Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

wildehacked asked: UH tell me everything about the star wars au immediately

So this is the OTHER Star Wars AU.  It was the second variant I came up with and, while it ruins fewer childhoods (this is the one with Prince Cesare of Alderaan and Lucrezia as the first of a new Jedi Order), I feel like it’s much truer to the characters.  Plus Lucrezia still gets a lightsaber.  This time with 2x the Dark Side!  It’s been a million years because HA I forgot this was done and I didn’t want to work on it anymore.

Cesare, no last name because slaves don’t have them, is a very small boy on Tatooine when a pair of Jedi Masters and their padawans show up with a child-queen. Cesare is only nine, but nine is already nearly an adult among the slave quarters, and he brings the whole lot of them back to his mother before they can get in trouble.  Queen Bonadeo is shy.  She doesn’t matter in this story.  One of the padawans, a fierce woman named Sforza, is almost through with her training, but the other is a pretty girl like a shaft of sunlight, just a little younger than Cesare.  The Jedi, Padawan Sforza’s Master and Master Farnese, want Cesare to come with them, to be trained as one of them, and he goes for the sake of the golden-haired girl who promises a better life.

When they return to the Core, they are greeted by a man just beginning to pass middle age, steel-grey hair and a steady, trustworthy voice, who is very interested in Cesare.  Cesare has never been interesting to anyone before.  It is incredible.  The man introduces himself as Senator Borgia, and tells Cesare to keep in contact. Cesare does.

Padawan Sforza becomes Cesare’s Master after her own Master is murdered.  She and Master Farnese could not be more different—Caterina, which Cesare is forbidden to call her, is fierce and military, while Giulia is gentle and fluid and diplomatic—but their opposing styles are beautifully complementary, and they are often put on missions together. Cesare comes to know the golden girl as Lucrezia, and they are best friends, as like as two halves of a coin, and as they grow up, they train together, fight together, live together, until the entire Temple speaks of them in a single breath, as Cesare-and-Lucrezia.  

Lucrezia is the only one who knows about how often Cesare and Master Sforza clash, about the times that they shout at each other until Cesare is screaming and Master Sforza is all but glowing with rage.  If Cesare cannot control his emotions, cannot master this lightsaber form, cannot do this simple Force trick, cannot be a Jedi, Caterina shouts, then what did her master die for? Lucrezia is furious—she is shaking with it, she has never been so angry in her entire life.  She destroys Giulia in a sparring match and is advanced to her Knighthood trials at sixteen, the youngest Knight in living memory. And living memory stretches back quite far, with Master Innocent being several centuries old.

That’s not quite true.  One other person knows.  Senator Borgia.  He does not think Cesare is a failure, he does not think Cesare was an ill investment, he thinks Cesare is bright and clever and strong and full of potential.  Cesare tells him everything.

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Anonymous asked: So about this Jedi AU I see that you have all the things about John and Ham but what about Burr? Ham and John have perfect moral compass that doesnt stray but what about Burr and maybe straying between Jedi and Sith and getting corrupted by TJeff idk

All right, my bespectacled buddy, how fortunate, because I have Thoughts about Jedi Aaron Burr.  Also, there is now a tag for this AU.

I suppose I should mention that I actually have no idea where the Sith fit in this universe.  For a story of sweeping good and evil, the Sith and the Jedi are the logical ends of the spectrum, but a revolution…isn’t that simple.  For every General Benedict Arnold ready to turn on his country for wounded pride, there’s a plain soldier ready to go too far in defense of what he believes is freedom, ready to tar and feather someone for the crime of an accent or a birth–the line blurs.  The opponent of a revolution is, in fact, lack of emotion.  Passion drives a revolution.  The Jedi…are not at ease with this.  Honestly, the Sith are probably sitting in some corner of the galaxy sulking over the fact that they are suddenly quite superfluous.  Between the Empire and the Continentals, there’s more than enough chaos to go around.

