Private In Amber Trapped

[Miri Nimdok]

Jasper used some sort of acid to burn the worms, helping them greatly. But as they were running away from the creatures, Miri realized Alema was no longer with them.

<Alema?> she reached out with telepathy, but got no response. She couldn't even sense the Jedi Master anymore. Miri's heart rate spiked. She may not have liked the woman, but she had hardly wished her harm, and certainly not by boneworms.

Had the worms taken her? Or was there another threat?

<Should we go back and look for her?> She had to admit she was disinclined to face the worms again.

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Cophrigin V
Tags: Miri Nimdok

<Should we go back and look for her?>

We may not be able to, Jasper signed. I don't like leaving people behind, but...

He hesitated for a moment. Jasper really hated leaving people. He had been left. He didn't want that for other people, to be abandoned to their fate... but what could they do? The best chance for Alema was for the Sith Lord to be taken care of.

More people will be at risk if we give that Sith any time, he decided. We need to keep moving.

Jasper never liked making calls like that. It felt wrong. Against everything that he stood for. But that was the truth of war. Not everyone made it out. All he could do now was ensure that no one else was lost.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri was inclined to agree with Jasper's assessment, but she also didn't like the idea of leaving Alema behind. Or at least, she didn't want to be seen as too quick to abandon the Jedi Master, especially since the woman had been antagonizing her ever since they arrived on Cophrigin V. It might look like a vindictive decision made out of malice, but it was not. The boneworms were a terrifying threat, and they had a job to do.

<Fine. Let's go.>

Miri led the way, her eyes scanning the halls of the complex, expecting to find more worms coming after them at any second. But as they headed deeper into the tomb, the atmosphere changed. She felt oddly stifled, confused, and lost. Doubt coiled in her belly. Was she going the right way? Had she done the right thing by leaving Alema behind? Should she have come here at all?

She shook her head. No, something was messing with her. Making her doubt herself. She had thought Transitus taking on the title of Lord of Doubt was rather silly, but now she understood it better.

Her realization also more or less confirmed that Transitus was on the loose, freed from his amber prison.

They finally reached a sealed door, beyond which was the chamber where Transitus was held. Miri quickly punched in the codes, and the door slid open. The room beyond it was a long, narrow chamber carved from stone. At the far end was a raised platform, which held Transitus' body entrapped in alchemized amber—a substance which Transitus himself had created. Poetic irony that it had been used against him.

When they entered the chamber, Miri froze. The amber prison was gone, melted back into sap. Darth Transitus lay sprawled across the platform. The Half-Bothan Sith Lord's body was slick with melted resin, making him look curiously like a newborn. Crouching beside him was a human figure, a young man with dark hair. Miri recognized him instantly.

"Vaslav!' she exclaimed. "What have you done?"

Vaslav glanced over his shoulder at her, his expression unreadable. He did not respond at first. Miri halted just shy of ascending the actual platform, not sure what to do. She knew she'd be no match for either of them if they attacked her, let alone both.

Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Cophrigin V
Tags: Miri Nimdok

Everything was... eerie, to say the least. No more boneworms, no sign of Alema. It was worrying, but Jasper pushed the doubt into the back of his mind. They would handle Darth Transitus first and foremost. The other details could wait. Still, doubt was creeping back in ever so slightly, more than even he was used to. More effects of the Sith? Miri had said he was the Lord of Doubt or some garbage. he didn't exactly remember the words.

It wasn't long, however, before none of that mattered. There they were, in the same room in the flesh. A strange resin was pooled around the Sith, and the Jedi Knight they had come to help, Vaslav, was at his side.

"Vaslav!' she exclaimed. "What have you done?"

"I don't know if you want that answered," Jasper muttered.

Sometimes the truth was better left observed. Miri was in a daze, but Jasper certainly wasn't. He was quick to activate his force light, letting the radiant aura fill the space around them. It would protect them, which was his utmost priority.

Stay focused, alright? Jasper signed, not wanting his words to be used in some twisted, Sith-y way. We need to finish this, and someone needs to help that friend of yours.

