From Riandra: An unlikely angel
I told Ria I would do this if I got the chance: write stories in the Starlock 'verse if I got any prompts that worked that way. If you were around last year, you might recall her "Starlock" or Star Wars/Sherlock Holmes crossover in the midst of her Good Holmesians All, This Christmastide. Afterwards, she gave me permission to pick up the reins of the story, and I got as far as starting what should be the first episode, Star Crossed, Episode I: A New Path, posted to our joint account, Wholmes Productions.
==Day 5: The Light of All Lights==
"There are darknesses in life and there are lights,
And you are one of the lights, the light of all lights."
—Bram Stoker, Dracula
Thirteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes was absolutely certain that if he spent any more time cooped up in the Jedi Temple, he would go mad. He had been without a home for two years, and the sudden enforcement of one he couldn't leave without a chaperone grated on him for the next two.
Thus, he made plans for a temporary escape. He noted potential unguarded exits, and the times during which Master Nusep would not be looking for his company, until at last, one evening, he made good on his study. He wrapped a cloak tightly around him to conceal his Padawan braid and atrocious haircut as he wended his way away from the Temple into the heart of Coruscant.
It was fascinating. So many people, so many different species and languages, so much data to absorb! Mos Espa had never been this vibrant!
Nor this dangerous. Tatooine was one of the slaving hubs of the galaxy, but Sherlock was getting the impression that a staggering number of the Coruscanti population was enslaved or indentured, but it was also a world of one trillion inhabitants. Crime ran rampant down on the lower levels, and law enforcement could do very little about it—hence why Jedi children and teenagers were never allowed out on their own.
...and he was beginning to wonder if maybe he shouldn't have tried to talk his classmate Vic Treor into coming with him… he was almost certainly being followed…
Two humans—a boy and a girl—a Rhodian, a Trandoshan, and a souped-up combat droid—and the organic members of the gang were all adolescent.1 Not that it much mattered, with those numbers. He could try to run, but he almost certainly couldn't fight them all. Even his combat skills, advanced for his age and lack of training thanks to experience in street-fighting, wouldn't protect him from this gang.
But, unfortunately, he wasn't seeing a lot of options in the way of giving them the slip. Not even a crowd—he had stupidly let himself wander onto a quiet street.
He turned and met the reptilian eye of the Trandoshan, who then moved ahead of his comrades. Ah, the leader, then. "Give yourself up, boy," they growled, "and it'll go easier on you." The next moment, Sherlock finally noticed the stun batons they were all armed with, and the manacles hanging from the Trandoshan's belt. Teen slavers. Wonderful.
Casting about for a makeshift weapon, his eyes fell upon a small support strut that had been cast aside. That would do. He darted over to it and hefted it. No use if they decided to use their blasters, but if they were looking for undamaged goods…
"Let him go," rang out a young but strangely muffled female voice, and then Sherlock realized what he should have sooner: he was also in the vicinity of another Force-sensitive. The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows, bearing a gun that seemed a full half her adolescent size. She wore a dusty, grease-splattered grey jumpsuit and a black headscarf, fastened to her jumpsuit and leaving only her bright blue eyes exposed.
The Trandoshan laughed, and the slaver girl spat at the newcomer. "Who do you think you are, police or something?"
"Nah. I'm just the kid who's gonna damage your very expensive-looking droid friend there so badly that you're not gonna be able to put them back together."
The droid beeped something—in Binary, Sherlock realized, and he knew Binary.2 "I can take her," the droid had said.
"Forget it," the Trandoshan hissed. "Not worth it. They'll get hurt and their value will go down." An intelligent Trandoshan? Well, wonders never did cease… "Next time, humans!" The reptilian figure turned and began to walk the way they'd come, their lackeys following.
Sherlock glanced at his rescuer, and the girl didn't lower her gun until the gang was out of sight. Then she set it down with a sigh of relief. "I am really glad that worked. For a minute there, I was afraid you were gonna be toast."
"I was going to be a slave." Sherlock's voice sounded painfully unsteady to his own ears. But he was the first freeborn child in his mother's family for generations! Being caught like that would have meant more than losing his freedom—it would have meant letting his family down. "You saved my life. Thank you." He set down his makeshift weapon and held out his hand.
The girl took it and shook it firmly, eyes glimmering with delight. "You're welcome. So. I won't tell if you won't tell?"
Then she was a Padawan. "I guess not," Sherlock said ruefully. "I'm Sherlock Holmes. Pleasure to meet you."
The blue eyes widened. "Sherlock Holmes?!" She tugged down her scarf… and Sherlock almost forgot to breathe. She was beau… no, stop that, you're a Jedi, remember? Thoughts like that aren't allowed.
