"Too many of us simply exist instead of truly living." - Nika Daggoth, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

When Pete and Patrick landed on Tatooine, Ray, Joe, and Hayley were all there, waiting for them. As they stepped off of the ship, Pete looked out at the desert landscape and the twin suns, and then he turned to Patrick, who seemed unusually anxious. "It's going to be okay," he whispered to him. "I'm sure Frank and Gerard are just fine."

"I hope so," Patrick said, but Mikey had sensed a disturbance in the Force. Something had certainly happened, and they were about to find out what it was.

"It's good to see you two," Ray said as soon as they were off the ship. "What happened to Mikey?"

"He's still on Dagobah," Patrick explained. "He wanted to come with us, but Yoda wanted him to finish his training, so he decided to stay, and...well, I'm telling this story really badly, but..."

"Patrick, you're as cute as a button, so it doesn't matter how bad your stories are," Pete said.

Patrick smiled and then asked Ray, "Where are Frank and Gerard?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," Ray said.

Patrick and Pete were both quite alarmed, so Hayley jumped in and said, "We can't stay on Tatooine forever, so Gerard and Frank went into Wild Space to find somewhere we could build a base for the Truwel Rebellion. They left last week, and we haven't seen them since."

"We've got to find them," Patrick said. "Mikey sensed that they're in trouble."

"If they are, it could be dangerous out there," Hayley said.

"I don't care," Patrick said. "They're our friends, and we have to help them. Do you have any idea of where they are?"

"No clue," Hayley said.

"I think they headed out toward Smuggler's Run, but I'm not sure," Joe said.

"Come on, Pete," Patrick said as he headed back toward the Z-95. "Let's fly out there and see if we can find Gerard and Frank."

Pete followed him back into the ship, but all of a sudden, he spotted a TIE fighter flying overhead. As it came closer, he saw that it was covered in graffiti, with a dog spray-painted across one of the wings and four symbols in different colors painted across the front.

"Hey Patrick," Pete said. "I think Frank and Gerard are back."

Patrick smiled as the Black Mariah landed next to the Z-95, and sure enough, Frank and Gerard stepped out. Frank, however, was hobbling around on one leg, leaning on Gerard for support. "Are you okay, Frank?" Ray asked.

"I'm fine," Frank insisted as he clutched onto Gerard. "I can still walk and fight and...ow! My leg hurts!"

"Come on," Hayley said. "Let's get you to a hospital."

As they headed into town, Pete asked Frank, "What happened to your leg?"

"A bounty hunter shot me," Frank explained. "Don't worry, Gee and I got away pretty easily."

"You got attacked by a bounty hunter?" Ray said.

"Practically the entire Guild, actually," Gerard said.

"But why?"

"I'm Fun Ghoul," Frank said. "When the Empire's offering a million credits to anyone who can capture you, there are bound to be a few people willing to take them up on that offer."

"We lucked out though," Gerard said. "We ended up crash landing on the most beautiful planet in the galaxy."

Frank rolled his eyes, and Gerard continued on, explaining how the locals had agreed to let them build a base for the Truwel Rebellion. From the way he described it, Patrick thought Taehwa sounded wonderful, but he wondered if Gerard might be exaggerating just a little bit.

"So all that's left is for all of us to fly there," Frank said when Gerard was done gushing about Taehwa.

"Where's Mikey?" Gerard suddenly asked, panicked. "Did something happen to him?"

"He's fine," Patrick said. "He's on Dagobah with Yoda."

"Does he have a holorecorder? I'm going to go call him."

Gerard ran back into the Black Mariah, returned with a holorecorder, and then immediately sent a hologram to Mikey. To Gerard's relief, Mikey's hologram appeared almost instantly.

"Gerard!" Mikey said with a smile. "You're okay!"

"I'm okay," Gerard said. "I just wish you were here on Tatooine. Everyone else is here - Frank, Ray, Joe, Hayley, Pete, Patrick. It's like the gang's back together again!"

Gerard kept on talking to Mikey, explaining what had happened to him as everyone headed toward the hospital. When they got there, one of the medical droids helped Frank, while the rest of them waited outside, trying to figure out what they were going to do next.

"Gerard, do you have a map of Taehwa?" Hayley asked. "We'll need it if we're all going to fly out into Wild Space together."

