"Jedi are selfless. We exist only to serve our fellow beings, to offer our love and support to them when they need it most. We must treat even the most distant stranger as a dear friend: after all, each and every person in the galaxy deserves to live and to be free." - Ayuuri Zorneth, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

Gerard was sketching again, and as Frank carefully landed the Black Mariah in a shipyard on Alderaan, he couldn't help but daydream about whatever he was working on. As soon as the TIE fighter was on the ground, he looked toward Gerard and asked, "What are you drawing?"

"Just another comic," he said.

"That's cool," Frank said. "Are you ready to get some coffee?"

"Give me one more minute," Gerard said as his pencil moved across the page, frantically writing lines of dialogue. Meanwhile, Mikey looked out the window, exasperated.

"Hey guys, is it okay if I stay behind?" Mikey said.

"Yeah, that's fine," Frank said. He smiled, thinking that he might finally get some alone time with Gerard.

"Absolutely not," Gerard said. "We need to make sure that you're safe."

"I'll be fine," Mikey said.

"No, you won't!"

"I'll be safer than I would be with Fun Ghoul around."

"Don't you dare insult Frank! He's been nothing but nice to us!"

"Gerard, come on," Frank said. "Let your brother make some choices for himself."

"He's going to get himself killed," Gerard argued.

"I think he'll be okay, but I'll lock the ship just in case," Frank said. "Would that make you feel better?"

Gerard sighed and said, "I guess so."

Mikey smiled slightly as Frank and Gerard climbed out of the Black Mariah. Frank, as promised, locked the door, and before long, he and Gerard were walking down the street toward his favorite coffee shop. At last, they were alone together.

Frank looked around, admiring the river running through town and the majestic mountaintops in the distance. "They call this the Planet of Beauty, you know," he said to Gerard.

"I'm beginning to see why," Gerard said. "I'd stop to draw all of this, but I don't think I could do it justice."

"I think you could. You're a pretty amazing artist."

Gerard laughed and said, "I'm not that good."

Frank smiled, wondering how he'd found such a sweet, talented, and adorable guy. For a moment, he wished that he didn't have to drop him off of Ilum. He wished that he could travel the galaxy with him forever, but he knew it could never happen. It didn't matter how they felt about each other when they were on such different paths in life. Frank was lucky to have met him in the first place.

"So where's this coffee shop you've been talking about?" Gerard asked.

"It's up ahead," Frank said. "Follow me."

Frank headed through town, going down every back alley until he reached the darkest part of the city. Of course, the underbelly of Alderaan was nicer than the upscale neighborhoods on most planets, but Gerard still seemed on edge.

They walked past a row of brightly colored wanted posters, listing bounties for criminals and asking for information on the whereabouts of missing children from across the galaxy. Gerard's eyes went wide when he spotted one that had a picture of him and Mikey on it.

"Is everything okay?" Frank asked when he saw the expression on Gerard's face.

"I designed those posters," he said. "And now they've made one for me."

"Did you make the Fun Ghoul poster too?" Frank asked. He pointed to his poster, advertising a million credit reward for anyone who could bring him to the Emperor, dead or alive.

"Yeah, I did," Gerard admitted.

"No wonder they haven't caught me yet," Frank said, looking at Gerard's drawing of a tall, brutish-looking man in a yellow jacket.

Gerard laughed and said, "I didn't know you were so handsome!"

Frank blushed. "Let's just go to the coffee shop," he said. He continued walking down the street, and Gerard followed him. Eventually, they came to a small, nondescript shop, and Frank ducked inside. It was dimly lit and filled with all kinds of strange aliens and shifty-looking humans. Gerard had a nervous expression on his face as the two of them approached the counter.

"Trust me, this place has the best coffee in the whole galaxy," Frank said. He turned to the barista and said, "Two coffees, please."

"Can I get a name for the order?" she said.

"Fred and Gerard," Frank said.

"Fred?" Gerard said. "That's not your..."

Frank elbowed him, and thankfully, he took the hint. "Great," the barista said as Frank pressed a small stack of credit chips into her hand. "I'll have your order for you in just a minute."

Frank and Gerard waited around for a little while, but before long, the barista had their coffee. Frank took a sip, enjoying the creamy, delicious taste.

"Oh, wow," Gerard said after he'd taken his first sip. "This really is the best coffee I've ever had. Thanks, Frank."

"You're welcome," Frank said as Gerard downed the rest of his coffee and then rushed back in line to order another one. He soon returned to the table and drank his second coffee almost as quickly as the first.

"Hey, they misspelled my name," Gerard said as he glanced at his cup.

"How'd they misspell it?" Frank asked. "Gerard" didn't seem like too hard of a name to him. He didn't know how the barista could possibly mess it up.

"J-U-R-A-R-R-D," Gerard said.

"That's...almost impressive," Frank said.

"Whatever. Their coffee's really good," Gerard said. "I'm going to go get some more."

Gerard got up to buy more coffee, and Frank watched him as he got back in line. He stared into his hazel eyes and he almost melted when he saw Gerard smiling back at him, but Frank was sure that this was more than just physical attraction. For a moment, he wondered if he should tell Gerard how he felt. He deserved to know, but it wouldn't be worth it. The two of them would probably never have another moment like this before they had to go their separate ways. They were just ships passing in the night.

