"She was a threat to the whole galaxy, but still, there should have been another way." Garren commented, looking at Seeker Adeline's body.

"All of that was broadcast throughout the complex. How do you expect the Found to respond to the truth about the ostanovium and their leader's suicide?" Niera pointed out.

"On top of that, we now know she wasn't their number one. We need find this Khristoff." Garren added. "Let's get out of here."

((Hey guys? Recap, please? I don't know what to do with Melany and I'm lost.))

Dominic watched the two, saw the grey skin of the girl, her fearful eyes as she looked at him...

She had nothing to fear. Without a word, he answered her request for a medpac by taking one out of his belt and chucking it over to Zen. He held his silence even then, looking at her only once more - his face expressionless - before turning back towards the double doors. He unsheathed his vibrosword and, as he sat down, rested the blade across his knees and the blaster on the blade, elbows on knees. He wouldn't stop them leaving, but he wouldn't go with them. He was given a job, and he would stay with the Throne until the fight was finished...or until he died.

He knew that those who could not accept the Truth must die; it was the only way to restore balance to the universe and bring peace to its citizens. But this...this was not the way. Losing one's connection to the Force was supposed to be voluntary; what the Throne was doing to this Sith woman was torture.

There would always be some who were not strong enough to endure the effects of Gain through Loss. The Force would never be fully disconnected from anyone; it was, after all the source of all life in the galaxy. To lose every bit of it from one's body would result in certain death. The Throne, it seemed, did just that. So strong was its concentration of the mineral that it went right past disconnection and on to total annihilation. And he could not stand by and watch the woman writhe in pain until she died.

Not when her face reminded him so much of his sister.

There wasn't much time for him to mull over his decision because, a few seconds later, the persistent hiss in the background came to an end with a deafening crash. His head snapped up, and sure enough, there was a breach in the main doors, and a Jedi standing beyond it.

"This is it!" he shouted, rallying the last fighters of the Found. "Make your stand for your life, your Truth, and your Creator! Fight!"

A second later, the room exploded.

Blaster bolts flew every which way as Republic and Jedi forces stormed in through the breach, and the melee and long range weapons of the Found members gathered repaid them blow for blow. Dominic himself stood at the top of the dais, his vibrosword stuck point-first into a chink in the stone floor as he fired away, aiming carefully at the advancing enemy with his scope. After a moment, he flagged Zen around to the right side of the room. "Get her to the Cathar!" he shouted, pointing to the Jedi he had attempted to attack on Dantooine. She would know how to help the Sith.

Melany charged inside, deflecting every bolts and and cutting down every Found freaks she encountered. This job was getting crazy than she thought. "Man, I looove kicking rears!" the young woman shouted with a grin. All of a sudden, she spotted Perdante, sitting on a Throne and not looking so good. "Perdy!"

She ran up to where a man (Dominic) was, and stopped a few feet. He must've been guarding this Throne with Perdante in it. "You Found lunatic! What have you done to her?!" For some strange reason, Melany couldn't feel the Force in Perdante. She glared and raised her lightsaber in defense stance. "Answer me!"

Zen nodded his head in approval at Dominic's decision. He began using the medpac on Perdante as soon as he got it. Just as he had finished up with Perdante he heard the explosion and saw the Jedi and Republic forces. He quickly scooped up Perdante and got her into cover. He watched as Dominic rallied the remaining Found members in order to fend off against the attackers. He shook his head slightly not wanting someone like Dominic to die. He was suddenly alarmed by Dominic's voice and looked over to where he was pointing. Zen saw the Cather Jedi and nodded his head. When he got Perdante to the Jedi he would make sure to tell the Cathar not to have Dominic killed.

Zen breathed in deeply before standing up again. He deactivated his energy sword and placed it at his side. He picked up Perdante once again and started running at the Jedi.

