Many thanks to my awesome beta Lilsherlockian1975, who is seriously amazing and so kind.
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Victor Trevor, human, Jedi Knight and co-leader of the Yavin academy while Master Skywalker was away, was deeply unimpressed with his soup. He picked up his spoon and allowed the thick liquid to fall back into the bowl with a wet "plop" that sounded hideous. He looked up as Soo Lin Yao, his Togruta counterpart, sat gracefully across from him, long white and black headtails curving around her red face.
"Lin, we seriously need to talk to Master Skywalker about this whole "all members must learn to do all tasks" nonsense. I know we're teaching the Padawans the value of hard work and all, but let's leave the cooking to those of us who can't burn water."
"It can't be that bad, Victor. And look, they seem so proud of themselves." She nodded to the front of the hall, where Henry Knight and Dorsk 88 spooned soup eagerly into bowls as padawan learners filed slowly into the academy from the various areas of the temple and jungle where they had been studying.
"Maybe. Could we at least change the rotation so The Ghost cooks tomorrow? She's a bit creepy, but she makes a mean curry." He spooned soup quickly into his mouth, the better not to taste it. He swallowed and pulled a face. "Ugh, the aftertaste is really what makes this atrocious. What is that?"
Soo Lin ignored him. "Don't call her creepy! I think she's actually quite sweet. Certainly more pleasant than your protege. Didn't he make Anthea cry yesterday?"
Vic laughed. "He did. Told her that her parents are splitting up. Something about how the clothing and cred stick her father sent on the last cargo run are down to him feeling guilty about his affair. She was heartbroken."
"I'm pleased to see you find it so amusing, Victor."
"Oh, not like that. I did send off Sherlock to meditate at the rock. It's not exactly the path of the Jedi to go around provoking people. But you should have seen his face after Anthea ran off. He honestly had absolutely no idea why she was upset."
"I'm sure you were looking."
"What are you implying, Lin?"
Soo Lin smiled softly. She and Victor Trevor had been friends for many years. They had been some of the first Jedi trained by Luke Skywalker in his new academy. Soo Lin had trained as a healer and Consul and Victor a Guardian and duelist, yet somehow they had always complimented each other well. "You know what I'm implying, Victor. And I think it'd be good for you."
"Wh- he… He's a padawan, Lin!"
"Not for long. At least not if he holds his temper in check."
Both were silent for a moment, their thoughts turning in the same direction. With forced casualness, Soo Lin said, "Speaking of tempers, have you seen Ben at all today?"
oOo
Deep in the Yavin jungle, Sherlock Holmes' eyes snapped open. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
oOo
The poison spread quickly. Victor heard it before he felt it - a rattling, gasping choking sound from the table next to his that almost immediately turned into a chorus. All around him, students began clutching throats and retching.
He felt it then, something paralytic running through his veins, swelling his tongue, choking him. He began to cough desperately.
"Con- Concentrate Victor!" he heard Soo Lin gasp. He looked up to see her closing her eyes, assuming a meditative pose.
Right. I'm a damned Jedi. Victor closed his own eyes, tried desperately to ignore his rapidly diminishing oxygen, and focused. He reached out with the Force, imagined it pumping through his blood, pushing out the toxin, cleansing him. He took a deep, shaky breath. He could feel the poison lurking in his limbs, weakening him, but he held it at bay.
He snapped his eyes open and leapt to his feet, quickly taking in Soo Lin doing the same. He followed her gaze to a figure silhouetted in the bright light of the entrance, a red lightsaber in hand. Victor took his own lightsaber from the table behind him and ignited it. The yellow blade flickered to life and he thanked the Force he'd been training with it this morning. Soo Lin's would be in her quarters upstairs.
Padawans lay all around them, some concentrating to remove the poison as he had done, some roiling on the ground. Some were deathly still. Victor felt his hands shake and tried very hard not to think about about which of his friends and students were on the ground. The academy never ate all at the same time, none of the rooms of the ancient Massassi temple they used as an academy were large enough for the three dozen Jedi to gather at the same time. He hadn't paid the slightest attention to who was eating, had no idea who was dead and dying and betrayed. He had failed utterly.
Soo Lin's right hand slid into his left. "Peace, my friend. Trust in the Force."
"Go, Lin. Comm for help. Run!" She squeezed his hand quickly and was gone. He took a breath, found his center, then stepped forward, shouting, "Ben Solo! You should've picked a day when Henry wasn't cooking. You might not have had to fight your betters."
The sixteen year old glared back at him, pushing dark hair out of his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind when I find my betters, Vic." Ben's lightsaber flickered red, casting strange shadows on his angry face. He must have made it himself; it certainly wasn't the standard blue Padawan blade he usually carried. He'd added a cross guard, presumably by refracting the energy from a force crystal. In different circumstances, Victor would've found the saber fascinating.
Ben circled closer. "You're looking a little peaky, Vic. Your tummy bothering y-" he stopped abruptly and brought his saber up as Victor attacked. They exchanged a dozen blows at lightning speed until Ben scored a glancing burn down Victor's arm from shoulder to elbow.
Victor cursed. He was twice the swordsman Ben was, but he was expending most of his energy just to avoid passing out. His limbs felt heavy, clumsy. Time to stall. He needed to give Lin and the others as much time as he could.
"Think about what you're doing, Ben. It's not too late to turn back. Your uncle will forgive you, you know he will."
Ben launched himself at Victor. "I am DONE taking orders from him! And from you!" His lightsaber a blur of color as he feinted low and then spun away from Victor's parry to swing his blade in a wide arc to the head.
