Balto: A New Hope

Author: Starwarsisme Rating: PG
Characters: Darth Balto, Kodi, Aleu, Boris, Shadow and various other characters. Category: Sci-fi action

Disclaimer: All Star Wars characters, locations and concepts belong to George Lucas. Balto and other characters are copyright of Universal Studious and Amblin Entertainment.

Summary: A must read for Kodi and Aleu. The Rebel Alliance has stolen the plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the space station the Death Star. Kodi meets up with Aleu on the Death Star with help from the smuggler Shadow. Crossover of Star Wars episode VI A New Hope.

I would like to dedicate this fanfic to several people, George Lucas, with gratitude for the dreams of a generation, and of generations to come, for twenty-nine years and counting… Thank you, sir.

Next, to Rontamel the Writer…for being so understanding and a true Balto fan.

What would happen if you put Balto with Star Wars…

PROLOUGE

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

The Clone Wars were over, leaving entire civilizations in ruin. The Jedi knights were all but extinct. And the Old Republic — the democratic galactic government that had prevailed for almost 25,000 years — had been replaced by the Galactic Empire. Yet the Empire’s supreme ruler, the evil Emperor Palpatine, remained hungry for even more power. To expand his rule and crush all remnants of the Old Republic, Palpatine had approved the construction of a secret weapon: the Death Star, an immense armored space station that could destroy an entire planet! The Empire was not with out opposition. The Alliance to Restore the Republic — commonly known as the Rebel Alliance — led the fight to overturn the Empire and bring justice and freedom back to the galaxy. After Rebel spies learned of the Death Star project, they managed to intercept an Imperial transmission of the space station’s technical data. The Rebels hoped the data would reveal a way to destroy the Death Star. The Empire was determined to recover the stolen plans…now in the possession of a young wolf senator from the planet Alderaan, Princess Aleu…

Chapter 1 — Capture

Bursts of laser fire streaked after the consular starship Tantive IV, which was racing for the planet Tatooine. The Tantive IV is a small Rebel blockade runner that belonged to the Talbourne clan. The ship is Aleu’s. Her adoptive father is the wise old wolf named Nava is on Alderaan as you read these words. The ship was fleeing from the Devastator, an immense Imperial Star Destroyer that was firing nearly all its turbolasers at the elusive ship. Both vessels had just entered Tatooine’s orbit when the Devastator’s lasers scored a direct hit on the Tantive IV’s primary sensor array. The array exploded, and the blast overloaded the starboard shield projector — which caused another explosion, damaging the power generator system and triggered a chain reaction throughout the ship. With no starboard shield and no power to its engines, the Tantive IV was effectively crippled.

Inside the battered Tantive IV, the crew raced to extinguish the fires as more blasts rocked the ship. Struggling to remain on their paws, wolf Rebel crewmen and troops ran through a narrow white-walled passageway, taking little notice of the two robots that stumbled along with them. The droids were C-3PO, a gold-plated humanoid protocol droid, and his counterpart R2-D2, an astromech with a domed head and cylindrical body who moved on three legs.

“Did you hear that?” C-3PO said R2-D2 as the Tantive IV’s engines powered down. “They’ve shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!”

More Rebel troops ran into the main corridor. The two droids stepped aside into a shallow alcove to avoid being trampled. The Rebels took up defensive positions and aimed their blasters at a sealed hatch at the end of the corridor.

C-3PO said, “We’re doomed.” R2-D2 replied with a series of beeps and whistles. “There’ll be no escape for the princess this time.” C-3PO said just loud enough for R2-D2 to hear.

Mere minutes before the Star Destroyer attacked, the Tantive IV’s commanding officer, a black wolf named Ninju, had issued command/control instructions to the droids, ordering them restrict and protect all references to Aleu’s identity and presence aboard the Tantive IV. The corridor was suddenly filled with the echoing sounds of metallic latches, clanking and moving about the ships hull.

Hearing the noise, C-3PO asked, “What’s that?”

