The following 2 chapters will be longer, and dedicated to "planet-side" Balto, to tie together Jenna and Balto's connection. We shall join Balto in space on chapter 12, for there are still more dangers that nobody could have predicted for the first dog to go to space. Don't get confused by the new character, Kevin. He's just a useless rookie that I gave a name so I could refer to him as a name, he does nothing important and is a useless character… OR IS HE?

Spring, 1957, stranger.

Kevin stood his post on top of a building, a flat hard surface with only a weak plastic chair to sit on. There was a spot for him to be out of the sun, known as the sniper's box, but he rarely ever used it. His rifle was an early form of today's modern snipers and he used it to keep watch for intruders, like Balto currently was...

Kevin looked down his scope one more time at the body that lies outside of the gate. It was the same wolf from earlier, but now he was... Sleeping?

He sighed and whistled quickly to signal his partner. She came running, but not on two, shoe covered feet, no, she came running on four paws, responding to her masters' call.

"Come on girl, let's go investigate." Kevin said with a sigh to Jenna.

She was not his dog, but was a highly trained canine officer assigned to help with his post. This was due for two reasons: The soviets did not expect anything to happen anyway, and only put four guard posts for the entire base. The second reason was more of their own little test. Jenna was not only highly trained, she is "altered".

After the Second World War, the soviets let free German POW's. Some just decided to stay and work for the soviet space program, like Van Braun did for the Americans.

Jenna was altered mentally and physically. Very minor on the outside, but internally, she can be programmed like a computer, her amazing brain that can pick up on cues much quicker than the average dog makes her easy to train. Physically, increased hormones and ATP receptors mean that she can run for hours without feeling fatigued, or deal with 100 degree heat for long periods of time without a problem. Her bones also absorb much more calcium, as a result, her bone density is almost 40% the average dog, and she also requires a bowl of milk every now and then.

She barked in response as Kevin turned on his radio.

"Base, station 4, going to investigate "gold" outside the wall."

Gold was an old mining reference, to the town of which the base got its name from. Baikonur. The mining town heavily dealt with Zinc deposits, but every once and a while miners would yell "GOLD", which never meant actual gold, it simply meant that there was something other than Zinc that needed to be looked at by a professional. Nearly 10% of the towns mining income comes from minerals other than Zinc now, because of that simple code.

"Heh, rookie, you don't really need to use those codes. You're one of only five people on this channel! But, noted, signal if you need help." The security operator replied.

He flipped his radio off in slight annoyance, taking the operators words as a joke. Jenna barked and walked ahead of him, not requiring a leash like she normally would have needed.

By the time they were outside of the gate, Balto was nearly burnt to a crisp, though luckily, not literally. Jenna quickly ran ahead and sniffed at the body, and instantly began to try and shield Balto from the unforgiving sun above.

Kevin took one good look around, the never-ending flat dusty desert that Baikonur was situated, spanned many miles and the Cosmodrome was smack in the middle of it. Where did this guy come from?

"Huh, looks like the heat got to him. He looks more like a husky than I thought. What on earth is he doing in a desert?" He wondered, speaking aloud to Jenna, who, with her advanced brain capacity, probably understood him better than any dog in the world would have right now.

"I'll take him inside, make sure he's alive, and then contact base. Knowing them, they'd probably just tell me to kill the poor thing..."

Jenna barked in happiness as she nudged at Balto's lifeless form. She pulled Balto's neck a bit, seemingly trying to help him lift Balto up as he took one last break with his words.

"Ohhhwww…My son… Few miles north… Please… My son… My…" Balto stammered out without opening his eyes. Jenna could only imagine, but Balto only cared that Kodi was safe, if it meant leaving him here to find Kodi, he'd allow it.

Jenna got the message; she barked around Kevin as he picked up the 60 pound wolfdog and began to walk back to the gate opening. Balto did not react at all to the loud creaky metallic sound of the gate shutting, as he didn't care to lock it back up right now, which was a huge security flaw that would most likely earn him a lecture from the operator if he caught wind of this.

He brought Balto inside the storage building, one of many perfectly square shaped buildings that only hosted a single rectangular window above the metal-framed door. Everything had a lock, so Kevin had to get his keys out while still holding onto the heavy wolfdog, something that proved harder than he thought. As soon as he was ready to celebrate finally choosing the right key, Balto's rear-half slipped his hands and once again, the unconscious dog fell to the ground with a thud.