• First, Aaron Burr is actually the best Jedi–he’s not like Washington, putting up a good facade while he gets secret-married and bides his time for a revolution, nor like Lee, who basks in the glory and honor of being a Jedi Master.  Burr really believes it, there is no emotion, there is no ignorance, there is no passion, there is no chaos, there is no death.  He’s uncannily good at it, taking whatever the universe throws at him with the same serene smile.  He’s so good at it, in fact, that his Master, upon recommending him for Knighthood, added that they would do well to find him something to fight for.  That he could be great, if he had something to fight for.
  
• Even a Jedi needs ideals, is the thing.
• The first time Burr meets Alexander Hamilton, the feral Force user challenges him with if you stand for nothing, what’ll you fall for?
• He…doesn’t have an answer, he doesn’t even think he understands the question, and that…that’s new.
• Aaron Burr goes to Washington, with his glowing Jedi record and an offer of help, and it goes about how it did in reality/the musical.
• Washington: I am in dire need of assistance!
• Burr: Hey, I am 100% down to be a secretary.
• Washington: It’s not that dire, take it easy.  Hey, angry fighty barely-not-a-teenager Hamilton, you want a job?  No?  Sure you do.
• Aaron is left standing there, overwhelmed with emotion for the first time in his life, and the envy is almost baffling.  But it’s all right, it’s fine, he can take a couple of deep breaths and let it go, there is no emotion, there is no passion, and he smiles and smiles and nods and takes the command he’s offered as…the word consolation rises in his mind and he dismisses it with a vengeance.  Aaron Burr is a Jedi, like his Master and her Master before her, and his Master crafted a new lightsaber form, she was a genius, her Master did a lengthy stint on the Council, he commanded respect–no lineage of theirs is unstable enough to need consoling.  He has a legacy to protect.  The hot twist in his gut is only discomfort at how wrong-footed Hamilton makes him, the rushing in his ears only the Force spinning wild in the war.
• Aaron Burr fights in the war.  Makes quite a name for himself, actually, as crisp and efficient in every way.  It’s not a bad reputation to have, especially once he brings that reputation to bear and puts down a mutiny about a year before Monmouth.  Admittedly he’s not close with his men, but that’s fine.  He’s a Jedi, their commander, and that’s all he needs.  Even once he suffers a mild Force burnout and a much more serious heat stroke over Monmouth, he is still of use to the army, even if he can’t fight anymore, and that’s fine, that’s enough, he’s all right with that, because there is peace, serenity, harmony, Force.
• He crosses paths with Hamilton often, the man apparently permanently installed in Washington’s orbit, opposite Lafayette and beside Washington’s own padawan.  Burr refuses to admit to that flare of bitter heat through his chest every time Hamilton comes bounding up to him, grinning, and greets him like an old friend, spilling joy-irritation-grief-anger-laughter through the Force.  Hamilton is a never-ending torrent of emotion, always preferring to fight a battle rather than let it stand, and just being around him feels like it’s contagious.
• It doesn’t help that Aaron still feels (or rather, refuses to feel) that twist of envy every time he watches Hamilton spin words out of thin air, feels him move through the Force like he’s a part of it–abrasive and emotional as he is, Hamilton is better than Aaron, and he doesn’t understand why.  Peace over emotion, serenity over passion, and yet…and yet Hamilton is wild as anything and still better.
• It’s made worse by the fact that Hamilton doesn’t seem to notice.  He considers Burr a friend, and he thinks Burr is brilliant–that’s just how he works.  Hamilton doesn’t grant friendship to fools, and therefore all his friends must be as wickedly knife-edge sharp as he is, Laurens and Burr and Lafayette and Washington and, and, and….
• Hamilton is a hurricane, and all that can be done is to let him sweep you up and trust that you’ll understand eventually.
• He is not, cannot be, will not be jealous.  He is a Jedi and he will let go his emotions and if letting go feels more like swallowing down, these days, then surely it is only the stress.  He just needs to meditate.  It will go away.
• And now here is a question.  Suppose a man spends all his time, for years on end, forcing himself into the trap of the Jedi code and withstanding Hamilton Feeling in his direction constantly, whether it’s the man’s oddly pure and childlike delight with having friends or his eternal aggravation with Burr’s indeterminate politics and philosophy and everything else.  Now suppose that man finally, finally, loses his temper.
• How do you suppose that such a thing will erupt?