Victor parried and retreated a few feet, panting. In his peripheral vision, he could see Henry and Dorsk moving, searching for something. Lightsabers. Neither had served breakfast armed, and thank the Force they hadn't eaten yet and were unharmed. If they weren't already armed, they weren't working for Ben.
Victor surged forward, swinging his yellow blade in a snapping lunge, then ducking Ben's riposte. He used his momentum to somersault and kick the boy's legs out from underneath him. Ben fell heavily, his saber flickering off.
Victor sprang to his feet, leaning over the boy with a lightsaber to his throat in a backhanded grip. Despite what the boy had done, he couldn't bring himself to kill Luke Skywalker's only nephew. "Yield! It's over, Ben."
The dark haired teen bared his teeth in a vicious grin. "You know what your problem is, Vic? You, and my uncle, all of you?!"
"Enlighten us."
"You underestimate me."
Victor registered the hiss of the lightsaber at the same moment he felt it in his chest. He stared at it in a moment that felt supremely unreal. Less than ten minutes ago, he'd been complaining about his soup to Lin, and now he was dying. He going to die. "No..." He fell to his knees as Ben scrambled up, mirroring him, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck and tugging the saber from his chest.
"I'm not sorry. I'm not!" The teen glared at him through tears. "I'm not."
Victor Trevor slumped to the ground, his yellow lightsaber flickering off and rolling from his hand.
Henry Knight and Dorsk 88 stepped forward with scavenged lightsabers shaking in their hands to confront Ben Solo.
No one noticed a small hand dart out from under a table to snatch Victor's lightsaber from the ground.
oOo
Soo Lin Yao turned away from the Yavin academy's comm unit. Every channel she'd attempted to call for help on had been blocked. Someone above Ben Solo had orchestrated this attack and had clearly planned it well.
The Togruta began to scribble on the nearest paper she could reach as she heard quiet footsteps behind her.
She turned as a figure in black slowly removed a helmet.
Soo Lin sighed. "Liang. Big brother, I knew it would be you."
A low voice answered her. "My name is Zhi Zhu Ren now, little sister."
A lightsaber hummed to life in the deathly silence.
oOo
Sherlock Holmes ran through the jungle, lightsaber in his hand. His sense of unease had only grown as he'd gotten closer to the Jedi academy. Now that he was nearly there, he was frantic with the knowledge that something had happened. He could feel it permeating the Force, and he hesitated to name it.
Death. People he knew, possibly many of them, were dead. Victor maybe...no.
He had reached the outskirts of the academy grounds when he heard the sound of feet hitting the ground lightly behind him. He spun and ignited the saber in his hands, but saw only Molly Hooper behind him.
Molly was the only student at the academy other than himself to study the path of the Jedi Sentinel. Their skill sets were actually quite different, but both of them excelled at stealth and secrecy. Sherlock excelled in manipulating minds, reading thoughts, picking pockets, and generally talking himself into and out of situations; for Molly, remaining unnoticed was as natural as breathing. She could loosen the joints in her body to fit in spaces that humans shouldn't, or hide in plain sight. She had an unusual talent for hiding her essence in the force, making it nearly impossible for other Jedi to sense her. It shouldn't have surprised Sherlock that Molly Hooper would escape from whatever was happening at the academy.
She'd clearly been moving through the trees. Her large brown eyes were panicky; long cinnamon hair pulled loose from its plait on one side of her head. Her outer robe was missing and her clothing disheveled. He could detect a stain on the sleeve of her tunic that could only be blood.
"Oh Sherlock, thank the Force. I was coming to find you. He's killing them. They're killing them all. We have to run!" Molly's words rushed out of her, higher than her normal voice and tinged with hysteria.
"It's Ben Solo, isn't it?"
She nodded solemnly.
"I knew it!" He turned from her and started towards the academy. "I knew he would turn, the pompous little arse. I'm going to kill him. Maybe it's not too late for - for everyone."
The slim woman grabbed his arm with both hands, using his momentum to turn him. "You don't understand. Ben's not-"
His fear crystallized into rage in a moment. "You don't understand. You left them! You ran away and abandoned them. You may be a coward, Hooper, but I am not one."
Even as he said the words, he knew they were unfair. Molly was atrocious with a lightsaber and was only one person. But he was angry and she was here. He was already walking away from her.
"He's not alone, Sherlock. There are stormtroopers and at least two other Sith. Probably more, but I ran away too fast to be sure." He could hear the bitterness in her voice.
He stood for a moment, calculating the odds. Without turning he said, "I understand. I… I am sorry, Molly Hooper. For everything."
Sherlock Holmes ignited his lightsaber and began walking towards the Jedi academy.
The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was the sound of blaster fire.
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Thanks for reading!
This will be a story in 4-5 parts, with a second story to follow.
Extra explanatory bits about Star Wars stuff:
There are 3 basic branches of Jedi types. Jedi Sentinels (Sherlock and Molly) are the sneaky spy types, and generally most tempted by dark side as they have to make tricky decisions (because spy stuff).
Skywalker's academy was on Yavin 4 (home of the Rebel base in A New Hope) in the Legends universe, and I haven't seen anything in the new cannon about it being set anywhere else. I've always really enjoyed it as a setting. A jungle moon filled with dark side filled temples is the perfect place to train Jedi.
Soo Lin Yao was a Togruta - for visuals that is the same race as Shaak Ti from II and III and Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars cartoons.
Henry Knight was a Miraluka, which is a race of near humans who don't have eyeballs and use the force to see. True story.
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