be tolerated.” He walked over to his Hologram transmitter and activated it. He quickly knelt on one knee. Within seconds a large hologram of a hooded figure appeared.

“What is it my apprentice? I sense a disturbance in the force.”

“I have just received word that a Jedi has been discovered on the planet Ord Mantell. Reports say he was of the Kel Dor species.”

Emperor Palpatine was silent for a moment. “Lord Vader.”

“Yes, my master?”

“You will go destroy this Jedi. Be mindful of the Force around this one. Master Plo Koon is strong in the force. Do what must be done.”

“Yes, my master. I will depart immediately.”

“You were on the Jedi Council!?” At first Balto hadn't believed this Plo Koon, until he gave a demonstration of his ability to use the force. “I thought all of them were killed at the end of the Clone Wars!”

Plo Koon sighed. “Yes, most were killed. I don't know who survived. I was leading my squadron on a scouting mission on Cato Neimenoidia. I was in my starfighter when they opened fire on me. I never saw it coming. I was hit once and started losing control. Then a second blast hit me and my ship caught fire. I was engulfed by the flames and my ship struck a nearby building. I was able to use the force to keep most of the flames at bay. Then I crashed and lost consciousness. I can faintly remember a family of Neimoidians who dragged me out of the flaming wreckage and hid me in their house and took care of me.”

Balto snorted. “A Neimoidian doing that? Not what I would expect of one of those cowards.”

“Neither did I. But they did and I'm here and alive because of it. I stayed with them for a while after the Clone Wars ended. But then the Empire took over. They started searching for and slaughtering any Jedi they found. I had to run. I was making my way back to my home planet Dorin, when I ended up here. I need you to help me get home.”

“You, a Jedi, need me a Wolf hybrid to help you get home. Why me?”

Plo Koon shrugged and said “You have all my credits from the sabacc game.”

“Oh yeah.” 'Sigh' “All right. I'll help you. But I am going to need a little time.”

“We don't have a little time. By now half the Imperial Navy is coming after us.”

“Sithspawn.”

Darth Vader walked down to the large transparisteel windows on his ship the Super Star Destroyer 'Executer' the largest battleship ever made. And he was looking for one Jedi with it. A Jedi who just happened to be one of the most powerful ones on the Jedi Council.

“Captain. Set a course for the planet Ord Mantell. I want to be there as soon as possible.”

“Of course Lord Vader.”

Vader turned back to the viewport. He waited as the hyperdrive engines warmed up. He smiled under his mask as the stars turned into streaks of light. 'At last an opponent worthy of my attention.'

Balto walked up to the docking area to see what transports had arrived and which ones were leaving. He had just sold his Kuat Systems Engineering 'CloakShape' starfighter for around 20,000 credits so he could afford a transport and for any other odd thing that might pop up.

He looked at a large electronic board that listed all of the flights. “Dorin, Dorin.... Crap. None of these are going to Dorin!”

Balto sighed and walked down a little ways to a transport that was going to be near the system. He took a moment to check out the ship. It was a medium sized transport. A Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-2400 freighter to be exact. He had heard of a smuggler who had one of these. What was that humans name? Dash Rendar? Yeah, that's it, Dash Rendar. Let's see. Where's the captain?

Balto climbed up on the platform that the ship was sitting on. He started walking toward the ship and as he got close shouted “Hello? Anyone here?”

As he got closer he could hear something bumping and moving around inside the ship.

“Hello?”

Just then he heard a loud bang and smoke started pouring out of the ship. He walked around to where it was coming from and took a quick look inside. He could barely see inside because of all the smoke. But he could see a shape moving around working on something. He could also hear it crumbling in a different language. Huttsee he figured. And what it was saying would have made Han Solo blush into the deepest shade of red a human could.

Balto tried one more time. “Hello?'

Then whatever the creature was working on.... promptly exploded. The creature was hurled back out of the ship and into a pile of crates. Balto hurried over to help the thing up. And saw the most beautiful dog he had ever seen. She had red and white fur and was about a head shorter than Balto. That didn't stop her from taking control immediately.

“Okay let go. I can get up myself.”

She quickly stood up and looked at her ship.

