Author's Notes: Edited 04/08/04 due to discovered plot hole!
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A Test of Faith
Chapter 15 - Compassionate Master Jinn
The Simara party reached the end of the last descending tunnel into Drykos before they stepped out into the open cavern of the city and stood in silence behind a rise in the ground, waiting for someone to make the first move. Allyaah shifted first and made for the front of the group; "This is it," she said quietly, looking over them all, "We split from here." She turned to Qui-Gon, "Who's leading Qui to the hold where Dooku is being held?"
Female looked over her group and began chattering in her own tongue. Another Colicoid stepped forward from, distinguishable by a strange, inverted-triangle mark on his 'forehead'. It was with no surprise, therefore, that Jinn immediately nicknamed him 'Triangle'.
"I schall lead the young one to the other Jedi," he gurgled in a startling deep, guttural voice.
Female seemed satisfied by this; "Excellent," she nodded, turning to Allyaah, "We schall eschcort you on the 'diverschion'."
At this, the party split into two, Female at the head of Allyaah's gang, Triangle at the head of Qui-Gon's. This left the two Jedi looking at one another awkwardly.
Allyaah shrugged off all her Jedi pretences and clasped Jinn to her in a friendly hug; "Please, take care, Qui," she whispered to him.
Jinn held her in return, suddenly realising how scared he felt inside, and of how dangerous this mission actually was, "You too, my master," he said.
She have him a light, parting kiss on top of his head, then let him go, and without further ado, they went on their ways.
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Scouts of the Sohta nest could hardly believe their beady little eyes as they saw a group of Simaran Colicoids, led by a human, walk brashly into their territory.
["What is this?"] one scout, hidden in the hollows of the crevices above, asked another nearby.
["I call it impudence,"] the other replied.
["Or foolishness,"] the first scout countered.
The Second clicked his mandibles together, ["Go, report to our leaders. They must want second helpings after their other raid recently."]
["Fools they are, then,"] Scout one snorted as he rolled up and rushed off down into the passageways of his nest.
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Meanwhile, Jinn's party were moving stealthily over the ground toward the testing compounds where they were sure Dooku would be. They moved from behind rock to rock, skulking along the ground and being careful to make as little noise as possible. Jinn felt at a disadvantage here, being the only gangly, teenage human with stupidly large feet in the party, but he managed it, knowing that his master's very existence was on the cards, and he wouldn't let the cruelty of adolescence ruin it for him.
"There, ahead, can you schee it, Qui-Gon?" Triangle said to the boy, stooping behind a boulder and pointing in the direction of the compound with his armoured forearms.
Jinn crouched next to the creature and peeked above the stone; he indeed could just make out the top of the bland, grey compound, its windowless walls standing out against the rock like a snow wampa in the desert. His heart began to beat faster - this was it; if he failed now, he'd have to live the rest of his life with the loss of his mentor - a man as good as his father - on his conscience.
"Do not fret, young one," Triangle suddenly said as though he could sense what was on Jinn's mind, "We schall be here to help you."
"How can I get there without being stopped?"
"The diverschion involving your friend schould schoon be in place. I will give you the word when I am certain it is schafe, and then you schall run." Triangle looked at him, "And schould any othersch come to schtop you, we schall be here to schtop them."
Qui smiled at Triangle, "How can I ever thank you all?" He looked over each and every one of them in his group, "It is Allyaah and I who are the ones who decided to come back into this mess, and you come along, anyway, though you advised against it…"
Triangle might of smiled had he the ability, "You are a true credit to your race, young one. I am glad to have made your acquaintance," he warbled with a slight nod of his small head. He turned back toward the compound, "Now, get ready…"
Jinn nodded, hand tapping his lightsabre in reassurance, and he waited.
----
Allyaah and her party stood point blank in the middle of Drykos, and looked around them.
"Well, what a welcome," she murmured, hands clasped tightly about her sabre hilt as nothing but silence and emptiness greeted them.
"They are being cautious," Female deduced, looking at every dark nook and cranny surrounding them as though it were guilty of something, "Scho we will provoke them."
"Is that wise?" Allyaah interposed.
Female nodded, "Yesch. Do you want to be a diverschion or not?"
Allyaah shrugged, "Good point."
With a few clicks and squawks, Female ordered a few of her comrades out of the group. They rolled off and, without care or precision, began to attack the Drykos 'town hall'. Suddenly, screeches of rage and shock permeated the air around them, reverberating off of the cavernous walls, and the Sohto Colicoids shot from their hiding places and began to roll rapidly into battle against them.
Allyaah couldn't help but allow herself a smile, "Let's dance," she smirked as he blue lightsabre erupted from the hilt she held before her.
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Triangle watched as several Sohta Colicoids, alerted by some person or other, rushed from out of the compound in the distance and toward the main body of Drykos. He nodded, muttering a few short commands to his friends, before he turned to Qui-Gon and said, "The diverschion isch in place." He watched a few more Colicoids roll off in the direction of the fracas. "Run… now!"
