Beyond - Legends Across the Stars: A Shakespearian Story of Star Wars Proportions!..or is that the other way around?

Star Wars: Across the Stars is a retelling of the Shakespearian Classic, Romeo and Juliet, infused with classic Star Wars stuff.

I don't own Star Wars, but Romeo and Juliet is public domain. Boo-yah!

Dramatis Personae

----------------in order of appearance-----------------

FXT-1 and FXT-2
Capulet IG-series droid
Benvolio
Tybalt
Montague and Lady
Capulet and Lady
Escalus
Romeo
Paris
Nurse
Juliet
Mercutio
Rosalyn (yes, I spelled it different. deal)
Laurence
John
Street bum



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PROLOGUE
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Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Corusca, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which but their children's end naught could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which, if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

-From William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet


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More to come soon, but I'm still refining the first chapter.

 

ACT ONE

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CHAPTER ONE
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Two repair droids, one a rusty orange, the other a faded navy blue, walked down M. Corusca Lane, the newest district on a Coruscant slowly becoming the capital of the New Republic. The repair droids, due to a lack of droids in general, had been fitted with some protocol droid memory banks and such, making them slightly more conversational than the average workerbot.

And a lot more opinionated.

"How I do despise those Montague IG-droids!" the orange droid said to the blue one. "I say, they can never be tamed, that line."

"I agree with you whole heartedly, FXT-1," said the blue droid, evidently FXT-2.

At that unfortunate moment, IG(C)-14, the (C) in its code standing for "civilized", rounded the bend from Lord Montague's mansion, a post-modern, smaller take on the Imperial Palace. His advanced auditory sensors, a leftover from the earlier series of assassins, immediately picked up the offending words, and tracked them to their origin. Despite its lack of weapons, IG-14 lunged itself at FXT-1 and-2, knocking down FXT-2. From a window upstairs, Benovolio, Jedi Master and kinsman to Lord Montague, saw the fight brewing and instinctively leapt out, falling the short story to the rather weak foundations of the newly built district.

"Stop this madness at once, IG-14!" he commanded. The droid briefly continued its assault, and then backed off. But all was not over, for Jedi Knight Tybalt, nephew to Lord Capulet of Verona, a small company inside of the District of Corusca, entered the scene, eager to pick a fight with the ever so obedient Benvolio.

"So, Benvolio," Tybalt said, seizing the opportunity to turn the blame to the Montagues, "it would seem that you are trying to sic your attack droid on my workerbots. How dare you?"

"Tybalt, you know full well that this little bout was not of my doing," Benvolio countered, his fingers independently going for his lightsaber, despite better judgement.

And a good thing, for precisely then, Tybalt struck, his crimson blade nearly amputating Benvolio's right hand. A tealish beam then met Tybalt's weapon, and the duel had begun.

Last to arrive in the caravan of passersby, the Lords Montague and Capulet, and their ladies, eager to have a go in the brawl. But Governor Escalus of Corusca arrived before that could happen.

"Hear me, Montagues and Capulets," he said loud and strong. "No more! No more will I tolerate this childishness in the streets of my district! No more will you endanger my people! By the Force, if any of you again unsheath a weapon, bearing ill will toward the other family, on pain of death you will be punished! Now go!"

As the familes went their ways, Escalus pulled Lord Capulet aside. "I know what you are trying to do in your little paradise, Capulet," he breathed, his voice barely a whisper. "Know now that it would be ill-advised to attempt a coup. Put aside the old prejudices, and let evolution take its course."
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That last passage alludes to an original plot line. So if you're using this for Cliffs Notes (for shame!), pay it no mind.

Adapting old stuff is fantastic, by the way. I can write the dialogue as flowery and overly theatrical as I want, and it will never seem out of place. I may just have to do this again.

 

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CHAPTER TWO
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At the Verona Capulet Mansion, a young, rich man arrived to speak with Lord Capulet. Aside from Montague and Capulet, he was the richest man in Corusca, and possibly on all of Coruscant.

"Ah, Paris, my good man," Capulet said jovially as he descended an ornate cherrywood staircase. "I take it that you have received my message?"

"I did indeed, Lord Capulet," Paris replied, slightly inclining his head. "What is it that you wanted to speak with me about?"

"I have seen you with my daughter. Is it not obvious that there are feelings between you?"

Paris smiled smally. "I would have hoped, Lord, that it is not horribly obvious."

