Managing the Shadows

Chapter 2: An Anchor in the Dark

Chapter 2: An Anchor in the Dark

“Cade.” Blue waited for a response. Cade had been sitting on the bed in their cabin, staring intensely at a small, mangled root in his hand, for nearly an hour now. She was finally getting nervous.

“Cade?” Still no response. “Cade!” she finally shouted.

Cade looked up, “Sorry, sorry. What’s up, Blue? What's on your mind?”

“I could ask you the same, Cade. You’ve been staring at that root for almost an hour now.”

He looked once more at the root in his hand. It was a gray color, and had strange bone-like growths protruding from it in various jagged angles.

“I can't feel it.”

Blue looked inquisitively at Cade. “What do you mean?”

“In the force. I can't feel it in the force.”

Blue could tell that whatever was on Cade’s mind, it was deeply troubling him. “It is dead though, isn’t it? Doesn't something have to be alive to exist in the Force?”

“Not quite.” Cade turned the root around slightly and held it out to show it to Deliah more closely. She reached a hand out and gently touched it.

“Look at this moss here, and this lichen here.” Cade began. “The branch itself is dead, but there should be a mini-ecosystem of life surrounding it- moss, bacteria, and yet- I cannot feel any of it in the Force. Nothing at all.”

Blue paused, these conversations always made her anxious, especially when Cade seemed uncertain. When it came to hyperspace drives or catalyzers Blue could go toe to toe with Cade any day of the week, if anything he was usually trying to catch up to her, but the Force?

The simple truth was, as much as she tried, it always felt like Cade, even amongst Jedi, had a particularly intuitive understanding of the Force. She often felt like she really didn’t have anything to offer Cade, when topics of the Force came about. When she met Cade, they were mercenaries for hire. Guns and ships, that was all they needed. When she first met Cade he had completely rejected the Jedi, using Death Sticks to numb his connection to the Force.

It had taken years for Cade to accept his Jedi heritage, particularly being a Skywalker. Blue loved the man he had become, but sometimes the Force created a certain separation between them.

Machines were her portion bread and bantha butter. When there was a problem on the ship she could see it and fix it. She loved the feel of a wrench in her hand, tightening the last bolt on a new trivalve assembly. She found these puzzles easy and straightforward, but the Force. There was nothing straightforward about the Force.

Yet she loved Cade, and since he was a Jedi it often helped her to help him when she had some knowledge about the Force. So she tried her best to learn it for him.

“Well, the Yuuzhan Vong exist outside the Force. Is it possible somehow the root is connected to them?”

Cade shook his head, “these plants and species are native to Wayland. Even if they were shaped by the Yuuzhan Vong, there shouldn’t be a complete hole where they exist. It’s almost as if it’s hiding its presence.” Cade laughed at the idea and continued manipulating the root in his fingers.

“It shouldn’t be possible and yet,” he threw the root into the air as he often did with objects before floating them midair. However, the root simply fell back into his hand. He looked up at Deliah. “Nothing.”

Blue sat beside Cade on their cot and wrapped her arm around him. “You'll figure it out, Pateesa. I have faith in you.”

Cade gently brushed her hand off his shoulder and began aggressively pacing in their quarters.

“Blue, this root is from one of the trees on Wayland.”

“I know…”

“One of the trees I can't fix.” Cade's volume was growing louder.

“I made a promise to the Myneyrshi.” Cade was still pacing. “A promise to complete the work of my father!” Cade was yelling now, “a promise-”

“Babe!” Cade had been so engrossed in his thinking, he hadn’t even noticed Deliah had stood up and walked over to him. She firmly put both her hands on either side of his head. She held him sweetly. He could feel himself calming.

Cade tried to look away, but Deliah pulled him close until their foreheads rested upon each other.

“I made a promise.” Cade continued, but calmly now. “To them. In my father's name.” Deliah waited.

“What if I can't fix it?”

Blue sighed and then moved one of her hands from the side of his head and wiped a tear from his eye. “I know you, my love. You're brilliant and strong, and your compassion knows no bounds. I know-” she held his head tightly now and pressed their foreheads together more intensely now to drive home the point, “I know you will find a way…”

She waited until his breathing had leveled out before pulling away.