"I've made maps of the whole area surrounding Smuggler's Run," Gerard said. "We should have no trouble getting there."

Suddenly, another hologram appeared, and this time, it was Andy, checking in from Truwel. "Hey everyone," he said.

"Andy!" Pete exclaimed. "How's it going?"

"Honestly, not great," Andy said. "I've been in hiding for the last few weeks, but it's even worse than we thought. It hasn't been that long since they invaded, but the Empire's just about ruined this planet already."

"You could join us," Gerard suggested. "We're moving to Taehwa, and we think we'll be safe from the Empire there."

"Where's Taehwa?" Andy asked.

"It's in Wild Space," Gerard said. "It's a gorgeous planet, and it's so far away from the rest of the galaxy that the Empire will never find us there."

"I wish I could go with you, but Truwel is my home," Andy said.

"Come on, Andy," Pete said. "You don't have to stay there forever."

"Yes, I do," Andy said. "I'll keep Truwel safe until the end. I'll go down with the ship if I have to."

He said it with such conviction that nobody could argue with him, but the rest of the Truwel Rebellion still didn't know what they were doing next, how they'd function on a new planet without their brave leader. "Where do we go from here, Andy?" Joe asked.

"There's a lot that still needs to be done," Andy said. "There are Jedi out there that need proper protection, Outer Rim planets that need to be defended, policies that need to be reversed. I've heard rumors that they're building a superweapon..."

"None of that gets to the root of the problem," Patrick said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

"When I was talking to Yoda, he said that Darth Vader was the cause of all of this. If we get rid of Vader, the Empire will fall."

"So all we have to do is kill Darth Vader," Gerard said. "This shit is easy peasy pumpkin peasy..."

"You'd better not say anything about pumpkin pie," Mikey said.

"Wow, Mikey, you read my mind."

Patrick rolled his eyes and said, "It's not that simple. I already fought Vader once, and I lost my hand. He's powerful, more powerful than we know. It will take more than a ragtag bunch of misfits to take him down."

"It's worth a try though, isn't it?" Pete said.

"We don't even know where Vader is," Patrick said.

"Actually, we do," Andy said.

"We do?" Patrick said, surprised.

"He has his own personal TIE fighter, and trust me, it's not hard to track." Andy reached over to enter something into a computer, and then he turned back toward the others. "Right now, it looks like he's headed toward the Jinata system."

"Interesting," Ray said. "The planets in that system are already Imperial strongholds."

Joe nodded and said, "I wonder what he's doing there."

"We should focus on moving to Taehwa before we get too wrapped up in planning to kill Darth Vader," Hayley said. "We're playing the long game, remember?"

"Of course," Andy said.

There was a period of silence, and then Gerard asked, "Is it okay if I go to Dagobah after we get set up Taehwa? You know, so I can make sure my brother's doing okay?"

"I'm fine, Gerard!" Mikey exclaimed. "You don't need to worry about me."

Pete and Patrick exchanged a glance, and then Patrick said, "As Mikey said, he's okay, but if you want to check on him, that's fine."

"I should probably go, but keep me posted on how the move to Taehwa goes," Andy said. "May the Force be with you all."

Andy's hologram disappeared, and all of the members of the Truwel Rebellion went their separate ways. Patrick, for one, had no idea what he was going to do. He couldn't wait to see Taehwa, but then what would he do? There was no way he could confront Darth Vader again, but if he didn't, the Empire would win.

Patrick tried not to think about it as he wandered through the desert with Pete by his side. It wasn't worth worrying about Vader now, not when he was with the boy he loved.

Another day went by, and as soon as Frank was well enough to travel, the Truwel Rebellion packed up and left Tatooine. The Black Mariah led the way, racing past asteroid fields and strange, undiscovered planets until they made it to Taehwa. Finally, the Truwel Rebellion fleet touched down, but when they stepped out of their ships, they were all a bit disappointed.

"There's nothing here," Ray said as he looked out over the surface of the planet.

"Yeah," Hayley said. "It's just a bunch of corn."

"Actually, it's wheat," Frank corrected her.

"It's so boring," Pete complained.

"Boring planets are safe planets," Patrick said in an attempt to stay somewhat positive.

All of a sudden, Gerard stepped out of the Black Mariah, took a deep breath of fresh air, and smiled. "Welcome to Taehwa," he said. "The most beautiful planet in the galaxy."