Balto: A Star Wars Tale II

All things related to Star Wars are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd.

Balto, Jenna, Boris, Muk, and Luk are the property of Amblin Entertainment and Universal Studios

Sorsus Galaxy is my own creation. Please ask for permission before using. (If you do)

A long, long time ago

In a Galaxy far, far away....

“Hey Jenna! What are we doing today?”

“Well let's see. We have some cargo to deliver to Kashyyyk and we have some spice to give to Sala the Hutt.”

“Sala? Man I hate that guy! He's always trying to hook up with you.”

“So?”

“So!? So!? You are a husky, HE is a Hutt, and YOU are my wife!”

“Jealous?”

Balto starred at Jenna for a second. “You are out of your mind.”

Since the time that they had been taking Jedi Master Plo Koon around the galaxy, several things had changed. For instance, the Empire was no more. There was still an Empire but it does not rule the galaxy. It is only in control of a small portion of it. There is a new government. The New Republic. Balto married Jenna and the two of them run a small shipping business that is fairly profitable for them.

“When are we going home?”

Balto turned to see Muk standing there. That was one other change. Balto, Jenna, and Plo Koon had rescued Muk his brother Luk, and an old goose named Boris from a shipwreck. They had stayed on board the 'Anchorage' ever since.

“Don't worry Muk. We'll be going home soon. Right after we make these deliveries.”

They arrived at Kashyyyk and quickly unloaded the supplies. They wandered around for a little bit, marveling at the size of the trees.

After having spent a few hours on Kashyyyk, they resumed there journey to Tatooine to drop off some spice to the Hutt. As the 'Anchorage' touched down, Balto turned to Jenna and said “I'll take the stuff. You stay here.”

“You're no fun.”

Under the laws of the New Republic, delivering spice was still considered mildly illegal. It paid good money though.

Balto rented a skiff and went out to Jabba the Hutts old palace where Sala the Hutt was now in charge. “I hate this place” Balto said as the huge metal doors that seriously needed oil screeched open. You could find just about any unpleasant thing in the company of a Hutt.

A Gamorrean guard escorted Balto into the throne room, the most disgusting place Balto had ever been.

“Greetings Balto” the Hutt said in Huttse. “I trust my spice is safe and sound?”

“Here. Look for yourself.” Balto nudged the crate forward with his foot.

“Excellent. I knew it was a good idea to hire you dogs. Speaking of which, where is the pretty one?”

“Back on the ship. I told her to stay there.”

“Hm. A pity. On the next run, make sure she is the one that delivers the spice.”

“We aren't going to deliver the spice anymore. We're done with it.”

“What did you say?”

“I said we are done with the spice.”

“I am most displeased with this. Might I, Persuade you?”

Balto realized he was standing in the exact spot Luke Skywalker had stood just before he met his good friend, the Rancor. 'Ulp'

“Sorry Sala. WE ARE DONE.”

“Not if anything to say about it I have. Get him!”

Balto spun on his heels and made a quick dash for the exit. Being part wolf, he was larger and stronger than most of the species there. He was faster too but that was probably because he wasn't drunk and everyone else was.

As he ran thru the doorway he heard a blaster go off followed by Sala shouting about one of his collectibles being destroyed and that the Rancor was hungry. (He had gotten a new one since Jabba's had died)

He made it back to the 'Anchorage' without further incident. “We ready to take off?”

Jenna looked at him as he sat down and said “Yep. Oh, did you tell Sala about us not delivering spice anymore?”

“Yeah I told him.”

“And?”

“Be expecting one or two ametur bounty hunters coming after us.”

They rose up into Tatooine's atmosphere and thus escaped the bounty hunters that Sala could afford to send after them. Jenna punched in the coordinates for Coruscant. They had managed to buy an apartment on Coruscant. It wasn't the best but it was better than Ord Mantell.

As the ship launched into hyperspace, Jenna leaned back in her seat and sighed.

Balto asked “What's the matter?”

