Title: Forsaken

Author: Ticklesivory

Summary: I'm taking Obidala under the ocean! This is an AU underwater adventure. Newly knighted Obi-Wan is sent to Naboo to negotiate a peace treaty between the Mer and the population of Theed.

Warnings: Some action violence and fluffy moments. ;)

Rating: T+

Author's Note: I put up a poll and asked a few readers to vote whether or not they wanted to read a story in this AU, but knowing I was going to write this anyway, I needed to say – sorry, but I couldn't wait on your answers! :D


Chapter One


Fishing over the Abyss was a risky adventure but never failed to pay off. The area was teeming with a variety of large fish, though even the luckiest angler had to be careful. Too much weight on the cage carried the bait too deep where the bad things were. Such as the Sando monster – a huge beast with massive jaws and fins. Why the thing could sink a ship with a single swat of its spiny tail!

The Millflower was a sound vessel and its crew experienced, which was the main reason the Captain had ventured so far from shore. The reward was greater out here; the abundant catch worth the effort. The past season hadn't provided as much as he had hoped. His crew had mouths to feed back home and their allowed time out on open water was drawing to a close.

"Gusts at forty knots, Captain," the first mate shouted over the noise of the waves.

Forty was a pretty high number, but the Milliflower could handle more than that.

"Time to take her in?" the young man asked hopefully.

"Not yet," the Captain replied, his long, gray beard blown back by the strong winds. "We haven't reached our limit. What's the weight?"

The fearless leader of the crew waited for the reply as his first mate checked with the deckboss. He returned shortly with the number.

"Ninety K's, sir."

The Captain chewed on a deathstick he hadn't yet lit, pushed up his spectacles, and peered out the side of the boat to observe the white caps forming on top of the growing waves. "We need at least ten more." He then picked up the communicator to encourage the deckhands. "Batten down the hatches, boys! We're in for a bumpy ride!"

Without question, the crew continued working, pulling up the heavy cages held underwater by weights and ropes. They unloaded their catch into the live well inside the belly of the ship. Any landlubber would think they had lost their minds by staying out on the water in such inclement weather. However, this is what they lived for, and was it not for the stinging rain that had begun, they would probably be singing an up-tempo sea chanty.

They worked together in unison until something slammed against the starboard side of the boat - hard enough to cause the engine to sputter.

Immediately, most hands hurried over to gaze into the water to make sure they hadn't come aground or that a Sando hadn't lost its way and ventured to the surface. However, their observations revealed nothing of the sort. The deckboss glanced up at the Captain to shrug in confusion just as a silver forked spear pierced his chest and impaled him into the upper deck.

"Mer attack!" the men shouted as if this was a regular occurrence. Rapidly, they withdrew weapons from nearby containers and began firing at the finned assailants who moved so quickly, diving in and out of the water and completely over the boat, that they avoided the rapid blaster fire. One by one, the crew of the Milliflower fell lifelessly to the deck. Right after the last one breathed his last, the mighty ship careened and began to capsize, its lower decks filling with water which flowed in from the huge hole that had been created in its keel.

The Captain stayed at his station and faced his death bravely. Stories would be told of not how he had once lived, but how he died: Not a death by water or even Sando, but at the hands of an enemy he had battled all his life: the vile and contemptuous Mer of Naboo.