Anonymous asked: So, about this Hamilton Star Wars AU: I have noticed an unacceptable lack of Hamilton/Laurens headcanons and feelings and urge you to inflict these on us at your earliest convenience.

Oh, sorry, friend, it looks like you’ve got a typo, I think you meant hey, Moran, inflict your thoughts on Space Monmouth on us, seeing as Laurens almost died there. 

• Washington, by this point, has been SOUNDLY outed as a Bad Code-Breaking Jedi (with a wife, the Council would like to reiterate).  So the Congress governing the Continental systems decided that they needed to save face a little and made Washington promote Master Lee to the rank of Major General, because his record as a Jedi is impeccable.
  
• Um, naturally, way back when they first meet, Lee takes one look at Washington’s padawan and launches into a truly epic lecture about the dangers and crimes of attachment.  Laurens poker-faces through the whole thing and Hamilton instantly and deeply loathes Lee, because Laurens starts to retreat again.  It’s taken him months to coax Laurens into kissing him, into letting him slip into his bunk and nestle into him sleepily.  Laurens has even started being the one to initiate, tugging Hamilton down by the hand and wrapping long arms around him, pressing skin to skin.  That changes with Lee standing around, looking judgemental.
• That’s okay, though, because Laurens deeply and sincerely loathes Lee for the dispassionate report that Hamilton died at Schuylkill.  Everyone hates Lee, basically.
• Lee actually turns down the command at first because he’s offended at how small it is, never mind that the Continental army is desperately strapped for men and fighters alike.  Washington has the best deadpan in the business, which is the only reason that Lee doesn’t know how relieved he is to hand the command over to Lafayette.
• Of course, then Lee comes back and says he’s going to take command after all, and attack the Empire troops as they leave the desert moon Monmouth, where they spent their own winter.  Washington still holds up that deadpan, because the only other option is to rest his head on the table and swear like a smuggler.
• So they go to battle, Laurens and Hamilton among the fighters Lee leads down into the atmosphere.  The heat from low-atmo combat is so awful a few ships–Continental and Imperial alike–malfunction on the spot and go down in flaming wreckage, all hands dead.
• Here’s the thing.  There’s a trend across Laurens and Hamilton’s experience in battle.  
• At Brandywine, Laurens almost died, after taking a blaster shot to the shoulder.
• Schuylkill was Schuylkill.
• On the Island, Hamilton broke onto an Imperial ship and stole twenty-one out of twenty-four top-of-the-line fighters, while ignoring heavy strafing fire from a battlecruiser.  Hercules, who was there, swears up and down that it gave him grey hair.
• Innumerable other skirmishes have proved that, given the opening, they’re more likely to risk their necks than preserve them.
• They should be used to it, is the thing.  And Laurens might be, if he does say so himself, because Hamilton can find a near-lethal fight with any civilian on the street.  Hamilton, on the other hand, is not, and when Laurens is shot out of the sky, he doesn’t even try to find the other man’s Force signature before he panics.
• Lee is a coward at heart.  He’s not prepared to face the brutal heat, nor the desperation of the Imperial troops, nor the explosion of a Force-hurricane at the combat line.  He runs, and when he runs, the ragged Continental line shatters.
• And then the General’s personal fighter, the Vernon, comes screaming in from the edge of the atmosphere with Lafayette’s Marquis on his wing and the hurricane of Hamilton’s power still roaring so that even the soldiers with less Force-sense than a potato can feel it, and the Continentalists rally with a vengeance.  It’s not a win, but they’ve proved they can hold their line.
• Laurens is pulled out of his wreckage, almost completely uninjured and drenched in Hamilton’s Force signature.  Laurens doesn’t know what happened, and Hamilton isn’t talking.  
• Lee starts talking shit, because Lee is terrible.
• Washington takes a minute, thinks about it, and immediately issues an order that Hamilton have nothing to do with Lee, because Hamilton is on the warpath about Laurens’ latest brush with death.
• Unfortunately, he fails to get ahead of Laurens himself, who is finally reaching his breaking point.  And who would probably jump off a space deck without a suit if Hamilton wanted him to.
• LIGHTSABER DUELS.  HAMILTON DOES NOT LIKE THEM.
• No, seriously, Jedi, Hamilton wants to know why you don’t use blasters like sane people.  He really does.  Using blasters and the Force together is both convenient and fun.  And ranged.  Get on his level.  
• Hamilton almost has a heart attack when he hears someone scream on the dueling ground, and the organ only resumes normal function when Laurens flicks off his lightsaber and lets Lee drop to the ground, a long cauterized wound to the ex-general’s ribs still smoking.
• Laurens is in trouble (Washington would like to be on record that he’s been encouraging attachment, not rampant violence, and he’s very disappointed), but Hamilton…oh, Hamilton is really in trouble.  Because Laurens can call it acting impulsively and ‘a learning experience,’ but Hamilton disobeyed a direct order.
• Washington doesn’t say “I’d send you home but this ship is the only one you have,” but it’s a near thing, and Hamilton looks crushed nonetheless.  It’s a bad day for everyone.
• Instead of being sent ‘home,’ Hamilton is sent away from the front lines (away from John, a greedy part of his mind mutters, and holocalls are so interceptible, they won’t even be able to see each other, letters only), to serve as a liaison and bodyguard for their best supply ship.
• The Revelation picks up its new passenger on its next pass.  At least he’s old friends with the sisters, Hamilton thinks glumly as he lets Eliza crush him in a hug and ruffles his hand through Peggy’s hair to make her squawk in offence and call for Angelica.
• Still.
• The girls aren’t Laurens.