Jenna turned to him and said “Oh I just wish we could do something exciting like we did when we first met, running around the Galaxy, escaping the Empire and Boba Fett. Something like that.”

“Who knows? Something might pop up.”

“Ladies and Gentleman, may I please have your attention. Thank you. The reason for this meeting is to discuss a large scale colonization plan. The first, large scale operation conducted by the New Republic.” Mon Mothma sat down to a round of applause.

“What exactly is this operation supposed to be?” asked one of the Senators seated around the table.

Senator Leia Organa Solo spoke up. “Is it alright if I answer that question?” Mon Mothma nodded.

“We are planning to send an exploration/colonization fleet, out of the Galaxy.”

“What!? Are you out of your human mind!?” yelled Bothan Senator Borsk Fey'lya.

“It would be to find out if there is life outside of our Galaxy. Here is a diagram of our plan.”

Leia reached out and activated the holoprojector in the center of the table.. A holographic image of the Galaxy came to life. “We are planning on a fleet of around six ships equipped with an experimental hyperdrive to leave the Galaxy here” she pointed to a spot on the map “And we will have them approach the Sorsus Galaxy here. The trip will take close to one and a half months. We will have scientists, linguists to try and communicate with any life they might find, and some of the random population that would be willing to go.”

“I think we should do it” said Admiral Ackbar, the Mon Calamari Supreme Commander of the New Republic's armed forces.

“Am I the only one thinking rationally here?” mumbled Borsk.

Mon Mothma stood up. The room went silent.

“All of you in favor of this plan please raise your hand or appendage.”

Out of the 20 Senators around the table, only one didn't raise his hand.

“Fine” said Borsk. He stared vibro-blades at the other Senators.

“The motion is approved. Admiral Ackbar?”

“Yes Ma'am?”

“Please begin getting the word out and randomly determine which citizens will go.”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

“Grrr.”

Balto grumbled as the transmitter continued beeping. “Who would be calling now?” he wondered. “It better not be Muk or Luk wanting me to read them a story because they can't sleep.”

He reached over and hit the 'talk' button.

“Hello?”

“This is a pre-recorded message” it began. 'Oh no. Not a salesperson at this hour.'

The message continued “This is a very important message. The New Republic is putting together an expedition to travel outside of our Galaxy to search for life in the Sorsus Galaxy. You have been randomly selected to join this expedition if you so wish. If you wish to join, go to the Senate Building between 9 in the morning till 9 in the evening any day of the week. Thank you for your time. Message Ended.”

Balto was wide awake now. He sat on the couch for a minute or so, seeing if this was a dream or not. After pinching himself and found he was awake, he went back into the bedroom.

“Who was that?” asked Jenna who was half-asleep.

“Jenna, you know how you said you wanted to do something exciting?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Well I found out something we could do.”

“Could you tell me later? I want to go back to sleep.”

“Okay. It's just we got selected to join an expedition that is searching for life outside of our Galaxy.”

“Hm, that's ni... What?”

“We get to go outside of the Galaxy if we want.”

“You're kidding.”

“No I am not. Do you want to do it?”

“Does a Hutt have slime and are Devorians greedy?”

“Ha! I thought so. Now shut up and let me get some sleep.”

Jenna on the other hand was now too excited to sleep.

The next day Balto and Jenna arrived at the Senate Building. Only people who had gotten that recording were allowed inside. They walked up to one of the people and asked “What are we supposed to do?”

The Bith looked at them with his large, black, lidless eyes and said “Nothing really. There handing out little datapads about the mission and they tell you when the conference is going to be and when.”

“Conference?”

“Yeah. All of the people who decided to accept the invitation like you and me, get together and people like Mon Mothma and Senator Leia Organa Solo are going to explain to us what we are going to be doing.”

