Characters: Hondo Ohnaka, Dorian Starskip (OC), Veeran Starskip (OC), other OCs, Allana Djo Solo, Ben Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker, plus a surprise EC or two
Timeframe: 44 ABY & beyond (mostly)
Genre: AU, humor, adventure, drama, angst, friendship, romance, horror, poetry
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The first twelve chapters in this collection were written for the 2024 Kessel Run challenge, featuring stories in a new AU of my Enter!verse: the pirate AU! (Well, space pirates at any rate. :P ) I wrote one story per week for twelve weeks for a variety of prompts, which were only revealed at the beginning of each week. Familiarity with my Enter!verse is helpful, but hopefully these will make sense and be enjoyable even if you haven't read any of my other fics. I'm planning to write additional stories for this collection as the muse allows.
A note about Hondo: I tend to treat the events and characters of TCW as part of Disney canon rather than making them fit with the older Legends material and characters I typically prefer to write, but I feel like an AU in which the Chaos Twins become pirates instead of Sith Lords wouldn't be complete without Hondo Ohnaka, so here we are. ;)
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Stardust and Steel
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Index
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1. The Wordsmith — 51 ABY — Everyone's a critic
Dorian Starskip (OC) & Hondo Ohnaka
2. Good Business — 44 ABY — Hondo Ohnaka takes in eight young Force-sensitives after rescuing them from the One Sith
Hondo Ohnaka
3. "The Buccaneers' Boarding Ballad" — What sort of shanty might space pirates sing?
4. "Obsession" — main Enter!verse — In another reality, Darth Festus is bound by darkest night
Darth Festus (OC)
5. Safe — 44 ABY — The smallest member of Hondo's crew has a unique perspective on the newly arrived Sithlings
Leda the felinx (OC), Veeran Starskip (OC), Assorted Characters
6. Perception — 53 ABY — Hondo's Sithlings raid a ship, but only one of them knows the true value of its cargo
Allana Djo Solo, Dorian Starskip, Veeran Starskip, Assorted Characters
7. Part of the Family— 54 ABY — Ben Skywalker, meet Hondo Ohnaka
Ben Skywalker & Hondo Ohnaka
8. Uncle Hondo— 31 ABY — Luke and Mara meet the once and future pirate king
Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker, Hondo Ohnaka
9. The Campfire— 53 ABY — Sitting around a late-night campfire, Hondo's Sithlings drink and talk and remember
OCs: Dorian, Veeran, Dessa, Yaanis, Joor, Shadow, Gelki, Jax
10. What to Expect When You're Expropriating — 44 ABY — Hondo gives some valuable instruction to his newest pirate recruits
Hondo Ohnaka & his Sithlings
11. The Gallows Tree — 54 ABY — The Chaos Twins and their crew head to a mysterious planet in search of a long-lost relic, but what they find there isn't at all what they expected...
Veeran Starskip, Dorian Starskip, Hondo Ohnaka, Assorted Characters
12. Message Received — 53-54 ABY — A series of messages both sent and unsent, and sometimes even received
Dorian Starskip, Allana Djo Solo, Hondo Ohnaka, Veeran Starskip, Assorted Characters
13. Your Request Is Being Processed — 54 ABY — There's a darkness up ahead
Darth Krayt & Doctor Mezzon (OC)
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Kessel Run, Week 1: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that begins with this sentence: "All you could see, and feel, was the ashes."
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The Wordsmith
51 ABY
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All you could see, and feel, was the ashes. Each breath seared in your lungs and clouded your brain, and you couldn't hear anything but the crunch of crumbled mortar and durasteel blasted halfway to oblivion, tamped down by a pair of boots somewhere beneath you. He held you in his arms as he walked – you realized it was the only time he'd ever done so, and you couldn't even bring yourself to be revulsed by that fact – carrying you across the smoldering remains of his fortress. It hardly mattered; your brother had survived, and that was all you cared about.
The ashes… they freckled the air like heavy, bitter snowflakes, choking out the last rays of sunlight that bloodied Yalena's sky. You were about to close your eyes and let unconsciousness take you again, and hope that just this once, it might be the sleep of the dead – dreamless, formless, deep black and unending – when a pair of amber lights blazed identical trails through the darkness around you. It took several seconds for your blast-fogged brain to recognize another sound beyond the incessant and unpleasant ringing in your ears: the drone of a large ship's engine.
You weren't sure how long the doctor stood there holding you, caught between his own ship and the newly arrived one, but you knew one thing for sure—
"Oh no, no, no, no, this will not do. Such morbid recollections, my boy, such… what is the word I'm looking for?"
Scratch that. You knew two things for sure—
"Two? Why not make it three, my grim little wordsmith? And speaking of being sure, are you sure you want to use this, ah… what is it called? This thing where you talk to yourself?"
Second-person perspective.
"Second-person perspective, I knew it would come to me! Yes, well… are you sure this is the, how should I say… the most exciting way to present your tale?"
You didn't think there was anything particularly exciting about this part—
"Not exciting? Not exciting? Oh ho, but you could not be more wrong, my boy! This is where the excitement begins! For out of the darkness and the ashes, a daring and noble rescuer appears! A charming, talented, handsome rogue who… you should be writing this down, my boy."
Out of the darkness, a rescuer—
"A daring and noble rescuer—"
—a daring and noble rescuer appeared—
"A charming and talented and very handsome— you stopped writing again, what is the matter? You do not like the way I tell it? You think perhaps I embellish too much, hm? We-ell, let me tell you, you will be happy for those little flourishes of originality when a pretty girl catches your eye, mark my words!"
I'm good, thanks.
"Very well. If you do not wish for your beloved captain's advice on matters of the heart – or on the construction of your prose – I shall depart. But before I go, perhaps you will allow for one extremely tiny suggestion?"
…Yeah?
"This writing, it sounds like it happened so long ago."
It did happen a long time ago.
"But there's no immediacy, no fire."
There was a lot of fire.
"Yes, yes, yes, but the past tense, and this second place person—"
Second-person perspective…
"That is what I said… Ah! I've got it! You should try writing it as if you were there."
I was there.
"My poor hyperbolic child, you were barely even conscious for this part, you cannot be trusted to portray a convincing narrative. Here, let me see that datapad…"
I really need to start locking my door.
"Ah, well, it would not do any good you see, because I have the override code… Where are you off to, my little Starskipper? If it's to the galley, bring Hondo back a sandwich, would you? Writing always makes me so very hungry…"
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