After a moment, she headed out of their cabin. “We should be arriving in Wayland soon.” Cade looked at her and smiled.

“What?” She asked.

“I just can’t believe how kriffing lucky I am to have you.”

“Damn right you are,” she said with a giggle, blew him a kiss, and darted to prepare for their exit from hyperspace.

Cade did some last minute checks throughout the ship before joining Blue in the cockpit as they began their approach to Wayland. As they watched the planet grow larger Cade sighed, “I’m nervous about the Jedi Council.”

Blue waited. He loved how intensely she listened to him, even while also piloting she knew how to make him feel heard. Their love had always been strong, but their connection had grown immeasurably over the last few years. “I sense a darkness growing in the force. Traya feels it too. But the Jedi Council, they are doing what they have always done, grow complacent.”

Deliah smiled, “Speaking of, you probably haven't won any favor with your choice of trainee.”

“Apprentice,” Cade corrected.

“Well, your use of titles certainly hasn’t helped either.”

“But that’s exactly it, isn’t it? They are so obsessed with details; what titles are used, whether each minute decision is the right thing to do. It leads them to crippling inaction. When I found Traya she was just a child. I knew then and there what I had to do. I knew that there was a good chance that the decision could potentially cause a fracture between me and the Council, but I knew it was right.

“I take that burden, I accept it. I have never been one to shy away from a struggle, but Traya. Traya doesn’t deserve their ostracism, and that- it angers me Blue, it really does. She’s just a child.”

“Cade, you have done an amazing job with Traya. Remember where she was when you found her and now look at how much she has grown. Don’t let the Council diminish that achievement. K’Kruhk has seemed clear in his support.”

Cade smiled, he kissed Deliah. “Thank you, Blue…”

Delilah watched him, “but…”

Cade smiled, looking solemn, but continued, “but even so, K’kruhk’s influence on the Council is waning, and even with all the work I’m doing, they still don’t trust me. Especially since Shado Vao became a master. Even when I committed myself to the Jedi order years ago, I could sense his suspicions, and they have only grown since then- spread if anything…"

“Well Cade you do have a tendency to push buttons.”

“Would you love me if I didn’t?” The two laughed.

“Ever since the death of Bantha and T’ra Saa. I don’t know, the Council feels… lost. Krayt may have lost the war, but he definitely damaged the Council in ways I don’t think even he could’ve expected.”

Blue moved to consol Cade. “I know you miss them Cade, especially Bantha.”

A tear rolled down Cade’s cheek. He wiped it off, but smiled. “It just frustrates me; Traya and I, our connection to the Sith, they see it as a fault, something to be ashamed of, but it’s not. It's a tool. We can sense the force in ways the Jedi can’t, and Blue- Blue it’s screaming out to us right now. I fear it might be Krayt.”

“But he’s been dead for over a decade now.”

“I know, Blue, but something is off. Especially with Traya, and considering her connection to Krayt, that worries me the most.

“We are their Convors in the Cortosis mine. I hope they recognize that before it’s too late.”

They both let that sit in the air for a few moments.

“Well how is Traya doing in her training?”

Cade looked somber as he spoke. “She is brilliant. She is progressing faster in her training than I ever could have imagined.”

“Krayt is probably who you can thank for that,” Traya interrupted.

“Traya, what did I tell you about sneaking around and eavesdropping like that?”

“I’m sorry, Master. I just needed to hear someone besides him.”

Cade looked deeply saddened, “I understand. But you need to work on boundaries. Have you been practicing meditating?”

“Yes, but since we came out of hyperspace near Wayland, I haven’t been able to block him out.” Cade looked concerned. Traya noticed, “why do you think that is?”

“There is still something very off here on Wayland. Last time we attempted terraforming, via the Ossus Project, Wayland was transformed in mere months. Now it’s been almost 2 years with minimal advances. We’re not backsliding, but something is preventing our progress… We’ve captured Maladi’s lab and acquired a ton of research from it, but nothing seems to be able to explain what’s preventing the terraforming.”

“Well looks like we’ve got some work cut out for us, don’t you think, Master?”

“C’mon Traya, I’m not a Master.”

“You're not a master to the Jedi, but you are to me.”

Cade smiled, “Thank you Traya, and yes, to what you said before, we definitely have work cut out indeed…”

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