Chapter 8: Unto the Belly of the Beast

Vancil idly shifted in his hand cuffs as what the troopers called an 'LAAT drop ship' lightly touched down on the landing pad. And, while his view of the outside was extremely limited due to the only available avenue of discerning what was outside being the small slats in the side doors of the LAAT, there was no doubt about the planet they had landed on. A smile came onto the face beneath his mask, as a semblance of hope sparked deep within him.

Coruscant. The heart of the Republic, and the beacon of humanity in the galaxy. He had visited with his parents once, when he was still a child. And, despite the reality of the rotten and decaying underbelly beneath the beautiful facade, you could never get rid of that first experience. His smile quickly dropped however, as the rest of the memory of his visit made its way to the forefront of his mind before being quickly banished back to the depths from which it came.

Thankfully an excellent distraction quickly became apparent, as the doors on the drop ship slid to the side to reveal a towering megastructure, its size massive even by Coruscant's standards. The Jedi Temple, a great and towering…concrete cube. Well, he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised considering his understanding of the Jedi. At least it looked somewhat different than it did on his first visit.

He couldn't help but feel a bit confused however, as to why he was even looking at it from afar. He knew for a fact that there were hangar bays, and that they could almost certainly have managed to fit in a drop ship of this size. In fact, he was currently facing the stair way to the main entrance.

Vancil looked around the area to find that they had in fact simply landed in the middle of a large portion of the pathway leading to the temple. It finally clicked in his mind however as he finally took notice of the many Jedi standing just outside the LAAT, as well as what looked to be civilian reporters. A light chuckle of amusement escaped him as the troopers escorted him out onto the path, a dozen camera flashes occurring within moments of his first step onto the concrete ground from both handheld devices and drones.

Propaganda. His chuckling increased as he continued to be ushered along, apparently having the effect of intimidating both the Jedi and reporters, some of them visibly recoiling. It made sense of course. From what he had gathered during his short conversation with Anakin Skywalker, Sith were in rather short supply, short enough to warrant even a single one being considered dangerous. He could see the headlines now; "SITH LORD CAPTURED, ANOTHER HUGE VICTORY FOR OUR GLORIOUS REPUBLIC!"

Sure, they might embellish a little bit, but it wouldn't matter if the Sith 'Lord' they captured was locked up in the deepest darkest cell they could find. His gaze flicked over to the four Jedi that now walked alongside the clone trooper escort, a stern look on all of their faces as they now stared ahead unflinchingly. Out of the corner of his eye however, he could see their occasional glances towards him. It made him chuckle even harder, at how cautious these Jedi were. He could understand the fearful look on the face of the reporters, but honestly, he was kind of disappointed that the Jedi were. Even with him in handcuffs and surrounded by soldiers and Jedi, they were still worried about Vancil trying something.

Well, he supposed they were correct in that assumption. Once Vancil got what he wanted he fully intended to halt all cooperation. And while he fully expected them to not give in to his demands, if they actually did give him what he wanted, he at least resolved to not go on a spree of destruction within the temple. You could think of it as his little way of saying thank you.

Once his grand procession reached the stairs of the temple all of the clones immediately stopped and did an about face towards the crowd, leaving Vancil and the Jedi to continue upwards and through the entrance into the temple proper. It was once Vancil exited the sight of the reporters that they immediately began asking questions to the clones who now held them back, clearly having grown some spine since his disappearance from their site.

At this point Vancil was laughing like mad, drawing some concerned and confused looks from the Jedi that littered the main entrance hall, even including one of his stoic escorts. He didn't even care enough to pay attention to his surroundings, now only subconsciously following his escorts as he laughed his worries away.

Personally, he found the whole thing incredibly funny. It also helped distract him from the unease and rage he felt not only from the close proximity to these Jedi but also the fact that he was inside one of the places he despised the most, the Jedi Temple. Plus, it helped paint the picture that he was not one to be trifled with if he kept on laughing like a maniac.

As they continued on his laughter finally began to die down as they reached an elevator, resulting in all five of them piling in awkwardly. When in there he kept close attention to the lightsaber still at his belt, just in case one of the Jedi tried to swipe it. As the elevator slowly rose with a low hum, the tension in the cramped area was apparent, the Jedi being uneasy about how squished they were and Vancil keeping an eye out for anything the Jedi might pull.

Vancil briefly considered lightening the mood by mocking one or two of them before deciding against it, his hatred for Jedi outweighing his discomfort in the cramped space. The Jedi in front of him let out a sigh of relief as the doors opened and they all stepped out into a curving hallway. The exterior walls had large glass planes, giving a truly magnificent view of the Jewel of the Galaxy.

As the procession continued on, Vancil idly watched out the window onto the sprawling planet sized city before they eventually reached another elevator with another group of people already waiting in front of it, his gaze landing on one in particular.

"You're late." Kandria said.