Psycho had noticed Juhani call him over and he obeyed. He began laying down cover fire while the Grand Master healed herself. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a fairly tall alien with Perdante in its arms. It was running right at the three of them. Seeing how it had Perdante, there was nothing he could do but attempt to cover it.

Zen had never felt so alive in such a small sprint. He was once again a Sangheili warrior, trying to get his comrade to safety. He had almost forgotten who he was and was glad to be himself once more. Zen stopped in front of the Cathar and placed Perdante on the ground.

"She is weak, but she will survive." he said to the Cathar.

Dominic saw the woman approaching and he set his teeth, holstering his weapon as he turned to look at her. She was a Jedi; he could feel the Force thriving within her, the lightsaber in her hand only a secondary indication. He pulled off the glove that covered his right hand, exposing the stone-studded eye tattoo on his hand, and grabbed the hilt of his vibrosword in the other. As the blade left the stone, it hummed and sparked as its mesh activated, making it impervious to lightsaber attacks. He slowly started down the steps toward her, taking them one at a time.

She was a friend of the Sith woman, he could tell by the anxious gaze she had, the way her eyes flicked over his shoulder every so often to look at the other woman. But there was no need to fear; the Sith was safely with Zen, en route to her protectors. So instead of giving an answer to her question, he questioned her instead.

"Are you willing to reject the Force, Jedi?" he asked her, his face set and emotionless. The eyes that looked into hers weren't cold, weren't unfeeling...only empty. "To recognize its evil and detach yourself from it?"

Melany gulped quietly, trying her best not to show fear. Then she squinted her eyes. "Man, you guys do belong in the loony bin. First off, I would never give up on the Force, even if I didn't want to be a Jedi. Second, the Force isn't evil. It exist everywhere and within all living things, and it's what combines the Galaxy together." She stood there in defense stance still, wondering why the other guy was taking Perdante. "Wait, where are you taking her? Tell me!" Melany then sighed. "Look, I don't wanna make this difficult, so... can't we negotiate on this?" She knew this wasn't possible. And plus, what Jedi ever said that? Melany waited for an answer.

"I'm sorry, but there is no negotiating. You either reject the Force..." He snapped the vibroblade around in a rapid, blurring circle to reaffirm his grip. His green eyes, having been watching the blade, now looked suddenly and forcefully into hers, his eyes flashing in what light there was to be had. "Or you die."

The eye on his hand glowed quickly as he shot forward with speed that no non-Force wielder should have been able to manage, his blade pulled back and ready for the blow. When he reached her, he put all of his weight behind the blow and struck for the joint of her neck and shoulder.

Luckily, Melany ducked. She then rolled to the side and stood again, glaring at him. "Fine. I try to make peace with you, but you refuse. Have it your way!" She used Force Speed and ran towards him, lightsaber in hand and ready to strike.

When her yellow bladed lightsaber met with his vibroblade, she looked at him. "Although you people give me a rash (sarcastic goth speaking), I do sense uncertainty in you. As if you're struggling to do right from wrong. Please. You don't have to do this. We can help you!" Melany struggled to defend herself. She had to admit, this guy was good with combat...

"She is weak, but she will survive."

Juhani looked up at the Found member who had brought Perdante to them and then smiled up at him as she knelt down on the floor next to Perdante.

"Thank you for helping us." She said as she scanned the immediate area for more found members, spotting a few running toward them.

I could use the Grand Master's help right now she thought as she motioned Psycho to lay down more covering fire as she picked up Perdante and tried heading for the exit.

The set of Dominic's jaw grew tighter as he looked at her from over their crossed blades. Now taking a moment to study her, he found that her words were truer than they had been a moment ago. She was so /young/, he realized, not like that Cathar or the old man Adeline had killed; no, she looked more like the young captured Jedi...the one that died, that no ond bothered to remember. If he killed this girl, would she have anyone to mourn for her? Would her parents even recognize her face when it was displayed on that night's Holonet report, and know that their daughter was dead?

