"It is done," Grand Lord Vol proclaimed. "We may leave now."
In a very special spot in one of Kavan's sewers, Vol and all of the High Lords of the Lost Tribe of the Sith stood up from the circle around which they sat and proceeded in a single line away. Ten minutes later, they reached a ladder that led up to an open manhole above; but instead of climbing the ladder, they each simply Force-leaped up to the alleyway above one by one.
When they were all in the alley, and High Lord Workan was the one to use the Force replace the manhole cover, they began to leave the alley and split up from each other; as previously dictated by the Grand Lord, they each had to find separate passage off Kavan to remain inconspicuous to the public.
But before they all left, Workan had a few words with Vol.
"My Lord," the human said, "I hope you forgive me for asking, but... why don't we simply use this opportunity to kill Skywalker and Solo? Why did we have to perform that ceremony?"
"There is nothing for me to forgive, High Lord Workan," Vol said. "Yes, it would be more practical to lay a trap, such as an ambush, to kill the two Jedi. But you must remember, Lord Workan, that we have Skywalker's own son in our grasp, with his mind being molded to our benefit by one of our very own; I'd like to test Tyro Khai's success when the time comes. And until it does, Skywalker will stay alive."
"What do you mean... Oh," the High Lord said as realization dawned on his face.
Vol grinned. "And if Tyro Khai does fail us... then we can kill Skywalker ourselves."
. . .
The day after the Circle of Lords departed from Kavan, the Jade Shadow landed on Kavan in a docking port (the original plan to set Luke a kilometer away from the site of Mara's death was squashed by the planet's Orbital Security demanding that they set down in the port). The ship's boarding ramp was lowered to the deck, ready to allow Luke to disembark.
But right before the Jedi Grand Master took one step on the ramp, his nephew's hand rested itself on his shoulder. Luke looked back and over at Jacen.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you, Uncle Luke?" Jacen asked.
"Like you said, Jacen," Luke said, "if the Sith are going to spring a trap, you can act as backup."
"Okay, but now I might not be able to help you out as quickly as I could if I were allowed to park in orbit," Jacen said.
Luke shook his head. "All the same, I'm sure you'll make it in time to help me."
"Let's hope you're right."
"Let's hope you don't even have to come to my rescue to begin with."
Jacen nodded but said no more. He then turned back and returned to the cockpit while Luke finally stepped off the Shadow; as soon as his feet touched the deck, the boarding ramp was raised back into place.
Once Luke had left the spaceport, he took a hovertaxi that brought him as close as possible to the coordinates of where Mara died. When he was back on foot, he headed to the nearest alley, used the Force to lift up a manhole cover that he set off to the side, and then plunged into the sewer below.
Why is it that the Sith are having me end up in the sewers lately? Luke wondered to himself. I guess it makes sense; the Sith are as morally repugnant as any sewer is physically repugnant.
But Luke used a Jedi calming technique to push the smell of the sewer to the back of his mind before he brought out his datapad from his belt. He set it to guide him to the coordinates of where his wife died years ago and headed there without further hesitation.
As he walked, tension began to build within Luke's being to a point that no Jedi calming technique could have helped to alleviate; he was heading to the place where Mara was killed by Jacen's clone, the man who would become Darth Caedus not long after her death. Luke still remembered the day when he felt his wife's presence depart from the living world; he still remembered the rage, the grief, the depression, all of those swirling emotions, reverberated within his soul afterwards.
After all this time, he was still haunted by the fact that he had been driven by those emotions to kill the woman he believed to have slain Mara, Lumiya. The image of her headless body falling off that precipice on Terephon was also something that Luke could never forget.
Lumiya may have been a threat to the galaxy, especially since she had been the one to train Jacen's clone into the Sith that he became, but Luke did ultimately come to feel regret for killing her out of vengeance. He promised himself that he would never lapse into that state of mind again.
Yet, now that he was returning to the place where Mara died, the guilt of that day, of the survivor's guilt that he had over her death and the regret that he had when he decapitated Lumiya, was resurfacing within Luke's being with each step that he took. And as he grew closer to where Mara was killed, he feared that he would fall back into that very anger and desperation that drove him to kill Lumiya; if these Sith who kidnapped Ben had any traps laid for him, Luke hoped that, if he had to kill them, he wouldn't do it with rage in his heart.
It felt like forever, but it was only ten minutes before he finally reached the site of Mara's death.
At first, he sensed no sign of a Sith trap, either from his physical senses or through his connection to the Force. But slowly and carefully, Luke walked, looking around at the sewer that had been rebuilt from the destruction that was caused by the fatal battle that Mara had with Jacen's clone. His steps were gingerly taken; he wondered if he would set off some kind of booby trap, or if there was a Sith who was about to burst from either one of the walls or from beneath the surface.
But so far, nothing.
And then-
A flash of physical, mental, and emotional pain suddenly burst from both within Luke's body and from without. He screamed as he endured an indescribable agony that didn't so much touch every facet of his being as ravage it.
In that moment, all of the negative emotions that Luke had that had been building up as he approached the site of his wife's death overwhelmed him completely; his body, mind, and soul were chained to this moment of agonizing hell as the images of everything that occurred here, and everything that resulted from this moment, filled Luke's mind with no hope of reprieve or escape.
Not only did Luke feel Mara's death intensified, but he saw it happen. He saw her as Jacen's clone-
No. No, it wasn't Jacen's clone; it was Jacen himself. The idea that Darth Caedus was his nephew's clone was itself a Sith fabrication; Luke saw it clearly now.
And with this realization, which was compounded by the vivid details of what he saw when Mara died and the pain that wracked his body, mind, and soul, Luke knew what he had to do.
Killing Lumiya was a mistake; but not because it brought him close to the dark side. No, it was a mistake simply for the fact that she wasn't the one who killed Mara; Jacen—not his clone, but Jacen himself—who murdered Mara.
Jacen had to die. And when that happened, Mara would return to him. Ben would return to him. And when Jacen was gone, all of the Sith would die.
It was then that that moment of unadulterated agony ended for Luke, and he opened his eyes with a newfound determination to kill his nephew.