Meanwhile, elsewhere on the ship [D4, EA]

[Delmi Koor]

“Deadly serious…” She replied in a deadpan voice.

“That operative happens to be the only child of Grand Master Satele Shan…”

[Layne Hoshin]

"Okay..." *now* she finally remember who that was. "...and if Satele Shan was here, she'd probably tell you that's crazy, don't just let the person who tried to blow up her own daughter walk free. That's you by the way, the daughter she tried to blow up."

[Delmi Koor]

“Yeah… I know.” She said in a tired voice.

“You’re gonna have to trust me on this one… This is the best play I can think of.”

“If it goes well… we stave off a war. If it goes bad… Well then we get our guy back and we go balls to the walls to stop them anyway…”

[Layne Hoshin]

Layne looked absolutely lost for words. She was *attempting* to get some out, but they just wouldn't form. Not for a good while at least.

"..."

"... ..."

There was a lot of gesturing involved.

"... ... and... okay... why?"

[Delmi Koor]

“She’s not the head of the snake… Cut her off and nothing changes. She’s not giving anything up either. Only exchanges work with people like that. If she helps us save Alderaan… I help her kill some Sith.” She replied.

“I don’t trust her to come through… but holding her does us no good…”

[Layne Hoshin]

"There are Jedi who can read minds, it... and if you don't trust her to come through, I mean if you think she's going to betray us then... holding her *does* do us some good, doesn't it? Keeps her from betraying us for one. Keeps her from killing anyone else too."

She started pacing around the cockpit.

"You'll set her free and then... what? You just got to trust she gives Theron back? Why would she do that? At the very least she's going to have to tell us *something* before we can even consider this. Maybe I should go back there, talk to her."

[Delmi Koor]

“I doubt you’re the best person for that… No offense. Your Jedi status probably is a non-starter for her…”

She sighed, “Look… no one in the Galaxy wants to see her get away less than me… I’ve dreamed my whole life of killing her… But it’s not the play. The play is to see this through… Save Alderaan… And see what these crazies have in store after this is all over.”

[Layne Hoshin]

"And you genuinely think this is going to go our way?"

She stopped pacing.

"Does it have to be *today*?"

[Delmi Koor]

“If it’s today we get intel from her now that should help us defuse the situation here on Alderaan… And get Theron back.”

She replied. “And we’ll get to see right away if she was telling the truth or not because she will hand over the intel today… If we turn her in, the deal is off and we only go by what she tells the SIS or Jedi… which I’m guessing won’t be much… and we lose Theron…”

[Layne Hoshin]

Layne looked annoyed as she considered the options; that whole calmness thing the Jedi often had going obviously not something Layne had fully mastered yet.

"...Fine. You have a bigger stake in this than I do I guess. But you know we, or *someone* has to go and arrest her again after all this is done, right?"

[Delmi Koor]

“Yup, I volunteer when that time comes.” She replied still in her near emotionless voice.

She then turned to Layne, “Look… I’ll take the heat on this. I’m sure anyone who hears about it will question the reasoning… I question it myself… you just point them to me. Tell them I hit you or something.”

She smirked slightly showing the first bit of emotion after coming out of the cargo hold.

[Layne Hoshin]

"I don't think the Jedi will believe me if I tell them you managed to hit me," she said, "...and also I kind of already told them. Now I have to tell them we're doing this instead."

She sighed. "Also, apparently I'm not getting assassinated anymore. Rist got some intel suggesting that I was innocent, but they seemed genuinely surprised when I told them their sister was alive and plotting against the Jedi. And then... someone cut the link. Can't connect to that address anymore. So... that's a thing."

There was *another* sigh. "Should I still uh, go back there? Tell your mom I'm letting this happen, use my space wizard powers to see what she's feeling, maybe get her to see we're not so bad? Although... I guess I *am* the person who killed her colleague and forced her to disappear so..."

A third sigh emerged.

[Delmi Koor]

"Why would you tell..." Delmi stopped herself, realizing that not everyone she knew acted in the same way as the paranoid SIS.

"Well I'm sorry the trouble that will cause you... You can put it on me anyway. My hopes aren't too high... but she may end up giving us something actionable after all... Hopefully that might lessen the blow."

She added, "You can talk to her if you'd like. She's not the most... talkative person though. And I'm pretty sure she's gonna keep thinking you're pretty terrible no matter what. But... we still got a few minutes till we're getting close."

[Layne Hoshin]

"Well I told them because on Bankor some of them were upset that I didn't keep them entirely in the loop. Also, that may have happened a little later too, with the Jedi council. So now I'm expected to be more forthcoming with this sort of stuff."

She was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna at least try and get a feel for her a bit more, see if she's willing to say *anything* at all to me. Feel free to join me, and give her one of those 'daughter upset at the way her mom's treating her friends' stare if you want.

At which point Layne headed back to the room they'd turned into a makeshift brig.

[back to the other thread?]

[Delmi Koor]

Delmi had done her talking… She would stay in the cockpit for now.