Capulet clapped Paris on the shoulder. "Paris, do not take my words the wrong way. You are a boy, of what, twenty-one, at most? My Juliet is nineteen. It is a match made in heaven, if one were to ask it of me.

"In fact, Paris, I want you to know that you have my full consent to have my daughter's hand in marriage, if you so choose to ask."

Paris took a step back, not having expected this. "Sir, I would be honored. I can only hope Juliet feels the same."

"Assuredly she does, lad." Capulet glanced up the stairs. The maid had finished cleaning, and they were alone in the room. "How are the restorations moving along, perchance?"

"Marvelously, Lord Capulet. I suspect the entire project will be done by week's end."

"Good news, Paris, good news indeed. We shall talk of this later, then. I am holding my annual masquerade ball this night, and all of the Coruscant elite will be in attendance. I would much desire for you to attend, if only to woo my child further?"

"It will be my pleasure, Lord Capulet."



The protocol droid P-3TR continued on out of Verona, sending out invitations to all on the list. Sadly, though, the droid's photoreceptors were outdated, as Capulet had lent all new equipment to Paris. As such, the droid was unable to read the list that Capulet had given it.

The droid happened by two young men, and asked the first to read the list to him.

"Of course," the man said. "Here, I'll activate your recorder." He read the list, and came upon "Rosalyn..." He stopped reading.

"Is there a problem, sir?" P-3TR.

"No...that's everyone."

"Thank you muchly, good sirs. I am sure that Lord Capulet would not mind if I were to extend an invitation to you two, as well? Provided, of course that you are not Montagues?

"We most certainly are not Montagues," the man who read the list said. "And we will be sure to arrive."

"Very good then. Good day."

"Romeo, what are you doing?" the man who did not read whispered.

"Relax, Benvolio. It is a masquerade, is it not? And besides, Rosalyn will be there!"

Sighing, Benvolio said, "You are truly hopeless, Romeo."

"Better hopeless than alone, Benvolio."

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Somebody please read?

 

Just upping for now, but expect chapter three tomorrow.

 

Hahahaha...this is AWESOME. I love Shakespeare. It never would've occurred to me to do a spoof of it with SW. I can't wait to see where this goes.

Keep it up

 

Thanks muchly, tiyax. I wanted to do this when I saw that the X-Men was doing a Romeo and Juliet story. That one sucked, though, so I was hoping I could write something a wee bit better, not to sound conceited.

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CHAPTER THREE
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"Nurse?" Lady Capulet called from the banquet hall. Dinner was about to begin, the meal before the masquerade. "Nurse?" Lady Capulet called again, finally eliciting a response from the old woman. Lord Capulet tried to use humans for servants as much as possible. He thought that droids were...what did he call it? Ah, yes, the first sign that the disgusting New Republic was doomed to failure.

Lady Capulet supposed that the Montagues and Capulets were such rivals because they were on opposited sides of the proverbial fence when it came to governing the galaxy. That seemed ludicrous to her, in all honesty, but it did nothing to change her predisposement to disliking the Montagues. Lady Montague, especially, and overly obnoxious jewelry. Honestly, that woman's necklace was the size of her left breast. Which was lopsided.

"Lady?" the nurse inquired.

"Oh..." Lady Capulet recovered from her mental tirade. "Do be a dear, will you darling, and go fetch my daughter?" As the nurse left, Lady Capulet tapped her shoulder. "On second thought, Juliet needs some mommy/daughter time."

"You mean you do," Lord Capulet scoffed.

"You hush, Capulet!" Lady Capulet said as she ascended the staircase to Julia's room.

Lady Capulet, not surprisingly, did not do Juliet the favor to knock, and instead opened the door on a half naked Juliet.

"Mother!" Juliet reproached her invasive parent.

"Oh hush, darling, it's nothing I haven't seen. Although, a tad bit firmer."

Juliet rolled her eyes.

"Honestly now, baby doll, I would like to have a talk with you. About Paris."

"Of course you do," Juliet said sarcastically.

"Don't take a tone with me, darling," Lady Capulet said offhandedly as she removed a flask from her vest. "Now, surely you must see something in Paris. I personally find him quite dashing."

"You know, mother, I do see something. I can see the credit signs in father's eyes from a kilometer away."

Lady Capulet paused as she took a swig of her liquor, and then rested the flask down on the nightstand as she said, "Surely you don't mean that, darling."

