Xena's Arc

Chapter 8 of 13

The shuttle lifted from the pad and climbed through the last light. Xena took the jump seat behind Seven of Nine and set the wrapped sword across her knees. The crew ran their checks in short, clipped voices. They did not look at her, but no one spoke against her either. Then the pilot swore. A red light bloomed on the forward panel. Seven of Nine leaned in and read the code aloud. Two small craft had broken from the moon's shadow and were closing on their tail. The pilot pushed the shuttle hard, but the two craft matched course and gained. The first hit rocked the deck. The second shot cut the aft shield and the hull rang. Seven of Nine called for boarding drill. The pilot said they meant to grapple, not kill. Xena stood and unwrapped the sword. The blade came free and the light along the edge climbed white, then split into bands of color that ran the length of the steel. Thin arcs of blue lightning wrapped the flat and jumped to the deck plate. The nearest crewman stepped back. Xena told them to fall behind her at the hatch and let the boarders come to the narrow. She said the sword was made for close ground and the shuttle was close ground. Seven of Nine looked at the blade, then at Xena, and gave the order. The grapple hit. The hatch blew inward. The first boarder came through low and Xena took his arm at the shoulder in one clean cut. The second fired and she turned the shot on the flat of the blade and the lightning threw him back into the third. She held the hatch. She did not move past it. The crew fired past her hip into the breach and the boarders broke. On the second craft the pilot cut the grapple and pulled away. Then Xena heard a hum outside the hull she did not know, low and steady, coming up fast. A man in a dark suit swept past the port in open space, a gold ring on his hand throwing a bright cone of light ahead of him. He struck the fleeing craft broadside and it spun off into the dark. He turned once toward the shuttle port, raised a hand, and flew on toward the moon behind them. Xena did not know him. Seven of Nine watched him go and asked who he was. Xena said she had seen him last night above the trees and could not say. The hatch would not seal. The pilot reported the aft shield was gone and the Stargazer was still four hours out. Seven of Nine looked at the open hatch, then at Xena, and said they would not make it without help.