Around half an hour later Balto and Jenna got their datapads and made their way back home. Once they arrived, they immediately plugged in the data card. The fleet was going to consist of six ships equipped with an experimental hyperdrive engine. The fleet is going to consist of 2 Mon Calamari Star Cruisers, 1 Nebulan-B Frigate, and 3 Correlian Corvettes. In order to establish better relations with the Imperial Remnant, they are also sending six vessels consisting of 2 Imperial Star Destroyers, 1 Victory Star Destroyer, and 3 Inerdictor Cruisers. Hence, the New Republic is going to mainly be the colonizers and the Imperials are going to be the defense fleet.

“You know Jenna, I am going to say that I'm glad the Imperials are coming along. I feel safer.”

“Safer? May I remind you who won the war?”

“That was only because Palpatine was an idiot and overconfident in himself. If he would have been at least a little smarter, the Rebels would have been wiped out at Endor.”

“Well, lets not drag up a bunch of old hostilities. Do you think we'll find anything out there in another Galaxy?”

“I don't see why not. There are thousands of different species in this Galaxy. Why not another?”

The rest of the week zipped by. All in all there were around 25,000 randomly determined people who would be going on this mission. Balto and Jenna had convinced Boris, Muk, and Luk to come with them. They were assigned to the Nebulan-B frigate 'Nome'. Jenna was very happy because she was allowed to dock the 'Anchorage' to the docking clamp on the 'Nome' and was thus allowed to take the ship with her in a way.

Finally came launch day. “You ready?” Balto asked Jenna.

“Yeah. I'm ready for adventure!”

The fleet took off from the spacedock and within minutes activated their hyperdrive and went streaking toward the Sorsus Galaxy.

“This trip is SO BORING!” complained Jenna.

They had been traveling for almost three weeks and they were ALMOST half way there. So far nothing had happened.

“Well, going on this trip was your idea don't forget.”

Jenna glared at Balto.

“But I agree with you” said Balto. “It IS boring. Is there anything you want to do?”

“Like what Balto? We've already read all the books we brought along.”

“True.”

They stood at a viewport staring out into space. Boris walked up and asked “So what are you two doing?”

Balto looked over at Boris and said “Nothing. We're just staring in space. Literally.”

“Me, Muk, and Luk are getting a sabacc game together if you want to join.”

“Want to?”

Jenna thought about it for a second and said “Sure.”

They started following Boris when Balto turned back to the viewport.

“Hey, boychick. What's the hold up?”

“Guys, come here for a second.”

Jenna and Boris walked up. “What is it Balto?”

“Right there, over to the left a little. Do you see that?”

“See what?”

“It looks a little like an asteroid. Or, a gray blob.”

“Oh, I see it. Yeah I think it's just an asteroid.”

Boris asked “Which direction is it heading?”

“I can't tell. I think I'm going to go up to the bridge for just a second to see if they have it on the sensors. You can go ahead and play sabacc if you want. I should just be a few minutes.”

“Okay. Playing sabacc sounds like more fun than looking at an asteroid. Come on Boris.”

Balto watched them go for a second then turned and made his way to the bridge.

Jenna looked at her cards and then looked around the table. She was playing against Boris, Muk, Luk, a husky named Kaltag, and his two buddies Star and Nikki. This was the second hand and Jenna was starting to get bored already. Boris was too readable, Muk and Luk just argued with each other and barely played, Star and Nikki were the same. Only they didn't play. They just argued. And finally, Jenna was pretty sure Kaltag had joined the game because she was playing. 'Sometimes I really hate being pretty.'

Balto arrived at the bridge and walked up to the Captain of the ship. “Excuse me sir but, did you pick up an asteroid on your sensors about 5 minutes ago?”

“No we didn't. And how did you get on the bridge? Only officers are allowed up here.”

“Oh, I'm sorry. The doors were open so to speak and so I just walked in.”

“Hm. Well, you aren't supposed to be here so I must ask you to leave.”

“Yes sir. But I would suggest looking for that thing.”

“Why? Why should we be interested in an asteroid?”

“Well we are outside of our own Galaxy now. We don't know what might be out there.”

“Right. Now, would you please....”

