Author's Notes: I'm getting better response over at the 'Jedi Council Forums' on TF.Net for this – if you're a member over there, pop on over and look for my fic in the 'Before the Saga' Fanfic Forum – I can interact with you all better that way! ^_^ But R&R here if you want – I'll keep posting it over here, regardless.

And, BTW, I don't read any EU stuff usually, so this pays no heed to it. ^_^ I'm a SW film fan, not a SW book & comic fan on the whole.

Seung Mina: Hi again, faithful reader! ^_^ I'm sure Allyaah will cope – she's a tough gal! Keep reading!

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A Test of Faith

Chapter 8

The walk into the outskirts of the underground city was scary to say the least. Only the sounds of their feet echoed about the enormous, cavernous place that was Drykos, the gentle hiss of hidden exhaust vents and concealed, muted rivers barely audible in the background. From the exit of the tunnel the trio had emerged into a gigantic cavern, whose roof reached miles into the air, and whose base could not even be distinguished in the dark abysses below. Walkways of cold, blue rock crisscrossed all over the place on multiple levels, reaching between rock-hewn structures and down to lower rock-hewn platforms. The light in the cavern was unsteady due to the flickering of the flames on the all too sparse torches, which were bracketed on the walls and columns of the conurbation at odd and uneven intervals.

Jinn swallowed, pacing quietly after his Master and Allyaah as they walked from the antechamber of the tunnel exits into the enormous main chamber of Drykos. He glanced at the large, natural columns that bordered the walkway, reaching down from the lofty ceiling to the imperceptible floor, each filled with black, gaping holes that he deduced were Colicoid dwellings. "Where are they?" Jinn whispered to his Master, swallowing hard; he was certain that no city, even an insectoid one, was usually as dead as this, at any time of day – there was absolutely no sign of life. It was like a ghost town.

Serenn discreetly shook his head, keeping his voice low, "I don't know, my boy," he admitted, his sharp eyes peering between all of the unrefined abodes warily.

Allyaah was equally mystified, "I didn't expect a welcome party, but this is ridiculous…" she mused, stepping to the edge of their walkway and looking down between the gap of two of the path's bordering stone pillars; there was a profound drop off this path's edge, and she could just discern more walkways crossing over on levels far below, down in the city's even darker depths. It was clear that the capital was a multi-tiered structure, reaching deep down from the planet's surface.

"We'd ought to just keep walking," she insisted, taking the lead and pacing further down the rocky path, on passed further rock-strewn structures; all of the stone down here seemed to be a blue-black in nature, shining a dull green when light touched it in a ghostly manner.

The scenery around them grew dreadfully repetitive as they marched on for another good half hour, their breaths rasping in the still and stuffy atmosphere. Subterranean geysers steamed on levels far below, sending heated air up besides the walkways, making the Jedi sweat beneath their layered robes (Jinn wanted to take his robes off his chest, but Serenn would not allow it – besides it being unfair on Allyaah, he pointed out that he didn't want to scare the Colicoids).

Perspiration beaded on their brows as their trek continued, the peculiar silence in the seemingly deserted city growing ever thicker until the slightest, out-of-place noise made them all jump.

Then suddenly, the silence was broken when Jinn heard a 'whoosh' to his left; gasping, he turned about to face the noise, and found himself staring at a blank, far wall, across the gap from their walkway.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered to his tutor, grabbing Dooku's arm and pulling him to a halt.

"No…" Serenn replied, pulling his arm from his Padawan's grasp, "It was probably just you kicking a pebble again."

"It wasn't!" Jinn said certainly, "Something moved along that far wall!" He pointed out to the place he was certain the noise had come from. Dooku continued to shake his head gently, seeing and sensing nothing, whilst Allyaah took a little more interest and stepped to Jinn's side, squinting through the gloom at the far wall. She just managed to make out a ledge along it, wide enough to accommodate one human; "He might be right this time," she said, glancing back to Serenn.

Dooku glanced to Jinn, "About time," he remarked wryly.

" 'About time' " Jinn scoffed quietly, shaking his head and folding his arms.

The three Jedi continued on, the Colicoid burrows become sparser yet more elaborate about them, carved more finely than the ones on the city's outskirts, with engravings of their own kind and of frightening native beasts littered all over their outer walls. "I think we've reached the bourgeois estate," Serenn murmured as they passed these more sophisticated residences, glancing over the ever more deserted cityscape exhaustively for some sign of life.

Whoosh

Serenn jolted to the right, "Now I heard that," he muttered anxiously, his eyes quickly searching the vicinity for the source of the noise.

"Me too," Jiao concurred, "We're being followed."

"They're probably hiding because they don't want to get rocks thrown at them!" Jinn mused, looking at his Master with a dour grin, "Who can blame them for being coy?"

Dooku turned to him, "It's not a common practise of mine, Qui-Gon," he rejoined deprecatingly.

"They don't know that," Qui reminded his tutor, propping his hands on his hips in a complacent gesture.

"Well, don't make them think it either!"

"Come on, you two!" Allyaah interrupted them, "I don't know how you'd get along without me…you're always bickering!"

