Chase]

"Huh," she glanced down toward the temporary diagram once more. Dragging her boot across it in a few quick motions until it was erased beneath the soft layer of dirt. "Thanks Master Jedi, I'll keep that in mind."

"So," she turns to face the woman directly. "What brings you and yours to Bankor if you don't mind my asking? Hear tell that you're far from the only Jedi here and I didn't think this deployment warranted so many of your number. Guess I can see that Baesal you spoke of, she's probably here for the Resistance. Goodwill and all as you Jedi tend to do. What about you though?"

[Tethys Carrack]

((Whoops, sorry, I missed this one!))

"Peace is breaking out in other parts of the galaxy, but Bankor is in danger of becoming a place of pain and fear." Tethys opens one hand palm-up on her knee, seemingly indicating the camp around them. "Jedi don't crave war--the opposite. But we can't stand by when lives are being warped by the shadow of the Dark Side."

She shrugs one shoulder. "I learned a great deal from a wise master about helping people understand one another and resolve conflict. I don't have any illusions about negotiating with House Kryze, but I hoped that having a Jedi around might help keep things in balance between the local people and the Republic military." And, she has to admit to herself, it does seem at the moment like the Republic can use all the help it can get on that front.

[Chase]

"Can't argue much there, Jedi bring around a certain kinda respect that it's hard to ignore whenever your lot enters a room. Still, last I checked there weren't any Sith involved in this little conflict of ours, but I see the good your lot does as well," she said, seeming to get lost on where the thought was heading.

"Hey, T, come on," she said glancing over her shoulder. The droid beeped to life and rolled over toward her side. "Anyway, thanks for the advice Master Jedi. I'll keep an eye out for your friend in case I come to asking about that ship of mine. And if you need me, well," she smirked, "keep an eye to the sky."

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys gives Chase a quizzical look. "The Dark Side of the Force means more than just the Sith. The Force touches everyone, and everyone touches it, whether they know it or not." Her lips twitch into a small smile. "You, too. Keep it in mind while you're up there in the sky."

[Chase]

"Your Force hasn't done me many favors, so I'm just gonna keep doing what I've been," she said instinctively but.. "..no offense, Master Jedi."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Whatever you've been doing, it's been all around you," the Jedi says with a shrug, seemingly unoffended. "Whether or not you want it. But you don't strike me as a person who acts often out of anger or cruelty. When the Force is with you, it should not be in a way that does you harm."

[Chase]

"Wait!" she said thrusting her hand into the air, "Don't tell me, the force told you that didn't it? Wily little guy. Telling every-jedi all about everyones secret selves and whatnot."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Well, yes," Tethys says, lips twitching. "More or less."

[Chase]

"See," she said, seeming to lose some of the steam she had going. A sudden pivot. It wasn't like it was her fault. "I'm gettin' the hang of this force stuff already."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Sounds like it," the tall Jedi says, looking amused. "I understand some sentient beings feel discomfort in thinking too much about the Force, but it's something like the idea of a fish who doesn't want to think about water. It will be there regardless." She raises an eyebrow. "It might well even be a part of those good feelings you have from your ship. People and feelings leave resonances behind them."

[Chase]

"Alright alright calm down there. I'm not following that closely," Chase said, raising her hands mock defensively.

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys briefly breaks into an actual smile, teeth flashing white against her dark skin. "Your pardon. As an apprentice I shadowed my master in many encounters with emissaries and negotiators who were suspicious about the Force. Well, and suspicious of us. We spent a great deal of time convincing people we weren't as strange as they thought."