From there, he drew his lightsaber in a Makashi opening and simply waited. There was nothing left to say.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

"Vaslav?" Darth Transitus' voice was weak and raspy with disuse. "Who's there?"

"Intruders, Dad," Vaslav replied. "Don't worry. I'll take care of them."

Miri heart leaped into her throat as Vaslav finally rose to his feet and faced them. Thumbing the activator of his lightsaber, he ignited the green blade, and began to slowly advance toward them. "Vaslav, please—" she began to plead. "Don't do this!"

<You shouldn't be here,> she heard Vaslav's voice in her head as he spoke to her and Jasper alike. Rather than the single-minded evil she was used to from those that had fallen to the Dark Side, he seemed anxious, concerned—and sorrowful. <You're making a mess of things. I don't want to risk hurting you. Please, go now while you still can!>

Miri grasped her own lightsaber, activating the violet blade. <But what are you doing? Why did you free Transitus?!>

Vaslav continued to advance upon them, utterly undeterred by Jasper's Force Light. <To kill him, Miri! I came here to kill my father! And if you don't flee right now, I'll have to fight you to keep him from suspecting!>

A rush of relief hit Miri, along with new terror. While she was glad to discover that Vaslav's intentions were good, clearly he didn't realize that what he'd done was a mistake. Or perhaps there was more to it that she didn't understand... But what's done was done. None of them knew how to entrap Transitus in amber again. They had no choice now but to kill him.

Miri couldn't bear to leave Vaslav to face his father alone. <We'll take him together,> she insisted, holding up her blade. <Please. Let us help you.>

Vaslav's hesitation had by now aroused Transitus' suspicions. The old Sith Lord pulled himself up off the floor, staring at the trio intently. Waiting to see if his son would defend him from the Jedi, or turn on him.

Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Cophrigin V
Tags: Miri Nimdok

<To kill him, Miri! I came here to kill my father! And if you don't flee right now, I'll have to fight you to keep him from suspecting!>

Oh boy, Jasper thought to himself. This made things... difficult. More then he expected. What was Vaslav even thinking? Breaking into a high security prison to kill a Sith who was, for all intensive purposes, already immobilized? Outlandish, unless he had reason to suspect his father could break free. It seemed that they were going to have to improvise.

"Take care of us?" Jasper remarked with a frown. "Should've done that at the door. Would've saved your ghoul of a father from second hand embarrassment."

Nailed it. He had gotten the snarky Jedi talk down, but oh how it made him die a little inside. He hated flamboyant gloating. Jasper nudged Miri, hoping to get her to play along. Maybe Vaslav's plan to engage them in a duel wasn't as hairbrained of a scheme as it appeared. Keep the old half-Bothan from putting up his guard and wait for an opening to finish him off.

"Lets get on with it then," he shrugged, hoping to encourage Vaslav to play along as well, "We don't have all day."

Jasper raised his lightsaber, discretely flicking his wrist to arm the crossbow in his mechanical arm as he did so. The moment he had the chance, that bolt was going between Transitus's eyes.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

"Take care of us? Should've done that at the door. Would've saved your ghoul of a father from second hand embarrassment."

Miri shot a glance toward Jasper. The quipping sounded thoroughly unnatural coming from him, but perhaps Transitus wouldn't be able to tell. "Vaslav," she said, her tone genuinely upset. "Please don't do this."

<If you kill him, he'll rise again,> she added telepathically. <Just like so many other Sith of this era. Death is cheap to them now, Vaslav. How could you not know this?>

Yet Vaslav didn't seem to waver in his convictions. His gaze was soft when he looked at her, dark eyes warm and kind and full of love. The kind of altruistic, all-encompassing love that crueler sorts would call idiotic. <I can't let you be a part of this, Miri. You have so much to live for.>

Leaving no more room for argument, Vaslav whirled leaped back onto the platform, his blade thrusting down toward Transitus. The tip of his green lightsaber impaled the Sith through his lung. A mortal wound, if left untreated. But why hadn't he gone for the heart?

