AN: Thanks for all the lovely feedback for the last chapter! I'm so happy that ya'll enjoyed it, even though I now cringe to think of all the small mishaps and mistakes I did when writing it.

I've really been looking forward to this (and the following) chapters! This is where the real story begins you guys, and it's going to be awesome~!

Also, as I said in last chapters Authors Note, Ventress is my favorite character, soooooo… I love writing her. I really do.

Also, since I know that I haven't made it entirely clear, I'd just like to point out that Bane is wearing his later Clone Wars outfit – that is to say, no cheek-breathing-apparatus-thingy (yes, I know that they got a proper name, I'm just a little too sleepy and hyped to remember at the moment).
I know, I think it sucks too.

AAAAAAND, as my last and finishing note, I'd like to say that I think that everyone who reads this fic should go and check out Stilwater Rundeepo's AMAZING fanimation that she did for me!

stilwater-rundeepo. /art/Nap-time-animation-406012356

(just remove the gaps from the link and you're good to go!)

Now, read!

Warnings: Sassy Ventress

Sneaking into the Hutt courthouse turned out to be about as difficult as getting information had been – not at all.

A couple of cans of beer and some money sneaked into a Gormordian guard's hand and then they were being pushed through one of the back doors and shuffled through dark corridors, quick and quiet and discreet.

As they reached the courtroom (a big, dark, ominous place without any seating arrangements) they were told to keep to the walls and stay in the shadows, and then left to their own devices.

They were about an hour early, but even so there already was a small crowd of spectators lined up around the walls of the room, hidden in the darkness; an odd mixture of civilian families, bounty hunters, wealthy businessmen, thieves and Hutt guards.

Really, Obi-Wan thought as he leaned up against the wall, he shouldn't be so surprised. Assaj Ventress had gained herself quite a reputation over the years (and a lot of enemies), as a former Sith apprentice and a successful bounty huntress – it was only natural that her capture would attract some attention.

As time moved on, he watched as more and more people came into the courtroom, until all the walls were filled up and the air was vibrating with the sound of hushed talking, whispers and murmurs in the dark.
"Nervous?" Bane suddenly wondered, making him jump slightly.

It was the first thing the duros had said since they'd gotten there.

Obi-Wan glanced down at where he was sitting, crouched down on the floor with his hat tipped down over his eyes, that seemed to glisten in the darkness. He sat turned towards the center of the room, where eventually the Hutts would gather and Ventress would stand trial, but it was the crowd around them he was looking at, Obi-Wan knew, judging their strengths and possible professions, social statuses and threat levels.

The human opened his mouth to say no, no he'd been through far worse than this, why would he be nervous (?), when suddenly he realized that his hands were shaking, and sometime during the past hour he'd unconsciously grabbed onto his lightsaber under his cloak, holding it in a vice grip.

Surprised, he forced up a grin and let go of the weapon to hold his trembling hand out in the air, making Bane turn towards him.

"Apparently."

The duros frowned.

"Why?"

He pulled his hand back, and looked to the center of the room.

"I don't know."

Then, suddenly, the darkness was pierced by a bright, blue flash, making Obi-Wan turn away and close his eyes.

When he opened them again, a series of lights had been lit in the center of the room, illuminating a huge, wooden, half-moon shaped table that had looked like nothing but a darker patch of shadows mere seconds before, and the hologram of Gorga Desilijic Aarrpo.

Suddenly, the air felt too thick to breathe, and it was so quiet, Obi-Wan thought that his heart would burst out of his chest.

Despite the Hutts large, clumsy, snaillike body, and the monocle that made him look more silly than classy, there was no doubt that Gorga was a figure of great power, cunning and authority.

The Jedi master had always felt small in the presence of Hutts, even if it was only a hologram. Only a fool wouldn't, he thought, the Hutt's were a highly powerful species, and this was one of the most important ones; leader of his own Kajidic, Jabba's nephew and one of the most influential members of the Hutt council.

As the slug studied his surroundings, he let out a heavy sigh and muttered something in Huttish.

The hollow sound echoed throughout the room.

The next five minutes where spent in tense silence, as the following three members of the Hutt council made their holographic appearances. Marlo came first, greeting Gorga in their deep, throaty language and a sleazy smile. Arok was second, puffing at his cigar; and then there was Jabba.

The sight of him made something coil uncomfortably in Obi-Wan's stomach, and he found himself trying to sink even deeper into the shadows of the wall, trying to hide his face beneath his hood.

Jabba said something that made the others chuckle, sending their large heavy chins dancing against each other, and then, there was silence.

"No wonder that it was so easy to sneak in…" He heard Bane grumble, barely audible over the sound of his own heartbeat. "…if none of the ol' slugs were going to attend in person."
"They've been more careful lately." He whispered back, as if in a dream. "Since their audience with the Sith brothers. One of their members died."

"Bloody cowards, that's what they are." Bane spat, and Obi-Wan tried not to think too hard on the contempt in his voice.

Then, the doors of the chamber were opened, and the former Jedi master had to keep himself from gasping out loud at the look of the prisoner, barely conscious and bleeding from a wound on her temple as she was dragged by two guards into the center of the room.

Assaj Ventress.

It really was her!

Older and, if possible, even thinner than he remembered her; with dark patches circling her eyes and a tremble to her steps that made her seem strangely vulnerable. But the look on her face, the smirk on her lips and the confidence, the defiance in her eyes as she raised her head and said;

"Well, well, well what have we here? A bunch of old, bloated slugs, too scared to come out and look me in the eye. Do I frighten you so much, Jabba?"

That was familiar.

The trial was swift, it was cruel, and it was utterly, utterly corrupt.

For the abduction of Jabba's, now deceased, son; murder; theft; witchcraft (?); and severe war crimes during the Clone Wars; Assaj Ventress was sentenced to immediately be transported to Tatooine, where Jabba Desilijic Tiure the Hutt would get to decide a suitable punishment for her sins and crimes.

By the pleased look in the old slug's eyes, Obi-Wan knew with a sinking feeling in his gut, that it wasn't going to be pretty.