“Sir” said one of the officers. A Sargent it looked like. “We are picking up something on the sensors. It has propulsion.”

“It's moving on it's own power?”

“Yes sir. It is a vessel of some kind. Neither we, nor the Imperials can recognize it.”

The Captain turned and looked at Balto. “What is your name?”

“Balto.”

“Do you have a ship that you brought along?”

“Yes. It's a Corellian Engineering YT-2400 freighter. Like what Dash Rendar had. It also has dual laser cannons on the top and bottom of the ship so we are capable of defending ourselves if nessicery.”

“Are you it's Captain?”

“No, my wife Jenna is.”

“Alright. How would you like to take a group of people out there to that thing?”

“I would be more than happy.”

“Good. By the power invested in me, as commander of this ship, I am making you and your wife lieutenants in the New Republic and making you commander of this flight.”

“We will leave immediately.”

“Good. I'm glad that the doors were open.”

Balto ran as fast as he could down to the bar where Jenna and Boris were playing sabacc.

“Say do you think I could take you out to dinner tonight?”

Jenna thought about rolling her eyes but didn't. She was getting very tired of Kaltag right now. She looked past him toward the entrance of the bar. She smiled when she saw Balto coming. “Oh, sorry Kaltag, but I'm afraid I can't.”

“Why not doll?”

She thought about hitting him right then. “Because my husband is coming.”

Kaltag turned around and saw Balto walking up. “Well you could have told me you were married sooner.”

“Nah. It's more fun this way.”

Balto walked up to Jenna and said “We need to go.”

This got Jenna by surprise. “Go? Go where?”

“The sensors picked up a vessel moving under it's own power. I was up in the bridge when they detected it. Since I was there already, the Captain chose us to go investigate it.”

“Balto, only people in the military are allowed to do stuff like that.”

“Look at this” Balto said showing her the badges of rank that he received. “We are now considered lieutenants in the army of the New Republic. But, we need to go now. That thing is moving fast.”

“Well let's go.”

They arrived at the docking port and met the people they would be transporting with them. Scientists and various diplomats and linguists. Jenna quickly got the engines warmed up and detached from the docking port. They followed the signal of the alien vessel for several minutes before finding the ship. At least they thought it was a ship. It looked more like a hunk of rock with black stripes. The thing was quite large. Almost the same size as an Imperial Star Destroyer. They cruised around the ship for a little bit, looking for a docking port.

“Hey Jenna, look down there along the side of the ship. It looks like red and blue, tentacles or something. I wonder what those are for.”

“If you ask me, this thing looks like it's alive. It's giving me the chills.”

“Turn on the transmitter and send a greeting in every language we know.”

“Alright.”

She hit the send button, and waited.

And waited...

And waited...

Finally Balto sighed and said “Either they can't answer us, they don't want to answer us, or they have no idea what it was we just said.”

“What do you expect? If there is sentient life in that thing they are probably a little nervous of us.”

“Ha! They have a ship the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer and we have a ship the size of a Star Destroyers cannon. What is there to be nervous of?”

“The unknown.”

“Deep.”

The passengers in the back were getting cranky.

“Come on! Is anything happening?”

“We should just go in!” shouted one of the Senators.

“No!” said an Ambassador “That would be horrible for diplomacy!”

“Yuck!” yelled another person “You're starting to sound like Princess Leia!”

“It's Senator Leia now you idiot!”

“Oh shut up!”

Jenna looked at Balto and said “Can we dump them on this thing? Please?”

“I don't think that would be good for diplomacy.”

After 45 minutes they decided to head back. After they had redocked, Balto made his way to the bridge. As he walked in the Captain looked up and said “Ah. Lieutenant Balto. How was your first mission?”

“Wheee.”

“Nothing huh?”

“Yep. I think we should follow it though. It could lead us to where it came from. I have a bad feeling about it though.”

“Following it does sound like a good idea. It's headed into the Sorsus Galaxy at the same point we are going to be entering. It's almost as if it knew where we're headed.”