“Sithspawn. I KNEW I shouldn't have bought those power couplings from Jawas! Good for nothing little rodent faced trolls!” She let out an explosive sigh and turned to Balto.

“Hi. I'm Jenna and this is my ship. What do you want?”

Boy, if Han Solo had been a girl, this is what he would be like. “Umm, I need to hitch a ride on your ship. You are going out past the Dorin system aren't you?”

“Yeah. What do you want to go there for? You can't breathe their atmosphere and, all the Kel Dors are really ugly if you ask me.”

“He's taking me home miss.”

Jenna turned around to see who was talking.... and found herself face to face with Plo Koon's chest. She looked up and turned redder than she already was.

“Sorry about that.”

Plo Koon looked past her at the ship.

“So we are planning on taking this useless hunk of space debris hmmm?”

Now Jenna turned red from anger. “You aren't taking it if you call it that! This is the best ship around!”

Balto looked to the left and right and saw that, unfortunately, she was right. This ship looked like a luxury cruiser compared to the other ships.

“Soooo, can we ride with you?”

“Sure. For ten thousand credits.”

“What!? Ten thousand!?”

Jenna smiled and said “Yep. I'm going to need to repair those power couplings. I can't leave without them. So, you give me the money for them, and that will be your ticket. Deal?”

Balto reached over and shook her paw. “Deal. When is the soonest we can leave?”

“Well, tomorrow morning should work. Meet me here at around, 9.”

As Balto and Plo Koon walked away from the docking area, Koon leaned over to Balto and said “Why are we taking this flight?”

“Because it was the only one that was going to be near Dorin.”

“Oh. I thought it had to do with the pilot being the female of your species.”

Balto choked when he heard that. “Yeah right! Like I make ALL my decisions based on that! Sheesh!”

Plo Koon smiled under his mask. He reached out with the force and found he could actually hear what Balto was thinking. 'Although, I guess I could start making my decisions based on that.....'

Darth Vader was in his special meditation room when he received word that the 'Executer' was in orbit over Ord Mantell.

“Very good Captain. Prepare my shuttle.”

“Sir? You are going to be traveling to the surface?”

“Yes Captain. Is something wrong with that?”

“Of course not sir” the officer said quickly “It was just, unexpected. Shall I prepare a squad of stormtroopers to accompany you?”

“That will acceptable. But only one squad.”

“Very good my Lord.”

Vader switched off the comm link and submerged into the force. He began searching for the famed Jedi Master thru the force. He caught a faint trace of a familiar presence.

“I have you now.”

He began to concentrate more but before he could he could pinpoint the exact location, the comm link chimed, interfering with his search. He lost the trace. He seriously considered killing the incompetent officer right then and there.

“Maybe I'll throw him in a Sarlacc instead.”

Vader pushed the thought from his head and climbed out of his meditation sphere. He began making his way thru the massive ship toward the docking bays where his shuttle would be waiting.

“Time to end this.”

Plo Koon woke from his sleep drenched in sweat. He had felt a presence thru the force searching for him. He recognized it as Anakin Skywalker. Now Darth Vader.

“Oh, no.”

He rushed out of his bed and shook Balto awake.

“Hmmm..... uhhhh... what? What do you want?”

“Wake up! Now! Come on, come on!”

“Plo it's 6 in the morning! I'm supposed to get another two or three hours of sleep!”

Plo Koon took on the most threatening voice he could (which was a pretty good one considering the mask distorted his voice) “Vader is here. He is here, on the planet, at this very moment.”

THAT woke Balto up.

“What!? He's here? Now!? How could he figure out where we are so fast?”

“The force is very powerful, both for the light and the dark. Now, we must move quickly if we want to escape.”

“Why don't you just stay here and wup his armored behind? You were on the Jedi Council. You could take Vader in a fight.”

“I do not wish to fight him. I would also lose in a contest like that. He is very powerful. Plus, I want to live to see the Jedi Order rebuilt. So, come on let's go!”

“Humph. I always heard Jedi were supposed to be selfless and patient. Boy did that theory get shot down” Balto grumbled to himself.

They arrived at the spaceport two hours early. Balto could hardly walk straight because of how tired he was.

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