"It's what we do," Jinn stated, "Right, Master? There's method in our madness!"

"Somewhere," Serenn smirked. Jiao just shook her head.

Whoosh

Allyaah spun about, staring up the pathway that they were stood upon, and just caught the glimpse of a shiny, rolling object spinning over the path ahead, zooming out of one fissure and down into another.

"I think we're expected," Dooku assumed.

They all cautiously began to walk ahead again, the walkway opening out onto a great, stone plateau, surrounded by even more exquisite-looking edifices, these carved into the rocks with great care and attention to detail, each structure decorated with pillars, arches, gargoyles (many of which looked like the infamous Acklay beast) and temple-like roofs.

A shudder ran through Serenn's body suddenly, "My mind's all fuzzy…" he murmured as they stepped out into the centre of this square, looking warily round the dark arches and doorways about them, surrounded by buildings on all sides; "Does the Force feel…'muted' to you down here?" he queried.

Allyaah nodded, "Yes," she accented, "It's unclear, unfocused…"

Jinn looked between a couple of Colicoid statues that bordered the biggest and most majestic construction ahead of them, fanning his face with his hand; "I'm hot…" he sighed.

"Stop whining," Serenn returned light-heartedly, ruffling his apprentice's hair in a provoking gesture, "We're all hot."

Whoosh

Whoosh

Whoosh

Suddenly, rolling in from all directions, from out of every orifice and dark corner, from every doorway and cavity, came hundreds of Colicoids, spinning rapidly around the trio of Republic Knights in their coiled up postures, their shiny shells giving them superb leverage.

"Formation!" Serenn ordered. The three turned about and stood back-to-back in a small, defensive circle, watching the Colicoids spin round them, having them trapped.

"Can I say a cliché, Master?" Jinn whispered.

"Make it quick, boy," Serenn returned, his hand twitching over his lightsabre hilt, his brown eyes dark and concentrated.

Jinn watched the Colicoids rolling passed him in a dizzying fashion, feeling the sensation truly hit him that he wasn't in a safe simulation room in the Jedi Temple any more, "I've got a bad feeling about this," he finally muttered. Allyaah, meanwhile, kept her cool, reluctant to start a brawl, her lightsabre only ever leaving her belt at the last and most desperate hour.

Slowly but surely, all of the beetles began to slow to abrupt halts, leaping out from their coiled up postures into their 'attack modes', stood sturdily on their tripod of legs, their large fore-claws held out at the ready, and their beady eyes bright and attentive. The three Jedi were now completely surrounded by armed-and-dangerous Colicoids.

Dooku swallowed, looking over this circle of creatures carefully, his potent eyes passing over each individual beetle steadily and with care – he couldn't read any of these creatures' features, all of them lacking the expressive capacity of a human or other regular sentient species.

They froze, waiting. The Colicoids held their poisonous claw-like plates up toward them, but seemed to have little or no intention of attacking.

"What do I do, Master?" Jinn asked his tutor nervously, having not a clue how to respond to this situation.

Serenn reached back with his left hand and touched his Padawan's arm in a reassuring gesture, "Nothing, Qui. It's okay, just stay by me."

"Greetingsch humansch," a crackling, indescribably inhuman tone erupted from behind the Master and Padawan, laying an incredible emphasis on every 's' it uttered.

Dooku and Jinn turned round steadily in Allyaah's direction, watching a Colicoid, its shell brightly painted with reds and golds, and adorned with a purple headdress of feathers, slowly made its way toward them, stepping through a gap in the circle of warrior drones, pacing forward with a motion like a sidewinder serpent on its three, spindly legs. "Forgive the unwelcoming…'welcome', humansch, but we are wary of outschidersch."

"I guessed," Dooku murmured curtly. Allyaah have him a discreet elbow; /Be quiet/ she uttered telepathically to him.

"Greetings," Allyaah nodded courteously in return, giving the creature the customary Jedi bow, "I am Allyaah Jiao, Jedi Knight. These are my friends and colleagues, Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn and his mentor, Master Serenn Dooku." She held her hand out to each of her comrades respectively.

/Master should precede Padawan, Allyaah/ Dooku reminded her.

/Stop picking holes/ she threw back, giving him a brief glance; he gave her a charming nod in return, purposely being a nuisance.

"Jedi?" the creature gravelled on, "What buschinessch do you have here on Colla?"

"We have been sent here on the business of the Republic," Dooku explained, his tone stern and standoffish, "To investigate the disappearance of two of our associates here recently."

Allyaah quickly butted in before Serenn could continue, his aloof outset not promising to help them at all in their quest; /Subtlety, Serenn, subtlety…/ she reminded him. "Yes," she went on aloud, "And we were hoping that you could help us with our investigations." She took the next pause as a chance to give Dooku another reminding elbow, hoping to keep the notoriously reckless Jedi in check.

Jinn remained silent, studying the painted Colicoid hard – it was clearly one of the highly educated, upper echelons of its society, having the ability to talk Basic and the privilege of being painted vibrantly. These colours must have some meaning of rank or position, Qui-Gon was positive, though he couldn't recall reading anything about it in the Archives. But, seeing as people rarely returned from this place, he guessed that they couldn't report these things upon which the Archives needed updating.