But suppose he let her go now. The immediate consequences would either be his own death or a rather unpleasant incarceration. But those weren't consequences he was worried about; what happened to him was a trivial matter. Suppose he let her go, and she went on to become the one that put an end to the Found? Then he had the fate of the entire galaxy on his shoulders. Even if he and everyone else died here in the compound tonight, the Found would still live on. But if the Jedi were allowed to escape...they would go on poisoning the galaxy with their powers and teachings - andhe could not allow that to happen.

"You say that as if I am the one who needs to be saved!" He answered, disengaging and sweeping at her feet.

Back-flipping in the air, and landing safely from him, she looked at him with sympathy. For a goth Jedi, she had a soft spot. Which she rarely even showed. All of a sudden, Melany deactivated her lightsaber and stared at the young man sadly. "Listen to me. I wasn't born a Jedi. I came here to the Jedi Temple at the age of 14. I had no family. But the only family I had were the streets of Coruscant. Criminals, thugs, and mercenaries were the only people I had. But when the Jedi took me in... I had a real family. And even though I still don't want to be a Jedi... at least I have a family that cares for me."

She sadly stared at him and sighed. "But I have two burnin' questions... do you really want me to join you? And why are you hurting innocent lives, and I'm not talking of the Jedi. Why?"

ATTACK!: "I Was the Sacrifice..."

Perdante, semi-conscious, suddenly went into a violent paroxysm of coughing. Her sputum was mixed with just the tiniest bit of blood. Blurry shapes and incoherent noises thundered all around her. Even though she was still alive, the only things standing between her and certain death were the restorative chemicals in the medpac given to her by Zen. However, who was the person that she sensed near her? Female...blurry...bald. Almost bald.

"Juhani?" she said weakly. "Is the Force on our side? Are we winning?"

Honestly, she couldn't tell, being so drained and still in a moderate state of anaphylactic shock. It had been worse without the medpac, but still...Unless she had more advanced medical treatment, she would certainly lose her life.

She smiled and shook her head, laughing a little. "If we're not, forget me. I was the sacrifice--remember? The distraction? I was SUPPOSED to die."

*********************************

ATTACK!: The Ultimate Stage

All throughout the Gathering Place of the Found, the members of Seeker Adeline's sect sensed that something was wrong--Force or no Force. Where was Adeline? Where was their stalwart leader in the middle of the battle?

"Somebody go up to the Vanguard's Penthouse, NOW," said Pilgrim Sangura, a female Iridonian member. "Where's the Seeker? We need her down here." It had always irritated Sangura that the Seeker had always been somewhere higher, or at least more removed, from the rest of the Pilgrims she led. In her mind, a leader should be in the midst of her people, not above them...

However, the location of Seeker Adeline was now the least of her worries.

The constipation that Sangura had been suffering suddenly ended, and she soiled herself in agonizing pain. She was excreting nothing but long-digested chemicals and metal. Ostanovium. Unbeknownst to her, the negater and absorber of the Force was leeching the midichlorians from her blood, and she was in the ultimate stage of her life. Sangura fell to the ground and started to convulse, and it was not long before she was truly dead.

As if on cue, the other Pilgrims who were trying to fight against the Jedi and Republic officers began to soil themselves and drop like broken battle droids. The stench was AWFUL. Convulsing and expiring all over the building, the Pilgrims begged for water, medpacs, spiritual healing--anything that would save their lives. They no longer cared about the Truth, or their cause. All they knew was they were dying all over the place, and they wanted to live.

It was an ostanovium-induced pandemic. The Jedi felt it, too...

However, their reserves of strength and the Force would spare them a bit longer. If they left the building NOW, they would most likely survive.

"Is the Force on our side? Are we winning?"

Juhani looked at the pilgrims who were dying all around them and then she shook her head in despair.

"No one is winning this battle Perdante. It's is nothing but a waste. The metal that they used to deaden the force is killing them all."

No...this isn't what I wanted. I wanted to save the pilgrims...I didn't want them all to die, not like this.

