The darkest of all feelings
Prolog
The nights in Coruscant never really were nights. Never dark. The buildings, the advertisment holograms, the vehicles in the air, everything turned night into day. The whole planet never seemed to sleep.
Neither did Robin. Ever since she had returned to this planet, she could not find sleep. Something inside her tried to tell her something. Or maybe not. Maybe the lack of sleep was a result of all the things she had to process right now. Everything had changed. The man she loved was married now. Her students finished their training. Her former Co-pilot had disappeared a year ago. All she had left was her ship. She felt powerless even though her studies of other force-users' abilities made her a stronger Master. But being stronger in a universe that now declined the Jedi…"Stop it!", she corrected herself. "Dark thoughts will lead to a dark place", she recited, opened up to the force and her eyes glazed. Again she saw him…
To a common being she would look like someone just staring out of the window, lost in thoughts. But the creature with the TD2.3 electrobinoculars knew better….
1. Visions"Master, here is the footage you requested", the Trandoshan said to the hologram of a cloaked humanoid and pushed some switches in his dashboard. "Very good, Takt. You earned your money this time", the raspy voice answered. "I will contact you with the information for your next assignment soon." The connection ended and Takt giggled to himself. He had a clue about what his next assignment would be.
Walking up the stairs to the Jedi Temple Robin could feel a wave of happy emotions rolling towards her. Obviously the others had sensed her coming. A young Twi'lek came running towards her. "Master Robin, what a pleasure to see you back here!", Numa said, stopping right in front of Robin, remembering that it was not appropriate for a Jedi to just fall around someones neck. Robin did not care and embraced the young Jedi. "Thank you, Numa. I heard you made great progress." Chattering Numa led her into the Temple, other Jedi greeting her as well. Entering the turbolift, Robin allowed herself to take a deep breath and let the force perfuse her. "Nervouse, Master?", Numa asked. "Seeing them after all this time makes me nervous, yeah." "Everyone is happy to have you back, Master. And I mean everyone.". The blinking Numa's eyes were needless, Robin knew all about it, she could feel it.
The big doors to the council chambers still looked as impressive as they used too. Numa took her leave and Robin entered without knocking and without hesitation. Stopping in the middle of the round room, her face showed a huge smile and she made sure that everyone could feel her happiness in the force. Luke presented her with a smile that reminded her of the old times and she could not help it but embrace him. "Robin, it is so good to have you back." "It's good to be back", she said, taking a seat. "So, do you want me to start or do you want to update me on what I've missed first?". She looked into each and everyone's face. They almost hadn't changed. Cilghal, Kyp Durron, Kenth Hamner, Tresina Lobi and her old friend, Saba Sebatyne. Oh and, she was there as well. Her red hair framing her beautiful face with those piercing green eyes; Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke's wife.
She was impressed; after 5 hours everything that needed to be said was said and Luke invited her for dinner with his wife. While Luke went to get his speeder, Robin spoke up: "Listen, Mara. I can feel that you are not delighted to see me back around here, so I want to be honest to you: Luke was, is and always will be the man that not just saved my life and taught me to be a Jedi, he also taught me about love. He will always have a place in my heart and the memories I have will always be cherished. But I don't want him back. You are the right woman for him." The red-haired woman widened her eyes and replied: "Wow, and I was about to cut your head off. But I should have known better, I've heared a lot about you. And guess what, I'd like to go hunting with you someday." The look on the woman's face was one thing: dangerous. But not for Robin, no, for the future enemies that would have to face these two women. 'Cause Robin's face showed the same expression.
Later that evening the 3 of them sat on the top of the Jedi Temple and Luke and Robin had a hot chocolate. Mara just shook her head, looking disgusted. "Oh come on Mara, let us have this pleasure for the sake of old times.", Luke teased. Mara sat down next to them, while Robin's mind was somewhere else. "What do you see?", Luke asked with a soft voice, Mara looked curious. Slowly Robin tried to find words for her vision.
