Chapter 24: Sacrifice

Leland stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the hand gun. The thought of Gallo being armed with a semi-automatic firearm never crossed his mind. Facing such a superior weapon while armed with a blade, Leland felt like a caveman banging around a wooden stick.

"Oh that look," Gallo said, visibly trembling with excitement, "I love the look on a person's face when they realize they're about to die."

"Put the gun away," Leland said coldly, "You can show me the look. I'd like to see what you're talking about."

Gallo laughed, "I should have killed you long ago."

Leland scoffed, "I should have let you die."

"You did save my life," Gallo admitted, "I never thanked you for it. Thank you, Infidel. I really do appreciate it but I'm afraid you are too far gone for servitude."

"Put the gun away," Leland challenged, "Are you too chickenshit to fight me in a fair fight? Put the gun away you miserable coward."

"Insults aren't going to do you any good. Why don't you drop the sword?"

Leland knew that charging Gallo would only end up with him getting a bullet between the eyes. Trying to throw the sword was bad too. By the time he reared back to throw the heavy sword at him, Gallo would have plenty of time to shoot. Running was no good either, because Gallo would probably shoot him in the spine, paralyzing him.

Leland reluctantly dropped the sword with a loud clang.

"Good decision," Gallo said happily.

Leland knew that he was in some serious trouble. Desperately, he scanned the room looking for something, anything that could save him.

Keep him talking.

If he could stall him long enough, perhaps help would arrive in time. Leland frantically thought of a good subject, "I should have known," He said remorsefully.

Gallo's expression changed, "Known what?"

"I'd never get the drop on you. I should have known better."

Gallo nodded, "Yes."

Leland spread his arms, "I mean, you in charge of all this. Even when the ship got sick, you guided Bower to heal her."

Gallo shrugged, "Of course. Because the Elysium is mine. Bower is mine."

"See, that was my mistake."

"What?"

Leland said, "I really felt that the ship was mine. She kept me safe all these years. I felt she was mine but I was mistaken."

Gallo nodded in agreement, "Yes. You did. To think that a mere cook could compete with a King over ownership of this ship, was very presumptuous."

Leland sighed, "What do you plan on doing now?"

"My future plans are very simple."

"Oh? Let's hear them."

Gallo grinned at him, "I'm going to get married."

Mahn woke up in a world of hurt. He was in so much pain that when he opened his eyes, his vision blurred. Thankfully, while drifting in and out of consciousness he had been resourceful enough to bandage the bite wound on his abdomen and had managed to stop the bleeding. Otherwise, he probably would have bled to death.

Scarface looked a lot smaller dead than it had in life.

Mahn struggled to his feet and was fell waves of pain throbbing throughout his body. Surprisingly, most of the pain he suffered was from his shoulder instead of his side. His shoulder felt as though his arm was going to fall off. The pain was horrible.

The deep wound on his side had a dull ache. Only when he twisted to that side did it smart and bring him to tears. The wound was superficial as long as he was careful.

Mahn felt very fortunate that while he lay unconscious, a hunter child hadn't come by and chewed on his defenseless body. There were several hunters looking for him, yet he managed to remain undiscovered.

Each step was painful. Mahn willed himself to press on, to get to the bridge. They were very near to closing this horrible chapter in the ship's history that he couldn't give up. Victory was possible and must be accomplished at all costs.

The labyrinth seemed to go on forever. Mahn estimated where he would have to head starboard but was foiled by a sudden end to the chamber he was in. He had to backtrack a little and head down a flight of stairs. From the stairwell, he could still see the impeding wall on this level, so he was forced to go down yet another level and finally, he saw that there was a hallway heading starboard. He headed in that direction, clutching his side and praying that he wouldn't have to fight until he got to the bridge.

"Married?" Leland couldn't believe his ears. "Who the fuck– I mean, who's the lucky girl?"

"You know her. She was my queen the moment I laid eyes on her." Gallo was still happy, his voice was thick with revolting affection. Leland wanted to kick him right in the nuts.

There was only one woman that Leland knew, "Nadia? Are you talking about Nadia?"

"Oh yes. She is my queen, the future of this ship, the empress of the mission."

Leland struggled to keep from giggling. "You want to marry Nadia?"

"I will marry her and make her my queen. She will be at my side as I rule over our subjects and this ship."

"Nadia?" Leland couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Gallo stopped smiling. "Yes. Nadia."