"Fine. If only to make you and father happy, I will go down and see if I could ever possibly marry Paris."

"That's a good girl," Lady Capulet said, leaving the room. And stumbling.

The now dressed Juliet picked up the flask and gave it to her mother. "Here you go, drink your dinner."

 

Oooh, time for the masquerade ball. I would like to acknowledge that I dropped the whole Queen Mab thing. Actually, I dropped all of scene four, because it has no relevance to the plot. I really don't want to write the characters talking about going to the ball, because it gets tiresome. Sorry, Shakespeare, but I had to memorize that Mab speech for school, and I will never forgive you for that!

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CHAPTER FOUR
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The Grand Hall of Capuletian Verona was, for the moment, empty, save a few servants who ran about hurriedly, rushing to prepare everything in time for the great ball.

Lord Capulet stood at the entrance to the hall, taking in the grandeur of it all. He had a feeling that this ball, above all others, would be most important. The first guests began to arrive, and he sought to them, joking, entertaining, and the like. Paris, however, had not yet shown up.



The night went along, Paris arrived, and all was good as far as Capulet was concerned. But, unaware was he that he had three unexpected guests, thanks to P-3TR.

Romeo, Benvolio, and their friend Mercutio arrived at the door, masked, and P-3TR instantly recalled them and allowed them in.

Benvolio and Mercutio twiddled about as Romeo immediately set out in search of Rosalyn. "Hello there, Romeo," a voice from behind. Romeo spun to find none other than his lost love. "There's word around Corusca that you might just have a bit of a crush on me?"

Not the least flustered, Romeo said, "A crush? Don't be silly." He took her hand and led her to the dance floor. "This, my dear, is love."

Smiling, Rosalyn accepted his invitation. "Are you supposed to be here?" she whispered.

Romeo shrugged. "The droid said we could," he whispered back, smirking. Over Rosalyn's shoulder, he spotted a door on a high balcony. Through it came, it seemed from so far away, an angel. The girl, probably around Romeo's age, was dressed in pure white, with artificial wings attached to her dress. She radiated pure beauty.

"Excuse me, Rosalyn," Romeo said, leaving Rosalyn a bit flustered. She then spotted the cause of his distraction, and disgusted, she left.

Benvolio, who had been watching, leaned over to Mercution. "Did you just see that?"

"Indeed I did, Benvolio. Indeed I did. What a fool." Mercutio then set off after Rosalyn.

Rosalyn, unaware of her tail, found Tybalt, standing a few meters from Lord Capulet. "Tybalt, cousin of Juliet Capulet?"

"Aye, Lady? Why do you ask?" Tybalt, despite the masquerade, was just as moody and Sith-like as ever.

"I have seen at least one Montague at the ball this night."

"What?" Bearing his canines, Tybalt instinctively grabbed his lightsaber.

"Ho! Just wait right there, Nephew!" Lord Capulet ordered, approaching. "What is the meaning of this?"

Tybalt sneered. "Romeo Montague is here, most likely with his kinsman, Benvolio."

"Never mind Romeo, Tybalt. He is held in good standing here in Verona, and also in Corusca. Punish him not because he is the child of unfortunate parents."

Tybalt moved closer. "Listen to me, Uncle. I will not allow this indignity to pass."

"For this night, you will." With that, Capulet left to entertain a crowd.

Tybalt turned to Rosalyn. "Do you care to dance?" Rosalyn smiled. Past his newfound partner, Tybalt saw Mercutio, and his eyes slanted again. But for his uncle's sake, he let the matter rest. Only, though, for now.



Meanwhile, Romeo continued to his own private angel. "Fair lady," he said, outstretching his hand. "May I be honored to ask a dance of one as beautiful as you are?"

The girl smiled as she took his hand. "You are most flattering, sir. I see no reason not to accept your offer."

"You are a most beautiful angel," Romeo said, attempting to woo, and possibly bed, the girl. "May I then be honored to touch your lips."

"Do you expect me to put your hand to my lips? Can you

 

Up.

 

I like, I like

Will you be adding more Star Wars to it in later scenes, by any chance?

 

Well...I suppose, yes, but no canon characters. This is all OC, though I suppose Leia may be mentioned. But it gets very Star Wars-y toward the end when my new plotline hits the climax. Space battles, lightsabers, and the like. But it will still probably feel more like Romeo and Juliet than Star Wars, and that really can't be helped, I guess.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, new post tomorrow morning. Late school openings rock!