Drake stopped walking in shock. He had heard the voice before. The voice was all too familiar to him. He knew who it came from, but he still couldn't believe his own ears.
Drake slowly turned around, and he saw a person wearing an orange Rebel pilot uniform. Rather, than getting ready to fight, Drake just stared at the man, who had also stopped moving. The two men stared at each other in silence for about a minute. Neither of them believing their own eyes.
Suddenly, the man began walking slowly towards Drake, and Drake began walking towards the man. The man began to jog and so did Drake. Then they began running at each other. When they met they weren't intending to fight. They met with a long, friendly hug. The man who ran up to Drake was not any ordinary Rebel pilot. The man was Drake's little brother, Cole Traulis. The two stopped hugging and looked at each other.
"Wow," Drake said, "It's been so long."
"Too long," Cole replied. The men were silent for a minute more, still not believing who they were seeing.
"We haven't seen each other since you left home to find work. I never knew you were joining the Empire," Cole said.
"Well you never told me you were joining the Rebellion," Drake replied, "Didn't Mom ever tell you that I was joining the Empire?"
"No, she didn't. In fact, when I asked her if you'd found a job, she simply said she didn't know," Cole responded.
"What? I told her. I wrote to her whenever I had a chance. Unfortunatley, you don't get a whole lot of free time when you're working for the Empire," Drake said.
"Why wouldn't Mom tell me you joined the Empire? That doesn't make sense," Cole said.
"Maybe," Drake replied, "Maybe she didn't want you to know. I always kind of suspected that she had something against the Empire, but I never said anything."
"If you knew that then why did you join them?" Cole asked.
"Well, I wasn't intending to join the Empire at first. I went to Coruscant to look for work, and when I got there I heard all of these things about the Empire. Some were bad; most were good. I decided after I had been looking for a job for two weeks that the Empire would be the only job I would be able to get anytime soon. I have since become a well respected pilot in the Imperial Navy, and I have been loyal ever since I joined," Drake answered.
"You know, I had some trouble finding work too. Mom told me to go look for work on our home planet, Alderaan. I had been searching for work for about a week when I came across this strange group that called themselves the Rebellion. They tried to recruit people and they easily convinced me that the Empire is corrupt. I quickly signed up and became the pilot of this crashed ship you see right here," Cole said pointing to the crashed A-Wing.
"Oh yeah," Drake said, "Sorry about that."
"Well, I mean, you were just doing your job, as I was doing mine," Cole replied. "You were always a better pilot than me anyway."
Drake was about to speak but he was halted when he heard a huge explosion from behind him. Two TIE Bombers were still in flight, and they began bombing the palace.
"Well, looks like you guys are bombing the palace," Cole said. "Think about this. Does a government that isn't corrupt bomb innocent people in a palace? Why don't you leave the Empire? We could be reunited once again!"
"Are you saying the Empire is evil? I could never fight against them! I will remain loyal to them until my last breath!" Drake exclaimed. "Why don't you leave that ridiculous Rebellion. All they are are a bunch of radical terrorists!"
"You're calling the Rebels terrorists? The Empire is bombing a palace full of innocent people! Can't you see the Empire's brainwashed you!" Cole yelled.
"The Empire has done nothing that wasn't neccesary. Lord Vader has told us to bomb the place, so we're bombing it! No one can convince me that this is a bad thing!" Drake yelled as more explosions went off in the distance.
"Not even your only brother?! You only listen to that reckless black-suited monster because you are afraid! You are afraid he will kill you if you don't!" Cole screamed.
"Afraid?! The Empire is not afraid! Cowardice is shunned in the Empire! If anyone should be afraid it is you and your Rebellion! You have openly denied the Empire and now, Lord Vader will not rest until all of you are wiped out! If you come to the Empire, none of this will happen to you. We can fight the Rebellion together. We can fight as brothers." Drake said.
"Fight my friends?! I would rather die than join your evil corrupt Empire!" Cole yelled.
"You must understand. I could never leave the Empire. I have been in for five years, and I have no plans of leaving anytime soon. Sooner or later you will realize. You will realize that your Rebellion is wrong and that the Empire was doing the right thing all along. I only hope you realize this before it is too late for you," Drake said.
"You know what Drake? I used to look up to you. I used to try my hardest to follow in your footsteps. I thought you were the best older brother ever. I thought of you like a Jedi. Wise, and always finding the best solution to a problem, and even though you messed up sometimes, I never would have imagined that you would have messed up so badly. I used to look up to you, but now that I see how you really are, how evil the Empire has made you, I just can't respect you anymore," Cole said. Drake was about to say something, but he was so shocked by his brother's words that he just stood in silence.
"Goodbye Drake," Cole said, "I hope that the next time we meet, you are a changed person." Cole said nothing more and limped away, clearly injured from the crash.
Drake would have stopped Cole from leaving, but he was so shocked at how serious Cole was, that he almost believed his words.
What if the Empire was corrupt? What if this whole time he had been on the wrong side of the fight? Drake came to attention and convinced himself that Cole was wrong. He had to. He couldn't live with the thought of fighting on the wrong side.
Cole had already disappeared from sight, and Drake was unsure where he went. Then Drake remembered that he was trying to get to the Troop Transports. He looked towards the palace and ran. He couldn't see any transports, but he had to find one. He had to get back.
Drake ran faster than he should have with all of his injuries, but the pain from the injuries didn't bother him. All he thought about was his fight with Cole. Drake arrived to the remains of the palace after running for about five minutes. He didn't see any transports in on that side of the palace. He quickly ran to the other side of the palace and to Drake's luck, three transports were still loading Stormtroopers onto them.
Drake ran sprinted faster than before to the closest transport and talked to the Imperial Officer who was about to board.
"Who are you?" the officer asked, "And why are you here?"
"Sir, I'm TF-2285, or Drake, and I was seperated from my TIE squadron when I was shot down to this planet. I need a ride back to my squad," Drake said.
"Well... luckily we have some empty seats in there, the Rebels were feeling extra radical today. Your squadron should be back at Coruscant, which is where we're heading. When we get to the planet you can go and find your squad," the officer said.
"Yes, sir," Drake replied.
"Yes now get on before I change my mind," the officer said. "Oh, and someone get this guy a medic!" the officer yelled into the transport.
A Stormtrooper with a first aid kit walked up to Drake and took him towards the back of the transport. Almost half of the seats were empty, presumably from deceased Troopers. The medic began cleaning Drake's wounds, and the ship began to take off.
Throughout the ride Drake thought of how tired he was. He'd seen more action in one day than much of his career. But what he thought about the most were his brother's words. He tried hard to forget them, but he would find himself believing them. All of them.