Yes, that's one of its key purposes, plus it does so many other things.

yep

Yes, it most definitely can. That said, I think Start9 is better used for Bitcoin and Bitcoin only apps, and if you want to have a simple home-server to replace Google Drive and iCloud, go with an Umbrel. There are a TON more apps available for Umbrel, and you will have a much easier time connecting to it remotely, since each service on Umbrel has its own port. Tailscale is also available for Umbrel, but not for Start9, yet. Start9 will eventually be updating the OS to have more remote connection options, but I have personally been waiting for that promised update for 2 years now, and no ETA when it will be available. Without that update, your only real way to connect to most services remotely is going to be via Tor, which is significantly slower.

I think this is where I was leaning anyways. Thanks for that explanation.