"I need a ship fixed."

"Well, hello there, Miss!"

"I don't have time for pleasantries."

To say Melinoe was on edge was an understatement. She had just spent the last couple of days being chased down by Darth Heiss' goons and just managed to lose them. To top it all off, her new ship wasn't in flying condition. Some bounty hunters managed to get in one too many lucky shots.

"Slow down there, Miss," the vendor said.

"Did he just not hear that I don't have time for this?" Melinoe thought to herself.

"Let's see what the damage is," The man said while pointing for two pit droids to start working.

Melinoe moved to sit on a nearby crate and waited for the droids to finish their work. About half an hour later, the same man from before approached.

"So, how did you come by this ship?" he asked.

"I don't believe that's any of your concern," Melinoe replied.

The vendor held up his hands in defence. "Now, now, no need to get testy."

"Just fix my ship, so you can get your money," Melinoe said, internally debating the pros and cons of warping this man's mind to make him shut his trap.

"I was just wondering why a lady like yourself would be travelling around in a banged-up ship like that?"

"You won't ask me where I got this ship again," Melinoe said firmly.

"I won't ask you where you got this ship again." The vendor repeated with a hazy look in his eyes.

"Get back to work."

The vendor returned to the ship to give some more instructions to the pit droids. Melinoe watched as they worked their way through the repairs while nervously tapping her fingers against the crate.

She watched as the pit droids got to work. Milling about as they repaired the blown-out engines and fusing the blaster-damaged sides of the ship. Every now and again, the vendor looked back at Melinoe with a curious expression.

This was the first time Melinoe had gotten a good look at the ship since she acquired it from a group of Mandalorians. It was a fairly compact ship with a grey, yellow and forest green paint job. The Sith had never learnt the name of the ship. That may have been something she would have to do eventually. All though it wasn't high on her priority list at that moment.

A few hours later, everything was finished. The ship had been adequately patched up. No more gaping holes in the sides or ominous sparks threatening self-destruction. Melinoe and the vendor were discussing payment, and towards the end, he made a strange offer.

"I'll even throw a half-price astromech droid for you."

"What's the catch?"

"Why would you think there's a catch?"

Melinoe gave him an angry look that said, 'I will break you, little man', as if she were the vendor and he was an annoying customer that just wouldn't go away.

"Okay, okay, well, you see. I've got this astromech that's been around this place for as long as I can remember. He's a smart old thing and is wasted here," the man went on. "Nobody wants to take him on account of the fact that he's an old unit."

"So, you're trying to bump it off on me?" Melinoe asked incredulously.

"More or less," he said while rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, I think you and I both know that you're not gonna get far without help."

"I don't need anyone."

"How do you plan on repairing that ship if you get in trouble again?"

Melinoe bit her lip. This idiot was actually making a decent point, but she didn't want to admit it. "Half price?"

"Yep!" the man said hopefully. "And if he doesn't do the job, you can bring him back here and punch me in the face."

Melinoe gave him a sceptical look and thought about it for a second.

"Fine." Melinoe agreed. It wasn't like she was in the mood to argue. Like the vendor said, if she got hit badly again, she could use someone to fix the ship. Plus, she wouldn't have to make another unnecessary stop if that was the case.

The vendor looked like he was about to explode from happiness. He jumped over the counter with a weirdly sincere smile on his face. Why the stars was he getting so worked up because of a droid?

The man led Melinoe over to another part of the station where a rusty old T7 unit was minding its own business.

"Oui Teeseven, get over here!"

The droid turned its head towards them and zoomed over. Melinoe could now see what the guy meant when he said it had been around for ages. The bucket of bolts looked like it had been repaired and repainted nearly a thousand times over. It was covered in dents and the kind of scratches that something can only get from years of wear and tear.

"Teeseven, you'll be working for this lovely lady from now on. Treat her kindly."

The droid stayed quiet for a second. As if it was contemplating whether to agree or not. A couple of seconds later, it made a noise of agreement and followed Melinoe and the man back to the counter.

Melinoe finished paying and ordered T7 to follow her back to the ship.

"Hope to see you again!" The vendor waved as Melinoe walked into the ship.

"I don't think so."

The next couple of hours were filled with nothing but silence. Melinoe and T7 sat there saying nothing while Melinoe piloted the ship. The ship pulled into hyperspace. All that could be heard was the quiet hum of the ship.

"Pilot + Destination = End Goal?" the droid suddenly piped up.

"I don't know the destination," Melinoe said without taking her eyes off the holo map in front of her. "Just trying to get as far away as possible for now."

"Far Away + From What?"

"That's a need-to-know basis."

"You + Jedi = Distance?"

Melinoe let out a huff of laughter. "I wish it was the Jedi who were after me. They would be much easier to deal with." Melinoe paused. "Why did you say Jedi?"

"You = Sith"

"How can you tell?"

"T7 = Need-to-know basis."

Oh, great, she managed to get stuck with an astromech who had a wise-guy attitude. Melinoe turned to T7 for the first time since they got on the ship.

"How old are you anyway?"