"Oh crap, oops?" Kevin awkwardly said towards Jenna, who stared him down in disbelief.

"Did you really just drop an unconscious dog again…" Jenna thought, wishing she could better express her annoyance towards Kevin.

This time, Kevin decided to get the door open before picking Balto up, at least here was in the shade, covered by the shadow of the building, and the floor beneath him was pretty cool.

As he shuffled through a keychain that held at least 20 keys on a single loop, Jenna further examined the grey wolfdog. He seemed… Peaceful. Nice. like he couldn't hurt a fly. That was better established by the fact that he had no scars, meaning he never got into fights. His body was perfect, and he seemed pretty athletic and agile for his size, as if he were forced to learn to outrun something, and jump ontop of buildings to get around. Jenna looked more at his face; it involuntarily made her blush because he was just too cute for her to believe.

"Oh man, where have you been all my life?" Jenna couldn't dismay the thought.

She was all but collapsing under the sudden weight, this random wolfdog that popped up on a boring day; happen to be something that apparently matched her physically and mentally. Hell, she would have called it love at first sight if she could think straight at the moment.

Kevin broke her trance as he expressed happiness at finding the right key with a loud "Aha!". He gently scooped the wolfdog up into his arms and all three entered a cold, air-conditioned room. Kevin kept this room cold for him and Jenna to cool down during breaks, and he also kept a TV in here for… Work.

"Ah, there we go. Let's just set you down on the table… Sorry there isn't something softer to lie down on." He explained, and once again, wondered who he was talking to, then looked at Jenna. She barked in response, making him wonder if he was going crazy.

Jenna was happy that the wolfdog could finally cool down and hopefully recover, but she remembered his words… They were desperate, like he would give his life to save his son, and by extension, Jenna was going to make sure she found whoever the guy was referring too.

Luckily, communication was not much of a problem for Jenna and Kevin. A simple short howl, then bark was all Kevin needed to understand that she wanted him to follow her.

Kevin sighed and stood up, threw his rifle over his shoulders and followed Jenna outside, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Ugh, what is it girl… I don't want command finding the little guy before he wakes up; they might kill him on the spot!" Kevin replied.

Jenna more or less ignored his words, and ran to the unlocked gate door, nudging it open with her muzzle, then ran off quickly to the North.

Once again, Kevin sighed in mock annoyance, and grabbed his keys. He walked over to the truck parked just outside of the fence, and hopped in. After starting the truck, and getting it into the right gear, he drove off, and quickly caught up with Jenna.

"Jenna, hop in girl, I see you're heading North. What'cha find?" He asked.

Jenna looked at him and jumped into the passenger side of the truck that was going about 5 miles per hour at this point. She eagerly stuck her head out of the right-side, door less opening and used her enhanced vision and sense of smell to pinpoint Kodi and Boris's location. She barked to Kevin to signal where he should drive to, and luckily, he understood her commands.

Within minutes, Kevin caught sight of the two, another downed wolf, and… A Russian Snow Goose fanning him? He had to rub his eyes to make sure he didn't go crazy.

Jenna barked as he slowed the truck to a stop.

Boris stared Kevin down, and Kevin did the same. He examined the wolf and quickly connected that he was most likely related to the other wolf he took in. He and Jenna jumped out and walked over to the two, while Boris did not lose his ground, and was determined to stay with Kodi.

"Stay back!" Boris yelled at Jenna.

Jenna barked at Kevin, signaling him not to move forward.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you. In fact, we're here to help, and by the looks of it, I think your friend here could benefit from it." Jenna quickly and expertly announced to the goose.

Boris was good at reading intentions, and almost instantly, he recognized the genuine concern in her voice. She meant no harm.

"Okay… But I am warning you!"

"Don't worry. Was there another of your group? Another wolf or husky, or mix?" Jenna tried her best at flushing the images of the wolfdog she probably loved out of her mind.

"Yes… My son, Balto. Is he okay? Did… Did you capture him? Are you going to kill him? And do the same with us!? I won't let it happen you-"

"Calm down goose… He is safe and sound in a cool building. He's succumbed to Heat-Exhaustion, and so has this little guy too. If we don't cool him down soon, his brain will shut down, and he will go into cardiac arrest."

