Star Wars: Saviors of the Broken

Chapter XXXVI

"Always make the most of the time you have." - Schnur Absi, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

The Horseshoe Crab had just entered the Tatoo system, with its twin suns shining bright, and Patrick wanted nothing more than to stay on the ship, drink some tea, and maybe practice his Umbaran calligraphy. He knew how important this was, and he wanted to help Obi-Wan Kenobi, if he was even still alive, but he was scared. There were so many ways this could go wrong. He could die, or worse, Pete could die. He couldn't shake the feeling that this would all turn out to be a complete disaster.

As they came closer to Tatooine, Patrick got a better view of the planet. It was just as he remembered: a brown, sandy world, nothing particularly special. Yet, there was a large group of Imperial ships orbiting Tatooine, and they were about to close in.

Patrick hummed a tune to himself, hoping that it would make him feel better, and within seconds, Pete walked in. "I heard you singing again," Pete said as he sat down next to him. "It sounded amazing."

"Thanks," Patrick said, blushing.

"I just got a hologram from Andy, by the way," Pete said. "Apparently we're flying a Z-95 together."

"You would have known that already if you went to the strategy meeting."

"Strategy's boring."

"It's important. We can't just rush into everything."

"But wouldn't it be more fun that way?"

"We're not here to have fun. We're here to protect a planet full of innocent people."

"I don't see why those two things have to be mutually exclusive."

Patrick sighed. "Can we focus?" he said. Pete nodded, and Patrick said, "I love you, Pete, but I'd really like to defend Tatooine without us getting killed."

Just as Pete was about to respond, Joe barged in. "We're about to rendez-vous with the Z-95," he said. "You two need to climb aboard."

As the two of them headed toward the bridge, Pete grabbed onto Patrick's hand. "Are you ready for this?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Patrick said.

When both of them were on board, Patrick took control of the ship, disconnected from the Horseshoe Crab, and flew closer to Tatooine. As Patrick tried to focus on steering, Pete did everything he could to divert his attention, but somehow, he didn't mind the distraction.

"Hey Trick, could you sing me a song?" Pete said. "Maybe something like 'Pete, I know you're the patron saint of liars and fakes, but you're still awesome and you're totally going to win this epic space battle?'"

Patrick smiled. "Maybe after we get back," he said as the Z-95 zoomed toward a cluster of Imperial starships.

As their ship drew closer, Patrick saw that some of the Truwel Rebellion's other ships were already here. There were three other Z-95s, chasing after Imperial TIE fighters, and the Black Mariah and the Horseshoe Crab were already shooting down the Empire's cruisers. Pete eagerly reached for the ship's cannons, but when he fired, he shot right over the nearest TIE fighter and almost hit the Horseshoe Crab.

"Pete!" Patrick exclaimed as he swerved out of the way of one of the TIE fighters' laser cannons. "You could have killed Mikey and Joe!"

"Sorry," Pete said.

"Maybe we can get the astromech droid..."

"R1-69?"

"Yeah, her," Patrick said, blushing furiously. "Maybe she can help correct your aim."