start crying, I won’t be able to stop and Jenna and Star and the others need me to be strong so don’t touch me or I really will…” He paused as he felt another presence close behind him. He turned his head and gave a little groan. Anakin Skywalker – Lord Vader – stood there, solid and real in the gloom.

“Don’t ruin all our hard work by doing something stupid.” Anakin’s face was calm and his voice was steady.

“But he…” Balto waved a paw toward Luke, who waited at a distance.

Anakin Skywalker shook his head. “You’ve had enough for this day.” Balto felt the Jedi’s ghostly fingers stroke his fur. “Rest for now.”

“But! My Lord,” Balto protested.

“Shh.” Anakin hushed him as if he were a willful child. “I will explain once you are recovered. For now, rest, and once you wake, see to your people.”

He smiled at Balto as the young officer began to sink toward the deck. “Don’t forget – you have duties to attend to.”

“Duties.” Clutching that familiar concept, Balto fell away into sleep.

“Who was he talking to?” asked Doc as he gently arranged Balto’s body into a more comfortable position on the floor.

“I don’t know for certain, but I have an idea,” Luke replied.

“Commander Balto!” The voices penetrated the comfortable fog of sleep. “Please wake up, Sir.”

“Uh, what?” Balto yawned and blinked. The room slowly began to materialize. The lighting indicated they were into the ship's day cycle.

“He's awake!” A generalized happy murmur greeted this statement. Balto sat bolt upright. He was lying on a standard bunk of the sort found aboard military starships. Someone had been kind enough to remove his boots, loosen his tunic, and throw a blanket over him. He was with his dogs, he knew this even before he could see them, from the distinctive feel they had and the soft brightness they cast into the space behind his eyes. After several more blinks they swam into visual focus and he was able to perform a quick headcount, confirming his initial impression.

Corporal Star grinned at him. “Good morning, Commander.”

“You’re all right!” Balto grabbed him by the arms with his paws, relieved to find fur and bone under his paws. He looked beyond Star into the room. “Everyone make it?”

Private Kaltag peered over Star’s shoulders. “Yes sir, thanks to you. We didn’t lose anyone.”

“I had help,” Balto said quietly, but his admission went unheard over the rumble of greetings from his men. His mind shied away from the sudden memory of Anakin Skywalker. Don’t think about it right now, he told himself. You’ve got duties to perform, you can think later. Calmly, he greeted the three junior naval officers his men had rescued while he had been away closing the blast doors aboard the Executor. They introduced themselves respectfully and indicated they were more than willing to follow his lead while they were in Rebel custody. Those polite rituals finished, Balto found one of their number missing.

“Kaltag, where is Jenna?”

“The Rebels say she’s fine; they’ve got her bunking in with some of the female medical staff, Sir.”

“But why? They kept the rest of you together.”

Kaltag shrugged. “Maybe they thought us ‘terrible Imperials’ wouldn’t behave ourselves?”

Balto got up with a snort and a shake, searched around for and found his hat. “They should know better. She’s my mate. Our military rules aren’t that divergent from their own.” Putting on his hat and fastening up his Imperial uniform set his own external world to rights.

“What, the rule that says you’d space us if we got too forward with the Captain?” asked one of the troopers with an innocent look.

“Yes, that one, assuming she didn’t space you herself.” Balto smiled at the trooper. “Or do something worse. She is very stubborn from my experiences. Never annoy a beautiful girl.

“Good point,” Star conceded.

“Ah, Commander Balto, good morning.” Unnoticed in the initial hubbub, a Rebel officer had entered the dormitory. “I am Lieutenant Orvit.” He made a ‘come with me’ gesture. “Please join us for breakfast.” As Balto followed, the officer asked. “Is everything satisfactory, Commander?”

“From what I can see, yes, and thank you. I’m relieved to see everyone is well.” Balto paused and added. “Almost everyone, we’re missing our Captain. My men say you have her berthed separately.”

“We do, our female medical staff insisted. I’ll take you down so you can verify your mate’s condition for yourself.”

“Very good.” Balto was led through a succession of corridors into the crew’s quarters, stopping before the door of a dormitory unit very much like the one he and his men were using. The officer touched the annunciator. The door opened and a Mon Calamari woman in a medic’s uniform peered out.

