Chapter 5 - 72 ABY - Love doesn’t erase the past, but it makes the future different - Gary Chapman
(Jayden-Age 34)
“We were on Dagobah for a few months, but then Master Luke was called back to Coruscant for some Jedi Council business. I wasn’t ready to go back. I didn’t want to face that emptiness I still felt. So I begged to go on missions, and occasionally Luke would let me go with other Jedi, because he was too old to go on missions anymore. However, once my Force extraction powers manifested, everything changed. There were several attempts on my life. I was under protection all day long. I couldn’t pee without Luke or the Council knowing about it.” Jayden rolled her eyes and looked back at Moira who was sitting quietly, trying to process everything Jayden was finally telling her.
“That must have been really frustrating.”
“You have no idea. I had this special ability and felt helpless. When I was twenty, I was finally made a Jedi Knight and I thought things would change. I thought that I could finally be trusted enough to go and hunt down some Dark Jedi on my own. But the Council said it was still too dangerous for me to go alone, so they would send me with several other Jedi. I was getting frustrated, but then Luke introduced me to someone who had been learning therapy techniques from my mom, Kyra. He thought maybe I needed a friend that I could confide in. For awhile it helped having her. We had even-“ Jayden was interrupted by the beep on the console.
“We’re here. Hyperdrive is disengaging,” Moira told Jayden as she pulled the lever back and they came out of hyperdrive to see Coruscant out of the cockpit window. The sun was on the other side of the planet leaving their view lit up by the trillions of lights that formed together to make huge cities. Coruscant was basically just one large city that spanned the globe. Moira had never seen anything like it. “Wow!”
“That’s right, you’ve never been here.” Jayden said and Moira shook her head.
“Mandalorians don’t really care much for the Republic. They normally stick to the Outer Rim territories. But this is… amazing. How many people live down there?”
“Over a trillion,” Jayden watched as Moira looked at the planet in awe. She didn’t want to admit it to Moira, or anyone, but she did miss living on Coruscant. There were so many different species on the planet, which meant that there were so many different restaurant options that Tatooine just couldn’t offer, and she was getting really tired of eating bantha steaks. It was also neat to see all of the species intermingle peacefully. “It’s a lot different than Tatooine. Everyone accepts each other here. There’s no speciesism or xenophobia. It’s nice.”
“You sound like you miss it.”
“In some ways I do. The food was great! No womp rat stew! But most of my good memories come from before my parents died, so…” Jayden trailed off as the memories came back to her. That was why she couldn’t live here anymore. It’s like the moment she saw the planet, all the memories of her parents came flooding back.
“I’m sorry,” Moira said as she reached over and held Jayden’s hand. “I know it’s got to be hard coming back. Why are we here anyway?”
“I need to find out who those Dark Jedi are. With Luke gone, I haven’t been able to get any information on the movements of the Dark Jedi. I had never heard of those three before, and since the other two never showed their faces, I was hoping my contact here would help me identify them. I need to find out who they are and take care of them. I have a friend that will hopefully help us out.” Jayden pressed a few buttons on a keyboard and a hologram appeared.
“Can I help you?” the hologram asked.
“Hey Jax. It’s me.”
“Jayden? Nice helmet. Luke told me that you had joined the Mandalorians. I didn’t want to believe it. What are you doing here?” Jax asked, her hologram flickering.
“Look… I need to talk, but I can’t do it over comms. Can we meet?” Jayden hated having to ask Jax for a favor, and she really didn’t want to meet with her in person, but their comms weren’t secure. They also didn’t part on good terms and Jax didn’t look too thrilled to be receiving a call from her.
“Yeah, I guess. Give me half an hour. We’ll meet at your favorite spot.”
“Thank-“ Jayden tried to say as Jax cut the communications off.
“What’s her deal?” Jayden just shook her head at Moira’s question.
“Here, switch seats with me. Where we’re going is a little tricky to land.” Jayden took the pilot seat and flew the starfighter to the other side of the planet where the sun was shining bright. She missed only having one sun. She also missed the coolness of Coruscant’s climate controlled atmosphere. She set the starfighter down on a rocky cliff that overlooked a beautiful sandy beach. It was a small beach, but it was the only beach left on Coruscant. Because of overpopulation, they had to drain most of their oceans into caverns beneath the cities. “We’re here.”
Moira looked out the cockpit window as Jayden exited the cockpit and went down to the cargo hold. She lowered the cargo door, stepped out, and looked around. Jayden breathed the fresh crisp salty air and it brought her back to happier times. As a kid, she would beg her moms to take her to the beach. As she got older it became her place of solitude where she could meditate and be one with the Force. Even though it was the only beach on Coruscant, hardly anyone ever came to it, so it was perfect for her. She walked over to the edge of the cliff where she used to sit. Several minutes later she heard Moira walking down the cargo door and come up behind her.
“Everything ok?” Moira asked.
“Not really.” She turned to Moira in time to see a speeder pull up beside their ship and watched as Jax hesitantly climbed out.
“Jayden?” Jax asked, not knowing which of the two Mandalorians that stood in front of her was the right one.