Over the next few weeks, the vessel became a everyday view. Some people had started getting annoyed at having to look at a large hunk of rock all day. Balto was curious about the object. He would spend hours standing at a viewport looking at the ship thru a magnifier. And the more he looked, the more curious he became.

One day he was looking at it and noticed something very interesting. He called Jenna and asked her to meet him at their quarters. She showed up and asked “What is it? You said this was urgent.”

“I was looking at the ship thru a magnifier and saw something very interesting. I made a recording of it.”

Jenna looked at the screen and saw the vessel.

“Do you see it?”

Jenna looked up. “Do I see what?”

“Here. I'll magnify it.”

Balto reached over and pressed a couple of keys. A section of the vessel enlarged.

“Okay. Watch this section right here.”

Jenna watched... and saw what Balto was talking about.

“Did I just see that?”

Balto smiled. “Yes. You saw that.”

Jenna pressed the 'Rewind' button and watched it again. As she watched, a small asteroid was heading toward the ship and was about to hit it when, it vanished. Jenna watched it one more time and zoomed in as close as she could. The rock approached the ship and, with full magnification, the rock was pulled in another direction and disappeared. As if it fell in a hole.

“Balto, what do you think happened?”

“Well, I'm no expert, but it looked as if the ship created a gravitational anomaly and crushed the asteroid.”

“In Basic please?”

“The ship created an artificial black hole and destroyed the rock. It's like a shield for the ship.”

“Okay. 'Rock' and 'destroyed' are words I understand.”

Jenna was silent for a moment. “Do you think it's even possible to create something like that?”

“Oh definitely. I just saw it.”

“Seriously.”

“I don't know.”

At around 7:00 that night, Balto managed to convince the commander of both the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant to hold a conference regarding the discovery he had just made. All of the scientists met on board the Star Cruiser 'Discovery'.

The commander of the New Republic side was Admiral Morana Gile, a Mon Calamari. She stood up in front of the speaker stand that they had put up in the conference room. “Ladies and Gentleman. May I have your attention. The reason you were called here today is in regard to a discovery that Lieutenant Balto here made about the vessel that we are currently following. Mr. Balto, you have our attention.”

Balto stood up at the podium and said “You are going to have to excuse me. I'm not good at public talking. Anyway, down to business. I am not a scientist but I know that what you are about to see should not really be possible. The video please?”

He stood back as the lights dimmed and an image of the vessel appeared. He grabbed a little microphone and said “What you see here is obviously the ship we have been following. I was watching it one day and noticed this.”

He zoomed in on the certain section he had shown Jenna earlier that day. He froze the image for a second as the asteroid came into view. “I would ask you to focus your attention on this asteroid here.” He used a laser pointer to highlight the rock. He continued the video while following the rock with the pointer. He smiled when he heard a little gasp of surprise when the rock vanished.

“This is what I wish to bring to your attention.”

A scientist in the audience raised it's hand and said “That's it? A disappearing rock?”

Balto turned to the person and said “Ah, but it is more than a disappearing rock. Look at this.” He magnified the image as far as it would go. “Now again, watch very closely.” The asteroid was moving toward the ship when suddenly, it was pulled sharply to the left. He froze the image again just before the rock disappeared.

“Like I said before, I am not a scientist. But I know that ships are generally not able to generate black holes and use them as a shield generator.”

He smiled to himself as he heard the quiet whispering as they talked among themselves. “Thank you for your time” he said. “This is all I wished to say.” As he was walking toward the door, an announcement came in over the speakers. “This is the Captain speaking. I just thought that everyone would like to know that we are now the first ones to enter a new galaxy.” A large cheer went up thru the ship.

Everyone was excited the next day. The whole day was one big party. There were drinks and food thru the whole fleet. Balto wasn't interested in that though. He continued to stare at the alien ship. Another thing that he had noticed about it was that the black stripes on the ship had been getting larger. He had magnified on these areas and noticed that this black stuff would ooze up onto the surface of the ship and would then harden. He guessed it was a sort of armor for the ship like metal plating was for Empire or the New Republic.