Boris looked down at Kodi again, wondering if he was dead, then looked back up at Jenna.

"Okay… I'll help bring him to the truck."

"No need." Jenna replied.

With a bark, she ran over to Kodi and gently nudged his form with her muzzle, and Kevin got this message. He walked over and scooped Kodi up like he did with Balto, and walked him back to the truck.

Boris quickly flew back to Kodi's side, continuing to fan him in attempts to cool him off.

"So while we head back, who are you guys?" Jenna asked.

Boris hesitated, but once again detected the caring in Jenna's voice, picking up on the tiniest of gestures.

"We are from Creznov. And we are all family." Boris explained quick and detail-strict.

"You're a goose! No way you are related to wolves?"

"Well, the term adoptive father fits better."

"Oh, you've adopted this little guy?"

"It's... A bit more complicated." Boris said as he put his wing up to his beak.

"That other wolf dog, his name is Balto and-"

"Balto..." Jenna registered that name with a certain wolfdog back at the base, one she could not stop thinking about. She absentmindedly looked beyond Boris, who was still talking, and snapped back before she missed something important.

"-and he was all alone! I took him to an abandoned trawler and raised him as my own, for I did love the little tyke."

"You and I both..." Jenna muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." She replied quickly as she looked away.

"Okay... And continuing, this here is Kodi." Boris said with a gesture towards the unconscious wolf in the front seat. "He is the son of Balto's niece, but his father ran off before he was even born. Balto is pretty much his father, and he even calls Kodi his son."

"Wow, and he's caring and accepting of a child that isn't even his!" Jenna thought.

"So all in all, we are one weird, jumbled up line of adoptive fathers! Both of which, are much too old for this..." Boris said as he stood and stretched, creating audible cracks in his back.

"I think it's cute, and heartwarming to see that you and Balto are such caring and selfless of a child that wasn't your problem to begin with."

"Ha! Selfless, you ain't heard nothing until you hear about Balto's selflessness!" Boris said with his wing still under his beak.

"Oh, do go on. We're still a few miles out. And I'm interested in hearing about Balto."

Boris was a very wise goose, he knew what love was, he knew how to detect it, and boy was this dog spewing out love signals all over the place.

"Heheh, Balto you've got yourself an admirer." Pros thought with a smile, not caring that Jenna saw.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"So tell me!"

"Okay okay. Well, it shouldn't be hard to believe. I raised him after all" Boris chuckled.

"It was a few years back, Balto was only about a year old, and he was on his first ever hunt!"

The next five minutes were spent by Boris happily recalling the events that made him know he raised the kid right. It was from that point that Boris never doubted Balto's selflessness, like if he were to be the town's only hope, say the children of a town came down with a virus, he would save them if it meant death to himself as long as he brought back the antidote.

(Teehee! Original Universe reference:)

Jenna was locked onto every syllable that came from the goose's beak. She was very interested in this story, and quite frankly, she rarely ever encountered other dogs after she stopped training with them over a year ago. Balto was like an angel, perfect for her in every aspect. She learned that he even shared her adventurous spirit after Boris explained how he so wanted to go into space himself.

But he left out anything to do with Laika, already preparing a cover story for if Jenna asked about Kodi's mother.

"So what about Kodi's mother?"

"Damn..." Boris thought.

"Oh... That is... I don't want to talk-"

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to bring it up. Once again, I greatly admire both you and Balto for taking care of this little pup. He doesn't look much older than a few months... About the same age I was separated from my parents..." Jenna finished off.

Boris sighed and placed a wing around Jenna.

"I know how it is. And that is why I didn't want Balto to ever feel abandoned. And Balto wanted to make sure Kodi didn't feel the same way. Such is life..." Boris said as he patted Jenna's back.

Kevin was more or less ignoring Jenna and the goose and thought about what he had to do next. He couldn't keep them in the storage room forever, and it'd be nearly impossible to take then off of the property right now without gaining suspicion. He was probably already going to be yelled at for leaving his post so long. Still, he felt the need to help these animals, since that was what he always wanted to do, be a veterinarian. Unfortunately his father sought otherwise.

The compound was in sight, and the huge dust cloud that the truck shot out behind it was met with a dust cloud as the truck came to a stop before the outside gate. As soon as he turned the truck off, Jenna and Boris jumped out. Kevin picked up Kodi and brought him to the gate, this time successfully gaining his access keys and opening the care, and sharing similar success with the storage room door. He gently placed Kodi down beside Balto and closed the door behind him. Fanning himself off for a few minutes before returning outside.