“Yes?” She focused her large eyes on Balto. “Oh. You’ve brought him.”

Orvit grinned at her. “The very same. Lieutenant Mirghal, this is Commander Balto.”

“Hmm, yes. Your mate has told me about you, Balto.” Mirghal nodded and stood aside to allow them entrance. “Welcome to the Rebellion, Imperial Jedi.”

Balto felt as if someone had flushed his insides with quick-freeze. “I’m no Jedi!” Any further protestations were lost as Captain Jenna saw him enter the room which served the residents as a small parlor.

“Commander Balto! You’re all right!” She sprang up from her seat, her imperial uniform was a complement to her beauty, she ran the few strides between them and nuzzled him, and then they kissed. “I was so worried. They said you were out of the tank yesterday and all, but they’ve been saying the strangest things about you!”

“Probably not half as strange as the truth, I missed you Jen.” he tiredly murmured. Lovingly he returned her kiss. Relief washed over him, followed by a sudden burst of feelings and thoughts not his own.

“Not-dead, not-hurt, so glad.”

“Fine, I’m fine”, he thought into that space that seemed to contain far more than mere thoughts.

Jenna eased her kiss and looked into his face. “Did you just say something?”

“Yes, sort of.” His mouth felt dry and his heart tripped along quickly. “I’ll explain later.” He grimaced internally at the thought of all the ‘laters’ piling up that wanted attending-to. “For now, though, I’m off to a meeting with… our hosts.” Balto found he no longer wished to call them Rebels to their faces. “I wanted to be sure you were being treated properly.”

Jenna stepped back and took up a proper military posture. Her eyes had a light in them. “Don’t worry about me Balto, I’m a big girl now. Lieutenant Mirghal and the others have been very kind to me.” 

“Excellent. Stay sharp, Captain. I’m going to explore our options.” He smiled at her. “I’ll let you know when I understand what those options are.” With a crisp exchange of kisses, he left with Lieutenant Orvit.

“Forms,” Balto muttered as he glowered at the screen of a data terminal. “The bane of an officer’s existence.” He sat in a small room – a ‘stateroom’ which connected to the dormitory used by his men. The room was large enough to contain his bunk, a built-in desk, and a data terminal connected to the ship's personnel computer. It had been secured, of course, so that had he been an expert slicer he could not have damaged the main database.

Carefully Balto read down the page, idly gnawing on a nail as he scanned the entries. It had been three days since his awakening in the bacta tank; days spent dealing with the administrative muddle caused by their untimely capture. As the senior officer, the tedious job was his alone. Luke Skywalker had gone, but Doctor Doc assured him the Jedi would return soon to speak with him and that was a conversation Jir did not look forward to continuing.

Balto sighed heavily. “You’d think the Rebellion would be less into paperwork than the Empire, but no, they simply seem to have placed their own layer on top of what the Empire already has.” Slowly he began to add information to that displayed on the screen. “Maybe this is their idea of punishment.” The data was quite mundane, consisting of the names, ranks, and service numbers of all the captured Imperials, any material captured with them, a list of their injuries and treatment, and their current state of health. In theory, the information would be used to notify their next of kin they had survived the battle and were well, but that was assuming the Empire was still functioning efficiently enough to be collecting such lists of prisoners and distributing the information.

Jir frowned at the list. “With our luck this stuff will be sent to the Hutts or somewhere off to the Outer Rim.”

“The Outer Rim would not be such a bad place, but it would be best if the information were not sent anywhere.”

Balto jumped as if prodded with a Force pike (spear). The door of his room was closed, no one had opened it. The hour was late, the men in the room beyond had turned in and the sounds of their voices had faded away an hour earlier. Moving carefully he turned in his chair. Anakin Skywalker stood in the small space behind Balto, his arms folded, a wry smile on his face. “It will be safer to let the Empire think you all were lost with the Executor.”

“But…” Balto felt again the urge to weep when he looked at the healthy man before him. Firmly, he pushed the need aside in favor of another question. “Why, my Lord? It will be difficult to return to the Empire if we don’t have our papers in order.” Actually, it would have been nearly impossible to return to the Empire without the correct documentation, but Balto felt it unnecessary to belabor the point, since Lord Vader would have been well aware of the fact.

Anakin shook