The question was, why did the ship think it needed more protection?

“Would you care for a drink sir?”

Balto turned to look at the droid who was holding the drink. “No thank you.”

As the droid rolled away he turned back to look at the ship. He didn't think this thing was going to be nice.

Four days later, they discovered their first planet. And it was deader than a Bantha in a krayt dragons belly. Just looking at it from space made one go into a depression. It was literally, a black, burned planet. They had sent down several probes and had found some very disturbing things. The planet had been inhabited. And it appeared that the people who had populated it had destroyed it.

“Hey Balto, did you hear the news?”

“And what news would that be Boris?”

“The New Republic ships want to break off momentarily from the Imperial ones.”

“Why?”

“Oh, something to do with who gets credit for which discovery. So, the Republic gets one side of the planet, and the Empire gets the other side.”

“Geez. What a bunch of glory hungry idiots.”

It was agreed. The fleet would split up. The Empire would take the left side and the Republic would take the right. They had wanted to follow the alien vessel and it happened to be going to the right side. They would meet up tomorrow.

“Okay. NOW this trip is getting exciting!”

Balto just sighed and looked at Jenna. “You call this exciting?”

“Yeah! We're exploring a new world! Oh I just wish I could have a bigger part in it.”

Balto thought of an idea. “What about if we took the 'Anchorage' ahead of the fleet? You know, just kind of scouting ahead?”

Jenna's eyes lit up. “Yeah! Let's do that!”

“We ready?”

“Yep” said Jenna. “Engines all warmed up.”

“Then lets go.”

They rocketed ahead of the fleet and, after having gone several kilometers ahead, slowed down a little bit.

“Anything on sensors?”

“No. Not yet” said Jenna, disappointed.

“Hey, it's okay” said Balto “We'll find something. Ah, right here. Oh, wait a minute it's just another asteroid.”

Admiral Morana Gile was standing on the bridge when one of the officers spoke up and said “Admiral. We just had an asteroid impact.”

Morana looked up in surprise. “Anything serious?”

“Oh no. Just a little scratch to the paint you could say.”

“Why weren't our shields up?”

“Now that you mention it, that is odd. I'll put them up immediately.”

The 'Anchorage' had flown out of sight of the fleet when Balto asked Jenna to stop the ship for a second.

She killed the engines and asked “What is it?”

Balto pointed out the cockpit window. “Right there. Do you see that?”

“Um, no.”

“We are going to have to get your eyes checked. You can't see anything.”

“I can see that! Hold on!”

Jenna quickly kicked the engines back online and sent the ship in a spin. Balto looked out and saw what appeared to be a flaming hunk of rock fly by.

“What was that!?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Balto looked outside again. And his fur lost some color.

“Jenna, get us back to the fleet. Now. We have company and I don't think they're friendly.” He pointed.

Jenna saw a nightmare come true. A huge fleet of ships had dropped out of hyperspace. Jenna noticed that they were the same type of ships as the one they had found earlier. “Yeah. We are in deep crap.”

As one, the fleet opened fire.

Admiral Morana Gile was walking back to her quarters when a security guard stumbled into her. “Soldier, watch where you are...” She then noticed he was bleeding. And missing most of one arm. “Run” he whispered.

Morana looked up when a loud crash came from where the guard had just come from. She started to turn to go the other way when a strong hand grabbed her. She turned around and found herself face to face with the most hideous and terrifying face she could imagine.

It spoke in a loud voice “Your galaxy will fall before us! For we are the Yuuzhan Vong!”

Morana managed to muster enough courage to say “Think again mister. You don't know anything about our galaxy.”

“You foolish Mon Calamarian. We know more about your galaxy than you could ever hope to.”

That was the last thing she ever heard.

Balto was panicked. 'Let's see things to be panicked about. One, a huge, mean fleet of E.T's show up and start shooting. Check. Our fleet is under attack by several alien warships. And losing. Check.'