"You stay here girl, maybe they will feel more comfortable if a dog was talking to them rather than a human with a gun haha" Kevin pat Jenna on the head once and then slipped out of the door, locking it again.

"Well then, Boris. Looks like we've got time to kill. Anything else you'd like to share?" Jenna genuinely asked and lay down on her front paws, interested in hearing more stories, more-so about the larger wolfdog on the table above.

"Oh boy do I have stories. And I'm assuming its of Balto you'd like to hear more about?" Boris said with an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, what do you mean by that?"

"Look, I'm goose, not a rock. I can see it in your eyes every time I say Balto. Balto, Balto, Balto, Bal-"

Boris was cut off by Jenna sprinting to him like lightning and shoving a paw over his beak.

"Shut it goose!" Jenna said.

She instantly retracted herself and lay down in apology.

"I'm... Sorry. This is new to me, and you reading me doesn't help..." Jenna replied to the goose like she was a tiny pup. When in reality, she was just a few years younger than Balto.

"I know how you feel. Well, I won't hold out anymore. Perhaps you'd like to know the real reason we are all here today?" Boris teased. Jenna nodded quickly with a smile, loving any story Boris would tell.

Boris slowly moved his beak to Jenna, putting a wing over the left side, even though nobody was around to hear it.

"Balto is here to help Laika!" Boris said quietly.

"What? You mean the spacedog their training? Why would he need to help her?"

"Laika is Balto's niece, and Kodi's mother."

"Uh..."

"Like I said, balto is not his real father."

"Weird indeed... So Laika and Balto are..." Jenna instantly wished she could retract her stupid assumption… Uncle and Niece pairing up to have Kodi… How stupid jealousy made her think sometimes.

"Balto is her uncle, no more, no less. But he did raise Kodi like he was own son. I am so proud of him..."

Boris looked over at the sleeping balto with a prideful smile.

"Oh... Just when I thought he wasn't perfect..." Jenna thought with a flirtatious smile.

Katja and Fredrik.

(Quick Katja and Fredrik update just to tie things up.)

Katja and Fredrik were driving in his truck down a long dusty road from the base to Baikonur. A town, from which the compound got its name, was actually nearly 40 miles northeast of it. Luckily, Marci's message got through; she had leased a temporary place for the three to live in while Fredrik completed his mission. They would be here until Laika is sent into space at the end of the year.

"Ah, it was really nice to see Laika again... It really was. I don't know how much I missed her."

"Yeah… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared for her going into space..."

"So that's it then? She's really going to space?"

"Yep. She has been chosen for her neutral temperament and loyalty." Fredrik mocked the scientist in charge with a German type accent.

Katja laughed a bit at his mock accent, but she was still saddened by the news.

"That also happened to be why I loved her..." She said with a sigh.

"We really did a great job raising her... Didn't we?" Fredrik said.

"Yeah... We did." Katja smiled at him.

Fredrik sighed and made a few manly grunts, obviously pushing away any tears. Katja caught into this and decided to change the subject, for I would just sadden her further too.

"Me and Marci aren't the only ones who came along to Baikonur."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I brought Balto and Laika's son."

"Balto? Why would you bring him?"

"Wasn't my decision. Me and Marci came out to the truck and he, Laika's son and a goose were in the back.

"A goose?"

"Anyway, I think they knew we were going to see Laika. She is their family after-all... I couldn't deny them, I missed Laika the same."

Fredrick stayed quiet, and so did Katja. No doubt thinking the same things, feeling the same way... Missing the same dog already. Katja looked out the window at what she thought was a goose in the sky as it circled high above. Marking it as most likely a vulture, she instantly began to think about what poor thing died and was simply food for scavengers at this point. It reminded her of Laika, oddly enough. She knew that Laika would die up there. Not because of what the scientists told her, but she knew something would go wrong.

She looked over many miles west of the road and saw what she believed was a dog... No, a wolf... No. She thought she saw Balto, running full speed back the way they came from, back towards the base. She closed her eyes and rubbed them, not believing what she saw, and looked one more time. He was gone.

"After you left that night Balto came over... He was looking for Laika, but she was gone. I couldn't understand him, but I knew we felt the same way. Both of us missed Laika already. I let him stay the night... He slept in Laika's room... He slept in Laika's bed..."