"The same Nadia who runs around with a spear so sharp it can puncture metal armor?"

The other man didn't seem so happy anymore.

Leland couldn't help but continue, "The Nadia that will take her knife to the balls of any man who tries to touch her?"

"Yes." He sounded impatient.

"I'm sorry," Leland raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just trying to understand your master plan. You want to marry the same Nadia who is nearly as strong as a man and as vicious as a hunter? That Nadia?"

"Yes, damn you! Yes, that Nadia. Is it so hard to accept?"

"No. No nothing like that. I just don't see her as the marrying type," Leland kept his tone serious, threaded with mock concern, "I mean, you get into an argument with a woman like Nadia and domestic violence is almost certain, you know what I'm saying?"

Gallo sighed with impatience. He spoke as a teacher explaining something simple to a student a little slower than rest of the class, "She will marry me and be happy. There will be no arguments because all my decisions are final."

"Ah. Okay."

Gallo was staring at him. He seemed to be thinking, "Why?"

Leland wondered if he was having second thoughts. He was tempted to be an asshole and taunt him, but he decided against it, "Oh I was just curious as to how you were gonna reign in a woman like Nadia but it sounds like you've got it under control."

"Of course I do. How many times do I have to tell you people? I am your King."

Leland was slowly edging a little closer to Gallo every time he would answer. It was as though Gallo liked the sound of his own voice. Gallo would move the handgun to the side while speaking so that it wasn't aimed at him anymore but only while he spoke. A plan formed in Leland's mind, if he could get a few steps closer and ask him the right question, Gallo would have to think about his answer and he would attack him while the psycho was distracted. Leland nodded, "Yes, that's true. You are certainly powerful but we are talking about matters of the heart."

Gallo sighed again, "Matters of the what? What are you babbling about?"

"Well, for example, how do you plan on making her fall in love with you?"

Gallo threw his head back and laughed.

Perfect.

Leland attacked.

As Gallo's eyes were closed during his laugh, Leland was able to take two full steps towards him before he could react. He tried to bring the firearm up to shoot but crossed his arms over his face defensively instead. Leland rammed into him, tackling him to the ground where he heard the satisfactory slamming of the back of Gallo's head on the desk. Leland punched the bastard in the face, making sure he was out but even though unconscious, he squeezed off one shot.

The round hit Leland point-blank in the chest.

Mahn moved slowly and silently as possible. He was in yet another maintenance department, probably the electricians. There were lots of workshops and on the walls were baskets of spools of wire, electronic parts, spare fuses, switches, relays, circuits and everything else that electricians used to maintain and repair the massive ship.

He heard a soft growl down one of the side passages and pressed himself against the wall. After a few seconds, Mahn risked a peek around the corner.

Further down the passage, through the thick clouds of humidity, was a female hunter. It was moving away from him, on hands and knees, slowly and quietly, low to the ground. It looked over its shoulder and swished its hindquarters back and forth a few times seductively.

Mahn blushed.

A male hunter appeared directly behind the female. The two hunters were courting, the female trying to seduce the male.

The male was distracted suddenly. It stood at it's full height, sniffing the air.

Shit.

Surely, it smelled the fresh blood on his bandages.

Mahn silently withdrew, keeping low and sticking to the wall.

Thankfully, the female was able to be more enticing than a meal to the male. It turned from Mahn's direction, distracted and followed the female close. At this distance, the female almost looked human as she stretched and arched, showing off her breasts and rear like a professional. The male followed her, his attention now zeroed on his mate.

The couple moved further down the hall, hopefully to some place private to breed and Mahn took the opportunity to get to past them.

He found some grease at one of the workstations and carefully applied it to his bandages lightly so that none of the chemicals would soak through to his wounds. At least the light grease would partially mask the scent.

Mahn found a central flight of spiraling steps and decided to climb up since the entire corner of this room was bathed in shadow. At the top, it was a half deck overlooking the workstations below and also offices with large windows, probably where management worked. He continued to the next level above.

The staircase ended in a small chamber with a door. Carefully, Mahn opened the door and slipped out. He found himself at one of the main corridors leading to the Bridge. He moved as quickly as possible but was more cautious than normal. He was almost to the security station just outside the bridge when he heard the gunshot.

Leland felt the impact of the round as it punched right through the thin armor chest plate and into his chest. He was unable to breathe. The floor under his knees became soft and watery like quicksand. He felt himself sinking. He fought to stay afloat, above the darkness that spread out below him like a deep ocean. He gripped the computer station, barely managing to stay on his feet.

