My palms were clammy from nervous sweat. Looking around at my two partners, I could see from Dan’s fidgeting and Allison’s foot-tapping that they felt somewhat the same.

I’d outlined the plan only moments ago. It wasn’t foolproof by any means and had quite a few holes in it. If I was to compare it to a chess game, it was a gambit taking place in the endgame.

The idea of a gambit is to sacrifice a piece to gain a lead in development or control of the board- and the idea was to do it near to the beginning of the game in order to make use of the development/control advantages throughout the game. The other reason why gambits are played almost solely in the opening phase of the game is that as the longer the game goes on, the more critical pieces are.

So a gambit in the endgame? Perhaps it as more accurate to term it as a risky sacrifice.

The reason why we were nervous wasn’t that the plan was complicated and hard to follow. At least, I hoped that everyone was clear on what they had to do. No, it was more the fact that it relied, in major part, upon Saskia’s actions. And we were quickly coming to the realisation that those actions were notoriously unpredictable.

“Hey y’know Dan, if we make it out of this you owe me a beer” murmured Allison.

“What? Why?” queried a confused Dan.

“Uh, what do you mean why? You suspected that I was a psychopathic killer! I haven’t even heard a single sorry, buddy.” She mockingly reprimanded him.

“Ah… but you kind of were, weren’t you? You had that parasite thing inside of you?” Dan pointed out.

“Nah that doesn’t count- I didn’t actually kill anyone. One, the impulse was simply to get outside the ship, not kill everyone on board. And secondly, If I got noted every time I wanted to cause bodily harm to someone, I’d be in prison with a least a few life sentences.”

“…right. I’ll get you that beer if we get out of this, then.”

It was reassuring to see some of the tension slowly fade out of our body language with the ribbing from Allison. Fear was necessary for many situations, and sometimes even beneficial- but locking up from nerves wasn’t going to help us at all.

Wait a moment… the parasite?

“…hey Allison, about that parasite…” I nervously asked.

“I wondered when you were going to bring it up- don’t worry about it. I haven’t had any episodes since I woke up. I think the device affected it, or something like that, I dunno. But I’ll give you a warning when I do feel an impulse coming on.”

“Ah, a warning would be great,” I shakily said.

I really couldn’t afford to factor in an ‘episode’ from her- there were too many unknown variables already. Perhaps it was as she said, and the parasite really was dead. But if it wasn’t, there was potentially another means for this plan to fail. But I didn’t have the time to come up with an effective counter-measure- she would’ve already noted the laptop’s disappearance by now and figured out what it implied. So, I was going to have to chalk yet another thing up to luck.

“Hey Dan,” I added in, “if we do make it out of this together, then I’ll throw in some money and buy us all a meal to go with your drinks.”

Dan smiled. It wasn’t a full smile, but it was something.

Allison broke into a grin.

“Hey, you didn’t set a limit on the prices! No take-backs now!”

I let out a small chuckle. If these were going to be my last good moments, then it was reassuring to know that I really had made some friends on this weird and dysfunctional space crew.

Then, there came a knock on the lock.

3 quick raps.

It was time.

* * *

“How are you doing in there, guys?" she joked as the lock slid open.

I looked around at both of my crewmates

I had given each of them my injectors, leaving myself with only the scissors. But I still held my closed fist out, mirroring both Dan and Allison. Hopefully, it would give her a small pause as she assessed the potential risks.

And in came Saskia, looking merely like she was taking a stroll in the park. Except, perhaps, that in her right hand she held the stun baton that we had seen her holding earlier. But even the baton was carried loosely as she simply waltzed right through the lock, as cool as could be.

Dan went first, rushing full bodied at Saskia.

I was initially worried that he wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but I was happy to be proven wrong.

As Dan neared her, a quick flick of her wrist brought the stun baton into a ready position.

Dan’s eyes followed the motion, apparently trying to avoid the weapon if at all possible. We still didn’t know the strength of the weapon- whether it would knock us out immediately, or only take us out of action for a few moments.

Unfortunately, it was Dan’s wariness of the weapon that worked against him.

Dan’s right hand contained the injector, which he held in a reverse grip at chest level. But as soon as he got near, Saskia’s wrist snapped out again, sending the baton forward at a tremendous velocity about 30 cm to the left of his head. A feint.

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Dan’s eyes followed the moment, and instinctively he raised both his arms, including the one containing the injector, to cover the right side of his head.

Evidently, this was what Saskia was waiting for, as she sent a low sweep at his legs, knocking him entirely to the floor.

Dan, still dazed and likely confused as to why he was on the floor, then received the shock from Allison’s baton as she calmly placed the baton directly onto the centre of his chest. His body spasmed as his eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets. She left the baton on his chest for another 10 seconds, looking at the two of us all the while.

When she finally removed the baton from his chest, his eyes were closed, but his body was still quivering. He must’ve fainted from the pain.

“Was that too anticlimactic for you?” she asked us sweetly, as she plucked the injector out of his hand.

Dropping the tube to the floor, she crushed it beneath her foot.

“Don’t worry, he’s not dead, just unconscious from the pain- wanna see how bad it is?”

She held out the baton, inviting us to touch it.

Neither I nor Allison had moved from our spot.

“Let’s do this,” Allison grimaced. There was no going back now.

We went wide, Allison taking the left side, while I tried to flank her from the right.

“Aw, you’ve decided to gang up on me now? How cruel!” laughed Saskia, still wholly unconcerned.

I smirked.

“Sorry to disappoint you- but you’re stuck with me first,” Allison boldly stated as she pointed the injector at Saskia’s chest.

“I dare you to look away now.”