Fredrik kept his eyes ahead, trying not to pry on sad thoughts.

"Balto's a good dog. Just because he's part wolf does not mean a damn thing. We both know Laika also shared that half..." Katja continued.

"It was about 4 AM... I woke to him making noise in the other room; turns out he was still trying to sniff out Laika. I grabbed a smoke and joined him looking out the window and he showed me what a wolf was capable of. He howled... Howled into the night... Not giving care to anything else but that moment... That song... That beautiful song that was tainted with despair and longing for Laika."

"Wow... You should write poetry." Fredrik joked, and Katja smiled and turned to him just in time to see him wipe, what he would always deny, a tear from his eyes.

"Yeah, well... I suppose we could take him in. And that other little guy that everyone resents. Laika's little boy that nobody wanted." Fredrik said.

"Kodiak" Katja said, not exactly sure where she got the name from.

Katja took time to organize her thoughts. She seemed to think a lot, because by the time she decided to speak, they were already entering the town of Baikonur.

It was a small settlement, tiny, at the time, it was only used to station miners and their families as amazingly rich Zinc-reserves were discovered not too far away. But now it was being upgraded, becoming the host now for cosmonauts and their families as well as scientists, trainers, mechanics, engineers, even janitors all who worked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. They pulled up on a traffic-less street that led right in between two identical flats built for cheap housing. Luckily Marci wasn't going to choose such a place for them live. They both cringed up at the sight of the poorer housing, not out of ignorance or insensitivity, but out of experience. The couple had struggled a great value in their earlier years, back after the war when they met, a 1 bedroom apartment was way out of the question, and they had to live with another family in a cramped, electricity-less room with one bathroom.

"Marci got us a good house." Katja said quickly before their past was brought up.

"Good, good..." Fredrik said.

After a while of navigating the roads, they soon started to enter an obviously better part of town, and a light blue house stood out above the rest, as it was the only one that had a second story above the rest. Marci's truck was parked out in the driveway, signaling that they've reached the correct house.

"Ah, there we are. Nice, hopefully air-conditioned house. I'd much love to come back here after work than drive 1200 miles north." Fredrik said with a laugh.

They pulled up in the driveway and Marci caught their sounds before the truck even stopped, and ran outside to meet them.

"Welcome to your new home!" Marci yelled into the closed window.

"It's only temporary Marci!" She said as soon as they got out of the truck.

Fredrik smiled and shook her hand, thanking her for bringing Katja, and the three walked inside, both women eager to hear what cool and amazing works Fredrik was up to at the Cosmodrome, and bombarded him with questions before they even reached the door, to which he was annoyed, but happily answered them all, even what would have been classified, it didn't matter to him. Meanwhile, another guy was being questioned back at the base.

Balto, 1957, still gets nightmares, huh?

I felt this… Burning sensation all over my body, like my very fur was being heated to the point where I melted skin. It felt... Dulled... Like I was not suffering anywhere near as much as I should have. I finally paid attention to my surroundings... I was, yet again, trapped in some metallic sphere that was being torn apart from the outside, like a monster was trying to get to me but I was protected by something. And that metallic casing was not going to survive. I screamed before the last metal panel broke free, screaming and praying that I wouldn't die, that I'd get the chance to speak to my family again.

Everything froze. But I kept muttering... "Please let me live... I want to live... I want to live..." I repeated hundreds of times without opening my eyes. When I did, I looked at who was staring at me... It was a red and white dog... Maybe a husky mix or something. She was beautiful... Perfect... Like an angel in disguise. She spoke, but I could not hear her. Maybe I did, I don't know, but all that mattered was that I watched her perfect movements, each slight movement of her face as she expressed... Worry?

Before I even acknowledged her presence she disappeared and the metallic panel that was keeping me alive exploded and melted. For the tiniest period of time, the world was in view, I was maybe 10 miles in the atmosphere, colliding with the trillions of atoms the worked to slow me down, but fast enough to burn me to a crisp. This moment disappeared quickly, and all that I could see next was... Nothing. But through the darkness... I heard something... A voice…

"That's why I hate war..."

^This bothers me... It's supposed to be aligned to the right to give it a little more unique feeling... But apparently this site does not like right aligned text for some idiotic reason...