Gallo was knocked out, lying too far to finish off. Leland blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to focus them, his vision was dimming, his body was heavy and sinking.

Darkness.

He opened his eyes again, realizing that he was cheating death for as long as he could. Leland was dying. There was no stopping death, he knew too well but there had to be a way to go out leaving an impact on the situation they were in. Somehow, he had to help before he expired.

The gun was still in Gallo's hand. It was too far for him to even consider attempting to crawl. He was sinking fast, the darkness dragging him slowly into its eternal depths.

Darkness.

Leland opened his eyes, weakly fumbling and remembered that the computer was within reach. He was laying on his stomach, not remembering how he got there. He fought to sit up, grabbing the desk and heaving with all the strength he had left. The room was melting around him, fading into a deep shadows. Finally, he could touch the display and saw that Gallo had the access screen to Nadia's room opened. Leland managed to unlock the door before collapsing.

Leland sank into the depths of the darkness and as death embraced him, he saw a bright warm light. He smiled. For the first time, for as far back as he could remember, there was no pain, no hunger, no worries and no fear. He was at peace. Just peace and tranquility.

Gallo woke up and saw that Leland was dead, sprawled out in a large pool of blood. Finally, the infidel was dead! The only problem was that since he had been knocked out, he was cheated out of seeing Leland in his last moments. Those moments were the most exquisite. He would have loved to see the bastard breathe his last.

No matter. He had other things to attend to anyway.

Turning his attention back to the monitor, Gallo could see Nadia struggling with the charging cables of the forklifts. She was so determined, so strong and full energy. He could watch her for hours. Although lean and athletic, Nadia was busty. The width of her hips and her narrow waist excited him. Though she was filthy and full of grease, her skin was smooth and as lovely as a flower petal. The fight for survival charged her with a perseverance that was truly exciting to behold.

Nadia dropped the cables and began searching the workbenches. He decided that he wanted to speak to her.

"You've been a bad girl," he told her from the com unit. "Forget all about that hero. I rule this ship and as the King, I demand you rule at my side as my Queen."

Nadia was so engrossed in what she was doing that gave a little start at the sound of his voice then she continued searching as though he was unimportant. "You'd better pray I never get out of here," She muttered.

"You'll be let out as soon as you pledge yourself to me."

"I'm going to kill you if you let me out," Her voice was cold.

He had a good laugh. She excited him so much, "Even when murderous you excite me. I can't wait to touch you."

"You'll find touching me difficult after I chop off your filthy hands!"

Gallo would not put it past her. Perhaps Leland had been right after all, "You should be nicer to me. Your list of friends is getting shorter. You need all the help you can get."

"Just wait until I get out of here," Nadia hollered at him, "I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Gallo wasn't getting anywhere by threatening her. He decided to trick her into believing her friends were gone. With no one else, surely she would turn to him, "Nadia."

She ignored him.

"Nadia."

Nadia yelled at him, "What?"

"I'm afraid Bower didn't make it."

He watched as the murderous rage fell away from her, replaced by disbelief. "You're a liar."

She was in love that that hero bastard. She had to be. Goddamn his soul. Nadia tried to hide her sorrow but Gallo could see she was crushed. He felt the hate bubbling up from inside so he decided to take it out on her.

"If it's any consolation," He told her quietly, "He died fighting. He maintained his dignity at least."

"You're lying!" Her voice cracked. The rage was filling him up. How dare she love another!

He shouted at her, "Tell me you haven't gone and fallen for him!" She didn't answer. She was hugging herself looking brokenhearted. He felt so betrayed! How dare she! "I knew there was something between you two! I knew it!"

"He can't be dead," She began to cry softly and collapsed to her knees.

The miserable bitch! How dare she love another man! Maybe he would kill her. A wretched and treacherous woman like her couldn't possibly be his queen.

Gallo saw Bower walk into the room. He did a double take and bellowed, "How did you get in there, hero?" Gallo realized that Leland had touched the computer display, "That sneaky fucking infidel! He opened the door! That rotten son of a bitch!" He focused on Bower, "Stay away from my queen! Don't you touch her you fuck! I'll kill you! I swear I will fucking kill you!"

Bower and Nadia hugged on screen. Gallo raved and completely lost his temper, turning to Leland's dead body and began to mutilate it with fury.