While Gerard waited for his third coffee, the door to the coffee shop swung open, and two stormtroopers walked in. Frank lay low, pretending to be deeply interested in his cup of coffee and his copy of the Alderaanian Times, but it didn't seem like the stormtroopers were here for him. They headed toward another table on the other end of the shop, where there was a man with long, curly hair sitting there and enjoying his coffee. He didn't look much older than Frank.

Gerard came back to the table, clutching his cup of coffee. "Frank, are you okay?" he whispered. "You look a little nervous."

"There are stormtroopers here," he said.

"So?" Gerard said. "They won't hurt us."

"They won't hurt you," Frank corrected him.

He still remembered the skirmish at the Imperial Vault, how the stormtroopers there had shot down his associate. For all he knew, they were here on Alderaan to find him and finish what they'd started. Frank returned to his newspaper, but he still kept an eye on the stormtroopers at the other end of the shop.

"Your serial number, please," one of the stormtroopers said to the man with the curly hair.

"Ray," the man said.

"Not your name," the stormtrooper said. "Your number."

Ray sighed and said, "RA42660."

"Just as I suspected," the other stormtrooper said. "He's a defector."

The first stormtrooper pointed a blaster at Ray. "Come with us," he said.

"What will you do to me?" Ray asked.

"We're taking you back to the Imperial Army," the second stormtrooper said. "Where you belong."

Frank took his blaster out of his holster and carefully aimed at the first stormtrooper. If he was lucky, he could take out both of the soldiers before anyone noticed him, allowing Ray to get away safely. He didn't know the curly-haired man, but if the rumors he'd heard about the Imperial Army were true, then Ray would thank him for this later.

"Frank, what are you doing?" Gerard whispered.

"I'm saving Ray," Frank said.

"You can't just kill those guys!" Gerard said. "There has to be a better way."

"Like what?"

Gerard paused and then said, "I've got an idea."

Frank put down his blaster, but he kept one hand on the gun, just in case something went wrong. Meanwhile, Gerard walked up to the stormtroopers and said, "He's coming with me."

"Who are you?" the first stormtrooper asked.

"Gerard Way," he said. "I work for the Empire." He flashed his employee ID to prove it, and the stormtroopers briefly glanced at each other. "My department has...uhh...special plans for this one. We have orders directly from the Emperor to take him to our office on Coruscant."

"Well, if the Emperor said that you should have him..." the first stormtrooper said as he lowered his gun.

"Come on, Ray," Gerard said to the curly-haired man. Ray cautiously followed him out of the coffee shop, and Gerard gestured for Frank to come with him. Frank put his blaster back into his holster, grabbed his coffee cup, and ran out of the coffee shop with Gerard and Ray.

"What the hell just happened?" Ray said.

"I just saved you from having to go back to the Imperial Army," Gerard said.

"Who are you, anyways?" Ray asked.

"I told the truth, or most of it, anyways," Gerard said. "My name really is Gerard Way, and I used to work for the Empire. It was in the art department though."

"Who's your friend?"

"That's Frank." Frank was tempted to correct him, but he didn't bother. He doubted Ray would figure out that he was Fun Ghoul, and even if he did, he wouldn't turn him in to the Empire.

"Why did you leave?"

"It's a long story," Gerard said. "What about you? Why did you leave the Imperial Army?"

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

Ray sighed and said, "I was a clone trooper during the war. Fought in the 21st Nova Corps under Ki-Adi-Mundi. It was horrific watching my brothers die every day, but it's what we were made for. Then, we were given the order. Order 66. It said that the Jedi were traitors and that we had to kill them all, and we did. Mundi and his apprentice Patrick were the only people who treated us clones like we were human beings, but we had no choice. We were forced to kill them. I felt like I was in a trance the whole time. It's the control chip in my head, I think. It makes it impossible for me to disobey orders. Anyways, when I came to, Ki-Adi-Mundi was dead. I still don't know what happened to Patrick. I like to think he made it, but realistically, I don't think he did.

"After all of that, Palpatine declared himself Emperor, and then he said that he was phasing out clone troopers in favor of his new stormtroopers. I was scared of what was going to happen to me and my brothers. We were outliving our usefulness, and after Order 66, I didn't know who to trust. So I ran away, but I only got to Alderaan before those stormtroopers caught me."

"That's awful, Ray," Gerard said.

Frank agreed, but he also sensed an opportunity. "You know, I have a friend who could get that chip out of your head," he said.

"Really?" Ray said.

Frank nodded. "You'll never be forced to obey an Imperial order again."

"What's your friend's name?"

"Sola Keene. She lives on Kriselist."

"How do I get there?"

"I'll take you," Frank said. "But I want twenty thousand credits for it."

Gerard rolled his eyes, but Ray handed over a large stack of credit chips anyway. "This is all the money I have," he said. "I know it's not twenty thousand, but I promise I'll pay the rest as soon as I can."

Frank counted up the chips. Ray was right: it wasn't twenty thousand, but it was close enough. He shoved the credit chips into his pocket, realizing that transporting ex-Imperials could be a lucrative business strategy. "Alright, I'll take you to Kriselist," he said. "Follow me. My ship's just down the street."

Ray and Gerard followed him, and eventually, the three of them came to the Black Mariah. However, Frank and Gerard both gasped as soon as they saw it.

The door was wide open, and the ship was completely empty. Mikey Way was gone.