"It's always nice to see an old friend again." - Ashex Wenvoll, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

As Gerard stepped across the bridge and into the Horseshoe Crab, he couldn't help but worry about what had happened to his brother and his friends. The Inquisitorius had already attacked them once - what would stop them from doing it again? Would they ever be safe again?

Sometimes, he wondered if he would have been better off staying home, only learning about the Jedi through his extensive comic book collection. He could have ignored the information on the data pod, he could have kept his old job, he could be designing propaganda posters for the Empire right now. Maybe nobody would have noticed that Mikey was Force-sensitive, just like nobody noticed for the first sixteen years of his life. Maybe they would have been better off.

Then again, if he'd stayed home, he never would have met Frank.

Gerard pressed a kiss to Frank's lips just as the two of them entered the Horseshoe Crab. Ray followed closely behind, rolling his eyes as Frank leaned in for another kiss.

"You know, maybe it's not the best idea to make out while walking," Ray said. "You're going to run into something one of these days."

"It's not my fault that Gee's so cute," Frank said.

Gerard smiled as he pulled away from Frank, knowing that he was lucky to have such an incredible boyfriend. He couldn't believe that just a few days ago, he'd nearly left him. The thought that he might never see Frank again nearly broke him, but at the time, he thought it was the right thing to do. Now that he knew that the Empire had invaded even the farthest corners of the galaxy, that no planet was safe anymore, he promised himself that he'd never leave Frank again. Frank was the only hope for him, after all.

As the three of them headed into the cockpit, Gerard spotted the crew members of the Horseshoe Crab. Joe was in the captain's chair, and Pete was standing next to him, with one arm wrapped around Patrick. Finally, hiding behind Pete, with his nose in a book, there was Mikey.

As soon as he spotted him, Gerard flung his arms around his little brother. "Hi Mikey," he said. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, I guess," Mikey said as he put his book down and awkwardly hugged his brother.

"How have you been?"

"Okay. Nothing's really happened since I sent that hologram," Mikey said. "I missed you a lot."

"I missed you too. The ship feels...incomplete without you."

Just as Mikey was about to say something, a hologram of Andy appeared. "Hi everybody," he said. "How's it going out there?"

"It's been...interesting, to say the least," Joe said.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Ray said.

"We're all still alive though, and that's what counts, right?" Pete said.

Andy nodded. "That's good, but just surviving isn't enough. The Empire's only growing stronger, and we need to fight back."

"You don't have to tell us twice," Joe said. "Apparently they've already been to Ilum, and they're heading to Tatooine next."

"Tatooine?" Frank said, confused. "Why?"

"We don't know yet," Joe said. "Before we decided to meet up, we were going to go there and see what was going on."

"I think I know," Gerard said. Everyone looked at him expectantly, and he said, "It's because of Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Master Kenobi's alive?" Patrick said.

"I don't know if he really is or not, but the Empire thinks he's hiding on Tatooine," Gerard said. "It's all in the data pod."

"That's crazy. I thought he died with the rest of the Jedi," Patrick said.

"Me too," Pete said.

Once Pete and Patrick got over the shock of Obi-Wan Kenobi possibly being alive, Frank said, "We need to protect Tatooine, regardless of whether this Obi-Wan guy is there or not. I don't want it to turn out like the rest of the planets the Empire has invaded."

"I agree with Frank, although I can't imagine why the Empire would want Tatooine unless Kenobi's there," Ray said. "I went there once during the Clone Wars, and it's just a bunch of desert."

"That's what I thought too," Patrick said.

"We need to protect Kenobi, for sure," Pete said. "Enough Jedi have died already."

"Okay, it sounds like a lot of you want to go to Tatooine," Andy said. "Can everybody who wants to go raise their hands?"

Every single person aboard the ship raised their hand. When Gerard looked around, he smiled. Even his brother, who'd said a million times that it wasn't his place to rebel against the Empire, wanted to defend the small desert planet.

"Alright, it looks like we're going to Tatooine," Andy said. "I'll send over Hayley and a few of the other rebels who are still here to help you, but it's still going to be a small fleet."

"That's fine," Frank said. "Hopefully we'll get some support from the people who are already there."

"I wouldn't count on it," Andy said. "Tatooine's sparsely populated."

"Well, I still think we can beat the Empire, but even if we don't, who cares?" Frank said.

Gerard nodded. "Frank's right," he said. "It ain't about all the friends you've made, but the graffiti they write on your grave."

Everyone nodded, but all of a sudden, Pete jumped in and said, "Hey, maybe we could get a dragon and burn down the whole Imperial fleet!"

"I like that idea," Gerard said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Joe said. "Dragons don't exist."

"You just don't have enough of an imagination," Gerard said.