Then Miri saw the sword in Transitus' hands, red blood trickling down gleaming metal like ruby beads on a silver thread. Her eyes widened. "No!" she tried to cry out, but it was only a whimpering gasp that escaped her lips.

"Vaslav," she heard Transitus whisper. "My boy. Why did you do it?"

But Vaslav was already slumping forward, gurgling and trembling in his death throes. Transitus rose on hooved feet, gently lowering his son's body to the ground, where it soon vanished, becoming one with the Force.

"Insect." Gritting yellowed fangs stained with blood, Transitus reached out with the Force and began to squeeze Jasper with telekinesis, as one might squash a bug.

Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Cophrigin V
Tags: Miri Nimdok

There would be no stalling anymore. Jasper had no reaction to Transitus's attempt to crush him with the force, despite the internal pain. It hurt, but his face remained unresponsive. The knight pushed back, his force light growing even more to repel it. He didn't respond to the Sith, choosing to give him the cold shoulder.

"I'm sorry about your friend," he told Miri. "You... really cared about him..."

With that, he turned to Transitus, a icy look in his eyes. A being that used their own child in such a manner was undeserving of such a gift. Jasper held a special disdain for such people, given the circumstances of his own creation.

"You deserve to stay dead," Jasper stated bluntly, "But if your ass is just gonna crawl out of hell, the least I can do is make your death here as painful as possible."

There was no more hesitation. No more talking. His arm was up, with three bolts flying out of his crossbow. Two in the chest, one between the eyes. Then, with force enhanced speed, Jasper leapt up enough to bring his lightsaber down in an overhead strike. It was a Form V maneuver, one that required great physical prowess. Jasper had one organic arm that was well trained for dueling, and another arm of raw machine power. Already the hydraulic piston within that enhanced his strength was roaring to life. It was the kind of strength that had split skulls open before, and left damage in durasteel. Needless to say, Jasper was hitting Transitus as hard as he physically could.

The Sith deserved nothing less.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri hardly registered Jasper's words. She was consumed by her emotions, the sorrow and rage of the moment.

Miri.

She thought she heard Vaslav, like a voice on the wind. But Vaslav was dead. She had watched him die, seen his body vanish into the Force like the great heroes of old. But why?

Why had all of this happened?

Let him be reborn.

Had Vaslav simply gone mad? What had he been trying to do here? Free his father, only to kill him and let him be reborn? Where was the sense in that?

While she stood there, frozen in shock, Jasper waged war against Transitus. The Sith Lord roared with pain, two bolts embedded in his chest, scarlet blood welling up from the wounds. His sword crashed against Jasper's lightsaber in a bitter duel. Yet she could sense that Transitus had no more answers than she did, and that he was suffering all the more for his uncertainty.

He was beginning to lose the battle. His quarrel was not with Jasper; Jasper had not caused the death of his son. The father had killed the son.

Miri didn't join in the battle. With her lackluster swordsmanship, she'd only get in the way. Transitus was weakened, not only physically, but his willpower seemed to be draining away. He kept fighting for the sake of not dying a coward's death, and because he knew he could not surrender. But he had no more will to continue, no real desire to survive. Nothing left to live for.

Inevitably, an opening appeared, ready to be exploited. Miri saw it, and no doubt Jasper would too.

Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Cophrigin V
Tags: Miri Nimdok

Jasper saw something he wasn't prepared to see. Weakness. Transitus was quick to block his overhead strike, and seemed to try to push through the pain of the two bolts that had connected with his body, but he was clearly weakened by something. What was it? Had Vaslav done something? It didn't take long for Jasper to see the opening he was waiting for. The Sith's knee buckled. That was it. Without hesitation, Jasper swept the half-Bothan's legs with his right leg, which threw the Sith up and back ever so slightly. With one calculated motion, moving through his already compromised defenses, Jasper skewered Transitus through the heart.

The Sith Lord was dead before he hit the ground.