"Asking + Age = Rude!" he bleeped at Melinoe.

"Well, alright then. No asking about age."

Melinoe suddenly felt her eyelids getting heavier. How long had she been awake now? 62 hours? That sounds about right. She turned to the droid, who seemed to be trying to find something to do.

"Listen, go and do whatever droids do for a little while. I need sleep," Melinoe told him.

T7 didn't question her and rolled out of the room. Melinoe switched the ship to autopilot and leaned back in the captain's chair. She started fiddling with the necklace she was wearing and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Melinoe stared up at the pale woman she was supposed to refer to as master.

Heiss was looking down at her. The emotion on her face was a strange mix of amusement and disappointment.

Melinoe moved to spit an insult at the woman but felt something shift in her arms.

Melinoe looked down to see Eglantine in her arms. She was struggling to breathe and still smoking from the lightning that had just coursed through her body moments ago.

"The girl has always been a weakling. She should be grateful I let her live as she did."

Melinoe didn't say anything. She could feel the tears building up behind her eyes. She refused to shed any. She refused to give this witch the satisfaction.

"Clean up the mess and meet me in my chambers once you're done." Heiss turned and left the room without another word.

Melinoe just sat there holding her friend.

"Everything's gonna be okay, Eggie." Melinoe couldn't stop shaking. "I'll get you home. Everything's gonna be okay."

The girl didn't say anything. She just smiled up at Melinoe. Why did that make it so much worse?

Eglantine lifted her hand to hold Melinoe's face. The soft smile never left her face.

Melinoe watched with tear-filled eyes as Eglantine used her other hand to place something in Melinoe's own hand. A familiar silver lightsaber.

Melinoe jolted awake to find herself back on the ship. She started frantically looking around the space, momentarily forgetting where she was.

It had been two years since the death of Eglantine Obriv. Three years since she had lost her best friend and confidant. Melinoe rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She could stop thinking about how she could have stopped it.

It should have been you. You could have prevented it. You could have done so many things, but you didn't, and now she's dead. It's your fault. You're all alone.

That was the thought that did it. She was alone. She had nothing to hide anymore. She let out a few hacked sobs and just started crying into her hands. Years of acting like nothing bothered her. Years of pent-up emotion being let out all in one go.

The woman continued to sit there and wept for a while. Until a bleeping made her remember that someone else was on the ship. The T7 rolled over to her and let out some concerned bleeps.

"Didn't I tell you to go away?" Melinoe said, quickly composing herself.

T7 bleeped out an excuse. "T7 = Worried."

"I have half a mind to shoot you out the airlock, droid."

T7 let out a sad and disappointed whine. The two of them sat there in silence. Melinoe kept going over the dream. Unable to stop. At some point, she had a thought.

"T7, can you find the coordinates for a certain planet for me?"

"T7 = Will do! / What Planet?" They bleeped. Clearly excited about getting to do something other than wandering around the ship.

"It should be this place in the Outer Rim called Marazi."

Melinoe thought the excited bleeping had reached its peak, but when she said Marazi, T7 went into overdrive. He was acting as if Melinoe had asked him to take them to see his long-lost mother or something.

Melinoe leaned back in the chair as T7 found the coordinates and reset the autopilot. She had a goal now. It wasn't much, but it was still something.

The woman didn't have a plan for when she got to Marazi. She didn't know how to explain to Eglantine's family that she was gone. She didn't even know where to look for them.

Nothing happened for the next few days. Melinoe and Teeseven silently went about the ship, trying to occupy their time until they got to their destination. There was a moment where Teeseven commented that it seemed they would get there without incident.

Then the pirates appeared. Deciding to make the ship their target. Melinoe didn't have time to tell Teeseven off for his self-fulfilling prophecy before the pirates managed to fire several shots into the hull, causing the system to beep that the hyperdrive was now disabled.

The pirates continued to chase the ship for what felt like several parsecs. Something about Melinoe's new ship really seemed to piss them off. They even shot out the escape pod, leaving Melinoe with no way to escape.

Melinoe hoped that way would back off once she got into Marazi space, but the pirates had gotten in one too many lucky shots by the time they got there. She rushed around the ship's controls. Desperately trying to make a controlled landing while the ship's engine was sparked and stalled. Melinoe rushed around the ship's console. Trying to get something, anything, to work.

The Sith stopped as she looked out the front of the ship. There was nothing but deep seas for klicks. The ship couldn't identify any nearby land close enough to land on. She was doomed. Even if she survived the crash, she would be crushed by the pressure of the ocean. If she tried leaping out before the ship hit the water, she would break every bone in her body.

This was it. She couldn't take it anymore.

Hey everyone! Here begins the actual story part of Apprentices of the Abyss. I'm really excited about getting this part of the story done. It's the first time I've written the whole story out before releasing the chapters. I'm not a professional writer, but I feel it came out pretty all right.

For anyone confused about this fic being marked as Subnautica, the original alien world Marazi is heavily based on Planet 4546B. To the point where I feel justified in making this fic as a crossover.