"The Sherlock Holmes?" the girl continued, oblivious to his stare. "The kid from Tatooine the Jedi Council bypassed the age restrictions for? Pleasure's all mine! I've heard so much about you—everybody says you're a genius!"
Sherlock blushed. "Hardly, or I wouldn't have been caught out here like that."
"Everybody makes mistakes. I'm Beth. Beth L'Straid. C'mon, let's get out of here." She tugged at his sleeve and started. "By the way, if you wanna make a habit out of coming out here, you should get yourself a blaster. Doesn't have to be as big as that—" she nodded at the weapon she was leaving behind—"but it's a good idea for protection."
Sherlock looked back at the oversized blaster. "Not yours?"
"Nope! Found it. Had a feeling I'd need it, and sure enough! So, are you gonna do the Thing?"
"What thing?"
"The Thing where you go telling somebody their life story based on everything you've noticed about them."
He blushed again. "Maybe."
"No, c'mon! I'm curious! What can you tell about me?"
"Well, you're Corellian."
"Could be Mid-Rimmer."
"Could be, but the difference between the Corellian and the Mid-Rim accents is the consonants. You pronounce your consonants harder than a Mid-Rimmer would."3
"Ah."
"Also, the fact that you still have a Corellian accent rather than a Mid-Rim or Core-World one—" the two predominant accents in the Jedi Temple, Sherlock had noticed—"implies that you were taken from home older than usual, too."
Beth nodded. "My parents gave me up when I was three. I still remember them." Her voice was wistful.
"Yeah, I know the feeling," Sherlock muttered. The sight of his mother being cut down by blaster fire still haunted his dreams…
"What about you? You're from Tatooine, but you've got a Core-World accent."
"Oh. My father was from the Core; I… think I mimicked him when I was little and then I was stuck with it."
"Ah." Fortunately, she seemed to sense that he didn't want to talk about his family. "So, my accent. Anything else?"
"Well, you're rebellious. Impulsive. Reckless. Aggressive." He stopped, thinking about that. "And you're a Padawan?" She seemed like the very antithesis of what the Jedi wanted from one of their own.
It was her turn to blush. "I was assigned to my master, not chosen by her," she said softly. "I probably would never have been chosen, otherwise—I'm a horrible Jedi."
"No, you're not," he soothed. "What you did for me, that was—"
"Not how a Jedi would do it."
"Maybe not, but it was still brave and selfless."
She gave him a small smile. "Thanks."
"So what were you doing out here?"
"You couldn't figure that one out?"
"Well, I'd say that you were flying…" She looked at him expectantly. "But beyond that, I can't tell what or why."
She smirked. "Okay, you're not omniscient. Good to know." She flashed a teasing grin at him. "Well, and I'd better leave you now. We're getting close, and better if we sneak back in separately than together."
He nodded. "Of course. But what were you doing out there?"
She paused. "Well, I guess that's for me to know, and you to find out." She winked at him and ran off.
He sighed as he trudged alone back to his secret exit from the Temple. "Females."
1 Rhodians are the species Greedo is from (the bounty hunter Han Solo shoots in A New Hope). Trandoshans are the species Bossk is from (the lizard-like bounty hunter Darth Vader hires in The Empire Strikes Back).
2 Binary is the droid language that R2-D2 and BB-8 use.
3 There isn't a whole lot of consistency with accents in the SW universe, but generally, people from the Core Worlds (Coruscant and other nearby planets) speak in refined British accents, and people on the Mid and Outer Rims speak in American/Canadian accents. Timothy Zahn, who wrote for the old Expanded Universe, defined the Corellian accent—Han's accent—as having hard consonants.
A/N: Whoops, that was really long! So, show of hands: who here knows Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century? If you don't, the reason that Sherlock is in the 22nd century in the first place is because of young, American Detective Inspector Beth Lestrade. She's a great character, but she's not always handled the best—for instance, she often sounds angry for truly no discernable reason. It's weird! So when I write her, I tone down the anger and aggression unless she needs it, and play up her better qualities.
And yeah, she's part of an otherwise canon!Holmes/Star Wars crossover—because I've gotten used to putting her in the AUs I write! She's too awesome a character, and her chemistry with Sherlock is just too much fun! Plus, she works very well in providing the tension of a very brave, very good person who is also trying and not succeeding in being a very good Jedi, which is not the same thing.
There may or may not be more Starlock stories later. Depends on the prompts! I almost wrote my backstory for Moriarty and Moran in this 'verse, then decided against it due to the strong possibility of it being too far out of left field for readers to enjoy. Heck, the finished thing might still be too far out of left field. :/
Anyhoo, thank you everyone for your support! You guys are the best! *hugs and smooches*