There was a somber moment of silence after the deed was done. Jasper felt terrible. He should've been able to save Vaslav. He had failed Miri. Her friend was dead now, and the Sith they were meant to reseal was now back in the cycle of reincarnation. His light faded, his blade deactivated, and his shoulders began to droop under the weight of the guilt.

"You know," he began with a mellow tone, "I used to think that my life was terrible, being the product of science. Engineered for a task that wasn't my own. Maybe I had it easy..."

Still, he had done what he was made for. He killed the Sith. It wasn't for the man who made him... but Jasper always had to question his motivations from time to time. He needed to be sure they were his. The knight would've liked to know Vaslav, he thought. It wasn't often that he related to people through the lenses if creation. A sigh escaped his lips. He couldn't bring himself to look at Miri. Not after letting her friend die.

"Let's find Alema," Jasper decided. "I'd rather nobody else die today."

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Transitus' impaled body fell to the floor in a heap, smoke rising from the hole burned through his chest. After a few moments, his body vanished too.

Miri stared at the empty space where the father and son had been. Nothing remained to mark their presence save a few drops of Vaslav's spilled blood on Transitus' sword. Not knowing what else to do, she bent down to pick up the weapon, holding it in her hands with a strange reverence.

"You know," Jasper began with a mellow tone, "I used to think that my life was terrible, being the product of science. Engineered for a task that wasn't my own. Maybe I had it easy..."

"What were you engineered for?" Miri asked quietly, not quite understanding what he meant. Messala's Children had been created simply as experiments, by an alchemist who wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible. He made them just because he could. But then, what parent didn't?

He suggested they find Alema. Miri pursed her lips. "You really think she has a chance at survival?" she asked, strapping the sword to her back. In the absence of a body to bring home, she'd have to settle for a bloodstained blade.

Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Cophrigin V
Tags: Miri Nimdok

"What were you engineered for?"

"Killing Sith," Jasper stated bluntly. "Hatred for them fueled my creation... guess I'm good at what I was made for..."

He had a pretty extensive history of fighting Sith now. Jasper was far from the days of desperately tackling Sith off platforms hundreds of meters above the ground. Still, he didn't fight for his creator. What he did, he did for the people he had formed connections with. He fought Sith because he had to, not because he was made for it. The knight had his own goals now. He questioned their authenticity from time to time, but it was him in the end of the day. Nothing could change that.

"If there's a chance Alema survived, we can't leave her," he stated. "We can't assume her dead until a body is found. I... don't leave people behind. Not twice."

Not like he was left behind.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

They did eventually find Alema, or what was left of her. Miri didn't dare touch the pile of robes and lilac skin on the floor in one of the facility's hallways, for fear that a boneworm might still be hiding among the cloth.

<Well, that answers that,> she said grimly. A slithering sound put her back on high alert. <New plan. We get back to our ships, take off, and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure these things don't spread to the entire planet.>

Jasper Kai'el​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Cophrigin V
Tags: Miri Nimdok

It was hopeful thinking. Too hopeful. That brought the death count up to two. Deaths that, ultimately, would fall on him as the highest ranking Jedi left standing. He wouldn't be held responsible, as he hadn't really done anything to be responsible, but his conscious would certainly punish him.

Let's get out of here, he signed, his general body language defeated.

Soon, they had exited the compound and sealed it up, which would have to do until a team could come and 'nuke the place from orbit,' or at least burn everything left inside.

"Sorry about being snappy when all of this started," he apologized finally. "I... hadn't considered what you were going through. The circumstances were just... strange. And I... should've gone for Transitus before... Well, you know. I hope I can make it up to you some day."

A debt; one he was intent on righting. Still, Jasper was confused about exactly what Vaslav had done. Transitus seemed so weak when he fought the Sith. It was unusual, something he hadn't expected. Maybe he would never know. Regardless, with that out of the way, there was really nothing left to do but leave. The knight certainly didn't feel strongly about sticking around, and he had a report to make to the council.

"Well... I guess we should get going."