"We need to leave. Now." Juhani shouted to Psycho and the others. She continued running toward the exit with the Grand Master right beside her. The Grand Master used to force to amplify her voice so that the others in the group could hear her.

"Attention to all members of the strike team! We need to leave now if we wish to avoid the fate of the pilgrims."

"Every war has its casualties!" He answered, and flew at her again. What she didn't know was that, in her attempt to gain his sympathy and establish some sort of understanding between them, she had destroyed any hesitation in his mind.The fact that she didn't want to be a Jedi didn't stop her from being one.

"Even the holy ones!" He continued as their blades bounced off each other. It was evident that he had the superior offensive skills, but he still couldn't slip past her defense. That didn't stop him from trying, though. "You mean to say that the Jedi have never taken innocent life?? They feed off it! All of those young children that are taken from their homes before they even understand what they're getting in to, sold to the Jedi like slaves! They have no choice in the matter! And before long, they're forced into a strict, emotionless, friendless lifestyle where they can know no love, no relaxation, and no freedom! You think that those children aren't innocent? Do you think they understand that they're throwing away those lives that they could have had??"

All this time Dominic had spent raining blow after blow down on the Jedi, no longer caring if he hit or not. Finally, he disengaged and stood, looking at her with murder in his eyes. "The Jedi must be stopped."

He was about to engage her again when something began happening out on the floor of the hall. Dominic turned slowly to investigate...and he had to fight down the rising phlegm in his mouth.

The Pilgrims - dozens, hundreds of them - were vomitting, collapsing, dying. At first, he thought that it was a Jedi trick, some new Force poison...but the Jedi and Republic soldiers looked just as horrified as he did. It was something else.

He looked down at his right palm. The ostanovium!

“Fall back!” Meta ordered the troops and Jedi as Found members around him started to drop like flies. He did not issue this order out of a sense of panic, but a sense of quarantine. While he was aware that the mineral would kill whomever held large quantities of it in their bodies eventually, there was no telling if perhaps any form of disease could occur from the presence of or contact with the corpses. The versewalker himself had no need to fear organic diseases, but the other people in the room did.

It was at this point that Meta wondered just how much the cult understood the metal themselves. They surely must've known to some extent that massive amounts of any metal injected into the body would have negative side effects up to and including death. How were they going to kill all the Jedi if they didn't even understand their own weapon? It was like give a child a weapon and expecting them to have the proper respect that it deserved. It was sloppy, which spoke greatly about the cult in general. Regardless, though, Meta needed to clear this place of all subjects who were not going to convulse and die on the spot. This included Perdante and every wounded soldier and Jedi who couldn't walk, so he started issuing orders to have them accounted for and began to help with the relief himself.

Meta always carried what he, or rather the person who invented it, called a Drop Shield. When the device was activated, it would create a spherical shield that would protect everyone inside from outside weapon's fire. As an additional effect the shield would also heal everyone inside of it of all aliments, whether it be sickness or disease or gun wounds. This is exactly what he used to his advantage when he finally activated the shield and started dragging people – both Found and other – into its rather large radius.

"Into the Heal Shield people, for your daily dosage of vitamin not-die!"

Psycho had been firing like a mad man and yet Juhani wanted him to continue giving cover fire. He dropped the rifle on his back and pulled out the missile launcher he had. After all he had brought it along, he might as well use it once. While his left hand continung the blaster assault he aimed his right arm at a wall and fired the missile causing debris to fly everywhere.

Zen was caught by surprise by the cathar's smile. So he really was wrong about these people...these warriors. A sharp pain had just hit his stomach causing him to fall to one knee. Something was happening inside of him and he was losing the fight. He looked around to see he was not the only one. Found members began to drop by the dozen. He clenched his fists and slowly rose to his feet. He would not die like this, a death this dishonorable would do nothing but make the Zoramee clan weak. It was then he noticed the strange one with the goggles drop sometime of shielding claiming it be be one of healing. He walked over to it and found his words to be truthful. Within seconds he found himself back at full strength.

