This is it. Last chapter. Enjoy.
The Price of Freedom – Part II
"NO!" Three voices with only one word between them.
The Marines try to grab Captain Adama as he puts his body between Leoben Conoy and the ten weapons pointed at him. There is a moment of uncertainty as they cannot carry out their orders.
"Stand down." Lee commands, but they don't immediately respond. His father's orders, against his, carry unequal weight.
"Sir, we have our duty."
"No, please." Nya whispers as her fingers cling to Leoben. "Don't leave me. I don't want to be alone."
"You never will be. I will not die – not completely."
"Get away from her!" One young Marine steps forward with his weapon. "Now! Or I'll shoot!"
Leoben's eyes change suddenly, going black with rage. "Hurt her and die."
At the back of the room, Tom Zarek and Doc Cottle push their way in as the Marines try to stop them.
"Doctor, this room is not secured."
"And if my patient dies while you dither…" Cottle pushes past him and spots Nya and Leoben. He only gives the Cylon one look and then kneels next to them. "If you kill me, there is no one who can help her."
"I control my destiny." Leoben answers. "Save hers."
Cottle nods and bends his head to look at the wound. His ministrations make Nya wince with pain but she remains still. When he looks up it is to Lee. "We need to get her back to Galactica. The bleeding has stopped but that bullet has to come out. You said that Baltar shot her?"
Lee nods. "And Zarek too."
"I can wait." Zarek fixes the younger man with a stare. "But some things can't."
Everyone's eyes fix upon him.
"It's about Baltar…" he begins.
"About me?" Comes that arrogant voice as Baltar is escorted around the corridor by two Marines. "Isn't that interesting. Well, here I am."
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"O venerable Goddess, hear my prayer and make benevolent my life thy care. Send, blessed queen, to ships a prosperous breeze and waft them safely over stormy seas."
He laughs gently as Nya says the quiet prayer that starts her every shift. "Do you think she listens everytime?"
She fixes him with an angry look, it's not like Leoben to mock her. Her fingers fly across the console as she sets course towards a tiny planet that looks promising from orbit. "That's not the point. You must give respect consistently for it to have any value."
"Hmm." Leoben leans back against the railing, his uniform khakis are already creased with dirt and grease from working. "I hate these split shifts."
"If you don't like my beliefs, then why be with me?"
One eyebrow quirks at her. "Touchy. I just was asking if you thought she listened. Hell, we're not even on the seas. Why don't you use the one for stars instead?"
Nya doesn't answer for a long time, but when she does her hand steals up around the pendant about her neck. The silver chain is hidden under the loose waves of her hair and she has to pluck at it to pull it free. "Because the old prayers are the best ones."
"Old prayers. New prayers. What if the Gods aren't there?"
"Leo!" She snaps angrily. "What's wrong with you?"
He shakes his head as though her question confuses him. And then the cynical expression fades and the Leoben that Nya knows descends back over him. "Sorry, Nya. Sometimes I feel like there are two different versions of me in the same body. I'm sorry."
His apology softens her anger and she turns toward him, grey eyes full of concern. "I'll try not to do it so much if it bothers you."
"No. No. Don't worry." He leans in to kiss her. "You just remind me of how precarious life is out here. I'll be in the aft airlock if you need me."
"Okay." Nya turns back to her console as he leaves even as she feels a strange chill descend over her. The horrible feeling that something is wrong. She punches the comm. button to Xanthes chamber. "Sir, I need to leave the bridge."
"What's wrong?" His voice echoes through the unit.
But Nya is already running toward the airlock and the sense of unease crashes inside of her.
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Baltar looks over the crowd on the bridge. "You have your orders." He tells the Marines. "Kill him."
"Yes," whispers Six. "Kill him now." Her green dress has grown longer, swirling to the floor with split panels that gape open to show off immaculate legs.
Leoben's eyes widen as he hears those words, clearer now, than they have ever been. Without the programming muddying his thinking, everything is becoming so much clearer. Like the day that Nya brought him back from the darkness, her presence and love has brought him a new kind of salvation.
"I know what you are." He says out loud. "I know what you are."
Baltar stiffens and locks eyes with the angry Six. "We are human. You are a Cylon. You have killed the family and friends of every man here." To the Marines. "Kill it now!"
"No." Zarek steps forward. "We have his word that no more violence will occur."
But Leoben turns away from the space that Six inhabits and looks at Zarek with clear eyes. "Would you do it all again?"
"What?"
Everyone in the room is confused. Nya reaches toward Leoben but Cottle won't let her up. She struggles for a moment against the grip but subsides, weakened and fragile from her blood loss.