skymurdock asked: Hamilton and Jedi padawan!Laurens in the middle of the Space Revolutionary War and afterwards, possibly SCREAMING AT JEFFERSON in the middle of a Senate session.

Okay so during the Space Revolutionary War, here’s a few things that DEFINITELY happen.

• First of all, Hamilton and Laurens and Lafayette and Mulligan are all involved about a year and a half earlier than they were in actual-facts history, which only matters because PINING.  So Laurens spends about a year Dealing with Hamilton, not least because he’s the only person who ever has any success managing him (after the third time Washington finds Hamilton passed out at a table after two days of work, he officially adds Hamilton Wrangling to Laurens’ list of padawan duties).  And this is made difficult because Hamilton is of the opinion that vows of non-attachment are stupid and also Laurens has a bad habit of Attaching all over the place, so he Suffers.
  
  
• Riiiiight up until about the eight month mark at which point Laurens is exhausted from whatever they’ve been up to and reels right over until his face is buried in the curve of Hamilton’s neck and his lanky body is pressed up against Hamilton’s smaller form.  He mumbles something about ‘just so tired of not getting to do this’ and that…is pretty much that.  Hamilton is so smug every Jedi in the quadrant can practically taste it.  They’re not great at being subtle, but, like, there’s no evidence and they’re not bad at being subtle either, so really just Lafayette really KNOWS, and Laurens feels.  So.  Guilty.  But Hamilton is like gravity, and the guilt always somehow takes a backseat when the feral Force user kisses him.
  
