The doors to Cain's quarters hissed open with a soft whoosh.
"Cain?" Anakin stepped into the dimly lit room, Seris just behind him.
The room was not what they expected.
Holopads were stacked like miniature towers across every available surface—some still glowing, some pulsing with alerts. Showing, half-drawn blueprints, planetary schematics, and pages of translated runes were scattered across Cain's desk and bed.
And there he was.
Cain, hunched over a large central table, his gold-tinged eyes bleary and sunken. A mug of untouched tea sat beside him, long cold. His cloak was thrown over a chair. His tunic was wrinkled. His hands moved with the rhythm of obsession—typing, sorting, cross-referencing.
"Cain…" Seris whispered, stepping further in.
He didn't look up. "You're early."
"We said midday," Anakin replied, crossing his arms. "It's almost dusk."
Cain blinked, confused, as if the passage of time had betrayed him.
Seris approached the nearest table, running her fingers over one of the glowing holopads. She read aloud.
"'Katana Fleet – Republic stealth task force. Mass disappearance. Reported coordinates last traced near the Deep Core fringe…' Cain, how do you even know about this?"
Anakin moved to the opposite end and picked up another pad.
"'Valley of the Jedi – site of the ancient Ruusan convergence. Battle of Light and Darkness. Contains latent Force echoes, Force amplification field likely…'" He looked up slowly. "Cain, this is lost history. This isn't in any Jedi database."
Cain rubbed at his temples, sighing.
"There are pieces scattered across the galaxy," he said hoarsely. "Pieces we'll need. To strengthen the Order. To resist what's coming."
Seris narrowed her eyes. "You've been up all night again."
"All week," Anakin corrected, pointing to the bags under Cain's eyes.
Cain chuckled dryly. "I'll live."
Seris stepped forward, holding the holopad about the Katana Fleet. "So what is this? A scavenger hunt?"
Cain leaned back in his chair, eyes closing briefly.
"They're not just artifacts. They're pillars. Foundations. Lost fleets. Amplified nexuses of the Force. Tech left behind in wars that history forgot to tell right. If we find and restore even a fraction of it…"
He opened his eyes.
"…we ensure that the Order and Alliance doesn't just survive—they thrive."
Anakin studied him for a long moment. "How do you know about these places, Cain?"
Cain looked down at the datapads again, lips parting but words not immediately coming. He touched one—the pad about the Star forge—and exhaled.
"I cant tell you everything right now, but please trust me everything I do I in service of the force and the people of this galaxy." I will tell you everything one day soon I promise.
Seris and Anakin exchanged a glance at me not with suspicion, but concern, and understanding, and that constant, unspoken trust they had placed in me for years.
Anakin placed the holopad down slowly. "Stop trying to carrying the galaxy on your shoulders, Cain. if you fall, what happens to the rest of us?"
Seris stepped beside me, kneeling next to my chair. "You don't have to do this alone. You never did."
My jaw clenched for a second—but just as I opened his mouth to respond—
The door opened again.
Barriss stood in the doorway. Arms crossed. Brow raised.
"You were supposed to be resting."
I winced. "Barriss—"
"Save it." She walked right past Anakin and Seris and grabbed me by the collar of my robe with surprising strength.
I stumbled as she dragged me to my feet.
"Hey—!"
"You nearly died on Coruscant. Your bones are still regenerating," she snapped. "And instead of resting, you're down here stitching a galactic web using the force to keep yourself awake for days on end while making plans and decisions that take weeks and a village of people to do all by yourself ?!"
Cain gave her a sheepish smile. "I do take micro naps when I start to hallucinate ."
"That's worse."
Seris snorted. Anakin was already chuckling.
"You're not invincible, Cain," Barriss said firmly, her voice softening. "Even stars collapse under their own weight if they shine too hard for too long."
I lowered his eyes, nodding.
"I know."
"Good," she said, still holding his sleeve. "Because you're going to my quarters. Now."
Cain gulped. "I'm already in my quarters."
"This way I can make sure you est."
She turned, dragging him down the hallway as Anakin and Seris watched.
"I liked her lecture better than Master Fay's," Anakin whispered.
"She didn't even quote a single proverb," Seris replied, amused.
I looked back at them, raising one hand like a prisoner.
"Don't start anything without me!"
"We will," Seris said sweetly.
"And we'll be organized about it," Anakin added.
Seris and Anakin returned to the holopads.
"We'll start preparing ops teams," Seris said, sliding the Katana Fleet holopad into a mission queue. "We can't chase everything at once. But this... it's a fleet. A real fleet. Could double our reach."
Anakin picked up the Valley of the Jedi pad. "And this? This place sounds like a Force explosion waiting to happen."
"It could empower a hundred Jadaii—," Seris said, eyes narrowing. "We'll have to move carefully. But Cain's right."
Anakin nodded.
Codex Entry 047 – The Long Vigil
Knowing is half the battle that other half is how you use that knowledge. Trusting those around you with that knowledge takes courage but I m not in this alone, sometimes I forget that.