*****

Kandria was nervous. Incredibly so. She had arrived only ten minutes ago and she was already fighting back the nervous sweat that was forming. There were several reasons for this feeling. First and most prominently was that she now stood before the elevator to what Anakin said was the High Council Tower in which the Jedi Council resided. Being under one Jedi Master was stressful enough, but walking into a room of the most accomplished and powerful Jedi, while she was cuffed like a criminal? That was another beast entirely.

The second reason for her nervousness was that she had no idea where Vancil was. When they had arrived at Coruscant they had both been escorted onto different drop ships, with the excuse being that it was safer. Yet, Vancil was no where to be seen. Both of the ships had left at the same time so it ruled out different launch times. She also didn't see his ship when they landed in the hangar. That meant one of two things, and she wasn't sure which scared her more.

One; Vancil had somehow taken out the clone troopers and escaped with the drop ship and was probably in the process of fighting for his life and freedom. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want the Sith to die. Maybe it was because she still felt some sort of debt to him for saving her life. Or maybe it was the fact that apparently, they were all each other had of their home.

Two; Vancil had actually been taken to an entirely different place and was currently in the process of being incarcerated or interrogated violently. This worried her for the same reasons as reason one.

Kandria's gaze flicked to a new group that approached, eyes widening slightly in relief, as she spotted the Sith, Vancil among the approaching Jedi. Anakin and Ahsoka who stood by her side also turned to look at the approaching group, Anakin's expression having a look of disapproval as he spotted the Sith. For some reason though it didn't seem as though it was directed at Vancil himself but something else.

And, unlike Kandria, Vancil had four Jedi surrounding him, all of them on high alert. She almost felt insulted. Almost.

"You're late." She stated while trying to keep her tone neutral in the presence of higher-ranking Jedi.

Vancil only chuckled in response, "You should leave the mocking to me, Jedi. It's very unbecoming of a padawan to resort to things like petty taunts."

Kandria gritted her teeth in frustration before wresting her emotions back under control, "Care to explain why you're late? Don't tell me you decided to go sightseeing."

Vancil's chuckles quietened down, "Well, I wouldn't say that. I did take the scenic route, but it's more like I was the object of sightseeing."

Kandria tilted her head in confusion, "What does that even mean?"

Vancil scoffed as if insulted, "What, you didn't know? I'm famous now! Although I suppose it would take a while for them to write the news articles…"

Kandria blinked owlishly before turning to Anakin, "Do you understand what he's talking about?"

Anakin scowled as he looked to the Sith, although it once again didn't seem that Vancil was the direct cause of it, "A Sith is a powerful individual. Even if he surrendered peacefully and offered his cooperation this is just what we need to boost morale."

Kandria pondered over Anakin's words before her eyes widened in realisation. 'It would take a while for them to write the news articles'. He had taken the 'scenic route'. The front entrance. Her eyes narrowed in a feeling she very rarely felt. Anger. They had paraded him up the stairs of the Jedi Temple like some prized Nerf as a…propaganda tool. He had surrendered of his own volition, made clear his willingness to cooperate not only with her but their Jedi captors. It was degrading.

It was then that she understood exactly what caused Anakin's scowl. He disagreed with this just as much as she did. This, coupled with her own training kicking in allowed her to suppress her anger almost as soon as it appeared. And, while she internally wanted to both apologise to Vancil for the disrespectful treatment and give these Jedi a piece of her mind, she decided against it.

Vancil seemed to be relatively unaffected by this degrading treatment, and she did not want to mess up any chances he had of getting his demands met by the Jedi Council by being rude to them. And so, after having calmed herself, Kandria simply stood there patiently, her expression turning blank almost instantly thanks to years of training. Thankfully it also seemed that none of the Jedi had noticed her small internal outburst.

One of the Jedi that had been escorting Vancil, a human with greying brown hair, then stepped forwards, "The Council wishes to speak with the Sith first, Skywalker. I'm sure you were informed of this."

Anakin bowed his head slightly, "Of course, Master Drallig. I and Ahsoka can keep watch over Padawan Kandria. I assume the other Masters have places to be as well."

"Indeed, however I will remain to escort him both up the elevator then down. Where he goes after that is up to the Council to decide." Drallig's gaze flicked to Kandria, his brown eyes narrowing in suspicion, "Keep an eye on that one. While her claimed Padawan status may explain her inability to hide her emotions, she could still be lying to us."

Kandria flushed in embarrassment at being called out, thankful that her mask hid her face.

Anakin chuckled lightly, however it seemed strained, "Of course, Master Drallig."

Drallig kept his gaze fixed on Kandria before turning towards Vancil and jerking his head towards the elevator, "Come on. Time to plead your case."

The Sith scoffed in response but continued on in front of Drallig, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he responded, "Ya know, usually you plead your case before being paraded through the streets."

As they both stepped into the elevator, Kandria's gaze locked onto Vancil's for what felt like hours before the door shut, sending him up to the Jedi Council.

*****

A/N:

I post this story on Royal Road, and personally that site/app is just far better in terms of UI and the reader experience. I'll still post on Webnovel, however Royal Road is also ahead in chapters. You can or not, don't affect me much.

PS: There are also memes on Royal Road