  
• There’s a space battle on the edge of the Schuylkill Asteroid Belt, some two years into the war, while they’re hidden on Valley Forge.  Alexander Hamilton is shot down and lost in the belt, according to the comm Lee sends them.  Laurens can’t find him in the Force, can’t feel him anywhere, and, while Laurens isn’t particularly strong with the Force (not like Alex, he thinks wildly, not like Alex who drags his own personal hurricane wherever he goes), the pulse of pain that rips out from him is so intense it leaves the other Jedi and Force-sensitives in Washington’s inner military family gasping.  
• “General Washington, sir,” Hamilton pants as he all but onto the bridge of Washington’s ship, charred in places and his escape pod literally falling apart in the landing bay.  There’s a long pause, and he looks around, bemused, at the shocked faces around him.  “Uh, did I miss something?”
  
• That night, Laurens pushes Hamilton down onto his bunk and curls up around him, until his senses are flooded with nothing but him, and the only thing he can sense in the Force is the hurricane, set to the beat of Alex’s heart.
• Listening to the frantic Force signature of his student wind down into something exhausted, Washington very quietly gets in contact with a woman by the name of Martha and casually suggests that she look into coming to visit Valley Forge now that he’s in so much trouble with the Council anyway.

(to tune of Non-Stop)  AFTER the War, they went back to the Continental systems.  (Doesn’t really scan, does it.)

• So Hamilton’s not married to Eliza in this AU because the Schuyler Sisters are still kicking ALL the ass (WORK), he and Laurens have been a thing for a while now (and Laurens is getting past some of his issues on GWash’s example), and the Jedi Council, let’s be real, is pretty much not okay with any of the Space Revolutionary War.  Not least because Best Jedi Ever George Washington has been happily married for like TEN YEARS NOW and they’re all feeling kind of humiliated.  So the Council fractures right down the middle, and on the one side you have the Traditionalists and on the other side you have…I dunno, Reform Jedi?  Reform Jedi, we’re calling them that.  And the Reform Jedi decide to integrate themselves into the new government of the Continental systems, which have renamed themselves the American systems (because I do what I want), aaaand that’s where TJeffs comes in.  Ex-ambassador to Coruscant from Washington’s home planet.

• Jefferson’s Force-sensitive, but not enough to be trained as a Jedi (and yes, he’s bitter), so he meets Hamilton and then things unravel from there.  Their FIRST MEETING involves the debate of “is each planet going to be financially sovereign or not”, and Hamilton’s very logical response is “obviously not, because YOUR planet might be all temperate climates and arable land, but, say, the planet containing our current capital is NOT, each planet needs to be able to depend on each other.”  And Jefferson, Force bless him, opens his counter-argument with something to the effect of “are we going to take recommendations on how to financially manage a unification of systems from a feral Force user from the ass end of the galaxy, what possible use could he be.”
• Laurens is literally an entire system away, mopping up some of the last of the mess, and he still feels Hamilton lose his temper.

skymurdock asked: Hamilton and, uh, idk hmm - STAR WARS AU. "pardon me, are you Master Burr, sir?" "that depends, who's asking?"

SHOWTIME.

• So some thirty parsecs past the ass end of the galaxy there’s this tiny nothing planet that’s mostly ocean, and the planet is called Nevis, and one of its islands is called Christiansted, and if anyone who didn’t actually live there was asked to find it on a star map, they definitely couldn’t do it.  This is where Alex is born and this is where his mother dies of some disease brought in by a trader and this is where he almost dies with her, almost dies in a hurricane that swallows the island whole, almost starves when his cousin eats a blaster, before someone notices that—kriff, but this kid is brilliant. Another trader gives him work and he proves rapidly that not only is he a dab hand with numbers, but he can blow through a five hundred page holonovel in a few hours and learn a language in a couple months.
• His mother always said talking was his strong suit and now he’s proving it, because Alex has to be the best to survive, so that’s what he’ll do.  He’ll talk, and he’ll write, and he’ll get off this rock if it kills him.  He wants something to do, he wants to change the galaxy, and there’s something murmuring to him, like a whisper of wind, that he’ll do it if he can just get off Nevis.

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