"I see a dark planet. Smoke everywhere and fire. I feel pain…strong, forceful pain, killing the soul. The force is completely unbalanced, or maybe it is the person using it. This person, a man, his eyes…sometimes they're glooming yellow, sometimes they're hazel. He is definitely strong with the force. But tortured. I feel like I know him. And all of a sudden, a ray of light hits me, blinding my sight. When I open my eyes again, I see green grass, beautiful lakes, a blue sky. The man is swimming in a lake, laughing. He gets out of the lake, comes to me. He embraces me, talks to me. I can't hear his voice. And then, pain. In my stomach. I fall down. He holds a lightsaber. And the vision stops."
Shaking she sat there, tears dropping on the ground. The power if this vision once again took away her Jedi – Serenity. Luke touched her shoulder and Mara whispered some calming words. Together, the recited the Jedi Code:
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is the Force.
The litany helped Robin to regain her serenity and after a while she continued speaking: "This vision follows me for quite a while. And it gets stronger. The force shows many things, future, present and past, but I am sure this is just about to happen. It gets closer. And I am not sure whether I want to react to that call the force seems to give me. Then again, this is what I was trained for, it is a Jedi's duty to answer to the force. If only I knew who this man is."
Luke closed his eyes, took a deep breath and his mind streched over the universe. Meditating to find the answer. Mara was more practial: "Well, there is only one way to find out: go and find that planet. But not without backup and enough band in you pockets." The ladies smirked into the night while Luke started to sweat. Robin and Mara watched him because they couldn't sense anything bad from him. After about 20 minutes Luke opened his eyes again. Mara gave him some water. "So", he finally said, "I know the place to start the search for that man. If you want to answer the call." "This decision was made long ago", Robin said, "I just didn't wanna face it."
Standing on the spaceport the ladies still fought about which ship to take. Of course Mara didn't want to leave the planet without her ship, the "Jade Shadow". But Robin insisted on taking the "Dark Revelation" by saying this was her mission. Luke didn't get involved in this. He knew he would loose some hair over it, those ladies were much too similar. Which is why he once felt for the one and married the other. So he just grinned until they both shouted at him: "Stop grinning like that, farmboy!" They high-fived and decision was made: the "Dark Revelation" would lead them to their destination. Which only Luke knew because his vision gave him a clue where to start.
So while Robin and Mara where busy in the cockpit preparing for the take-off, Luke made some calls for instructing Kenth Hamner, who would be his subsitute for the time he was gone. Luke heard the ladies chatter and laugh in the cockpit and was glad that they got along that well. It could have backfired and the ladies would have decapitated each other. "Luke, come up here, I need some coordinates to feed in the navsystem.", Rob's voice sounded into the launch, so he went up and let the force guide him to programme the system. They jumped into lightspeed and just when Robin wanted to go to the galley, the alarm sounded and the ship went back into sublight. Raising her right eyebrow she went back to the cockpit and Luke and Mara looked just as surprised as she felt. Luke scratched his head, shrugged and went to the navsystem again. Obviously, the force was not a reliable navigator, so it seemed they had to get to their destination by flying one piece of the route after another. Well, Robin could live with that.
After an hour in hyperspace Robin decided to bunk down a bit. But she couldn't sleep, again. While she was resting, Mara came in and sat on the other bunk. "So, how are we gonna do this?" "You and Luke will do nothing. I still don't know why both of you are here. I mean, besides guiding me the way." "Oh, cos you don't need help at all?", Mara grinned. "Nope, I am a one-woman-army.", Robin giggled. "Besides, Mara, kill me for saying that, but you especially shouldn't go on a mission that dangerous. You have to take care of him." Mara looked confused: "Of Luke? No, he has a talent for getting in trouble but he can take care of himself." Robin sat up, focusing Mara. "You don't even know yet…." "Know what?" Both became silent and Robin felt how Mara reached out into the force. And all of a sudden, she jumped up in surprise. "By the core! Oh, may the force help us all! We are doomed!" She ran out of the room to find Luke.
Robin just smiled and saw the picture of the little boy she had seen in a vision again with her inner eyes: Lukes blue eyes, Mara's red hair, strong with the force.