R2-D2 beeped nervously. The astromech suspected that the Star Destroyer had used a tractor beam to draw the Tantive IV into the Destroyer’s main hanger, and the clanking sounds were produced by a magnetic paralyzing pincer lock as it secured the captured ship. Indeed, that was exactly what had happened: the Tantive IV was now nestled in the Star Destroyer’s underside hanger. Although the hanger remained exposed to space, the Tantive IV was trapped like a small fish inside a sando aqua monster’s belly.

Inside the Tantive IV’s corridor, the droids braced themselves against the alcove wall as the Rebel troops kept their eyes on the sealed hatch. Suddenly, sparks blazed at the hatch’s frame as it was cut from the other side. Then the hatch exploded, sending smoke and ash throughout the corridor. Before the smoke cleared, a white-armored Imperial stormtrooper stepped through the shattered hatch and fired his blaster rifle at the Rebel wolves. The stormtrooper was immediately cut down by a hail of return fire from the wolves, but another stormtrooper appeared from behind him, firing as he stepped over his fallen predecessor. The second stormtrooper also fell to the wolves, but there were more where he came from, and they kept on coming.

The stormtroopers were identical. Each wore a head-concealing white helmet that resembled a robotic face, with black polarized lenses for eyes and a grimacing vocoder for the mouth. Below the vocoder, jutting out from the helmet’s chin, a grilled breathing filter was set between two artificial air-supply nozzles.

More stormtroopers poured out into the main corridor. From their alcove, the droids watched helplessly as several wolves were shot down. The Rebels fought back, and the corridor was filled with deadly, crisscrossing lasers. When a laserbolt slammed into the wall next to the droids, R2-D2 responded with a loud, electronic shriek, then rolled forward on his three treads. Not wanting to be left behind, C-3PO stepped after his companion. Laserbolts whizzed past their forms as the droids crossed the narrow corridor to a hatch that faced the alcove. Incredibly, neither droid was during their quick but harrowing exit.

Overwhelmed by the stormtroopers, the surviving wolves retreated hastily to other parts of the Tantive IV. A squad of stormtroopers secured the corridor, then instinctively moved away from the blown hatch as a dog-like, caped figure walked aboard.

He was clad entirely in black, giving him the appearance of a menacing shadow amidst the white-armored stormtroopers in the white-walled passageway. His head was concealed by a durasteel helmet with a fierce-looking faceplate, distinguished by two recessed black oval visual sensors positioned above a long triangular respirator (for the muzzle). A life-support system control panel was affixed to his chest plate, and he carried with him the sound of his mechanical, labored breathing. Everything in his outward appearance suggested that the black armored suit only barely contained the evil lurking within.

He is Darth Balto…the Sith Lord.

Darth Balto ignored the two dead stormtroopers near the exploded hatch and surveyed the fallen wolves on the corridor floor. He felt neither pity nor remorse for the lives that have been extinguished.

Balto thought, “These wolves brought this upon themselves. They sealed their fate the day they chose to oppose the Empire.” Stepping over the corpses, Darth Balto proceeded into the Tantive IV.

R2-D2 stood in a dimly illuminated subhallway that linked the Tantive IV’s port airlock to the escape pod access tunnel. He had lost sight of C-3PO almost immediately after they’d made their hasty exit from the main corridor, and assumed the golden droid had either gotten lost or found a good hiding place. The only reason R2-D2 had not yet attempted to find C-3PO was because he was busy making a holographic recording of Princess Aleu.

R2-D2 had run into the wolf as she hid in the subhallway. She had gray fur, and deep blue eyes, and a sweet, loving voice. She sounded distressed as she spoke, which was understandable, given the circumstances. The droid was still recording when she glanced at a hatch behind her, then turned back to insert a datacard in the slot beneath R2-D2’s radar eye. The droid stopped recording.

From nearby, C-3PO cried, “Artoo, where are you?”

While Aleu crept off to find a place to hide against the nearby wall, R2-D2 extended his retractable third leg to the floor and moved into the direction of C-3PO’s voice.

“At last!” C-3PO said when he saw R2-D2. “Where have you been? They’re heading in this direction. What are we going to do? We’ll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who knows what!” R2-D2 rolled away from C-3PO, heading for the escape pod access tunnel.

“Wait a minute,” C-3PO