Jayden took a step towards Jax. “Hey Jax. Your hair’s gotten longer. It looks good.” When Jayden first met Jax she had medium length blonde hair that framed her face. Now it was long and braided.
“Who’s that?” Jax asked, ignoring Jayden’s compliment.
Jayden motioned Moira to step closer and she grabbed her hand. “This is my wife, Moira. Moira, this is my… friend, Jax.”
Jax immediately became indignant. “So that’s what you’re calling me now? A friend?”
“Look Jax, I didn’t come here to argue with you, I just need some informa-“ Jayden started to say but Moira interrupted her.
“What is she supposed to call you?” Moira asked. This conversation was starting to bug her and she wanted to know why.
Jax looked at Moira and then back at Jayden and shrugged her shoulders.
Jayden clenched her hand that was holding Moira’s and Moira could feel that she was getting upset. “I was trying to be polite, considering how you left things between us.”
“How I left things? You left the Jedi! You didn’t even talk to me before you quit, and you just assumed that I was going to come with you. My life is with the Jedi, it always has been, and always will be.”
“Yeah, you made that abundantly clear!” Jayden released Moira’s hand and stepped towards Jax. “I would have died for you, but you clearly didn’t feel the same for me!”
Moira didn’t know what was going on, but she clearly could see Jayden was hurting, so she stepped in front of Jayden and started pushing her away from Jax. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but-“
“So Jayden never told you about us?”
Moira looked back at Jax and then up at Jayden. “What is she talking about?”
Jayden sighed and looked at Jax and then down to Moira. “I didn’t want to hurt you,” she whispered. “I tried to tell you before we got here, but I…” Moira understood. She didn’t need to see into the eyes of her wife to know what she was thinking, Jayden’s body language gave everything away. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…”
Moira nodded. It wasn’t the nod of a person that agreed. It wasn’t the nod of a person that approved. It was the nod that meant Jayden was going to be sleeping in a different room that night. Moira looked at Jax, then back at Jayden. “Get your information that you need and let’s get off this planet. I don’t think I much like it here.”
Jayden watched as Moira walked back into the ship, then turned to Jax. “Really? Are you happy now?” Jayden was furious. She clenched her hands and tried to control her anger.
“How do you expect me to react, when out of the blue, you introduce me to your wife?”
“Well I assumed that Luke told you,” Jayden said as she turned and walked back to the cliff. Jax followed her.
“When you left, he quit the Council and refused to have anything more to do with the Order. I hadn’t really talked to him much in the past several years. I wasn’t even on the planet when he passed away, so I missed his funeral. I heard you came back for that though.”
Jayden nodded and her body language immediately softened at the mention of her former Master. His funeral was hard for her, but she knew he had passed on into the Force, so she knew that he would still reach out to her. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have sprung her on you like that. I just… I couldn’t face you alone, especially with how we left things. The last thing I wanted to do was rehash those arguments.”
Jax nodded and they both watched the ocean waves crashing against the sands below. “So what information do you need?”
***
“Moira, open the door, please?” Jayden had come back inside the ship after asking Jax to look into the three Dark Jedi, only to find that Moira had locked herself into their quarters.
“No!”
“Please, just talk to me,” Jayden banged her head against the door and sighed. “I know I should have just told you the truth, but it was a hard time for me. I’m sorry.” She started to walk away when she heard Moira unlatch the locking mechanism on the door and open it. Jayden could see the dried tear stains on her cheeks, and the fresh tears that started to fall. She reached up to try and wipe them, but Moira swiped her hand away.
“You may be a Jedi and can control your emotions, but I can’t. You should have told me instead of just springing it onto me like that. Did you think I wouldn’t understand that you had a girlfriend before me?” Moira walked back into their bedroom and Jayden followed her, with her head down, not wanting to look up and meet Moira’s eyes. If only Moira knew just how much Jayden was not in control of her emotions when it came to her, especially in the last couple of days.
“She wasn’t just my girlfriend. We were engaged. I tried to tell you so many times, but… I chickened out.” Moira started laughing and Jayden stared confusingly at her. “Why are you laughing?”
“Jayden Kyrie, the great Mandalorian Jedi, with powers apparently stronger than any Jedi in the universe, who’s taken on at least ten Dark Jedi, wild beasts of Tatooine, and hunted the worst kind of criminals across the galaxy, is afraid to tell her wife that she was in love before?”
“It’s not like that,” Jayden said as she dropped her helmet on the floor and sat down on the edge of their bed.
Moira stopped laughing and kneeled in front of Jayden and grabbed her hands. “Then tell me!”
“After my parents died, Jax was the only person that made me feel like I could love and trust again. And after several years of being stuck and at the Council’s beck and call, she convinced Luke and the Council that I needed a break. So we went on a vacation of sorts to Tython for a few weeks. It was amazing. It had a beautiful forest, waterfalls, crystal clear lakes, and it was exactly what I needed. It was where we first…” Jayden’s breath caught in her throat at the memory. “But then something happened and it changed everything.” Tears started to form in Jayden’s eyes and Moira squeezed her hands.
“Tell me,” Moira pleaded.
***
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