**Chapter 697: Call of the Missing**
**Month 9, Week 2, Year 2 of the Clone Wars**
**Officially Year 2014 — Year 14 after the Great ReSynchronization, Year 978 after the Ruusan Reformation**
**Scene 1**
**Jedi Temple, Coruscant**
**Ahsoka Tano POV**
Training younglings was never easy.
Ahsoka walked slowly between the rows of kneeling children, their eyes closed in deep concentration. The Ilum expeditions were now banned by Grand Master Dagon's orders — no younglings or Jedi were permitted to leave the Temple for crystal quests. Instead, Dagon had brought a massive kyber crystal from Malachor Prime and installed it in a secure chamber deep within the Temple. The younglings now learned to call their crystals to them through the Force, guided by careful meditation and technique.
It was a massive crystal, though still small compared to the titanic formations still hidden on Malachor. The new method was safer, more controlled… and strangely beautiful to watch.
Ahsoka smiled faintly as a small Nautolan girl's crystal floated gently into her hands, glowing a soft blue. The girl's face lit up with pure joy.
*At least something good is coming from all of this,* Ahsoka thought.
Her mind drifted, as it often did lately, to Dagon. Their relationship had grown deep and passionate, yet the soul bond had only fully formed with Erictia, Zule, Sakura, and Kayla. The others — despite dates, intimacy, and love — had not yet crossed that final threshold. She wondered why. Was the Force waiting for something more?
She was also deeply worried about Master Plo Koon and the dozens of other Jedi still missing since Mygeeto. At least seventy-seven Jedi — Knights and Masters — along with ten Padawans and nearly eighty Venator-class Star Destroyers had vanished. She hoped Master Plo would understand the new direction of the Order… and perhaps help convince the others to return.
That night, as Ahsoka drifted into sleep in the shared quarters, the Force reached out to her.
---
**Ahsoka's Dreamscape**
A soft, familiar voice echoed through the endless void.
"Soka… little Soka…"
Ahsoka turned, her montrals twitching. "Master Plo? Hello? Who's there?"
"It's me, Ahsoka," Plo Koon's calm, gravelly voice replied. His image shimmered into view — battered, exhausted, but alive. "I need your help."
"Help? Where are you? Let me get Dagon—" Ahsoka began.
"No. Not Dagon," Plo said urgently. "This is too dangerous. Only you and the girls can help. We are being held on Geonosis. There is a Padawan here… Aubrey Wren. Have you heard of her?"
"Aubrey?" Ahsoka's eyes widened. "Zule's best friend. She was reported killed along with her Master on the mission that claimed Master Glaive's life."
"She was captured," Plo said. "Taken by the darkness here on Geonosis. Please, Ahsoka… you're my only hope."
The dream shattered.
---
**Scene 2**
**Jedi Temple, Shared Quarters**
**Ahsoka Tano POV**
"No! Wait!" Ahsoka shouted, bolting upright in bed and startling the entire room awake.
Zule sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Ahsoka, what is your damage?"
"Yeah, this is the second time this week," Flare grumbled, pulling a pillow over her head.
Ahsoka quickly explained the dream — Master Plo's desperate plea, the mention of Aubrey Wren, and the location: Geonosis.
"I'm going," Ahsoka said firmly, already reaching for her boots. "No matter what."
The argument that followed was loud, passionate, and emotional. Zule wanted to contact Dagon immediately. Shin argued it was clearly a trap. Grace worried about going without backup. But slowly, one by one, they began to agree.
"If we do this on our own and succeed," Kayla said softly, "Dagon will be proud of us."
"He keeps saying he wants us to grow into our own Masters," Aayla added. "This could be the test."
In the end, they all agreed.
They moved quickly and quietly, slipping out of the Temple under the cover of night. Each took her personal starfighter:
- Ahsoka flew her orange-and-blue TIE Advanced.
- Zule took Dagon's cyan R-16 Skelter.
- Aayla piloted Dagon's blue T-70 X-wing.
- Flare climbed into her red TIE Defender.
- Kayla took her green TIE Interceptor.
- Grace chose her sleek black TIE Silencer.
- Visenya flew her blue Z-95 Headhunter.
- Shin piloted her modified purple Delta-7.
- Erictia flew her modified white Y-wing alongside Stella.
- Sakura took her pink Fang fighter.
As the small squadron lifted off from the Temple hangar and jumped into hyperspace toward Geonosis, Ahsoka felt a strange mix of determination and fear.
*We're coming, Master Plo. Just hold on.*
**Scene 3**
**Hidden Chamber, Geonosis**
**Unknown POV**
In the shadowy depths of a hidden Geonosian hive chamber, Plo Koon lowered his head, breathing heavily.
"Is it done?" a cold, synthetic voice asked.
Itsuki — the being wearing the mask of a fallen hero — stood beside him.
"Yes," Plo Koon replied quietly. "They will be arriving shortly."
"Excellent." Itsuki's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Then, Queen… it will be your turn."
Aubrey Wren stepped forward from the shadows, dressed in a flowing crimson dress that contrasted sharply with her once-innocent features. Her eyes glowed with an unnatural red hue.
"Yes," she whispered. "All is the will of the Hive."
The trap was set. The girls were flying directly into it.