"There is still a jedi inside the the throne room, I shall retrieve her," Zen said. And Dominic as well

Zen made his way back into the throne room to find the jedi was still fighting Dominic. Normally he would not interrupt a one on one fight but this time it was different. He walked over to where they were and stood next to Dominic activating his energy sword.

"The cathar jedi has issued a retreat, we must leave now," he said to her before looking over to Dominic. "An ally of theirs has thrown some type of healing shield which can save us. From there you can make your way to the hangar and use my ship to get out of here."

Melany also looked in horror. All the Found seemed to be dying. But how? And after recieving the message from Juhani, she sensed that Meta activated the Drop Shield aka Heal Shield for everyone to get in and not be affected.

The young woman looked at the man she fought and tried to reason with. "You see? The Jedi and Republic wants to help you all. Not for their personal gain. But because it's the rightthing to do" She stood a few feet away from him, just in case, and extended an offering hand. Once again, Melany deactivated her lightsaber.

"If you want them to save your family... then help me as well. And I'll do the same for you. A girl's promise. Not just a Jedi's promise. But my own." She smiled trustfully to him, still offering her hand.

He felt sick...but not in a poisoned, about to die sort of way. It was the disgust of this horrid, repulsive loss of life. It was such a waste...all of this. These were innocent lives, and there wasn't even anyone to blame for losing them. They were lost only due to ignorance, to playing with forces that they didn't understand.

He looked back down at the eye on his hand. He had never been injected with the mineral...but he had it imbedded in his skin for years now. Why had he never experienced any adverse effects? Was this what he had to look forward to?

Looking up, he heard voices and realized that the Jedi was talking to him. The eyes that blinked at her - and then at Zen - were empty and lost. It was like he didn't know where he was.

He saw the hand extended to him, and he looked at it warily before slowly backing away. "Your master is calling you." He told her, going back up the steps towards the throne. He looked at Zen. "And yours." So that was it. He released Zen of all responsibility to the Found...and went to his grave with his.

"No!" Melany exclaimed. "You don't have to do this! Please!" She knelt down, her head hung down. Suddenly, she began to cry. This was one of the many things she never done before. Maybe for a long time. This was all too much for a young apprentice like herself. "I wish there wasn't a thing as the Force. Or Jedi, Sith, or Found. Why can't we all just live in peace and harmony? Why...?" The young goth Jedi continued to cry and kneel there, with her head down.

Zen watched as Dominic backed away from the two of them. He had made his decision to stay and Zen had made his to leave, it was as simple as that. He now turned to the weeping jedi that knelt before him. She was young and still new to combat from what he could tell. To show weakness before an enemy showed how green someone was. However now that he allied himself with the jedi she was his comrade, and seeing that he had more experience that made him in charge. He got down on one knee and placed his hand under her chin. He raised her head and forced the girl to look at him.

"You must stand young one. You want peace then you must work for it. Make it your goal to stand by, make it a reason to fight. Rise up young one, you will not find the universal peace you seek by weeping on the floor. I am former Found who now fights alongside you, show me why you jedi are such just warriors. Stand up and show me just how strong you are."

A sudden presence crawled toward Dominic--ashen-faced, weak, weeping. Her eyes glowed with feverish shock, and yet the sentience in them was still more than apparent. It was Perdante, in the midst of the dead and the dying, trying to find her way toward a man whom she felt WAS lost, but wanted to save from the same fate that he and his fellow Pilgrims--and Seeker--had been trying to inflict on her.

"I'm sorry I called you 'that one,' she said, humbly and slowly. Coughing a little she continued, "Before I die--if I die--please: let me be your second chance. I don't want to be a Sith, but neither do I want to fall into the same aloofness as some Jedi. Shall I have perished for nothing?" she asked. "Found One...without you, I'm truly lost..."

