Kandria looked back at the Sith, now named as Vancil, in shock, a look that was mirrored by the other two Jedi. When the togruta had said those words, everything she knew so far began to shatter around her. It was in that very moment, in which she pieced together the gravity of what the togruta had said, that she for once let go of her training if only for a moment.

All the hope she had for getting back to her master and friends alive was thrown out the window and set on fire. This outburst only lasted a moment of course, as she quickly regained control, so quickly you probably wouldn’t have even noticed. After all, if what the togruta said was true, which it very likely was, then it was even more paramount that she drew on her training more than ever.

What she didn’t expect however, was the Sith’s reaction. Up until now, Vancil had been a constant fountain of arrogance and bravado, not bothering to hide his emotions due his Sith nature. It was because of this, that his shift in emotions was more noticeable. MUCH more noticeable.

Now, instead of his arrogance, confidence, or even disdain, the only emotion he was projecting was…distress. Vancil was now the complete opposite of what she had deduced of him so far. It was mind boggling in fact, how distraught he was. Quite literally too, due to her force sensitive nature and training. He wasn’t even moving, not an inch. In fact, she wasn’t even sure he was breathing anymore.

And, due to all of these factors, Kandria felt something she never thought she would feel for a Sith. Sympathy. This caused great conflict within the Jedi; she ignored it however, because feeling sympathetic, at that moment, felt right. Because now, despite her inner protests, there was one undeniable fact.

Kandria, the Jedi, and Vancil, the Sith, were all that remained of each other’s home.

Vancil remained unmoving for a few more moments, seemingly unfazed by the stares of all those surrounding him. That was when Kandria sensed a profound shift in the Sith’s emotions, going from overwhelming dejection to a stoic determination as he stepped forward in front of her.

“I will surrender myself under two conditions.” He stated, snapping all the Jedi out of their stupor as they looked at him in bewilderment, “One: I will keep my lightsaber. Two: You will bring me before the Jedi Council.”

Anakin’s shocked gaze immediately turned into a frown, however a hint of confusion remained at Vancil’s second condition, “Absolutely not. Why would you even want to go to the Council anyways?”

“Simple. They have access to the Jedi Archives. Since my home has apparently been destroyed, I would like to learn how. And you need not concern yourself with me attempting to escape.” Vancil replied simply.

“And why not? Sith are notoriously deceptive and untrustworthy, so this could all be just some elaborate ploy for you to assassinate the Jedi Council!” The togruta spoke up, her tone having turned accusatory as she addressed the Sith.

Kandria could feel the glare Vancil gave her, even with his face covered by the expressionless mask, “Because where do you think I will flee to? To the Empire that was apparently dissolved a thousand years ago? Or perhaps you expect me to break out of prison and take on an entire capital ship’s worth of republic troopers by myself.”

Sensing the indignation quickly from the togruta, Kandria quickly stepped into the conversation, “Look, I understand your reservations and inclinations to not believe him- “

“There is nothing reserved about it! It is simple fact. And how can we even know- “ The togruta replied sharply towards Kandria, only to stopped as Anakin raised his hand, looking back at her with a disapproving scowl.

“That’s enough, Ahsoka.” He scolded, before looking back at Kandria, “But she is right, how can we trust this Sith?”

Kandria breathed out a sigh of both relief at Anakin’s willingness to listen as well, however the sigh also contained trace amounts of queasiness at what she knew she had to say, “You cannot trust the Sith. But you can trust me, as a fellow Jedi. And I…trust the Sith.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Kandria shivered as the words left her mouth, feeling shaken to her very core at this admittance. Thankfully it appeared to not just affect her, as the Sith quickly twisted around, his confusion and surprise evident simply from the emotions he projected.

“You fucking what now?” Vancil said, his voice betraying every ounce of bewilderment he clearly felt at the moment.

Kandria worked her jaw underneath her mask as she looked into the lenses of his mask, “You saved my life, even after nearly ending it several times. You threw yourself in between me and a swarm of whistling darts.”