"What about unicorns?" Mikey chimed in. "Unicorns are pretty cool."

Andy laughed. "How did you guys manage to derail the conversation this much?" he said. "We're supposed to be talking about how we're going to defend Tatooine."

"I have some ideas," Joe said.

As Joe shared his plans with the group, Gerard noticed Pete and Mikey sneaking off together. For a moment, he wondered what they were up to, but he ultimately decided it was none of his business. As much as he'd missed his little brother over the last few weeks, he had to give him some space.

Gerard held onto Frank's hand, and for a moment, he was ready for a firefight, ready for whatever was coming for him. He had his reservations about resisting the Empire's attack on Tatooine, but as long as he had Frank, he knew it would all work out.

Meanwhile, Mikey and Pete were in the next room over, hoping that nobody would notice that they were gone. "Ugh, all of this talk of tactics and strategy is so boring," Pete complained.

"I know, right?" Mikey said as Pete dug through their food.

"Want some?" Pete asked as he found a few pieces of candy. "I stole it back when we were on Truwel."

"Sure," Mikey said, and Pete handed some of the candy to him, keeping a couple of pieces for himself. As he unwrapped the candy, Mikey said to Pete, "You know, it's nice to finally get to hang out with you. You've been spending a lot of time with Patrick lately."

"Yeah, I know," Pete said. "It's just...I've spent so long loving him from afar, and now it turns out that he actually likes me back."

Mikey smiled. "I knew you and Patrick would get together one of these days," he said.

"Wait a second," Pete said. "You knew he liked me?"

"No, but I had my suspicions," Mikey said. "You two make a really cute couple, by the way."

"Thanks," Pete said with a smile. "I think I need to be a better friend to you though. I was going to hang out with you yesterday, but then Patrick came in, and we cuddled for a while, and then things started getting kind of heated, and then he..."

"Pete, I don't need a play-by-play," Mikey said.

"Sorry," Pete said. "My point is that Patrick and I are a two-man gang, but so are we. We'll always be the Sweet Little Dudes. Nothing can take that away from us."

"Of course," Mikey said, smiling. When he'd left Coruscant, he'd never expected to find a new best friend, much less one like Pete. Sometimes, he still wished he could go back home, back to his parents and his old friends, but he was glad he'd befriended Pete, even if it seemed they had almost nothing in common sometimes. Then again, Pete and Patrick didn't have much in common either.

Mikey glanced toward Pete's wrist as he shoveled candy into his mouth. There was a keyhole tattooed there, with the words "Be free" written underneath. "What does that tattoo mean?" Mikey asked.

"I don't know, I just got it for fun," Pete said. "Did you see the scorpion Frank got on his neck though? It looks really cool."

"It has to mean something," Mikey said, ignoring Pete's attempt at changing the subject.

"It's a reminder," Pete said quietly.

"A reminder of what?"

"A reminder that I don't have to share everything with everyone. A reminder that I can keep secrets too."

There was a long period of silence, and then Pete said, "Want to play a game or something? I think Joe has a dejarik table around here somewhere."

"Sure," he said, but as Pete set up the game, Mikey wondered what he was still keeping under lock and key.

After the meeting was over, Gerard said goodbye to his brother once again, and then he, Frank, and Ray returned to the Black Mariah. "Don't worry, Gee," Frank said to him as they stepped aboard the TIE fighter. "We'll meet up with the Horseshoe Crab again on Tatooine."

"I know," Gerard said. "We'll see Mikey and the others again soon. I just hope that defending Tatooine is the right decision. We've already destroyed so much. I must have killed dozens of stormtroopers already, people with families and friends and lovers..."

"You're exaggerating," Frank said.

"I don't think I am," Gerard said. "I know we're in a war, but I don't think I can kill again. It's like a stain that never comes off the sheets..."

"I get it," Frank said. "I felt that way at first too, and it doesn't really get any easier. Hopefully, Tatooine will be less of a bloodbath than Truwel."

"I hope so," Gerard said.

He reached for his sketchbook, an automatic reaction whenever he was feeling sad or anxious, but for some reason, he couldn't find it.

"Oh, sorry," Frank said as he handed Gerard the sketchbook. "I might have borrowed it for a little bit."

"Frank!" Gerard exclaimed.

"I really liked your story ideas. The one with the superheroes was amazing."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You could publish this stuff."

"You're just saying that because you're my boyfriend."

"I swear I'm not. You're a genius, Gee."

Frank quickly kissed Gerard and then went back to piloting the Black Mariah, following the Horseshoe Crab to Tatooine. Gerard didn't know what would happen when they got there, or if they would even survive the battle, but he'd go down in a hail of bullets if he had to. When he set out on this journey, he'd only wanted to help his little brother, but now, they might just be about to save the galaxy.