And Jinn did. He stumbled at first on the dusty floor, but soon was sprinting at full pelt across the ground, arms pumping by his sides and eyes focused on the compound ahead. He heard a screech to his left as he made the half way point, but before he could even think about reaching for his lightsabre, Triangle appeared with a whoosh by his side and diverted the incoming attack from the hidden Sohta guard; "Keep going!" Triangle insisted whilst he took the Sohta soldier up in battle.
Jinn ran, his breath emerging as heavy, hoarse rasps from his throat. He was beginning to feel tired, and tried to call upon the Force for aid; it did help sustain him a little, but it felt so frail down here, anyway, that it didn't do a lot. Twice more he caught the glimpses of would-be ambushers preparing to waylay him from the shadows, but twice they were again intercepted by members of Triangle's party.
Soon, the compound was in sight. A wire-mesh perimeter fence surrounded it, but Jinn could see that posing little difficulty. As he skidded to a halt before it, he drew his 'sabre to his hand and sliced a large hole out of it, before he dived through and scampered on toward the main entrance.
He flattened against the wall as he reached the door, the Force managing to get a message to him that danger was approaching. And, indeed, two Colicoids came rushing out of the compound door, looking like little more than two, rolling blurs as they sped away. Jinn watched them pass warily, and, suddenly realising how lucky he was, jumped across the threshold of the compound as the doors remained open from the exiting Colicoids. Suddenly, as soon as he was inside, the doors behind him hissed shut and he was left alone in the clinical gloom of this terrible place.
He swallowed, looking around; he'd never been in a place filled with so much gloom and… death. The Force felt muffled, as though it was not welcome here, and all he could see ahead of him were rows and rows of identical, stunted doors intermingled with row after row of identical, clinical corridors. There was no sign of any life.
He swallowed again, "Now what?" he murmured, stepping forward to the first junction in the hallways and looking down the left and right corridors as he reached them, before then looking straight ahead down the central one.
"Use the Force, Qui," he said to himself, "Use the Force…"
He closed his eyes, instinctively turned right, then continued on his way.
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Allyaah was having fun, despite herself; she hadn't actually killed anything yet - she refused to unless it was completely necessary, and in her own defence - but she was enjoying thwarting the Sohta Colicoids with her agility and skill. She often left them crumpled over one another on the floor, their tripod of legs twisted, or with their large, cumbersome shells caught on one-another's.
Her Simaran allies weren't being quite as discreet, of course, and had left several dead or injured already, but she didn't exactly have time to change the ethics of a society in-between rescuing her best friend, now.
She ran up a wall and loosened a low-hanging stalactite from above with the swish of her light sabre, leaving the Colicoid who had been following her flat on his back beneath the mass of rock as it crashed over him.
She then back flipped over another Colicoid, which went rolling beneath her as she was in midair, having being aiming to knock her from her feet. It went crashing into a stone pillar with an unpleasant squelch.
A few more Sohta Colicoids were now circling her, but cautiously - many of their comrades had been waylaid by her already, and they knew that she hadn't yet used her lightsabre properly on them yet…
----
Jinn found his feet were doing more thinking than he was. And he was quite happy to let them as he moved through the faceless corridors. He kept his eyes shut most of the time, abandoning himself to the Force, for the sheer malice of the bare walls and uncongenial halls unsettled him greatly to look at. It took him quite some time before he was sure that he felt the slight tingle of his master's presence - he wasn't quite certain, but it was better than nothing, and his pace soon quickened to a brisk walk.
He reached a door - it looked little different to the others, bar the fact it had a strange symbol printed upon it - but it was screaming 'open me' to him. He looked at it, feeling the Force push him toward it, telling him that this was the way forward now. And, no sooner had that sensation hit, than did the Force also tell him to hide. He doubled back and slid round a corner to another passage, just in time to see two Colicoids - two of the higher ranks, if their absurd head crests were anything to go by - walk slowly out of the door and off down the corridor, fortunately, in the opposite direction in which he was hiding. As their chattering died away and they disappeared round a bend, Qui rushed back to the door.
His luck was against him this time - the door had closed before he could get there, and the control pad by its side looked suitable for the spindly fingers of a Colicoid only. He kicked the wall in frustration, before he regretted it as his toe made protest, then, calming a little, tried to think of the best way to go about getting through. It wouldn't be wise to wait for more Colicoids to come out - if there were anymore in there - and even less wise to think of following Colicoids into there. His thoughts turned to his only salvation, his lightsabre; this weapon was his life, or so he'd been lectured, and now 'his life' was going to help save another.
Pushing the hilt up against the door, he flicked the switch and, with an almighty hum, his green blade shot out and forced its way through the metal of the door. The sound it made as it melted and warped the metal was horrible, but nothing compared to the terrible smell it emitted. He guessed that there were no more Colicoids on the other side of the threshold for no one seemed to have heard, or smelt, his efforts to enter.
When he had finally managed to make a hole in the door big enough for him to just about squeeze through, he hooked his 'sabre back onto his belt, and did just that. As he fell to the floor on the other side, he found himself in a horrid room. But the needles and the mechanical arms about him didn't register, for he was too busy staring at the man hung from the wall…
"Master!" Qui-Gon cried.
TBC…