“How do you think they knew we were going to be here!?”

Balto was wondering about that himself. Then it dawned on him. “The ship! The one we were following! It LED us here! It was a trap! Crap!”

“What should we do?”

“The Empire! Quick, let's get to them before these things do!”

Jenna turned the ship around and blasted off in the direction of the Imperials.

Captain Jerrod Insk stood on the bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer 'Revenge' waiting for the probe droids sent to the surface to send back their data. “Captain. Our sensors have picked up a vessel moving towards us.”

“Raise shields and establish a communication link.”

“Ready sir.”

“Unknown vessel. This is Captain Insk of the Imperial Star Destroyer 'Revenge'. Respond.”

There was a bit of static in the reply but he heard it anyway. “This is Lieutenant Balto of the New Republic vessel 'Nome'!”

“What are you doing so far from your side of the fleet Lieutenant?”

“Our side of the fleet is under attack! We came to warn you! There is a massive, and I mean massive, alien fleet on the other side of the planet. We have to get back to our Galaxy now!”

“You are under attack? Dock your ship and come to the command bridge immediately. We have to go help.”

“I hate to say this Captain but, there is no saving the fleet. It's doomed.”

“All right. We will leave the instant you dock.”

Jenna had never docked a ship so fast in her life. Nor had she ran so fast. She, Balto, Boris, Muk, and Luk, had gotten from the docking bay to the command tower in 5 minutes.

They had a quick meeting with Captain Insk about what they should do.

“You two are the only ones who have the slightest idea as to the military capacity of these ships. As such, I am making you both, effective immediately, Majors in the Imperial Navy. You will be given command of a group of soldiers that you will train to fight these things.”

“Um, is that a good idea? We only saw what the things look like and how they moved. We haven't even seen what the people who run the things look like.”

“You do know how their defense system works. A little knowledge is better than none at all. Dismissed.”

As they walked to the quarters assigned to them Balto said “Interesting day huh? First we're made Lieutenants, then we get attacked by an alien fleet, then we're promoted to Majors in the Imperial Navy and assigned to teach a group of soldiers how to fight an enemy we know nothing about. All in one day! And you thought this trip would be boring.”

“If I knew you talked this much, I probably would not have married you.”

“Oh sure you would have. By the way...”

Jenna put her head in her hands. 'I give up' she thought to herself.

The voyage home was uneventful. When they arrived in their own galaxy though that was not the case. As the Imperial fleet arrived in the galaxy, they picked up the Holonet news. And as always, there was no good news.

“Oh hey Balto. Captain Insk wants to talk to us. Says it's important.”

They quickly made their way to the command bridge where Insk was waiting for them. “Follow me” he said.

They walked into his private room on the bridge.

“What is it Captain?”

“It appears that the alien fleet we ran into in the Sorsus Galaxy was a reserve force. Those alien scum, have beaten us here. Endor, Ithor, Kasyyyk, and dozens of other planets are now under the control of an alien species who call themselves the 'Yuuzhan Vong'. And they don't only control Ithor, they destroyed it.”

Balto could not believe what he was hearing. “And you said that fleet we ran into, was a reserve force? That fleet alone looked big enough to take on the original Imperial Navy.”

Insk looked at them gloomily. “That, my friends, is why we are losing.”

(End of Episode II)

(Preview for Episode III)

“Okay Balto, what are we going to do now? Most of our command is gone, and we are running low on fuel and ammunition.”

Balto sat down and thought for a minute. He sighed.

“I don't know Jenna. The Yuuzahn Vong have won almost every battle so far. I don't know if we CAN stop them.”

“The one time we really need Jedi and they aren't here. At least in large numbers. If Luke Skywalker and his Academy hadn't been here...” It was Jenna's turn to sigh.

An idea suddenly popped in Balto's head. “Yeah. A Jedi.”

He stood up quickly and said “Come on Jenna! I have an idea!”

“What now?”

“I think it's time to go see an old friend.”