Chapter 16 - Stabbed in the back...literally

Then, Echo’s voice came over the comlink.
“Echo to Ash,” she said.
“Ash here,” she responded. “The signal is still coming from the lowest level of the temple, under the south-west garners,” she said, repeating the information.
“Good. We will go down as far as possible then tell us where to go from there,” the voice of Mace Windu said.
Echo didn’t know Mace Windu was helping Echo with this. She would have to be on her best behavior.
A few minutes later, Echo came over the comlink.
“Echo to Ash, are we as far down as possible?” Echo asked.
“Ash to Echo, do you see a door on your left?” Ash asked her.
“Echo to Ash, yes I see a door,” she replied.
“Ash to Echo, good, now open it,” Ash said. “Also, can we stop saying Ash to Echo?” It was getting really annoying.
“Yes,” Echo said with a chuckle.
“Ahh, the door is wired. It shocked me,” Echo said into the comlink.
“Oops,” Ash said, embarrassed. “My computer even says all that at the bottom of the screen, I just forgot to tell you.”
“Thanks,” Echo said sarcastically.
Ash heard them trying to get the door open, and finally they burst through. Then Mace Windu yelled.
“RUN!” he said. Then Ash heard the sound of a grenade going off.
“What in the GALAZY are you two doing down there? Never mind, I don’t want to know,” Ash said.
“You led us into a trap!” Echo yelled. “It blew up!”
“Sorry!” Ash said.
“I think one of the younglings would have been able to help us more that you!”
That comment actually hurt coming from her sister, but she sucked it up. Then, she got another incoming call coming through the comlink.
“I will say a nasty comment back after I answer this, “Ash said.
“We will discuss that later,” Mace reminded her.
“Oops,” Ash said, forgetting that she was trying to be on her best behavior. “Just hang on a sec though.” She then switched channels on her comlink.
“Hello?” she said.
“Ash? It’s me, Broze. MAJOR PROBLEM! Aero is gone! Nobody has seen him anywhere and I haven’t talked to him in 2 days. Something is wrong. I’m his only guy friend, he hangs with me everyday.”
“Okay okay, just calmed down. I’m talking to Mace Windu right now and I’ll inform him. You just try to relax,” she told him.
“Okay. Tell me if you find anything,” Broze said and hung-up.
Ash switched back to Echo’s channel and spoke into the comlink.
“Okay, I’m back. Sorry but, AERO IS GONE!” Ash almost screamed into the microphone.
“What? Like Master Kota?” Echo replied.
“Yes! Broze is worried sick! His only friends is gone!”
“That was rude, Ash,” Echo replied.
“Well, it’s true…” Ash replied. He had even said it himself.
“Now is not the time Ash,” Mace Windu said. “Warn the Temple that people are missing and that the Temple should be put under lockdown immediately.”
“Okay. I’ll be back soon!” Ash said. “Maybe, I’m am pretty slow,” she reminded them. She shut off the comlink and walked as fast as she could without killing herself to the Council Chambers. Fortunately, the Council was meeting right them.
She stood in the center of the room and waited until someone allowed her to speak.
“What can we do for you?” Yoda asked.
“Master, I’ve been in contact with Master Windu and Echo and they have just been caught in an explosion from a grenade in the lowest level of the Temple under the South-west garners. Master Windu told me to tell you that he suggests that the Temple be put under lockdown. Also, we have another person missing. His name is Aero, and he’s one of my friends.”
It was a lot to say at one time, but Ash needed to say it all a once before the masters interrupted her.
“Hmmm…sensed a disturbance in the Force, we have,” Yoda said. “Agree with you, the Council does. Under lockdown, the Temple now is.”
“I will go issue the command,” Master Ki-Adi-Mundi said and got up out of his seat and stood by Ash.
“Dismissed you are,” Yoda said.
Mundi and Ash left at the same time, but they both went separate ways. She never really got to say anything to him.
She walked as fast as she could back to the Archive room to get back on the computer. It took her about 10 minutes to get back.
“Okay, I’m back! Everybody is warned,” Ash told them.
Echo must have left the comlink on because she heard them talking.
“You feel it too,” Mace Windu said. “We better hurry.”
“We have nowhere to look,” Echo reminded him.
“Don’t worry, we will find him,” Mace said. Ash didn’t know Mace could be so nice.
“Ash, do you have any information?” Echo asked her.
Ash barely even heard what she said because just then she looked up and saw Aero heading over to her. Nobody else was in the room.
“Wait a minute,” she said into the comlink. “Is that Aero?”
She started to walk over to him.
“Hey Aero!” she yelled. “Hey, where have you been?”
“Oh nowhere,” Aero said. “Just walking around…learning a few new tricks.”
Ash went up and hugged him. She was so glad to see him alive and not missing like Kota.
Suddenly, a tingle began to go up and down her spine. She tried to back away from Aero, but he kept holding on. Then, Ash felt something sharp and painful go into her spine. She screamed and went limp. She dropped the comlink.
“ASH!? What’s going on? Do you read me?” she heard Echo scream into the comlink.
Aero was still holding her limp figure and through her up on his shoulder. The darkness quickly started to consume her, followed by extreme pain.
“ASH? WHAT HAPPENED?!” she faintly heard Echo say again.
Then, everything went black.

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