"Whether Jedi or Sith it doesn't matter; Force users are supposed to live without attachments." He sat down on the Throne, looking not unlike a master himself. Dominic closed his eyes and rested his head back against the top of the heavy chair with a light sigh. "Zen, get them out of here."

And this was why women didn't belong on the battlefield. Zen, at least, understood where he was coming from and didn't suppose that his mind could be changed. Hopefully, he would be able to get them both out of there before they fell subject to the poison.

((Just let him go, guys - it's not like I haven't already set him up for the next one xD ))

((Sorry about this...but I'm totally itching to start "Check and Mate" tonight!))

AFTERMATH: The End of the Found...or Only the Beginning?

Alarm. Retreat. Evacuation. Burial of the many, many dead via a "controlled implosion" that was broadcast all over the holonet news that very evening. Officially, the Czerka Corporation Logistics Complex, also known as the Gathering Place of the Found, was being demolished due to "incredibly high concentrations of hazardous materials"--which was not entirely untrue. After all, ostanovium was toxic to everyone, Force-sensitive or not...

Perdante, once she was taken back to the Jedi Temple for treatment and recovery, was made a Jedi Knight by Grand Master Brianna for her willingness to lose everything for the sake of the mission's success. Juhani also bestowed her with the new surname of Dareva--meaning "giver". Both humbled and honored, the former Sith vowed to continue the fight against the Found--and against this "Khristoff", of whom Seeker Adeline had spoken.

She and her stalwart allies were honored in a grand ceremony put on by the top Republic brass for their victorious infiltration of the highly-dangerous cult. As for the remaining members who were not dead--except for Zen and Dominic Travesty--they were "deprogrammed" of their xenocidal beliefs at several mental-health hospitals and other facilities throughout Coruscant.

Still, the goal of stopping "the Found" completely was not yet met. "Khristoff" was still at large, and the Republic could not glean any information from the remains of the deceased Seeker Adeline. Would all hope be lost?

Not if Perdante, the Jedi, and those with her had anything to say about it!

THE END 6/27/10

((I know, right, Tysy?! :D And it's all good, FFWM12. :^: ))

Melany stood up and glared at Dominic, the man on the throne. "Fine! You wanna give up on life and not trust others?! Well, be my kriffin' guest! I try to talk to you. I try to make peace with you. But what do I get in return...? An untrusting, paranoid guy who won't look at the bright side of things!" The young woman breathed, trying to calm down. "And to think I was beginning to like you..." Melany sadly turned, walking off and waiting for Zen to follow. "Let's go. I tried everything I could for him..."

Aftermath

Melany became a smuggler, looking for any job she could find. She left the Jedi Order because she didn't want to fail anymore. So, she went back to the Underworld of smuggling and did what she could to earn credits.

But now, a new threat comes. Will one of the Jedi seek her again? Or will she help only for the Galaxy, not for the Jedi or anything else? Only the future held the answer...

AFTERMATH: The End of the Found...or Only the Beginning?

Long after the battle had been completed, the bodies collected, and what survivors saved by Republic medical teams and Meta's healing shield, the main gathering room of the Found now lay empty. It's walls were scorched from plasma, blaster, and missile fire and massive chunks of the floor were missing, having been uprooted during the battle and removed by cleanup crews. The complex itself was set for demolition, due to a high concentration of ostanovium still present in the air and walls, but the complex still remained and was empty. Or so the Republic thought.

Proceeding through the breach in the front door, a man strode straight into the once vibrant gathering place of the cult. He wore dark blue armor and his yellow polarized visor reflected the world as he saw it: broken, scarred, and empty. Actually, that might be a bit complementary in this case. It would be more appropriate to let his words describe his thoughts and emotions.

“OMG, a really big room!” the man shouted, and a resounding echo brought him delight. “Echo! Echo! This is awesome! It's like I'm talking to myself, but I'm really not!”

Yeah, that's more appropriate.