Star Wars: Saviors of the Broken

Chapter VIII

"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.