Her gaze flicked back to the Anakin and Ahsoka as she stepped forward in between them and Vancil, “Even if he is a Sith, and also undoubtedly an asshole, right now I trust his words. I am so confident that he speaks the truth in fact, that I am willing to bet the whole Jedi Order on it.”

Both Anakin and Ahsoka stared at her with a perplexed look on their faces, clearly not expecting such a declaration. It was then that one of the soldiers beside Anakin turned to him. His armour was similar to that of the troopers surrounding them but the helmet seemed to be of a different kind, similar to how the blue markings were much more prominent on this one than any of the others.

His voice was low enough that she almost couldn’t hear it as he spoke, “Sir, the Sith didn’t say anything about where we keep him or how much security we can have on him. I don’t know much about Sith but I’m sure that even just one would be a great boon to the Republic.”

Anakin nodded as he stroked his chin in thought, “I know that…the whole situation is just a bit weird.”

Anakin then looked back towards Kandria and Vancil, a decisive look on his face as he waved towards his troops, “Alright men, escort them to the holding cells. I want at least twenty guards on a quarterly rotation at all times.”

With that the soldiers surrounding them sprang into action, advancing rapidly onto them. Soon enough they were being marched through the expansive halls of the Venator, catching gazes from every crew member they passed. One thing stood out to Kandria though. All of the crew…looked and sounded the exact same. The same faces, same voices, even the same hair colour.

She glanced back at the column of soldiers behind her, eyes widening as she noticed they all walked at the exact same height. They were…clones? This definitely was not her galaxy if that was the case, and only reinforced her suspicions of this being some strange alternate reality. After all, never had she heard of clones being used on such a grand scale as to man an entire capital ship. And if this one was manned with clones, it was likely that many more were.

Despite her thoughts spiralling into questions about the sheer scale of this cloning operation, Kandria continued on until they finally reached the brig. The brig appeared to be a long hallway, with many different cells lining the sides of it. The cells had translucent blue shields coursing with electricity, the shields wide enough to be considered a wall instead of a door.

She and the Sith were soon ushered into separate cells, the cells themselves being on opposite sides of the walkway to each other. As the blue shield reactivated, shutting her in, Kandria took a look around her ‘room’. It consisted of the bare minimum, with a small platform sticking out of the wall to serve as a bed on the right and a bland toilet and sink in front of her, all of it made out grey metal.

As she took in her surroundings, Kandria licked her lips as she approached the sink, lowering her mask and eagerly chugging down on the sweet, sweet water. She hadn’t really realised it until she had laid eyes upon this beautiful contraption, but she was incredibly thirsty. Sure, it hadn’t really been that long since she and Vancil had arrived on Krant, but that didn’t matter as she was already thirsty before their climactic battle aboard the Rakatan Ship.

She was really regretting refusing that drink from Master Coval now. It really was true that pride was one’s downfall. As she finished gulping down the sweet nectar that was the tap water she straightened back up, wiping her mouth free of water and pulling her mask back up.

Turning around her gaze hardened as she noticed Vancil leaning against the back wall of his own cell, snickering quietly to himself as he watched her admittedly embarrassing display. Holding her head high, she ignored the near silent ridicule Vancil threw at her as she hopped up onto the bed, sitting cross-legged as she slowly drifted into a meditative state, her eyes closing shut. There was a lot to think about after all.

Silence once again bore down on both of the cells as Vancil’s snickering faded away. That is, until Vancil spoke up once again.

“Hey…Kandria,” He appeared to hesitate before saying her name, as though he was unsure of it, “…Thank you, for trusting me.”

Kandria remained silent for a moment before one of her eyes opened, looking at him. He was standing very still, at the very edge of his cell right near the blue shield. She kept her gaze on him, her singular eye locked on his blank white lenses.

“Thank you for giving me a reason to trust you.”