"Ah, I schee…" the 'captain' Colicoid (as Jinn decided to christen it) continued, its pincers clicking together.

"Are you in charge here?" Serenn queried, eyes ever more intense, hoping not to incur another elbow from Allyaah.

The captain Colicoid regarded Dooku with an air of severe dislike, and all of the surrounding Colicoids seemed to sense this, closing in a little on the group and clicking their pincers menacingly, their fore-claws held forward and their small, beady eyes fixed on the tallest Jedi.

Serenn looked over them all curtly, realising that they were threatening him and him alone. He swallowed, sensing that something was immensely amiss in this insectoid society.

"No. Our Queen isch the one in charge of our Nescht, so I gather that it isch to her that you muscht schpeak?"

"Indeed," Dooku murmured, watching the captain cagily.

"If that isch scho, then you will have to wait. Our Queen isch buschy."

"How long would we have to wait?" Allyaah asked gently, placing a hand on Serenn's arm; /Calm down/ she insisted.

/Something's wrong/ he returned.

/Please, Serenn…/

The multi-coloured creature's pincer's clicked together again, "Oh, not long," it returned, its tone hovering unnervingly between austerity and disdain.

"So what would you say? Several hours?" Allyaah pushed on.

The captain may have shrugged if he had the ability to, but, again, just clicked its pincers together before replying coarsely, "No more than a week."

"A week?!" Jinn gasped, before quickly slinging his hand over his mouth, realising he'd said that out loud – and loudly, too. The Colicoids near him just regarded him indifferently with their blank stares. Qui-Gon swallowed, cautiously watching them all.

"That's…fine," Allyaah wavered uncertainly, "Providing that you can give us somewhere to lodge for those few days."

"That will not be a problem," the captain replied passively. Serenn's gaze tightened on the creature once more, a shudder thundering through him and sever uneasy tingling at the end of his every synapse. He felt Allyaah's hand squeeze his arm gently, trying to keep him calm, feeling his disquiet.

The captain turned about, opening its large claws to the ornate palace-like building behind him, "Thisch way," it warbled.

Unsurely, all of the Jedi began to follow the captain into the structure, the group of Colicoids that had surrounded them now pacing behind.

*            *           *          *

Qui-Gon was beginning to worry that they'd have to spend the night in a cleft in the wall; as they were led deep into this stone temple, they passed several levels of Colicoid dormitories, which were little more than holes and platforms in the walls. Fortunately, though, he soon discovered that he was wrong – it seemed that the Colicoids were well prepared for any guests of the needs of humans and species of the likes, and they had several chambers suited to accommodate them, catering for their diverse requirements. Serenn guessed that these chambers usually put up the business partners of the Colicoids, like Neimoidians, Rodians or even Dugs, but rarely any kind of Jedi.

Whatever this temple-like building was, it was huge – it seemed to reach miles back from its opening on the plateau. Allyaah theorised that it led right back into the Nest itself, guessing that the Queen would live here, in this palace somewhere, and therefore have easy access to her nests beyond whenever she wished to go to them. It was filled with various hallways and chambers, all ornately and smoothly carved out of the rock, more like the buildings the three knew so well than the rough-hewn civilian housing on the city's outskirts.

"Schleep here tonight, humansch…" the captain told them once he led them into a chamber in the fortress' lower barracks; he opened his plate-covered arm into a large and well furnished room, perfectly suited for their needs, though it of course had no windows, only torches burning on the walls again; "We can begin talksch tomorrow, and keep you occupied and comfortable until our Queen isch prepared to schee you…"

Serenn glanced about the inner sanctum, stepping in first and sizing it all up; there were three single beds, a couple of small units, and a quaint en suite to the side. "Can Miss. Jiao not have a separate bedroom?" he asked.

The Colicoid looked at him blankly, "Why?" it posed.

"She's female. We're not?" Serenn returned, gesturing between Qui-Gon and he, "Doesn't she deserve some privacy?"

"That isch a problem, why?" the captain continued, confounded.

"Serenn, their morals differ," Allyaah butted in, whispering briefly into his ear as she paced into the room by his side, before turning to the Colicoid and saying, "It's fine, thank you." She nodded graciously to the captain, who nodded in imitation to them in return, before urging Jinn into the room, closing the door, locking it, and rolling away down the outer corridor.

Serenn made several facial gestures toward it now it was gone, before turning to Allyaah as Jinn looked round the room, trying each bed out by bouncing on it until he found one that he liked.

Allyaah smiled at him, "You're a real gent," she said blithely, giving his chin a gentle knock with her fist, "But I'm sure I'll survive 'bunking with the boys'."

He sighed, shaking his head; "What are we gonna do until they let us out? Sing?"

"I've got dibs on the bathroom!" Jinn suddenly yelled, leaping off his chosen bed and rushing toward it.

"Qui-Gon, NO!!" Serenn cried, rushing after him; he just met the door, crashing hard into it, as his Padawan beat him into it.

Allyaah chuckled, sitting back on one of the other mattresses, "You can hold on for a bit longer, now, can't you, Master Jedi?"

TBC…