"Would you do it again?" The rifles aimed at him waver as the Marines are uncertain of whose orders to follow. "After the years of prison, the hatred of the other Colonies, the distrust even after you were freed. Would you still push the trigger?"
Comprehension dawns in Tom's eyes and he pauses to think about it. Prison wasn't kind to him, none of it was. Somewhere along the way he lost the purity of intention that he'd once had but the conviction was still there dredged in his past. He'd done the right thing to free his Colony and that was all that mattered.
"It was the right decision then – and now." Zarek says. "No matter what followed, I would do it again."
Leoben nods and turns back to Nya. He drops to his knees next to her and kisses her as though he needs to drink in every last sensation of her touch. There is more passion in his embrace than any machine could ever have and those present wonder how far along the path Leoben has stepped towards true humanity.
She gazes up at him with tear filled eyes and a painful ache in her throat that paralyzes her.
"Shhh," he whispers. "For though a man have sorrow and grief in his newly-troubled soul and lives in dread because his heart is distressed. Yet, when he remembers what started his feet on this path, at once he forgets his heaviness and remembers his sorrows not at all. - For she will be waiting for him at the end."
He leans in and kisses her one last time. "The voice…" he starts. "Is the serpent in the garden."
Faster than humanly possible, Leoben lunges away from Nya and towards the Marines. Reaction fuels their response and gunfire shatters the small space. Bullets strike Leoben and smash his body into the bulkhead, broken and bleeding.
Nya is screaming and the other men shouting as the Cylon slumps under the onslaught and falls. Cottle releases her to help drag Zarek off Baltar from where the big man is pummeling the Vice President.
She pushes the blanket off of her and crawls toward him. The pain in her stomach makes her whimper in agony but she continues toward him. She cannot see the fierce rage of Six as the other woman stands above her slow progress. She cannot see the vicious curl of the Cylon's lip at her impotence to cause this pair any more pain. Especially not that the traitor has given her away. She snarls but cannot stop Nya from reaching the bloody body of Leoben.
"Leoben." Nya whispers as she reaches him.
He reaches for her and she tries to drag herself that much closer. His eyes cannot see her, as they are blinded with blood. "Don't cry, Nya."
"You're dying."
"Just this once." His pale attempt at humor makes her tears come harder. "I will not be gone forever. I will find you again."
"I'm frightened, Leoben."
"Don't be." He coughs and deep, thick venous blood pours out of his mouth. "Remember what I said about the serpent." He coughs again. "It is almost time."
"No…."
He smiles as he touches her skin. "You brought me to the light. You were right. The price of freedom is sacrifice, but for you I would sacrifice myself time and time again."
"No…"
"I will find you again…..I promise……You'll feel it..."
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Nya limps through the doorway of her quarters as Tom Zarek waits in the hall for her to see the changes that were made. The destruction of the Marines' search is gone, but so is any remainder of her life with Leoben. Tears clutch at the back's of her eyes as she tries to force them down. The angry burn spreads until all she feels is the pain, still so new that it seems only a moment again.
She clutches the desk for support when she feels his presence at her shoulder. He is holding something out to her. She takes it with shaking hands and unfolds the envelope. Pictures spill forth. She almost falls and he catches her gently as he produces the other items from his pockets.
In complete silence they set up the tiny altar. Two blue candles and the pictures of Leoben arrayed between them. Nya removes her necklace and impresses the pendant into the wax.
"Can you?" He asks gently, but she can't, her voice has deserted her. "Nya, no matter what anyone says. He was - he is - a hero."
"He was a Cylon." She can barely get the words out.
"He was still a hero. Not many men can die for what they believe in. He died to protect you."
Tom Zarek takes her hands in his and they both bow their heads before the faintly dancing lights. "To the Orai, who guard the gates of heaven and all the Gods who can hear us. Please, hear your humble servants and grant us this plea. One of ours who is unworthy of death has crossed your path. Return him to us. Let him hear our prayer. Unbar the gates and let him find his way home."
Nya's voice trembles as she begins.
"Rise again, rise again. Though your heart be broken, or life at end. No matter what you've lost; be it home, a love, a friend. Like Alkestis from the darkness. Rise again."
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Thanks again for everyone who read. I hope this was a interesting addition to the BSG universe without straying too far afield. I had a great time writing this and am debating trying to develop a sequel... We'll see how this season ends.
Again - all comments/criticism are appreciated. Thanks :>
I have to give credit again for Nya's prayer (Orphic Hymns) and Leoben's prayer (adapted from Hesiod's Theogeny) and the last line (adapted from a quote by Stan Rodgers).
PS. Alkestis was a wife who loved her husband, Admetes, so much that when he was fated to die, she went in his place. Her sacrifice was so great that she was allowed to return from Hades to be with him again. It was one of my big influences for this.