Star Wars: Saviors of the Broken

Chapter XXX

"You are never alone. The Force will always be there to guide you." - Villav Vagod, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

Mikey wrapped his arms around Pete, enveloping him in a hug. "It's going to be okay, Pete," he said, but he wasn't sure if he truly believed it.

Tears streamed down Pete's face as he embraced his best friend. "I miss Patrick already," he said. "He's everything to me. He's the last of a dying breed, and it was always me and him in the wake of Saturday. Now, he's gone, and I...I just don't know what to do."

"Patrick couldn't have gone that far, right?" Mikey said as he let go of Pete. "Maybe we can find him."

"Or maybe he's already dead."

Mikey paused. Several hours had passed since they'd fought Brendon. Patrick could very well be dead by now, but he couldn't tell Pete that. There was already too much sadness and pain behind his deep brown eyes. The last thing Mikey wanted was to make it worse.

"I think he's still alive," Mikey said. "He's out there somewhere. We just have to find him."

"I sure hope so."

"Me too. You know, Patrick's lucky to have a friend like you."

"I'm lucky to have him." Pete wiped away his tears, and Mikey smiled slightly, knowing that he'd given him just a little bit of hope.

"My guess is that Brendon took Patrick," Joe said suddenly.

"Why would he do that?" Pete asked.

"I don't know, but he was just here," Joe said. "It's the simplest explanation."

"So where did Brendon go?" Mikey asked.

"Can't one of you use the Force to figure it out?" Joe said.

"That's not how the Force works!" Pete and Mikey exclaimed in unison. The two of them burst out laughing, while Joe rolled his eyes.

"I guess I'll use the ship's radar to figure it out then," he said. He went over to the control panel and started scanning the area for starships. Meanwhile, Mikey and Pete sat in the corner, paying no attention whatsoever to what Joe was doing.

"Hey, do you want to read this poem I wrote?" Pete asked.

"Sure, but I might have to put on my glasses first."

"You wear glasses? That's adorable."

Mikey used the Force to pull his glasses toward him, and then he put them on. However, just as he was about to open up Pete's copy of Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters, where he'd written down all of his poems, Pete stole his glasses and put them on.

"How do I look?" Pete asked.

"Hey, give those back!"

"Sorry, my sweet little dude, but they're mine now."

"Could you two please cut it out?" Joe said. Both of them went silent, and Joe added, "I think I might have found something."

Mikey and Pete went up to the control panel, where Joe pointed out a strange light on one corner of the screen. "I can't see anything," Pete said.

"I told you that you shouldn't have stolen my glasses," Mikey said.

Pete sighed and gave Mikey his glasses back. When he took a closer look, Mikey saw that the light was blinking. "I don't get it," he said. "What's going on?"

"That's a Star Destroyer, and it's the only Imperial ship within range," Joe said. "If I'm right, and Brendon took Patrick, that's probably where he is."