I ran as fast as I could towards the open gate.

Although she didn’t turn her head away from Allison, I could hear her teeth grinding.

“You’re always finding the smallest of ways to piss me off Oliver. I was going to make your death relatively quick and painless. Look forward to it.”

I made it through the open gate and briefly looked back to see Saskia and Allison circling around each other, both ‘weapons’ deterring the other from rashly attacking.

I felt like shit- I had just left both Dan and Allison to fight Saskia alone. But we had all agreed that this was the only way.

Didn’t make me feel any better though.

I had everyone’s hopes riding on my shoulders now.

I kept running.

* * *

Reaching Allison’s sector, I paused to catch my breath.

There was a small part of me that hoped to hear Allison’s voice proclaiming victory. But we knew that it was likely that she would be beaten somehow- even Allison agreed.

“I know I’m decent at martial arts,” she had acknowledged, “but I have absolutely no idea of her skill level- but I’m sure she knows mine.”

Therefore, I knew that I didn’t have long.

I crouched down in front of the bed and got to work.

* * *

It didn’t take long for Saskia to find me. She knew the direction that I had run off in, and from there it would’ve simply been a matter of checking all the open sectors- because I didn’t share her ability to get into locked sectors. She probably checked Mason’s room before coming here, as apart from my room and Allison’s, that was the only other place I could’ve logically been in. The public areas such as the dining hall would’ve been a mistake on my part, due to the multiple entrances being hard to defend against.

“Not exactly the best hiding spot you have there,” mocked Saskia from the entrance.

I was pleased to see that she hadn’t gotten out of her battle completely unscathed, as she walked with a slight limp.

“Nah, didn’t want to make it too hard for you- after all, we wouldn’t want any further injuries, would we?”

Saskia grimaced at that.

“Yeah, I have to give it to that girl, she didn’t go down easy,”

She paused to give me an easy smile.

“But hey, seeing as you were so kind as to take note of my injury, then I don’t suppose you’ll mind me locking the doors? Wouldn’t want us to be rudely disturbed, would we?”

She activated the lock and stepped through, causing the lock to shut upon her entry.

“You may have to be a bit more careful with your words in the future, you know- anyone overhearing you might misunderstand! How embarrassing would that be?” I pointed out, acting concerned.

“Y’know you’re a pretty strange guy, Ollie. There have been a few- it’s real rare- that haven’t succumbed to any sort begging or pleading for the life. But I’ve never seen someone as glib as yourself. It’s that old adage of bravery or stupidity. Almost makes a girl feel like she’s losing her touch!”

“If you can’t tell, then what difference does it make to you?”

“Hah! True that.”

Although it seemed like she just involved in casual conversation, the hand in which she held the baton never seemed to relax like the rest of her. She wasn’t letting her guard down one single iota.

I sighed. It was never going to be that easy.

“Well, do you want to know why I’m able to be so ‘glib’?” I asked her directly.

“Sure,” she replied, the amount of enthusiasm in her voice clearly conveying that she was only playing along.

I stood up off the bed, keeping my left hand and the object in it behind my back.

“It’s because I’m alive right now, and the person who would always be smiling isn’t.”

“How adorably touching.”

I smiled sadly.

“And secondly, because I’m going-”

I released what I held in my backhand, letting it drop to the floor, as I lunged forward palms outstretched.

Smirking like she had seen it coming from a mile away, she merely raised the baton upwards, so it now aligned with the centre of my mass.

But now it was my turn to grin- as instead of careering straight into her (and the baton), I simply grabbed at the baton with both my hands.

The electric current shot through my arms as soon as my palms made contact with the metal strips along the side of the baton and my muscles tensed up, disallowing me to release my death grip even if I had wanted to.

The pain was immense and excruciating- it was the worst pain that I had ever experienced in my life. But ironically, as the spasms wreaked havoc with my body, memories of a much happier time filled my mind. Myself, and another boy, playing around with the electric fences at my farm.

Saskia drove her knee into my stomach, breaking my connection with the baton.

Slumping to my knees, I looked down at my hands that were still shaking.

“Did you enjoy that?” She asked, sweetly.

“…not… really,” I managed to force out.

“Any last words? Any defiant speeches for me?”

“…you… never let me finish my sentence.”

I raised my head and looked her square in the eyes. She raised her eyebrows.

“I’m smiling because I’m about to wipe the smug little smile off your mouth for good”

And then my vision started to go fuzzy.

* * *

“For the last time- I don’t think it’s going to work. For one, how are you going to smash open the helmet without her hearing or seeing, and simply walking back out the door?”

“It’s our only option! If you can buy me some time to separate the gas container from the helmet, then I think I will be able to handle the surprise part.”

“You better damned be sure- you’re essentially telling Dan and I  to straight up sacrifice ourselves for you.”

“Well if everything goes right…”

“That’s a fairly big if.”

“Allison, he’s right. I can’t see us surprising her any other way. But know this, Oliver. I don’t know what contact with the unfiltered gas will do to you. It could be 24 hours, it could be 24 days- it could even be never.”

“I know.”

* * *

Saskia stumbled and caught herself.

“YOU! What did you do?” She yelled, shaking her head in an attempt to clear her mind.

I didn’t have the strength to retort, so I just grinned.

“What… did you do?!?” she slurred, stumbling towards me.

I keeled over sideways, a smile still on my face- a smile that grew wider when her eyes widened, seeing the broken gas canister on the floor behind me.

She turned to the lock and made it a few steps before she too, fell to her knees.

But I didn’t see her fall to the floor, as my eyelids grew steadily heavier.

Until at last, my eyes closed.